Today we’d like to introduce you to Cassie Jacobs.
Hi Cassie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in your typical “Texas family”, Christian by default but not religious. Most of my family are conservative-leaning, we have big family gatherings any chance we get, all the normal stuff. While we occasionally attended Church, I never felt at home there and by my early teen years, I knew I was most definitely not a Christian. Besides my deviation in religious views, I also leaned far more left politically than most of my family. That combination left me feeling out of place and like I didn’t belong anywhere for a big part of my life.
Over the years, I learned everything I could about many religious views before finding paganism and witchcraft in college. My family discouraged me from reading and learning more, so I put my interest away for many years. It wasn’t until 8 years ago when I happened across a documentary that my interest in witchcraft reignited.
When I was 19, my aunt hired me to work for her as a graphic designer for a local newspaper. She took the time to train me, even though I had no experience. Thanks to her, my career for the last 20 years has been that of a graphic and web designer. I’ve been successful in my career, but like anything else, sometimes it gets boring creating things for other people. I dreamed of being able to use my skills for something that I am passionate about.
Fast forward to 2020, we purchased a Glowforge on a whim. The goal was to use it to help grow our business, a marketing agency I own with my husband, that was struggling because of the pandemic. We wanted to offer short-run promotional items to our clients. As a person who loves creating and making, I loved having a laser. My first Christmas season with the laser, I listed political ornaments celebrating Biden’s victory on Etsy. They sold like wildfire and within 4 months of purchasing the Glowforge we knew it was time for a larger, faster laser.
In 2021, my husband convinced me to start a second shop and focus on my passion for all things witchy. It’s from his nudging that Salem Supply Co. was born. I started out with around 40 items, including pendulum boards, witch bells, and tarot stands. Since then, I’ve designed and added almost 300 items to my shop. I’ve also branched out from laser items and purchased a direct-to-garment printer so that I can offer beautiful, witchy textile items as well.
I now take part in local pagan and witch-focused events and markets and the welcome by our local community has been amazing. My part-time passion project has turned into a full-time job and we just added a second laser to keep up with orders. My mom, who once discouraged me from learning about witchcraft, now helps me in any way she can. She watches my kids during my events and encourages me to keep at what I’m doing.
Besides both of my Etsy shops and our marketing agency, I just started a self-funded witchy ‘zine. I want to use it as a space to educate and spotlight other small, handcrafted witchy shops. It’s super important to me to support the same community that has made my dream of doing something that I love a reality. Overall, it’s liberating being able to celebrate and share my interest instead of hiding it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been hard. The sheer amount of work it takes to run your own business is overwhelming. I don’t think that people who have never owned a business understand just how much work is involved behind the scenes. I spend most of my waking time creating new products, filling orders, going to events, updating social media, etc. Most nights, I get only 4 or 5 hours of sleep – it’s genuinely exhausting.
I’ve had moments where I am so exhausted that I just break down and cry and feel like I just can’t do it anymore. Luckily, my husband is always right there, supporting me in any way he can.
As someone diagnosed with ADHD and generalized anxiety disorder, owning a business can be a struggle. Between finding myself hyper-focusing on other things and my anxiety making me incredibly nervous about putting myself ‘out there’, it’s hard to stay on task and not fall into a spiral of self-doubt and worry.
Life is hard though; things are rarely easy. I know I am privileged to have been in a position where we could just “buy a laser on a whim”. I’ve struggled financially most of my life. If it wasn’t for an inheritance, we would could never have started our marketing agency and we wouldn’t have been able to afford the laser. I try to always keep in mind how lucky I have been and use it to pull myself up when things get overwhelming.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in creating handcrafted goods for the witch, Wiccan, and pagan community. I hear repeatedly from my customers that they love my products and the quality and how they can tell that I put a lot of work and energy into each of my items. I’m immensely proud and humbled that I can create items that people value enough to use in their spiritual practice.
I’m also incredibly proud of the feedback I’ve received. My Etsy shop has over 400 5-star reviews. My (probably unhealthy) level of perfectionism means that I am incredibly picky about what I will send out to my customers. While this means I remake items with small flaws that other people might deem great, it has left me with a reputation for very high-quality products. I have customers who come back to me again and again.
What’s next?
My goal is to open a brick-and-mortar store where I can sell not only my own items but a curated collection of other handmade witchy goods. I’d love to have a space large enough to accommodate community events as well. That’s pretty far down the road right now, but that’s what I see in the future.
I also have big hopes for Shadow and Light, my currently small ‘zine. It would make me incredibly happy to see it become a larger publication that is available in small, independent metaphysical shops around the country. I want to share with the world some of the incredibly talented makers I’ve had the privilege of meeting.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.salemsupplyco.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/shopsalemsupply
- Facebook: facebook.com/shopsalemsupply
- Other: tiktok.com/@shopsalemsupply
Image Credits
Vitae Photography
