September 27, 2023 • 21 mins
Who says the final quarter of the year has to be a struggle for your baking business? You guys know I am big on planning and the best way to finish the year strong is with a good plan.
Throughout this enlightening episode, we’ll explore the impactful strategies of setting goals, strategic planning, and effective implementation. We’ll whip up some useful ideas on how to profit from holidays and events like Small Business Saturdays, and I guarantee you, these insights are the missing ingredients you need to finish the year strong.
You’re still in the game, even if there are only a few months left.
In this episode we will cover;
- Production strategies that bigger brands use to stay sane
- What to focus on to finish strong
- What collaborations you can do for end of the year success and so much more
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 DeCerano 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):
Hey?
What's going on, sweet friends?
I hope you guys are having anamazing day, wherever you are
listening to this ad or watching.
If you're a home baker, then youalready know the holidays can
be super stressful.
However, they can also bereally busy and they're actually
(01:05):
a wonderful time for us to endthe year strong, to generate
more sales.
But I want to make sure thatwe're doing all that.
However, I also don't want usto get baker burnout to be
stressed, to be in the kitchen,focusing so much on the business
that we're actually notenjoying the holidays, living
life and spending time with ourfamily.
(01:26):
And so in today's podcastepisode, we're going to go over
a couple of tips in order for usto plan for a successful
quarter four and finish the yearstrong.
So even in my baking business,I always like to make sure that
I'm on top of my ish.
I like to break things downquarter by quarter, because when
(01:47):
you sit out at the year,everybody's always pumped.
They're like oh, it's January,new year, new me, new year, new
me.
And we always have all thesegoals and dreams.
But if you didn't put datesbehind those goals and dreams
and if you didn't schedule to doactivities behind those goals
and dreams, then you might findthat now that we've come to this
point, some of the things youwant to accomplish maybe they're
(02:10):
not there yet.
But the great thing about it isis that we still have time
y'all.
There is still time for you toget in the game.
There's still time for you tofinish strong.
And what I don't want for youguys to do, what a lot of people
do is that they wait.
They say, oh well, you know Ihave this idea, but I'll go at
it in January or I'll wait forJanuary to make all these
(02:31):
changes.
One of my favorite parables ishis mercies are new every day.
So if you're breathing rightnow, if there's breath in your
body, you still have anopportunity to make any changes
that you need to and do what youhave to do so that you can have
success in your home bakingbusiness.
All right, so my first tip, tipnumber one let's start off with
(02:53):
reviewing our revenue goals.
So, like I stated in January,we're all amped and pumped.
What I want you to do is I wantyou to look at where are you
right now as far as your salesare concerned, what is the
revenue number that you are atand where do you want to be and
do you feel these last threemonths that you can actually get
(03:14):
there?
There's so much time lefttowards the end of the year, and
so what I want you to do is sitdown and say, okay, where am I
now?
Am I on track to meet my goalsand what am I going to do in
between to make sure that I getthere?
So that means you want to bemaking sure that you're planning
your sales for October,november, december, that you're
(03:36):
working on your promotions, thatyou're taking advantage of some
of those holidays that aregoing to come up and I'm not
just talking about the genericones or the common ones, like
Halloween, thanksgiving,christmas.
I'm talking about the ones inbetween.
Like November is small businessSaturday.
So, because you're a smallbusiness owner, how can you
capitalize on that?
You know, one of the thingsabout running a business is that
(03:59):
we wear many hats and too oftenwe always like to be in the
kitchen.
We want to do the bacon, thedecorate and the glazing, all
the fun stuff.
So we don't put on that CEO hatand start thinking like a
creator or not necessarily acreator, but thinking like a CEO
.
And so what I want you to do isthink of ways that you can
(04:20):
create additional revenue inthose last months.
Think of ways that you can getmore brand visibility for your
business and think of ways thatyou can actually show up and
promote your products so thatyou can finish quarter four
strong.
And that always starts withreviewing your goals.
I like to tell my students datais everything and numbers do
(04:41):
not lie.
So before you start working ona new product or this or that.
Make sure you go and youactually review last year's
numbers.
This is what we refer to inmarketing as sales forecasting.
You can't know where you'regoing if you don't know where
you come from.
So review last year's numbers,see where you were at on track
for last year, look ateverything that worked and then
(05:02):
bring that back this year.
Ok, because one of the biggestproblems is that we're always
trying to do something new,create something new, but, honey
, if it's not broke, don't fixit.
So review your revenue goalsand map out a plan so that you
can be on path in order togenerating the revenue that you
want for your business.
The second tip whoop dropped mypen is to actually combat
(05:26):
burnout.
So, now that we know our goals,we know, ok, we're trying to
get to where the money resides.
We know how we want to finishthe year strong.
Now the next thing I want youto do is work on a plan to
combat burnout, but to alsoincrease your processes, and
here's what I mean.
I know that a lot of things comeduring the holidays.
(05:46):
Most of the time, they're lastminute customers.
We're trying to say yes toeverybody.
Sometimes we get so intoourselves that we take all these
orders because we don't want tohurt people's feelings.
We're not really putting ourfoot down as business owners and
establishing boundaries and allof those activities and all of
those little small habits.
They end in burnout.
(06:07):
And when you burn out, it's nofun.
It's no fun for you becauseyou're not operating at the best
that you can be.
It's also no fun for yourfamily because they don't get
the best version of you that youshould be.
But then, lastly, it doesn'teven serve your business because
when you burnt out, most of thetime you take a backseat and
now you're not making the moneythat you should.
(06:28):
One of the things I said I wasgoing to do this year that I
didn't do last year was lastyear I increased my pound cakes
and my bun cakes, which I loveBecause, unlike layer cakes,
it's just way easier to do.
All I have to do is bake them,wait for them to cool and glaze
them and then.
So I only limited my menu tothat.
(06:50):
If you want to operate off of alimited menu, you do so.
You are not the only businessto do so, nothing.
Bun cakes normally during theholidays they limit their
flavors.
So sometimes I know what you'rethinking.
Well, chef, if I take thingsaway, then aren't I taking away
the chances of people buyingfrom me?
No, ok, don't think from thatscarcity mindset.
(07:11):
I want you to look at the samethings that some bigger brands
do and bring those practices andthose ideas into your
small-based business.
Sometimes you have to step backin order to step up, and so, as
we avoid burnout, does thatmean will you be limiting your
menu?
As I mentioned earlier, lastyear I focused on the pound
cakes and bun cakes.
(07:31):
This year I'm actually focusingon classes.
So this way, I won't evenreally have to be in the kitchen
as much as I normally am.
I mean, truth be told, honestly, I won't be in the kitchen
period y'all, because when I domy classes, I buy my cakes from
Sam's Club and I get mybuttercream from Sam's Club.
Now, for all of those who areon the opposite end listening to
(07:52):
this if your team scratch, doyou?
Ok?
I don't care what you do inyour business, I'm just all
about making money, and so forme, classes are so much easier.
I've partnered with a localcompany to do them.
That way, all I have to do isshow up, walk.
A bunch of newbies, people whoare looking to relax, to get
away from the holiday stress.
Walk them through a successfulclass.
(08:13):
It helps me to raise brandawareness, and then that's that,
and so, as you map out howyou're going to avoid burnout,
think about your processes.
What are you going to be doingin the fourth quarter?
Do you need to narrow your menu?
Do you need to only focus onyour money makers?
Do you need to maybe startoutsourcing some things or start
(08:35):
bringing in some things thatdon't require you to be in the
kitchen as much?
Or do you want to step awayfrom the kitchen altogether and
find other opportunities inorder to make money in your home
baking business?
And when I say step away fromthe kitchen altogether, there
are so many things, such aschocolates, bark, other things
(08:55):
that we can make in our businessTea mixes.
There are so many otheropportunities for us to sell
things as cottage businessowners that we don't always have
to bake every single time, andso think about that.
When it comes to avoidingburnout and finding processes
and tips to help you make moremoney in quarter for for the
(09:16):
holidays, the next thing thatactually goes with that also is
think about having extra thingson hand, so that you're already
prepared for those last minutepeople.
You know, sometimes we're soquick to judge.
We don't want to give peoplegrace.
Someone calls and we're like Ican't believe they called, I
(09:38):
can't believe they want to cakeit last minute, do they think I
know magic?
But most of the time they don'tknow, on the other end, that
you are a small business owner.
So, yeah, it doesn't hurt tokeep a couple things in the
freezer.
Sometimes let's give a persongrace.
During the holidays A lot ofpeople go through different
things.
They're away from their family,they're alone.
You have some college studentswho were new.
(10:00):
This is like their first timebeing away from home.
I bake a lot for our localcollege here in Louisiana, lsu,
and I always get students whoare like this is my first time
away from mom, or you knowthey're going through something
and so they're just kind of notused to planning and they don't
think about things like a personwho plans all the time does.
(10:21):
So put something in yourfreezer, quit bitching and going
off at people.
Have a little grace and in theprocess you might actually find
out that you'll actually makesome more money.
So just look at it from thatparticular aspect.
Also, think about your pre-sales.
You know what pre-sales willyou have for certain products,
so that you can actually kind ofvalidate and know the amount of
(10:43):
volume that you're going to doahead of time.
That way it doesn't hurt youbefore the holidays get too
hectic.
So, freezing items, hostingpre-sales Again, just processes
what processes are you going toshow up and start implementing
so that we can finish thisquarter strong?
And then the next thing Look atwhat's working for you and
(11:06):
maximize on that.
So before we get into all theseholiday trends I know like right
around this time you knowpeople are doing the bento cakes
and the vintage cakes and thisand that if that has already
brought you money, cool, thenthat means it's validated,
people have purchased it fromyou, it's already working.
But, like I said earlier, if itain't broke, don't fix it.
(11:26):
So look at what's making youmoney right now and see how can
you add a spin to this.
I actually just did this entirelike two hour planning process
with my students, who I workwith one-on-one in my group
coaching, and we sat down and wemapped out all of our sales,
all of our promotions, everysingle thing, for October to
(11:46):
November, december, when we'regonna open a sale, when we're
gonna close a sale, all thethings in between, so that they
can show up with success andmake more money for the holidays
.
And so, sharing these tips withyou, I want you to think about
what's working right now for you.
One of the companies that doesthis so well for me is Whole
Foods.
If you pay attention to WholeFoods, you'll notice that they
(12:08):
sell berry chantilly cake, butthey don't take it away for the
holidays.
All they do is they tint theicing.
If it's October, they'll tintthe icing orange so that it has
a little color, and then, whenfall, thanksgiving come around,
they may tint it green.
That's all.
And why do they do that?
Because it makes them money.
So what is making you moneyright now, honey?
(12:29):
Don't change that.
Before you try to compareyourself or look at what someone
else is doing, which we tend todo a lot in this industry Well,
this is working for her, so I'mgonna do this.
What another woman eats won'tfill your stomach.
Look at what's working for younow and find ways to capitalize
on that.
And then, lastly, one of mynext tips is to refresh your
(12:51):
website.
As small business owners,especially home bakers, your
website is like your digitalstorefront.
That's the first thing thatpeople see, and when we look in
terms of the holidays endingwith success, making sure we
make more money, making surethat we're actually marketing
our home baking business one ofthe biggest things is to tend to
your website, because whenpeople wanna know something,
(13:13):
what do they do?
They search, be it if theysearch Bing, or if they search
Yelp, or if they're looking forreviews.
Somehow, some way, they aregoing to turn to the internet,
and so if you're trying toincrease your marketing for your
home baking business, cookiebusiness, cake business,
chocolate business, whatever itis that you have then you're
definitely gonna wanna make surethat you increase your
(13:35):
likelihood of getting foundthrough SEO what we know as
search engine optimization andthat all starts with your
website.
If you're a person that alreadyhas a website, I want you to
check your bounce rate.
Your bounce rate is thepercentage that's calculated
when people come on your siteand leave.
If your bounce rate is over 60%, I want you to work on that,
(13:56):
because, generally, what thatmeans is that there's something
going on with your homepagemaybe the fonts, or throw it off
.
Maybe you made your site.
It wasn't professionally done.
Maybe the pictures don'treflect what the post or what it
was that you posted actuallydoes, and so there's some
disconnect there.
So use opportunities such asyour images.
(14:16):
You can actually refresh yourimages and you can actually
title your images to help yourank more online.
Also, look at your fonts, butmore than anything, look at your
pictures.
You guys know I am big onvisual imagery.
Two of my favorite people inthe game I share them all the
time is Monique with I Am Gottahave Cake, and Chef Irene with
(14:37):
Florida Bakers Club.
So be sure you check them out.
If you need an image class, aphotography class or something,
because y'all people eat withtheir eyes.
But if you're taking crappyphotos, and then you're taking
them same crappy ass photos andyou're putting them on your
website, and then you'rewondering how come people never
order from my site.
Well, baby, that's why.
So we wanna make sure that thissite is working for us.
(14:59):
Think about your order forms.
Have you updated your forms?
Do they have your holiday time?
Would you operate longer duringthe holidays?
Are you actually gonna beextending your hours or will you
operate less?
Does your website reflect that?
Do you have automations set upin the back end.
So when people sign up for youremail list, are you sending
them some form of coupon orsomething that can help them to
(15:23):
actually want to purchase fromyour business, or something that
works for you while you'resleeping?
All of those, along with tonsof other things, y'all but all
of those are items that we needto adjust on our website,
because it's something that'snot only going to bring us
customers and attract people tous, but it's also gonna help us
to operate our business moreeffectively.
(15:45):
And lastly, I know it's quarterfour, so I thought I'd do four
tips, but I'm gonna go ahead andgive a bonus and do five.
But I also want you to thinkabout working on your
collaborations.
You know I talk about buildinga business a lot if you listen
to the Bacon for Businesspodcast, but one of the things I
(16:06):
always want people to know isthat you do not have to build a
business alone.
And so, in terms ofcollaboration, there's strength
in numbers, but there's alsopower and proximity.
So look at other businessowners that are around you.
If you're a home-based ownerand you feel that you need more
brand visibility, whatstorefront owners can you pop up
(16:28):
with?
Who can you reach out?
Who do you do a collaborationwith?
Think about companies, places,businesses that already have
traffic.
How can you partner with themand work with them so that you
can pull from their traffic andbring it into your business?
Somebody already is succeedingat what it is that you want to
do.
Somebody already has thoseclients, those ideal clients.
(16:48):
Not the cheap ones, not thelooking lucies, not the penny
pinches, but the top quality,the bougie beckies that's what I
like to call my ideal client,bougie beckies.
So who can you partner with?
I'm going to give you anexample, one that's overlooked
all the time.
I have done more partnershipsout of all the partnerships and
(17:08):
collaborations I've done withyoga studios and workout places
than any other place.
And I know you're thinking well,people are working out.
Why would they want cake?
Or why would they want cupcake?
Think of the person as a whole.
My ideal client loves to workout.
So if my ideal client likes towork out, they also like to
party and they like to treatthemselves.
(17:29):
It doesn't mean that everysingle person goes to the gym.
Doesn't eat cake because I'vebeen working out lately.
Your girl goes to the gym four,five days a week, but I also
still like cake.
So you will find a differentcaliber of a person, and not at
any gym.
I'm not talking about PlanetFitness or somewhere where it's
10 bucks or something like thatno shade but I'm talking about
(17:51):
specialty places.
They will show you a lot aboutthe caliber of the clientele.
But also you're going to get tomeet people who you'll find
will actually value yourproducts and services, and when
it's their time to cut looms,have a cheat day, they would
love to have it with yourproducts.
They just got to know who youare.
(18:11):
So that's actually one of myfavorite collaborations.
Another collaboration in thepast I've done pop-ups with
Williams and Sonoma in my homebaking business.
One of the charities that Ilove is no Kid Hungry, and so
it's a double deal.
I get to support anorganization that gives back to
other people, not just in ourcommunity but all over the world
(18:33):
, but then I also get brandawareness because our Williams
and Sonoma is located in ourmall.
So that's given me in the pastthe opportunity to show up and
display my business at noadditional cost.
Collaborations are key, allright, so always make sure that
you're making collaborations.
And so, lastly, the lastcollaboration idea I have for
(18:55):
you is a giveaway.
Now, I know what you'rethinking, chef.
It's quarter four.
Girl, I'm looking to make money.
I don't want to give anythingaway, but think about it like
this Usually, when people have asales problem, it's because
they have a traffic problembecause of more people knew
about you.
If more people were coming toyour website, if more people
were coming to your social mediapage, more people would then be
(19:17):
able to purchase from you.
So it's not just sales, it'svisibility, and what happens
when you do a giveaway is thatyou can either partner with
another business, you can do oneyourself.
Y'all have done a giveawaybefore.
If not, you know how it goes,but you're going to get an
increase of people.
Now, sometimes you may getpeople who were there just for
(19:37):
the fun thing, but once allthose people filter out, you're
going to leave with some reallyquality people, and then it's up
to you to put good qualitycontent in front of them so that
they can connect.
All right, y'all.
So I hope all those tips helpedyou guys.
It is quarter four, it's gametime, it is the busiest time of
(19:58):
the year, and so I want you toshow up until you blow up.
I want you to make sure thatyou put your gifts out there,
because if God gave you a gift,he wouldn't give you vision
without giving you pro-vision.
And I also want you to makesure, more than anything, though
, that you take care of yourselfas a business owner.
No burnout, no stress, and noneof that.
I want you to show up andoperate at your best capacity.
(20:22):
I want you to be happy with thethings that you put out there
and finish this year strong, sothat way, next year, when we
start off at the beginning ofthe year it doesn't have to be a
new year, new me.
You can be new right now, andyou can meet your goals, and
then you'll sit back, relax, andyou'll feel so much better when
you do so.
I hope this helps you guys.
(20:42):
Take care, and bye for now.
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg.
I started my baking businesswith a bottle of DeCerano 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):
Hey?
What's going on, sweet friends?
I hope you guys are having anamazing day, wherever you are
listening to this ad or watching.
If you're a home baker, then youalready know the holidays can
be super stressful.
However, they can also bereally busy and they're actually
(01:05):
a wonderful time for us to endthe year strong, to generate
more sales.
But I want to make sure thatwe're doing all that.
However, I also don't want usto get baker burnout to be
stressed, to be in the kitchen,focusing so much on the business
that we're actually notenjoying the holidays, living
life and spending time with ourfamily.
(01:26):
And so in today's podcastepisode, we're going to go over
a couple of tips in order for usto plan for a successful
quarter four and finish the yearstrong.
So even in my baking business,I always like to make sure that
I'm on top of my ish.
I like to break things downquarter by quarter, because when
(01:47):
you sit out at the year,everybody's always pumped.
They're like oh, it's January,new year, new me, new year, new
me.
And we always have all thesegoals and dreams.
But if you didn't put datesbehind those goals and dreams
and if you didn't schedule to doactivities behind those goals
and dreams, then you might findthat now that we've come to this
point, some of the things youwant to accomplish maybe they're
(02:10):
not there yet.
But the great thing about it isis that we still have time
y'all.
There is still time for you toget in the game.
There's still time for you tofinish strong.
And what I don't want for youguys to do, what a lot of people
do is that they wait.
They say, oh well, you know Ihave this idea, but I'll go at
it in January or I'll wait forJanuary to make all these
(02:31):
changes.
One of my favorite parables ishis mercies are new every day.
So if you're breathing rightnow, if there's breath in your
body, you still have anopportunity to make any changes
that you need to and do what youhave to do so that you can have
success in your home bakingbusiness.
All right, so my first tip, tipnumber one let's start off with
(02:53):
reviewing our revenue goals.
So, like I stated in January,we're all amped and pumped.
What I want you to do is I wantyou to look at where are you
right now as far as your salesare concerned, what is the
revenue number that you are atand where do you want to be and
do you feel these last threemonths that you can actually get
(03:14):
there?
There's so much time lefttowards the end of the year, and
so what I want you to do is sitdown and say, okay, where am I
now?
Am I on track to meet my goalsand what am I going to do in
between to make sure that I getthere?
So that means you want to bemaking sure that you're planning
your sales for October,november, december, that you're
(03:36):
working on your promotions, thatyou're taking advantage of some
of those holidays that aregoing to come up and I'm not
just talking about the genericones or the common ones, like
Halloween, thanksgiving,christmas.
I'm talking about the ones inbetween.
Like November is small businessSaturday.
So, because you're a smallbusiness owner, how can you
capitalize on that?
You know, one of the thingsabout running a business is that
(03:59):
we wear many hats and too oftenwe always like to be in the
kitchen.
We want to do the bacon, thedecorate and the glazing, all
the fun stuff.
So we don't put on that CEO hatand start thinking like a
creator or not necessarily acreator, but thinking like a CEO
.
And so what I want you to do isthink of ways that you can
(04:20):
create additional revenue inthose last months.
Think of ways that you can getmore brand visibility for your
business and think of ways thatyou can actually show up and
promote your products so thatyou can finish quarter four
strong.
And that always starts withreviewing your goals.
I like to tell my students datais everything and numbers do
(04:41):
not lie.
So before you start working ona new product or this or that.
Make sure you go and youactually review last year's
numbers.
This is what we refer to inmarketing as sales forecasting.
You can't know where you'regoing if you don't know where
you come from.
So review last year's numbers,see where you were at on track
for last year, look ateverything that worked and then
(05:02):
bring that back this year.
Ok, because one of the biggestproblems is that we're always
trying to do something new,create something new, but, honey
, if it's not broke, don't fixit.
So review your revenue goalsand map out a plan so that you
can be on path in order togenerating the revenue that you
want for your business.
The second tip whoop dropped mypen is to actually combat
(05:26):
burnout.
So, now that we know our goals,we know, ok, we're trying to
get to where the money resides.
We know how we want to finishthe year strong.
Now the next thing I want youto do is work on a plan to
combat burnout, but to alsoincrease your processes, and
here's what I mean.
I know that a lot of things comeduring the holidays.
(05:46):
Most of the time, they're lastminute customers.
We're trying to say yes toeverybody.
Sometimes we get so intoourselves that we take all these
orders because we don't want tohurt people's feelings.
We're not really putting ourfoot down as business owners and
establishing boundaries and allof those activities and all of
those little small habits.
They end in burnout.
(06:07):
And when you burn out, it's nofun.
It's no fun for you becauseyou're not operating at the best
that you can be.
It's also no fun for yourfamily because they don't get
the best version of you that youshould be.
But then, lastly, it doesn'teven serve your business because
when you burnt out, most of thetime you take a backseat and
now you're not making the moneythat you should.
(06:28):
One of the things I said I wasgoing to do this year that I
didn't do last year was lastyear I increased my pound cakes
and my bun cakes, which I loveBecause, unlike layer cakes,
it's just way easier to do.
All I have to do is bake them,wait for them to cool and glaze
them and then.
So I only limited my menu tothat.
(06:50):
If you want to operate off of alimited menu, you do so.
You are not the only businessto do so, nothing.
Bun cakes normally during theholidays they limit their
flavors.
So sometimes I know what you'rethinking.
Well, chef, if I take thingsaway, then aren't I taking away
the chances of people buyingfrom me?
No, ok, don't think from thatscarcity mindset.
(07:11):
I want you to look at the samethings that some bigger brands
do and bring those practices andthose ideas into your
small-based business.
Sometimes you have to step backin order to step up, and so, as
we avoid burnout, does thatmean will you be limiting your
menu?
As I mentioned earlier, lastyear I focused on the pound
cakes and bun cakes.
(07:31):
This year I'm actually focusingon classes.
So this way, I won't evenreally have to be in the kitchen
as much as I normally am.
I mean, truth be told, honestly, I won't be in the kitchen
period y'all, because when I domy classes, I buy my cakes from
Sam's Club and I get mybuttercream from Sam's Club.
Now, for all of those who areon the opposite end listening to
(07:52):
this if your team scratch, doyou?
Ok?
I don't care what you do inyour business, I'm just all
about making money, and so forme, classes are so much easier.
I've partnered with a localcompany to do them.
That way, all I have to do isshow up, walk.
A bunch of newbies, people whoare looking to relax, to get
away from the holiday stress.
Walk them through a successfulclass.
(08:13):
It helps me to raise brandawareness, and then that's that,
and so, as you map out howyou're going to avoid burnout,
think about your processes.
What are you going to be doingin the fourth quarter?
Do you need to narrow your menu?
Do you need to only focus onyour money makers?
Do you need to maybe startoutsourcing some things or start
(08:35):
bringing in some things thatdon't require you to be in the
kitchen as much?
Or do you want to step awayfrom the kitchen altogether and
find other opportunities inorder to make money in your home
baking business?
And when I say step away fromthe kitchen altogether, there
are so many things, such aschocolates, bark, other things
(08:55):
that we can make in our businessTea mixes.
There are so many otheropportunities for us to sell
things as cottage businessowners that we don't always have
to bake every single time, andso think about that.
When it comes to avoidingburnout and finding processes
and tips to help you make moremoney in quarter for for the
(09:16):
holidays, the next thing thatactually goes with that also is
think about having extra thingson hand, so that you're already
prepared for those last minutepeople.
You know, sometimes we're soquick to judge.
We don't want to give peoplegrace.
Someone calls and we're like Ican't believe they called, I
(09:38):
can't believe they want to cakeit last minute, do they think I
know magic?
But most of the time they don'tknow, on the other end, that
you are a small business owner.
So, yeah, it doesn't hurt tokeep a couple things in the
freezer.
Sometimes let's give a persongrace.
During the holidays A lot ofpeople go through different
things.
They're away from their family,they're alone.
You have some college studentswho were new.
(10:00):
This is like their first timebeing away from home.
I bake a lot for our localcollege here in Louisiana, lsu,
and I always get students whoare like this is my first time
away from mom, or you knowthey're going through something
and so they're just kind of notused to planning and they don't
think about things like a personwho plans all the time does.
(10:21):
So put something in yourfreezer, quit bitching and going
off at people.
Have a little grace and in theprocess you might actually find
out that you'll actually makesome more money.
So just look at it from thatparticular aspect.
Also, think about your pre-sales.
You know what pre-sales willyou have for certain products,
so that you can actually kind ofvalidate and know the amount of
(10:43):
volume that you're going to doahead of time.
That way it doesn't hurt youbefore the holidays get too
hectic.
So, freezing items, hostingpre-sales Again, just processes
what processes are you going toshow up and start implementing
so that we can finish thisquarter strong?
And then the next thing Look atwhat's working for you and
(11:06):
maximize on that.
So before we get into all theseholiday trends I know like right
around this time you knowpeople are doing the bento cakes
and the vintage cakes and thisand that if that has already
brought you money, cool, thenthat means it's validated,
people have purchased it fromyou, it's already working.
But, like I said earlier, if itain't broke, don't fix it.
(11:26):
So look at what's making youmoney right now and see how can
you add a spin to this.
I actually just did this entirelike two hour planning process
with my students, who I workwith one-on-one in my group
coaching, and we sat down and wemapped out all of our sales,
all of our promotions, everysingle thing, for October to
(11:46):
November, december, when we'regonna open a sale, when we're
gonna close a sale, all thethings in between, so that they
can show up with success andmake more money for the holidays
.
And so, sharing these tips withyou, I want you to think about
what's working right now for you.
One of the companies that doesthis so well for me is Whole
Foods.
If you pay attention to WholeFoods, you'll notice that they
(12:08):
sell berry chantilly cake, butthey don't take it away for the
holidays.
All they do is they tint theicing.
If it's October, they'll tintthe icing orange so that it has
a little color, and then, whenfall, thanksgiving come around,
they may tint it green.
That's all.
And why do they do that?
Because it makes them money.
So what is making you moneyright now, honey?
(12:29):
Don't change that.
Before you try to compareyourself or look at what someone
else is doing, which we tend todo a lot in this industry Well,
this is working for her, so I'mgonna do this.
What another woman eats won'tfill your stomach.
Look at what's working for younow and find ways to capitalize
on that.
And then, lastly, one of mynext tips is to refresh your
(12:51):
website.
As small business owners,especially home bakers, your
website is like your digitalstorefront.
That's the first thing thatpeople see, and when we look in
terms of the holidays endingwith success, making sure we
make more money, making surethat we're actually marketing
our home baking business one ofthe biggest things is to tend to
your website, because whenpeople wanna know something,
(13:13):
what do they do?
They search, be it if theysearch Bing, or if they search
Yelp, or if they're looking forreviews.
Somehow, some way, they aregoing to turn to the internet,
and so if you're trying toincrease your marketing for your
home baking business, cookiebusiness, cake business,
chocolate business, whatever itis that you have then you're
definitely gonna wanna make surethat you increase your
(13:35):
likelihood of getting foundthrough SEO what we know as
search engine optimization andthat all starts with your
website.
If you're a person that alreadyhas a website, I want you to
check your bounce rate.
Your bounce rate is thepercentage that's calculated
when people come on your siteand leave.
If your bounce rate is over 60%, I want you to work on that,
(13:56):
because, generally, what thatmeans is that there's something
going on with your homepagemaybe the fonts, or throw it off
.
Maybe you made your site.
It wasn't professionally done.
Maybe the pictures don'treflect what the post or what it
was that you posted actuallydoes, and so there's some
disconnect there.
So use opportunities such asyour images.
(14:16):
You can actually refresh yourimages and you can actually
title your images to help yourank more online.
Also, look at your fonts, butmore than anything, look at your
pictures.
You guys know I am big onvisual imagery.
Two of my favorite people inthe game I share them all the
time is Monique with I Am Gottahave Cake, and Chef Irene with
(14:37):
Florida Bakers Club.
So be sure you check them out.
If you need an image class, aphotography class or something,
because y'all people eat withtheir eyes.
But if you're taking crappyphotos, and then you're taking
them same crappy ass photos andyou're putting them on your
website, and then you'rewondering how come people never
order from my site.
Well, baby, that's why.
So we wanna make sure that thissite is working for us.
(14:59):
Think about your order forms.
Have you updated your forms?
Do they have your holiday time?
Would you operate longer duringthe holidays?
Are you actually gonna beextending your hours or will you
operate less?
Does your website reflect that?
Do you have automations set upin the back end.
So when people sign up for youremail list, are you sending
them some form of coupon orsomething that can help them to
(15:23):
actually want to purchase fromyour business, or something that
works for you while you'resleeping?
All of those, along with tonsof other things, y'all but all
of those are items that we needto adjust on our website,
because it's something that'snot only going to bring us
customers and attract people tous, but it's also gonna help us
to operate our business moreeffectively.
(15:45):
And lastly, I know it's quarterfour, so I thought I'd do four
tips, but I'm gonna go ahead andgive a bonus and do five.
But I also want you to thinkabout working on your
collaborations.
You know I talk about buildinga business a lot if you listen
to the Bacon for Businesspodcast, but one of the things I
(16:06):
always want people to know isthat you do not have to build a
business alone.
And so, in terms ofcollaboration, there's strength
in numbers, but there's alsopower and proximity.
So look at other businessowners that are around you.
If you're a home-based ownerand you feel that you need more
brand visibility, whatstorefront owners can you pop up
(16:28):
with?
Who can you reach out?
Who do you do a collaborationwith?
Think about companies, places,businesses that already have
traffic.
How can you partner with themand work with them so that you
can pull from their traffic andbring it into your business?
Somebody already is succeedingat what it is that you want to
do.
Somebody already has thoseclients, those ideal clients.
(16:48):
Not the cheap ones, not thelooking lucies, not the penny
pinches, but the top quality,the bougie beckies that's what I
like to call my ideal client,bougie beckies.
So who can you partner with?
I'm going to give you anexample, one that's overlooked
all the time.
I have done more partnershipsout of all the partnerships and
(17:08):
collaborations I've done withyoga studios and workout places
than any other place.
And I know you're thinking well,people are working out.
Why would they want cake?
Or why would they want cupcake?
Think of the person as a whole.
My ideal client loves to workout.
So if my ideal client likes towork out, they also like to
party and they like to treatthemselves.
(17:29):
It doesn't mean that everysingle person goes to the gym.
Doesn't eat cake because I'vebeen working out lately.
Your girl goes to the gym four,five days a week, but I also
still like cake.
So you will find a differentcaliber of a person, and not at
any gym.
I'm not talking about PlanetFitness or somewhere where it's
10 bucks or something like thatno shade but I'm talking about
(17:51):
specialty places.
They will show you a lot aboutthe caliber of the clientele.
But also you're going to get tomeet people who you'll find
will actually value yourproducts and services, and when
it's their time to cut looms,have a cheat day, they would
love to have it with yourproducts.
They just got to know who youare.
(18:11):
So that's actually one of myfavorite collaborations.
Another collaboration in thepast I've done pop-ups with
Williams and Sonoma in my homebaking business.
One of the charities that Ilove is no Kid Hungry, and so
it's a double deal.
I get to support anorganization that gives back to
other people, not just in ourcommunity but all over the world
(18:33):
, but then I also get brandawareness because our Williams
and Sonoma is located in ourmall.
So that's given me in the pastthe opportunity to show up and
display my business at noadditional cost.
Collaborations are key, allright, so always make sure that
you're making collaborations.
And so, lastly, the lastcollaboration idea I have for
(18:55):
you is a giveaway.
Now, I know what you'rethinking, chef.
It's quarter four.
Girl, I'm looking to make money.
I don't want to give anythingaway, but think about it like
this Usually, when people have asales problem, it's because
they have a traffic problembecause of more people knew
about you.
If more people were coming toyour website, if more people
were coming to your social mediapage, more people would then be
(19:17):
able to purchase from you.
So it's not just sales, it'svisibility, and what happens
when you do a giveaway is thatyou can either partner with
another business, you can do oneyourself.
Y'all have done a giveawaybefore.
If not, you know how it goes,but you're going to get an
increase of people.
Now, sometimes you may getpeople who were there just for
(19:37):
the fun thing, but once allthose people filter out, you're
going to leave with some reallyquality people, and then it's up
to you to put good qualitycontent in front of them so that
they can connect.
All right, y'all.
So I hope all those tips helpedyou guys.
It is quarter four, it's gametime, it is the busiest time of
(19:58):
the year, and so I want you toshow up until you blow up.
I want you to make sure thatyou put your gifts out there,
because if God gave you a gift,he wouldn't give you vision
without giving you pro-vision.
And I also want you to makesure, more than anything, though
, that you take care of yourselfas a business owner.
No burnout, no stress, and noneof that.
I want you to show up andoperate at your best capacity.
(20:22):
I want you to be happy with thethings that you put out there
and finish this year strong, sothat way, next year, when we
start off at the beginning ofthe year it doesn't have to be a
new year, new me.
You can be new right now, andyou can meet your goals, and
then you'll sit back, relax, andyou'll feel so much better when
you do so.
I hope this helps you guys.
(20:42):
Take care, and bye for now.
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