We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cass Cleary. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cass below.

Cass, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I am so unbelievably happy being a business owner, as a child I would cos-play different working roles and I was always the owner of my made up business scenarios. I always preferred to handle things on my own, even when I did work as an employee, not because I was purposely trying to go against the grain but rather that is how I would strategize and be able to get my job done best. I have a creative mindset that I would use to get tasks done rather than be by the book, which would sometimes land me in my manager’s office with them telling me I am ‘not a team player’. It always made me feel poorly in my work environment, even though I knew my work performance was good, now I look back and realize I was never viewed as a ‘team player’ because I was more fit to be the team leader, which I can proudly do with my business. Being a business owner is glorified in this day and age, and while I feel so unbelievably blessed to be running a business I would be lying if some days I didn’t wish I was sitting behind a desk at a 9-5 where I could answer to someone else and be able to turn my brain off right at 5 pm every day. There are many struggles with owning your own business, trying to run the show and wear all the hats, but if you are truly passionate and authentic about what you are offering and providing to your clients, you will continue to grow and all those struggles are outweighed greatly with the successes.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have always been so passionate about the world of beauty, specifically makeup. Growing up I would come home from school and sit and do my makeup for hours, I loved the creative process of it and how it made me feel. I started doing makeup on the side in high school for other woman, noticing how it made them feel, confident and beautiful. I loved the feeling I got from servicing and making them feel good. Back then, it was not a formed career like it is now, so I would honestly service woman for free or for a very low rate because it was more of a hobby then a career goal at that point. Little did I know, once I was done with college the career field took off and more and more beauty services were becoming six figure, freelance careers. The beauty industry has grown into a $528.6 billion dollar industry, servicing women all around the world. I feel so lucky to have been able to launch my career at the start of such a rewarding industry taking off. I have built a name for myself in my city. Not only am i acknowledged for my work, but also my customer service and genuine care for my clients. I truly feel being my authentic self is what sets me apart, I will go above and beyond to create a comfortable environment, I want my clients to come in and feel like they are my friend. I want them to feel like they are in a positive and safe environment from the minute they walk in to when they leave. It is my goal and mission to give my best and leave them with the best impression of me and my work, that is why most of my work is not based off of marketing but the most priceless and flattering form of advertisement for me, is word of mouth from pleased clients.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

The best way I was able to build my reputation within my market was of course the main factor, my work. I am completely self taught when it comes to makeup. I stick with my style of work and that is not to say I am not inspired or have not taken bits of inspiration from other artists, but I have always stayed true to my self taught technique. That is the main driver in my success, I have even created the name “‘Cassified’ off my name Cass, because it is a certain look and feeling you can recognize within my work. The second thing behind talent is who you are as a person in your business. There are so many talented artists who have tanked their businesses strictly off of who they are as a person. Clients can sense if you are not authentic, if you are greedy or if there is a lack of passion in the services you are providing. I myself, as a client of others have even noticed this. It is so easy to tell if someone truly loves their job by the way they act and handle themselves, their business, their policies and their reputation. I make sure to give my absolute best in every category of my career, I am not perfect, but I am very close to it when it comes to protecting my business and clients.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media presence is everything now a days. We are all glued to our phones and it remains one of my main ways I attract new clientele and show case my work. Social media is such an amazing tool to use to create an outreach to your audience. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t fixated on watching my likes and engagement on every picture of my work I would post when I first started my career, that is what social media has presented itself to be all about. When I started posting things freely and for myself without putting in much thought of if I thought it was perfect or would get a lot of likes, that is when I started taking off. I just started posting organically and not worrying about if others would like what I was posting, because I did. I truly believe you will attract your own audience based off of being yourself. I love to show my followers a good mix of who I am personally mixed with my work. I think it is important for them to know who I am as a person especially when providing a personal experience or service for them. Remember that your talent and success if not measured off of your social media status. There is so much more to measure in terms of succeeding within your business outside of Instagram.

Contact Info:

• Website: cassifiedbeauty.com
• Instagram: cassifiedbeauty