We had the good fortune of connecting with Cassady Black and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Cassady, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
That no now is not no forever. When I first started my business, I got told no a lot and after a while, it started to feel pretty discouraging. In fact, I almost gave up my business after the first year. But instead, I took a course that completely changed the trajectory of my business. One of the things in that course that stuck with me is that “no now is not no forever”. I’ve now been in business for 5 years and I can’t tell you how true that is. Gaining business is a process, not an event. Statistics show that the average consumer says no 4 times before they say yes. I’ve had people follow me on social media for years before they said yes. I’ve had people who laughed at my offer come back later and say yes. As Alex Hormozi says, you can only lose if you stop playing the game. So keep playing the game, keep showing up with value and be patient. Good stuff takes time.
Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My business was born from my own personal weight loss journey. Like so many 90s babies, I started dieting around 12 years old and cycled through all the popular fad diets at the time – Weight Watchers, Atkins, Slim Fast, Special K. None of those things were sustainable and it felt like every time I “failed” a diet, I just gained more weight back. By the time I was 16, I hit my heaviest weight and felt so self-conscious in my body that it was holding me back from really living my life. So, I got serious about losing weight and followed Jessica Simpson diet that I found in a People magazine. Let’s be real, it was basically a 1200 calorie diet and within a year, I lost about 60lbs. Which was great for my physical confidence but wrecked havoc on my metabolism and relationship with food. It didn’t take long for me to gain about half the weight back. That’s when I realized there had to be something I was missing. There HAD to be a better way because surely feeling confident in your body and having a peaceful relationship with food weren’t mutually exclusive things. I set out trying to find what that better way could look like by studying to become a dietitian and using myself as a test case. Eventually, I figured it out and took what I learned to market because I believe that all women deserve to feel like the best version of themselves and they shouldn’t have to sacrifice pizza night with family or margaritas with friends to make it happen.
There are 2 major things that got me where I am today in business. The first one was hiring a coach to help me get started. It was a major investment at the time and I had to borrow money from my grandparents to make it but I would have never gotten started if I had not had guidance, advice and support right off the bat. The second thing was investing in sales skills. You can have the best offer, product or service in the world but that means nothing if you don’t know how to communicate the value of what you have so you can actually sell it.
Starting a business from the ground up was not easy. There was a lot of messy action, disappointment and expensive mistakes in the beginning. The thing that got me through was wanting it more than I wanted pretty much anything else. When you want it bad enough and decide there is no other option except success, you figure it out.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If I had a friend visiting Atlanta and got to show them the best parts of the city, this would be my checklist.
Visit/Do:
– Brave’s game
– Ponce City Market rooftop
– World of Coke
– Georgia Aquarium
– Piedmont Park
– Krog Street Market
– Lee + White
– Botanical Gardens
– Walk or scoot down the beltline
– The Fox Theater
Eat:
– The Varsity because everyone needs to experience “what’ll ya have, what’ll ya have?”
– Ray’s on the River
– Canoe
– Minero for tacos and the best margs
– Bone’s
– Mary Mac’s
– C&S Seafood
– No. 246 for great chicken parmesan
– H&F Burger
– Busy Bee Cafe
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Great question! The course I mentioned in the first question was monumental for the success of my business. They are also an Atlanta based business called “The Sales Girls”. Website: https://thesalesgirls.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fatlossdietitian/
Image Credits
Kaitlyn Fellows. Atlanta based photographer. Website: https://kaitlynfellows.com