Sustainable Marketing & Values-Driven Engagement with Casey Eade

In this episode of Here's What I Learned, I sit down with Casey Eade—connection strategist, professional friend-finder, and advocate for low-capacity business owners—to dive deep into authentic engagement, values-driven marketing, and creating sustainable business relationships. Casey shares her fresh take on collaborations, slow business growth, and why engagement strategies should actually work for you, not against you. We also discuss the importance of community, social media pressures, and how to balance business ambitions with personal capacity. If you're tired of cookie-cutter marketing advice and want to create connections on your own terms, this episode is for you.

Topics Covered:

• Rethinking engagement strategies for low-capacity business owners
• How to build collaborations that actually feel good
• The importance of business values in decision-making
• Navigating social media without the pressure of industry standards
• Slowing down and creating sustainable growth

You can find Casey at:

Website: heyitscasey.com/savvy

Instagram: @caseyconnects

What next?

• Follow Here's What I Learned on your favorite podcast player
• Leave a review so the podcast is seen by more people like you
• Share this episode with a friend
• Say hi on Instagram → @jackihayes_obm 

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Transcript

Sustainable Marketing & Values-Driven Engagement with Casey Eade

Jacki Hayes: Hey there, welcome to Here's What I Learned. I'm Jacki Hayes, a system strategist, unapologetic, smutty romantasy lover, Dungeons and Dragons geek, and your no-BS guide to building a business that works for you. This is the place where we swap stories, share lessons, and get real about the highs and lows of creating a life and business that actually feels good.

Jacki Hayes: No cookie cutter advice here, just honest conversations about what's working, what's not, and how to rewrite the rules to fit your version of success. So grab your favorite beverage, get comfy, and let's dive in. I am so excited to have Casey on today with this new episode of Here's What I Learned. Casey is a professional friend finder for low capacity online businesses.

Jacki Hayes: She teaches connection strategy, compassionate marketing, and community building on Instagram and threads. And I believe it was actually on Instagram that I first met you, um, and worked with you. Casey, what is something that you've been learning about lately? 

Casey Eade: So, I have been deep in brainstorming collaborations.

Casey Eade: I have been so lucky to have already met so many cool new people this year, a lot of them through threads, which has just been awesome getting on calls with new people. And thinking of different ways that we, me and them, and people in the online business space can collaborate, and what that means and what that looks like.

Casey Eade: Um, so I've just been kind of listing, like, there's referrals, there's affiliate programs, there's guesting on podcasts, or in group programs, or at summits. And I've been thinking lately, What kinds of collaborations could we do that are like completely new, like just custom to the two people doing it? I'm in conversations with a new friend right now and we're thinking, Okay, do we want to do like a podcast, kind of, we're low energy people.

Casey Eade: We want to really get deep into a few topics that we're so passionate about and thinking. Maybe it's a series, maybe it's shorter episodes, maybe we experiment with different formats, and it's just been fun trying to think outside the box of what collaborations mean and look like, and it's got me really excited to, like, prioritize and continue exploring that this year, totally.

Jacki Hayes: One of the things that I really loved that you did on your Instagram, um, stories was to really highlight some of the communities that you've been a part of and not only did you talk about them on your stories, but then you put them as one of your highlights so people can go back and find them. What prompted you to do that?

Casey Eade: Oh gosh, really? It's just an idea that I had in my head for, for so long.

Casey Eade: I think I'm a little bit of an addict of trying to, like, if I see a community I want to be in, I want to explore it, I want to, like, be an enthusiastic member and give my heart and my support to the leader of the community because I know that leading communities is And facilitating and hosting is a lot of work.

Casey Eade: And in a lot of these cases, those people aren't getting paid a ton to do it, you know? Um, and so, I just thought I, I would love more people I know to be in these communities. And I know these people and they deserve the love. So that's why I made that post. And I'm already, uh, planning on making another one for some new communities that I'm in and loving.

Casey Eade: And yeah, I hope it'll be a regular thing on my account. 

Jacki Hayes: Good. I can't, well, I mean, I'm like, I can't wait, except I've been transitioning off of Instagram. So I'll just find other ways. Um, what does doing business your way happen to mean to you? 

Casey Eade: Doing business my way. Heh, the word that comes to mind immediately is slowly.

Casey Eade: Doing business. slower than I think and feel slower than I think I should. Slower than I initially feel comfortable doing. Cause especially, like, especially in the Instagram business space, I feel like all the advice is just to make quick decisions, don't think about it, just do it. Figure it out as you go.

Casey Eade: And I'm realizing for me, I can do that with some things, but for a lot of things, I need to take it really slow, building in, like, extra brainstorming time, extra processing time, rest time after literally everything, you know? And That means that my day to day looks slower, and it means that going into, I think, year four of my business, my business hasn't maybe, like, progressed, quote unquote, like some other people's businesses have.

Casey Eade: Because I'm taking things very slow, and yeah, it means I do feel very new at some things. But I am telling myself. Because in my heart, I believe it's true. My anxiety disagrees sometimes, but in my heart, I believe it's true that Going slower will help me continue to build this business that is more sustainable for me.

Jacki Hayes: And that makes complete sense. Um, and it reminds me as you were talking about something that I noticed this last year, AKA 2024. Um, in your account, you started your new offer, which was the Spoon Savvy Leads. And then I noticed once you started talking about that, you also started to Have some very honest hot takes that you posted on Instagram about what engagement meant to you.

Jacki Hayes: Um, which I was 100 percent on board with, but it was not the industry standard, uh, that you hear about engagement. What first led to this transition of the smooth, uh, the spoon savvy, um, and then. Where did you, like, I always know you to be very honest upfront who you are person, but I know a lot of people would feel, you know, anxious about the idea of putting out some of those hot takes that are goes flies in the face of industry standards.

Jacki Hayes: What was that all like for you? 

Casey Eade: Uh, currently still ongoing process, it is, it is, uh, a daily, uh, thing, I have to remind myself that, like, that it is okay to share these opinions and beliefs that are still very, like, scary to me, um, because I'm not the only person who thinks these things. I have yet to, like, Have an opinion that other people have not gotten at all that that has been like, oh, nobody else thinks this way But that's like the narrative we tell ourselves all the time, right?

Casey Eade: Is that like, oh, I can't share this because what if it's just me? It's not just you and for engagement in particular It's something I wanted to be a bit more loud about just cause I felt it back. Um, when I was offering done for you engagement, um, working with social media management agencies, I saw just how much like pressure.

Casey Eade: We put on ourselves and on business owners in the space to act and appear and behave a certain way all the way down to, like, how we interact with each other. Like, you have to quote unquote make genuine connections in this specific way. And that just didn't make sense to me, right? And so, I actually stopped working with the social media management agencies.

Casey Eade: in a Done for You role role in the middle of last year, like, pre summer 2024, and it was kind of an unexpected change. It kind of happened before I thought it would, um, but that kind of gave me the push I needed to, like, devote my energy towards other, like, low energy, low capacity business owners and try and Explore together more authentic, feel good ways of connecting and releasing a lot of that pressure, pressure, pressure that is always coming from the space and the experts who are telling you what you should quote unquote be doing.

Jacki Hayes: I know, whenever I see the, like, engage for 15 minutes a day Advice or like, this is what you should be doing. I'm like, I don't know how to genuinely and not in the, like, in the real way, um, connect with, with people by just scrolling through their stuff and commenting on things. I'm going to get the nice, nice, whatever, or yay, or emoji comments.

Jacki Hayes: This is what I'm going to be doing because I'm going to be feeling strapped for time or I've got to get enough done or, Oh, I still have 10 more minutes of doing this as opposed to just, you know. following people I really enjoy following and having conversations with them, whether it's in their DMs or in their comments and building relationships.

Jacki Hayes: And I know I've heard a lot of people in our sphere talking more and more about social media is supposed to be social. Like it was really built to build relationships, not showcase. All the things that you're doing. Um, I think we've lost track of that. But I think more and more people are trying to get back to that.

Jacki Hayes: And I think it's hard because like Thread started and that's what it really was. But I'm starting to see more and more of the marketing stuff come back into, come into that. How do you balance, because I know what you do for your clients is helping them find qualified, good fit leads. Um, how do you do that for them?

Jacki Hayes: And then how do you help them understand how to engage with those folks in a genuine way? 

Casey Eade: So kind of the core component of my work is my process starts off with a big deep dive questionnaire that I have each client fill out that really goes into, um, not just like what they offer, but what they love most about what they offer.

Casey Eade: What's the stuff that really makes it worth it for them, gets them excited. Um, and the people that they want to work with. And the capacity that they have to actually be doing that work and meeting these people and engaging with them and nurturing leads and all that. That is, that's definitely something that I have taken from your work, particularly is really considering like, the capacity aspect of engagement especially.

Casey Eade: Because all the posts about the tactics of engage 30 minutes a day, they're not taking into consideration. an individual's capacity at all. And so I have this big questionnaire that really gets to those core elements that build the foundation of what your engagement strategy is gonna be, because it needs to work for you.

Casey Eade: Otherwise, it's not, it's not the right engagement strategy for you. Um, and so it starts with that personalization. And from there, it's, It's a combination of vibes, it's a lot of falling down rabbit holes, and sometimes just vibe checks, like based on all of this information I've collected about you and your passions and your goals, I can see an account and be like, oh my gosh, Jacki would love this person.

Casey Eade: And, and yeah, it's, I'm still figuring out how to communicate the process without it sounding like. 

Jacki Hayes: Yeah, 

Casey Eade: totally. But like, it's, it sounds like intuitive, quote unquote, to me. It feels intuitive to me because I have, like, that experience doing the Done For You engagement for, like, two and a half years, and lead sourcing was a big part of that, and I didn't know, like, any of, like, this questionnaire I have now, I didn't have back then, so I was just figuring it out.

Casey Eade: trial by fire back then. Um, but I think that was like necessary for me to figure out not just like what makes a good engagement strategy for an engagement strategist, but also for a human. Who probably, definitely does not need to like, hold themselves to the standards of an engagement strategist. 

Jacki Hayes: Well, and as you're talking, I think you're talking about that questionnaire and I do a lot of those deep dives with the people I work with as well.

Jacki Hayes: We really get to know them on a really pretty deep level. And so I imagine when you're scrolling through Instagram doing those, you know, rabbit holes trying to find the leads, it's like, probably no different than, If I was to be like scrolling through things and being like, Oh, my best friend needs to see this post, you know, because I know what she likes.

Jacki Hayes: I know the things that will make them laugh. I know what things she'll connect to. It's 100 percent of vibe check, but it comes from a bunch of. Because I'm, I'm an Enneagram five and a giant nerd. Um, it comes from a bunch of data that I have on her from knowing her as well as I do. So it may sound woo, but you have a lot of data that Yes, exactly.

Jacki Hayes: You're looking 

Casey Eade: so that, that core deep knowledge of the person I'm working with is. So important. And it's, it's also what gets me really excited. Like, I love reading people's brain dumps and journal entries and just like, I like to live inside my clients brains for a bit. It is just so rewarding for me.

Casey Eade: Because then I can make sure that I'm truly making strategies that work, that I'm truly finding leads that don't just meet checkboxes of niche, industry, income, whatever, but that are like, super aligned on beliefs and values and goals and visions of what kind of place they want. The online business space to be stuff like that.

Casey Eade: It just, it gets me so excited. 

Jacki Hayes: This all this entire conversation has made it very clear, uh, to myself. I knew this anyways, because I know you, but probably to the people listening that you were very values driven, values based business person. First off, what values do you use in making decisions? Like, can you share what some of your values are?

Jacki Hayes: And how do you use those in making decisions? 

Casey Eade: Yeah, so I actually did some hard work on this last year with our mutual friend Megan Dowd to get clear on My core for business values, but also my life values because especially like for me, they're not, they're not different. My business is just me, you know, but it's compassion, optimism.

Casey Eade: Resourcefulness and integrity. Um, I try to be compassionate, not just in like posts I make on Instagram, but in allowing my clients. what they need and figuring out how I can best support them individually throughout the process, especially working with like a lot of other spoonies and a lot of other neurodivergent people.

Casey Eade: Having a sort of a longer project timeline that builds in thinking space and rest space, not just for me but also for my clients, is One of the ways that I try to really be like compassionate towards them. Um, I think I I think optimism is kind of an obvious one for how big lofty dream goals just want to make the world a better place That I get.

Casey Eade: Um And I think resourcefulness is one of the ones that, when I was working this out with Megan, that I didn't really expect, but it's something she kind of picked up from me, um, which is not, I don't think it's like just me, it's, it's very much all the spoonies in the space, and a lot of us entrepreneurs in general have this, like, stick to itiveness, and this, I'm gonna work through this, I'm gonna figure it out, Um, which is definitely also part of just my work process of like, I, I will get this done.

Casey Eade: It will happen. Um, and with integrity, I just, I try to be really transparent and open with my clients and with my followers about just like, Pretty much everything. Um, I try to, I try to, like, make an effort to be vulnerable in specific areas where I feel it's important to show, where it's important to show people that you can be vulnerable and, like, it won't bite you in the back.

Casey Eade: Like, it won't backfire on you. And like, it's something that people appreciate. 

Jacki Hayes: Does any of 

Casey Eade: this make sense? No, because as 

Jacki Hayes: soon as you started to say your values, I was like, check, check, check. Like, that is, that you, that is the person I know. So as soon, like, you said compassion, you said optimism. I was like, oh yeah, that's her, that's her, that's her.

Jacki Hayes: Like. So you not only are internalizing it, but those of us around you can see it and know it. And we're like, yeah, those are 100 percent your values. So all makes a lot of sense, but I do like how you mentioned like resourcefulness is one of my values too. And. It is, it's a lot about like just getting it done, but getting it done in a way that works for you, because otherwise I, you're still getting it done otherwise, but it's just like, you can't repeat it, you're, you're drained.

Jacki Hayes: So for me, resourcefulness is getting it done in a way that works for you so that you have something left in the tank afterwards for the next thing that comes along, because something else is going to come along, so. 

Casey Eade: Yeah, I think it's a combination of resourcefulness and self compassion that go hand in hand.

Casey Eade: And self compassion is definitely another one that I'm always working on. 

Jacki Hayes: I think you and me both and everybody on the internet. What? Is something that you would tell yourself at the start of your business? Four years for, you know, have gone by, you've gained all this wisdom, knowledge. Um, if you could say something to you four years ago about business, what would you tell that version of yourself?

Casey Eade: I, such a good question. I have this little saying that I find myself repeating ever so often. Um, That not everything on your For You feed is for you. And that goes into, like, there's just tons of unsolicited advice on The internet, everybody is trying to tell you what you should be doing, the best way to do something, how to get your first, I don't know, 30k client in 30 days or something like that.

Casey Eade: Gosh, I hope that's not the name of somebody's program. It probably is. Oh well. But yeah, it's Especially with all of our feeds just getting more ads and more sponsored posts all the time. Not everything that you see that comes across your feed is actually something that you need to take in. And I had, I had to develop that over time.

Casey Eade: Being able to like, look at something and tell myself, Okay, I see it. I acknowledge its existence. It's not for me and keep scrolling, but I had to build that up especially when I was just starting my business as like a VA I was Signing up for every free workshop and downloading every freebie that I came across because I was like I don't know anything, and I want to learn from people who know what they're doing, and obviously, if this person has the money to run ads, they know.

Casey Eade: Surely I should listen to them. But, it requires, really, this business space requires so much more discernment, um, and, yeah, I, somebody should have told me that, definitely. 

Jacki Hayes: Yeah, I think, uh, one of the things that I wish I had learned at the very beginning is that, You know, just because somebody's running ads doesn't mean they necessarily have money for ads.

Jacki Hayes: Or, you know, some of these claims that you're hearing to question those claims, like when you take a statistic class, a statistics class, they're always like, you know, question the data and where it's coming from and the methodology and all of this other stuff. And it's like, okay, so somebody is telling me they had a 30K client, but did they tell me how much it cost them to get that 30K client?

Jacki Hayes: Um, or are they, do they have one 30K client and nothing else for the rest of the year? And so all that information that's coming in, like you said, it requires a lot more discernment than I had when I first came in. I was just looking at the lofty goals and all these things that people were saying, and I wanted to be them.

Jacki Hayes: And, um, it's taken a lot to deprogram a lot of that. So, but I think it has been really helpful. Where can my audience find you? Which I'm going to guess is Instagram and threads.

Casey Eade: So I am mostly on Instagram and threads. I would say I spend, um. most of my time there. Um, I have a YouTube that is also KC Connects. Um, I will be uploading, uh, recordings of some old collaborations I did there. Uh, at, at some point, at some point they will be there. Um, and I also have a sub stack that I'm playing around with, I'm tweaking it.

Casey Eade: Substack is really interesting, especially from like an engagement perspective. But I'm also playing around on Substack and my Substack is actually, Hey, it's Casey. Um, and I think those are, those are the big four that I have right now or am planning on showing up in. 

Jacki Hayes: Excellent. I did not know you had YouTube, so now I gotta go follow you on YouTube.

Jacki Hayes: Is there anything you would like to leave the audience with before we say goodbye? 

Casey Eade: If there's anything I would like to leave the audience with, it is after you close the tab on this episode, or whatever, take like 5 minutes for yourself to just do a check in on your capacity, especially if you're like me and you tend to binge watch podcasts and videos for like hours and hours, take like 5 minutes and ask yourself How you're doing, and think, alright, where's my head at?

Casey Eade: Where are my energy levels at? When's the last time you had food and water? Neurodivergent entrepreneurs, I'm looking at you. And, yeah, just take a breather. We're not in near as much of a rush as so much of the online space seems to make us think that we need to be. I 

Jacki Hayes: think that's great advice. Thanks for being here with us today.

Casey Eade: Thank you for having me on. Always a delight. 

Jacki Hayes: Thanks for hanging out with me on Here's What I Learned. If today's episode gave you an aha moment, a laugh, or something to think about, make sure you're subscribed to my email list. That's where I share even more tips, stories, and behind the scenes insights to help you simplify and thrive.

Jacki Hayes: And remember, you get to do business and life your way. Until next time, keep experimenting, keep simplifying, and keep learning.