Five years ago, baking was just a hobby. Today Cassandra Fear is an entrepreneur running "Fears Confections," her own retail business in Lakewood. Watch video
LAKEWOOD, Ohio - When Cassandra Fears first received a technical degree she started her career working in graphic design then moved into working as a fiber optic networking engineer, designing equipment layouts in neighborhoods for telephone and Internet services.
But four years later, in 2009, she was laid off during the recession. And for the first time in her life, she had a lot of time to kill - for the next year and a half. When she wasn't stressed filling out job applications, she would unwind by trying out brownie and candy recipes.
"I filled out about 600 applications when I was looking for a job," Fears said. "I think that I was only required to put in two or three a week to be eligible for unemployment benefits."
Five years ago, baking was just a hobby. Today she's an entrepreneur running "Fears Confections," her own retail business in Lakewood.
The drastic career change didn't happen overnight. With no job for more than a year, by the time she started selling brownies at festivals and online, she finally snagged her next job, working as a contractor in FDA compliance. She ended up working for three different businesses in the fields of manufacturing, pharmacy and medical devices. But she never stopped baking and often brought baked goods to work for co-workers to sample.
Every month, more than a million people visit Bplans and search among sample business plans for more than 500 types of businesses. And every year, Palo Alto Software, which owns the site, tracks which searches are most popular and publishes the top 10. In 2014, restaurants, cafes and bakeries was the No. 2 most searched for business, following services. It's a business that's difficult to start, with a lower rate of success than some of the other's listed on the list.
Fears has been working through challenges. Two years ago when her FDA compliance contract was up for renewal, she was ready to take a gamble on herself.
She opted to move from just selling confections online part-time to opening a retail location on the East Side of Cleveland. That venture with a former partner didn't work out. But for the last year, she's been running her business in Lakewood.
She's a self-taught chef who makes brownies, hand dipped chocolates and candies. Last year, Food Network star Alton Brown named Fear's Confections one of his top stores and snacks in 2014.
"It was difficult giving up something that was going to be steady for something that I had no training in whatsoever. But more often than not, I found myself at my desk daydreaming at my real job about putting this business together. So when the opportunity arose to go full time with this business I jumped on it. I felt it was the right thing to do."
These days, she's not looking back. And she's optimistic about future opportunities that include going after the corporate market with her new gift sets.
In a small way, Fears says she believes she's putting her technical background to use.
"Weather, temperature, or even the order that you add the ingredients can play a role in how the final product will come out," she said. "So it is a bit scientific and technical, just in a total different way."
Q. What's the best part of your job?
The moment of happiness I see when people enjoy my candy and see things that they don't expect like Star Wars shaped chocolates or Dr. Who. We make things that we like.
Q. Does your previous technical experience help in your new world of making chocolates and brownies.
It does. There's a lot of technicality to making candy. Weather, temperature and even order of ingredients can affect how it will come out.
Q, What would you say to your younger self?
Don't waste your money on an engineering degree. I'm going to be paying on those loans for a long time, loans I got to get a job in an industry that I'm not even in.
Q. What are the top three apps that you use most?
I use Square for all of my business transactions. I like Spotify for music. And...I can't think of a third one. I'm really old school. I like pen and paper. It drives my husband crazy.
Q. What could you teach a master class in?
Fake it till' you make it. Everybody thinks I have it more together than I really do....Actually, I could teach a class on hand-dipping chocolates.
Q. Do you have a mentor or mentors?
Clark Pope. He's a caterer and works in a culinary launch kitchen. Similar to me, he used to be in a different field. He was a teacher. Now he's expanded from catering to making cocktail mixes and hot sauces.
Q. How do you unwind?
Usually I unwind with a TV and a martini after the kids are asleep, or we might play a video game, a card game or a board game.
Q. Can you offer one piece of advice for someone looking to reinvent?
I would say just do it. It's hard. You're going to run into obstacles.
Read about how others have "reinvented" themselves.
Similar to The Plain Dealer's former column called "My Biggest Mistake...and How I fixed it," I'm now interested in sharing what drives a person or company to make a drastic change that led to success. I am looking for Career-changers - from millennials to retirees- and companies, from start-ups to major corporations, who want to share their stories. The focus: people who have drastically switched careers in the past five years and businesses that have found new ways to survive in a changing and ever-evolving marketplace. If that sounds like you, please contact me, Marcia Pledger, at (216) 470-7324 or send an email to mpledger@plaind.com.