September 6, 2023 • 36 mins
Todays guest is on a mission to help you make a good first impression with your customers. Today we are talking with Karen who is the founder of Karentology.
Karen started out as a hobby baker who wanted to present an elegant package to her friends and family when she made her baked goods. That hunt sent her down a path to creating her own boutique packaging brand that she now sells through Amazon.
Karen strongly believes that presentation is a visual aspect that we all need to pay more attention to so that we stand out with our businesses.
In this episode we will cover:
- How her hobby turned her into a syndicated writer
- The importance creating an effective brand has with your customers
- The reason she decided to create her own packaging
- The trials she overcame when starting her company
- What advice she has for those looking to create their own products
Loved this episode? You can find Karen's boxes by clicking here or follow her on Instagram by clicking here
You can find the book recommendation mentioned by clicking here
Two ways I help my students earn $2-10k monthly👇?
1.) Grow your home bakery business inside The Entrepreneur Community by clicking here
2.) Learn to sell digital products inside Digital Product Community by clicking here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg.
I started my baking businesswith a bottle of DeCerono and
one Bundt Cake Pan.
Fast forward to today, fromnews to magazines, speaking on
national stages and more.
I can truly say that baking haschanged my life.
So now, as a bakery businesscoach, I get to help others have
the same success.
I've helped hundreds of mystudents across the world in my
(00:24):
global membership program createsix-figure businesses, mainly
from home.
The Baking for Business podcastis an extension of that, from
actionable tips to valuabletools and resources that can
impact you as a business owner.
I truly believe y'all.
We would never have been givena gift if we couldn't profit and
prosper from it.
So come on, darling.
What are you waiting for?
(00:45):
So just how important is it foryou to want to stand out with
your baked goods?
Well, how important is it foryou to want to stand out with
your imagery period?
Well, today's guest reallybelieves in it, so much to her
core that she created her ownproduct.
(01:06):
Today, we're here with Karen ofKarenTology.
Karen is a syndicated foodwriter.
She is also the owner of aboutique designing packaging
which I think you guys are allgoing to fall in love with, and
we're going to hear her story ofhow she started baking, to how
she went all the way through theprocess of creating her own
(01:27):
packaging that's now availableto us worldwide.
So, without further ado, karen,thanks so much for coming on
the podcast today.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Thank you so much for having me, amanda.
I'm super excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Absolutely, and so, before we get into the amazing
products that she sell on Amazon, I'm actually in America and
you're located in Canada, sotell us how did you get started
in the baking industry?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Well, I've been baking for a very long time.
Baking's just, you know, it's abit of a stress reliever for me
.
My husband's a big golfer andso his buddies actually like
cookies and bars and squaresthat I make.
So he he golfs a couple oftimes a week and normally I
would have to bake so that hecan bring them to the golf
(02:16):
course.
That's the truth.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Oh, wow, that's amazing.
Yeah, my husband has a bigsweet tooth also.
Did that love of baking comefrom anywhere?
Was there anyone in your familythat influenced you?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Nobody in my family bakes.
Where I was influenced with thebaking really was from Martha
Stewart.
I grew up loving Martha.
She was like the OG fordomestic divas, right and I.
How it all started.
Actually, it's quite aninteresting story.
(02:50):
I loved her so much that whenwe got married I didn't actually
know how to bake very well.
At that point I could bake abasic cake, but you know nothing
super fancy.
I decorated my own wedding cakewith gum paste flowers and I
learned it through MarthaStewart doing this, and I
(03:14):
created my entire wedding cake.
You couldn't actually eat it,but it was this display piece
that we pretended to cut into,but yes, that's huge inspiration
for me.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Wow.
Yeah, martha is an inspirationto a lot of people.
I feel like she's just timeless.
She's been around and she stillgets amazing with age.
So what are some of the thingsthat you and, as you're going
about baking and doing thingsfor your husband, what were some
of the things that you enjoyed?
Did you have a particular nicheor a specialty, or just certain
(03:48):
items you love to bake?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I love baking cookies and bars, but probably more
cookies than bars, becausecookies are clean, they're easy
to handle, everybody loves them.
His buddies asked me for them.
When we go over to friends'homes, that's what I normally
(04:11):
bring over.
Are you know different types ofcookies?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
And did you ever?
Did you sell your baked goodsas a baker?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I have never sold anything, and well, I've never
sold any of my baked goods in mylife, so my gift boxes or
bakery boxes are sort of thefirst things I've ever, ever
sold.
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Okay, that's pretty cool.
I love that, I love that.
So that really just shows howpassionate you are about
presentation.
Yes, because normally peoplesell, so you didn't sell.
So when did, before we get tothe boxes, when did the writing
come into play?
Because apparently you weregood with your baked goods,
(04:54):
because you write for your localpaper in Vancouver, canada.
Correct, correct, exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
So I had.
First of all, I started off myInstagram account when my
daughter went off to college, soI spent so much time missing
her.
I didn't really want to missher that much anymore.
I needed to fill my time, so Istarted off an Instagram account
and started showing off some ofmy baked goods.
Then I found out that the localpaper was looking for a
(05:24):
contributor, so I contacted themand offered you know my
articles, thinking that it wasgoing to be a one off I'm not
thinking it was going to becomethis permanent thing and they
received it, they loved it andbefore I knew it, I'm now
syndicated across Canada.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
So, wow, that is awesome, and I believe you said
over over 50 different papers.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yes over 50 different papers Correct Exactly, and
it's not just.
It's not just the majorpublications, but it's also
smaller community papers as well, and also on different websites
like Canadacom it's also.
I can't remember exactly all ofthem, but there are quite a few
of them.
So all you need to do is GoogleKaren Gordon recipes and I
(06:13):
think it populates to about sixpages on Google.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Wow, that's a lot of recipes and that's such a unique
path, because most people, whenthe baking book hits them, they
automatically say, okay, well,let me sell this and make a
business.
But I like that you foundanother way to take the baking
book and actually make a careerout of it with writing, so
that's pretty cool yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
So see, when I started baking and I wanted to
give my stuff away whether itwas just to give it to a friend
to taste or whether it was tobring it as a hostess gift I
wanted it to look good.
I didn't want to stick it on aplate and cover it with cling
wrap or stick it in a Ziploc bag.
The reason was I wanted it tolook as nice as the effort I put
(07:04):
into it.
And I tried many differentthings, like I've tried
purchasing cookie tins and Iwould buy little bakery boxes,
but it just wasn't specialenough.
The cookie tins reminded me ofsomething like an old aunt would
actually give out and it justdidn't look good.
(07:26):
And the bakery boxes I wouldbring it home and I would try to
make it look nice withdifferent ribbons and so on and
so forth, and it just didn't cutit.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yes, and so you were just that passionate.
That which brings us to theboutique packaging.
You actually designed your ownbox.
So tell us about the first box,and what did that process look
like?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Oh my gosh.
Okay, so the first box that Idesigned wasn't anything like
this box I.
It was quite plain.
It was very cute, mind you, butit wasn't quite what I wanted
it to be.
I knew all along.
So if you, if we go back a fewyears, all of my treats that I
(08:19):
would give out would always sayfrom my home to yours.
And the first box I actuallydesigned, even though it was
super cute, it didn't say that.
It didn't say from my home toyours, it was just another cute
box.
So that that original product,actually it actually failed, and
(08:42):
it failed on a couple ofreasons.
First off, when I started doingthis, when I start
manufacturing my own product, Ididn't know how to look for a
manufacturer.
So I settled on the cheapestmanufacturer I could find.
And when you settle on cheap,you get cheap products and my
(09:05):
product failed inspection.
So they went through.
So my the manufacturer at thatpoint had their own internal
quality control.
They said it was fine.
I never take their word for it.
So, regardless of whether it'sproduct that you know, whether
they were, whether someonemanufactures it or not, I always
(09:29):
bring in my own third party toinspect the product.
Well, when I brought in thethird party to inspect the
product.
That product actually failedinspection.
More than 50% of that productwas actually poorly made.
There were glue stains on it,the ribbons were all frayed.
I was absolutely devastated.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
It was crazy and I can only imagine the hurt,
because you've put so muchpassion behind it.
And then money.
So how, how exactly did youhave the strength to just try
again, to keep pushing?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
It's funny.
So, because I had nevermanufactured or sold anything in
my life, I I thought and I'mhonestly a huge optimist, I
think that everything comes uproses all the time.
So when we created that product, I had also planned to go away
(10:30):
on vacation.
So I I said to my husband assoon as manufacturing is done,
it's going to get shipped out,we're going to go on vacation
and that will be my.
You know, that will be myreward.
So two days prior to us goingon vacation, I found out that
the product failed inspection.
I was absolutely devastated.
(10:51):
I went off on vacation and Idecided at that point I wasn't
going to actually do thisproduct.
This was not what I needed todo.
But I prayed about it and Ithought about it and prayed
about it and I got back fromvacation actually saying to
myself I'm not going to do this.
I thought about it a bit moreand about a couple of weeks
(11:14):
after that, I made a deal withGod and I basically said I'm
going to try doing this one lasttime because I truly believe
that if he brings me to it,he'll bring me through it.
Amen, yes.
So I decided I'm going to dothis, I'm going to try it, and
if I fail, so be it.
(11:34):
You know, no one can fault mefor trying one last time.
So I sat down once again and Iactually designed something that
I truly loved, which is the ourhome to yours gift boxes.
So I wanted the box to be ableto say it's from my home to
yours and it could be used foryou know, whether it's myself,
(11:55):
who's just a baker, you know,hobby baker or whether it's
someone who has a home-basedbusiness to actually look at
that box and, without actuallysaying it, to be able to see
it's from their home to theirs.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
And you guys.
This is the part where Idefinitely wish you can see on a
podcast, because I'll have thelinks to the carontology website
and the show notes.
But the boss that she'sspeaking of you guys is actually
beautiful.
The detail is very embossed,they have satin ribbons and the
(12:32):
boxes actually look like littlehouses so they can fit macaroons
, cookies, any particular thing.
However, what's so unique aboutit is the box is just unique.
So unless you're buying theseboxes from carontology, you have
a look that doesn't look likeother people, and so when we
(12:54):
talk about branding you hadactually made a post that I
thought was I said, wow, I wishmore people would get this
because you have these cookiesthat were in a plain package.
But then you have these cookiesin your box and sometimes
people think, well, if I raisethe price, then maybe I can
attract a better clientele.
But attracting that client notall the time is a price thing.
(13:17):
Imagery is a bit correlation tothat, and so how important is
branding to you in terms ofthese boxes?
Because it's like you hit themarket and you're literally a
disruptor.
You created something that'sunique that really isn't out
there.
So how important was this toyou to get the message across
(13:39):
that people need to look uniquewhen they package their products
.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
It's still a little difficult getting that message
out because not a lot of peopleactually understand the
importance one of branding, andwith branding comes packaging.
So it's you know packaging isvital to everything that you do.
I'll give you a prime example.
So let's just take a.
(14:06):
Let's take a bracelet, forinstance, a nondescript, you
know silver bracelet.
If you put that silver braceletin a blue Tiffany's box, what
happens Immediately?
The value and the perception ofthe value of that bracelet
increases substantially,exponentially.
Now you take that same braceletand you stick it in a plain old
(14:30):
silver box or white or gold box, exactly just like those
cardboard Tiffany boxes, but nowit doesn't have the blue
Tiffany branding or the Tiffanylabel, it's just a plain box.
Guess what happens?
The value, the perceived value,automatically decreases.
It's all part of branding.
(14:53):
There are other manufacturersout there who create boxes, but
my branding is so specific thateven my packaging for my boxes
are branded.
I don't just have my boxeswrapped in plastic and when you
order them they just come inplastic.
No, they all come.
(15:15):
I want my customers to be asexcited about my products as
their customers are about theirproducts.
So my products come in anenvelope, a craft brown envelope
type box that is actuallyreusable.
It's got the carontologybranding on there and it says
(15:37):
making pretty easy bycarontology.
And it's all about makingpretty easy.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I love it.
I love it and more bakers havedefinitely got to give this
packaging a try, because just toshow you the type of people you
would assume it would be tonsof bakers, but you actually have
tons of realtors who use yourboxes, which I thought was
pretty cool because it just goesto show you how important
(16:05):
number one gifting is, butnumber two, how important
branding is to people who wantto gift to their clients,
because these are people who aremaking large $1,000, $100,000
purchases but they're usingthese boxes to give to their
clients.
So how does that make you feel?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
It makes me feel really, really good.
But I've got to share the storyabout how that came to be.
So when I launched my productalmost a year ago today and it
was great leading up toChristmas, I sold a lot of boxes
and right after Christmasbecause I only had the one
(16:47):
design at that point I didn'thave any more than the one
design.
I was a one-trick pony andright after Christmas,
essentially the bottom fell out.
Sales just dropped and droppedand it was around April and I
was thinking to myself well,we're going into the summer
(17:08):
months, nobody's going to bebaking.
How am I going to find a way toactually market my boxes
Because they're sitting?
Amazon fulfills my orders forme because I don't have a
warehouse or anything in theStates.
I need someone to actually beable to ship these things out,
and if they're not shipped outevery month, they're just
incurring storage costs fromAmazon.
(17:30):
So I needed to find a way tomove these and I thought, wait a
second, I could actually marketthese to realtors.
Realtor sell homes.
Bakers aren't baking a wholelot in the summertime because
there's really no occasions.
But if bakers could actuallystart marketing their baked
(17:53):
goods to realtors, they couldactually create a niche for
themselves.
So that's what I did was Istarted marketing my boxes to
the realtors and introducing theimportance of marketing what
you call housewarming cookies orrealtor cookies to realtors.
(18:13):
And that's how the boxes andthe realtor cookies or
housewarming cookies, came to be, and actually over the summer
months it was my sales didn'tdrop at all.
In fact, sales actually tookoff over the summer months
because bakers were using themfor realtor cookies and realtors
(18:35):
were buying them because theywere putting cookies in them or
they were putting other productsin them to market them to their
clients.
You know, to basically, yeah,to market them to their clients.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
That's so cool.
So you're out here helpingmultiple niches.
You're helping bakers fill avoid where it's low, and then
also realtors, which I think isso amazing, and one of the
things I'm big on is servingbefore you sell.
So as a baker, I can definitelysee someone doing that.
I think it's a wonderful way toestablish a relationship is to
(19:06):
put some of your products inyour boxes and give to these
people who would be making thesepurchases because they're your
ideal client.
You know realtors are.
They're trying to impress theirclients, so they're your ideal
client.
They understand money andbusiness and finance a little
bit more.
So that is so awesome.
And I saw on one of yourstories one of the realtors does
(19:29):
these things, which is calledpot buys, which I think is, and
I think that this is somethingthat we can apply to our
industry as well.
So tell us about these pot buys.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yes, so what pot buys are is to be able to remind
their clients that they're stillaround, that you know they're
realtors, and if they're friendsor if they're looking to move
that, hey, remember me, I'm here.
I'm here to help you.
What's really great about theboxes is because they're shaped
(20:03):
like houses.
They don't actually have to say, hey, remember me, I'm a
realtor.
All they need to do is stickwhether it's drop cookies or
regular cookies or decoratedcookies in them, or they can.
It can even be things likecandy or what have you whatever
you want into these boxes.
They bring them to their clientand their clients like, oh my
(20:28):
gosh, I absolutely love these.
Like, where'd you get that from?
So now the clients got thesehouses and the great part about
these houses is that they'rebuilt so sturdy that you don't
throw them away.
Once you get them, you can reusethem, whether you put them away
and you fold them up and reusethem.
(20:51):
Or, alternatively, somerealtors and some bakers what
they do is they add a pack ofbattery operated candles into
the boxes and the boxes actuallylight up and so they can have
those little lit up lanterns andwhen their friends come over,
obviously the friends are goingto ask them oh my gosh, where'd
(21:13):
you get that box from?
They're going to say I got themfrom my realtor, or I got them
from my baker, or what have you?
Guess what.
It's word of mouth marketing.
You cannot, you can't buy thisword of mouth stuff.
So it's one of those productsthat just keeps on giving.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
I love it.
It's definitely sounds like itwas created with some amazing
thought behind it and you made areally great point, because
client retention is so important.
Too often with bakers, they'realways trying to get more
clients, more followers, but Itell people you know the clients
that you have now.
Their lifetime value is so muchmore crucial than trying to
(21:56):
acquire a new customer.
And so now you've had thisbusiness going on a year, which
is great, but I can only imaginedesigning a product working
with Amazon in order to get themto fulfill it.
Were there any bumps in betweenor lessons learned?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
There.
Well, first of all, there's alot to learn from dealing with
Amazon.
They're huge and there's a lotof red tape and they're
constantly changing the way theydo things, so it can be quite
tough.
If I were in the US, forinstance, if I lived in the US,
(22:41):
chances are I would actually domy own fulfillment myself.
Unfortunately, I'm not in theUS.
I don't really have that choice, so unfortunately, I have to
rely on Amazon to do thefulfillment for me.
But besides that I mean sellingon Amazon or whether you're
selling on your own platformwhat have you?
(23:03):
What it comes down to is havingthe best product that you can
manufacture.
So it's not about justshortcuts, it's not about
copying somebody else.
It's about trying to findsomething that makes you stand
out.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
That's so true.
What advice would you have tobakers who are looking to
elevate their packaging to tryto do something different in
order to stand out in theirmarket?
What would you tell them as towhy it's so important to do so?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
There are so many bakers out there.
I mean, all we need to do isjust get on Instagram.
You can see there are tons ofbakers out there who offer
cookies and baked goods and barsand cakes and cupcakes and what
have you Outside of howsomething looks and how it
(24:06):
tastes?
That's basically it.
As a customer, we've gotoptions to go out there and if I
want a cupcake, I'll go.
All I need to do is Google andsee people who make cupcakes
around me and buy it.
But if somebody's offeringsomething that's different,
(24:28):
that's a little elevated, I'mgoing to be.
Even if it costs me more money,I'm going to be going to them.
So, for instance, if I'm goingto a party, for instance, and I
want to bring cupcakes as ahostess gift, the last thing I
want is to bring home a you know, just a traditional bakery box
(24:54):
with cupcakes in it.
Well, how special is that?
But if somebody was offering,say, cupcakes in one of my
mansion boxes or, forget, evenmy boxes in some in some sort of
packaging, that was so coolthat I could immediately use it
and gift it.
That saves me not only time, itsaves money, because now I
(25:19):
don't have to run to the malland try to buy ribbons to make
it look pretty.
I can literally pick it up andgo.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
And that's it.
You're so right.
And one of the things I hearfrom bakers, though sometimes
they're so afraid to investbecause it's it's a catch 22.
I hear a baker say, well, Iwant customers to pay me, or
these people won't pay thataround here.
And anytime someone says that,I always tell them you might
(25:50):
have a branding and a marketingproblem, because if you're
positioning the right product infront of the right person, they
should buy, and sometimesthey're not.
Sometimes they're so afraid toget that deluxe packaging to
invest.
But what they don't realize isthat when you invest in the
imagery, then normally that'swhen the income goes up.
(26:11):
And so I thought yeah, I fullyagree.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
The reason is, if you package cheaply, it's it's a
reflection.
It's it reflects on the valueof the product and when you
package, elevate your packagingit roof again also reflects on
the value of the product.
So I grew up learning this.
My mom's always said cheapthings are never good and good
(26:37):
things are never cheap.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
You're so right.
I've heard that before too.
Or yeah, you buy some cheap,you get some cheap.
So yeah, absolutely.
What advice would you have forany other baker that's out there
that's designing their ownanything utensil or anything who
wants to put their thing outthere?
Speaker 2 (27:01):
you know, I would say , if possible, scratch your own
itch.
So, as I was mentioning earlier, I created these boxes
specifically for me, not foranybody else.
I wanted beautiful packaging sothat I could bring you know, I
could bring my baked goods to myfriend's home and have them,
(27:26):
wow and rave over them.
I knew that there was nothinglike that out there in the
marketplace.
I searched high and low and Iknew nothing like this existed,
so I wanted to create it formyself.
You know, if somebody is doingsomething right now and they
have found that it doesn't existin the marketplace because,
(27:49):
trust me, there are things thateverybody does on their own that
we don't know about, thatthey're doing because they
cannot find it elsewhere If youcan find the ability to actually
make it and make it availablefor the public, you will
(28:10):
actually have a product thatwill be successful.
It will not be for everybody,but there will be a market that
who will want that product.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
And that's something that I wish more people would
understand too.
It doesn't have to be foreverybody.
When some you don't want tospeak to everybody, because when
he speaks to everybody, hespeaks to nobody.
But man, when you put yourselfout there and you really are
that prestigious, which you're,which you're packaging, like you
have, you really attract thegood somebody, the people who
(28:44):
don't mind paying money.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Agree, agree, and it's not.
You know, I want to say it'snot just about the design, it's
also about the quality.
I'm really big about quality.
So that you know the companythat the factory that we now
have our product manufactured at, they have their own quality
(29:07):
control department.
I don't just take their wordfor it that the product's fine.
I hire a third party qualitycontrol company to come in to
inspect all of the productbefore it's shipped out.
And the reason I do that isbecause it's my name on that
(29:28):
packaging.
It's my name on this brand.
It's a reflection of who I am,and I would believe that you
know cookiers and bakers outthere.
You know realtors, soap makers,anybody.
It's their brand, it's it'stheir reputation behind it.
You want to put out the bestproduct there is out there,
(29:49):
because if you put out a greatproduct and people love it,
they're willing to spend thatkind of money.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Absolutely.
I love it, and especiallycharcuterie people.
We have a lot of charcuteriepeople who listen, so you guys
are definitely going to want tocheck it out.
I really enjoy talking to youtoday and I encourage everyone
definitely go check out MissKaren's boxes, especially if
you're the type of baker orfoodie person who loves to be
(30:17):
unique, because you're going tolove what you see and even if
not her box, just really let themessage sit in.
What are you doing in order tostand out in the market?
Miss Karen, before I let you go, are you ready to play
lightning round?
Sure, definitely.
What is your favorite color?
(30:38):
Block Me too.
No one's ever said black before.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Really, yes, black is my favorite color.
It goes with everything andit's classic.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yeah, wait, wait, wait.
A minute Baking with Blondie.
I think she likes black too.
I remember that Is that right,yeah, but we don't get black
often, so I love it, I love it.
What is your favorite dessert?
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Oh, cheesecake, bass cheesecake, cheesecake.
Yes, I absolutely lovecheesecake and I'm going to say
this I've actually baked asix-inch bass cheesecake and
dropped it into my originalclassic house box.
It actually fits in there.
I brought it to a party.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yes, Okay, who is your celebrity crush?
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Oh, oh, my gosh, I don't know.
I would still have to say,probably Martha.
She's always been, I've alwaysloved her.
I still love her to this day.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yes, Awesome, martha is a good one, and what is a
book that she would recommend?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
we read One of your favorite books, Actually one of
the most inspirational booksthat I recently read.
The author's name escapes menow, but it was called 12 Months
to a Million.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
And it was a phenomenal read.
Yeah, a phenomenal read.
It talks so much about branding.
Yes, your product yes.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
I'll put the link to that in the show notes.
That is a really great read.
And what is a kitchen utensil?
You cannot live without A whiskA whisk.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yes, a whisk is first , and second would have to be
the stand mixer.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Those are both great choices.
I love it From the bottom of mylittle heart.
Thank you so much for coming onand speaking with us today,
miss Karen.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Thank you so much for having me.
This was so much fun chattingwith you.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Absolutely you guys.
How awesome was Miss Karen.
There were so many amazingtakeaways from this, but overall
, I hope that something goes offin your head that makes you
think how am I presenting mygifts to the world?
(33:08):
Because the things you bake,the things you offer in your
business, all of those are yourgifts.
It's the talent that you have,and so many little key elements
play a big part to that, and Ibelieve Miss Karen covered it
tremendously.
Also, think that it's so uniqueto see another way that we can
(33:29):
actually take a different pathin this industry.
Like she mentioned, she didn'tsell her baked goods, but the
desire to want to present themuniquely was so strongly that
she just created another path.
And there are so many differentways for us to create revenue,
to stand out in this industry,and so I think her path is truly
(33:52):
unique.
Even if you guys do not lookinto our packaging or even if
it's not for you, I encourageall of you guys to look to
exactly, visit her website, seewhat it's about, so that you can
get a visual understanding ofwhat we've talked about today,
and then next week I encourageyou to think what can you do Now
(34:13):
?
Of course, obviously the easyroute.
You can check out her boxes andadd them to your line if you
really want to be unique andstand out.
But some core things to thinkabout is first impressions
matter.
We've heard this a thousandtimes, and so, if we know this,
what first impression am Igiving my client of me?
That crumble isn't giving, orthat great American cookie isn't
(34:36):
giving, or nothing blunt cakesisn't giving?
What first impression are yougiving?
And then, nextly, what doesyour brand identity say when you
position yourself in the marketand when you package the items
that you do put out there?
Consistency overall reallyhelps with that.
Too often, when we think aboutbranding, we think about colors
(34:59):
and logo and visual things andwe stop there.
But there is so many otherthings that are visual
representation of your brand you, what you have on when you wear
when you go live, your companyoutfit, your website, your
photography we've had greatpeople on here on the past who
talked about that and then,lastly, of course, your
(35:20):
packaging.
All of those things also helpyou in order to raise your
prices and demand a price.
As Ms Karen mentioned, perceivedvalue is so crucial because,
regardless of the dollar amountthat you put on your products,
if someone looks at it and itdoesn't align, that's what
perceived value is.
Someone else in their mind isgiving you a dollar amount
(35:43):
before you even open up yourmouth and say what the price is,
and they're doing it solelybased on your look.
And so, as a business owner,how are we making sure that we
live up to the perceived valuethat we want our products to
have?
And hopefully, today'sconversation, looking at Ms
Karen's brand, hearing all abouther story and her products I
hope all of this helps you tomake a uniform decision going
(36:05):
forward, to truly understand theimportance of not only just the
visual elements, but allelements for you to stand out
and create a better brand inyour community.
I really enjoyed thisconversation.
I think it was so, so cool andI love just hearing this story
all together.
So, if you enjoyed listening,do me a favor be sure to tag me
(36:26):
on Instagram atbakingforbusiness and then also
tag Ms Karen as well atKarenTology.
Thanks so much for listening.
Take care and bye for now.
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg.
I started my baking businesswith a bottle of DeCerono and
one Bundt Cake Pan.
Fast forward to today, fromnews to magazines, speaking on
national stages and more.
I can truly say that baking haschanged my life.
So now, as a bakery businesscoach, I get to help others have
the same success.
I've helped hundreds of mystudents across the world in my
(00:24):
global membership program createsix-figure businesses, mainly
from home.
The Baking for Business podcastis an extension of that, from
actionable tips to valuabletools and resources that can
impact you as a business owner.
I truly believe y'all.
We would never have been givena gift if we couldn't profit and
prosper from it.
So come on, darling.
What are you waiting for?
(00:45):
So just how important is it foryou to want to stand out with
your baked goods?
Well, how important is it foryou to want to stand out with
your imagery period?
Well, today's guest reallybelieves in it, so much to her
core that she created her ownproduct.
(01:06):
Today, we're here with Karen ofKarenTology.
Karen is a syndicated foodwriter.
She is also the owner of aboutique designing packaging
which I think you guys are allgoing to fall in love with, and
we're going to hear her story ofhow she started baking, to how
she went all the way through theprocess of creating her own
(01:27):
packaging that's now availableto us worldwide.
So, without further ado, karen,thanks so much for coming on
the podcast today.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Thank you so much for having me, amanda.
I'm super excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Absolutely, and so, before we get into the amazing
products that she sell on Amazon, I'm actually in America and
you're located in Canada, sotell us how did you get started
in the baking industry?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Well, I've been baking for a very long time.
Baking's just, you know, it's abit of a stress reliever for me
.
My husband's a big golfer andso his buddies actually like
cookies and bars and squaresthat I make.
So he he golfs a couple oftimes a week and normally I
would have to bake so that hecan bring them to the golf
(02:16):
course.
That's the truth.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Oh, wow, that's amazing.
Yeah, my husband has a bigsweet tooth also.
Did that love of baking comefrom anywhere?
Was there anyone in your familythat influenced you?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Nobody in my family bakes.
Where I was influenced with thebaking really was from Martha
Stewart.
I grew up loving Martha.
She was like the OG fordomestic divas, right and I.
How it all started.
Actually, it's quite aninteresting story.
(02:50):
I loved her so much that whenwe got married I didn't actually
know how to bake very well.
At that point I could bake abasic cake, but you know nothing
super fancy.
I decorated my own wedding cakewith gum paste flowers and I
learned it through MarthaStewart doing this, and I
(03:14):
created my entire wedding cake.
You couldn't actually eat it,but it was this display piece
that we pretended to cut into,but yes, that's huge inspiration
for me.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Wow.
Yeah, martha is an inspirationto a lot of people.
I feel like she's just timeless.
She's been around and she stillgets amazing with age.
So what are some of the thingsthat you and, as you're going
about baking and doing thingsfor your husband, what were some
of the things that you enjoyed?
Did you have a particular nicheor a specialty, or just certain
(03:48):
items you love to bake?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I love baking cookies and bars, but probably more
cookies than bars, becausecookies are clean, they're easy
to handle, everybody loves them.
His buddies asked me for them.
When we go over to friends'homes, that's what I normally
(04:11):
bring over.
Are you know different types ofcookies?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
And did you ever?
Did you sell your baked goodsas a baker?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I have never sold anything, and well, I've never
sold any of my baked goods in mylife, so my gift boxes or
bakery boxes are sort of thefirst things I've ever, ever
sold.
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Okay, that's pretty cool.
I love that, I love that.
So that really just shows howpassionate you are about
presentation.
Yes, because normally peoplesell, so you didn't sell.
So when did, before we get tothe boxes, when did the writing
come into play?
Because apparently you weregood with your baked goods,
(04:54):
because you write for your localpaper in Vancouver, canada.
Correct, correct, exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
So I had.
First of all, I started off myInstagram account when my
daughter went off to college, soI spent so much time missing
her.
I didn't really want to missher that much anymore.
I needed to fill my time, so Istarted off an Instagram account
and started showing off some ofmy baked goods.
Then I found out that the localpaper was looking for a
(05:24):
contributor, so I contacted themand offered you know my
articles, thinking that it wasgoing to be a one off I'm not
thinking it was going to becomethis permanent thing and they
received it, they loved it andbefore I knew it, I'm now
syndicated across Canada.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
So, wow, that is awesome, and I believe you said
over over 50 different papers.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yes over 50 different papers Correct Exactly, and
it's not just.
It's not just the majorpublications, but it's also
smaller community papers as well, and also on different websites
like Canadacom it's also.
I can't remember exactly all ofthem, but there are quite a few
of them.
So all you need to do is GoogleKaren Gordon recipes and I
(06:13):
think it populates to about sixpages on Google.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Wow, that's a lot of recipes and that's such a unique
path, because most people, whenthe baking book hits them, they
automatically say, okay, well,let me sell this and make a
business.
But I like that you foundanother way to take the baking
book and actually make a careerout of it with writing, so
that's pretty cool yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
So see, when I started baking and I wanted to
give my stuff away whether itwas just to give it to a friend
to taste or whether it was tobring it as a hostess gift I
wanted it to look good.
I didn't want to stick it on aplate and cover it with cling
wrap or stick it in a Ziploc bag.
The reason was I wanted it tolook as nice as the effort I put
(07:04):
into it.
And I tried many differentthings, like I've tried
purchasing cookie tins and Iwould buy little bakery boxes,
but it just wasn't specialenough.
The cookie tins reminded me ofsomething like an old aunt would
actually give out and it justdidn't look good.
(07:26):
And the bakery boxes I wouldbring it home and I would try to
make it look nice withdifferent ribbons and so on and
so forth, and it just didn't cutit.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yes, and so you were just that passionate.
That which brings us to theboutique packaging.
You actually designed your ownbox.
So tell us about the first box,and what did that process look
like?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Oh my gosh.
Okay, so the first box that Idesigned wasn't anything like
this box I.
It was quite plain.
It was very cute, mind you, butit wasn't quite what I wanted
it to be.
I knew all along.
So if you, if we go back a fewyears, all of my treats that I
(08:19):
would give out would always sayfrom my home to yours.
And the first box I actuallydesigned, even though it was
super cute, it didn't say that.
It didn't say from my home toyours, it was just another cute
box.
So that that original product,actually it actually failed, and
(08:42):
it failed on a couple ofreasons.
First off, when I started doingthis, when I start
manufacturing my own product, Ididn't know how to look for a
manufacturer.
So I settled on the cheapestmanufacturer I could find.
And when you settle on cheap,you get cheap products and my
(09:05):
product failed inspection.
So they went through.
So my the manufacturer at thatpoint had their own internal
quality control.
They said it was fine.
I never take their word for it.
So, regardless of whether it'sproduct that you know, whether
they were, whether someonemanufactures it or not, I always
(09:29):
bring in my own third party toinspect the product.
Well, when I brought in thethird party to inspect the
product.
That product actually failedinspection.
More than 50% of that productwas actually poorly made.
There were glue stains on it,the ribbons were all frayed.
I was absolutely devastated.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
It was crazy and I can only imagine the hurt,
because you've put so muchpassion behind it.
And then money.
So how, how exactly did youhave the strength to just try
again, to keep pushing?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
It's funny.
So, because I had nevermanufactured or sold anything in
my life, I I thought and I'mhonestly a huge optimist, I
think that everything comes uproses all the time.
So when we created that product, I had also planned to go away
(10:30):
on vacation.
So I I said to my husband assoon as manufacturing is done,
it's going to get shipped out,we're going to go on vacation
and that will be my.
You know, that will be myreward.
So two days prior to us goingon vacation, I found out that
the product failed inspection.
I was absolutely devastated.
(10:51):
I went off on vacation and Idecided at that point I wasn't
going to actually do thisproduct.
This was not what I needed todo.
But I prayed about it and Ithought about it and prayed
about it and I got back fromvacation actually saying to
myself I'm not going to do this.
I thought about it a bit moreand about a couple of weeks
(11:14):
after that, I made a deal withGod and I basically said I'm
going to try doing this one lasttime because I truly believe
that if he brings me to it,he'll bring me through it.
Amen, yes.
So I decided I'm going to dothis, I'm going to try it, and
if I fail, so be it.
(11:34):
You know, no one can fault mefor trying one last time.
So I sat down once again and Iactually designed something that
I truly loved, which is the ourhome to yours gift boxes.
So I wanted the box to be ableto say it's from my home to
yours and it could be used foryou know, whether it's myself,
(11:55):
who's just a baker, you know,hobby baker or whether it's
someone who has a home-basedbusiness to actually look at
that box and, without actuallysaying it, to be able to see
it's from their home to theirs.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
And you guys.
This is the part where Idefinitely wish you can see on a
podcast, because I'll have thelinks to the carontology website
and the show notes.
But the boss that she'sspeaking of you guys is actually
beautiful.
The detail is very embossed,they have satin ribbons and the
(12:32):
boxes actually look like littlehouses so they can fit macaroons
, cookies, any particular thing.
However, what's so unique aboutit is the box is just unique.
So unless you're buying theseboxes from carontology, you have
a look that doesn't look likeother people, and so when we
(12:54):
talk about branding you hadactually made a post that I
thought was I said, wow, I wishmore people would get this
because you have these cookiesthat were in a plain package.
But then you have these cookiesin your box and sometimes
people think, well, if I raisethe price, then maybe I can
attract a better clientele.
But attracting that client notall the time is a price thing.
(13:17):
Imagery is a bit correlation tothat, and so how important is
branding to you in terms ofthese boxes?
Because it's like you hit themarket and you're literally a
disruptor.
You created something that'sunique that really isn't out
there.
So how important was this toyou to get the message across
(13:39):
that people need to look uniquewhen they package their products
.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
It's still a little difficult getting that message
out because not a lot of peopleactually understand the
importance one of branding, andwith branding comes packaging.
So it's you know packaging isvital to everything that you do.
I'll give you a prime example.
So let's just take a.
(14:06):
Let's take a bracelet, forinstance, a nondescript, you
know silver bracelet.
If you put that silver braceletin a blue Tiffany's box, what
happens Immediately?
The value and the perception ofthe value of that bracelet
increases substantially,exponentially.
Now you take that same braceletand you stick it in a plain old
(14:30):
silver box or white or gold box, exactly just like those
cardboard Tiffany boxes, but nowit doesn't have the blue
Tiffany branding or the Tiffanylabel, it's just a plain box.
Guess what happens?
The value, the perceived value,automatically decreases.
It's all part of branding.
(14:53):
There are other manufacturersout there who create boxes, but
my branding is so specific thateven my packaging for my boxes
are branded.
I don't just have my boxeswrapped in plastic and when you
order them they just come inplastic.
No, they all come.
(15:15):
I want my customers to be asexcited about my products as
their customers are about theirproducts.
So my products come in anenvelope, a craft brown envelope
type box that is actuallyreusable.
It's got the carontologybranding on there and it says
(15:37):
making pretty easy bycarontology.
And it's all about makingpretty easy.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I love it.
I love it and more bakers havedefinitely got to give this
packaging a try, because just toshow you the type of people you
would assume it would be tonsof bakers, but you actually have
tons of realtors who use yourboxes, which I thought was
pretty cool because it just goesto show you how important
(16:05):
number one gifting is, butnumber two, how important
branding is to people who wantto gift to their clients,
because these are people who aremaking large $1,000, $100,000
purchases but they're usingthese boxes to give to their
clients.
So how does that make you feel?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
It makes me feel really, really good.
But I've got to share the storyabout how that came to be.
So when I launched my productalmost a year ago today and it
was great leading up toChristmas, I sold a lot of boxes
and right after Christmasbecause I only had the one
(16:47):
design at that point I didn'thave any more than the one
design.
I was a one-trick pony andright after Christmas,
essentially the bottom fell out.
Sales just dropped and droppedand it was around April and I
was thinking to myself well,we're going into the summer
(17:08):
months, nobody's going to bebaking.
How am I going to find a way toactually market my boxes
Because they're sitting?
Amazon fulfills my orders forme because I don't have a
warehouse or anything in theStates.
I need someone to actually beable to ship these things out,
and if they're not shipped outevery month, they're just
incurring storage costs fromAmazon.
(17:30):
So I needed to find a way tomove these and I thought, wait a
second, I could actually marketthese to realtors.
Realtor sell homes.
Bakers aren't baking a wholelot in the summertime because
there's really no occasions.
But if bakers could actuallystart marketing their baked
(17:53):
goods to realtors, they couldactually create a niche for
themselves.
So that's what I did was Istarted marketing my boxes to
the realtors and introducing theimportance of marketing what
you call housewarming cookies orrealtor cookies to realtors.
(18:13):
And that's how the boxes andthe realtor cookies or
housewarming cookies, came to be, and actually over the summer
months it was my sales didn'tdrop at all.
In fact, sales actually tookoff over the summer months
because bakers were using themfor realtor cookies and realtors
(18:35):
were buying them because theywere putting cookies in them or
they were putting other productsin them to market them to their
clients.
You know, to basically, yeah,to market them to their clients.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
That's so cool.
So you're out here helpingmultiple niches.
You're helping bakers fill avoid where it's low, and then
also realtors, which I think isso amazing, and one of the
things I'm big on is servingbefore you sell.
So as a baker, I can definitelysee someone doing that.
I think it's a wonderful way toestablish a relationship is to
(19:06):
put some of your products inyour boxes and give to these
people who would be making thesepurchases because they're your
ideal client.
You know realtors are.
They're trying to impress theirclients, so they're your ideal
client.
They understand money andbusiness and finance a little
bit more.
So that is so awesome.
And I saw on one of yourstories one of the realtors does
(19:29):
these things, which is calledpot buys, which I think is, and
I think that this is somethingthat we can apply to our
industry as well.
So tell us about these pot buys.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yes, so what pot buys are is to be able to remind
their clients that they're stillaround, that you know they're
realtors, and if they're friendsor if they're looking to move
that, hey, remember me, I'm here.
I'm here to help you.
What's really great about theboxes is because they're shaped
(20:03):
like houses.
They don't actually have to say, hey, remember me, I'm a
realtor.
All they need to do is stickwhether it's drop cookies or
regular cookies or decoratedcookies in them, or they can.
It can even be things likecandy or what have you whatever
you want into these boxes.
They bring them to their clientand their clients like, oh my
(20:28):
gosh, I absolutely love these.
Like, where'd you get that from?
So now the clients got thesehouses and the great part about
these houses is that they'rebuilt so sturdy that you don't
throw them away.
Once you get them, you can reusethem, whether you put them away
and you fold them up and reusethem.
(20:51):
Or, alternatively, somerealtors and some bakers what
they do is they add a pack ofbattery operated candles into
the boxes and the boxes actuallylight up and so they can have
those little lit up lanterns andwhen their friends come over,
obviously the friends are goingto ask them oh my gosh, where'd
(21:13):
you get that box from?
They're going to say I got themfrom my realtor, or I got them
from my baker, or what have you?
Guess what.
It's word of mouth marketing.
You cannot, you can't buy thisword of mouth stuff.
So it's one of those productsthat just keeps on giving.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
I love it.
It's definitely sounds like itwas created with some amazing
thought behind it and you made areally great point, because
client retention is so important.
Too often with bakers, they'realways trying to get more
clients, more followers, but Itell people you know the clients
that you have now.
Their lifetime value is so muchmore crucial than trying to
(21:56):
acquire a new customer.
And so now you've had thisbusiness going on a year, which
is great, but I can only imaginedesigning a product working
with Amazon in order to get themto fulfill it.
Were there any bumps in betweenor lessons learned?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
There.
Well, first of all, there's alot to learn from dealing with
Amazon.
They're huge and there's a lotof red tape and they're
constantly changing the way theydo things, so it can be quite
tough.
If I were in the US, forinstance, if I lived in the US,
(22:41):
chances are I would actually domy own fulfillment myself.
Unfortunately, I'm not in theUS.
I don't really have that choice, so unfortunately, I have to
rely on Amazon to do thefulfillment for me.
But besides that I mean sellingon Amazon or whether you're
selling on your own platformwhat have you?
(23:03):
What it comes down to is havingthe best product that you can
manufacture.
So it's not about justshortcuts, it's not about
copying somebody else.
It's about trying to findsomething that makes you stand
out.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
That's so true.
What advice would you have tobakers who are looking to
elevate their packaging to tryto do something different in
order to stand out in theirmarket?
What would you tell them as towhy it's so important to do so?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
There are so many bakers out there.
I mean, all we need to do isjust get on Instagram.
You can see there are tons ofbakers out there who offer
cookies and baked goods and barsand cakes and cupcakes and what
have you Outside of howsomething looks and how it
(24:06):
tastes?
That's basically it.
As a customer, we've gotoptions to go out there and if I
want a cupcake, I'll go.
All I need to do is Google andsee people who make cupcakes
around me and buy it.
But if somebody's offeringsomething that's different,
(24:28):
that's a little elevated, I'mgoing to be.
Even if it costs me more money,I'm going to be going to them.
So, for instance, if I'm goingto a party, for instance, and I
want to bring cupcakes as ahostess gift, the last thing I
want is to bring home a you know, just a traditional bakery box
(24:54):
with cupcakes in it.
Well, how special is that?
But if somebody was offering,say, cupcakes in one of my
mansion boxes or, forget, evenmy boxes in some in some sort of
packaging, that was so coolthat I could immediately use it
and gift it.
That saves me not only time, itsaves money, because now I
(25:19):
don't have to run to the malland try to buy ribbons to make
it look pretty.
I can literally pick it up andgo.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
And that's it.
You're so right.
And one of the things I hearfrom bakers, though sometimes
they're so afraid to investbecause it's it's a catch 22.
I hear a baker say, well, Iwant customers to pay me, or
these people won't pay thataround here.
And anytime someone says that,I always tell them you might
(25:50):
have a branding and a marketingproblem, because if you're
positioning the right product infront of the right person, they
should buy, and sometimesthey're not.
Sometimes they're so afraid toget that deluxe packaging to
invest.
But what they don't realize isthat when you invest in the
imagery, then normally that'swhen the income goes up.
(26:11):
And so I thought yeah, I fullyagree.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
The reason is, if you package cheaply, it's it's a
reflection.
It's it reflects on the valueof the product and when you
package, elevate your packagingit roof again also reflects on
the value of the product.
So I grew up learning this.
My mom's always said cheapthings are never good and good
(26:37):
things are never cheap.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
You're so right.
I've heard that before too.
Or yeah, you buy some cheap,you get some cheap.
So yeah, absolutely.
What advice would you have forany other baker that's out there
that's designing their ownanything utensil or anything who
wants to put their thing outthere?
Speaker 2 (27:01):
you know, I would say , if possible, scratch your own
itch.
So, as I was mentioning earlier, I created these boxes
specifically for me, not foranybody else.
I wanted beautiful packaging sothat I could bring you know, I
could bring my baked goods to myfriend's home and have them,
(27:26):
wow and rave over them.
I knew that there was nothinglike that out there in the
marketplace.
I searched high and low and Iknew nothing like this existed,
so I wanted to create it formyself.
You know, if somebody is doingsomething right now and they
have found that it doesn't existin the marketplace because,
(27:49):
trust me, there are things thateverybody does on their own that
we don't know about, thatthey're doing because they
cannot find it elsewhere If youcan find the ability to actually
make it and make it availablefor the public, you will
(28:10):
actually have a product thatwill be successful.
It will not be for everybody,but there will be a market that
who will want that product.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
And that's something that I wish more people would
understand too.
It doesn't have to be foreverybody.
When some you don't want tospeak to everybody, because when
he speaks to everybody, hespeaks to nobody.
But man, when you put yourselfout there and you really are
that prestigious, which you're,which you're packaging, like you
have, you really attract thegood somebody, the people who
(28:44):
don't mind paying money.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Agree, agree, and it's not.
You know, I want to say it'snot just about the design, it's
also about the quality.
I'm really big about quality.
So that you know the companythat the factory that we now
have our product manufactured at, they have their own quality
(29:07):
control department.
I don't just take their wordfor it that the product's fine.
I hire a third party qualitycontrol company to come in to
inspect all of the productbefore it's shipped out.
And the reason I do that isbecause it's my name on that
(29:28):
packaging.
It's my name on this brand.
It's a reflection of who I am,and I would believe that you
know cookiers and bakers outthere.
You know realtors, soap makers,anybody.
It's their brand, it's it'stheir reputation behind it.
You want to put out the bestproduct there is out there,
(29:49):
because if you put out a greatproduct and people love it,
they're willing to spend thatkind of money.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Absolutely.
I love it, and especiallycharcuterie people.
We have a lot of charcuteriepeople who listen, so you guys
are definitely going to want tocheck it out.
I really enjoy talking to youtoday and I encourage everyone
definitely go check out MissKaren's boxes, especially if
you're the type of baker orfoodie person who loves to be
(30:17):
unique, because you're going tolove what you see and even if
not her box, just really let themessage sit in.
What are you doing in order tostand out in the market?
Miss Karen, before I let you go, are you ready to play
lightning round?
Sure, definitely.
What is your favorite color?
(30:38):
Block Me too.
No one's ever said black before.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Really, yes, black is my favorite color.
It goes with everything andit's classic.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yeah, wait, wait, wait.
A minute Baking with Blondie.
I think she likes black too.
I remember that Is that right,yeah, but we don't get black
often, so I love it, I love it.
What is your favorite dessert?
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Oh, cheesecake, bass cheesecake, cheesecake.
Yes, I absolutely lovecheesecake and I'm going to say
this I've actually baked asix-inch bass cheesecake and
dropped it into my originalclassic house box.
It actually fits in there.
I brought it to a party.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yes, Okay, who is your celebrity crush?
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Oh, oh, my gosh, I don't know.
I would still have to say,probably Martha.
She's always been, I've alwaysloved her.
I still love her to this day.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yes, Awesome, martha is a good one, and what is a
book that she would recommend?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
we read One of your favorite books, Actually one of
the most inspirational booksthat I recently read.
The author's name escapes menow, but it was called 12 Months
to a Million.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
And it was a phenomenal read.
Yeah, a phenomenal read.
It talks so much about branding.
Yes, your product yes.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
I'll put the link to that in the show notes.
That is a really great read.
And what is a kitchen utensil?
You cannot live without A whiskA whisk.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yes, a whisk is first , and second would have to be
the stand mixer.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Those are both great choices.
I love it From the bottom of mylittle heart.
Thank you so much for coming onand speaking with us today,
miss Karen.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Thank you so much for having me.
This was so much fun chattingwith you.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Absolutely you guys.
How awesome was Miss Karen.
There were so many amazingtakeaways from this, but overall
, I hope that something goes offin your head that makes you
think how am I presenting mygifts to the world?
(33:08):
Because the things you bake,the things you offer in your
business, all of those are yourgifts.
It's the talent that you have,and so many little key elements
play a big part to that, and Ibelieve Miss Karen covered it
tremendously.
Also, think that it's so uniqueto see another way that we can
(33:29):
actually take a different pathin this industry.
Like she mentioned, she didn'tsell her baked goods, but the
desire to want to present themuniquely was so strongly that
she just created another path.
And there are so many differentways for us to create revenue,
to stand out in this industry,and so I think her path is truly
(33:52):
unique.
Even if you guys do not lookinto our packaging or even if
it's not for you, I encourageall of you guys to look to
exactly, visit her website, seewhat it's about, so that you can
get a visual understanding ofwhat we've talked about today,
and then next week I encourageyou to think what can you do Now
(34:13):
?
Of course, obviously the easyroute.
You can check out her boxes andadd them to your line if you
really want to be unique andstand out.
But some core things to thinkabout is first impressions
matter.
We've heard this a thousandtimes, and so, if we know this,
what first impression am Igiving my client of me?
That crumble isn't giving, orthat great American cookie isn't
(34:36):
giving, or nothing blunt cakesisn't giving?
What first impression are yougiving?
And then, nextly, what doesyour brand identity say when you
position yourself in the marketand when you package the items
that you do put out there?
Consistency overall reallyhelps with that.
Too often, when we think aboutbranding, we think about colors
(34:59):
and logo and visual things andwe stop there.
But there is so many otherthings that are visual
representation of your brand you, what you have on when you wear
when you go live, your companyoutfit, your website, your
photography we've had greatpeople on here on the past who
talked about that and then,lastly, of course, your
(35:20):
packaging.
All of those things also helpyou in order to raise your
prices and demand a price.
As Ms Karen mentioned, perceivedvalue is so crucial because,
regardless of the dollar amountthat you put on your products,
if someone looks at it and itdoesn't align, that's what
perceived value is.
Someone else in their mind isgiving you a dollar amount
(35:43):
before you even open up yourmouth and say what the price is,
and they're doing it solelybased on your look.
And so, as a business owner,how are we making sure that we
live up to the perceived valuethat we want our products to
have?
And hopefully, today'sconversation, looking at Ms
Karen's brand, hearing all abouther story and her products I
hope all of this helps you tomake a uniform decision going
(36:05):
forward, to truly understand theimportance of not only just the
visual elements, but allelements for you to stand out
and create a better brand inyour community.
I really enjoyed thisconversation.
I think it was so, so cool andI love just hearing this story
all together.
So, if you enjoyed listening,do me a favor be sure to tag me
(36:26):
on Instagram atbakingforbusiness and then also
tag Ms Karen as well atKarenTology.
Thanks so much for listening.
Take care and bye for now.
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