October 4, 2023 • 31 mins
Today's guest went from being a professional copywriter to falling in love with blogging. Today I chat with Jessica from Sweetest Menu blog in Australia. Take a peek behind the kitchen doors and join us on a sweet ride through the world of blogging and baking.
A trip to the states inspired Jessica to dive into her passion more and today she shares all about it.
In this episode we will cover:
- What made her take the leap to start her baking blog
- What tools Jessica uses to start her baking blog
- How her baking blog has evolved over the years
Want to check out Jessica's blog? Tap her to take a visit
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 the 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?
(00:50):
Hey, sweet friends, welcome backto the Baking for Business
podcast.
I'm so happy to have you guyshere with me this week.
I'm happy to have you guys hereevery week, and this week is
awesome because we're talkingall about blogging.
And so, before you run, all ofyou guys who bake from scratch
or bake from box or whatever itis you bake hear me out.
(01:11):
You can't be on your feetforever.
No one wants to be 99 baking,and today's guest has found a
different alternative in orderto live her dream to take her
baked goods and still make anincome.
All I be in a mom and workingpart-time.
How cool is that?
So today we have Jessica fromthe Sweetest Menu and she's
(01:32):
going to talk all about her blogand how she started in this
industry.
Hey, jessica, thanks so muchfor coming on today.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Thanks for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yes, you're more than welcome, and so we were
chatting before we pressedrecord for a nice little while.
Your blog is beautiful.
I love your work.
How exactly did you get started, though?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Thank you, thank you so much.
Well, I actually didn't grow upbaking hardly at all.
I baked on the auto cave inwith my mom, but we weren't
really I wasn't really in thekitchen, but I did love food and
it was actually I got, when Igot married, my husband.
I remember we got home from ourhoneymoon and then we just
(02:20):
stood in the kitchen and we werelike, oh, who's going to make
dinner, what are we going to do?
And we realized neither of usreally knew how to cook or bake
at that stage.
So we kind of went on thisjourney of teaching ourselves.
I remember we got a JanieOliver cookbook and we basically
cooked our way through it andthrough that journey we just,
(02:43):
you know, developed this reallove of food and being in the
kitchen.
And from there, yeah, I startedto teach myself to bake
basically.
But I, you know, I was in mytwenties, I was, I was a bit
older, I wasn't growing up withmy grandma teaching me,
unfortunately, but yeah, butthat's that's sort of where it,
where it came from.
And then also travel was amajor influence.
(03:06):
So I remember, in my earlytwenties as well, we started to
travel overseas and a few of ourfirst trips were to America and
that's really where my love ofbaking was quite ignited,
because I tasted so many goodthings over there and so many
flavors that I'd never hadbefore Like.
And it's different now becauseit's about 15 years later, but
(03:28):
back then, like, I'd never heardof like plus another's and red
velvet cake and banana puddingand all these like really cool
things.
So I came back so inspired andpassionate and that's sort of
yeah, where you know myexperiments in the kitchen
really took off.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I love it.
And now you actually had acorporate background, though, so
tell me a little bit about yourjob and what you were doing,
why you started the blog, orbefore you started blogging.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I studied communicationsat university and then I worked
as a copywriter, so I had a, youknow, nine to five office job
and a few years into that I wentback to school to do some night
classes in graphic design justfor fun, and my husband had gone
(04:17):
back to law school so he wasstudying sort of around the
clock.
And then my graphic designclasses were coming to an end
and I just thought I just feltlike I had a lot of time outside
of my full-time job and Ithought, what am I going to do?
That's creative.
And it was right around thetime.
It was 2014,.
Food blogs were, you know, allthe rage and I was following so
many of them, so I just thought,oh, I'm just going to give it a
(04:40):
go and try to win the fun.
So, yeah, february 2014,.
Sweetest menu is gone.
Actually, I think it was calledthe sweetest menu or sweet.
No, it's called sweet menu,that's right.
And then it changed to sweetestmenu.
So, yeah, it's come a long way.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I love it.
I love it, and I read that youeven worked at Australia's
biggest food magazine, so Icould imagine you did learned a
lot there.
So what were some of theoccupations or the things that
you learned on that job?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, so that was fun .
So I started my career workingin travel.
So I was doing a lot of travelcopywriting and then, as I
started to really enjoy the foodblog, I thought I'm just loving
this, I want to see if I can dosomething in food in my day job
as well.
So I ended up landing a job ata food magazine and I was doing
I think I was doing copywriting,but it was like digital
(05:36):
marketing, social media, thatsort of thing.
And then it kind of leaked outthat I had this blog and this
interesting food.
And so they said do you want tocome on some of our photo shoots
with us?
And I was like yes.
So I came along regularly, butthat wasn't kind of in my role
as a food prep assistant, so I'dwork alongside the chefs and
(05:56):
prep all the food for all themagazine photo shoots, and then
you know watch as the foodstylist came in, did all the
styling, and then the foodphotographer did their thing.
And you know I would comealongside them and ask them a
few questions oh, how do you dothat and what?
What setting are you using onthat?
And trying to gain everything Icould to take home to my blog
(06:18):
and use it all that information.
But it was really fun andreally interesting to see how,
how they did real deals,magazine shoots behind the
scenes.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
And so, when you started your blog, what were
some of the first things thatyou started posting?
Did you have a particularspecialty or what were some of
the first recipes?
If you can jog us back, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, that's a great question.
It's always been sweet.
So I, you know I have a bigsweet tooth and I love baking
and the joy of you know cakesand cookies and things like that
, but I I was still learning howto bake.
So back then I actually thinkthe first recipe I posted was
chocolate covered Oreos, whichwas literally getting a packet
(07:02):
of Oreos and dipping them inchocolate.
And you know, that was it, andI think I think my next one
might have been a chocolate chipcookie.
But yeah, it was quite humbleat the start.
I definitely have come a longway in my kitchen abilities.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Some people may feel like, because I know one of the
things you stated was that youtraveled and you tested a lot.
Some people may feel well, I'mnot a professional, so how can I
blog?
Or did you ever have any ofthose mindset issues that
hindered you?
Or you just went straightstraight?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
for it.
No, I did, I did.
And I remember, like my husbandsaying, oh, you should start a
food bug.
And I remember saying, but Idon't know how to write a recipe
.
I know how to follow a recipe,but I don't know how to, you
know, create my own recipe.
And he just really encouragedme to just start and so, like I
said, I did, I just started andit was started literally like I
(07:58):
couldn't really write a recipelike chocolate dipped Oreos.
I mean, it was just likecounting how many Oreos and then
trying to figure out how muchchocolate you needed to dip them
.
Like there's no, like great,you know, still needed in that
recipe.
But that's just where I had tostart.
And you know if you can startanywhere, whether it's, you know
, a recipe that you think thatyou've made and you've tweaked
(08:19):
and tweaked and tweaked overtime and it's slowly become
yours, or, you know, I evenasked, like I didn't bake with
my mom so much or my you knowgrandma's or anything, but like
my husband's grandma had somerecipes, so like I asked her for
her recipes and then, you know,played around with those.
So it's just kind of likestarting anywhere with any
(08:39):
inspiration that you can, andreally it's all about
experimentation.
I mean, I have so many fails inthe kitchen.
I have them every week, everyall the time, even now, because
that's how you, you know, make arecipe.
That's how you learn how theingredients work and what does
work and what doesn't.
And you know, 10 years in, I'mstill 100% learning that.
(09:00):
So I think I think it's verynormal to have that concern, but
that's how we learn this andthere's nothing wrong with
failure.
There's no need to be scared offailure in the kitchen.
That like I actually now, Iused to cry when a cake didn't
work.
You know like my husband wouldfind me.
Yeah, I'd be like, oh, I madethis cake and it didn't work,
you know, and I'd take it somuch to heart.
(09:21):
Now I'm like, okay, cool, itdidn't work.
What can I learn from that?
Oh, it must have been too manyeggs, too many, this too many,
that Like it's just part of thejob.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
You know, I love that because with that it comes a
change mindset.
And you're right.
Sometimes it's just how we lookat things.
Instead of saying you know, I'ma failure, it's more like you
said what was the lesson?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, yeah, and it's the best way because I can read
something a hundred times oh,baking soda does this in a
recipe, blah, blah, blah and itdoesn't kind of sink in.
But then when you have that andyou go, oh, I see, I put too
much in and it's sunk, or youknow whatever it is Like, that
memory is going to stay andevery time you make hate you
think, oh, I don't want to haveit like it's sunk that other
time.
You know, and that's how youlearn, that's how those lessons
(10:08):
kind of stick in mind.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
So how did you decide ?
What was your first Cause?
We're coming up on a 10 yearcelebration, so congratulations.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, thank you.
My grandma, an internet grandma?
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Yeah, you're so silly In the beginning.
What was some of the firsttypes of software that you used
to get the blog started?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, so I was very humble in my beginnings.
I'm pretty sure I started on ablogger, blogger or blog spot,
whatever the free one was.
I did my own logo in Photoshopand chucked it up there.
There was nothing fancy about.
I didn't even have a propercamera.
I think I might have borrowedsomeone from someone, yeah, but
(10:57):
I only had like a $100 camerafor years.
Like I really didn't investuntil you know, this was
something that was sticking andI was really going to go for it.
So, yeah, very humblebeginnings and like nowadays,
you can start off so much betterpurely because of an iPhone.
I mean, you've already gotsomething that can record great
(11:17):
photos and videos right there.
Yeah, so it was like a zeromoney investment.
I think I paid like $20 for mydomain, that was it.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
And you never had a desire to, because some people
will say, well, you know, whynot sell your baked goods or
anything like that, but that wasnever a desire.
You just always had a passion,I guess.
Be it that you were acopywriter to always.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, yeah.
So it was more, and it was moreabout the teaching side of
things than just presentingsomeone with a cake or someone
paying me for cake.
I just love to teach and I loveto share.
So, like when a recipe worksand even to this day, when I
make something that is sodelicious, like I get so excited
.
I cannot wait to share it withpeople on my blog or on
(12:04):
Instagram and I'm just like thiscake, like you have to try it,
and I just think, yeah, gettingthat message out to as many
people as possible is just byblogging.
It's like the sweet spot.
And also, most of the time whenI was doing this, I was.
I live in a house now, but Ilived in a one bedroom apartment
with a really teeny, tiny.
It's almost like a kitchenettekitchen really, so it wasn't
(12:26):
really built for like ahome-made breakfast day.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
And so you did the blogging for about six years
before you went full time right?
Yes, that's right.
So what?
Did that look like over theyears, revenue wise in the game.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yeah, so for the first 18 months I made nothing,
and then I actually.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I actually and.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I was fine with that because, like I said, I had a
job.
It wasn't really considered,you know, to be a job, it was
just so much fun.
And my dad actually said to me,oh, you should put some ads on
your site.
And I was like, oh, no, that'llruin the site, you know, like
all my beautiful pictures, eventhough they weren't that
beautiful back then.
And he was like, no, go on.
And I was like, oh, and I toyedaround with it for a while and
(13:15):
then I was like, I'll just, I'lljust see.
So I think I signed up I thinkit was just Google ads since
back then and then I made $50 inthat first month and I was so
chuffed I was like $50.
You know, because that pays foryour baking ingredients.
I was like, yeah, fantastic,now I'm, you know, even instead
of like in the hole.
And from there it just slowlygrew.
(13:37):
And my story isn't one of, youknow, quick success.
Where I grew, you know, a hugereadership overnight.
It's been like a long journeyand that income slowly did grow
over time and, you know,eventually, after about six
years it overtook my day in thefirst month and after about six
years it overtook my day income.
(13:57):
And that's when I sort ofthought, well, what am I going
to do here?
And I made the decision to doit full time.
But it was actually quite ahard decision because I actually
enjoyed my day job.
I didn't hate it and you know,I built this career.
I'd been doing it for a decade.
I'd studied at the university.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
It wasn't that easy to say goodbye, to be honest,
but I didn't go to college.
You go to college so short.
You're thinking this is whatyou're going to do, and then you
leave and you're like, oh, wait, a minute what?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, exactly, and you know it is a bit of a risk
and I'm working for myself, andit was even things too, like I
just thought I'm going to be solonely because I'm just, you
know, I am an introvert, but I'mjust used to being in the
office with people every day,you know, catching going into
the city, catching a bus orwhatever.
So it was a huge sort of wholelife change.
But you know, what's funny is,when I finally made that
(14:58):
decision, I was actuallypregnant with my first child,
but so I knew sort of it wascoming to an end anyway.
But I finished up early and itwas in March 2020.
So right, so the day that Ipacked up my office desk on that
Friday, all my colleagues werepacking up their desk too,
because they'd been told theywere going to go work from home
(15:20):
for three weeks and that turnedout to be, you know, two years.
So it was quite funny that itkind of all came to an end when,
like, everyone else was comingto an end.
So even if I hadn't quit, my dayjob, I would have been working
from home on my own anyway, soit was just a funny turn of
events.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, everything happens for a reason, so it
definitely sounds like it alllined up and fast forward.
Now.
Some of your work has beenfeatured by pop sugar, brit and
Co, buzzfeed, huffington Postand Hurrah magazine Hurrah.
I like Hurrah better I was likecome on a minute, spit it out.
(16:03):
But yeah, but needless to say,it has definitely paid off, and
you've also had the privilege towork with brands such as
KitchenAid, williams and Sonoma,who I love, almond breeze, who
I love to drink, so that'spretty good girl.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Yeah, yeah come along way.
Yeah, I'm really, you know it'sit's, it's an honor really and
that has been able to be a realthing and now it's being
sustainable.
So obviously I've been doingthis, you know, as my proper,
proper job sort of thing, forthree years now and yeah, it's a
real thing and it's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So what does day to day operations look like for you
now?
Because you're doing the blog?
You've generated over sixfigures now with the blog.
So, yeah, a year, yeah, sothat's awesome sauce.
So what does it look like now?
Are you still using GoogleAdSense, or when did you make
(17:01):
the?
Are you still on blogger, whichI know you're not, but when did
you make the switch?
Yeah, just share with theviewers to level up the game.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, totally.
So a few years in, I wanted tomake the blog look a bit more
beautiful, so I moved toSquarespace.
Is it okay to say this?
But I moved to Squarespace,yeah, because then, because then
a few years later, I moved toWordPress and I immediately saw
an uptick in my traffic.
(17:31):
So, you know, I likedSquarespace.
It was easy to use, but it was.
It was more beneficial for myblog as a business to move to
WordPress.
So I encouraged anyone who maybe trying to decide whether to
go for something more beautifuland easy to use, that actually
probably better, to move toWordPress, where you have access
(17:53):
to everything and all your backend and that sort of thing in
the long run.
So that's something I wish I,you know, moved to earlier and,
yeah, I'd moved to Mediavine, Ithink, in.
I think it was about 2016.
No, that's not right.
Maybe a few years after that, Ican't remember.
So I've been with them for awhile now.
(18:13):
They're fabulous.
So they sort of manage all theads for me, so I don't really
have to do anything on thebackend as far as ads, which is
wonderful to take that sort ofoff your plate.
And now, because it's earningenough income.
I can also get someone like Ihave Nerd Press, which is a team
that manages the backend foryou and a lot of the technical
(18:37):
aspects, which is great, becausethat's something that's just
not of interest to me at all.
Yeah, so it just means, yeah,slowly making those changes to
make it more beautiful, moresustainable, and then I got a
custom theme design in 2020.
So, but that was still, yeah,six and a half years after I
started, before I made like abig investment into the look and
(18:58):
feel of it.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
That's a lot of great changes.
But also you mentioned you saida couple of things because so
many people they may go toSquarespace because their mind
is always on, oh, it's pretty.
But I tell people SEO is sopowerful Like a site can't just
be pretty, it has to befunctional.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Yes, that's very true and there's a lot that goes
into it that I didn't understandback then.
And I think I saw around a 30%uplift in like organic traffic
when I moved to WordPress.
And yes, seo is very importantfor my business.
It's a huge part of what I doand a huge traffic driver for me
(19:43):
, so it's really important toprioritize things like that.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
That's awesome, yeah, especially with blogging,
because then we have all of thelong tail keywords, meta tags,
keywords like all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Yeah, never ends, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Never ends right, absolutely.
What information or what advicewould you give to someone who's
thinking of either steppingaway from the kitchen to blog or
who doesn't even wanna step inthe kitchen to sell period?
They just say, hey, this soundsmore like me, because what I'm
noticing more with people mystudents and I have some
(20:17):
students who wanna teach, butthey're always like I'm so so
camera shy and I think you mayjust want to log in.
You might know that, looking atit as an alternative for those
who don't wanna show their faceor to be the face of their
business, even though that canonly take you so far, because
you still it's to build apersonal brand.
But what advice would you haveto someone who's looking to
(20:39):
start?
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah, well, I think you're absolutely right.
I think it's definitely a greatopportunity and, like you said,
it might be somewhere wherethey start and yeah, sure you
might not wanna go on cameraright now but that might be
something that you can approachlater on in your journey.
But yeah, blogging is wonderfuland that's one thing I love
about it is the ability to teach.
So for me it's not aboutnecessarily like a pretty
(21:06):
picture and like a yummy cakeand everything.
It's like the ability totransfer what I've learnt and
some of my skills that I'velearnt, and I learnt a lot of it
the hard way, through fails andjust not knowing I can.
I kind of write back to my 15year self, when I was in the
kitchen and a recipe would be soscant on detail and I just
(21:30):
didn't have the knowledge that Ithink a lot of recipes assumed
that you had, when I would saycream the butter and sugar, and
I'd be like what is creaming you?
And when it says beat somethingand it's like, well, is it low
speed, high speed?
Like is this a hand mixer,stand mixer?
Like just those details that alot of people assume.
(21:50):
So I think if you look atblogging and if you look at
posting recipes as a way toteach, like that's essentially
what it is.
It's a way to give awayinformation and help people on
their journey, and that's what Ilove about it, and I think, if
you have that drive to want toteach, like that's something
that you really enjoy, I thinkit's a fabulous place to start
(22:13):
and a great way to learn,because, also, the best part is
because there's a two way,because you get comments through
your blog or through socialmedia.
You learn what people want toknow, what people don't
understand, what it like you getthe same questions over and
over and over, which is likeit's fabulous, because it's a
(22:33):
great way to learn straight fromthose people what are people
missing, what don't peopleunderstand, what do people want
to know, and like that's yourkind of research done for you in
many ways, right there.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, I love I can't get enough.
I'm always listeners.
Anyone I'm like ask thequestion.
Ask the question because peopledon't understand.
I learned through your questionsometimes we could be so that
we forget those beginning blocks, and so it's a wonderful way,
like we stated, a wonderful wayto teach and to serve your
community.
Yeah, exactly, and what aresome of the type of recipes that
(23:12):
you've been posting lately?
I have your blog right herejust to make them sound sexy and
soon worthy.
What are some of your favoritesthat are on the blog?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Um well, I just made a honey cake or, I'm sorry, just
posted a honey cake the otherweek, I think I love honey cake.
I.
It took me like I think sevenor eight times to get it right.
When I got it right, I was likeabsolutely dancing around my
kitchen and then I got abeautiful photo of it.
(23:47):
So that's sometimes the firstthing is like, can you make this
thing take amazing?
And then can you make it lookamazing?
And when those both line up Iwas like celebrating.
I was like this cake is so goodand it looks so good, like
everyone's gonna love it.
So I was super pumped post thatone recently.
But yeah, and I even wentaround.
(24:08):
I used it as an excuse to goaround to a few bakeries around
town and try their honey cakesto make sure that mine was
better.
No, I use it as inspiration.
So what did they use?
What did they use in theirfrosting stuff so that, yeah,
that one was.
That one was really fun.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
And you also have things like clinkers.
Ice cream cake no bake.
Oh yeah, chocolate tart, thatsounds delicious.
Cheesecake stuffed apples.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yes, and I love as a lot of cookie recipes, and
something that was born out oflockdown, which I've continued
on, is my small batch series.
So I had a lot of people askingfor, you know, smaller batch,
because I know we can't, all youknow, have 20 cookies.
You know a lot of people livingalone or they just have, you
know, just them and a partner,or them and a roommate.
(24:58):
So, yeah, I've been scalingdown a lot of my recipes as well
.
So, like I recently did onewhere it's the chocolate chip
cookie, which is only makesthree cookies and you don't need
a mixer or anything and they'rejust like divine.
The only problem is I just keepmaking them because it's so
good it doesn't make senseanyway, but not for me, but yeah
.
So it's small batch has beenawesome and I've gotten a lot of
(25:21):
great feedback from people,which is great because I love to
make what people want to wantto make.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
I love that, and so where can we find you to learn
more about you and check outyour blog?
Of course, I'm going to put alink in the show notes to anyone
who's listening, but you cangive us your website please.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, my website is sweetest menucom and you can
find me on probably Instagram isthe best place at sweetest menu
.
I hang out there all the timeand, if you do, pop over, send
me a message or, yeah, have achat, because I love to hear and
I'm always putting things in mystories of things that didn't
work and asking for advice andall that sort of thing.
(26:03):
So I love to.
I love to hear from you, yeah,so come over and chat.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Awesome.
And before I let you go, we dohave to play a game of lightning
round.
Are you ready?
I'm ready, let's do it.
What is your favorite color?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Yellow at the moment.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Okay, and what is your favorite kitchen utensil?
Speaker 2 (26:35):
That's really hard and probably I just didn't want
to say my mixer because everyonewould say the mixer.
But you know, I can't livewithout my, my KitchenAid mixer
and my and my hand mixer too.
I got the cool cordless onewhere you don't have to plug it
into the wall, and that's justlike a game changer.
(26:56):
Yeah, it's so good if you'relike filming videos or you're
like jumping from bench to bench.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I love it.
What is your favorite book?
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Oh, that's a hard one .
Speaker 2 (27:15):
You know what I love a good biography, but I can't
even remember what one I've beenreading lately.
And you know I love.
You know one that I love thatI've read over and over.
Is the help?
Oh really yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Yeah, I'm in red the book, but I remember the book.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I always wanted to.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
I always wanted to copycat it and put it on my side
, but I never, I never had theguts to do it.
But it's just like mini, mini,spinny, famous fire.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Oh my gosh.
No, no, no, no, actually notthe bad one, you know she was so
.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
I just a regular one, not not the one with the
questionable material in it.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Sorry, you might have to delete that out of the
podcast.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
We don't delete anything.
You're fine.
I feel you All right.
What is or who is?
I'm sorry.
Who is your celebrity crush?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Um, look, I'd have to say probably at the moment it
may be like Paul Hollywood,because I've been so into the
Great British Baker.
Have you watched that show?
I know I've watched it like allthe time, like rewatch all the
seasons.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I'm mad for that show , so yeah that's actually the
weird thing about me, though Iread on your site that you like
the Great British Baker.
I actually watch baking shows,unless one of my students,
really, I know right, yeah, Iguess.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
But if there's one you need to watch that's the one
.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
That's the one.
Yeah, that's the one.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Okay, I might have to get started with that.
I love it Well from the bottomof my heart.
Jessica, thank you so much forcoming on and for jamming with
me.
I really love hearing yourstory and just how you had the
faith you know to just startthis blog.
And congrats to you on makingyour 10 years.
And thank you so much forsharing all your tips with
everyone.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Thank you, you're so welcome.
Thank you for having me.
You're more than welcome.
Frauen.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
How awesome was Jessica.
You guys, I hope her story gaveyou a bit of inspiration as
well as motivation.
You know so many of us actuallywant to leave our careers for
our passion, and you totally can, and I love sharing stories
like this so that we can see howother people did it, and one of
the things I love that Jessicamentioned was it did take a
(29:54):
while.
However, she didn't give up,she had a goal in mind, and I
just love the realness, as wellas all the features and her
sharing her day-to-day life withus as a blogger.
I think this is just anotherwonderful alternative for those
who don't want to sell theirbaked goods to actually share
their gift and put it out therein the world in another way.
(30:18):
Thank you guys, so much fortuning in and listening.
If you have any recommendations, let me know.
Have you messaged me onInstagram yet?
I love hearing from all of youguys, so DM me or at me at
Baking for Business on Instagramand let me know if you like the
show.
Let me know as you're listening, or shoot me a DM if you have a
(30:39):
guest or a recommendation forsomeone who should be on the
show who is just as awesome asJessica was today.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
You guys Take care.
Bye for now.
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg.
I started my baking businesswith the 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?
(00:50):
Hey, sweet friends, welcome backto the Baking for Business
podcast.
I'm so happy to have you guyshere with me this week.
I'm happy to have you guys hereevery week, and this week is
awesome because we're talkingall about blogging.
And so, before you run, all ofyou guys who bake from scratch
or bake from box or whatever itis you bake hear me out.
(01:11):
You can't be on your feetforever.
No one wants to be 99 baking,and today's guest has found a
different alternative in orderto live her dream to take her
baked goods and still make anincome.
All I be in a mom and workingpart-time.
How cool is that?
So today we have Jessica fromthe Sweetest Menu and she's
(01:32):
going to talk all about her blogand how she started in this
industry.
Hey, jessica, thanks so muchfor coming on today.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Thanks for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yes, you're more than welcome, and so we were
chatting before we pressedrecord for a nice little while.
Your blog is beautiful.
I love your work.
How exactly did you get started, though?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Thank you, thank you so much.
Well, I actually didn't grow upbaking hardly at all.
I baked on the auto cave inwith my mom, but we weren't
really I wasn't really in thekitchen, but I did love food and
it was actually I got, when Igot married, my husband.
I remember we got home from ourhoneymoon and then we just
(02:20):
stood in the kitchen and we werelike, oh, who's going to make
dinner, what are we going to do?
And we realized neither of usreally knew how to cook or bake
at that stage.
So we kind of went on thisjourney of teaching ourselves.
I remember we got a JanieOliver cookbook and we basically
cooked our way through it andthrough that journey we just,
(02:43):
you know, developed this reallove of food and being in the
kitchen.
And from there, yeah, I startedto teach myself to bake
basically.
But I, you know, I was in mytwenties, I was, I was a bit
older, I wasn't growing up withmy grandma teaching me,
unfortunately, but yeah, butthat's that's sort of where it,
where it came from.
And then also travel was amajor influence.
(03:06):
So I remember, in my earlytwenties as well, we started to
travel overseas and a few of ourfirst trips were to America and
that's really where my love ofbaking was quite ignited,
because I tasted so many goodthings over there and so many
flavors that I'd never hadbefore Like.
And it's different now becauseit's about 15 years later, but
(03:28):
back then, like, I'd never heardof like plus another's and red
velvet cake and banana puddingand all these like really cool
things.
So I came back so inspired andpassionate and that's sort of
yeah, where you know myexperiments in the kitchen
really took off.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I love it.
And now you actually had acorporate background, though, so
tell me a little bit about yourjob and what you were doing,
why you started the blog, orbefore you started blogging.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I studied communicationsat university and then I worked
as a copywriter, so I had a, youknow, nine to five office job
and a few years into that I wentback to school to do some night
classes in graphic design justfor fun, and my husband had gone
(04:17):
back to law school so he wasstudying sort of around the
clock.
And then my graphic designclasses were coming to an end
and I just thought I just feltlike I had a lot of time outside
of my full-time job and Ithought, what am I going to do?
That's creative.
And it was right around thetime.
It was 2014,.
Food blogs were, you know, allthe rage and I was following so
many of them, so I just thought,oh, I'm just going to give it a
(04:40):
go and try to win the fun.
So, yeah, february 2014,.
Sweetest menu is gone.
Actually, I think it was calledthe sweetest menu or sweet.
No, it's called sweet menu,that's right.
And then it changed to sweetestmenu.
So, yeah, it's come a long way.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I love it.
I love it, and I read that youeven worked at Australia's
biggest food magazine, so Icould imagine you did learned a
lot there.
So what were some of theoccupations or the things that
you learned on that job?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, so that was fun .
So I started my career workingin travel.
So I was doing a lot of travelcopywriting and then, as I
started to really enjoy the foodblog, I thought I'm just loving
this, I want to see if I can dosomething in food in my day job
as well.
So I ended up landing a job ata food magazine and I was doing
I think I was doing copywriting,but it was like digital
(05:36):
marketing, social media, thatsort of thing.
And then it kind of leaked outthat I had this blog and this
interesting food.
And so they said do you want tocome on some of our photo shoots
with us?
And I was like yes.
So I came along regularly, butthat wasn't kind of in my role
as a food prep assistant, so I'dwork alongside the chefs and
(05:56):
prep all the food for all themagazine photo shoots, and then
you know watch as the foodstylist came in, did all the
styling, and then the foodphotographer did their thing.
And you know I would comealongside them and ask them a
few questions oh, how do you dothat and what?
What setting are you using onthat?
And trying to gain everything Icould to take home to my blog
(06:18):
and use it all that information.
But it was really fun andreally interesting to see how,
how they did real deals,magazine shoots behind the
scenes.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
And so, when you started your blog, what were
some of the first things thatyou started posting?
Did you have a particularspecialty or what were some of
the first recipes?
If you can jog us back, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, that's a great question.
It's always been sweet.
So I, you know I have a bigsweet tooth and I love baking
and the joy of you know cakesand cookies and things like that
, but I I was still learning howto bake.
So back then I actually thinkthe first recipe I posted was
chocolate covered Oreos, whichwas literally getting a packet
(07:02):
of Oreos and dipping them inchocolate.
And you know, that was it, andI think I think my next one
might have been a chocolate chipcookie.
But yeah, it was quite humbleat the start.
I definitely have come a longway in my kitchen abilities.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Some people may feel like, because I know one of the
things you stated was that youtraveled and you tested a lot.
Some people may feel well, I'mnot a professional, so how can I
blog?
Or did you ever have any ofthose mindset issues that
hindered you?
Or you just went straightstraight?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
for it.
No, I did, I did.
And I remember, like my husbandsaying, oh, you should start a
food bug.
And I remember saying, but Idon't know how to write a recipe
.
I know how to follow a recipe,but I don't know how to, you
know, create my own recipe.
And he just really encouragedme to just start and so, like I
said, I did, I just started andit was started literally like I
(07:58):
couldn't really write a recipelike chocolate dipped Oreos.
I mean, it was just likecounting how many Oreos and then
trying to figure out how muchchocolate you needed to dip them
.
Like there's no, like great,you know, still needed in that
recipe.
But that's just where I had tostart.
And you know if you can startanywhere, whether it's, you know
, a recipe that you think thatyou've made and you've tweaked
(08:19):
and tweaked and tweaked overtime and it's slowly become
yours, or, you know, I evenasked, like I didn't bake with
my mom so much or my you knowgrandma's or anything, but like
my husband's grandma had somerecipes, so like I asked her for
her recipes and then, you know,played around with those.
So it's just kind of likestarting anywhere with any
(08:39):
inspiration that you can, andreally it's all about
experimentation.
I mean, I have so many fails inthe kitchen.
I have them every week, everyall the time, even now, because
that's how you, you know, make arecipe.
That's how you learn how theingredients work and what does
work and what doesn't.
And you know, 10 years in, I'mstill 100% learning that.
(09:00):
So I think I think it's verynormal to have that concern, but
that's how we learn this andthere's nothing wrong with
failure.
There's no need to be scared offailure in the kitchen.
That like I actually now, Iused to cry when a cake didn't
work.
You know like my husband wouldfind me.
Yeah, I'd be like, oh, I madethis cake and it didn't work,
you know, and I'd take it somuch to heart.
(09:21):
Now I'm like, okay, cool, itdidn't work.
What can I learn from that?
Oh, it must have been too manyeggs, too many, this too many,
that Like it's just part of thejob.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
You know, I love that because with that it comes a
change mindset.
And you're right.
Sometimes it's just how we lookat things.
Instead of saying you know, I'ma failure, it's more like you
said what was the lesson?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, yeah, and it's the best way because I can read
something a hundred times oh,baking soda does this in a
recipe, blah, blah, blah and itdoesn't kind of sink in.
But then when you have that andyou go, oh, I see, I put too
much in and it's sunk, or youknow whatever it is Like, that
memory is going to stay andevery time you make hate you
think, oh, I don't want to haveit like it's sunk that other
time.
You know, and that's how youlearn, that's how those lessons
(10:08):
kind of stick in mind.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
So how did you decide ?
What was your first Cause?
We're coming up on a 10 yearcelebration, so congratulations.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, thank you.
My grandma, an internet grandma?
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Yeah, you're so silly In the beginning.
What was some of the firsttypes of software that you used
to get the blog started?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, so I was very humble in my beginnings.
I'm pretty sure I started on ablogger, blogger or blog spot,
whatever the free one was.
I did my own logo in Photoshopand chucked it up there.
There was nothing fancy about.
I didn't even have a propercamera.
I think I might have borrowedsomeone from someone, yeah, but
(10:57):
I only had like a $100 camerafor years.
Like I really didn't investuntil you know, this was
something that was sticking andI was really going to go for it.
So, yeah, very humblebeginnings and like nowadays,
you can start off so much betterpurely because of an iPhone.
I mean, you've already gotsomething that can record great
(11:17):
photos and videos right there.
Yeah, so it was like a zeromoney investment.
I think I paid like $20 for mydomain, that was it.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
And you never had a desire to, because some people
will say, well, you know, whynot sell your baked goods or
anything like that, but that wasnever a desire.
You just always had a passion,I guess.
Be it that you were acopywriter to always.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, yeah.
So it was more, and it was moreabout the teaching side of
things than just presentingsomeone with a cake or someone
paying me for cake.
I just love to teach and I loveto share.
So, like when a recipe worksand even to this day, when I
make something that is sodelicious, like I get so excited
.
I cannot wait to share it withpeople on my blog or on
(12:04):
Instagram and I'm just like thiscake, like you have to try it,
and I just think, yeah, gettingthat message out to as many
people as possible is just byblogging.
It's like the sweet spot.
And also, most of the time whenI was doing this, I was.
I live in a house now, but Ilived in a one bedroom apartment
with a really teeny, tiny.
It's almost like a kitchenettekitchen really, so it wasn't
(12:26):
really built for like ahome-made breakfast day.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
And so you did the blogging for about six years
before you went full time right?
Yes, that's right.
So what?
Did that look like over theyears, revenue wise in the game.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yeah, so for the first 18 months I made nothing,
and then I actually.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I actually and.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I was fine with that because, like I said, I had a
job.
It wasn't really considered,you know, to be a job, it was
just so much fun.
And my dad actually said to me,oh, you should put some ads on
your site.
And I was like, oh, no, that'llruin the site, you know, like
all my beautiful pictures, eventhough they weren't that
beautiful back then.
And he was like, no, go on.
And I was like, oh, and I toyedaround with it for a while and
(13:15):
then I was like, I'll just, I'lljust see.
So I think I signed up I thinkit was just Google ads since
back then and then I made $50 inthat first month and I was so
chuffed I was like $50.
You know, because that pays foryour baking ingredients.
I was like, yeah, fantastic,now I'm, you know, even instead
of like in the hole.
And from there it just slowlygrew.
(13:37):
And my story isn't one of, youknow, quick success.
Where I grew, you know, a hugereadership overnight.
It's been like a long journeyand that income slowly did grow
over time and, you know,eventually, after about six
years it overtook my day in thefirst month and after about six
years it overtook my day income.
(13:57):
And that's when I sort ofthought, well, what am I going
to do here?
And I made the decision to doit full time.
But it was actually quite ahard decision because I actually
enjoyed my day job.
I didn't hate it and you know,I built this career.
I'd been doing it for a decade.
I'd studied at the university.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
It wasn't that easy to say goodbye, to be honest,
but I didn't go to college.
You go to college so short.
You're thinking this is whatyou're going to do, and then you
leave and you're like, oh, wait, a minute what?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, exactly, and you know it is a bit of a risk
and I'm working for myself, andit was even things too, like I
just thought I'm going to be solonely because I'm just, you
know, I am an introvert, but I'mjust used to being in the
office with people every day,you know, catching going into
the city, catching a bus orwhatever.
So it was a huge sort of wholelife change.
But you know, what's funny is,when I finally made that
(14:58):
decision, I was actuallypregnant with my first child,
but so I knew sort of it wascoming to an end anyway.
But I finished up early and itwas in March 2020.
So right, so the day that Ipacked up my office desk on that
Friday, all my colleagues werepacking up their desk too,
because they'd been told theywere going to go work from home
(15:20):
for three weeks and that turnedout to be, you know, two years.
So it was quite funny that itkind of all came to an end when,
like, everyone else was comingto an end.
So even if I hadn't quit, my dayjob, I would have been working
from home on my own anyway, soit was just a funny turn of
events.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, everything happens for a reason, so it
definitely sounds like it alllined up and fast forward.
Now.
Some of your work has beenfeatured by pop sugar, brit and
Co, buzzfeed, huffington Postand Hurrah magazine Hurrah.
I like Hurrah better I was likecome on a minute, spit it out.
(16:03):
But yeah, but needless to say,it has definitely paid off, and
you've also had the privilege towork with brands such as
KitchenAid, williams and Sonoma,who I love, almond breeze, who
I love to drink, so that'spretty good girl.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Yeah, yeah come along way.
Yeah, I'm really, you know it'sit's, it's an honor really and
that has been able to be a realthing and now it's being
sustainable.
So obviously I've been doingthis, you know, as my proper,
proper job sort of thing, forthree years now and yeah, it's a
real thing and it's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So what does day to day operations look like for you
now?
Because you're doing the blog?
You've generated over sixfigures now with the blog.
So, yeah, a year, yeah, sothat's awesome sauce.
So what does it look like now?
Are you still using GoogleAdSense, or when did you make
(17:01):
the?
Are you still on blogger, whichI know you're not, but when did
you make the switch?
Yeah, just share with theviewers to level up the game.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, totally.
So a few years in, I wanted tomake the blog look a bit more
beautiful, so I moved toSquarespace.
Is it okay to say this?
But I moved to Squarespace,yeah, because then, because then
a few years later, I moved toWordPress and I immediately saw
an uptick in my traffic.
(17:31):
So, you know, I likedSquarespace.
It was easy to use, but it was.
It was more beneficial for myblog as a business to move to
WordPress.
So I encouraged anyone who maybe trying to decide whether to
go for something more beautifuland easy to use, that actually
probably better, to move toWordPress, where you have access
(17:53):
to everything and all your backend and that sort of thing in
the long run.
So that's something I wish I,you know, moved to earlier and,
yeah, I'd moved to Mediavine, Ithink, in.
I think it was about 2016.
No, that's not right.
Maybe a few years after that, Ican't remember.
So I've been with them for awhile now.
(18:13):
They're fabulous.
So they sort of manage all theads for me, so I don't really
have to do anything on thebackend as far as ads, which is
wonderful to take that sort ofoff your plate.
And now, because it's earningenough income.
I can also get someone like Ihave Nerd Press, which is a team
that manages the backend foryou and a lot of the technical
(18:37):
aspects, which is great, becausethat's something that's just
not of interest to me at all.
Yeah, so it just means, yeah,slowly making those changes to
make it more beautiful, moresustainable, and then I got a
custom theme design in 2020.
So, but that was still, yeah,six and a half years after I
started, before I made like abig investment into the look and
(18:58):
feel of it.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
That's a lot of great changes.
But also you mentioned you saida couple of things because so
many people they may go toSquarespace because their mind
is always on, oh, it's pretty.
But I tell people SEO is sopowerful Like a site can't just
be pretty, it has to befunctional.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Yes, that's very true and there's a lot that goes
into it that I didn't understandback then.
And I think I saw around a 30%uplift in like organic traffic
when I moved to WordPress.
And yes, seo is very importantfor my business.
It's a huge part of what I doand a huge traffic driver for me
(19:43):
, so it's really important toprioritize things like that.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
That's awesome, yeah, especially with blogging,
because then we have all of thelong tail keywords, meta tags,
keywords like all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Yeah, never ends, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Never ends right, absolutely.
What information or what advicewould you give to someone who's
thinking of either steppingaway from the kitchen to blog or
who doesn't even wanna step inthe kitchen to sell period?
They just say, hey, this soundsmore like me, because what I'm
noticing more with people mystudents and I have some
(20:17):
students who wanna teach, butthey're always like I'm so so
camera shy and I think you mayjust want to log in.
You might know that, looking atit as an alternative for those
who don't wanna show their faceor to be the face of their
business, even though that canonly take you so far, because
you still it's to build apersonal brand.
But what advice would you haveto someone who's looking to
(20:39):
start?
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah, well, I think you're absolutely right.
I think it's definitely a greatopportunity and, like you said,
it might be somewhere wherethey start and yeah, sure you
might not wanna go on cameraright now but that might be
something that you can approachlater on in your journey.
But yeah, blogging is wonderfuland that's one thing I love
about it is the ability to teach.
So for me it's not aboutnecessarily like a pretty
(21:06):
picture and like a yummy cakeand everything.
It's like the ability totransfer what I've learnt and
some of my skills that I'velearnt, and I learnt a lot of it
the hard way, through fails andjust not knowing I can.
I kind of write back to my 15year self, when I was in the
kitchen and a recipe would be soscant on detail and I just
(21:30):
didn't have the knowledge that Ithink a lot of recipes assumed
that you had, when I would saycream the butter and sugar, and
I'd be like what is creaming you?
And when it says beat somethingand it's like, well, is it low
speed, high speed?
Like is this a hand mixer,stand mixer?
Like just those details that alot of people assume.
(21:50):
So I think if you look atblogging and if you look at
posting recipes as a way toteach, like that's essentially
what it is.
It's a way to give awayinformation and help people on
their journey, and that's what Ilove about it, and I think, if
you have that drive to want toteach, like that's something
that you really enjoy, I thinkit's a fabulous place to start
(22:13):
and a great way to learn,because, also, the best part is
because there's a two way,because you get comments through
your blog or through socialmedia.
You learn what people want toknow, what people don't
understand, what it like you getthe same questions over and
over and over, which is likeit's fabulous, because it's a
(22:33):
great way to learn straight fromthose people what are people
missing, what don't peopleunderstand, what do people want
to know, and like that's yourkind of research done for you in
many ways, right there.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, I love I can't get enough.
I'm always listeners.
Anyone I'm like ask thequestion.
Ask the question because peopledon't understand.
I learned through your questionsometimes we could be so that
we forget those beginning blocks, and so it's a wonderful way,
like we stated, a wonderful wayto teach and to serve your
community.
Yeah, exactly, and what aresome of the type of recipes that
(23:12):
you've been posting lately?
I have your blog right herejust to make them sound sexy and
soon worthy.
What are some of your favoritesthat are on the blog?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Um well, I just made a honey cake or, I'm sorry, just
posted a honey cake the otherweek, I think I love honey cake.
I.
It took me like I think sevenor eight times to get it right.
When I got it right, I was likeabsolutely dancing around my
kitchen and then I got abeautiful photo of it.
(23:47):
So that's sometimes the firstthing is like, can you make this
thing take amazing?
And then can you make it lookamazing?
And when those both line up Iwas like celebrating.
I was like this cake is so goodand it looks so good, like
everyone's gonna love it.
So I was super pumped post thatone recently.
But yeah, and I even wentaround.
(24:08):
I used it as an excuse to goaround to a few bakeries around
town and try their honey cakesto make sure that mine was
better.
No, I use it as inspiration.
So what did they use?
What did they use in theirfrosting stuff so that, yeah,
that one was.
That one was really fun.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
And you also have things like clinkers.
Ice cream cake no bake.
Oh yeah, chocolate tart, thatsounds delicious.
Cheesecake stuffed apples.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yes, and I love as a lot of cookie recipes, and
something that was born out oflockdown, which I've continued
on, is my small batch series.
So I had a lot of people askingfor, you know, smaller batch,
because I know we can't, all youknow, have 20 cookies.
You know a lot of people livingalone or they just have, you
know, just them and a partner,or them and a roommate.
(24:58):
So, yeah, I've been scalingdown a lot of my recipes as well
.
So, like I recently did onewhere it's the chocolate chip
cookie, which is only makesthree cookies and you don't need
a mixer or anything and they'rejust like divine.
The only problem is I just keepmaking them because it's so
good it doesn't make senseanyway, but not for me, but yeah
.
So it's small batch has beenawesome and I've gotten a lot of
(25:21):
great feedback from people,which is great because I love to
make what people want to wantto make.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
I love that, and so where can we find you to learn
more about you and check outyour blog?
Of course, I'm going to put alink in the show notes to anyone
who's listening, but you cangive us your website please.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, my website is sweetest menucom and you can
find me on probably Instagram isthe best place at sweetest menu
.
I hang out there all the timeand, if you do, pop over, send
me a message or, yeah, have achat, because I love to hear and
I'm always putting things in mystories of things that didn't
work and asking for advice andall that sort of thing.
(26:03):
So I love to.
I love to hear from you, yeah,so come over and chat.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Awesome.
And before I let you go, we dohave to play a game of lightning
round.
Are you ready?
I'm ready, let's do it.
What is your favorite color?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Yellow at the moment.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Okay, and what is your favorite kitchen utensil?
Speaker 2 (26:35):
That's really hard and probably I just didn't want
to say my mixer because everyonewould say the mixer.
But you know, I can't livewithout my, my KitchenAid mixer
and my and my hand mixer too.
I got the cool cordless onewhere you don't have to plug it
into the wall, and that's justlike a game changer.
(26:56):
Yeah, it's so good if you'relike filming videos or you're
like jumping from bench to bench.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I love it.
What is your favorite book?
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Oh, that's a hard one .
Speaker 2 (27:15):
You know what I love a good biography, but I can't
even remember what one I've beenreading lately.
And you know I love.
You know one that I love thatI've read over and over.
Is the help?
Oh really yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Yeah, I'm in red the book, but I remember the book.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I always wanted to.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
I always wanted to copycat it and put it on my side
, but I never, I never had theguts to do it.
But it's just like mini, mini,spinny, famous fire.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Oh my gosh.
No, no, no, no, actually notthe bad one, you know she was so
.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
I just a regular one, not not the one with the
questionable material in it.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Sorry, you might have to delete that out of the
podcast.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
We don't delete anything.
You're fine.
I feel you All right.
What is or who is?
I'm sorry.
Who is your celebrity crush?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Um, look, I'd have to say probably at the moment it
may be like Paul Hollywood,because I've been so into the
Great British Baker.
Have you watched that show?
I know I've watched it like allthe time, like rewatch all the
seasons.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I'm mad for that show , so yeah that's actually the
weird thing about me, though Iread on your site that you like
the Great British Baker.
I actually watch baking shows,unless one of my students,
really, I know right, yeah, Iguess.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
But if there's one you need to watch that's the one
.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
That's the one.
Yeah, that's the one.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Okay, I might have to get started with that.
I love it Well from the bottomof my heart.
Jessica, thank you so much forcoming on and for jamming with
me.
I really love hearing yourstory and just how you had the
faith you know to just startthis blog.
And congrats to you on makingyour 10 years.
And thank you so much forsharing all your tips with
everyone.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Thank you, you're so welcome.
Thank you for having me.
You're more than welcome.
Frauen.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
How awesome was Jessica.
You guys, I hope her story gaveyou a bit of inspiration as
well as motivation.
You know so many of us actuallywant to leave our careers for
our passion, and you totally can, and I love sharing stories
like this so that we can see howother people did it, and one of
the things I love that Jessicamentioned was it did take a
(29:54):
while.
However, she didn't give up,she had a goal in mind, and I
just love the realness, as wellas all the features and her
sharing her day-to-day life withus as a blogger.
I think this is just anotherwonderful alternative for those
who don't want to sell theirbaked goods to actually share
their gift and put it out therein the world in another way.
(30:18):
Thank you guys, so much fortuning in and listening.
If you have any recommendations, let me know.
Have you messaged me onInstagram yet?
I love hearing from all of youguys, so DM me or at me at
Baking for Business on Instagramand let me know if you like the
show.
Let me know as you're listening, or shoot me a DM if you have a
(30:39):
guest or a recommendation forsomeone who should be on the
show who is just as awesome asJessica was today.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
You guys Take care.
Bye for now.
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