Cas McCullough isn’t your ordinary marketing strategist, with a background as a local birth and postnatal doula with a knack for shoestring marketing. In the past 5 years Cas has won numerous accolades for her business Brilliant Content and is the best selling author of Your Brilliant Un-Career: Women, Entrepreneurship, and Making the Leap.
“Prior to starting my consultancy I started up a local birth and postnatal doula service, and because I marketed it on a shoestring but had a steady flow of clients; people started asking me for help with their marketing. One thing lead to another and pretty soon my marketing business was a thriving part-time venture.”
Cas is passionate about women’s empowerment and health, and specialises in content marketing for maternal and family health services and businesses, as well as content marketing for arts organisations.
“I am mainly driven by a desire to create change in the world and support businesses and organisations that drive change. I believe that if you support, empower and educate women and girls, you will create a more caring and humane world.”
Cas’ favourite entrepreneur:
“I really admire JK Rowling because she was a struggling single mother who persevered to get her book published and now she’s one of the richest women in the world. It’s not the money side of it that inspires me so much as just her tenacity and the fact that she had everything going against her. When I feel like business life is a struggle, I think of her and it gives me strength.”
Advice from Cas:
What three pieces of advice do you wish you’d been given when you started?
- Don’t diminish your own ideas. We all have ideas, some may be crazy and out there and some practical and overlooked by others. No matter what your idea, don’t dismiss it. You never know, it could be the next big thing.
- Outsource. Getting help is essential to running your business efficiently and growing.
- Be slow to hire and quick to fire. I’ve made lots of mistakes because i hired to quickly. I’m learning to take my time picking the right people for the right roles
What advice would YOU give someone thinking about starting a business?
“Well, firstly I’d tell them to pick up a copy of my book: Your Brilliant Un-Career: Women, Entrepreneurship and Making the Leap, because it gives a very practical guide to getting started. :-) Next, I’d tell them to line up a great group of trusted mentors and advisors.”
“Having great mentors has been crucial to my business success.”
What skills and knowledge areas would you recommend those starting out in business get acquainted with quickly?
- Human Resources information. It’s definitely not my strong point so I’m guessing it’s a weak point for others also.
- Accounting. Even though you should have an accountant and bookkeeper, you need to understand basic accounting principles so that you can keep tabs on your business performance.
- Marketing, for sure. It’s a weak point for many. Lots of small businesses haven’t caught on to the idea that they need to focus less on promotion and more on consistent publishing… but that’s where things are heading.
Cas on HerBusiness:
“It gives me a way to connect with other likeminded women in business primarily. I love the round table events. It’s a good way to stay accountable without taking too much time out of my busy schedule. I haven’t really gotten into the educational materials yet but it’s on my to do list this year. I’m in a pretty critical growth phase right now so I’m just trying to keep ahead of the curve.”
Read more about Brilliant Content here.
This post was co-authored by Vashti Broos. Vashti completed a journalism internship at the Australian Businesswomen’s Network. She studies Marketing & Public Relations / Communications and Media (Journalism )at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney.
