We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cassie Unruh a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cassie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

There are so many factors that contribute to success but, if I were to pick just one, I would say that the most important is consistently giving 100% of your ability to your work. I believe that it is so important to remember that your work is a reflection of yourself. Keeping this always in the forefront of your mind will help you to remember not to cut corners and to always provide the best product that you are able, and especially through the challenging projects or the moments where you feel overwhelmed or incapable. In my particular business, this applies to the desserts that are not exactly within my strongest talents or not within my own personal interests – during those times it can be difficult for me to present my best work. Reminding myself that this particular dessert is still going to be a reflection of ME, and turning my work into something much more personal to me always yields better results, which then leads to success.

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

Hi! I’m Cassie, and I own Cassie’s Confections – a bakery in Highlands Ranch where I create from a separate kitchen in my home that serves only as a bakery. My portfolio includes many custom celebration and wedding cakes, decorated sugar cookies, cake pops, cupcakes and more! I’ve served events including weddings, birthday parties, showers of all types, corporate events, styled photo shoots, marketing events and more! My joy lies in the fact that no two desserts are identical, and there is a perfect mix between following customers’ specific requests and adapting them to my own creativity. The happiness that custom decorated desserts bring to people and events is what drives me to continue to learn, grow and take risks! I love this job!

When I’m not covered with powdered sugar, and am a busy wife and mom to my 4 children, ages 8-14. I can also be found working at a second unrelated business that my husband and I have owned since 2010. I am a 2nd degree black belt in TaeKwonDo, and am Certified Personal Trainer and an ex-hairstylist – I love to “wear many hats” and I feel that each of them make me better at the others!

I started Cassie’s Confections in 2013 after receiving a cupcake decorating kit as a gift. I began watching YouTube and Craftsy tutorials and classes and soaking up as much knowledge as I could. I started to decorate sugar cookies with royal icing and give them away to all my friends. After many people encouraged me to sell them, I took my very first order as Cassie’s Confections. A couple of years later, I began to venture into cakes and beyond! I am proudest of the fact that I started my business literally from the ground up with NO training or experience whatsoever, from the recipes, supplies and techniques to the customers I sell to, I started from complete scratch, taught myself everything and built my company myself.

What I believe sets me apart the most from other similar companies is that Cassie’s Confections is a lucrative hobby for me, which means that I have the time and resources to put in the extra care for each and every order. I specifically limit the amount of orders that I take per month in order to give 100% of myself to each one. I have learned over the years how many desserts I can create within the time that I have available each month, and I am careful to keep my workload within those boundaries so that each and every customer gets the extra special dessert that they desire, with the quality that Cassie’s Confections has become known for. I refuse to cut corners or take shortcuts – every treat is special and deserves detail and care, and I am committed to providing it.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

There are two sources of new clients that have been the best for me, and they are somewhat closely related. I very often receive new clients from referrals from past or current clients, either posting photos of their events on social media and receiving comments asking where they ordered their desserts, or simply passing along my information to people who might be searching. The second source for me is people who actually attend the events that I provided desserts for! This is one of my biggest sources of new clients. I can normally expect to hear from at least one guest for each party I created for, and often more. My business is wonderful in that way – these prospective customers have inspected and taste-tested one of my desserts and know right away whether or not they will be pleased with what I might provide for them in the future! I’ve gained some of their trust before I’ve ever even spoken to them.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Cassie’s Confections currently has many forms of social media, including Instagram and Facebook as the most-utilized. The Cassie’s Confections Facebook page currently has over 20,000 followers, which is wonderful! My industry is fabulous for social media, as it is very much about photos – people love to look at photos of beautiful desserts, even if they have no plans to order. Additionally, many cake decorators these days rely on the internet and social media to learn new techniques and gain inspiration. Social media is very handy for this and building your online presence is important!

When I first started out on Facebook, I watched my page grow little by little – and I mean little. Frustratingly, many people will come, look and enjoy but not want to “commit” to liking the page. I knew I had to get my photos out there more! I felt that I had potential to be noticed (at least more than I was), so I started sharing my photos with much larger and more successful cake decorators. I had noticed that it seemed they would spend about 60% of their time sharing their own work and the other 40% sharing other decorators’ work, so I decided to go for it. Soon after, a “large” cake decorator grabbed one of my photos and shared it, and *bam*, I watched my likes shoot up by the minute. After that, she shared a couple more over the next few months and I grew even more.

I would, of course, love to see my social media presence grow even more but realize I don’t have as much time to dedicate to it as I need right this minute in my life. However, the advice that I would give is definitely to find a way to get noticed in your niche! Push your work, share it wherever possible and don’t give up! It takes that one photo/video to go viral and the attention will just keep coming. And when it does, share the love with those just starting out – just like someone did for you. :)

Contact Info:

• Website: http://cassiesconfections.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cassiesconfections/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cassiesconfectionsdenver/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassie-unruh-094099136
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7CzNe_NVsI4gOktKHKKxvg/featured
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cassiessweets