Pilot: Why I Started The Loew Down

The best business advice Cassidy ever got didn't come from a book, a course, or a morning routine. It came from another small business owner who'd been exactly where she was and gave it to her straight.
That's what's missing. So that's what she's building.
Before you meet anyone else, meet Cassidy — former soapmaker, lip care and gift box creator, legal assistant, mom, and the quiet one in a group who somehow keeps finding her people. In this pilot episode she tells you who she is, why The Loew Down exists, and what you can expect every time you hit play.
She gets into the rebrand from Allan Soaps to Loew and Co — what shifted, what stayed, and why her maiden name meaning lion in German had everything to do with it. She talks about moving to Hamilton before her first child was born, not knowing anyone, and finding that the small business community was the thing that finally made her feel like she belonged somewhere.
And she answers the question she will ask every single guest before she ever asks anyone else.
What do you want to be recognized for in your community?
No guest today. Just the real story of why this show exists.
The Loew Down — Real talk with Hamilton small business owners. Starting here and growing from there. Because your story matters.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

You're listening to The Lowdown. I'm Cassie Lowen, Real Conversations with Small Business Owners in Hamilton. The version they tell their best friend, not the one they post. Because your story matters. So let's get into it. The best business advice I ever got didn't come from a book. It didn't come from a course. It came from another small business owner sitting across from me who'd been exactly where I was and gave it to me straight. No fluff, no funnel, no five things successful entrepreneurs do before 6 a.m. Just the truth. That's what's missing. So that's what I'm building. I'm Cassie Lowen. This is the Lowdown. Every two weeks, I'm sitting down with a small business owner from Hamilton and surrounding area, and we're getting into the conversations nobody else is putting on a podcast. Not the version on Instagram, not the LinkedIn one, the real one. This is the pilot. So today there's no guest. It's just me telling you who I am, why this exists, and what you can expect every time you hit play. A few years ago, I started a soap business called Alan Soaps. It started the way most businesses start, out of necessity. My mother-in-law made a soap that was the only soap my husband and daughter wouldn't react to. I learned how to make it myself, and then I couldn't stop. People kept coming back. The product was good. I was proud of it. But something shifted, and I rebuilt the business into something that felt more like me. What stayed is the lip care and the gift boxes. The lip balm is what customers keep coming back for. They tell me it's unmatched, that they've been searching for something like it for years. The gift boxes, I put more time into those than what makes sense from a business standpoint. But I don't care. Every single one is filled with products from other small business owners I trust and I pay them what they're worth. Because this has always been about community. Then came the rebrand. My maiden name is Loan. In German it means lion. And even though I'm happily married, even though I'm a mom, I'm still my own person. I'm still a Casty Loan. So why would my business say anything different? That's how Lone Co was born. And the lowdown, that's this, the real story, the inside scoop, the conversation that usually stays between the two people having it. Here's the part that matters most. I moved to Hamilton before my first child was born. I wasn't new to the area, but I hadn't found my people yet. Life had taken everyone in different directions, and it was lonely. It was the small business community that changed that. Markets, networking events, showing up. And I'll be transparent with you, I'm the quiet one in a group setting. The observer. Anyone who knows me will tell you. I show up, I want to be there, and half the time I'm trying to figure out how to insert myself into a conversation. But even with all of that, I found my people. And the feeling of belonging somewhere, of feeling less alone and something that can be deeply isolating, it changed everything. So I asked myself, how do I give that to someone else? Being an entrepreneur is lonely in a way most people don't talk about. You don't lack skill, you lack a mirror. Someone who built something right here in this city on a real budget with real stakes, who can reflect back what it actually looks like. That's why the lowdown exists. Every episode is a conversation. We follow it wherever it goes. Sometimes that's the origin story, sometimes it's a hot topic. Burnout, pricing, the parts of this nobody wants to talk about out loud. Sometimes it's both. There's no rigid formula, there's just the conversation that needs to happen. And every episode closes the same way with one question. The question is this what do you want to be recognized for in your community? I'll ask every guest, you'll hear the answers, and you'll understand why I built the whole show around that one line. Before you meet anybody else, I'll answer it myself. I want to be recognized as someone who builds community, who makes other small business owners feel less alone in the build, who makes them feel like their story is worth telling, who helps them find their people, because that's what community actually is. Finding mine changed everything for me. I'm Casty Loen, this is the Lowdown, and we'll see you in our next episode. That's the lowdown for this week. If something in this conversation landed for you, send it to one person who needs to hear it. That's how we build this. One story at a time. I'm Cassidy Lohan, and we'll see you in the next episode.