Springfield Business Journal_2021-05-10

10 · SBJ.NET MAY 10-16, 2021 SMALL BUSINESS WHERE DESIGN & PURPOSE MEET SERVING SPRINGFIELD SINCE 1977 COMMERCIAL FURNITURE • DESIGN • SPACE PLANNING • INSTALLATION SERVING SPRINGFIELD SINCE 1977 INSPI ING SPACES CREATE INSPIRED PEOPLE G abriel and Kylie Cassady founded creative agency 2 Oddballs LLC four years ago while working around the globe, and the couple have embraced the flexibility of remote creative work as a backbone of their young business. Since relocating to Springfield in 2018, the two have built a six-person company around marketing, branding and public relations with support from contract artists and workers. Five questions with Gabriel Cassady: What are ways you and your team have demonstrated small-business grit? Late nights and long hours. We’re always on. Any business owner would understand the idea that, even when you’re not in the office, you’re in the office in your head. I don’t know if I really knew the meaning of hard work fully until I owned my own business, but there’s something about being a business owner that led me to new levels of motivation. What’s your No. 1 survival tip? Have a growth mindset. Be curious, especially in our industry. There is always something new or changing, and there will be something new tomorrow. You always have to be learning, educating yourself and keeping up with what’s new. What’s the one trend your company has bucked? There’s been a trend toward outsourcing, automation, what’s called software as a service, and all these things that de- personalize the client experience, minimizing costs and focus- ing on sales, sales, sales. Our focus has been almost the exact opposite. We’ve focused on a very personalized service, quality service, instead of volume. We’ve also had a very local strategy, especially since 2020, and now almost all of our clients are local. What’s the one thing that will propel you forward in the next year? We are really putting a focus on art and creativity and bring- ing art into business. I think there’s a lot of automation and (artificial intelligence), and maybe one day a robot will be painting our pictures, but until then, we’re really putting a fo- cus on developing our talents as artists. I think that art is one of the highest forms of human connection. We really want to focus on using art to help businesses connect with their audi- ences in a meaningful way. I believe that ethical advertising, ethical marketing, ethical public relations are all about real, meaningful connection, and what better way to do that than with art? The flip side of a culture of hard work is burnout. How do you ensure you and your employees have a flexible work schedule and avoid burnout? We want our employees to take care of themselves, so even as a young business we are trying to build a culture of self-care and be mindful of employees’ mental health. We founded the business in 2017 and moved to Ecuador where we ran the business remotely, so we like to say we were work- ing remote before it was cool. So, all of our employees have always been remote. There’s a downside in that creative col- laboration is difficult, but there are cost, time and freedom benefits. We’ve adopted core hours where employees are “in office” and available, and then they can do the remainder of their work whenever they like. Interview excerpts by Contributing Writer Claire Porter, sbj@sbj.net. MCKENZIE ROBINSON 1 3 Gabriel & Kylie Cassady 2 Oddballs LLC Title: Co-owner Years in Position: Co-founder Founded: 2017 2 4 5