We were lucky to catch up with Cassie Walker Johnson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Cassie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?
While I have been a full time real estate agent for nearly 20 years, I have always had a passion for brand marketing and keeping my creative juices flourishing. In fact, my first career out of college was working for a brand marketing firm here in Seattle, WA. It was there that I learned about envisioning the full picture of a brand, its intricacies, and how important it was to consistently review every aspect to make sure we were “on brand” for our clients.
In 2017, during a review of my own brand Johnson & Walker (my husband Jeremey and I work together as a real estate team) I decided to apply the same intention with anything and everything we put out to our sphere. From our logo to our website to our marketing materials and beyond, we wanted to ensure that we infused the Johnson & Walker brand wherever we could be seen. It was here that I discovered, and established, my very own digital craft room. From developing Buyer and Seller Guides, as well as social media marketing, with the help of Canva I was able to create beautiful pieces all on my own.
One day a colleague of mine asked if I would design a guide for them, and CWJ Marketing was born! Out of my digital craft room I now produce marketing templates for real estate agents to help tell their story of their system and processes. What is unique about my work is that not only is it visually appealing, but it also provides all of the copy they need to describe the buyer and selling process in a clear and concise manner. Each template has opportunity for agents to add their personal information and bio, but they can go to the next step if they would like to customize it to their brand.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
Definitely appreciate Canva, and love how it is constantly shifting to support its creators. I really enjoy using Wix for not only hosting my website but all of the additional tools it helps provide including email marketing, social media, contact management and most importantly accounting! Also just discovered the Boutique Lawyer who provides affordable legal protection for privacy policies, terms of service and so much more!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
On Dec 23rd of 2020 I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. I was in total shock! If you know anyone who is in real estate they will tell you that 2021 will go down in history as one of the busiest years on record, and it was no different for us. Learning how to balance being the mom of a teenage girl, a business partner in a very busy industry all while giving my body the energy it needed to survive both cancer and a full year of treatment with chemo and radiation was A LOT! It taught me to get comfortable with asking my people for help. I have always been super self reliant, and not only did I have to be open to accepting help, I also had to get comfortable with asking for help as well. For the first time I had to fully let go of my self identity (work) and just focus on myself. It isn’t easy to do! But I’m 4 years post cancer and healthy!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cwjmarketing.com
- Instagram: @cwjmarketing
Image Credits
For the 1 headshots, image credit goes to Shannon Garbaccio.