How She Lost 55kg, Built A Business From Scratch & Completely Transformed Her Life | Personal Brand & PR Coach: Cassandra Hilli 

Holy s**t, like this is insane. Like this is like everything that I wanted. Losing over 55 kilos, not many people in the world can say they've done that. What did you take away from that? I used to always feel like I was out of all with my weight, but in that moment I finally felt like I was able to gain control back within my life. Generally the pursuit of going after something you really really want, I feel like it's one of the best most human experiences. When you are feeling so overwhelmed or there's so much happening and you can't get grounded, it's just like I'll sit down with the emotions, feel it. One thing I've started doing is I still feel those feelings as like journal and just write it all out and just heal it and you can think about this. I saw someone who got into business so yeah, did you ever have moments or parts of your life where like you suffered with your postus in jome? Oh yeah, I do. I feel like the more I hit goals, my imposter syndrome players are either feel it or for the evidence that's what this healing is. And if there's none just keep going with it or if there is, what are you going to do to change it? People laugh at me when I start it. I couldn't be more proud of the obstacles that have overcome and challenges and I've done it all myself and I've had no help anyone. I've just had the self-believe the drive. All right guys, so this episode I sat down with Cass. We just wrapped up the conversation. I really, really enjoyed it. One of the best conversations I think we've ever had on the podcast. We talk about her journey starts off with her incredible transformation. She lost over 55 kilos, which is crazy. And then everything she learned going through that transformational journey with her mindset, with her lifestyle choices and how that grid and determination letter into this super successful business career. She's now a publicist and a personal branding strategist. So we dive into that. We had a really good response last time we dive into that world because personal brand is becoming more and more vital to the success of a business, particularly startups nowadays. So we go into all of that and just unpack some of the really key attributes to what you need to be successful to business or whatever your goal is in life that you're chasing. So I'll get into it. Before I go, do me a quick favor. If you can't, if you're watching on YouTube, really takes one second, drop a like and subscribe if you haven't to the channel already. The bigger we grow, the bigger the guests we get on and obviously the more value we can provide. And then if you're listening on an audio platform, it really would mean the world to me if you could just leave a review and let me know your thoughts. But we'll get into it. All right, back with another episode, Cassandra Hilly. Welcome to the podcast. So for the people that don't know cast, can I call you cast? Yes, cast. I always show her names. I swear I've seen you've been called cast. I'm just going to run with it. So cast is a personal branding coach, publicist and entrepreneur now. You're the founder and CEO of Millennium Communications, which is like a PR firm, which will get all into you. Been in that business since 2016. So eight years coming up to a decade really soon. Cass has also been named one of the top 50 small business leaders and was a finalist for the young entrepreneur awards Sydney. So she clearly knows what she's doing in that whole world of PR branding, marketing, personal brand. We're going to dive into all of that because obviously this podcast isn't just about business. I don't want it to just be a business podcast. But a lot of people kind of are interested in that. So we'll get into all that world. But I think for you and your story, what's so fascinating about you and what makes you unique. And obviously all the amazing stuff that you've done with mindset and the business is kind of stemmed from this point when I was doing my research on you. Obviously, I want to talk about like your incredible weight loss journey, something so inspirational to be able to achieve that at such a young age now. I'll set the scene for a little bit. Then if you can talk me through kind of that period in your life and how you made all these positive changes. But so at 15 years old, you weighed 117 kilos and you were in and out of the doctors and hospital very frequently. So that would have been obviously very disruptive period through like high school. But take me back to that time in your life. Do you remember what it was? Does it still stick with you? The trigger of the thought, I don't know if there's a conversation or what it was where you one day realized because you're still so young. To realize enough is enough. And I want to take control of my health and make all these positive changes. Oh yeah, I'll never forget that day. Like it's every time I think back to it, it kind of, it's just, yeah, I will never forget it. It's like it happened yesterday, and that was almost, oh my god, nearly 15 years ago. Oh my god, like I just realized I'm turning 30 this year and I'm like, did the math and I'm like, wow. So the day that it happened, it was like a light bulb moment. So when I was like, young teen, young child, I always, when I loved singing, I was singing, doing singing lessons. It was always a goal of mine to like come a singer. And I was the day that I made the decision. It was, I was playing Netball at the time and it was like the seventh injury that I had had that year. I was quite heavy, like imagine like the pivoting and then the stopping as you're like trying to get more. Hardening joints like Netball, particularly on my card courts as well. 100%. So like I was constantly getting injured. And that day I was on the lounge and my part time job while I was at school was at a bakery. So the best part of the job was at the end of every day. I could go and pick any bread that I wanted and take it home with me. So I used to bring these bread to home like pull apart loaves, like, they'd you might scrolls everything. So this one day I was on the lounge and I found a pull apart loave and I was just eating it and I was watching Burlesque with Christina Aguilera and she's the main character and I loved her and still do till today. And when I was watching the movie, I was watching the way she was singing and the way she was moving her body and the way that she presented herself. She was just fully confident and I just remember thinking to myself like, I can't get there like this. Like that's not gonna happen. And the funniest thing was like prior to making that decision, there was so many other reasons why I should have changed my life. Like I had doctors telling me when I was like 13, if you don't change the way you live, you'll be in a coffin by the time. Like you're 16 or 18 or you know, you should lose weight because you know, year 12 form will be coming up before you know it and you should be looking your best for that. But they weren't my motivators and they felt more like threats. So when I made that decision, it came from a place of wanting to change because my future self needed that. And I just really got up and I was like helping around on my injured ankle and kind of like in the kitchen throwing like all the rubbish out all the breads that I had gotten from the bakery and it was like the click moment that changed everything. And I never forget like a couple of days later, I was went to my sister and you know after a few times, younger sister, you know after a few times, you've gone, yeah, I'm gonna like change my life. So you had moments in the past where you had kind of said it and half committed and then things happened. Yeah, yeah. Mrs. is like, I went to her, I told her, I was like, I'm gonna finally do it. She's like, yeah, right. Like I'll see it when I, I believe it when I see it. And I was like, I just watched. Yeah. Even more motivator. That's when people doubt you, that's some of the best motivation, particularly young age when you don't have all like the context of like, no making decisions for the right reasons. I think that can be one of the best motivators. Oh, I wouldn't agree more. I mean, it worked for me. Like it worked in that retrospect. And then yeah, and then I just kind of all happened. I just decided to change with my food first because I had insulin resistance at the time. So I couldn't exactly just eat normally. There was a lot of dietary changes that I had to make. So insulin resistance, is that like, leading to diabetes or is it exactly like, is that kind of a step before it fully develops or? Pretty much. It's just your sugar levels really spike higher. So it's almost like pre-diabetic. And it just made it harder to lose weight. I had like darkening on my skin, like from my, around my neck, my in between my arms. And it was just one of the factors that came, one of the side effects that came with it. So it started to not only become like a confidence in lifestyle issue, it was becoming a health issue, increasingly. Yeah, yeah. I had mental health issues that came with it. Like I was depressed. I got diagnosed with depression when I was like 13. I'll never forget that day as well. And you know, it was, a whole lifestyle change was needed. And a lot of that just came from self belief. And I think that's when I started to really develop that skill set of building self belief. When nobody else believes you just believe in yourself and you will be able to control that outcome. So with that, you mentioned, you got diagnosed with depression at 13. Do you feel like, I don't know, it's kind of like a chicken and the egg thing. Do you feel like the weight fluctuation led to the depression or the depression helped feed into the unhealthy behavior that ended up, you know, you're putting on the weight pretty like rather quickly. I'd say both. At the same time. It was like a snowball effect. Yeah, look, I was severely bullied in primary school growing up as well. So I think that plus weight, like I've spent a lot of my childhood being like in the children's hospitals. Because my parents didn't know what to do. So they, you know, when a doctor says you've got incident resistance and it's still quite new, you know, they tell you to go into programs with specialists. So I was put into these, you know, programs at a very young age from the children's hospital. And no one, I don't want to do it, but I did it. And depression formed because I was doing something when I didn't want to. Then on top of that, kids being a big kid at school, plus then, you know, being missing out on school, kids finding out it all led to depression, depression, you know, you want to do things like make you feel good. So good made me feel good. So we're kind of all spiraled into one big thing at the end of the day. And then like once you start that journey to like turning your life around, what did you notice? What were the biggest changes you started to notice first? Was it you were starting to feel better mentally or did that come later? Mental health can be a journey that can take years for people to turn around depending on where they are. Did you feel like you felt that the change is mentally first or was it the physical changes that you started to see more rapidly? Both. The physical changes took time. I was quite big, but as soon as I noticed it, especially around my face, like my double neck was going, I was so happy about it, but I would say it was definitely mental. Like I started feeling a lot better about myself. I was more focused in school especially. And as a result, like my grades were changing because I was born, I were not friends. But I was going out more as well within my social life. And that was a big change for me because I really did isolate myself because I was scared of the judgment that came with being big. But it was all mental. And then when I started seeing the physical changes, like my confidence then just got stronger and stronger. And then the more I wanted to, you know, I kept going with it because that motivation kept dead. And you know, then I started trialling and testing new things. And, you know, I got excited about everything that was happening at once. So like it was definitely mental and then physical kind of just like skeptics, accelerating the mental side of it. Yeah, you mentioned self-confidence or having the self-belief to make all these changes and stick to it, you know, like proving the people that said you won't be able to do it wrong. Even though obviously your sister would have meant the best for you, hearing things like that and like really emboldened you to see things through when you don't want to, that self-belief, you know, peace for anyone in whatever the career, whether they want to be in business or whatever they're, anyone with a dream needs an element of, you know, self-belief to be able to, you know, help them get started number one and then push through and make it a reality. What do you put down that self-belief, that little obviously would have grown as you started seeing all these amazing, transform or transformative changes? Like the results are some of the best things that you can do to prove to yourself. You are who you are. But like what was that original like little nugget of self-belief that gave you the willpower and strength to make those initial changes? Like what was it? What did you lean into for that? Oh, you're not such a good question. I think when I had that light bulb moment, it was like all the crowded noise in my head just stopped and this one underlying voice or feeling inside of me like, it was a nudge, like I had a massive nudge and I trusted that nudge and I just went, "Okay, I have to do this." And that was the first time that I had ever really felt self-belief and it was a physical thing that came with then like a mental like, "Yeah, do it." Like this is your chance to do it now. And I just completely trusted it. Like every part of me just trusted it. And now whenever I do feel that feeling, I follow it. Every part of me. And I think like you're always going to be challenged with your, you know, self-belief, your self-confidence. But I think it's just going back and finding that underlying voice or that nudge or that feeling somewhere inside of you that feels familiar, that feels like that first time that you felt that feeling and then sticking with it and trusting it, even though every other part of you might be telling you otherwise. Yeah, and I imagine there were there were periods of this transformation that like I'm sure it wasn't just always, I made that decision at straight sailing, you know, just always, you know, getting slim and making better choices. I'm sure there's still an element of up and down. What were some of the moments that you felt maybe early, maybe that first year of really making those changes? Were there moments that, you know, you thought, "This is so hard. Like I wish I could, you know, do it an easier way." Like what, how'd you get through those moments? Honestly, I just kind of went and trained. I was like, no, like, go back to the Y. There were times, and even till today, where I'm like needing an extra boost that I actually put on a movie that I watched Berlisk with Christina in it. And I just kind of, it kind of grounds me back to that moment where I'm like, where I am overwhelmed and I go back to what started it. But sometimes I just let myself feel it. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like I feel like when you are feeling so overwhelmed or there's so much happening and you can't get grounded, it's just like, all right, we'll sit down with the emotions, feel it. Like one thing I've started doing because I still feel those feelings is like journal and just write it all out and just feel it. Because obviously something's going on that I might be avoiding because exercise can sometimes be an avoidance tactic to what you're really feeling. So just sit in it and just embrace it. And then, you know, maybe tomorrow will be better. And you can think about things more clearly. I wrote a quote a couple years ago that really stuck with me. True growth is when you sick of your own shit. Like you're truly sick of your own shit. And like sometimes like he said, like, you can't shake that feeling so sit in it. Feel the negative emotions because, like there's been so many psychologists and studies that have released like data on this. Like for most humans, avoiding a negative feeling is much more motivational than chasing a positive one. So sometimes like negative feelings can actually be used to create motivation to make change in your life, to make you do things you won't want to do. So a lot of times people and kind of the way the world's going now, the advice will be to avoid feeling those feelings and always like only think of the good. But it just goes to show again another example of how important it can be to be honest with yourself and sit in those feelings when you are, you know, sick your own shit, when you are, you know, a little bit embarrassed of yourself because you're not showing up the way you know you can show up. And sometimes sitting in that feeling can be a great way to like yourself, give yourself that kick up the backside that little bit of motivation to keep going. Now question I want to ask you, what betcha would have been interesting because you went through this throughout your adolescence as well. Now, whether it be male, female, whether it be a weight loss journey or whatever someone, whatever sort of glow up and I don't want to trivialize what you went through as a glow up, right? But like you go through this, like you said, you were bullied a lot as like throughout school. How do you process like as you're getting like later into your teens and then you start getting more attention from guys or people that you're interested in? Was that a weird experience for you to go through this girl that was kind of always on the outside looking into, okay, I'm becoming this person now or whatever reason. More and more people are interested in me, you want to be friends with me, you want to take me out or ask me out or do those sorts of things. Funny enough, I never actually paid attention to it because I was still quite an insecure person. So I really never actually dated anyone in high school or primary school or anything like that. My dating life started like after. Yeah. And it was nothing to do with like parents or anything like that. It was purely just a confidence thing. To be honest, I, yeah, I never paid attention. Like when it came to my friends, I had my circle and my circle was that as I kind of grew up, I, you know, outgrew people in my life and friendship circles changed. And even till today people come and go, I'm totally okay with that in my dating life though. To be honest, my insecurities with myself really reflected within my dating life up until I would say like recently, like in maybe like a year and a half ago, like I've had to heavily work on myself and I had a really toxic relationship that really highlighted art and I had to spend a lot of time working on myself. And now I'm in a very beautiful relationship with the most amazing partner and he's just the best person without changing myself. There is no way I would have been able to meet him. Like I can go a bit when we're here in states like a vibrational frequency, like an energetic match. But I never, like I had a horrible dating life. My early 20s was just like, didn't even like think about it. I tried dating, didn't really enjoy it. And then I only got into my first serious relationship when I was 25. - Yeah, so like that was it, was a big, was a big part of it for you. I see this was like a lot of people when they finally, you know, do the work. And like you said, like coming up to 30, I just turned 30 as well. Like you start going through a lot of changes when you come up to that age and really reflecting as you like, I don't know if it's a hormonal thing or whatever, as you like click into that, if I'm saying as a guy as well. - No, no, 100%. - You start clicking into like, okay, he's thinking about okay, the next chapter is no longer me going out and partying or make it's like you start thinking of different things, family, serious relationships was a big part of it for you. And it doesn't have to be the answer if it's not the answer, but like a lot of people like, deep down or subconsciously they feel like because they haven't faced whatever issue that they don't deserve to be with a person that makes them feel like this. And like you're still going after people who are aligned with that old version of cast with that lack of self, you know, belief and self worth. - Yeah, I would say definitely. Like I think like a part of me, I was still dating as if I was like a 15 year old as well. Like when I was 22. So like I was trying to make up for lost time through those experiences that I missed out or didn't put myself in as a teenager. But yeah, 100%. Like it's, yeah, I had a very interesting meeting. - What was like again, this is so different for everyone, but like a lot of people have to go through this to like come out the other side. - Yeah. - What kind of like, how did you get through that? What were without like, you know, saying Deirin telling us all your deep stalker stories? Like what was the process to like kind of, you know, accept yourself for who you are or make whatever those internal, you know, you know, realizations were to be able to be in a place where like you said, you are ready to be in a, you know, a real adult loving, supportive respect for relationship. - Just a quick one for me. If you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you'd know that after scaling happy skin code over $10 million per year, I spent close to 18 months creating the viral brand builder program, which teaches someone with zero experience how to launch and scale their very own e-commerce brand. With over 100 training videos and direct access to me, including one-on-one calls, you'll be guided throughout the entire process. Now the framework we have developed is unlike anything else. And we already have a bunch of incredible results from students that are making multiple five and six figures per month. So if you're ready to make 2024 your year and build a business that can completely change your life, then click the link in the description and book in an application call, spots are limited as you'll be speaking directly to me. So make sure you book in before applications close to the month. Now let's get back to the podcast. - I worked really, really hard on myself. I didn't do it by myself. I had the best support system around me and I heavily invested in myself. So I believe it was October 2022. I had enough with being who I was. It was getting me nowhere. And a large part of that was within my relationships. I was mirroring a lot of insecurities, like I mentioned. And I knew in order for change to happen, I had to be willing to just face my shit. Sorry, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say that, but I just had to face my shit. And there was a lot of work that needed to be done. And I invested in a alternative kind of therapy. I invested in intuitive therapist, highly best person that I know and she could change my life. And I worked weekly with her. - What sort of, what does intuitive therapy kind of entail? Is it different to like a normal, you know, speaking to a psychologist, but more of a, yeah, like how do you say it's different to like kind of traditional therapy? - I was in therapy for like, I was in my school council's office pretty much my whole high school career and then was in therapy after dealing with my own anxieties and stuff like that after high school. And I found things were good, but they just weren't giving me the things that I needed. There was deeper rooted things that no, no, no, Dr. No one was willing to go deep in with, like especially when the clock is timing, you know, it's going like, I learned skills and I'm not rolling it out 'cause there are skills that I've learned from therapists and counsellors and everything, but I still use till today to manage myself. But Kylie, we went deep, we did the inner child work, we did the shadow work, we did, we confronted fears. And I still work with her till today, like I haven't ruled her out, like we, I'm literally seeing her today. And I go to her with, well, I went with her basically saying, I'm not happy with what's going on and I don't know how or where it's going and she just went, well, let's just start here. We started there, we got deep and a lot of meditations, a lot of like healing I did. Like it's all very like spiritual healing kind of stuff, raky, it's very alternative, but it worked for me. And it is still working for me and I do that in conjunction with other support services. And on top of that, I now have routines that I've got put in place that allow me to take care of me first because I work with people in the career of people, right? So without me taking care of me, I can't serve others in the best way that I can. So it starts with me, I wake up every morning, I have a set routine before I go to bed, I have a set routine and they're the things that I hold onto. - Yeah. - And that whole process has just allowed me in the last, what nearly 18 months to transform everything about myself. I have my days wanna say that and like I'm human, and I always will, but I've got the skill sets and I'm learning the skill sets as well. - Those changes to like routine and lifestyle, like what's an example of your morning routine and your nighttime routine that you feel that helps you be you and show up in the best version of yourself? - Yeah, so I'll give you like my nighttime routine, for example. So I'm good a bit early, I'm like a grandma, I could have had it like 9.30, 10. But I pretty much will have dinner like six o'clock with family then by like 8.30, I do my shower, my, that whole routine. And then as soon as like I'm in my pajamas, it's me, it's in care, it's taking my time with that. It's literally all about slowing down and reconnecting with myself, I'll take my time. I will, you know, grab myself a cup of tea and a piece of chocolate, sit in bed and actually enjoy that. A journal, I read and I'm not talking like self-development books, like actual like books, because it actually inspires me, it gives me ideas, it keeps the creative heart of me happy. And it's like feeding my inner child, like creativity and stories. And then I go to bed and I really try hard not to scroll on social media before I go to sleep, because I find on the days that I do, I wake up really cloudy and foggy and not clear. So when I read and then I go to sleep in the morning, I wake up fresh, I wake up earlier, I'm more inclined to wanna go for a walk or go train or do whatever I've gotta do. And it kinda just sets that intention. - So interesting, we live in a world now that so fast pace, like a thicky, the thiamin' it's all new, you know, things to look at, things to read, like it's, we live in a world that seeking soloness is so important. And it can be so easy not to do that, because we're all like in that, you know, we've lived in a time with the fastest information flow ever in existence. And tomorrow's gonna be even faster. And like we're human beings, like I gotta think how long it took us, our bodies and brains to develop. And just like, look over the last 20 years, the rate of change for technology can be really difficult. Our brains can't, you know, catch up that fast. So finding those routines or lifestyle changes that you need to test yourself, that's what you do, that might not work for me, but it might work for the next person. You need to try different things, just like what you said with like, seeking this like alternative, like therapy, like people will try one thing and it won't work for them, and they'll sometimes give up there. Like you need to try all different types of things to find what makes you tick, what's gonna help you perform your best, feel your best. Because once you find that, then, you know, you're in control again. And I think that's a really, really important message. And I wanted to ask you with that journey now, obviously going through losing over 55 kilos, that's like crazy. Like not many people in the world can say they've done that. Like did you build like any grid or determination through that that you feel like still stands you strong with business and everything you're doing to realize today? - Yeah, I, like I said, like the biggest thing out of it is the self belief. That's one of the biggest ones from there. The second one would probably be that I'm the creator, like of my life. I, it was in that moment, I just always feel like I was out of control with my weight, but in that moment, I finally felt like I was able to gain control back within my life. And what I do and what a lesson that I've learned from that is that whenever I want to change something, it's actually really dependent on me, it's self responsibility. And that's something that I really hold close to my heart. And it's up to me to change something if something's not working for me. And I do that within my business. I do that within my personal life, within any area of my life. If something's not working or something's not going right, it's up to me to make that change. It's within my power. And I live by that now. When did you make that change? Because like a lot of people as well, whether it be in business or in whatever form of life, like they can have a problem. So let's use like a really easy time to understand like business example. So someone might have a startup business, they've made a few sales, things aren't growing as fast as they want. So they're going to go and pay an agency, like a media buyer to run their Facebook ads, say two, $3,000 a month. And like they cross their fingers and hope this is going to be the silver ball that to fix all my problems. And often when you don't take that personal responsibility, things don't change. Right? What was it that took you to make that realization and put personal responsibility at such like a core value to yourself? Because I think 100%, I can relate and I 100% it back you. Yeah. Look, I think it was always engraved with me without realizing it. I think I became really conscious of it when I started this journey in the last couple of years because I started realizing, ah, like there is a lot of self responsibility happening within my life. I didn't realize there was some things that I wasn't like. It is what it is if you learn, but it's become more of a full value to me most recently. And it's only because what I do affects other people as well. Like I've got people to pay. And if I don't take responsibility of what's happening, there are detrimental outcomes that come with that, not just for me, but within themselves, their lives. So a lot of my self responsibility has become a core value within me in the last few years, but consciously. But throughout my whole entire life, I've always had an element of self responsibility because I've always been very conscious about my actions and my words and how they might affect other people. So I've always tried to be very careful how I treat people. How do I talk to people? How do I value my family? How do I value my friends? And I think even within my business, it's my clients. I take, even if I've got an account manager on there, I still take responsibility. I'm still showing up to those whips every single month. I'm still on the phones to them. I'm still emailing them and touching base with them. And you know, it's just, it's so important to me that I take responsibility of what my name is stuck to and myself. Because there are so many consequences I can come with that. Yeah, 100%. Now obviously moving on to the business, you started it pretty young, 22 years old. Yeah. What was the thought process behind starting the agency that young was that something had you always envisioned yourself as being a business owner? And I was always division to do that as young as you can, compared to maybe getting a degree going to work for an agency or an corporate and getting a few years experience. Was it, yeah, what made your mind up to just dive straight in? I wasn't blind. I had businesses in the past. And some of them were well, some of them flopped, and we rode over them flopped. With PR, my whole goal was to start it after my degree. And it didn't happen at all that way. But it was always in the back of my mind because I was consulting and doing some contract work as an influencer, I can the day. And I was learning skill sets. And then through the blog that I had as well at the time, I didn't realize I was being my own publicist. I was working with the media. And that kind of helped me gain the skill set. So when I did start my business at 22, I was like, OK, cool, we're just going to roll with this. An opportunity came to me. I took it. I went, felt that nudge. And I was like, all right, well, let's just roll and see what happens. So on that, like I should have mentioned this earlier, as part of that kind of weight loss journey, you grew up following over 250,000 people across a couple of platforms. How did, obviously, social media has changed so much since then. How did that process, like, how did that start? Like, how did you just say, I'm going to document this journey and people? What channels was it on Instagram? Was it just a website blog? How did you do that? Tumblr. So yeah, it was still the Tumblr days. I know, right? Like Tumblr, my space day is like all back in the day. My sister told me, too. So after I lost about 30 kilos, she showed me it. And she was like, why don't you just use it as an accountability thing? And I was like, why not? I did it at a post and a few photos, feel of them went viral, ended up gaining like 30,000 followers in a very short period of time off that blog. And then it kept growing and growing. And then Instagram came out, started on there, that through YouTube, I got a couple of videos, went viral on there. And we'd all kind of like work together. And I was, a lot of it was heavily at the time, personal branding. And it opened up so many doors to me, especially at like 17, 18. So how does that lead? I just want to like, I wanted to make a crystal clear for people listening. So you had obviously grown your own following, as like, say, in the influencer space, in your industry and niche. You were doing like a communications degree, always with like a passion for PR. Was it people coming up to and saying, hey, can you help me with it? I need someone to get me, you know, media exposure, or I need a bit of a personal brand plan. Like how did this like agency start from scratch? What started that process? Yeah. So when I was the influencer, I was working with a lot of marketing agencies. And the whole era of influencer social media was still very new. So I was working with a couple of agencies that wanted me to do collaborations with them. So that's how I met people. And then people kind of would either ask me to help them do extra work on the side, or I'd work with the agencies. So that tells kind of gaining my skillset from the agency perspective. From the business point of view, when Millennium started, from those experiences that I had, I became really good friends with a friend of mine called Jacqueline. She owned a product based brand at the time. And I hadn't seen her in ages, and she was kind of just like, can you come like, I want to do a make up? And I was like, yeah, cool. Why not? Let's do it. And when we were talking and catching up, I was explaining to her how she could kind of like utilize social media for her brand. And she was like, oh, what are you doing? I was like, oh, I'm at uni and working in sales and living my best life doing that. And she was just like, oh, okay, well, what are your plans after uni? And I was like, maybe I'll start an agency. Maybe I'll go work for somebody. I don't know, but I just want to get through that. She was like, what if you just start it? Oh, and I'm like, yeah, go write me a proposal with some ideas that you've given me. Present it to me in my husband tomorrow. And then I don't know, maybe this will be the opportunity that you need once again. You can think about it, build the nudge. Yeah, all right. Next day, presented the proposal, got my client. And within like that first month, two months, I got like, I had like eight or nine clients on my boards. That's crazy. And so funny how life, you know, happens for you sometimes. You just gotta let go and let the universe make things happen now. How did you get those, you know, eight clients so quickly? Was it word of mouth? Were you, yeah, so? Or word of mouth. And then like some of the clients that I had were working with those agencies in the past, but they were no longer working together. And I had kept relationships with them. So when they saw I was doing stuff on my own personal socials, they were like, oh, what are you doing? And they were, chat, I'd tell them, be like, oh, can you come and do mine? Yeah, sure, no worries. So that's kind of then how that catapulted it started off as socials. Yeah. Influencers, content creation, and then slowly led into PR. Because the more I learned about PR, the more I realized I was actually doing it back in the day for myself. And I was like, what connections there? So you're unique to a lot of people. You didn't really have that experience where you quit your full-time proper corporate job to go all in with your agency or your business. Kind of happened from the start. So yeah, that's very cool. It's very different now. What period seeing as that being the case where you didn't have that big, is my resignation. I'm going in for myself. What period? Because things just happen so quickly. Like you say, you just kind of roll with the flow and roll with things. And what period did you actually sit down and things feel real when you thought, I holy shit, like look at my life now. I've got my own business. I've got all these clients. Do you remember back when it started to feel like you had a real business? Yeah, it was probably a couple of years later. I was sitting, I was working from home as anybody startup does, it was very thin. Of course. And I had a home office set up and I had two staff members working for me at the time. And I just remember sitting back and kind of going, hey, what have I done? What am I doing? Yeah. But then like in my early 20s, why are people trusting me? Yeah. And then it just kind of hit me. And then it happened again, maybe a year and a half later when we were working with an Australian swimwear brand and we threw a massive event for them. It was like media influences. Like it went viral. Like we had media. And I just remember like this venue was packed and I just stood outside and watched it from the outside in and going. That's cool. How like we did this. Like we created this. Like holy shit. Like this is insane. This is like everything that I wanted. Like the people vibe, like the media, the attention we got the brand on socials. I just remember going like it was the first time we had all of the first season of the of island cast at this event. I just remember going, oh, like this is actually like real. And that's when we started the PR side of the business. And then yeah, and I still have those moments. And then I'm just like, yeah, okay. We did this. We're doing this. You mentioned thinking to yourself back in your home office as like someone in the early 20s. Why are all these people trusting me now? As someone who got into business so young and you went through that whole incredible weight loss journey, did you ever have moments or parts of your life where like you suffered with the postus syndrome that you have to deal with that? Oh, yeah, especially when COVID hit. Oh my god. Like it. Oh, like I, yeah, I did. And I feel like imposter syndrome is not talked about enough sometimes. But it hit me hard during COVID because my whole business was taken away from me in one day. And it humbled me, let me tell you. And I felt like such a fraud. And I just remember for the first lockdown, especially just seizing up. The worst part about it was in that time, I was in communications with Forbes, Kutubitr. And after finally building a relationship with her, she wanted to interview me. So I spent the back end of the last few months of COVID, kind of biting these voices in my head. And by the time I finally somewhat got to the end of it, this article came out and then it led to a whole new other level of imposter syndrome that I had not experienced yet. So it's a constant journey. I feel like the more I hit goals, the more my imposter syndrome flares up. But it goes back to these skillsets that I'm learning that I can control it. And it's about just, it's a very temporary feeling. Either feel it or look for the evidence that supports what this feeling is. And if there's none, just keep going with it. Or if there is, what are you going to do to change it? Explain to me like to you, what is imposter syndrome feel? Like what are the thoughts going through here? For me, it's very much like an internal dialogue where it's like a battle of, like, look, it's also mixes in with like being bullied as a kid and very scared of like what people might think from the external. But it's very much like, what are you doing? Like, you don't know enough. Or people, why would people want to hear about this? Or why should people hear from you? Like they don't care enough or, you know, you don't, it's very selfish. It's very selfishly driven. And, and I think that is the premise really of like imposter syndrome. It's your own thoughts about yourself, your own insecurities that flare up, that stop you from doing the things that you want to do, right? And it's very much about, it's very, it's not thinking about what I'm doing for the external because it's all about, what am I doing wrong? What aren't I doing right? This didn't happen the way that you wanted it. It makes you a failure, you feel like a failure. And it's about having to really nurture myself through that and be kind and gentle and loving to myself. - Why do you think those thoughts pop into your head? Because like, now obviously, some a little bit more experienced and you can tell me kind of, I'd love to hear how you get through those moments. But like whenever, you know, you're in a situation like that, your brain can create two, you know, scenarios and it can go down the rubber hole of, you know, either one really negative and self-doubt and you're not good enough or who you to be doing these things or you can go the other way and be like, of course, like, you know, I'm not going to entertain all these negative things when I know there's no good that can come from. Why, like, what do you think it is that creates that, you know, rubber hole down the negative? - Oh, look, for me, I think, it's scarcity, it's, it's like unknown territories. So what's the quickest thing that I, like for me anyway, I do is I just think of what's case scenario, I'm an overthinker. So for me, when it feels unknown or it feels like I'm doing something that is just, it's scary. I then kind of go and overthink about it. I think, overthink it. I then look at reasons why I shouldn't do it or what doesn't make me qualified enough and it puts me into that freeze mode. The way that I go about overcoming it is it's very, like, simple. I write it all down. I'm like, okay, this is one version of it. What's the secondary version? And I, because I'm visual, I'm a very visual person. If it's in here, I've got to put it there. So then I can, as I'm writing it, I can go, yeah, wow, like, okay, oh, then when I think of the alternative side of it and I write it all down, I'm like, no, I've achieved ABC and D. I'm currently working with ABC or D or I have done this in the past and the outcome was like this. It kind of then puts that to sleep or at least temporarily gets rid of it. Then in other times, if that doesn't work and I'm still feeling it, I do the Mel Robbins five second rule and I just count down and I, because I'm very much like a reactor. So if I feel that feeling, I'm like, okay, go, do it. And I just do it because as soon as I feel that count down, coming down, I'm like, ah, shit, I better go. I'm just gonna think about this and then I'll just go for it anyway. So interesting how everyone, like, we're all like having these like infinite battles with our brain and our mind to control the thoughts. And that's the thing like when you are not your thoughts, but like, it's so hard. - No. - Yeah. - I feel like my brain has done some weird self-protection mechanism that it would go like. - Oh, really? - In the adolescence. No, just like I don't ever think about, you know, I don't ever doubt myself, I think about myself negatively. Because mainly because I'm such a believer in the law of attraction and like that vibration energy, if I feel like if I put more attention on it and think about it, it will manifest. And my brain is so powerful and it can't take over. So I don't entertain it. Like negative thoughts and less does something in there for me, whether it's like, okay, there's an opportunity for growth. I will obviously think about it in my own time. But otherwise, like for things like that, if I know it's just gonna spiral me down, there's no negative and there's no positive that I can take from it, I just, I don't let it in. - Oh my God, I love that. - I don't let it in. And I'm sure this, I don't know what it is. And I'd love to talk to a psychologist about it. I like about one day and just see, but yeah, that's why I don't let it in. And I'm, yeah. - I wonder if that's like a skill of like self-discipline or something like that. - There's something. - A whole new level of consciousness. I don't know. - I don't know. - I don't know. But it's, everyone has kind of their own processes. That's why I really like kind of thing our people navigate through that now. Moving back onto the business now, let's talk about being in business almost 10 years, eight years with the agency. What some of the highs and lows that you've gone through, obviously that period with COVID would have been a big, you know, mind kind of mental, you know, to get through that. But apart from that, 'cause I think to a degree, people are sick of hearing about COVID. - Yeah, technically. - What's the mother like highs and lows that you've gone through with the business? - Yeah, some incredible highs. I'd say I will look at recent because I believe my business before COVID is very different to what it's like now. So some recent highs, oh man, okay, let me have a good thing. We launched a couple of amazing restaurants last year down in Brunga Roo that just did incredibly well. Like within a very short period of time, we got them over like 50 pieces of coverage and like they've just signed another venue and like it's just, that's been an amazing part of my journey the last few months. I've just changed my whole team and rehired as well, which has been really fun and I'm working with the friend of mine which I never thought I'd be able to play with friends. So that's been really, really cool. - Yes, I am your friends and family. - So some people say don't do like, man, like you spend so much time working wouldn't you want to do it with the people you love most? - Right, it changes the dynamics of everything. We also just signed a lease to an office which is really cool. - Cool. - Thank you. Some lows, look, I'm trying to get into that very similar headspace that you have where I try and just like block it out and move into the positive. - Yeah. - So I would say like my challenges at the moment have definitely been like the cost of living crisis. I feel like everyone's getting affected by it at the moment. So that hasn't been exactly fun. Watching businesses being affected, like it has been sad and I feel for them, but then seeing some just rise above it and keep persevering has been amazing to watch. - And on the, as someone who sees and works with businesses across many different industries, what do you think is something like either the skills or like personal attributes that you see the people that are successful, what do they have, what do they embody? - Oh, okay. Well, like I'll look at my mentor, for example, for this because he is amazing and what he did for himself like is incredible. He is very, very good at tunnel vision, very 'cause there's on his goals and he just does whatever he has to do to get there. A lot of other ones is like they take care of themselves but they take care of others. - That's a very, very important one. - And then I think-- - And people can think that, no, that's selfish. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's reality. That's how, because yes, and I want to stick on this point because it's so important and I really genuinely believe that like, and this is the way I believe my life and some people will hear someone say it and think, "No, that's selfish, but if you first need to be able "to take care of yourself and your needs, "then you can impact the people around you. "Then once you've done that, then you can impact the world. "People think I'm just gonna go and impact the world, no." Reality, that's not really gonna work. So I'm glad you brought that point up. - Well, it's true. Like, you know, you can only be a people place for so long before you end up killing yourself or like you burnt out and then you can't do anything. So I'm a big believer in it and it's like one of the biggest attributes that I see. Like he tells me all the time, your health, your fitness, what you put inside of you is everything. Do that, take care of you. And then I probably say the next one is just having the right people around you. Like he engraves that into me all the time where it's not just about your staff, it's your friends. It's your, the people that work in all your business, outside of your business like accountants, whatever it might be. You know, anyone that has to associate with you and your energy, be careful. And make sure you're around the right people because they'll also dictate where you go and where you're going to head in your life. - What about for you? What do you think is like one, like one factor that you could obviously there's many, but what's one factor that comes to mind when you think about why you've been able to be successful? You personally. - I think it's, I'm so stubborn. And that helps me in so many ways. In the sense that I know where I want to be and I know where I want to head, like where I want to head. I am very like real in the sense things are going to change. Like it always is like that. But whenever things have gone shit, for example, like COVID, I've always risen up of it. And I've always, I've had my moment where I spiral and then I'm like, all right, cool, get back up. I've got very strong perseverance. And that's one thing that I really admire about myself that I can get knocked down. But then the moment I'm ready to get back up, I'll get back up and I'll keep going. - As you said, you're very like determined to achieve those things you want to achieve. What would the thought of you saying, look, you get someone shows you an eye pattern, it's you and your deathbed and you're talking about, you know, many, many decades away and you're talking about the regrets you have because you didn't follow through and you didn't make all those things happen. How does that make you feel? - It's actually funny because I think about that all the time. Like every time I have an opportunity or something happening around me and I'm like, or a choice, I always think about, see myself like in this porch, in this rocking chair, as an old lady and I think, what am I saying to my great grandchildren or my grandchildren and I don't want you to regret this, like I regret it. I know it sounds very dramatic, but that's what helps me make my decisions. And the last thing that I ever want to do is sit on that porch one day and going, I wish I tried harder or I wish I gave that a go. I, it just scares the shit out of me. Time is currency for me. And I never want to be able to like screw around with that. - Yeah, and that's like for me as well, one of the things I struggle with, not struggle to understand, I can be empathetic because I, you know, I didn't come from, I've seen people that, you know, extremely switched on and hardworking, I've seen, you know, rich, I've seen all of it, right? But a lot of people will be like, you know, everyone will talk about these goals that they have for their lives, but some people for whatever reason do very little to make it happen. And it's like sometimes thinking about these, like if you really want it that bad, you should be able to find the momentum, the drive to make it happen. Like there's two things, like really simple things, like you said, it can be dramatic, that, you know, to me, if I ever think about, makes me, you know, almost feel sick and make me want to put in the work, there's like what we just spoke about, you and you, you know, deathbed or, you know, getting really old, talking about all the regrets and seeing and like, there's another one that's like, okay, imagine God, whatever God is for you, like showing you, like you're sitting there with that regret showing you, hey, this is actually what your life was meant to be. You're meant to go and do all these things and have this family and travel the world and do all these amazing things. You didn't do it, you know, I sent you all these signs to, you know, you know, make it happen or sticks to and people don't. And it's like, if you have, just think about that and sit with that, sit with that negative, you know, feeling like you said, sometimes sitting with the negative feelings can be great to springboard you into action. And there's another one as well. This went super viral a couple of years ago. It's like a clip from a Joe Rogan podcast, what he does when he's feeling like he's not motivated, he's like, all right, I imagine, like, at all times, wherever you are on your journey, like, imagine there's a documentary queue following you around and filming you as part of this is like, how you became this person. - Oh wow. - And it's like, so, okay, if you've got the documentary crew following you in this journey, how you're gonna act different, right? - Yeah. - To pretend there are. And like, there's so many different, like, little psychological hacks, but I feel like people just need to find whatever that is for them to make them fucking do it. And make them do it when they don't want to and make them not give up when it gets hard. 100%. Like, I wouldn't agree more. We have one life time. You never get time back. And I feel like sometimes people still treat time as if you get another chance of it. But you get to live today once, you get to live that hour once, that moment, everything once. Even if you get it a chance, that chance again, it doesn't, it's not gonna be the same as that moment, right? Own it. Like the worst case scenario is, is that it doesn't work out and you try something else. - Your one step closer though if it doesn't work out. - Great, you learned something. Like, I have had so many failed businesses. Millennium has been the most consistent, right? But every time something has failed, I've gone, "Oh, okay, I actually didn't like that, but hey, I gave it a go." So I waste money, yeah, but you know what, that's fine, I can earn it again. Or I learned to skill, I learned something about myself. I learned something about a friend who I thought was a friend, but actually wasn't, you know, they're all experiences that shape you. But the worst thing that you could possibly do is just sit still when there is something there that you want to do because you're only gonna regret it when somebody else does it before you. - Another quote that I heard once that sticks with me is, "Well, it makes me feel things." It's like, "You'll never be this young again." - Mm. - Yep. - "You'll never be this young again." - So true. - And like, people just sit around twilling their thumbs like, "One day, I'll get my act together "and I'll go and do all these things so I can, you know, "actually people think they can't live the life of their dreams. "Everyone can live the life of their dreams. "If there is a path to it for everyone, wherever you're starting." - Correct. - Right, one of the, you know, and people will be like, "Oh, that's a really privileged thing for you to say, well, okay, I didn't come from a lot of money, "but anyone in Australia is pretty privileged compared "to a lot of people in different parts of the world." Right, but look at, like, the XUSC heavyweight champion he started in Africa. He had to travel like Francis and Garno, he's got like a crazy story. He had to like cross so many borders in almost time, so many times, then he got through to Spain and he crossed and he went to all that process, then he went to like France and did his training, and then he went to like the biggest, one of the biggest sporting organizations in the world and became the heavyweight champion. Now he's fighting like the best boxes in the world. This guy came from, you know, some situation that people in Australia cannot even imagine how bad it was. And I know he's one extreme example, but like, listen to his story if you're curious about like that and see like, there's no limit, like you are in control of it. If you want it, there's a path for you to be successful and successful, doesn't need to be money. To me, success is happiness. Like just think about really, what do you want to do to your life? And you for you, like what do you want to spend your time doing? And I'm telling you there's a way to figure that out now. I want to ask you something kind of taken it back a bit. Yeah. On that advice piece now, just popped into my head when you were speaking about, you know, you sitting on your old rocking chair. If you could have a conversation with say a 15, 14, 15-year-old cast, you know, right before all of that sort of change has started to happen in your life, what would you say to her? Oh, question. I would probably say, my God, there are so many things that I would say. To sum it all up, I would probably say, you are loved, you deserve to be loved, and it will get better. Just hold on and just actually believe in yourself. Not too. Are you proud of how far you've come? Yeah, massively. Like I don't give myself enough credit for it sometimes, but I think like that's so typical when you're always in that world of goals, growth and everything like that. But 100%, like I don't think I ever thought when I was 10, 12, 14 or 15 that I would be where I'm at. I never thought I'd be able to say that I was in Forbes or I was listed at 24 as like a top 50s leader in Australia and all these other things. I never would have thought that. I probably would have laughed at you or gone your dreaming. But the courage and the confidence that I had, especially in my early 20s, it's driven me to where I am today. And I couldn't be more proud of the obstacles that I've overcome and the challenges. And I've done it all myself and I've had no help anyone. I've just had the self belief, the drive. People laughed at me when I started. And I'm, yeah, I'm, every time I think about it, I get a bit emotional, but yeah, I'm very proud of myself. And I'm very short 50 year old cast and be like, "Go, that's what you do." - I know. - Yeah. - Like, you couldn't have just chilled out a little bit, but hey, it's fine, yeah, proud of you. - Isn't that cool? What business can do? And not just business, but like, again, I don't want this to just be a business podcast, but like going through that, like business is like the best self development tool you can go through. Or chasing any dream. If you like want to be a singer or a dancer or any sort of musician or an athlete in whatever sport, like going after a proper dream, giving it everything you had, whether you get there or you get lessons along the way and your life takes it on different course. Generally, the pursuit of going after something you really, really want is I feel like it's one of the best, most human experiences you can have. - I am. - Some people don't, don't give them self that opportunity. One of the ways that people can give themselves the opportunity to live their life on their own terms in whatever view that they have for themselves is by building some sort of a personal brand in whatever niche industry it is, right? Now, we had a podcast go live at the end of last year about a lot about personal branding and it had a really, really good response. So I want to get your thoughts on that and obviously how people can, if they're just getting started, build a personal brand, or if they've been doubling a little bit and they want to take it a little bit more seriously, but before we get into the how, - Yep. - Why do you think personal brands are so important in 2024? - I think people are looking to connect with people. I think over time logos and products and everything like that have worked perfectly fine. But I think in the last few years, especially with the rise of the influencer, people have been wanting to know more about people behind the brand. They want to connect with that person, they want an emotional reason to buy from them and they want to feel like they're a part of something. And if you can be that person that is happy to talk about their story, your story and business, or even just allow people to feel like that they know you, even if they don't, they're going to be more willing to want to ride that roller coaster with you, not just within that one business, but with whatever else you do. And I think that is so powerful because it's having your own community who back you and they're like your own fans and they're just happy to be along for the ride. - Yeah. Like you said, when you walked in, you looked at you and you're like, "Look familiar." "Wherefrom?" Again, the success they've had telling, like, "Sure, some of the videos is about the product, but mainly it's about them and their journey as to a couple going through the challenges that life's thrown at them and building a business, but I'd say a smaller fraction is about them talking about the product. It's about people relating to people and one of my kind of things that I do in my spare time to completely unplug from business and unwind is like, I watch a little bit of sport media and around different themes. I might follow or sports and it's like, even in whatever niche, that's one that I'm interested in. So I can give you examples, but the creators that have built the biggest following to have the most success in that field, they aren't just the people delivering the news. It's like in that end, it's like people that are okay being themselves and showing their personality and having a laugh and like, same like you said, letting people get to know them because people can go find information in whatever different niche from anyone, but it's they want to connect with the human being. - Right. - So important. And then in 2024, and it's only going to become more and more important, I think, over the next few years, like the amount you can leverage off person of brands, like, look at Alex Hamazi, I saw a clip from him on a podcast. Yes, that I think was another one he did with Chris Woheemson, was saying that like, 'cause he's super successful, right? And he saw a couple years back, 'cause Alex Hamazi, no, Alex Hamazi. Oh, I'll show you, and you're gonna love him is the best. In terms of business, so good. He looked at himself and like, he saw Kylie Jenner became a billionaire and he's like, dude, like, clearly, I can have my own preconceived conceptions about her or whatever, then he's, you know, had this back and forth to himself, no, Chris has been building this for like, day or case, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then he realized, no, like, that's just me taking the easy way out and giving myself an excuse. Clearly, if she's a billionaire and I'm not, she's better than me at business and I need a figure out a way to do this. The thing that he was missing was personal brand. And the last two years, he's gotten really hard on Cantonese, built hundreds of thousands of followers, probably millions now across platforms. And like, now his businesses are, you know, infinitely more successful in doing bigger numbers than they were when he was an unknown. Even though he thought, you know, I just want to be a business person, I want to be famous. The amount he's been able to leverage off the back of some sort of, you know, following and his is business, but it can be whatever you're passionate about. - Yeah. - So it's like, it's no longer, are you in the best place to succeed in business if you're just a person behind the desk to know a nice? - 100%. Like Richard Branson is a really good example of this as well, right? - Elon and other one. - Yeah, like, think about it. Like, he has so many businesses. He has an aeroplane company, like a music production company. Like, so many different things going for him, but you don't think about a plane. You think Virgin, Richard Branson, right? You just, it's the associations right there, but then he's got his books and then everything else in between. Kylie Jenner, the Kardashians are a very great example. Whether you love them or not, and I know that's like the most common saying that's associated with them is they leveraged their name. - Man. - And whether you like them or not, you're probably gonna buy something from them regardless. You don't have to like the Kardashians, but there is just something about the brands that they've built that is such a cult. People have phoemote. They want to know, they want to, you know, get the product and feel it, how good is it? How shit is it? Either way, you're spending money. And in today's society, whether a personal brand doesn't even necessarily man you have to have 100,000 followers, right? - Not at all. - Just about building a brand that people can connect with and whether you've got 100 followers, 50 followers, a thousand, 20,000, 50,000, it's where those followers go. Where is your audience going with you? What journey are you taking on? Are you trying to be an expert? Are you trying to be a person? Like what are you giving them to want them to want to participate in your own personal brand? For me personally, it has nothing to do with PR. Like it's a place, it's part of one of my content themes. But for me, I've then got multiple different layers within that that make Cassandra Cassandra. And I don't ever just want to be labeled as a businesswoman or a publicist. For me, there are so many other different categories for me that I want people to experience about my life. And if you are getting started, I always tell people, remove you outside of, remove yourself from it and kind of think about all of the different things that make you, you, that you find interesting about yourself. If you can't find that, go and ask people around you. Now, tell them you don't want to be criticized, like firstly. But simply ask them, like in the last 12 months, what are some things that you've noticed about me? What do I talk about? What do you find that I get most passionate about? Like I love food. What do you love? I talk about my food all the time. If you're on my Instagram, every second photo is food. What's a consistent theme in your life that people can connect to that then relate to you? And then they can then interact with you how you want them. You can then create a narrative about yourself that you can control as well. But it's all about people wanting to participate in your journey. But why should they participate? So once they've kind of got a bit of an understanding about who they are or how they want to be seen and built, so how do people start building a following? Once they've kind of got a good understanding of their values and what they want to be known for and who they are. Well, from a social media perspective, I can only tell you what I did back then that worked for me. And I can only say that because I still have followers from when I had my old blog back in the day still following me. So that's a really strong evidence like that. That's 10 years ago. It's crazy, right? Like that people still follow me. So like back then, and things that I still carry on with me till today is the fact that I'm just authentic. I'm who I am. I don't try and play a persona. But I basically told my story through the lens of a camera or in the media perspective, when I'm speaking to business owners, I give my expertise in my industry. Or I, for example, when I was in Forbes, I spoke about my bullying and those experiences but how it developed business skills. So I find ways like I can even integrate my personal life and my business life to come together. Think about who you are and just start sharing who you are online. Let people get to know you. If you've got some interesting story, if your starting's a company app, share that story online, the experiences, the highs, the lows, let people see that if you are going on a date night with your partner. Put that up there too if your partner's happy to participate. If he's not then maybe do a day in your life of what it's like to be you. What are the things that make you interesting? Just find those things and then just start posting in trial. It's all about trial and error and then audit. Big thing that I tell all my clients is audit your personal brand. Look at the things that your happy worth was performing well. Look at your audience. Are they the people that you want following you? No, okay, then something in your strategy might need to change. What might that be? Look at the needs of your audience as well and then start going where are they? Predict what challenges they might be facing as well in the next couple of months. And see if you can find a way to create content as well that will be able to support them. We'll give them information now before that happens. Yeah, that's really great advice. And I think like the part that you said there, just like test things and try things and don't be afraid to fail. But the most important thing is don't be afraid to start. Yeah, just start. If you can start, if you've got a brand new page, if just post your first nine, you know, post or you'll do it every day for a month and then you'll create the habit and then how long it took you to think about one plan and judge yourself. If you just do it every day for a month, second month is going to be so much easier. And then by the third month is going to be so much easier. And then like you've seen we just had Kenny on my bricks. He was on a couple of weeks ago on the podcast. He did like this challenge. I don't know. He didn't have many followers at all. Did this 90 day challenge, you know, 100, you want a 10,000 followers in 100 days. We had him on the podcast on the 100th day. I mean, he didn't have any hit it. And now like not even a month later, I think he's like 16,000. He's incredible. Because he just like, you know, he was never that, you know, content face person didn't necessarily want to do that. But he's like, I feel like that's really going to help take my life and my business forward and he done it. And now there has also been crazy and it's helped their business grow as well. So I think just starting it and like not judging yourself throughout the process and being okay with, you know, this one might get only 20, 20 likes. But then if you keep going and you 2020 and then you might get one 50 and then you get one 300, then one goes by and you got thousands. Like you won't get to that point without just trying. And like I think like you said, like people are attracted to like the real raw human experience. So just don't fake be you be authentic and you'll find you tried by doing that. I really do believe that now when I ask you a couple last questions before we wrap up, one of them I got asked was something that got submitted on the Q and A pod that I did. Last episode on the podcast was really interesting. And I want to ask you because I thought I hadn't been asked that before. What's one thing that you've changed your mind about? Like what's the biggest thing issue topic? Whatever that you've changed your mind about over the last few years? That's actually a very good question. And it's something you never ever come across. Huh? Something I have changed my mind about. I ticked off. So I used to always just be a scroller, never a poster. So and like I've completely changed my mind in terms of where I need to be. So I'm on there now. I'm posting content. What was the resistance to that before? Um, honestly, I just felt like I didn't know enough about the platform. I loved getting learning from it. I loved being on it. I love discovering new brands on there, but I never really like understood the platform in itself. So I have just recently changed my mind about it, done some education and like research around it. And I've only just recently started posting on there. And like I can understand the power and the benefit of TikTok when you are a business owner. And for those that haven't started, you think it's too late to get onto TikTok or you think there's a lot of opportunity. I don't think it's ever too late to do something. It's just about doing it and then just give it a red hot shot and see and just stay consistent with it. Like I feel like that's how TikTok will reward you, right? Like the more consistent you are on there, more you post, you know, it will reward you with views and pushing your profile out there. So it's actually a very good like psychological trick to keep you going to be honest. Yeah. Yeah. Now, in terms of first time founders, like people always have different advice, but you've been a founder with many different businesses yourself, being in kind of that PR, publicist, agency land, you've worked with a lot of first time founders as well. Do you have like one piece of advice that you give to people that are in the process of thinking about starting their first business? Have a strategy. I, anytime I have felt like I have been clouded or anytime I have asked like a business owner, like what's your strategy and they've come back to me saying, I don't have one. I'm like, go to a strategy together because when you have a strategy or lack a plan of some kind that has your goals and everything there that you want on paper, you can go back to it and obviously it will change over time, but it will help you stay clear. It will help you keep focused and it will help you when those challenging times where you not sure how you're going to push through or you are challenged by where you might want ahead. Personally, my one, it keeps me grounded. Yeah. Now, I want to put you on the spot here. This would be kind of the last question before we really wrap up. I want to get you to make a prediction if you can what you're saying. Now, you might not have anything top of mind or you might have started to see some trends emerge back end of 2023 or since you've been back in the office this year, but is there any like industries or niches or types of products or types of restaurants that you think are really going to overperform or have like a bit of a breakout year. Do you see anything that you think that's that's growing and something's happening? I think from the hospitality sector, I think sensory experiences where it's entertainment and dining coming together as one is going to play a major role in the hospitality sector this year. I think that's going to change a lot. I feel like from what I'm saying, it's going to become very like New Yorkie, like Manhattan e, not that I've been there. So I'm going off basically all the movies that I've watched. It's not so much fun. You've got to get over there. It's on the list. But I feel like that's going to start happening. The club saying I feel like isn't as strong as what it used to be. So that's how especially I think millennials these days are referencing their dining experience. Product, I think once again, personal branding, integrating product is going to keep going that way, especially with TikTok and video content, storytelling. But yeah, I think they're the two major roles for me. Yeah, it's really good answers. I think it's all that sensory kind of dining experiences. Yeah, makes a lot of sense. Well, just like I just see it's not just a dining experience. You're not going out for dinner anymore. Like you're going to a place that has a, you want to go to a place that has bars, excitement. It's not just about the food. Yeah, okay. The Instagram, you part, plays a part in it. But it's the activation that comes with that dining experience, whether it's music or a fancy like a steam coming out of like the big unveil with food. Or it could be whatever it is, but it's not just dinner anymore. Rethinking dining experience. Yeah, correct. Like I'm sure we'll start finding clubs within restaurants again before we know it. And yeah, well, there you go. If you're thinking of getting into hospitality, there's something up your sleeve. If you want to differentiate yourself from what most people are doing, I think that makes a lot of sense to me. And now for you, like what are some of your goals for this year that you're trying to achieve and work on? This one's TikTok. That's like big one. I'm like listening to what you said before. I'm like, yeah, maybe like 10,000 followers in like 60 days. Maybe I'll set that challenge for myself. But for me, my goals right now is just to stay consistent. I want to just keep going and stay consistent. I really want to get my own personal brands more out there as well. But I'd say those three are my biggest ones. Consistency in every area of my life at the moment. Yeah, yeah. And I need to do the same with you. I feel like that's like a big thing for everybody at the stage. I don't know. I don't know as well. I feel like it's like part of it is like our age. Like we weren't the time of graphic going to start. And it's already so busy doing what I do. Everyone's like, oh, you're so consistent. Like, yeah, with some things. But I've also been telling myself like, I'm going to take TikTok seriously. Yeah. I don't know. This might be the 30 year in a row. But 100% I'm doing it. And then the best place for anyone that wants to get more information on you or follow along with your journey, where's the best place they can find you and what you're working on? Just on Instagram, either at my Linear Communications or Cassandra.hilly. Awesome. Well, thanks, Cass. That was great. Thank you so much for coming in. I'm excited. This will go out next week so people will be hearing this really, really soon. So appreciate it. So excited. Thank you so much for having me on. You're welcome. All right, guys. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode or you've got something out of it, do yourself a favor. Do me a favor. Do your friends a favor and share this with them. And they can come along on this journey with us. Thanks again. And I'll see you next time. [BLANK_AUDIO]