Episode 424: Cassie LaMere of Cassie LaMere Events
In this episode, we dive into the world of event planning with Cassie LaMere, founder of Cassie LaMere Events. Cassie shares her journey from a childhood passion for entertaining to creating unforgettable experiences for luxury clients. Tune in!
You'll Learn How To:
The initial leap from corporate to entrepreneurship
Mindset shifts and overcoming self-doubt
Balancing creativity and logistics
Building trust and collaboration with clients
Integrating personal life
The importance of intentionality and creating memorable experiences
Balancing creativity and practicality in business
Importance of self-care and taking time off
Effective marketing channels and strategies for luxury services
The role of social media in event marketing
Building and nurturing client and vendor relationships
Handling starstruck moments and maintaining professionalism
The value of time and making mindful business decisions
Defining personal and professional success
The ripple effect of events on communities and small businesses
Importance of expanding inspiration outside one's industry
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Connect and get in touch with My Daily Business:
Travel is a big source of inspiration for me. It's also where I can step away and it helps free me up creatively. Often, I will come up with solutions or ideas when I walk away from something for a little bit. I do think it's helpful to remember that you don't always have to be, you're still working, you're still producing, even if you're not at your desk or on a call when you're in this type of role.
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Welcome to episode 424 of the My Daily Business Podcast. Today isn't a small business interview. Honestly, this was such a fun and interesting conversation with somebody I did not know before this, I got to know them, and I thought they were amazing. After we finished recording, we were like, “Let's catch up.” Let's continue to catch up. This was great. Before we get stuck into that amazing interview, I want to first acknowledge where I'm coming from and acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of these lands. And that is the Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. And I pay my respects to their elders, past, and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that we get so many emails after Group Coaching has finished each time saying, I didn't realise when it closes. If you're interested in group coaching, please go over to mydailybusiness.com/groupcoaching and you can find out all the information about when the next program is starting. You can apply and join the waitlist if there's a waitlist, but go over there and check it out because you don't want to get in touch with us later this year and it's already closed. If you are interested in Group Coaching, then please go over to mydailybusiness.com/groupcoaching and you can find all the information there. If you've got any questions, you can always just email us at hello@mydailybusiness.com. Let's get into today's interview episode.
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Have you ever stalked celebrity events and thought, every single item on this event is just so considered? Every single angle from all these different Instagram shots is just beautiful. And you've wondered, how do these things come together? Today's guest knows exactly how, because she is often the person behind all of these magical milestone events, whether it's somebody's wedding, whether it is a special birthday, a celebration of some huge business or work achievement or something else. She is the person who coordinates and creates these dream luxurious events for celebrities and all sorts of people around the world. Who is she? She is Cassie LaMere, the founder of Cassie LaMere Events. Cassie has worked in this industry for a long time, has seen it all, has dealt with it all, and today is talking about how she started her business, and how she remains calm under pressure.
I imagine that any event is stressful, but when you're dealing with people who have huge budgets that they're putting into this and potentially also massive celebrities with massive followings, everything has to be perfect. How do you maintain your composure? How do you maintain your stress levels in a high-stress, high-pressure environment? Like these sorts of events? We also talk about where Cassie sources inspiration from because these are next-level events. If you ever watch any of these shows where they're doing these massive birthday parties or massive things where you're like, every single thing has been thought of, then it always has to be next level. It always has to be beautiful. How does Cassie find the inspiration for them, but also keep it connected to the people behind the event? How do you make sure that it is individual to them?
As Cassie talks about when people show up, they're like, this is so them. They have nailed it. It's not cookie-cutter. It looks exactly how this person imagined, but also brings to life the things that are important to that person or people that are having the event. We had so much fun doing this conversation. I have to say that Cassie was staying for the evening to record this. She's in the US. I was up early we were coming at it from different time zones, but had such a wonderful conversation and I hope you enjoy this and get as much from it as I did. Here is my interview with Cassie LaMere from Cassie LaMere Events.
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Welcome to the podcast, Cassie. How are you feeling about life right now?
It depends on the day. But no, I'm super blessed and grateful to be here with you and I'm just excited about the opportunity to connect and have a dialogue. This is a great way to wrap up my day here in the States as you start your day. I think that it's fun we're on both ends of the spectrum. Getting to have a chance to sit down is so it's a nice way to wrap up my day. Thank you for taking the time.
Thank you. As we were talking about before we hit record, you could be off enjoying your evening and you're spending it with us. Thank you. I appreciate it. Let's talk about your business. Can you tell us a bit about your background and then what inspired you to start Cassie LaMere Events?
I was born ready to entertain. I came out of the womb wanting to plan parties and make every occasion special. It truly is something that's just been intrinsically in me for as long as I can remember. And there are family videos of me as a kid, like setting the table and planning menus and wanting to choose dress codes for Thanksgiving and bake a cake. It just seems to be in my nature to want to make everything over the top on a special occasion. It was natural that I sought out a path in my career, in planning events and experiences. I worked in luxury fashion and lifestyle brands for many years, handling their experiential in-house for some well-known, celebrated brands. Through cutting my teeth in LA and then moving to Austin, I'm now over 15 years into working in this space then decided five years ago to go forward and start my own company, which was a long-term goal.
Something that I had been aspiring to. As a natural progression in our line of work, you eventually go into more of a consulting role or start your own firm. It was an opportunity that I seized when I was speaking on a panel someone approached me after the panel and asked me to plan their event. It was like the proof of concept I needed that someone was interested in our services outside of me being dedicated to one brand and in-house for so many years. It gave me that little nudge that I needed to just go forward and say yes figure out the rest and let things fall into place. But like I said, I've always sought out these opportunities to care for others and to be in this space of creating events and experiences. And then we also through my career I've pursued marketing and have dual degrees and events and marketing. I do think we have a pretty well-rounded perspective coming to our projects that's a little bit unique and differentiates us just from the journey that I've been on and the opportunities that I've had leading up to now having my own agency.
I know I'm going off the cuff, but having worked with huge brands and doing theirs, and I'm just talking from my own experience, I worked with huge brands like Amazon and Audible, and there's a big one here in Australia country, contrary or group. And then when I went on my own, it was terrifying because I was like, I don't have the brand. Like I'm not marketing myself as the brand. It's easy to detach yourself a little bit. But you have your name in your brand name as well, I had that as well, it was Fiona Killackey Consulting. How did you feel doing that? And was it just this person came up at the end of the panel and you were like, good to go, I've got somebody lined up?
What were any mindset shifts that you had to have? Because there'll be lots of people listening to this that are in that exact period right now where they're on the cusp of like, I could do this for myself. Was there anything that you had to get right in your mindset? Or was it just, I'm just going to do this and let's get a couple of rungs under the belt and then I'll feel more excited or not even excited, more confident? Or did you just feel confident from day one?
I felt confident in my work, in my abilities and in the role that I was in, I had a lot of autonomy and creative direction and I had a team of people who worked with me under my leadership. I felt like I had the experience and I had the ability to even be doing more than I was doing. There was this desire to explore what else is possible. I loved being dedicated to one brand for so many years, but I was ready for the diversity of being able to bring on different types of projects and use different creative muscles. It was difficult because in a lot of ways that job was my dream job and that's why I stuck with it for so long and I was so grateful for that opportunity.
But it was the caveat to getting me to where I was ready to start my own agency. But as far as a mindset, it was something I was at this crossroads. I'd been considering this idea for several months about starting my own agency and there's a lot of anxiety and fears that go with that and self-doubt. Certainly, there's never a right time. I think the vote of confidence that I got from an organic source just helped me have a little bit of a boost of like, I already know I have something secured, so if I go out on my own, I at least have one project locked in. I have no clue. I have no contracts, I have no brand, and I have to figure all of these things out and fast because it was a pretty tight turnaround on this event in particular, but it almost made me just dive in feet first and figure it out, which is the complete opposite of how I normally operate.
I'm a planner. I want to have all my ducks in a row and I want to have all the pros and cons considered. But I do believe in a quote about, don't be surprised how quickly the universe will move when you decide on a direction. When you finally just make, instead of living in this limbo of the unknowns and the uncertainties, you make a decision, whatever that decision is, I think things start to reveal themselves to you. And doors start to open up when you make that intention known. I did very much experience that myself once I finally decided to go for it. I always told myself if it didn't work out, I could go back to corporate and be with these large brands. Because I'd had that experience.
But I felt pretty strongly about just wanting to design my own life and what that looked like for me as far as what success was, how I wanted to spend my time, and the types of projects I wanted to be working on. I felt empowered in a way to be able to explore that. But also, talk about this a lot, and I don't know if you experienced this as well, but when you start your own business, you have to be prepared to go back to one on one on certain things. Because I feel like typically when you reach this point in your career, there's a certain level of mastery you have with your job. And within your industry. You feel very competent like I was speaking to earlier in, in the capacity and functions of your job, but then when you start your own business, there's all of these other pieces that come with it that are a learning curve.
A lot of ways you have to go back to square one. It was somewhat discouraging to me at times because I was frustrated with the fact that I didn't know how to do something or I wasn't feeling successful in those operational pieces. I mean, I still face that daily. There are always things that we have to solve and figure out when you have to wear so many hats. But I have to remind myself to approach things from a growth mindset and realise that if there's something I don't know or I'm challenged with, it means that I'm learning and I'm growing and thinking of it and reframing it and that positive outlook can help keep you motivated to figure it out.
That's such an important point that you bring up because it reveals itself constantly. And even with new marketing platforms and trying to figure things out, it's like, this is different to what I've been doing. And even when I started this podcast I was like, do I read everything that I say? Do I just say it? What do I do? What if my voice is too fast? Like all these things, because you've never done it before. But yes, as you said, you're learning. Then tell us about that first event that you ever planned and what did you learned from that experience.
The first event I ever planned, besides all of my childhood, was my high school prom. I think is funny to look back on. I think that was the first moment where I was fully responsible for an event experience and learned a lot about being creative with the resources that were available to me the importance of this is something that's a milestone something that is a core memory for people. I felt this responsibility to make it as special and wonderful as it could be. That wasn't necessarily something where I was compensated for doing it. But that was a very early-on event that I planned. As I said, I just continued to seek opportunities to be in that space. Someone asked me this question recently, and it's difficult for me to remember the origin story of the first event I did.
I know the first event I did once I started my company when the one that I was approached with, and that was a philanthropic event for an organisation with a Marques celebrity talent entertainer, which was exciting for me to have our first event with someone that was Grammy Award-winning I felt like right out the gate that was an exciting accomplishment for us, an achievement for us. It was fast and furious, getting up to speed and executing that event. Learned a lot of lessons. I was still in a lot of ways like figuring out process and structure and how we do things on our own. The event was very successful, but I got some real in-the-trenches training, trial by fire on that first event. I will forever be grateful to that client, for entrusting us and seeing the potential and that we had to be a collaborator with them. That set us off on then from there, just opportunities continued to come in and I think like we haven't stopped running since.
Yes. The pressure that must be on the prom organising from all your friends, because as far as I understand being here in Australia, and I'm basing it literally off TV shows, your prom is like your senior year formal, we would call it a formal like a dance. I guess. Yes. I would imagine that that would probably be one of the most high-pressure things that you've organized because that is like, it is a milestone event for people and they'll remember it forever. How awesome that your school also allowed you to do that for them. In terms of your family, when you said I was always doing this from a very young age, did you grow up in a very creative family? You are very creative, but also I think events, it's both the creative and the incredible art and artwork that comes with planning an event, but also very structured and systems and you've got both sides of the brain working. Was your family super creative and did they inspire this artistic side of you?
I think you said that perfectly. I had the best of both worlds. I grew up with a very creative mom, who taught me a lot about design, taught me everything I know about the art of gift-giving. Always made everything special and over the top. And then I grew up with a father who was in systems in logistics. I got that perspective as well. Like you said, both sides of the brain. And both are so essential to the work that we do. I'm grateful for the influence and mentorship that they gave me and without even necessarily realising they were doing that. But I got to witness both of those ways of approaching projects.
Also, I grew up in a family that was, I'm the fourth generation of women and a hospitality in my family. Recently, we just had Mother's Day in the US and thinking a lot about the impact that had on my upbringing and just seeing the matriarchs of my family always making sure that everyone's well cared for, and often being in that host role of hosting holidays and ensuring that we honour traditions and having those memories and those secret family recipes. My great-grandmother had a restaurant for over 30 years. And was present in the daily operations and the kitchen while raising six kids.
My grandmother and my mother grew up in the restaurant as well. There is this extension of hospitality and entertaining in my family where I saw a lot of examples growing up of what it meant to gather and to celebrate and to mark those occasions. Our mission is designing events for our life well lived. To me, that means at the end of our lives, I think our memories are rooted in experiences. When you look back on your life, I want you to have had those moments where you've seized the opportunity to say like, remember the time we did x? Remember the time we got to go to that destination and celebrate your 50th birthday? Or remember the time we went to that private concert and got to see our favourite artists? And the fact that we can facilitate and create those experiences for people is like, what's so motivating to me.
I also think I have to be an example of that in my own life. I have to fall in love with my life. I have to be on a mission, like I said earlier, to design the life that I want. The examples my family set for me were very much about like intentionality, and although they didn't necessarily work in events Ye my mom decorated for every holiday and worked in fashion and visual merchandising. A lot of what I've learned about creating environments and displays came from her. Certainly that had a lot of influence. But then also, again, it was something that I was just so interested in and spent a lot of my time seeking out to learn more about different cultures, different art forms, and culinary experiences that were more me just like always being drawn to that sense of discovery. It's pretty cool that they've had that imprint in their own way.
Yes, and can I ask if your family always ask you to do all the events, they're like, “She'll do it.” It's my son's birthday. Are you just always the go-to in the family now?
I would say it's my turn. Like the baton has been passed and I'm also still a newlywed. My husband and I got married about a year and a half ago now. I still consider it a newlywed. We're in that exciting season of life where now we're starting to host some of the holidays and form our traditions. It's a special time to take on that role and continue those moments of gathering and celebrating in our family as the women in my life have set that example previously. Also figuring out what that looks like, and what that means for me too. And my iteration of that. Yes, I am often on duty, and that's okay.
Congrats again on the wedding. I think it's so important, and especially when you get married as well you're also honouring the traditions of your in-laws and that family side. My parents have both passed away, but one of the ways we honour my mother is that she exactly sounds like your family, like an abundance of food, an abundance of celebrations. Even though we didn't have family in Australia, because we all immigrated here, it was the best day ever for everyone in the family when it was someone's birthday because everyone liked to celebrate and do all the things. I do that now with my young children as well. I've married into an Indian family, they've got their own culture and tradition and they also, I think our families are so alive because we both celebrate all the things and food is a huge part of both families.
I just love it. Your brand ethos is so important and it's so lovely that you can then, I'm guessing, bring everything in the business back to that metric of have we lived up to this being something that people will remember. On that then, how do you approach collaboration and client work? What are the parts that you most enjoy when you can work with clients and push the creative boundaries? How does that work? Because again, there are lots of people that will be reading this whether it's that they make furniture and they want to try something a bit different and want to have clients that trust them to that point. Because trust is a huge part of your relationship with people. Can you talk about that?
Trust is essential and it takes time to build that relationship and that trust. I am grateful that a lot of our clients now allow us to operate as an extension of them and have the confidence that we understand how they think and what their expectations are. But that is a journey that has been accomplished over a significant amount of time. For a lot of our clients, we're their agency of record for all of their events, whether it's their company's events or their private events. Because a lot of 'em are CEOs or entrepreneurs in their own right. When they work with us, we get to be a part of any time that they entertain or host an event, which is a real privilege. But I think you have to know your audience.
I'm not going to go and pitch something to a client that is just not in alignment with who they are or the guests that are going to be in attendance, even though there's maybe something that I've been wanting to do creatively. I do think it's key to know who your audience is, who your host is, and what they're looking to accomplish. We start from a place of like, what are the goals and outcomes that you want from this experience? Then we work backwards to build an event that supports that. But what I love about the clients that we get to work with is that a lot of them are also innovators and business leaders in their own right. I do think that we have the opportunity to think expansively with our clients. A lot of those conversations are, “What if we did this?”
A lot of yes. And conversations where we've got this energy going and we're bouncing ideas back and forth, and the ideas are becoming bigger and better. I do enjoy that part of the creative process. And then the clients trust us to let us run and to make something. They know that we're going to make something even better than what they could have imagined. But early on, when we're having that opportunity to talk about what's important to them, our clients value. They want something that's custom, something that they haven't seen before. They've had a lot of exposure, they've seen a lot and done a lot. It's challenging for us to continually come to the table with new ideas and to raise the bar and exceed those expectations that they're coming into the project with.
But I personally thrive in that and being able to personalise experiences and make sure that we have a clear understanding of the purpose of why we're doing this event, whether it's a corporate event, a social event, or it's a wedding. And honing in on, again, I go back to this like, idea of intentionality, I think that's essential to our events and what makes them resonate with attendees is because you're forming this connection and there's this emotion around the experience and what's been planned that when guests interact with that, I think you, you have a different experience and walk away with a different feeling than having just been at an event where it's your formulaic, typical cookie cutter. We've checked the boxes, but there's more to it than that.
Going back to this idea of creating the ultimate experience, making something that is going to live on, because events are very ephemeral. They come and go so quickly, I work on something for a year and a half, and it's over in three hours. That's going to be devastating in ways because there's so much time thought and detail that's gone into an event. It has to have, it has to live on. And knowing that it does become something that people will reflect on and talk about makes it so meaningful for the work that we do. I think that just thinking about the vent as a living, breathing thing how it evolves and how those ideas come to fruition. And then the guests add a lot to that experience too. Like they're that element that makes it come alive.
It comes alive with the guests. I get to work with some pretty amazing clients who allow us to innovate and leave people better than we found them, which is important to me. I also think for our clients, I believe as a business owner, you have to have the ability to deliver on what you've promised. That's essential to the relationships that we've maintained it's one thing to sit in these meetings and put these proposals and talk about all of these concepts and what we're going to do, but you have to deliver. More often than not, a lot of times people just can't, follow through. I do think that is where relationships are, it's a make-or-break moment. Going forward a client might say, I don't know that that's someone I would continue working with. It's just important to us that we're delivering on everything that we've promised and all, like I said, hopefully exceeding expectations as well.
If people want to go and check out your website, which we'll talk about more in a second, you go on your website and the detail in the photos, as you have thought of every little thing. And like you said, that planning of that may take a year and a half and then it's all over in a couple of hours. I remember having my wedding, I remember just at the end being like, that's it. It's like, it's come to the time that we have to leave. How did that happen so quickly? And that was like 18 years ago. But it's perfection. The way that you are thinking of all these little things, and even from somebody just looking at your website, I can't imagine how much actual work goes into that.
Then how do you manage to have a personal life? You've got a relationship, I'm sure you've got friends and you've got like this close family. How do you integrate that with the level of detail and work that is going into multiple people's events at any one time? I've worked in marketing and in teams where I've managed PR and events and they might be doing a couple of events, not huge events, and not with big brand names and things, but even that there are so many little things that go wrong at the last minute and things that have to be fixed behind the scenes and phone calls late at night. How do you manage it all?
I try to take things and approach things day by day. It is a challenge to stay present. That's something that I'm always actively working on because I am constantly focused on the future in these timelines ahead. This event's in six months, this event's in a year, and I'm working, I'm spending more time talking about 2025 than I am about 2024. At times, you lose sight of the space that you're in and the time that you're in. I think I'm tasking myself with finding ways to stay present. It is a 24/7 job like you said, and there are no office hours or off hours, especially when you own your own business. I certainly haven't figured it all out and if anyone has I'm always looking for advice, but I do try to prioritise time to be a new wife.
I'm a new dog mom too. We got a dog recently we're pet parents now and trying to find times for quality time with them and also prioritising wellness, which can be a challenge as well, just with the pace and the schedule. Also, our schedule is a lot of nights and weekends and holidays and times when people are off when they want to have events. When everyone else is on holiday or on a break, we're often working. Then offsetting if possible sometime during the week to do life things. Things that you need to get to that normally you would get done on a weekend. And wellness is something that I'm constantly trying to fit in and I know the benefits of that for me physically and mentally, because it is very high pressure and a lot of high expectations. Also, travel. Travel is a big source of inspiration for me. It's also where I can step away and it helps free me up creatively. Often, I will come up with solutions or ideas when I walk away from something for a little bit. I do think it's helpful to remember that you don't always have to be, you're still working, you're still producing, even if you're not at your desk or on a call when you're in this type of role. I don't know if you've had a similar experience.
I feel like, in terms of brains, I remember having a look at things called the alpha waves, or I think somebody would probably correct me, but you have to have alpha waves before big ideas hit, but you can only get to alpha waves when you're in a state of relaxing. That's why you sometimes have the best ideas, like when you're having a shower or going for a walk. Or doing something else like when you've just exercised and your brain feels good, rather than yes, sitting at your desk or forcing yourself to go through things. I also feel like people don't necessarily think about time off in terms of just a small amount of time. Some of my clients, there's no way I could shut my shop for a week.
I'm like, you don't have to shut for a week. What if you just took Thursday mornings off and you just went to work a bit later? Just give yourself that little bit of relaxing time and time to take in things or even you are very creative and I'm often saying to clients who are in that very you put out so much creativity, but who is filling up your creativity? Do you go to art galleries? Do you watch the movies? You mentioned, and I know from research on you that you've worked with lots of big brands and big names, and you mentioned your very first event in your own business was you had a Grammy-winning performer there. Those sorts of events and those names I imagine help get your name out there. But what other marketing has helped you gain that brand awareness? Also which marketing channels do you choose? Do you go, we're visual, we're all over Instagram. How do you make those decisions?
I think when you're in a luxury service business, it's all about referrals. Within this luxury network in this circle of influence, luxury and ultra-luxury for us truly, it has been a lot of referrals and word of mouth and people put a lot of stakes and trust in someone's personal endorsement. That's been so valuable and a lot of our clients that we've worked with for many years have been generous in continuing to make those introductions for us. I also think our events are our marketing. The experience that a guest has at our event, I can't imagine a better opportunity for exposure. It's not only about the client, but it's also about who's attending the event and the opportunity to make an impression and reach all of those guests and have the opportunity to experience what it is that we can do.
Because sometimes it's difficult to paint that picture. Or to articulate that vision. That's certainly a wonderful gift when we have the opportunity for people to attend our events. But as far as marketing platforms, I try to think about places where I can share inspiration and tips because it's important to me to be able to take the expertise and knowledge that we've crafted over so many years of working in events and share that and not gatekeep that information. I want to be in an environment and on a platform where we can have that dialogue, where we can make those connections. I also think if we can build a community that's more what I am personally pursuing at this point and what I'm prioritising because there's more than I can do.
There are more outlets and more platforms and I just simply don't have the capacity at all. A lot of us don't without full teams of people. And I've been in roles where I've had full teams of people, and as you said, you've managed full departments, so I think I have to be mindful about choosing a few things and doing them well and not trying to be in too many places because I don't think that that will ultimately have the outcomes that I'm looking for if I am not consistent with my presence or it's not in alignment with my brand and my standards for the brand. Yes, Instagram is a great tool because of the visual component and we have so many great images to share from our events.
I've put a lot of work and resources into that over the last couple of years and trying to feel somewhat more successful. Although, that's another thing that's like a moving target all the time. Just when you think you haven't figured out something changes right now you have to create reels, so I have done that. And then there are a few key places where I do feel our niche and our audiences that I try to have a presence. But we're very fortunate for opportunities like this too, where we can sit down, I'm more interested in having a meaningful conversation. Then like putting our logo on something.
I just feel like opportunities to connect with other thought leaders and to talk about our point of view whether that's in a publication or through a podcast is where I'm interested in like investing my time and resources because I think that, I take as away as much from it and learn from you and, and learn from our conversation. That's currently the phase that we're in. But we've also been, we've been given some amazing press coverage, which I'm so honoured and humbled by from some well-known publications. That's always a very surreal experience, to see your events in a publication and we've established some relationships in those spaces as well that have been very fruitful for us.
I have lots of questions, but do you ever stop and just go, or do you ever find yourself at an event and be like, I am in charge of this? I created this, or anything where you just pinch yourself and think, I did this. I've written two books. The second book will come out later this year, but the first time I saw the book in a shop, I was so excited. I wanted to like, touch the woman next to me and be like, like tap her and be like, “This is my book.” This is me. I dread it. I was so excited. Do you ever get like that? I know you've got like the go and you're there and you're doing your job, but do you ever stop and be like, I am in someone's house who is a celebrity, or I am doing this, or a Grammy award-winning person is singing at an event that I organised? Do you ever just pinch yourself?
All the time. I love that, I have aspirations to someday have a book. Kudos to you for having published two books. That's a huge endeavour undertaking. I do at our events, lately, I've been trying to be a little bit more mindful of being present and stopping for a moment to just take it all in and savour that feeling at that moment. But it is difficult to do so because you're caught up in everything that you're managing and running around. But for me, when it hits home is when I see the images and the videos from the event, like post-event, when the photographers and videographers send the galleries. That's the moment where I get blown away, like, look at what we did and where I have the time and the opportunity to sit down and study it and see the visual representation of what we've created. That's a special and exciting moment for me. I think that's where it will finally hit me or sink in, and I will often get emotional at that point because that's where you're seeing all of it come together and the fruition of what you had created. And that never gets old for me.
Can I ask, I feel a bit silly asking this, but do you ever get starstruck by the people that you're working with?
Of course, that's one thing. Having worked in LA, taught me a lot about being in the room with notables and celebrities and because it happened all the time, when I would be working an event, I worked a lot of gifting suites at award shows and fashion week with I've got to do LA and New York Fashion Week. I've been fortunate to have that exposure. Because I try to just treat them like anyone else. I think they appreciate that. They know that you know who they are. But to avoid being awkward or to, it's also this weird dynamic. It's the same thing with social media when you meet someone in real life that you've known on social media and you feel like you know so much about them, but you don't know them.
I usually just try to introduce myself, be gracious and have a genuine conversation. But inside, of course, I'm freaking out or fangirling. But I do, in my experience, people have been more receptive when you approach them from that human level. There's certainly, I've dealt with people who have had egos or have been more difficult in their personalities and demands because that comes with the territory too. But for sure, I hope that will always phase me. I'll never lose that, because I think it's important to maintain humility in our line of work. I think that one of the things that's contributed to our success in our relationships is I'm always coming from a place of like, I'm here to be of service. I'm here to make our hosts shine and make them look good. It's not about me. It's about the experience. That's the same to say for, the opportunity to get to work with leaders in various industries, it's always just this, approaching it from a place of humbleness is important and that makes people feel welcomed and disarms them a little bit.
At the end of the day, they all use the bathroom. They're all human. They are not normal people. I used to do the social column for a major newspaper here before social media. Because every celebrity that came to Melbourne, I would be profiling them on the back page of the newspaper. I remember just meeting people. I remember one Cate Blanchett took my breath away because she was so beautiful in real life. She's so beautiful and she was just so gracious. But you just think they're normal people. They sweat, they're trying to eat something quickly, they're trying to make sure something's not in their teeth, like all the things. Because you sound like you've got a lot of drive and ambition yourself, but did you have any mentors or even books or tools that have helped you in your business journey?
Certainly, There have been many influential people along the way who continue to support and be my cheerleaders and sounding boards and a lot of strong female leaders too, which has been a wonderful example for me. Finding women that are about recognising the talent and others and building them up and giving them the tools they need to thrive and be successful and not, looking at not coming from a place of competitiveness, which I've certainly had as well. I've stood on the shoulders of many to get where I am and current books that I'm loving Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara is one that I'm enjoying and highlighting and earmarking pages. He was the GM of 11 Madison Park for many years, as well as some other excellent restaurants within the Danny Meyers Hospitality group.
I've enjoyed his ability to put into words, the intentionality, the thoughtfulness that goes behind the level of experiences that we create and why it's important. I found that one. I also love The Art of Gathering. It’s another great book by Priya Parker where she talks a lot about not approaching events from a standpoint of formula, but thinking about why we're doing this and what's important to us. And feeling empowered to create an experience that is personal to you and speaks to you who you are. And not feeling pressured or obligated to have certain, details or to, subscribe to these societal ideas of what something should look like. I always refer back to that because I'm passionate about normalising alternative types of events and everybody's journey looks different.
Because what you might want to celebrate or what's a milestone to you is just as important, even though it may not be the traditional marker that a lot of us grow up, aspiring to or those certain moments. There are a lot of different ways of what that story looks like. I love books like that where it talks about making something personalised and I want people to arrive at an event and say like, this is so them. I talk about that a lot. I want you to go to an event and be like, this is so Cassie, this is so Fiona. To accomplish that, you have to tap into what's serving you and what isn't. I've enjoyed her point of view on that and how she is an advocate for reconsidering our approach to the gathering.
I love that book. We had it in the business book club for one year. We have a business book club for group coaching and so good. And none of us had even businesses at all, but it was just much in there. Sorry if I cut you off. Did you have any others that you were gonna say?
No, I spend a lot of time looking outside of my industry. That's something I do think is important to share with fellow business owners and professionals I'm looking for inspiration on how other titans of industry are running their businesses and how they're changing the way people live and interact with a brand. I'm more interested in that than looking at other events or, what people are doing in the event space. I do think it's important to step outside of your, I always forget this term, but like when you're in your echo chamber. You're surrounded by people who maybe share similar interests. It's so important to have that diversity of points of view and look at different interests and industries and distil what you can from that and bring it back to your business.
Whether it's some way of operating or dealing with your customer service or how you approach technology or some expectation of like because I also spend a lot of time thinking about, our client is used to living this lifestyle. There's a certain way that they want to be able to get their information to access the people they work with, there are ways that they're living their day-to-day lives. That transfers over to event experiences as well. We're not the exception in that. How can we streamline guest communication and can we implement texting platforms to be able to communicate and, have that concierge level of service, which is something that we provide with our clients? But I see how other brands are innovating and disrupting and it's more interesting to figure out how I can apply that to my business. I spend a lot of time looking outside of my bubble. It sounds like you've had success in that as well.
Totally. One of the quick exercises that I get clients to do is when we are looking at their audience, we look at markets hot warm, and cold, and the hot and warm are easy because you're like, “Okay.” Because you can come up with like five different industries or five different brands that you could collaborate with in the hot and warm, but in cold, cold is the most fun because you might go, I'm a business coach. What industry is cold? And it might be like hospitals, I'm not going to work with hospitals. It's like, how could I work with hospitals? Once you've got your cold list, you have to get super creative and be like, hospital systems aren't the best. Maybe they need some work with their systems. But I think that cold list so often we can park it, or even as you say, not even look there. Because we're like, they have nothing to do with events. I even look and it's like, but if I did, how could I? And then it gets your brain firing just creatively in different ways.
Yes, just getting outside of your river of thought and looking at something from a different angle. Also, what are you interested in and passionate about? Spend time reading publications about that. That's something that one of my greatest mentors taught me she didn't read trade publications about the industry that she was in. She read publications about the things that were her interest interests and her hobbies. She took so much inspiration and best practices from that then she integrated them into her work and it gave her a different way of operating and looking at things than her contemporaries. It's interesting. I feel like there are certain publications and thought leaders that I consider to be some of the preeminent voices in our industry. But I do enjoy expanding outside of that. I like what you said too, that's a great challenge and exercise to do.
It is. I agree with you on all of the other stuff as well. If you could go back and give your younger self, I mean you're still pretty young, but give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be? Also if people are reading this, what's like a piece of advice that you think has helped you?
If I could tell my younger self something, I would say to learn French because naturally as a planner, I am very pragmatic. Foreign language is an example of this, I studied Spanish because I thought that was something very practical and useful. Which it has been. But also, it's okay sometimes to not do the practical thing. In hindsight, I wish I had learned French because I love spending time in Europe. With our international events, it would be so beneficial to me to have more proficiency in the language and then Italian. I can get by in a few different languages. But, just looking back, I feel like I often felt the responsibility to take the practical route. Because this is just a silly little example of something that could have opened a lot of other doors for me and who knows where that would've led. But of course, I'm not discounting the value of speaking Spanish.
We've done some amazing events in Mexico and, of course, it's more common and necessary for us to be diverse with our clients and our vendors. But I also like a little bit of the fantasy, and just a little bit of the road less travelled in some ways. I just think I was on this fast track. I wanted to finish school, I wanted to start working. I wanted to be getting experience. I wish, now looking back at it, that I would've given myself a little more space to just be in that phase of life, that season of life and be a little bit more exploratory and studying abroad and seeking out some of those opportunities. I've always wanted to be, when I was 13, I wanted to be 15. When I was 15, I wanted to be, like I've been chasing this, going back to like being present. I think remembering when you wanted to be where you are now, Is always a nice like, perspective to stop and be in the moment. And then for business owners and entrepreneurs, I saw a quote recently that resonated with me. It's been sticking in the back of my mind, “Time is your most valuable resource because people can't afford it.”
When I stop and think about that, because of the nature of our job, because we're coming from this place of service because it's 24/7, part of my job is to take on other people's stress. That they can be present and enjoy their experience and enjoy this moment in time. We're taking on a lot of those emotions, those expectations, that anxiety. With that, it can be all-consuming in some ways. There were a lot of sleepless nights last night I woke up in the middle of the night, thinking about things that I needed to take care of for an event and honestly feel like I'm not my total best self today even because I was up for several hours. But it's like, when you stop and think about everything that you're giving like this job asks a lot of you being in events, it asks a lot and demands a lot of you.
For me to take on an event and a client, it has to make sense and be worthwhile. It means missing time with my family and friends. It means not taking on other event opportunities because we're dedicating all our resources to this event. It's potentially, other events and business, it's time away from working on my business or my personal endeavours and all that to say, a lot of times it's worthwhile rewarding and fulfilling. But when you look at it from that perspective, when I've missed holidays with family or the toll it takes on you physically and mentally, then you equate that with a value and a dollar amount. It makes you look at things differently. That quote just hit me like a ton of bricks because I don't think that we necessarily look at our time and hold it in that, that level of regard.
I think as a business owner, that's something I'm constantly evaluating if something's the right fit for us and learning to say no when things aren't in alignment, and that's scary because you're solely responsible. For your well-being and your income. I do think there's this pressure to say yes to everything or responsibility or guilt around that, but vetting opportunities and editing what you give your time and energy to is important. It can either like motivate you and give you the momentum to move forward or it can completely drain you and burn you out.
Also, going along with that is like defining what success looks like for you. That's been a journey that I've been on as well, is not necessarily holding myself to this standard maybe that others have for what success looks like and figuring out what that is for me and my business and looking at that from a holistic perspective. And not just about our p and ls and how many events we do a year and how many clients we have, but looking at, like we were talking about earlier, quality of life for other interests or maybe future businesses that I want to create. I've had to learn that. That's an ongoing journey to reevaluate and reassess what that looks like depending on what point you're at. In your life and your business.
Thank you so much for sharing all of that. I'm sure it resonates so much with people listening and I know it resonates with me. I remember years ago I read the book. The book is called Work Smarter: Live Better by Cyril Peupion. And I remember at the start, he opens it up talking about if somebody came up to you on the street and just asked for a hundred dollars, you would maybe question why they need a hundred dollars or get some more context. But if someone comes up to you and asks for your time, we just give it away. We just give it away all the time. Even though you can always get more money, but you can't get more time back. A hundred percent resonate with everything that you're saying. Aso that idea of success. Is it taking time off to do whatever you like or finishing early, or for me, picking up my children from school is a huge part of my success?
For me, I get a kick out of getting groceries on like, oftentimes.
So do I, I like to go on Wednesday mornings and I'm always like, “Woo hoo. I'm the only one in the supermarket.”
I know. Like, I joke about that, like the person being an entrepreneur is like, you can go to groceries or a store on off hour, off-peak hours. But it's those little things where it's like, I chose this path and this lifestyle for a reason and being able to again, like design the life that you want and with people, if they ask you to discount your services or they take more than, they're not grateful or they're just like an energy-draining, it's just something to think about? As far as your time how you're choosing to spend it and what else it's taking you away from. It's not necessarily just a financial dollar amount that I'm talking about with a client, but it's the relationship, it's reciprocity. It's how they conduct themselves and is a match with your code of contact for your business. It just was something that put things into perspective for me. I hope that maybe it helps someone else give themselves permission value and place importance on that.
Lastly, what are you most proud of from your time in business so far?
I think surpassing five years with my company is a threshold that I'm proud of. I was early in the infancy of my business when the pandemic hit. To still be standing and after us also significantly being impacted. In the events and hospitality industry, a lot of days I'm just proud to still be here. On the other side of that, a lot of our vendors unfortunately didn't survive. I'm proud of that. And then also that I'm doing this while actively defining and assessing again what success looks like for me and having the opportunity to constantly evaluate that and to shift and evolve within it. And then I stop and think a lot about like because we hand select the team of vendors that we work with on an event.
That's a special part of our process is those relationships and the access that we have to some exclusive vendors or locations and, knowing the right team for the right project. And they're experts in what they do. I think about the hundreds of people that we provide opportunities to through one event. I don't think that people realise the amount of people that are employed and provided an opportunity by you hosting an event. It reaches deep and touches a lot of people. I'm so proud of that because I see that, the opportunities that it creates for people's livelihood, for their craft. That's a special position to be in to be the gatherer of artisans and experts that come together and give so much of themselves for an event and go above and beyond.
Hiring a small business, sometimes people don't realise, still the amount of people that you're bringing in, that it's not just about us. There's this ripple effect and this exponential impact that that has in communities. I am very privileged to get to create those opportunities for people. I love getting to have that collaboration because it makes our events what they are and it's important to me that our vendors, our relationship with our vendors is as essential, if not more important than our clients just because they're the ones that are there with us, like making this vision happen. I want people to want to take our phone call and want to work with us and feel supported and cared for. It's pretty cool to think about that impact.
I think it's amazing what you're doing. As you were talking, I remember, I used to work for a catering company way back in the day and I was going through my early time at university and the end of high school and I loved it and it was incredible. Also just getting an insight, I remember they had a huge party for one of the major newspapers and I wanted to be a journalist. Just getting to be around those people for a night and like see and hear and be like, that's that. It was an amazing opportunity. Where can people connect with you? Where can people learn more about what you're doing, and hear your tips about events? Where are the best places?
I encourage people to reach out and connect. As I said, I'm so excited about building that community and that dialogue. @cassielamereevents on Instagram and my website as well. And then we're also a featured vendor and planner on Party Slate, which is a great resource for inspiration and ideas and also network if you're looking for any professionals. I hope that people will, share their thoughts and questions and know that we're always receptive to continuing the conversation and trying our hardest on these platforms. Show us some love and let us know that you're there. And let us know what you're looking to see or what you're interested in trying to solve for challenging or intimidating to you. Because it's always inspiring to me to like be able to be of help and, encourage people to see as opportunities to celebrate.
Amazing. Thank you so much and we'll link to all your different channels in the podcast show notes. But thank you so much and thank you for giving up your evening as well. I hope you have a lovely evening ahead of you.
Thank you. I appreciate you starting off your day with me.
Bye.
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I love that conversation. There were so many things that stood out for me. And of course, I'm going to mention just two of them before I do. If you want to connect with Cassie, you can check out Cassie LaMere Events, it's all one word on Instagram and we'll link to that in the show notes, which for this episode you'll find at mydailybusiness.com/podcast/424. You can also go on over right to their website and check it out at Cassie LaMere Events. It's cassielamereevents.com. Again, we will link to that in the show notes and over there you'll see so many beautiful events and just be blown away with what Cassie LaMere Events can create. What stood out for me most, I think the number one thing that stood out was Cassie talking about just this idea of being present.
She talked about her younger years when she was 13, wanted to be 15 and always looking ahead. I feel like no matter what industry you're in, and in the events industry, you are always looking ahead because you're planning something that's happening in the future. And then as soon as that's over, you're onto the next thing that you're doing. Because that mentality of looking forward helps in that industry. But I think in so many small businesses, regardless of what industry you're in, we can have that tendency to always be looking forward and also not even look back to say, as Cassie said, that sometimes you look at where you are now and your previous self, your younger self would've been so excited to be there. But you don't even take a moment to appreciate where you're at today because you're so focused on what tomorrow is bringing and what the next goalpost is and the next goalpost.
I love that she talked about how she's actively working on being more present being more in the moment and celebrating her wins because these are beautiful events. They're, they're life-affirming events for a lot of people, a lot of us, regardless of whether it was a luxury event or some other event, we remember those key moments in our life. I think I mentioned it in the podcast, I can't remember if I did or not, but my mom was somebody who celebrated birthdays and made a huge deal about our birthdays, even though we didn't have any other family in Australia. It was just myself, my three siblings and my mom and dad. She would make birthdays into such a beautiful fun thing. You were so excited about your birthday because from the minute you got up, the breakfast table would be laid, everyone would get chocolate or biscuits or something fun different in the morning and it would just continue like that.
I remember like, I think it was my year nine birthday party or maybe a bit younger, we came home from Pizza Hut and my mom had just cooked all these different cakes and just had this entire countertop full of all of these different delicious things that she'd cooked. All my friends were so excited and it was a sleepover party and we just gorged on the cake and all the things that you can do. There are so many moments that I just think that was the best, like dancing at my wedding and everyone dancing like to Indian music and it was just so fun. Those are the moments that stay with you and those are the moments where memories are genuinely created. I love that Cassie is in that environment, but also that she is helping people be in the moment.
But she talked about her own need to be in the moment more too. I think that applies to pretty much every small business owner that we can all get fixated on the future instead of taking a minute to celebrate and just be in that moment. That was the first one. Loved that. The second thing that I took from this chat with Cassie is the idea that you don't always have to be physically producing something to be working. So much of the work is sometimes being done when you are thinking about things when you're out doing something else and you come up with an idea when your creativity has enough breathing room and enough thinking space to flourish. I love that she talked about that. In her business, she has to be coming up with these amazing ideas all of the time and constantly bringing her a game.
But talking about that idea that you don't have to be always sitting in front of a computer or you don't have to always be doing something physical to be like, I'm producing today. Because sometimes it's just sitting back and letting your mind wander and thinking and diluting and digesting all the stuff that you've seen, all the things that you're thinking about and just letting it percolate for a bit. That is also working and it is also putting the effort in. I think especially if you've worked in corporate or any environment, especially an office environment, there is this tendency to think that you have to be at your desk in front of a computer from nine to five, and without doing that you're somehow slacking off. Recently I spent the afternoon in bed, I had done some calls and I thought what, I'm just gonna think I'm gonna think for the afternoon.
I went upstairs to bed, it was like a cold, rainy day and I just watched the rain outside and I did some journaling. I had a notebook with me. I was thinking about business, I was thinking about the next financial year and I was just like, I just let myself do that. I mean, these are the things that you can do when you run your own business, but that is also so important rather than forcing ourselves to sit and be productive in some corporate way that we've been taught. When you have your own business, you can do it in whatever way you want to. I love that she talked about that, just that idea that there are so many other ways to be working than what we've potentially been told in a traditional corporate environment.
There was so much other stuff that I gained from that conversation with Cassie, and I know that so many of you will get that too. I'm sure you can reach out to Cassie, go and check out all the beautiful stuff that they create at Cassie LaMere Events. Again, we will link to that on Instagram and the website, which is under cassie la mer events.com in the show notes. And for this episode, you'll find the show notes over at mydailybusiness.com/podcast/424. Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you next time. Bye.
