E-Commerce and consumer products with John Cascarano of Tame the Beast

John Cascarano is the CEO and Founder of Tame the Beast as well as eCommerce Director at Fashionable. In this interview, I talk to John about the challenges of starting a new business, balancing these roles, and his work with paid advertising.

Creating your own position

There are very few people I talk to that have gotten their job by simply sending in a resume. Most of these opportunities come about through relationships. John’s opportunity with Fashionable is no exception.

But, instead of simply hearing about a position, he made his own. John spent time around Fashionable, and he figured out ways that he could contribute.

He noticed that they had almost no online marketing, but they were doing a great job on social media and had an awesome message. He began to boost their online marketing and eventually created the role he is in now.

The day to day

As eCommerce Director, John spends his time in three main areas on a day to day basis.

According to him, about a third of his time is spent in strategically evaluating the performance of their marketing and planning for next steps.

When I asked John about some of the metrics they pay attention to, everything came down to revenue. Cost per acquisition, lifetime value and conversion rates are all near the top of the list for Fashionable as well as his new business.

Another third of his time is actually spent running the paid advertising campaigns, and the final third is spent on management of team members and employees.

Starting something new

As I mentioned before, John is also in the process of building his new business Tame the Beast, a men’s grooming products brand. Not only does he have the online marketing experience, but he has also run a retail store before.

As with most young businesses, one of John’s main hurdles is generating revenue with limited resources.

Currently, the brand has a product line and is showing potential. Now, he is really focused on creating content around the product that is entertaining and helps people identify with the brand in a positive way.

He is looking into how he can build viral components into his messaging and building a process for content creation.

He looks at the creation of messaging and content as a process of discovery. You are never going to get it 100% correct the first time. You need to get feedback, read comments, and talk to people about how they react to your messaging. That way you can adjust and adapt to make your messaging stronger over time.

Final thoughts

I always like to ask my guests if they have advice for others who are just starting out in their career. John warned about a habit that he has a tendency to fall into that involves getting totally consumed by one thing.

Sometimes we get our heads down on a specific project or activity. It is important to step away from time to take a break, get some perspective, or any other activity that can help you break out of that tunnel vision.

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