BEYOND IMPOSSIBLE: Episode #2 - Cassandra Hili

Welcome to Beyond Impossible, where we sit with some incredible hard working figures in the Australian sphere, who achieved the impossible by means of hard work, dedication and relentless action. In today's first episode, our hosts Joseph Daoud and Joseph Khalil sit with entrepreneur and founder of Millennium Communications, Cassandra Hili.

Millennium Communications is a Sydney based creative public relations and marketing agency. Equipped with years of experience in events, public relations (PR), media relations, social media, content creation, influencer marketing and more, we aim to help brands develop long-lasting relationships with unique sensory experiences that capture the heart of your customer. Millennium Communications specialises in PR & Marketing for beauty, fashion, restaurant, fashion, lifestyle industries and key figure profiling.

Produced by Ten Pieces by Eight

https://www.millenniumcommunications.com.au/

https://www.instagram.com/millenniumcommunications/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/millenniumcommunicationsau/

https://au.linkedin.com/company/millennium-communications-au

Transcript

Welcome back to the beyond impossible podcast. My name is Joseph Delwood and I am your host. And today I am joined by my co-host Joseph Kail. Hey everyone. And we are joined by not only the founder of millennium communications. Yeah. Not only one of the best PR agents in all of Sydney, hashtag or Ford slash Australia.

But also one of our closest friends. Oh, she's a machine. Thanks.  Cassandra hilly. Hi Cassandra. Thank you so much for coming on. Thanks for having me. What an intro. Oh my God. No pressure. Well, you know, we've been friends for since 2017. You gotta pump your friends up. You gotta, but not only that, I think once our listeners hear what you have to say and what we talk.

They'll understand.  why we gave you that intro.  thanks. I appreciate the kind words. You're more than welcome. So cast you've, we've got a lot that we wanna talk about today, but, um, as one of the founders of millennium communication or the founder of millennium communication, you've had quite a journey to get here.

Yeah. And. We, we always like to probe, but we like to find out the secret source on how people basically started, how they evolved, how they moved into everything. And I'm gonna basically start with your original journey at university. You were studying marketing communications. Am I correct in saying that?

Yep. And rather than waiting and doing what everyone else does, you know, finishing university. Going into the field. You decided to open your business six months into your university journey. Am I correct in saying that yes, you are correct. I was a very crazy 22 year old who just had big dreams.  what positioned you to start?

What, what gave you that, that kick. Uh, look, I don't know if you guys believe in like manifestation kind of stuff. I don't, but anyways. Okay. I do. I do. I do. To an extent. Okay. Some controversy at the time. I didn't know that was a thing, but like, I'd look back and I'm like, okay, maybe it's a thing. And it happened then, but it kind of happened, um, as a result of just preparing myself for what I thought was gonna happen after I graduated.

So I was.  um, I was an influencer at the time and I was like, you know what, like, I know half of this staff, why am I, you know, studying all of this when I know kind of how it works, I'm just gonna use this to get my credentials so I can, you know, go out into all these PR agencies and like, Get all the experience that I need.

And I prepare was preparing myself. I started buying like studio lights, a camera, lap, new laptop, everything like that. And then six months later, I had this opportunity where a friend of mine had just started a business. And she was like, what are you doing? Like, why don't you just start now here? Here's your opportunity?

Like, go write a proposal for me. Yeah. Do everything you have to do. And. Two months prior to that, I had already registered the business name. I already had everything prepared and she was just like, um, go, yeah, like here is your chance. Start. Where did the business name come from?  um, okay. I don't know if you guys know who Hillary off is.

Hey, I had a massive crush on Hillary Duff. Oh, mate. The beat in my heart. Yes. Okay.  so she had a TV show come out on Stan that year called younger. Oh yeah. And the less known one? Correct. Okay. And so it wasn't li McGuire? No, unfortunately, no. That's okay. But she had a very similar personality to li McGuire, but in this show she was running a, um, working in a book company and she was taking care of like a second agency that they had within it called millennial imprint, I think.

And that's where I was like, oh, millennial, millennial, millennium communications. And I had it found was available register. And I was like, I'm keeping this. So it's just meant to.  and I, I just hear that story and it's just kind of crazy. It's seamless my business. It's simple where I was just kind of sitting there and me and my friends used to always like whenever we were, you know, mucking around or something would say it's in Blanco.

And I was just like, Hey, I wonder if that's a business name that's been taken yet. Yeah. And that's kind of how, you know, it's simple.com that AU . Yeah. Great shameless plug.  Hey, you plug it in there whenever you need PR. Yeah. So six months in, okay. You've started the. Your friend has said, write me a proposal.

Yep. Which friend? And what business were they running? Uh, so shout out to Jacqueline . Um, she, at the time, um, had a, a business called FM world. Yeah. And they were an international brand and she bought the franchise rights here for Australia and New Zealand. And it was like a beauty company. They were selling like perfume, makeup.

It was like everything that I loved. And I was like, all right, this works. And I just, um, Just started helping them with their social media and which was what we started off in mm-hmm  as I was, it was basically what I was doing as an influencer at the time. And it was what I knew and I just started from there.

And within six months of starting the agency, I went, quit my job and went full time into it. Haven't gone back since. So just explain something to me. Had you ever owned a business before or ran a business before. Okay. Yes. Ooh. What do you this? I dunno about, I, I have ran multiple before millennium, really?

During millennium? Yes. Okay. Tell us. So when I was like between 12 and 15, so we got young entrepreneur a year here. Okay. She's young. She's always been this driven. Yeah. Okay. I blame my dad. My mom hates it, but I blame my dad.  um, I owned a babysitting company, so I was like, Well company for like a 12 year old, you know?

Did you have an ABN? No. How many employees?  two. So a company C at the age of 12 making money off your phone? Well, like I started off me like 12 to like 15. It was just me. And then I had friend who needed a job, so I just went, Hey, I have like somebody else who needs a sitter, so go for it and just went that way.

And then I stopped, obviously. Yeah. What was your, your split with this. I wasn't smart. I didn't take a space. Okay.  okay. I was like, is she already making money on her employees? Yeah. No. Okay. But you, you got the ball rolling with business? Yeah, it worked well, like it created a network for me with like, I was like the go-to babysitter where I lived, where I grew up and like, I had people always referring me and I even like up until I was about 23 years old, I was had people calling me.

Yeah. So whenever we were quiet at millennium or if I just was like, eh, screw, why not get some extra cash? I just baby. Wow. Yeah, that wasn't the only one. So that's so, so, so we're a babysitter. That's the first one then when I was, so when I started my blog, when I was, uh, I think I was like 16, um, I started, I had affiliate come through like payments and everything come through with the brands that I was working with.

Um, So, no, I was 17. And then when I was 19, um, I went and studied personal training because the blog that I had was based off my weight loss journey. Mm-hmm  and. It was, I had people constantly asking me, how'd you lose weight and how'd you do this? How'd you do that? So I was like, well, I can't just give out this advice without knowing what I'm doing.

So I went and studied my personal training certificates. I created an ebook and I sold like 10,000 copies of that 10,000. Yeah. And I. Started like a, you guys have no idea about this? Who is this girl? I need to write an ebook.  I thought she was our friend.  I don't talk much about this part of my life anymore.

And then I, cause I remember you working at fitness first, but I didn't know that there were eBooks and that's why they hired me. Oh. Cause I had the following and I had the entrepreneurial side and like I was doing like online coaching, like personal training. I had clients all around the world. And they were like, well, we wanna get into this because it helps with their sales.

So then I eventually like got into that and was then doing sales. And I was like an ambassador for fitness first for a little while. But you, you had to have been one of the first people that were coming out with ebook. Cause this would've been in 2016, wouldn't it? Uh, when did we graduate? I would've graduated school in 2012.

So this would've been like, uh, 2014. Yeah. So you would've been early on, she would've been one of you. So how, how did you, the babysitting's a high other topic  but how did you come up with the, the thought of launching an ebook? This is what I wanna know. So I, um, I was a, I was a vegan at the time and I'm so embarrassed to say that in a way, because it screwed up my SIS, my whole body.

But anyway, um, I was a vegan at the time and it was like a one year challenge that I did for myself. And people were just interested and curious in the kind of foods that I was eating. So I put them into a book and I. Sold the recipes as an e-book. It was like 15 recipes in there maybe. Yeah. And it had like a bit of a breakdown on like some of like my favorite like exercises to do in the gym.

I'm so impressed. And like, I was like, I was kind of in a way, like, I don't know if you guys remember who Kayla it science is. Yeah. So I remember her Kayla. Yeah. So I kind of like looked at what she had created and kind of like replicated it cuz that's when she was growing and she, yeah, I remember that.

Well, she actually used to. Back then I think you might know this, but back in between 2011, 2014. Mm. Um, I was a personal trainer. Yeah, this is before I went back to university. Wow. And I still remember Kayla and myself messaging workouts to each other. No way. Yes. My God. So I still remember this she's and I still, if I go through, you know, my Instagram history, I'm certain I can find the messages somewhere, but I still remember when she first got like 3000 followers, 6,000, 10,000, and like, look at her now.

So it's crazy. Yeah. And then we, we've got you in the room and I had no idea and you know, we've been best mates for a while. How dare you keep this secret away from me? Like I said, it's my past life.  okay. Past life. I'm not really in that zone anymore. Like, it was a very different time of my life. Yeah. Um, but Kayla was like the inspo.

Yeah. Like at the time everyone wanted to be like a, my goal was to be like the next Michelle Bridges, but I was like, maybe need an extra 20 years on my sleeve at that point. So can you explain the distribution of the eBooks? Like how this is? Well, I'm trying to wrestle with in my brain. Yep. First of all writing an ebook in itself is hard enough just doing the copyright yourself and everything, sitting down, concentrating let's that's a whole other Kee of fish.

I've gotta figure out how you sat down and did that. But the one thing that I want to know is how did you find out how to distribute it? Because at the time Instagram, you could boost a post, but you didn't have instant access to links to be able to go click purchase here. Um, at the time Facebook had a didn't really have a marketplace.

The ads were very, very. Simple at the time. Let's just put it lightly. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Tumblr really. That's how I started my Tumblr blog. Everything started before Instagram came out. It was all on Tumblr. I had like, oh, I think my pick back then was maybe like 50,000 followers on Tumblr. And then I had like a few.

10 th no, sorry. My peak was 60,000 and then I had like YouTube subscribers and then I kind of did it all through that. Very organically. Nothing was like paid. I just had followers who liked my journey and I, I was on there dedicated, like, I'd go to school, I'd come home. Then I'd spend like three, four hours, like.

On Tumblr. I had like things scheduled throughout the day. So like in their eyes, I was always active, even if I wasn't active. So she sold 10,000 copies to an organic following. No wonder she's one of the best in PR at that  she figured it out at 17. That's where my PR experience came from. Like, I was a union.

I'm going, what is this shit? I know what I'm doing. Like, why am I doing this? I just finished the degree to make my parents happy. Yeah. And I was. I know what I'm doing here. This is like, I that's so impressing. I know how to do it. And I still tap into that experience until today, especially with my personal branding clients.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We gotta rewind a little bit. Okay. So, so we've obviously developed or understood that there's some fire in there that cannot be put out. Okay. We've got a babysitting business at the age of 12. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. At the age of 12, I was. You know, 200 grand packets of thins chips and just watching drag balls.

E I think I broke my arm on a skateboarder   you know? Okay. So we we've got that to start with. The next thing is we've become an influencer, massive weight loss journey. Okay. At 17 at 17, you, you have to explain where the fire ignited, because somewhere in there, there was something that just made you go.

Yeah. Um, I think I've had a few of those moments. Yeah. That have led me to where I am today. Um, I think at the young age it was very much a I've always liked being independent in a way I've had to be independent. Like I grew up with parents traveling for work quite a lot. So. I became independent at a very young age.

So when I was 12 and I got into babysitting, it was just a case of, Hey, I want money. Let me go spend my own money. I don't wanna ask for money. So I'm gonna go do what I have to do to make my own money. So that's what I did. I did that. I wanted to be able to go out and not ask permission to at talk, get money.

Did someone say you couldn't have something? And this is what it probably, I think it feels like would be surprised. I don't remember exactly, but I do remember just always going. From a very young age, I've always believed like I was destined for more than just the average. And I've always had that in my mind whenever I'm making decisions and stuff.

So I think it started around then where I was like, no, like, I don't wanna have to ask for permission to like go out to the Mo like, go pay, go buy this, or whatever doll, whatever baby borns, whatever they were at 12 tamago, whatever I was around. Um, and. I think a large part of it that did stay consistent though, even up till today was, um, getting bullied, like quite severely.

Yeah. And I think the one thing that always led me from not doing the latter of what could have been done was just using what people had said about me and not allowing it to become my destiny.  and not allowing it to become my story or my own narrative of myself. Mm-hmm . So I always have had this thing where I'm like, I'm very competitive, but like, I don't want to prove people right about me.

I wanna prove myself right about myself and the way that is is I just believe that I am who I am, and I'm not gonna allow these people to put me in their box. So I'd never have allowed that to happen. So whenever I've done something, whether it's the babysitting becoming an influencer, starting millennium, If someone said, no, I'm like, watch me.

Yes.  like, I'll never forget when I started, like my blog, my parents freaked out, like, as they would your 17 year old girl on the internet. Right. Like, it's freaky, but sorry. Um, but I just did it anyway. Cause I'm like, why not people at school will then be able to shut up? I mean, they didn't, but whatever, but.

That has been the one consistent fire inside of me. Can I ask you something? Can you, um, I'll go through these phases or I went through the faces, especially young cuz you and I, we very, very similar. Yeah. Coming up. Um, when was the point of realization when you realized they weren't gonna shut up? So you're just gonna do it anyways.

Oh, good question. I think I was about.

I was still in primary school. I was in year six. Wow. And I'll never forget that day because somebody had come up to me and like, I was a big kid. Like I was a big child and it had just come out that at the time people had figured out that I was going to children's hospital, um, to see doctors and stuff.

And someone told somebody and the word got out and this kid came up to me and he points the finger at me and he goes, He's just like, Hey Cassandra, you're fat. Just accept. That's who you are. Like, and like just him and his friends just like fully laughed at me. And I just remember, I didn't cry. And I think that was the first time I didn't cry and I just, I'll never forget, like something went, it's never gonna change.

And I'm okay with that because I'm okay with who I am. Yeah. And it was never about my. It was just always, I'm the same person that I was when I was like 10 years old. I have the same values and I've got the same personality. I'm just a different woman in a way. Yeah. And yeah, I'll never forget that moment, cuz that was the moment where I went.

Screw you just watch  just, just watch. I would love to get this guy on the podcast because I still remember his name. I think, I think you've got the last laugh. And you know what Chris rock touches on this because you know what? I was bullied as a kid, I was, I was a chubby kid in primary as well. And for a long time, I was like, why did I get bullied and things like that.

And I like, I didn't get bullied to a massive extent, but, you know, I had, I went through a bit of a weight loss journey myself from the chubby kid to the skinny kid in high school and whatnot. But Chris rock hits the nail on the head by saying, we need bullies without bullies. We wouldn't have our Steve Jobs's and our Elon Musks.

Look, I agree with that to a point, it doesn't make it hurt it. Doesn't,  no hundred, it take away the trauma and the, you know, the therapy bills, but whatever, but yeah, of course, but the, I think it gives you the fuel. It does. And I actually had my snap moment a lot later in life. Really my weight loss journey was later in life and I think my body building journey was a lot later in life, but I still remember when I was, I think I got to the age.

27 and I was hanging out with the wrong, just, just a few people. I'm not gonna say, but I just remember that somebody who five years ago had made a joke about my arms being skinny and I'll never be that big. Oh, wow. So I was 22 at the time, the same person turned around and said, oh, look at the size of this guy.

There's no chance that he's, you know, natural. So this is five years of hard work, me eating, right? Every single time, me doing all the right things, all that stuff. And then consistency, I'm talking five years time. That's 500 arm workouts. You know, that's me counting my macronutrients, having 6% body fat, everything at the exact same time.

And then I, I really realized at that point, that that person wasn't upset with me. They were just looking for something to deflect about their themselves. So I, you can't make everyone happy and it's just, and it's also, you they're always gonna find something. Yep. So may as well just wear it on the chin and just keep going a hundred percent.

Yeah. It's never really about you. It's about them, but they're not willing to take responsibility for themselves. So it's easier for them to blame somebody. Or point the finger. I, I just, I just love absolutely everything that you've said. Um, people are shit. No, they're not  I love me. I think people are good that they just dunno how to deal with it a lot of the time.

That's that's what I think. Lack of self-awareness that's the one. Yeah. So back to self-awareness  yes, we finished off the influencer. Yeah. Okay. We've sold 10,000 eBooks. Span of time. I'm presuming it was very fast. Or did it take a year or with the Ables? Yeah. Um, it was over a period of time. So I launched it when I was like 18 and.

The last one I would've sold maybe when I was 21. Wow. Yeah, just before I deleted everything. Okay. So 21 we've deleted everything. I'm presuming cuz you just wanna start fresh with millennium. Am I correct? No. Okay. No, I wish we haven't hit millennium yet. One more step . Yeah, one more step. So I actually, so when Instagram came out, I built a following on there and this was like at the peak, like at the time I was friends with all the people who were like influencers, massive ones now.

And um, I started realizing if I wanted to build a proper brand. I didn't wanna just stick to this niche because I was in the fitness and wellness space, the weight loss space. And as I was getting older, like I was like, this isn't who I am anymore. And I kept going at it until I was 20, just before I turned 23.

And I tried to change my brand. So many. Instagram was so new and Tumblr, everyone on there was just like so arrogant in their own ways, in the sense where they knew you was this person. You can't change it. People box. Yeah. People struggled with change. Yeah. Especially online, still, still very, very new. And I tried to change my brands from being in fitness and health and being a weight loss blogger to being just a lifestyle person.

And it didn't go well. I copped a lot of backlash, copped, a lot of. So it was, um, I, I needed to keep it when I, when I, I needed to keep that blog when I launched millennium, because I had all my contacts there. That's how I built relationships with businesses, other influencers. So I needed to keep it, but.

Maybe just before I think it was just before I turned 23, I decided I had enough of being put in this box. I was over it and I wanted to be Cassandra not don't laugh at my handle. It was workout, live love. And I was of it  it was the worst name, but it's who I was and people couldn't let me be Cassandra.

So I was like, I don't wanna be this person I've had enough. And I just decided to delete it and be Cassandra. Wow. So you broke 50 or 60,000 people's hearts with workout. Live love. Yeah, pretty much. And you started again pretty much. I still have the Tumblr blog. Okay. Um, and I use it every now and again, cause I have friends still from there and like, it's funny.

Wait, wait, wait. So is Tumblr still a thing? Yeah. It's, it's still there. It's your friends don't have Instagram anymore.  they have a, but like it's like. I don't know, it's just so like nostalgic going on there and that's cool seeing everyone on there, but a lot of my followers who are from there, follow me on my new page now.

And whilst I may not have, you know, the a hundred thousand followers I had on Instagram then now. Yep. The ones who have been there since I was 17, you know, over 10 years ago now follow me on my new one. And it's almost like it's so humbling because it's like, these people came with me and they're still with me and it's.

Nice in a way. Yeah. So yeah, I, I kept it for a while, but now it's not, and I kind of regret it, but I will, but I, I just, I'm still trying to understand, like what drove you. So I understand that you, you know, you wanted your own money, you wanted your own independence and everything, but was it dad? Was it mom?

Um, or was it just you being like, fuck it a bit of both. I'd say definitely my, I grew up in a very traditional household, right? Yeah. So. Dad worked mom would stay at home wife. Um, there was my sister and I, and. I think I saw over time growing up how much my mom had to rely on my dad and like asking permission to, for, you know, for money and stuff.

Like not like, it wasn't like that, but you know, you have to ask, I did money for the groceries. It was old school. Yeah. It was very old school, ethnic, you know, traditional style and the, well, what was the norm back then? Yeah. And you know, like I think I kind of saw that and it influenced me. . And I also looked at my dad and how he came here with nothing and built everything that he has, and he's quite a successful person.

And I kind of think his fire and his hustle inside of him kind of inspired me to go well, if he can do it well, I'm like the girl version of him. I'm sure I can do it too. Right. So I think he just inspired me to be able to go. You can go from nothing to doing something and I wasn't given anything on a silver plate.

And it drove me to want more for myself. It drove me to be able to go, I wanna live a good life. I wanna maintain my lifestyle. That I've been fortunate enough to be brought up in. I wanna be able to also make sure that my future children are able to have this kind of lifestyle too, and not have, you know, parents who are struggling.

So I think it's a mixture of all three of those things that kind of made me go. Let's go. Let's keep going. Wow. Watch me. Yeah. Okay. Pretty much. Yeah. And then obviously the bullying underneath, it has always been like my dry. I know that's the that's that's the fuel. Your parents built the engine, I think.

Correct? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Okay. Yeah. So , we've gone through that. We've gone through we've closed down the Tumblr. Yep. Six months to university. Yep. Jackie's turned around and said, yep. Hurry up. Come be my PR agent or social media manager. Uh, yeah, social media manager, I'd say. Yeah. Okay. So how did you tap into moving into PR?

Because PR to me you've gotta have contacts in the field. Like it's not something that you could just jump right into. It's something you've you've. Got to know how to finesse your way, communicate millennium communication, but J plug. Um, but you need to know how to basically build your book, who you can go to for certain stories.

I yet, again, I'm flabbergasted. How  I don't know. Okay. I think about in like, how the hell did I do this, but, okay. Okay. Who was your first contact? Um, oh actually it was, uh, a radio. Host from, I think it was two GB at the time, but he said no. So it was like, okay, well watch me. Cause as I do, yeah. Um, uh, to be honest, so it would've started two GB.

It started, you received the no re yeah. And I look, I wasn't afraid to pick up the phone and call people. Okay. So. I wouldn't like, I was, like I said, I was very lucky. Like when I was, I had my blog, I was, I had some contacts at some magazines and everything like that, based on the media exposure I got. Um, so I kind of had those kind of relationships that I was able to tap into, but I didn't have the clients to be able to utilize them.

So when it came to the clients that I had at the time, it came from a lot of. A lot of hustle. Like it wasn't even like having coffee with people. It came from like, and building relationships with the media. It just came from all right, well, I've got this client. I have to figure out the right story for this journalist.

If I wanna get it across and I have to make it work. And I'd say my PR probably didn't start kicking in until maybe 2000. Uh, so I started millennium in 2016, so maybe 2000 and. The start of 2018. When I had one client who became a top CEO for, um, inside small business. And then it kind of tumbled from there.

So you made a lot of friendships along the way? Yeah, it was just a case of like,  there's a lot of research that goes into PR. It's not even half the time about like, okay, I I'm friends with this journalist, let me call them because half the time it might be irrelevant. Like, so for example, with you, Joey, like, I'm not gonna call like news.com you the lifestyle section and be like, Hey, it wouldn't make sense.

Mm-hmm  but I can go to Sarah Sharples and give her a case study, like we've done with you, right? Mm-hmm  it, it doesn't matter. It comes down to the quality of the client that we're working with, the story and the angle and researching that journalist and. What's gonna work for them. And is this client actually right for the kind of audience that they have, because ultimately that's what we're doing.

We're the messenger. We create the story, the angle on behalf of the client, we send it to the journalist and then it's the journalist job to be able to go, yep. This is going to suit our audience. So it just comes from a lot of research, understanding what these journalists want, what what's, the problem that their audience have and solving.

Be through our clients, through your clients. Yeah. So you are, you're basically killing two birds with one stone. You're helping two different people, correct? Yeah, exactly. And then, and doing a, a bloody good job of it. Yeah.  I think so. Yeah. Yeah. And that's just how I've built my relationships up until today.

And even then, like it's throwing events as well, like with my clients. It allows me to tap into networks and tap into journalists and build those relationships because it's the perfect timing. They're there for a reason. I have to speak to them on behalf of my client. And then from there it's, Hey, let's have a coffee and let's get to know each other more.

And even then half the time that doesn't happen, cause everyone's busy, but we just understand what's gonna work and not work. And sometimes it's as simple of as Hey, going and sending an email to a journalist and going, Hey. What do you like, what don't you like? How do you want me to pitch to you? What's gonna work for you for us to be able to you for you to say yes, and to get everything across the line.

And that's how I've just done it over the. So 21 and a half. Yes. Years old.  you've landed your first client. You've reached out 2222. Yep. You've landed your first client. And about this time, this is when you and Joey Kail met. Yes. Am I correct in saying that? I think, I think it was around that time. It must have been.

I mean, Joey remembers more than me because I completely like I've forgotten, but yes, it must have been around then. I remember. So can you give us some insight into this, uh, this rondevu? Well, I think you got my contact details through Ronnie originally. I don't think so because I met Ronnie after. So just for our listeners, Ronnie is the mutual friend.

The three of us. Yes. All of us. Pretty much how the three of us have met. Yeah. Who owns Noar nightclub on Oxford street in Darlinghurst. Darlinghurst. Okay. Shout Ronnie cheap plug for noir.  all right. So it wasn't Ronnie, I'm not sure how we got in contact, but yeah. I don't know. You asked me to DJ for a client of yours.

Yeah. Um, I think there were a gym in castle hill. It's the orange. The orange. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I could see the branding name. Yes. I could see the guy. Yeah, John, I think his name is John. You asked me to DJ for this opening. And that's when I started to understand what social media marketing was, you know, or like it was around, but I saw someone doing it live in action.

This was what say six years ago. Yep. Now exactly. Would've been exactly. Yeah. And. She was running the open day. And this, this girl was her boss. Like how old were you at the time? 22. She she's telling people where to go. Where telling me where I, where I need to set up. What to play. Did you have a run sheet?

Oh, yes.  she was super organized please.  yes. Okay. And basically your command. So this was your event. Oh yeah. Through the event, managed the event on behalf of the client. Yeah. And that's actually, no, that's when we actually started doing PR. There you go. Yes. So you've got people there. That's right. Cause we had the mayor come and do the grand opening and dried up.

Oh wow. It has contact everybody. Its like a whole memory being unlocked. Oh  oh, okay. So you had an employee didn't you? Yes I did. Yeah, she was, she was directing this employee where to go 22. Okay, so you no, no, no, no, no. I wanna get back on the mayor. Okay.  so this was the mayor of castle hill, uh, of the Hills district.

Yeah, that whole suburb area. Okay. So you've basically gotten this guy out at the age of 22. Yeah. How do you write to someone like that? How do you have the confidence. You're 22. So like it just comes right. Um, I was like, Ugh. When no is no, we'll take it. We'll figure it out later, like 22 years old, I couldn't walk up to a girl and say, hi, you can't tell me that.

It just comes to you naturally. She started a business at 12 years old.  I don't think, I don't think she cared. If the mayor said no to her. Let me tell you, I definitely couldn't walk up to a guy and say hello, but I could go up to the mayor and annoy her assistant and make sure she came on the day. Okay.

That was different.  yeah, I was. Like I had to do it like business. Think I reached out via email and then they didn't reply it. So I just founded the Hills district council there and she wasn't actually going to come. And then I rang her on the day, cuz she had bring me like an hour before she was supposed to show up and she was like, I don't think we're gonna make it.

And I was like, yeah you are. And I was like, no, you are coming. We have the ribbon. We have, you know, media we're here waiting for you. If you don't show up, when you agreed you were gonna show up. Like that's uncalled for, like, it's not gonna happen. My client will be pissed and it's just gonna show that you don't actually.

Participate in the community. So you're putting pressure on, yeah, I put, I'll put all the, I made her feel so guilty, but I didn't care. Is that how you spoke to the other babysitter at 12, 10 years earlier?  saying you are gonna show up these parents are going on their anniversary date and you'll be there.

Uh, I cannot confirm tonight maybe. Um, I. Put the pressure. Well, cuz there was pressure on me. This was the first event, no second event I had thrown and I was like, I want this to be perfect. And there was so much pressure on me to make sure that the event worked and I knew their goal was for the mayor to be there.

So I had to make sure it happened. So I've just guilt tripped her. I made sure she was gonna come one time. She was a little bit late, but I was like, that's fine. That's taking a long there. That's taking a lot of ownership. I take a hundred percent responsibility for everything that I do. When did you start doing that?

Um, people pleasing growing up, being bullied. That's just how it all worked in together. No, no, but like, when did you start taking ownership of like, just, this is my, this is on me. I'm gonna take care of it. Uh, In that situation or just as a personality trait in personality trait. Uh, when I started, when I decided to lose weight.

Okay. Yeah. That's for the first time I decided I gotta take responsibility for myself cuz nobody's gonna do it for me. Yeah. Yeah. So I just, I, I always love to talk about weight loss stories because, you know, example a example, be example C yeah. Literally say Cassandra , but um, yeah. So you, you, with that ownership, you kind of, it's extremely difficult at the start.

I'm not too sure. If you remember your first time at the gym. I definitely remember mine. I fell over a few times and I was carrying two and a half kilo dumbbells, and I was gigantic. Um, and then, you know, for yourself, you just, you said something that I've heard a million times in my own brain. Nobody's gonna do it for me.

I'm gonna do it for myself. Yep. Do you remember the exact switch when that happened? Oh, a hundred percent. I still remember it. I remember the exact feeling until today. Um, When I decided I wanted to lose weight, I was, it was just before my 17th birthday, I was watching a Christina Aguilar movie burlesque.

I had just hurt my ankle for the countless time in a year. Cause I was playing netball and chubby girls and netball do not mix very well. Yeah. Um, and I remember watching her cuz I wanted to be a singer at that time of my life. And. I remember watching her move the way she sang, the way she would do things.

I was like,  well, I can't do that to being the way that I am now. So it clicked. Everyone told me when I told them, like, I'm gonna lose weight. They were like, you're not. Because prior to that, I was in and outta the children's hospital, I was a Guinea pig for every diet you could possibly imagine. And I decided, no I'm gonna do it.

And because people said, no, you're not going to. I was like, watch. Watch me exactly. Let's move on new tagline. Hey, I've found a couple of sources. He, yeah, one of them's watched me. Yeah. And one of them is extreme ownership. Yeah. And we touched on that in our opener with, uh, Yoko Jaco, William Yoko. Have you ever heard of him?

Oh, he's cooked Navy seal commander. Oh wow. Every day he opens, he uploads an Instagram photo every single day of him waking up before 4:00 AM. I think it's 3:57 AM. Just to show people. He is up at 3:57 AM a picture of his workout or a video of his workout. And then just something else motivational every single day, he's a form of Navy seal, but he, he really touches on extreme ownership.

I it's a really good book. You should read it. Yeah. I'll have to look about it. It is interesting, but I'm amazed that you you've done this, you know,  well, I think, I think CAS shows a little bit of like what everyone aspires to.  you know, just taking care of it, taking care of business, you just have to, right.

Like, like you said before, like, no, one's gonna do it for you. Yeah. If you want something in your, in your life, like your life, there are people in your life, but it's your life also. And if you want something, you can't rely on anybody else to give it to you. Yeah. You have to do it yourself. Like no one hands you, anything on a silver PLA yeah.

Yep. And opportunities. Don't just come out of nowhere. Yeah. I mean, sometimes they can. It doesn't always happen. Luck is just opportunity meets preparation, correct? Yeah. You have to work. You have for whatever you want. Yeah. You have to be also be willing to take the risk because one thing I've learned, and I think I watched this from atop video.

Yeah. Um, was like the only thing that's stopping you from ever doing anything is resistance and resistance is just scarcity from changing your identity. Whether it's, you're resisting to go to the gym and it feels really off it's because you it's gonna change who you are in a way going to the gym is for the first time, 20th time, whatever, if it feels weird to you or you feel resisted to it, it's just because your identity has to change to fit into something new that makes you uncomfortable.

Wow. Until you become comfortable with it. That's. It becomes a part of who you are and ultimately you change and you have to just be okay with that journey. I kind of call that stretching. Yeah. So like you, you have put in a box and every single time you just stretch for people watching on camera, you stretch.

And all of a sudden that box just becomes a bit bigger. And then all of a sudden it's just, it's no longer a box. It's it's a rectangle.  one big Jorn. Yeah. Like it turns into a rectangle and it just stretches further from there a hundred percent. Exactly. I, I need to know now with millennium. Yes. How many clients do we have or, you know, allow to reveal that, uh, I think we're sitting on about 22 going on to about 26 next month.

Wow. Yeah. That's quite a lot. That's massive. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's one it's staff, but yeah.  and just let everyone know. I am a client of Casas. Yes. So I, and the thing is about CAS. She treats you like you are their own like that. I'm your only client. Okay. She makes time for everyone. Yep. So planning organization, all of it.

There's gotta be some head noise. Like how do you block all that out and just get so focused? Uh, I don't , it's a daily struggle. Like. I'm that I'm somebody who suffers with, and I'm a very open book about my own mental illnesses, whatever I have really high functioning, um, anxiety. And on top of that, I have ADHD.

So put them together. It's like chaos in my brain. Um, so I don't coat handle it. I just manage it. And a big part of that comes to making sure that whoever is in the millennium family feels like they're a part of the family because it makes me. Not feel anxious about how people are being treated. And I believe that everybody should be treated the same way that you would wanna be treated.

Yeah. Um, how I manage everything is I have a calendar and that calendar is like my life. Okay. If it's not in there, it doesn't happen. That's your Bible say? Correct? Yeah. I have a multiple checklists, so, and it's the one thing. Also makes me feel, keeps me motivated. So like I have personal like checklists, I have my business stuff that I need to take care of in the business, but they're all set to an ultimate goal of what I want or what I wanna achieve.

And that's how I manage everything every day. What's my priorities. What, what can I get the girls to do? What do I need to do? And a big part of that makes, comes into making sure that my clients feel heard, seen respected and. I'm not here. Like they're not just a dollar sign. They're actual people that I respect I wanna work with and make sure that I have a long term relationship, whether I'm working with them or not.

And that's just how I treat millennium. It's a family. Well, now you're six years in. I am in all, like all, it may not be the best strategy, but it works for me. Hey, it depends what you call the best and what the strategy is for. But if it. For making money. You it's, that's not your prime goal by the sounds of it.

I think that comes as it's a byproduct of how you're treating people and how you're running your business. Correct. So I think it would be the best strategy for what you wanna achieve in a way. It seems like it's working. Yeah. I mean, money is obviously a motivator at the end of the day, but it's motivated for everyone.

Of course. Yeah. You need, you gonna pay your bills, but like percent like it's, I don't want to leave a sour taste on anyone's. Whoever I interact with, I wanna make sure that when they're interacting with me, that they feel like they're being, they're walking away, feeling their best, whether they don't feel seen by their partner, their business partner, their children, whatever it's about knowing that when they're with me and I'm talking to them and interacting with them, whether it's five minutes now or two hours, they feel those things cuz it means that they're gonna walk away and feel empowered within their own everyday life to be able to achieve what they need to achieve or to just to get.

When they need to, and that's just how I manage it and how it works for me. So I'm just gonna go through something now. I've I always love discussing the morning ritual because I feel, and everyone's got their own different morning ritual. So I know the, the, the glove doesn't fit on every hand. So for me personally, I wake up, you know, I do my whim H breathing techniques.

I do my meditation, I do my yoga Peloton, you know, Have to take care of a few things and then I come to the office. Right? Yeah. And then I know Joseph's is a little bit different to that where Joseph wakes up super early, goes to the gym, goes and does boxing and then makes his way to the office. Mm-hmm  we need to know what your secret sauce is because I'm a big believer in the routine in the morning sets you off for the day.

Yeah. A hundred percent. I'm still trying to figure it out.  um, have you got a checklist? Yeah. Apart sometimes he's got operations bang, man. Well, yeah, cuz what are the absolute needs in the morning? Well, the first thing I always do is, is I always go and see my dog because my dog is my life, my baby, my child.

I could speak to that. Yeah. It's a massive Huff to, for me. Um, what do you mean go where, where is your dog? I go downstairs. Okay. At my room. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I'll go see her and I, you know, cuz you know, animals, you pat them and everything, it gives you. It's like an endorphin. It's actually a way to release dopamine within yourself.

Given a hug to your dog. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Like it makes you feel cold. Makes all agree on that feel good. And so I always do that. Then I'll go outside. I'll grab my coffee, go outside and just take some fresh air in. Um, it changes every day. Like it can either be nice and slow, or it starts off with me going for a walk, taking my dog with me, stopping at a coffee.

Getting my coffee, walking home and listening to a walking meditation, um, that's tends, this has become more of a regular than what it used to be. Yeah. Um, and then it's just all self care whether I go to the gym or not is kind of not something that matters too much for me, cuz I'll either go in the morning or in the evening.

Yep. But it's more of a case of making sure that I feel like I've been taken care of before I can take care of everybody else in. Work and family life. Wow. Yeah, it's just very slow. I, you know, I'll spend half an hour blow dry my hair, put makeup on, do what I have to do for me. Yeah. To make sure that I feel like I'm being served for.

So, so you're keeping number one, number one. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I it's, my job is too fast paced. If I don't do it, it will never happen. So millennium has grown to a position. Where you've got, you know, you're 22 to 26 clients at the moment. Yep. You've got something else that you're working on on the side.

Yes, I do. And I would like for you to present it to our viewers in our listeners. Yeah. Thanks. So we are, so millennium is a dot. For your, do it for you service. So we do it on behalf of our clients. So what we are about to launch is the second agency, which is Millennium's little sister called unbrand agency.

And it's more of a way for business owners, startups who can't afford a retain service, or they don't wanna retain service. They have heard of poor experiences with PR. They wanna take it. Their own way. So it's a do it yourself service. So, so you're starting another business. Yeah. I know. Is this business number six?

Maybe more. It could be more  there's probably little ones as well. There's been a few other ones in between. I'm still looking back to the ebook tips, you know, I've got a few things that I've gotta, gotta get out there, you know? Okay. Let's see how it goes with the launch of, on brand. And let's see if those things work now.

Okay. But, um, yeah, I think it's like business. Double digits. Now there's been a few in between. And so you got a little bit bored with 26 clients and decided let's do another business. No, I mean, yeah, but no,  no, no, that's, that's all I, um, it came out of multiple conversations that I was having with people.

Um, I have a, like, we have people that follow us or follow me who. Come to us and they wanna work with us, but they can't afford our services. And I'm like, I don't like to leave people feeling like they're in the dark. So I had an inkling, um, when I had COVID apparently your brain stops working mine just decided to go hyperactive and create a new business.

That's the ADHD, I think. Yeah. Um, cuz I was bored doing nothing. Um, and I decided. There's a gap here that needs to be filled. And we obviously, we have a big, small startup business following on our marketing, like Instagram. And I was like, there's a gap. There's a need. And people trust us to be able to give them this service.

So why don't I just create it? And look, I'm not the only one. There are competitors out there, but they're not us. They're not me. And people wanna be a part of us and our, and who we are. We have nothing to give them right now. So I was like, oh, I need to give them something. So I've built this whole second agency on the whole idea of you can't come to millennium right now and that's fine, but Hey, here is what we have.

You can purchase, do it yourself, bundles, eBooks, consultancy, copywriting. Um, we are gonna do courses, whether it's for yourself, a staff member or, you know, whatever. We have offerings available that are affordable, that can provide a solution to your need. And you're still working with us, but it's just under a different name.

And eventually our, my plan is, is to be able to work with these people throughout that journey, that when they can afford retain services, they're gonna wanna work with us because we know how it, they know how we work. They trust us trust. Correct? Yeah. It's just like the next step. Yeah. But most importantly, just helping them find, get gain solutions for whatever problem that they.

It's amazing. Thanks. So what's your offering at the moment? So we've got three that we're gonna start off with. Um, the first one is a do it yourself bundle, which is a I've tabled, my feet up  I'm sorry.  um, it feels like life in a way.  um, so we have three that we're gonna start up with. Uh, so the first one is a do it yourself bundle where businesses can purchase, uh, like a press.

That we ride up for them and a, and they get media contacts that come with that, for that we would recommend for distributing this press release to, and they can pitch it out themselves. Um, the second one to that is a coaching consultancy kind of thing. Um, which is a  for business owners who wanna build a personal brand, but have no idea what their brand is and need some help figuring out what that positioning looks like.

So they'll work with me one on one to build that positioning with, with you, with me, cuz I'm not. Because you don't have enough on your plate? No, no, no. Just wait a second. I'm gonna buy something here.  okay. Keep going. Um, so we work one on one with them to be able to find their positioning so that they feel confident to whether they do it through media, social media, whatever it might be.

They have a brand Bible that gives them the confidence to be able to go, go out there and do it. Then the third one is just copywriting. Whether it's websites, brochures. You need us to edit something for you? eBooks eBooks. Yes. To get 'em on. Exactly key plug and that's the whole thing. We keeping everybody on brand.

That's our whole goal and our whole aim. So no, no matter how you're feeling, whether you're nervous, whether you know, you feel reluctant or you're doubting yourself, we're here to help make sure that you stay on brand. You're gonna give them the kick and the, the nudge that they need. Yeah. Where their big sister or their little sister Millennium's little sister, but their big sister.

Yeah. But their big sister. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's the. Basis of it just to help people. So how will people be able to find you millennium me or brand on brand brand ? Um, on brandand is just on brandand agency underscore on Instagram. And then when the website goes live next week, it'll be on brand agency.com AU that's next week you're launching.

Yep. What's the date today? No,  then, um, I dunno, whenever I feel like it's one day next week, probably Wednesday at this at. So the 25th for the 24th of August, 2022, correct. Is gonna be the date? Yes. Okay. How exciting I'm putting you on that deadline? Yeah. Well, I've been putting myself on that deadline for a while too.

Don't worry, but that's the whole aim. . So we've talked about a lot of successes over the last few years. Yep. I, uh, there's always one of my favorite questions because it always leads to a success. But what was your biggest failure or what was your favorite failure? Um, uh, my biggest failure. Favorite let's go with favorite failure.

Oh shit. Sorry. Um,  um,

oh actually it was a couple of years ago. Um, I really let a client down and I introduced them to the wrong people and I. Thought I knew what was best for them, but it, what happened was, was I made, made it more about the money rather than them. And when I lost them, I lost them in a very, very traumatic, emotional way.

Mm-hmm  and it really changed my whole entire view on how I do. How I do any kind of operations in millennium. It was a failure because I let the client down. Okay. But it's my favorite failure because it forced me to change everything, everything, and how I do everything. Quality is everything. Can you give us any specifics?

Um, yes, without, without names, what did you do or business names? So there was two, two situations that happened that kind of led to the end of that. Okay. Relationship. So the first one was they were launching new product and they needed, um, a branding company to come on board. And we didn't offer branding at that time.

And we introduced them to a friend of mine and an agency he was operating with. And. They came to the meeting and they just ran their mouth. Like, and these guys were like old school Italians. You don't do that in a meeting. Okay. I was so embarrassed. And I could just tell from the moment that they started swearing and saying, like becoming aggressive, I was like, this is not gonna happen.

And I knew it was gonna question the relationship that I had with them. I thought it was the best way to go. But I also ignored my gut instincts, which told me do not do this. And I still went with it because I was trying to. Them that we were worthy enough to be able to build a business relationship with, which did not happen anyway.

Um, and then the second thing that happened was, um, I, we were doing some email marketing for them and I knew like the quality was everything for these guys. And I had let them down in the sense where I had just changed graphic designers and she was crap. The girl that we were working. And I knew they weren't gonna like the design, but I was like, I don't have time to deal with this.

So like, let's just send it to them and let's keep going. And what happened was, was they sent me an email back saying, is this what we're paying you for? And I knew it was the worst thing to do, but I had learnt. And then eventually it led to a conversation a couple of weeks later with the operations manager and they were questioning a lot of things and it ended in a.

Crap way, but it was the, I was very young. Like we're talking like three, wait the year before COVID was like three, four years. 2019. Yeah. Yeah. I was very young. I was 24 years old. Right? Like I was just in the business for a couple years. Yeah. If you're a kid, this, this is what I always say to people. You can't the way that the world has evolved now is you're no longer a kid until the age of 18 hell.

I'm 31 years old. I am, I am. I'm a child. I am one, he's a child. I am 100% a child. Will, yeah, we make mistakes. It's just locking. Like, I'm not gonna include that. Rob cut that out. We all, we all make mistakes and it's all stuff that we have to. Learn from, and you can't judge yourself on something that you did at the age of 24.

You just can't anymore. It's the world's too evolved. Now. We're not living in a way that we're constantly scarce. You know, when's our next grocery gonna come or anything along the lines of that. We, we live in a world of abundance these days and it's, and the world's changed where we're allowed to be kids for a lot longer.

Okay. Like, you know, my parents, a nightclub to them is my parents grow up without electricity. So like for, for my parents coming here and then they see us up until the age of 24. Yeah. I'm gonna go out with my friends. They're like, why don't you get married?  it's a different world now. So big time, I always say, be kind to yourself, especially your younger self.

Yeah. You have to, you have to, you can't let. It's what failure, but anyways, I Don think, I, I think it was more, I think she's learnt from it too. Like that's what I'm gonna say only now look, it took a lot of like inner work, like yeah, yeah. Trust. It was very the way that it ended really traumatized me in the way that I was operating.

And look that year was just full of horrendous stuff that happened anyway, but it took that to happen for me to have what. I have today. It created doubt in your mind. Yep. It time I wanted to give millennium up. It took a long time for me to be able to just rebuild the trust with myself and what I was doing.

Wow. That comes back to you owning it completely. And I don't think you trusted, or you did, you didn't trust your gut and your gut's usually right. I have to say a hundred percent. Oh, a hundred percent. And I'm still figuring that shit out. I hate whatever . Yeah, it was the biggest blessing, but at the time, Worst thing that ever happened to me in a one of the worst things.

Yeah. I've, I've got a few points in my life where I always say that's the worst thing that's ever happened to me. And I look back and I go, fuck. That was a good thing that happened. Oh, definitely in a bad way. Definitely.  you just, you learn, it's not, you don't often learn from your wins. You learn from the learnings.

I don't, I don't even call 'em losses anymore. They're called wins and learnings. So just that's the best way to, and then your wins just lead you from looking at the next thing. Cause you don't even take a second to appreciate the wins. You're like, all right, what's next? Whatever's next on brand.  yeah. I have a problem with building businesses and starting them and yeah.

but it's good. It's fun. It sounds like it started pretty early on, but. Yeah. Yeah. I blame my dad, honestly.  I blame him even though he is stuck to one his entire, he pretty much his entire life, but Hey, what, what is his business? Uh, my dad's in chicken, uh, the chicken industry. Okay. So he is very typical malt agricultural kind of, um, background.

And he is an engineer, but. Sells a machinery to chicken companies like Codina STS and all of them to be able to process, package, kill, um, chickens so that they can sell 'em. Hey, here's the reason we have our protein. Yeah, pretty much. Thank you. There you go. Dad. Little big little plug. So on brand launches.

Hopeful. Six days, 24th of the eighth, 2022. Cass. I wanna thank you so much for coming on today. Thanks for having me Cass. You're amazing. Oh, thanks. I'm blown away with some of the things I've heard today. Thanks. I appreciate it. And you can find CAS, your Instagram handles are millennium communications. Is there an underscore at the end?

It's millennium communications, but I'm pretty sure millennium is spelled with. Two ends two ends in the middle. Yep. Okay. Her Instagram is private. Don't stalk her. No, it's no, it's probably it's private. Don't stalk her.  don't fact check me. I, yeah. Yeah. It's private.  and then we can find on brand on Instagram.

How, uh, on brand agency underscore. Fantastic. And then if you want to do your own PR your own social media, you wanna take care of yourself on brand.com AU or on brandand agency.com AU. Yeah. On brand agency.com AU. And you're literally gonna learn from the best. So. Thanks.  I, I, I didn't even know what I wanna do, but I wanna use you.

There's multiple options. Um, brands millennium. I'm pretty sure something else will see. Yeah, we'll talk. Thank so your time today. Thanks for having.