Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stephen Cassano. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Stephen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job?

Right out of college, I found myself in the chaos of a Big 4 consulting firm in Manhattan. It was a fast-paced world filled with long hours and expensive dinners. The culture you experience there was heavily dictated by your manager and how much effort they invested in developing you, your skills, and your mindset. When I started I, thankfully, had great managers but was exposed to a few who were less than stellar. I learned a valuable lesson from each:
1. The Power of Extra Effort: An extra ten minutes on a task can elevate your work from good to great. For instance, instead of simply telling a client to “check the tracking document for updates,” take the time to include the URL in the email so that it’s clickable. Or, add a dropdown menu in an Excel column to prevent errors in crucial status updates. These small detailed efforts significantly impact how your colleagues and clients perceive your competence and dedication.
2. The Importance of Human-Centric Leadership: Rather than running your team into the ground, treat them as whole human beings, not just cogs in a machine. Yes, they are there to perform, but they are also complex individuals. Invest in getting to know your team on a personal level and support them holistically. This approach fosters loyalty, a strong sense of belonging, and ultimately, better performance. People are motivated to excel when they feel believed in and trusted.

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 began my entrepreneurial journey as a men’s fashion consultant, developing an algorithmic method to analyze and organize men’s wardrobes, helping them understand how to dress more effectively. However, when the pandemic hit, the demand for fashion advice diminished as no one needs help picking out sweatpants. This forced me to pivot.

Through a lot of learning, hard work, and a bit of serendipity, I founded Bow Tie Social, a digital marketing agency with a soul. We specialize in website development, social media management, and ad management for small and medium-sized businesses in both B2B and B2C service markets. While we cater to a variety of industries, we made a name for ourselves in the salon suite space. For those unfamiliar with salon suites, think of WeWork but for salon service providers (hair stylists, estheticians, etc.).

Over the past five years, we have become one of the most notable marketing service providers in the Salon Suite space – fortified by strategic partnerships and an industry-wide view of trends, we are in the right spot to take our clients to the next level. This year, we took our involvement a step further by launching a digital community and education platform for salon professionals operating in these suite environments called The Salon Hub (www.thesalonhub.social). Because many of these professionals are first-time business owners who didn’t receive business or marketing training in cosmetology school, our community, courses and coaching platform aims to fill that gap by teaching essential marketing and business tactics.

As I look forward, our mission at Bow Tie Social is to continue developing marketing programs that have soul and authentically represent the brands we work with as positive pillars of their community – regardless of their industry.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I’ll save my usual rant about the importance of social media and ads and provide something a little more unique. For those in a service-based business, once you’ve validated your viability, forming partnerships with other businesses that serve the same target demographic (without being direct competitors) has proven to be highly effective. Our growth significantly accelerated when we partnered with the largest technology provider in the salon suite space. As their official marketing partner, we became the first choice for many independent salon suite owners across the country, gaining trust and credibility through this endorsement.

These partnerships have been a game-changer. Being vouched for and vetted by a trusted entity in our clients’ industry provided a significant boost. The most beneficial aspect of partnerships is that they often lead to more partnerships, provided there’s no competitive overlap. While it’s crucial to market your own business, having partners who are already engaged with your potential clients and can recommend you as a resource can effectively double your leads with minimal extra effort. This strategy has been instrumental in our client acquisition and overall business growth.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

As we grew in the early years, we were heavily reliant on a client that accounted for almost 50% of our revenue. One day, they decided to end our contract due to the perceived risk of us working with other competing brands across the country. Fortunately, our contract included a 30-day notice clause, but that meant I had just 30 days to replace 50% of our revenue or face the tough decision of reducing our team size and essentially rolling back our progress by nine months.

Those 30 days were some of the most intense of my career. I sent out hundreds of cold emails, reached out to every business owner I knew, and worked tirelessly to drum up enough revenue to keep us afloat. By the end of the 30-day notice period, we had managed to recoup 25% of our Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), and within three months, we had surpassed our previous MRR.

Looking back, it sounds like a triumphant story, but living through it was anything but glamorous. During those three months, I had to let some contractors go and chose not to take a salary to extend our runway and ensure we had enough to pay the core team. I barely slept, my mood fluctuated with the ups and downs of each workday, and I was on the verge of panic attacks daily.

Was it worth it? For sure. I’m still here, and our company is bigger and stronger than ever. That challenging period tested my resolve and commitment, but I also proved to myself that with determination and hard work, we could stare proverbial death in the face and tolerate enough discomfort to push through.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bowtie.social / www.thesalon.social
• Instagram: @thesaonhub.social
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-cassano-5a657720/

Image Credits

Sarah Magazzo
Hannah Haley