Grit on the Prairie with Cait Bascom
Turning passion into entrepreneurial success, how one rural trailblazer created her way to business freedom and a living life to her own beat.
Cait Bascom is Cattle Cait. She is an artist – a maker – a cut-your-own-path entrepreneur and a feisty, fun-loving woman. Cattle Cait as her name-brand is a nod to her dad who called her that as a little girl. To the grown Cait it represents power and strength and her dad’s faith in her, to this day.
“Anything I need to do – I can go do with that name! Cattle Cait can transform into anything I need it to be,” exclaims Bascom. And the future is wide open for this creative woman.
HOW FAMILY HISTORY HAS ROOTED BASCOM IN RANCHING
Bascom has strong ranching roots, and loves how they have prepared her for the lifestyle she is living today near Eastend in the remote SW corner of Saskatchewan with her husband Lee, who works in the agricultural industry. Her rural roots are deep, and they anchor her to her ranching history in the same way DNA would. DNA contains the instructions needed to develop and survive. Family history does that as well. Sometimes though, we must move beyond our former structures.
A woman who loves to keep it real, Bascom is one of many rural-rooted women who are operating small businesses remotely. Within her she carries forward the depth, grit and resilience she has developed from her family lineage.
“I can see why I am what I am!” says Bascom.
It is her ability to recognize that what formally shaped her now frees her to design her own path by creating a business and life based around the things she cares about and loves.
So what kind of a life and business is Bascom designing?
Cattle Cait is a leather crafter, a painter, a designer – she is an artist and in her words, she is: “Struggling with defining myself.”
SHIFTING YOUR CREATIVE OFFERINGS
Bascom admits she is always changing her offerings, because she is following her creative impulses to make beautiful things and she knows her creativity needs to find its own pathways. When she began leather work, there were few women doing it. Now it is a growing business and pastime for women everywhere. Women are owning space in what was once a man’s only domain and Bascom supports the shift.
Through the years she has taken on custom leather work, but prefers to make what she wants to make. Her advice to other creatives; “Listen to your customers, but don’t let them rule you.”
Sound advice from a thriving, independent woman.
Bascom works from her home studio, which she says is one of her greatest joys. Having a dedicated place to unpack her materials and supplies has helped her creative output and organizes her sometimes overactive mind. In her studio, the hours fly by while she listens to the likes of Tom Petty and Howard Stern while she paints, carves and sews.
Started in 2012, Cattle Cait has grown organically through markets and social media. In her early years Bascom laughingly recalls driving to a local market with not enough money to put gas in her car for the trip home. Boy, did she need to make sales that day – and she did!
In hindsight she explains that the energy of feeling desperate at a market causes people to avoid you. Her advice is to change your energy going in.
“Let that desperate energy go!” says Bascom.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTING WITH COMMUNITY
Relying heavily on her spotty Internet service for connecting to her communities, both on facebook and Instagram, Bascom says the two platforms have shown a different value to her business. Facebook is where most of her sales transpire while her Instagram community comes for inspiration. She treasures both communities and is intent on spreading the message that rural women don’t have to follow the same storyline – they can cut their own path.
Of utmost importance to Bascom is having deeper conversations with her faithful followers.
“What really makes me brave is hearing another woman talk about her struggles – I want her to know that she is not alone,” says Bascom.
Through Cattle Cait, she hopes to inspire and help women break barriers. She feels there is enough servitude and people-pleasing going on amongst women these days, and Bascom ‘the person’ as opposed to ‘the maker’ wants to have a deeper impact.
“I want to go deeper, to talk about real and important things. I want to help women free themselves. I want to be an empowering influence,” says Bascom, “And I want to be kind. It’s important to be kind.”
HOW CATTLE CAIT CAME TO BE
If you’re wondering if Bascom has always been a maker and entrepreneur, the answer is no.
After high school Bascom went into Journalism and was hired before she even finished school. She started work at a local community radio station working for the morning show from 6 a.m. – 9 a.m. daily – dressed in heels and office attire. She felt she had made it! Bascom quickly developed her research and writing skills in the process of cranking out five stories a day. It was a career opportunity that helped her develop confidence in her ability to write and find her voice.
It was during this period that Cait met her future husband Lee Bascom. Without her knowledge, Cait’s mom sent her phone number to Lee and suggested he call her daughter. Once she agreed to a date, the two decided to go horseback riding. It was on their date that she exclaimed; “You’re not getting a ranch outta me – so you may as well get that out of your system!”
Well, they still ride together now, so ‘mom’ had a good eye for picking a man her daughter would love!
What else does Cattle Cait love? Well, she loves horses and gardening – they are her passion, her hobby and she vows she will never try to make money with them. There are some things that need to be savoured and held close, and these two pursuits replenish and fill her spirit. Bascom says these keep her grounded and help her stay in touch with the simplicity of a well-lived life.
What’s in Cattle Cait’s future? Well, a podcast might be something she explores. And if she had more time Bascom says she would go back to school – Art or Fashion Design. But who knows… there might be other paths forming that will call to this trailblazer’s soul! We will all have to watch and see.
Photography by Stacey Domolewski of Ramblin’ Rose Creative
This article was originally published in the Premier Issue of Trailblazher Magazine
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May 28, 2024
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