Interview with Cass Davis, the Passive Income Mama
Cass Davis is the Passive Income Mama. She teaches female entrepreneurs and business owners to move away from the ‘time for money’ model to making income while they sleep. She also runs a successful Facebook community, The Passive Income Society with over 1,200 members.
What’s your career background?
My corporate career was in change management, including contractual change and process improvement change. I have an honours degree in Business Studies with International Development, and I’m a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt for process improvement.
How did your career change after having children?
I had been a contractor up until I stopped to have a baby so I didn’t have maternity leave or a job to go back to. It was then that I decided to start my business as the biggest thing holding me back before was that I didn’t want to lose the income from my job.
We also looked at the cost of childcare, and it would have cost me money to put my daughter in nursery full time, so I could work full time. It sounds crazy, but it just wasn’t practical to go back to work.
Where did the idea for your business come from?
I had a lot more time on my hands, and I’d never really used social media before I had my daughter so while I was at home with a newborn, I spent a lot of time surfing the web. I came across business coaching and realised that a lot of the skills I’d picked up in corporate life could be transferred to business coaching.
How did you move from idea to actual business?
I spent a lot of time googling and DIYing things but once I realised that I didn’t need much to start my coaching business, I just went for it. I made a website, I set up all my social media channels and I started posting content. My business really took off once I’d started my Facebook group.
What’s your USP?
My business has evolved from business coaching in general to being specifically about passive income and being able to work from home around your kids without needing to be available to clients all the time.
Who’s your target audience?
Women who are currently running successful businesses (service or product based) that are tired of hustling for every penny and want to find a way to get more freedom back form their business, without losing sales.
How do you spread the word about what you do?
Social media.
What’s been your most successful marketing strategy?
My Facebook group and Pinterest. I currently have over 1,200 members in my group and have 47.5k monthly impressions on Pinterest.
What’s been the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?
Impostor syndrome, feeling like who am I to do this? It still comes up from time to time but you have to push past it and keep moving forward.
And your proudest moment so far?
One of my biggest goals for my business was to be able to stay at home with my daughter until she started school. She started in September 2017 and I’m still at home with her every day and running my business.
Why is work so important to you?
My business is important to me because it’s something that’s just for me, it allows me to be me and not just someone’s mother or wife. My business also helps other women to have the freedom to be able to spend more time with their family without worrying about how the bills will be paid.
Who inspires you?
My mother. She worked so hard to give my sister and me a better life. She travelled for work when I was a kid, and I could never understand why she’d be gone for months at a time but now that I’m an adult and a mother, I can understand what a sacrifice that must have been for her, to miss her children growing up in order to provide for them.
She went back to university later than most to get her masters degree. I was so proud of her on the day she finally graduated, it was an incredible acheivement.
How do you balance your business with your family?
As a rule, I only work Monday to Wednesday during school hours so that I’m there for my daughter. Thursdays are my day off and I spend Fridays with my husband, who has a day off. We keep the weekend for family time.
This is why I’ve focussed my business on passive income because I want to be there. I also hired an assistant as soon as I could to free up more of my time for the things I love doing in my business.
What are your three top pieces of advice for someone wanting to do something similar?
- Don’t wait to start, keep moving forward even small baby steps will move you in the right direction.
- Schedule everything in so you know what you’re doing and when. That way you don’t miss client calls or school plays, and you’ll know how much time you have for yourself.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Whether that’s agreeing to share the chores with your family or hiring help, you need the time to work on your business if it if it’s going to provide for you and your family.
You can find out more about Cass on her website.
