The serial entrepreneur who turned a hotel room and a livestream into a multimillion-dollar movement
Cassandra Smith built a multimillion-dollar business from a hotel room with nothing but a camera, a skill, and the willingness to share both. Known online as Crafting with Cassy, the digital product strategist and serial entrepreneur has generated over $21 million in sales by teaching women to turn what they already know into income.
What made you decide to teach crafting on YouTube?
To be honest, because someone told me no. When I wanted to find out how to craft and how to create, I reached out to an individual, and she basically said, “no, you gotta go to YouTube and learn, just like I did.” So I went to YouTube, but it took me a year to master it. That’s when I told myself, going forward, once I master it, anybody that wanna learn this skill, I’m gonna be able to teach them, and they don’t have to worry about hearing no again.
How did you grow from those early videos to making $86,000 in 2 months?
I started back in 2017 making custom items, but I was making it by default. I was staying with my sister. It was me and my two kids, her and her four kids. I was depressed, my kids were depressed. I ended up putting them in a recreation basketball after-school program.
They go to the game, and the coach says we need everybody wearing custom hoodies so we can all be in sync. I couldn’t even afford a $45 hoodie. Someone told me they knew a crafter who could make hoodies for $20. She made them, we go back to the game, and the coach was like, these hoodies are so dope, can you make it for the entire team?
I reached back out to the crafter and I was like, hey, I just got this big order, can you show me how to do it? And she said no. I went to YouTube. It took me a whole year to master it. By 2019, I was doing $1,000 in a week making t-shirts, and I quit my 9 to 5.
I was thinking if I made $1,000 while working a 9 to 5, what would happen if I did this full-time? But that’s not how it worked. The sales started declining. Me and my kids ended up getting evicted and moved into a hotel. I was depressed again, feeling like just quitting, not just on myself, but on life in general. That’s when something just said, turn on your camera and start going live. But this time, don’t try to sell the shirts. Teach other people how to make the shirts.
When I started going live, so many people got on, and they were like, thank you, I just started my business because of you. That’s when I knew this is a real business.
February of 2020, my Shopify was at $15 for the whole month trying to sell t-shirts. But when I started going live consistently in April of 2020, we hit our first $86,000 from teaching people how to fish. I tell my students all the time, it’s okay to show what you know how to do, because they’re still gonna come back to you to keep learning.
Can you explain the concept of earning while you sleep?
When I was crafting, I was just winging it. I was waking up every day manually posting content, manually trying to get people to buy my products. But when I got into doing digital products, I realized I could only go as far as my systems and automations could take me.
Right now, when I post content and tell them to comment a keyword, it automatically sends them the link. All of those automations and systems are how you make money in your sleep. It’s one thing to have the skill, but if you don’t know how to automate it, or you’re not sending out email sequences to follow up, or you don’t have a website where they can go and buy whenever you have an offer, none of that matters.
I go live, teach them something, then drop the offer at the end. The website automatically upsells them on the next offer. I can go take a nap, and as long as my content is still circulating on social media, whether it’s YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook, every person that comments that keyword gets sent the link automatically. That’s how I wake up to sales.
What are some practical first steps someone can take right now to start making money online?
Get clarity first on what it is you know how to do, because with women especially, we are a jewel of all trades. We can do hair, we can motivate people, we can cook, we can clean. Those are things people want to know how to do.
I don’t teach people how to sell digital products. I teach them my strategy around digital products, because people don’t buy the product, they buy you. You have to figure out what makes you different than everybody else who knows how to do that same thing.
Once you’re clear on what you know how to do, what your strategy is, and how you can help transform somebody else’s life, the quickest way to start making money is to go live. When I go live, I use what I call the W framework. I teach the five W’s: the what, when, why, where, and who. Then at the end of that live, I sell them into the how.
I also give three offers, because there are people who like to read, people who like self-paced classes, and people who want a live experience. So whether you’ve got $5 or you’ve got $1,000, I have an offer for you. The e-book has my next offer inside it. The pre-recorded class leads into my main offer. And the main offer, which is my mentorship, comes with everything included. If you give people multiple offers at different price points and follow that framework, you can make money fast.
How has the journey been from rock bottom to where you are now?
I give all praises to God. I tell people all the time, so many people see me now and say, you look so happy and you’re living so nice. But I didn’t start there. I wake up to this day and still pinch myself because of where I was just six years ago. I was homeless. I was robbing Peter to pay Paul.
When we hit our first million in 2020, I honestly thought it was COVID-based. Everybody was home, so I figured that’s why they were signing up. But for the business to keep growing from $1 million to over $21 million, that showed me this is a recession-proof business. I’ve been able to retire my mom, hire five out of six of my siblings, and now they’re able to do it themselves. At the end of the day, I always know it’s bigger than me.
What’s next for you?
I’ve been teaching crafters and creators how to turn their skill, but now I want to talk to anybody with any skill, whether you’re a hairstylist, a real estate agent, a PR professional, or whatever you are. You have something other people would pay to learn.
That’s why I created my book, because freedom to you might look like getting a million dollars, but freedom to me is being able to spend more time with my kids, travel when I want, and not have to ask to go on a bathroom break. Whatever freedom means to you, I want to show you how to get that with whatever skill you’re sitting on that you just don’t realize yet.
Follow Cassandra Smith on all platforms @craftingwithcassy and visit buildmyfreedom.com to learn more about her programs.