Cassie Fastabend does Employee Benefits as an independent consultant mainly for small businesses, and she’s passionate about connecting with employees and employers in a meaningful way to help them find their best benefits option and get some peace of mind. Read on to find out a little bit about her work and the challenges she has faced so far in her journey.
Tell us about your business! Who are your clients and how do they find you? What lessons have you learned building a community?
My clients are businesses and business owners! I do Employee Benefits and my passion is helping employees and employers with their benefits offerings. I meet most of my clients through networking and communities like SURGE. What I’ve learned about building a community and a name for myself in this industry is that it takes trust over time – this is my mantra for 2019, in fact! “Trust over time.” The more time I spend developing trust and value in my business relationships, the stronger those accounts will be.
Tell us about one of the biggest obstacles you have faced in your work and how you overcame it.
One of my biggest obstacles has been learning not to look at my day as if I’m an hourly/salaried employee. This may sound kinda silly, but I was so used to the idea of measuring my progress by the hour based on my salaried positions previously; what I do now as a completely independent agent is 100% up to me, and I’m finding that I love having that ownership over my time and workload. It did take some getting used to though; a definite philosophy shift!
Where do you see your work five years from now?
5 years from now I see myself taking more of an Account Management role and spending most of my time servicing my existing book of business. Building a book of business won’t take overnight, and may even take several years before it’s strong; however, at the 5 year mark I’m hoping to have the type of clients that allow me to act more as a full time Account Manager to ensure quality service and retention of those clients.
What would you say are the top three skills needed to be successful in what you do?
Only three?! There are a LOT, but in my particular type of role, I see these three as most important for me personally: Self-sufficiency, ambition, and sincerity.
How do you define success?
Success, to me, is coming home at the end of my day feeling like I did everything I could to contribute to my colleagues and clients.
Who has been your greatest inspiration?
My greatest inspiration is actually my Aunt/Godmother, who is an awesome, successful, smart, and loving realtor in Dallas, TX! A real self-made woman. I actually wrote an article about being inspired by her. Check it out on LinkedIn if you want.
What made you choose SURGE South Tacoma? What has your experience been like and who would you recommend it for?
I chose SURGE South because of the location (being super central to my clients in Tacoma) and because a colleague recommended it to me! I love the camaraderie and sense of workplace I feel from being surrounded by other hard working business owners/independent agents like myself.
Where can people go to support your business?
To learn more about what I do in the Benefits world, simply reach out to me personally and book an appointment! 1st coffee on me.
Contact info:
linkedin.com/in/cfastabend/
253.753.9779
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