December 27, 2023 • 41 mins
Looking to make changes in your business? If you want to change your niche, clientele, or processes, then this episode is for you. Join me as we navigate the transformative process of pivoting your bakery business with precision and passion.
In this episode, we tackle the essence of strategic change and how it's not merely about immediate reactions but crafting a vision that propels your business forward. With three guiding questions and a trio of tips, I'm here to help you ensure your next pivot is as flawless as your favorite recipe.
My own story is a testament to the courage and adaptability that pivoting demands. When a health scare called for a time-out, I discovered the power of pivoting yet again and the importance of crafting a business model that values personal well-being. In sharing this story, I hope to inspire you to find your niche, bake with purpose, and remember that it's not about chasing every request but about remaining true to your authentic self.
The episode rounds off with a deep dive into the significance of market research and carving out your own space in a bustling market. Whether it's rebranding, cleaning up your social media, or simply learning to say no, this conversation is about embracing empowerment and the success that comes from staying mindful of your boundaries and core values. So gather your rolling pin and notebook, and let's get ready to rise to the occasion together.
Two ways I help my students earn $2-10k monthly👇?
1.) Grow your home bakery business inside The Entrepreneur Community by clicking here
2.) Learn to sell digital products inside Digital Product Community by clicking here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg.
I started my baking businesswith a bottle of DeCerono and
one Bundt Cake Pan.
Fast forward to today, fromnews to magazines, speaking on
national stages and more.
I can truly say that baking haschanged my life.
So now, as a bakery businesscoach, I get to help others have
the same success.
I've helped hundreds of mystudents across the world in my
(00:24):
global membership program createsix-figure businesses, mainly
from home.
The Baking for Business podcastis an extension of that, from
actionable tips to valuabletools and resources that can
impact you as a business owner.
I truly believe y'all.
We would never have been givena gift if we couldn't profit and
prosper from it.
So come on, darling.
What are you waiting for?
(00:45):
Hey, what's going on?
Sweet friends, and welcome backto the Baking for Business
podcast.
I'm so excited to have you herewith me today.
I'm also so appreciative Realquick out the back as you're
listening to this, although Iknow this information is
timeless and people will pivotit at different times, but at
(01:08):
the time of me recording this,this is the last podcast of 2023
, and I just want to say howgrateful I am.
I'm so, so grateful to everyonewho listens to the Baking for
Business podcast, to everyonewho has left the review for the
podcast, to everyone who tags meon Instagram because you know
that's my place and just sayshow much each episode has
(01:32):
blessed them or helped them, butalso to all of my students, the
people who I work with all yearlong, who have came on the
podcast and shared their storiesof success and their stories of
transparency and have allowedme to use their businesses as
examples to inspire and tomotivate and to fuel others.
(01:54):
Thank you so much to mystudents.
I really appreciate you fordoing so and helping me to
foster community and helping meto show up every single day and
just show people that it'spossible.
So thank you Without furtherado.
Today we are talking aboutpivoting, and the reason why is
(02:14):
because sometimes, when we gointo a new year is usually when
I see people will always say I'mdone, I want to pivot, because
towards the end of the year, itcauses us to reflect on things,
which is wonderful.
Reflection is an amazing thingbecause from reflection we learn
.
I don't believe there's anylosses, I believe there's
lessons, and so if somethinghappened this year that
(02:38):
triggered you, that made youwant to step back, that made you
want to reevaluate, that madeyou want to level up more,
something that inspired you andmade you want to go for
something more than I say go forit.
Always follow your heart.
But today I have threequestions that I want you to be
sure you're asking yourself, aswell as also have three tips to
(02:58):
help you in regards to pivoting.
So I want to make sure that youknow how to pivot your business
with success, aka switch yourniche, change your product
offerings maybe you're pivotingyour clientele, whatever and so
I have my notes here.
I just want to make sure Iremember everything that I have
(03:20):
to discuss with you guys.
But one of the first things Iwant to tell you is that
pivoting is natural, and isnormal when we first start off.
Sometimes we have so manydreams and aspirations and we
think I want to do this, I wantto be this, I want to serve this
, and that's okay because thosedreams, they fuel us.
But what happens is that onceyou get out there, you literally
(03:45):
start becoming more of abusiness person, because when
you first start off, you haveall these ideas.
You're thinking with yourcreative hat.
Someone told you, oh, this isdelicious.
And you thought okay, well,it's good, and they say I should
sell it, so let me do so.
But in the process, you become abusiness owner, and a business
owner owning a business is somuch more than that product that
(04:06):
you're making.
That's only a really, reallysmall percentage of it.
Now you have to market theproduct.
You have to brand the product.
You have clients.
You have an element of customerservice that you have to deal
with.
You have to look at the market.
You have to do a competitoranalysis.
You have to really decide howam I going to show up in this
industry and how am I going tochange it.
(04:27):
How am I going to be different?
Oh, and News Flash.
Yes, the market is saturated.
Every market is saturated.
It's cool.
So if you want to pivot, that'sfine, but don't ever let what
someone else is doing stop youfrom living out and doing your
dreams.
And so as you begin to gothrough all that, you find out
(04:49):
that business is a lot more, andthat's normally where that
pivot comes from.
I can't tell you how manybrands over time have pivoted.
Instagram actually used to be abourbon app.
They used to share differentbourbons and stuff like that.
We know Facebook has pivoted toMetta, so you're not alone in
making a choice to change, andwhenever you decide to do
(05:12):
something for you, you can nevergo wrong.
But a couple of questions that Iwant you to keep in mind when
it comes to pivoting, and one ofthe first ones is does the
change serve you in the long run?
So, again, today we're talkingabout how to pivot with success,
and I want you to have successin every single thing you desire
(05:33):
, but I want you to ask does thechange serve you in the long
run?
And I wanna tell you why.
I have a couple of stories andexamples actually went live as
I'm recording this on Instagramand I asked people for some
questions to get some feedback,and we're gonna answer all of
those.
Also.
The reason why I say does itserve you in the long run is
because too often, people makechanges based on emotions, and
(05:58):
the problem with that is thatyour emotions are going to
always change.
How many people sat back?
And if you look at your 2023goals, you probably had this
long laundry list, but whathappened when the motivation and
the emotion changed?
Some of those things that youset out to do may not have been
accomplished, and so if we'retaking a different stroll, if
(06:21):
we're pivoting our business, Iwanna make sure that is this
something that's going to serveyou in the long run.
Recently, this year, I actuallypivoted my business and I shared
it on social media.
I quit offering wedding cakes,and I know how some of you guys
are.
So today I'm gonna be talkingto the wedding cake people, to
the cook ears, to the bakedgoods people, to the creative
(06:44):
people, to the bloggers.
I got multiple examples, sohang in there.
I just wanna make you aware ofsome things as you pivot.
So what happened was and not togo deep into it one day I was
doing a wedding cake.
Well, fast forward, let's go tothe beginning.
When I first started off, Istarted doing pound cakes and I
(07:05):
thought pound cakes was all Iwas going to do.
I was set.
You guys hear on the intro thatI started the business off with
doing a pound cake, and so Iwanted to only do pound cakes.
What I noticed was that thetype of clients who were willing
to pay, they were cool withpound cakes.
They just didn't want them asoften, because a pound cake is
(07:28):
more of a dense cake.
You know, it's a Southernessaround dense cake.
So then they started asking meabout blunt cakes.
You know, are there lightercakes?
Now, for those who don't know, apound cake and a blunt cake are
two totally separate things.
Okay, although it's called ablunt pan, you can bake a pound
cake in a blunt pan, but a bluntcake is usually like your
normal cake recipe.
(07:48):
It may be a sponge or a chiffoncake.
A pound cake is somethingthat's already dense, hence it
got the name pound cake, becausein the olden days it used to
require a pound of everything.
All right, so I pivoted.
I started offering blunt cakes,lighter versions of the pound
cake, prepared a totallydifferent way.
After that, I pivoted again,because I wanted more products
(08:13):
to offer, and I realized thatcupcakes were a cool thing.
People were asking for cupcakes.
Now here's one thing I want youto keep in mind we can't pivot
every time someone asks us forsome.
We're gonna talk about people,please, in a little later on.
But your clients may come toyou and they may ask you for
tons of different things.
You don't have to do everythingthat everyone asks you In the
(08:33):
beginning.
When you're new, though youwill, and reason being number
one is because you're still kindof trying to find yourself.
Number two you may not feelcomfortable with your style.
Number three if you don't havethat salesmanship had one, or if
you're lacking that confidenceto articulate what it is you
want, then you're probably notcomfortable saying no.
(08:55):
And so sometimes in thebeginning, you do all the things
because you're trying to pleaseall the people.
If that's, you, come back andlisten to this podcast in a year
, because I guarantee you, whenyou get wore out from that shit,
you'll start making changes.
So let's just go ahead and putthat aside.
So I wasn't making changes topeople, please people.
I was just making changesbecause I wanted to make sure
(09:16):
that I could build this businessup and to give myself as many
opportunities as possible.
So that was the next change.
Well, what I noticed after thatwas that the cupcakes took the
front seat, and that kind ofhurt my feelings.
I'm not even gonna lie y'all.
I was like I want y'all to likemy pancakes, like.
It's what I started out with,like, but there were certain
(09:39):
people who wanted pancakes at aparticular price and there was
worth way more.
And I noticed, though, themarketing with the cupcakes.
I was able to fill a gap when Ilooked at what other people in
my city offered, when I lookedat how people were finding me
online, when I looked at whatpeople responded to at markets,
(10:01):
I changed, and so I've changedmultiple times over the year.
Fast forward to the weddingcakes, because that was the
first example.
Over time, people startedasking, well, do you do tiered
cakes, do you do stuff like this?
And I was like, okay, well, Iknow how to do it, but it was
one of those things where,honestly, I don't like the
stress of it.
So now, remember, the questionnumber one was does this serve
(10:25):
you in the long run?
So, fast forward.
I started doing the weddingcakes.
So now I offer pound cakes,cookies, cupcakes, wedding cakes
, but I offered themminimalistic.
One day I was in the middle ofice in a wedding cake and my arm
started hurting and it was justkind of like aggravated me.
I was on time with my scheduleand so I said, okay, is this a
muscle spasm?
(10:46):
We're like what the hell isgoing on?
Let me go get this checked out.
So I crunk, coded the cake,finished the cake for the day,
put it in the freezer, went tothe hospital, ended up getting
admitted and they literally toldme.
They were like are you okay?
And then multiple people camein the room and I'm like, yeah,
like I just thought it was amuscle spasm or maybe I was just
stressed out from the cake,like what's going on.
And then the lady says, well,your EKG is registering that
(11:09):
you're having a heart attack, sowe just have to get you checked
out before we let you leave.
And do you know what the nextwords out of my mouth were?
But I have a order to finishright.
Crazy, I know crazy, because,like many business owners and
creatives, we're always thinkingabout clients, people who
(11:30):
honestly, don't even know howmuch we think about them and
wouldn't give a damn for us.
The information literally wentover my head and I was so
focused on well, if you admit me, how the hell am I supposed to
finish this cake?
I've given this shout outbefore, but shout out to my girl
Q, who stays just a couplestreets over.
I had to call her, my husbandhad to give her the crumb coated
(11:52):
cake and all the ice and shehad to take it home.
Finish the cake for me Ended upstaying a couple hours in the
hospital.
Turned out it was just the EKG,everything was fine.
But they did tell me then andaddress the stress issue.
I realized then you know whatCakes do stress me the big out.
I'm trying to stop cursing.
Y'all know this right Soundslike I'm done.
(12:14):
As soon as I got home from thehospital I put that dish off my
menu.
I was done.
If somebody called, I referredthem, I pivoted and it was okay.
No one missed the wedding cakes.
People asked, but they didn'thound me and even if they would,
I would have answered them.
(12:35):
I kind of took a step back fromthe wedding industry.
Now I know what you're thinking, especially if you follow me.
Well, I don't fancy you to bemuch of a wedding cake person
anyways, no, you don't.
But one thing you know about meis that I believe in making big
dollars from the small thingsY'all also have to keep in mind
I'm someone who, when I sharewith you guys, I have an award
(12:57):
winning business.
That award was actually fromthe bridal industry.
So this is just another littlebusiness tip.
But as someone who makes smallthings, you should always find
big ways to sell those.
And so, while in your mind youmight not be thinking well, I
don't think of Chef Schomburgwhen I think of wedding cakes.
I had a lot of brides as clientsbecause I was always pitching
(13:17):
wedding favors.
Remember, I specialized inalcohol and fuse.
I was always doing bacheloretteparties.
I would do tiered cakes forbridal showers, stuff like that.
So, yeah, it affected.
But I also believe that when Istarted telling those people no,
it made space for me to focuson other ways that I get money
in my business, which is with mycorporate clients.
(13:39):
So all I did was I just turnedup the heat on them.
So question number one will itserve you in the long haul?
Does it serve you with yourhealth?
Is this a decision that you'remaking because it's actually
gonna help the strength of thebusiness, or is this something
that you're just making at thelast minute, maybe because a new
trend came out and you'retrying to keep up with something
(14:01):
or someone?
So just think about that andkeep that in mind when you think
about this particular pivot.
My next question that I havefor you how will people adapt
and are you ready for thatadaptation?
(14:23):
You know I had a student whoactually is the opposite.
She makes wedding cakes, shehad a one-on-one consultation
with me and that's all she wantsto do.
The only problem was that shewas doing treats and she was
doing cupcakes and she wanted todo the opposite.
She's like well, I'm tired ofthis, the treats and the
(14:46):
cupcakes.
I think I just want the weddingcakes right, because in a lot
of people's mind in our industry, we classify things, we have a
saying or we have a feeling or abelief as in well, I can make
more money if I did weddingcakes, because wedding cakes are
a higher ticketed item, andthat's true.
There are some wedding cakesthat go for 1,000, 3,000, 5,000
(15:07):
and in reality, I don't know ofany cookies that go for 1,000 or
3,000.
But what you also have tounderstand is that it also takes
you a lot more to get that sale.
So when you're on social mediaand an average person knows you
and runs into your brand, it'sso much easier to sell a slice
of pound cake or a sugar cookieor a decorated cookie, a pie, a
(15:31):
baked good, than it is toactually sell a wedding cake.
So I'm not against it, but whatI'm just telling you is that a
lot of times when I speak tostudents, that's always their
thing.
Well, chef, I'm gonna go intothe wedding industry because I'm
tired of just the cupcakes andstuff and I want a big sale.
Okay, so this particular younglady, she pivoted.
She was doing good with hercupcakes, she's done a couple of
(15:53):
wedding cakes, but guess what?
The wedding cakes are here orthere.
Her people have not yet adaptedand so, although her skill
level continues to rise andshe's taken so many classes,
she's learned so many differentthings, people aren't calling
her for wedding cakes.
So that's my next question toyou.
(16:14):
So when she had a coachingcolumn and she had a one-on-one,
she's like okay, at this pointI just wanna make money.
But if I could be honest, Iwanna be a wedding cake designer
, but I don't get booked forthem.
Often I may do only one tomaybe two, with the most wedding
cakes per month.
Well, there's 30 days in amonth.
So what else is happening withthose days?
And if those wedding cakes thatpeople call you for, if they're
(16:37):
not the big fancy $3,000 cakes,because some brides, on average
they might just want a $600 or$700 cake not every bride wants
that.
So if you're not hitting thatsale, then you have to start
being honest with yourself.
And then.
So my advice to her the verynext week, your ass needs to go
(16:58):
back to selling cupcakes.
I'm not against you doingwedding cakes, but here's what I
want you to do.
I want you to keep having yourcupcake sales if they generate
daily revenue.
So what I told her to do waskind of reframe how she looked
at it In her mind.
She thought selling cupcakesmeant that she was going down
like she was digressing, and Ihad to tell her which again and
(17:22):
if you're listening, I'm notcoming for you.
So many people think like this.
You're not more than becauseyou make a wedding cake.
So as we tend to evolve and aswe tend to get more skills, you
don't want to bite the hand thatfeeds you.
If cupcakes were bringingrevenue into your business, you
(17:44):
don't cut that off.
However, there's different waysto control it.
So maybe you post the cupcakesless but you post more of your
wedding cake so that you canattract that audience.
Or maybe you continue havingyour cupcake sales but then you
use your revenue that you makefrom those cupcake sales to then
put yourself in more bridalshows or to put yourself in your
(18:08):
city's top magazine or to runan ad on your local radio
station.
So you let cupcakes give youthe income you need to fuel the
dream that you want to have.
So again, how are people adaptedOnce you make that change?
You can't just expect people tosay, when you change, one day I
(18:31):
want to be a wedding cakedesigner, oh, now everyone's
going to know you.
No, now I'm not discouragingyou, but let's just keep it 100.
Chances are there's already atop designer in your city.
Planners already have a list ofpeople.
Chances are it may be hard foryou to get on that preferred
vendor list, which is what a lotof wedding cake people like to
do.
And so all I'm asking you isthat, in the meantime, while
(18:54):
you're working on booking theseorders, you also have to
understand that if you've neverdone a $1,000 or $3,000 cake,
what do you need to start doing?
You need to start working onyour portfolio.
Well, guess what that means?
You're going to be making somedummy cakes.
You're going to be making somepractice cakes, cakes that
people are not ordering.
Are you comfortable with thatperiod of maybe having to work
(19:16):
on your portfolio and build sothat you can show people what
you're made of before thoseorders come in?
So those are things I want youto think about again.
All the wedding cake people.
I am not discouraging you,that's not what I'm saying.
But what I'm saying is let'sjust keep it real.
If you know damn well you'renot booked every single week
with wedding cake orders, whatis so wrong with having
(19:38):
something else serve you in themeantime?
Just something that I want youto think about.
So how will people adapt If ittakes them a while to adapt with
this pivot and this change?
Are you comfortable with thattime period and what are you
going to do in the meantime as abusiness owner so that you can
still be generating revenue intothis business?
(20:00):
Those are just some things Iwant you to think about.
The third thing what researchhas to be done for you to win?
So you've decided all right,I'm going to make a pivot, I'm
going to change.
Either you're a bait goodperson that's going to hop into
the wedding industry, or eitheryou're in the wedding industry
and you're like I'm fed up, Iwant to hop out of it.
(20:21):
Or maybe you're a person one ofthe young ladies on the
broadcast said that because ofher health, she was no longer
able to do heavy lifting.
So maybe you've decided topivot by not selling your bait
goods.
Maybe this pivot can mean andthis is a recommendation that I
have for you guys maybe youstart selling classes, maybe you
(20:44):
start selling courses, maybeyou start selling your recipes,
maybe you start doing tutorials,or maybe you become a blogger.
We've had several bloggers onthe podcast.
We've had Chels Sweets, we'vehad Sweetest Menu, so we've had
several other people becauseselling your bait goods is not
the only way to make money inthis industry.
(21:04):
Okay, so that's just somethingI want you to think about.
So, if that's the case, whatresearch has to be done in order
for you to win?
And what I would love for youto do is do a competitor
analysis, that thing that youwant to do.
Maybe you're a pound cakeperson and now we'll start for
cookies.
Or, like I said, you're a baitgoods person who wants to go to
(21:25):
wedding cakes?
Who is the number one person inyour city?
And also, please, don't look atsocial media, because when you
look at social media, you kindof fall down this trap of
comparison items.
Go online who's ranking numberone?
Look at services like Yelp whopops up?
(21:45):
Who's the recommendation?
Who's number two?
Look at some of the topplanners in your city.
Who are the people that arealready on those lists, who are
some of the people that arealready winning.
And now, when you find thosewinners, here's what I want you
to do.
We're not going to go look atthem with an attitude of
adoration.
Don't be scrolling, because Iknow how some of you guys are.
(22:06):
You tell me on privateone-on-one calls well, this
person is winning, and I don'tunderstand, because my stuff
tastes way better than mine.
Well, honey, it's because nomatter how good something tastes
, if you can't market the thingand no one knows you exist, you
got a serious problem.
So sometimes it's not that inyour mind you're thinking well,
I taste better than mycompetition.
(22:27):
Yeah, but taste isn't the onlything.
Are you hiding behind labelssuch as I'm introverted or I'm
shy?
And the reason why I say thatis because I don't believe in
anyone being introverted or shy.
I've said it on the podcast athousand times I do not label
you.
Those are labels that you giveyourself.
And if you tend to hide behindthose labels, are they
(22:48):
characteristics?
Yeah, maybe, but guess what?
They can be changed.
So if you're shy, what are wegoing to do about your shyness?
Because you also said that youwanted this business.
If you're introvert, what arewe going to do about that?
That's just something that hasto be worked on.
That's just like me saying I'mfat.
Well, what if next year, when Irecord this podcast, I'm down
(23:09):
100 pounds and then I'm finer?
Do I still say I'm fat?
No, I changed.
I took small daily habits andapplied them so that the person
that I was would no longer beand I would be something else.
Are you willing to make thatchange?
I'm not fat.
I carry fat because once I losethe fat, then guess what it's
(23:31):
gone.
You're not introverted.
You carry introvertedtendencies because once you work
on opening up yourself, guesswhat it's gone.
But the thing is, are youwilling to do the work in the
in-between?
So now, when we research thisperson, who's winning?
Why are they winning?
What are some strengths theyhave?
(23:52):
If you're looking to pivot,what are some things that you
can add that maybe the marketdoesn't have?
I'm going to break this down alittle further and give you an
example.
There's a bakery in my towncalled Ambrosia Bakery.
They make this cake that'scalled a fresh strawberry cake.
They actually have ittrademarked if you look it up
and what it is is whipped cream,they dice strawberries and then
(24:15):
they put it on a yellow cakeand people go crazy for it.
So when I decided that I wasgoing to do cupcakes, I started
looking at other bakeries andseeing and this was when I
pivoted years ago.
So just giving you a littlepivot sauce who's winning and
what are they winning at?
Well, it turned out that thisparticular bakery I read
(24:36):
someplace that actually sold $3million a year with this one
cake and I thought what Damn,that's crazy.
So I didn't say, oh, okay, well, let me make a fresh strawberry
whipped cupcake.
No, I'm not trying to beanother carbon copy version of
them.
I believe all of us werefearfully and wonderfully made.
So I looked at them and Ilooked at the market and I said,
(24:58):
okay, well, if people likestrawberries, what's missing?
How can I fill in this gap?
So if that's their strength,then how can I do this in
another way?
And so I sat down and Iactually came out with three
particular cakes and cupcakesthat were all strawberry-themed.
And this way, when someonefound me or they reached out,
(25:20):
then I had something more tooffer.
So that's what I want you to dowhat research needs to be done
in order for you to win thepeople who are already winning
in that thing that you want topivot towards.
What are some notes that youcan take from them?
What are some gaps that you canfeel?
How can you hit the market andbe different and stand out?
(25:41):
How can you be a disrupter?
How will you make people thinkdifferently?
And so a lot of you guys seethis on my Instagram post.
You'll always see thesecupcakes.
It's a strawberry cupcake with astrawberry on top, and usually
there's a chocolate cupcake nextto it, and it's because they're
my top two selling flavors.
And so when I came out withthat, I realized wait a minute,
(26:03):
amanda, you were doing alcoholand fuse, you were doing pound
cakes, which you loved.
I kept thinking in my head whydo people go so crazy over the
strawberry cake?
But then I forgot.
Strawberry is actually like thefruit of Louisiana.
They grow down here all thetime.
So then I started tapping intoother ways.
Well, what if I only get mystrawberries from farmers down
(26:26):
here?
Well, how can I form analliance with them and start
using their strawberries?
And so, once I made these littlechanges and I kind of saw how I
wanted to show up, I did astrawberry cupcake with cream
cheese buttercream.
I did a cognac cake withstrawberry frosting, with
(26:46):
dehydrated strawberries in thefrosting, and then I actually
did a strawberry cupcake.
I have a strawberry cupcakewith lemon, with lemon
buttercream, which is likestrawberry lemonade.
I gave people three options.
I filled in the gap and Itapped into what was working for
other people, but I didn't loseessence of who I am.
(27:08):
And then it turns out that theinfused one is the one that
people really really like, alongwith the one with cream cheese.
So I did the research.
I saw I was winning for otherpeople, but I approached it my
own way, without changing mybrand, by being true to who I am
.
And so that's what I want you todo as you're about to pivot, as
you look and see what's workingin your town.
(27:29):
Does your town have a crumbleor maybe they don't have a
crumble?
Does your town have a nothingblunt cakes?
Is that popular or maybe theydon't?
Is there a gap that you canfeel?
How can you hit the market andbe a disruptor?
And that's something that Iwant you to think about when
you're pivoting.
Now, the next couple thingsthat I have are tips, and these
(27:49):
are real life tips.
Number one when you pivot, youmay lose followers.
Let them go.
I had this happen on twoincidents at several people when
I used to do and show poundcakes a whole lot more.
You know they express well, youdon't do the pound cakes as
much and I would always tellpeople it's not that I don't do
(28:11):
them, they're there, it's justthat I'm showcasing other things
because they sell to differentpeople.
I can't please everyone.
Another time I pivoted some ofyou guys know this when I
actually started teaching I hada partnership.
I talked with another younglady.
I decided to end thatpartnership.
I closed my business or well,honestly, I let that person have
(28:34):
the business.
The business is still open.
I walked away from it and I hadto start all over again.
So the person listening to thisit has to start all over again.
Honey, do it, you're gonna bescared.
And in the process I lostfollowers.
I had some people who theyweren't happy.
They didn't want me to split myother membership.
(28:56):
It operated a certain type ofway.
It was a certain type of price.
Guess what?
It's okay.
That young lady is stillteaching.
If she desires to teach itthat's what makes her happy Then
have at it.
Right, I want everyone to behappy, because God gives us all
gifts, but I couldn't keepshowing up and not being happy.
(29:18):
I can't not please everyone.
I also want to tell you to theperson listening to this who's
deciding that in this year, whenyou pivot, you want to start
teaching, you want to startdoing digital products or you
want to step out of baking forcustomers altogether and you
want to start blogging.
To that particular person oranyone who maybe you're a
(29:41):
hobbyist and you're deciding.
You know what.
I just want to get legit withthis thing.
I want to get a license.
I want to stop doing the cashapp, the Venmo being all ghetto,
taking these trailer trash parkparticular clientele I know
that was harsh, but whatever andyou just want to do a total 180
, go for it.
Go for it.
(30:01):
Here's one thing I can tell youI do not regret and I want you
to listen to what I said again.
I literally gave someone else.
That means that person got tokeep the name, that person got
to keep the Instagram page, thatperson got to keep the contact
list, all of that.
All my classes were gone and Ihad to start over 1,000% from
(30:24):
scratch and if I could do itagain today, I would have done
it much quicker.
It was something that I thoughtabout for the longest time.
So if you're that person andthat's the pivot that you want
to take, I'm here to tell you gofor it.
You will lose followers, andit's okay.
Don't ever lose yourself in theprocess of trying to make other
people happy.
(30:44):
And losing followers is also agood thing, because if people
resonate it with one particulartype of content and you don't
offer it anymore, then againthat's great.
Let them go.
We can't serve everyone.
You also have to keep in mindthe second tip, aside from
losing followers and, like Isaid, it's fine You're changing
(31:05):
your contacts Is that you willget tested.
So to the person who maybe isdeciding you know what?
I don't want to do children'scakes anymore.
I meet some students who saythat I just want to do dessert
style cakes or I want to go intothis particular.
You're going to have thatcustomer that's going to say
well, you did it last year, sohow come you can't do it this
(31:26):
year?
You'll get tested by people oryou'll have people reach out to
you again.
Be assertive, but alsounderstand that setting
boundaries is okay.
Most bakers are women and, aswomen, we tend to want to people
please.
It's in our nature to want totake care of everyone.
But if you've decided, forwhatever reason, that you need
(31:49):
to pivot either because it's nolonger serving you, because it
stresses you the hell out,because you're tired of dealing
with a particular clientele justtell people no.
And also understand this whenyou tell people no, you don't
owe them an excuse.
I don't owe anyone a reason.
I had several people ask me whenI left my former membership why
(32:11):
?
Because I wanted to, because itmade me happy, just like I had
several people ask me well, youdon't serve wedding cakes
anymore.
Why?
Because they're no longeravailable, because I decided it
didn't serve me.
And that's the only answer thatI owe anybody.
You don't owe anyone anything.
It no longer served me.
And now I could go into detail.
I could say I wasn't happy, orthe wedding cake stressed me out
(32:35):
, or maybe they weren't bringingin a profit.
You could, but you don't haveto.
Too often we explain ourselvestoo damn much.
If I say I'm not doingsomething anymore, I'm not doing
it.
And guess what y'all?
Even going into 2024, I'm stillnot offering wedding cakes and
I'm actually leaning into mycookies a lot more.
Cookies cakes, corporateclients, christ, entrepreneurial
(33:01):
community those are like myfive C's that I'm leaning into
for 2024.
Cookies cakes, corporateclients, entrepreneurial
community, christ, those areliterally like my five C's.
Customer service that could beanother one.
But confidence, courage, thoseare more things that I'm leaning
(33:23):
into and so if I say I don't dosomething, I don't do it.
That's just like a lot of youguys listen to this podcast.
Pretty soon I'm gonna beopening up the doors to the
entrepreneur community andentrepreneur experience, which
you'll hear more about.
I have three programs.
I open the doors once a year.
When it's open, it's open.
When it's closed, it's closed.
And I don't do it.
(33:45):
And so just feel comfortabletelling people.
No, don't ever feel pressuredthat you have to people, please
someone, because remember, everytime you say no to someone else
, you're saying yes to yourself,and that's what I tell my
students all the time.
So if that cake stressed you,the hell out, maybe you lost
that sale, it's okay.
Don't operate from a scarcitymindset.
(34:06):
I don't want you to think, ohmy gosh, I'm losing money.
I'm losing money Like I won'thave the money, uh-uh, reframe
that.
You know what that sale wasn'tfor me.
It didn't serve me, but I'mallowing so much more
opportunity to come find me.
That does serve me.
What is yours will come to youand you will not have to chase
it, you won't have to ask or youwon't have to beg, because at
the end of the day, you're achild of a king.
(34:27):
I firmly believe that, soyou're gonna be taken care of,
and that's just something that Idon't want you to forget.
And then the last little tipthat I have for you be prepared
to put in the work For all ofthose who want a different type
of clientele, for those who aremaybe focusing more on a smaller
(34:50):
ticket item like I said, it maybe the wedding cake person
who's walking away from weddingcakes and you wanna do more
smaller ticket items or to thecookier.
I know several cookiers who dothese big, elaborate cookies
that take hours and then theysay you know what these cookies
take so long.
I don't think I wanna do rawice and I think I wanna do a
(35:10):
cookie another way.
And I tell people all the timego for it.
You can always do stenciling,you could do messaging, you
could do fondant cookies.
I find several differentcookiers who pivot from the more
intricate stuff to only focuson.
Could you at Eddie, startfocusing on corporate clients?
If that's your goal for 2024,I'll be around in June when the
(35:30):
course opens but again, make thepivot, be okay with it, but
start doing the work.
And the work might mean thatmaybe you have to clean up your
social media feed.
Maybe you have to start goingto a few more places where you
position yourself to be in frontof the type of person at once.
Maybe you gotta do a totalrebrand, and I'm not just
(35:54):
talking about changing thecolors of your logo, your name
for those who are pivoting.
I always have a small group ofpeople and I'm gonna be that
friend to tell you who alwayssay I wanna pivot, I wanna serve
luxury clients.
Okay, honey, if you wanna serveluxury clients, please don't do
that with a ghetto ass name.
Okay, you're gonna have tochange a lot more to get a
particular type of clientele topurchase from you.
(36:16):
So that's just a little pieceof love and advice, and I know
your friend or your homie is notgonna tell you.
But just changing the colors inyour logo one day isn't just
gonna up and make luxury clientscome.
You're gonna have to work on alot.
So are you ready to put in thework?
Are you ready to go to placeswhere your idol client is?
Are you gonna be investing indoing that bridal show?
(36:38):
You know the one you complainabout, that's $1,000, but that's
actually gonna get you in frontof the people that you wanna be
in front of.
What work are you willing to doso that, when you do make this
pivot in your business, you showup successful, you start
becoming a household name inyour community, you start
walking in your gift with alittle bit more peace and
confidence and you startoperating your business with joy
(37:01):
?
You guys, we're business owners, which means we own the
business, but it also means thatat any particular point in time
, we can change the narrative ifwe are not happy with the story
that is being written.
And so I want you to thinkabout all these things the three
questions and the three tips asyou work on pivoting.
(37:22):
Someone asked they said thepivot that I wanna make is that
I wanna step away from thebusiness.
I want other people to run thebusiness so that I can focus on
the clients and the admin andthe stuff like that.
And to the person that askedthat, that was an easy question,
number one.
You just gotta make sure you'remaking enough money, because
(37:44):
your business has to be making aprofit and you have to make
sure that you're willing to paysomeone else.
And then all the things thatyou offer that skilled laborer
are they actually skilled anddoes your business make enough
money to where you can bring insomeone to do all of those
orders while you do the otherthings?
But also, keep in mind you wannapay attention to your processes
(38:05):
, because some of those otherthings may not take long.
So the operations portion ofthe business.
You should probably be pickingone day out of the week to be
working on the business and notin it, and those typical admin
tasks don't take long.
What does take long is when westart to schedule our posts for
the week.
That can take 20, 30 minutes.
You sit down, you schedule yourposts for the week, but then
(38:27):
you get online and then you godown a rabbit hole and now,
instead of working on yourbusiness posts for the week, you
found yourself just mindlesslyscrolling on social media.
That's what takes time, and sosometimes we have to start
paying attention to the thingsthat suck time out of our
business when we pivot, becausewe could be pivoting our
processes as well.
(38:49):
So maybe you're not pivotingyour products and you're not
pivoting your clientele.
Maybe you need to pivot andchange some of your products.
Maybe that's the person whobegs from scratch who maybe
wants to bring in some otherelements in order to help you
cut down on time.
Those are all just some thingsto think about, but no matter
what you choose, you can't gowrong.
(39:09):
Make the change, because whatyou don't wanna do is be laying
in a hospital bed one daywondering what if or what should
I have done or what could Ihave done differently.
Just do it and guess what If itdoesn't work out or something
doesn't go your way?
Set up checkpoints to where youcan check in, monitor your
sales.
Are things going how I plan?
(39:30):
Am I hitting my revenue goals?
You can always change.
You can change your business asmany times as you change your
draws.
Honey, I'm here to tell you justbe like Nike and just do it.
All right.
So I hope those tips helped you.
Go on with your bad self.
Pivot.
Make a change.
Be sure to tag me on socialmedia and let me know if any of
(39:53):
this helped you.
I can't wait to hear from youguys and to see all the
beautiful changes that you makein your business as you show up
for the new year.
Thank you so much for walkingwith me and I'm gonna leave you
guys with the scripture today,john 14,.
Let not your heart be troubled.
Yay, believe in God, and Ireally hope that.
So, whatever trouble you have,give it over to God.
(40:14):
Honey, that's the best businesspartner you can ever have and I
promise you he will never leaveyou astray.
Thanks, you guys, so much forlistening.
Take care and bye for now.
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg.
I started my baking businesswith a bottle of DeCerono and
one Bundt Cake Pan.
Fast forward to today, fromnews to magazines, speaking on
national stages and more.
I can truly say that baking haschanged my life.
So now, as a bakery businesscoach, I get to help others have
the same success.
I've helped hundreds of mystudents across the world in my
(00:24):
global membership program createsix-figure businesses, mainly
from home.
The Baking for Business podcastis an extension of that, from
actionable tips to valuabletools and resources that can
impact you as a business owner.
I truly believe y'all.
We would never have been givena gift if we couldn't profit and
prosper from it.
So come on, darling.
What are you waiting for?
(00:45):
Hey, what's going on?
Sweet friends, and welcome backto the Baking for Business
podcast.
I'm so excited to have you herewith me today.
I'm also so appreciative Realquick out the back as you're
listening to this, although Iknow this information is
timeless and people will pivotit at different times, but at
(01:08):
the time of me recording this,this is the last podcast of 2023
, and I just want to say howgrateful I am.
I'm so, so grateful to everyonewho listens to the Baking for
Business podcast, to everyonewho has left the review for the
podcast, to everyone who tags meon Instagram because you know
that's my place and just sayshow much each episode has
(01:32):
blessed them or helped them, butalso to all of my students, the
people who I work with all yearlong, who have came on the
podcast and shared their storiesof success and their stories of
transparency and have allowedme to use their businesses as
examples to inspire and tomotivate and to fuel others.
(01:54):
Thank you so much to mystudents.
I really appreciate you fordoing so and helping me to
foster community and helping meto show up every single day and
just show people that it'spossible.
So thank you Without furtherado.
Today we are talking aboutpivoting, and the reason why is
(02:14):
because sometimes, when we gointo a new year is usually when
I see people will always say I'mdone, I want to pivot, because
towards the end of the year, itcauses us to reflect on things,
which is wonderful.
Reflection is an amazing thingbecause from reflection we learn
.
I don't believe there's anylosses, I believe there's
lessons, and so if somethinghappened this year that
(02:38):
triggered you, that made youwant to step back, that made you
want to reevaluate, that madeyou want to level up more,
something that inspired you andmade you want to go for
something more than I say go forit.
Always follow your heart.
But today I have threequestions that I want you to be
sure you're asking yourself, aswell as also have three tips to
(02:58):
help you in regards to pivoting.
So I want to make sure that youknow how to pivot your business
with success, aka switch yourniche, change your product
offerings maybe you're pivotingyour clientele, whatever and so
I have my notes here.
I just want to make sure Iremember everything that I have
(03:20):
to discuss with you guys.
But one of the first things Iwant to tell you is that
pivoting is natural, and isnormal when we first start off.
Sometimes we have so manydreams and aspirations and we
think I want to do this, I wantto be this, I want to serve this
, and that's okay because thosedreams, they fuel us.
But what happens is that onceyou get out there, you literally
(03:45):
start becoming more of abusiness person, because when
you first start off, you haveall these ideas.
You're thinking with yourcreative hat.
Someone told you, oh, this isdelicious.
And you thought okay, well,it's good, and they say I should
sell it, so let me do so.
But in the process, you become abusiness owner, and a business
owner owning a business is somuch more than that product that
(04:06):
you're making.
That's only a really, reallysmall percentage of it.
Now you have to market theproduct.
You have to brand the product.
You have clients.
You have an element of customerservice that you have to deal
with.
You have to look at the market.
You have to do a competitoranalysis.
You have to really decide howam I going to show up in this
industry and how am I going tochange it.
(04:27):
How am I going to be different?
Oh, and News Flash.
Yes, the market is saturated.
Every market is saturated.
It's cool.
So if you want to pivot, that'sfine, but don't ever let what
someone else is doing stop youfrom living out and doing your
dreams.
And so as you begin to gothrough all that, you find out
(04:49):
that business is a lot more, andthat's normally where that
pivot comes from.
I can't tell you how manybrands over time have pivoted.
Instagram actually used to be abourbon app.
They used to share differentbourbons and stuff like that.
We know Facebook has pivoted toMetta, so you're not alone in
making a choice to change, andwhenever you decide to do
(05:12):
something for you, you can nevergo wrong.
But a couple of questions that Iwant you to keep in mind when
it comes to pivoting, and one ofthe first ones is does the
change serve you in the long run?
So, again, today we're talkingabout how to pivot with success,
and I want you to have successin every single thing you desire
(05:33):
, but I want you to ask does thechange serve you in the long
run?
And I wanna tell you why.
I have a couple of stories andexamples actually went live as
I'm recording this on Instagramand I asked people for some
questions to get some feedback,and we're gonna answer all of
those.
Also.
The reason why I say does itserve you in the long run is
because too often, people makechanges based on emotions, and
(05:58):
the problem with that is thatyour emotions are going to
always change.
How many people sat back?
And if you look at your 2023goals, you probably had this
long laundry list, but whathappened when the motivation and
the emotion changed?
Some of those things that youset out to do may not have been
accomplished, and so if we'retaking a different stroll, if
(06:21):
we're pivoting our business, Iwanna make sure that is this
something that's going to serveyou in the long run.
Recently, this year, I actuallypivoted my business and I shared
it on social media.
I quit offering wedding cakes,and I know how some of you guys
are.
So today I'm gonna be talkingto the wedding cake people, to
the cook ears, to the bakedgoods people, to the creative
(06:44):
people, to the bloggers.
I got multiple examples, sohang in there.
I just wanna make you aware ofsome things as you pivot.
So what happened was and not togo deep into it one day I was
doing a wedding cake.
Well, fast forward, let's go tothe beginning.
When I first started off, Istarted doing pound cakes and I
(07:05):
thought pound cakes was all Iwas going to do.
I was set.
You guys hear on the intro thatI started the business off with
doing a pound cake, and so Iwanted to only do pound cakes.
What I noticed was that thetype of clients who were willing
to pay, they were cool withpound cakes.
They just didn't want them asoften, because a pound cake is
(07:28):
more of a dense cake.
You know, it's a Southernessaround dense cake.
So then they started asking meabout blunt cakes.
You know, are there lightercakes?
Now, for those who don't know, apound cake and a blunt cake are
two totally separate things.
Okay, although it's called ablunt pan, you can bake a pound
cake in a blunt pan, but a bluntcake is usually like your
normal cake recipe.
(07:48):
It may be a sponge or a chiffoncake.
A pound cake is somethingthat's already dense, hence it
got the name pound cake, becausein the olden days it used to
require a pound of everything.
All right, so I pivoted.
I started offering blunt cakes,lighter versions of the pound
cake, prepared a totallydifferent way.
After that, I pivoted again,because I wanted more products
(08:13):
to offer, and I realized thatcupcakes were a cool thing.
People were asking for cupcakes.
Now here's one thing I want youto keep in mind we can't pivot
every time someone asks us forsome.
We're gonna talk about people,please, in a little later on.
But your clients may come toyou and they may ask you for
tons of different things.
You don't have to do everythingthat everyone asks you In the
(08:33):
beginning.
When you're new, though youwill, and reason being number
one is because you're still kindof trying to find yourself.
Number two you may not feelcomfortable with your style.
Number three if you don't havethat salesmanship had one, or if
you're lacking that confidenceto articulate what it is you
want, then you're probably notcomfortable saying no.
(08:55):
And so sometimes in thebeginning, you do all the things
because you're trying to pleaseall the people.
If that's, you, come back andlisten to this podcast in a year
, because I guarantee you, whenyou get wore out from that shit,
you'll start making changes.
So let's just go ahead and putthat aside.
So I wasn't making changes topeople, please people.
I was just making changesbecause I wanted to make sure
(09:16):
that I could build this businessup and to give myself as many
opportunities as possible.
So that was the next change.
Well, what I noticed after thatwas that the cupcakes took the
front seat, and that kind ofhurt my feelings.
I'm not even gonna lie y'all.
I was like I want y'all to likemy pancakes, like.
It's what I started out with,like, but there were certain
(09:39):
people who wanted pancakes at aparticular price and there was
worth way more.
And I noticed, though, themarketing with the cupcakes.
I was able to fill a gap when Ilooked at what other people in
my city offered, when I lookedat how people were finding me
online, when I looked at whatpeople responded to at markets,
(10:01):
I changed, and so I've changedmultiple times over the year.
Fast forward to the weddingcakes, because that was the
first example.
Over time, people startedasking, well, do you do tiered
cakes, do you do stuff like this?
And I was like, okay, well, Iknow how to do it, but it was
one of those things where,honestly, I don't like the
stress of it.
So now, remember, the questionnumber one was does this serve
(10:25):
you in the long run?
So, fast forward.
I started doing the weddingcakes.
So now I offer pound cakes,cookies, cupcakes, wedding cakes
, but I offered themminimalistic.
One day I was in the middle ofice in a wedding cake and my arm
started hurting and it was justkind of like aggravated me.
I was on time with my scheduleand so I said, okay, is this a
muscle spasm?
(10:46):
We're like what the hell isgoing on?
Let me go get this checked out.
So I crunk, coded the cake,finished the cake for the day,
put it in the freezer, went tothe hospital, ended up getting
admitted and they literally toldme.
They were like are you okay?
And then multiple people camein the room and I'm like, yeah,
like I just thought it was amuscle spasm or maybe I was just
stressed out from the cake,like what's going on.
And then the lady says, well,your EKG is registering that
(11:09):
you're having a heart attack, sowe just have to get you checked
out before we let you leave.
And do you know what the nextwords out of my mouth were?
But I have a order to finishright.
Crazy, I know crazy, because,like many business owners and
creatives, we're always thinkingabout clients, people who
(11:30):
honestly, don't even know howmuch we think about them and
wouldn't give a damn for us.
The information literally wentover my head and I was so
focused on well, if you admit me, how the hell am I supposed to
finish this cake?
I've given this shout outbefore, but shout out to my girl
Q, who stays just a couplestreets over.
I had to call her, my husbandhad to give her the crumb coated
(11:52):
cake and all the ice and shehad to take it home.
Finish the cake for me Ended upstaying a couple hours in the
hospital.
Turned out it was just the EKG,everything was fine.
But they did tell me then andaddress the stress issue.
I realized then you know whatCakes do stress me the big out.
I'm trying to stop cursing.
Y'all know this right Soundslike I'm done.
(12:14):
As soon as I got home from thehospital I put that dish off my
menu.
I was done.
If somebody called, I referredthem, I pivoted and it was okay.
No one missed the wedding cakes.
People asked, but they didn'thound me and even if they would,
I would have answered them.
(12:35):
I kind of took a step back fromthe wedding industry.
Now I know what you're thinking, especially if you follow me.
Well, I don't fancy you to bemuch of a wedding cake person
anyways, no, you don't.
But one thing you know about meis that I believe in making big
dollars from the small thingsY'all also have to keep in mind
I'm someone who, when I sharewith you guys, I have an award
(12:57):
winning business.
That award was actually fromthe bridal industry.
So this is just another littlebusiness tip.
But as someone who makes smallthings, you should always find
big ways to sell those.
And so, while in your mind youmight not be thinking well, I
don't think of Chef Schomburgwhen I think of wedding cakes.
I had a lot of brides as clientsbecause I was always pitching
(13:17):
wedding favors.
Remember, I specialized inalcohol and fuse.
I was always doing bacheloretteparties.
I would do tiered cakes forbridal showers, stuff like that.
So, yeah, it affected.
But I also believe that when Istarted telling those people no,
it made space for me to focuson other ways that I get money
in my business, which is with mycorporate clients.
(13:39):
So all I did was I just turnedup the heat on them.
So question number one will itserve you in the long haul?
Does it serve you with yourhealth?
Is this a decision that you'remaking because it's actually
gonna help the strength of thebusiness, or is this something
that you're just making at thelast minute, maybe because a new
trend came out and you'retrying to keep up with something
(14:01):
or someone?
So just think about that andkeep that in mind when you think
about this particular pivot.
My next question that I havefor you how will people adapt
and are you ready for thatadaptation?
(14:23):
You know I had a student whoactually is the opposite.
She makes wedding cakes, shehad a one-on-one consultation
with me and that's all she wantsto do.
The only problem was that shewas doing treats and she was
doing cupcakes and she wanted todo the opposite.
She's like well, I'm tired ofthis, the treats and the
(14:46):
cupcakes.
I think I just want the weddingcakes right, because in a lot
of people's mind in our industry, we classify things, we have a
saying or we have a feeling or abelief as in well, I can make
more money if I did weddingcakes, because wedding cakes are
a higher ticketed item, andthat's true.
There are some wedding cakesthat go for 1,000, 3,000, 5,000
(15:07):
and in reality, I don't know ofany cookies that go for 1,000 or
3,000.
But what you also have tounderstand is that it also takes
you a lot more to get that sale.
So when you're on social mediaand an average person knows you
and runs into your brand, it'sso much easier to sell a slice
of pound cake or a sugar cookieor a decorated cookie, a pie, a
(15:31):
baked good, than it is toactually sell a wedding cake.
So I'm not against it, but whatI'm just telling you is that a
lot of times when I speak tostudents, that's always their
thing.
Well, chef, I'm gonna go intothe wedding industry because I'm
tired of just the cupcakes andstuff and I want a big sale.
Okay, so this particular younglady, she pivoted.
She was doing good with hercupcakes, she's done a couple of
(15:53):
wedding cakes, but guess what?
The wedding cakes are here orthere.
Her people have not yet adaptedand so, although her skill
level continues to rise andshe's taken so many classes,
she's learned so many differentthings, people aren't calling
her for wedding cakes.
So that's my next question toyou.
(16:14):
So when she had a coachingcolumn and she had a one-on-one,
she's like okay, at this pointI just wanna make money.
But if I could be honest, Iwanna be a wedding cake designer
, but I don't get booked forthem.
Often I may do only one tomaybe two, with the most wedding
cakes per month.
Well, there's 30 days in amonth.
So what else is happening withthose days?
And if those wedding cakes thatpeople call you for, if they're
(16:37):
not the big fancy $3,000 cakes,because some brides, on average
they might just want a $600 or$700 cake not every bride wants
that.
So if you're not hitting thatsale, then you have to start
being honest with yourself.
And then.
So my advice to her the verynext week, your ass needs to go
(16:58):
back to selling cupcakes.
I'm not against you doingwedding cakes, but here's what I
want you to do.
I want you to keep having yourcupcake sales if they generate
daily revenue.
So what I told her to do waskind of reframe how she looked
at it In her mind.
She thought selling cupcakesmeant that she was going down
like she was digressing, and Ihad to tell her which again and
(17:22):
if you're listening, I'm notcoming for you.
So many people think like this.
You're not more than becauseyou make a wedding cake.
So as we tend to evolve and aswe tend to get more skills, you
don't want to bite the hand thatfeeds you.
If cupcakes were bringingrevenue into your business, you
(17:44):
don't cut that off.
However, there's different waysto control it.
So maybe you post the cupcakesless but you post more of your
wedding cake so that you canattract that audience.
Or maybe you continue havingyour cupcake sales but then you
use your revenue that you makefrom those cupcake sales to then
put yourself in more bridalshows or to put yourself in your
(18:08):
city's top magazine or to runan ad on your local radio
station.
So you let cupcakes give youthe income you need to fuel the
dream that you want to have.
So again, how are people adaptedOnce you make that change?
You can't just expect people tosay, when you change, one day I
(18:31):
want to be a wedding cakedesigner, oh, now everyone's
going to know you.
No, now I'm not discouragingyou, but let's just keep it 100.
Chances are there's already atop designer in your city.
Planners already have a list ofpeople.
Chances are it may be hard foryou to get on that preferred
vendor list, which is what a lotof wedding cake people like to
do.
And so all I'm asking you isthat, in the meantime, while
(18:54):
you're working on booking theseorders, you also have to
understand that if you've neverdone a $1,000 or $3,000 cake,
what do you need to start doing?
You need to start working onyour portfolio.
Well, guess what that means?
You're going to be making somedummy cakes.
You're going to be making somepractice cakes, cakes that
people are not ordering.
Are you comfortable with thatperiod of maybe having to work
(19:16):
on your portfolio and build sothat you can show people what
you're made of before thoseorders come in?
So those are things I want youto think about again.
All the wedding cake people.
I am not discouraging you,that's not what I'm saying.
But what I'm saying is let'sjust keep it real.
If you know damn well you'renot booked every single week
with wedding cake orders, whatis so wrong with having
(19:38):
something else serve you in themeantime?
Just something that I want youto think about.
So how will people adapt If ittakes them a while to adapt with
this pivot and this change?
Are you comfortable with thattime period and what are you
going to do in the meantime as abusiness owner so that you can
still be generating revenue intothis business?
(20:00):
Those are just some things Iwant you to think about.
The third thing what researchhas to be done for you to win?
So you've decided all right,I'm going to make a pivot, I'm
going to change.
Either you're a bait goodperson that's going to hop into
the wedding industry, or eitheryou're in the wedding industry
and you're like I'm fed up, Iwant to hop out of it.
(20:21):
Or maybe you're a person one ofthe young ladies on the
broadcast said that because ofher health, she was no longer
able to do heavy lifting.
So maybe you've decided topivot by not selling your bait
goods.
Maybe this pivot can mean andthis is a recommendation that I
have for you guys maybe youstart selling classes, maybe you
(20:44):
start selling courses, maybeyou start selling your recipes,
maybe you start doing tutorials,or maybe you become a blogger.
We've had several bloggers onthe podcast.
We've had Chels Sweets, we'vehad Sweetest Menu, so we've had
several other people becauseselling your bait goods is not
the only way to make money inthis industry.
(21:04):
Okay, so that's just somethingI want you to think about.
So, if that's the case, whatresearch has to be done in order
for you to win?
And what I would love for youto do is do a competitor
analysis, that thing that youwant to do.
Maybe you're a pound cakeperson and now we'll start for
cookies.
Or, like I said, you're a baitgoods person who wants to go to
(21:25):
wedding cakes?
Who is the number one person inyour city?
And also, please, don't look atsocial media, because when you
look at social media, you kindof fall down this trap of
comparison items.
Go online who's ranking numberone?
Look at services like Yelp whopops up?
(21:45):
Who's the recommendation?
Who's number two?
Look at some of the topplanners in your city.
Who are the people that arealready on those lists, who are
some of the people that arealready winning.
And now, when you find thosewinners, here's what I want you
to do.
We're not going to go look atthem with an attitude of
adoration.
Don't be scrolling, because Iknow how some of you guys are.
(22:06):
You tell me on privateone-on-one calls well, this
person is winning, and I don'tunderstand, because my stuff
tastes way better than mine.
Well, honey, it's because nomatter how good something tastes
, if you can't market the thingand no one knows you exist, you
got a serious problem.
So sometimes it's not that inyour mind you're thinking well,
I taste better than mycompetition.
(22:27):
Yeah, but taste isn't the onlything.
Are you hiding behind labelssuch as I'm introverted or I'm
shy?
And the reason why I say thatis because I don't believe in
anyone being introverted or shy.
I've said it on the podcast athousand times I do not label
you.
Those are labels that you giveyourself.
And if you tend to hide behindthose labels, are they
(22:48):
characteristics?
Yeah, maybe, but guess what?
They can be changed.
So if you're shy, what are wegoing to do about your shyness?
Because you also said that youwanted this business.
If you're introvert, what arewe going to do about that?
That's just something that hasto be worked on.
That's just like me saying I'mfat.
Well, what if next year, when Irecord this podcast, I'm down
(23:09):
100 pounds and then I'm finer?
Do I still say I'm fat?
No, I changed.
I took small daily habits andapplied them so that the person
that I was would no longer beand I would be something else.
Are you willing to make thatchange?
I'm not fat.
I carry fat because once I losethe fat, then guess what it's
(23:31):
gone.
You're not introverted.
You carry introvertedtendencies because once you work
on opening up yourself, guesswhat it's gone.
But the thing is, are youwilling to do the work in the
in-between?
So now, when we research thisperson, who's winning?
Why are they winning?
What are some strengths theyhave?
(23:52):
If you're looking to pivot,what are some things that you
can add that maybe the marketdoesn't have?
I'm going to break this down alittle further and give you an
example.
There's a bakery in my towncalled Ambrosia Bakery.
They make this cake that'scalled a fresh strawberry cake.
They actually have ittrademarked if you look it up
and what it is is whipped cream,they dice strawberries and then
(24:15):
they put it on a yellow cakeand people go crazy for it.
So when I decided that I wasgoing to do cupcakes, I started
looking at other bakeries andseeing and this was when I
pivoted years ago.
So just giving you a littlepivot sauce who's winning and
what are they winning at?
Well, it turned out that thisparticular bakery I read
(24:36):
someplace that actually sold $3million a year with this one
cake and I thought what Damn,that's crazy.
So I didn't say, oh, okay, well, let me make a fresh strawberry
whipped cupcake.
No, I'm not trying to beanother carbon copy version of
them.
I believe all of us werefearfully and wonderfully made.
So I looked at them and Ilooked at the market and I said,
(24:58):
okay, well, if people likestrawberries, what's missing?
How can I fill in this gap?
So if that's their strength,then how can I do this in
another way?
And so I sat down and Iactually came out with three
particular cakes and cupcakesthat were all strawberry-themed.
And this way, when someonefound me or they reached out,
(25:20):
then I had something more tooffer.
So that's what I want you to dowhat research needs to be done
in order for you to win thepeople who are already winning
in that thing that you want topivot towards.
What are some notes that youcan take from them?
What are some gaps that you canfeel?
How can you hit the market andbe different and stand out?
(25:41):
How can you be a disrupter?
How will you make people thinkdifferently?
And so a lot of you guys seethis on my Instagram post.
You'll always see thesecupcakes.
It's a strawberry cupcake with astrawberry on top, and usually
there's a chocolate cupcake nextto it, and it's because they're
my top two selling flavors.
And so when I came out withthat, I realized wait a minute,
(26:03):
amanda, you were doing alcoholand fuse, you were doing pound
cakes, which you loved.
I kept thinking in my head whydo people go so crazy over the
strawberry cake?
But then I forgot.
Strawberry is actually like thefruit of Louisiana.
They grow down here all thetime.
So then I started tapping intoother ways.
Well, what if I only get mystrawberries from farmers down
(26:26):
here?
Well, how can I form analliance with them and start
using their strawberries?
And so, once I made these littlechanges and I kind of saw how I
wanted to show up, I did astrawberry cupcake with cream
cheese buttercream.
I did a cognac cake withstrawberry frosting, with
(26:46):
dehydrated strawberries in thefrosting, and then I actually
did a strawberry cupcake.
I have a strawberry cupcakewith lemon, with lemon
buttercream, which is likestrawberry lemonade.
I gave people three options.
I filled in the gap and Itapped into what was working for
other people, but I didn't loseessence of who I am.
(27:08):
And then it turns out that theinfused one is the one that
people really really like, alongwith the one with cream cheese.
So I did the research.
I saw I was winning for otherpeople, but I approached it my
own way, without changing mybrand, by being true to who I am
.
And so that's what I want you todo as you're about to pivot, as
you look and see what's workingin your town.
(27:29):
Does your town have a crumbleor maybe they don't have a
crumble?
Does your town have a nothingblunt cakes?
Is that popular or maybe theydon't?
Is there a gap that you canfeel?
How can you hit the market andbe a disruptor?
And that's something that Iwant you to think about when
you're pivoting.
Now, the next couple thingsthat I have are tips, and these
(27:49):
are real life tips.
Number one when you pivot, youmay lose followers.
Let them go.
I had this happen on twoincidents at several people when
I used to do and show poundcakes a whole lot more.
You know they express well, youdon't do the pound cakes as
much and I would always tellpeople it's not that I don't do
(28:11):
them, they're there, it's justthat I'm showcasing other things
because they sell to differentpeople.
I can't please everyone.
Another time I pivoted some ofyou guys know this when I
actually started teaching I hada partnership.
I talked with another younglady.
I decided to end thatpartnership.
I closed my business or well,honestly, I let that person have
(28:34):
the business.
The business is still open.
I walked away from it and I hadto start all over again.
So the person listening to thisit has to start all over again.
Honey, do it, you're gonna bescared.
And in the process I lostfollowers.
I had some people who theyweren't happy.
They didn't want me to split myother membership.
(28:56):
It operated a certain type ofway.
It was a certain type of price.
Guess what?
It's okay.
That young lady is stillteaching.
If she desires to teach itthat's what makes her happy Then
have at it.
Right, I want everyone to behappy, because God gives us all
gifts, but I couldn't keepshowing up and not being happy.
(29:18):
I can't not please everyone.
I also want to tell you to theperson listening to this who's
deciding that in this year, whenyou pivot, you want to start
teaching, you want to startdoing digital products or you
want to step out of baking forcustomers altogether and you
want to start blogging.
To that particular person oranyone who maybe you're a
(29:41):
hobbyist and you're deciding.
You know what.
I just want to get legit withthis thing.
I want to get a license.
I want to stop doing the cashapp, the Venmo being all ghetto,
taking these trailer trash parkparticular clientele I know
that was harsh, but whatever andyou just want to do a total 180
, go for it.
Go for it.
(30:01):
Here's one thing I can tell youI do not regret and I want you
to listen to what I said again.
I literally gave someone else.
That means that person got tokeep the name, that person got
to keep the Instagram page, thatperson got to keep the contact
list, all of that.
All my classes were gone and Ihad to start over 1,000% from
(30:24):
scratch and if I could do itagain today, I would have done
it much quicker.
It was something that I thoughtabout for the longest time.
So if you're that person andthat's the pivot that you want
to take, I'm here to tell you gofor it.
You will lose followers, andit's okay.
Don't ever lose yourself in theprocess of trying to make other
people happy.
(30:44):
And losing followers is also agood thing, because if people
resonate it with one particulartype of content and you don't
offer it anymore, then againthat's great.
Let them go.
We can't serve everyone.
You also have to keep in mindthe second tip, aside from
losing followers and, like Isaid, it's fine You're changing
(31:05):
your contacts Is that you willget tested.
So to the person who maybe isdeciding you know what?
I don't want to do children'scakes anymore.
I meet some students who saythat I just want to do dessert
style cakes or I want to go intothis particular.
You're going to have thatcustomer that's going to say
well, you did it last year, sohow come you can't do it this
(31:26):
year?
You'll get tested by people oryou'll have people reach out to
you again.
Be assertive, but alsounderstand that setting
boundaries is okay.
Most bakers are women and, aswomen, we tend to want to people
please.
It's in our nature to want totake care of everyone.
But if you've decided, forwhatever reason, that you need
(31:49):
to pivot either because it's nolonger serving you, because it
stresses you the hell out,because you're tired of dealing
with a particular clientele justtell people no.
And also understand this whenyou tell people no, you don't
owe them an excuse.
I don't owe anyone a reason.
I had several people ask me whenI left my former membership why
(32:11):
?
Because I wanted to, because itmade me happy, just like I had
several people ask me well, youdon't serve wedding cakes
anymore.
Why?
Because they're no longeravailable, because I decided it
didn't serve me.
And that's the only answer thatI owe anybody.
You don't owe anyone anything.
It no longer served me.
And now I could go into detail.
I could say I wasn't happy, orthe wedding cake stressed me out
(32:35):
, or maybe they weren't bringingin a profit.
You could, but you don't haveto.
Too often we explain ourselvestoo damn much.
If I say I'm not doingsomething anymore, I'm not doing
it.
And guess what y'all?
Even going into 2024, I'm stillnot offering wedding cakes and
I'm actually leaning into mycookies a lot more.
Cookies cakes, corporateclients, christ, entrepreneurial
(33:01):
community those are like myfive C's that I'm leaning into
for 2024.
Cookies cakes, corporateclients, entrepreneurial
community, christ, those areliterally like my five C's.
Customer service that could beanother one.
But confidence, courage, thoseare more things that I'm leaning
(33:23):
into and so if I say I don't dosomething, I don't do it.
That's just like a lot of youguys listen to this podcast.
Pretty soon I'm gonna beopening up the doors to the
entrepreneur community andentrepreneur experience, which
you'll hear more about.
I have three programs.
I open the doors once a year.
When it's open, it's open.
When it's closed, it's closed.
And I don't do it.
(33:45):
And so just feel comfortabletelling people.
No, don't ever feel pressuredthat you have to people, please
someone, because remember, everytime you say no to someone else
, you're saying yes to yourself,and that's what I tell my
students all the time.
So if that cake stressed you,the hell out, maybe you lost
that sale, it's okay.
Don't operate from a scarcitymindset.
(34:06):
I don't want you to think, ohmy gosh, I'm losing money.
I'm losing money Like I won'thave the money, uh-uh, reframe
that.
You know what that sale wasn'tfor me.
It didn't serve me, but I'mallowing so much more
opportunity to come find me.
That does serve me.
What is yours will come to youand you will not have to chase
it, you won't have to ask or youwon't have to beg, because at
the end of the day, you're achild of a king.
(34:27):
I firmly believe that, soyou're gonna be taken care of,
and that's just something that Idon't want you to forget.
And then the last little tipthat I have for you be prepared
to put in the work For all ofthose who want a different type
of clientele, for those who aremaybe focusing more on a smaller
(34:50):
ticket item like I said, it maybe the wedding cake person
who's walking away from weddingcakes and you wanna do more
smaller ticket items or to thecookier.
I know several cookiers who dothese big, elaborate cookies
that take hours and then theysay you know what these cookies
take so long.
I don't think I wanna do rawice and I think I wanna do a
(35:10):
cookie another way.
And I tell people all the timego for it.
You can always do stenciling,you could do messaging, you
could do fondant cookies.
I find several differentcookiers who pivot from the more
intricate stuff to only focuson.
Could you at Eddie, startfocusing on corporate clients?
If that's your goal for 2024,I'll be around in June when the
(35:30):
course opens but again, make thepivot, be okay with it, but
start doing the work.
And the work might mean thatmaybe you have to clean up your
social media feed.
Maybe you have to start goingto a few more places where you
position yourself to be in frontof the type of person at once.
Maybe you gotta do a totalrebrand, and I'm not just
(35:54):
talking about changing thecolors of your logo, your name
for those who are pivoting.
I always have a small group ofpeople and I'm gonna be that
friend to tell you who alwayssay I wanna pivot, I wanna serve
luxury clients.
Okay, honey, if you wanna serveluxury clients, please don't do
that with a ghetto ass name.
Okay, you're gonna have tochange a lot more to get a
particular type of clientele topurchase from you.
(36:16):
So that's just a little pieceof love and advice, and I know
your friend or your homie is notgonna tell you.
But just changing the colors inyour logo one day isn't just
gonna up and make luxury clientscome.
You're gonna have to work on alot.
So are you ready to put in thework?
Are you ready to go to placeswhere your idol client is?
Are you gonna be investing indoing that bridal show?
(36:38):
You know the one you complainabout, that's $1,000, but that's
actually gonna get you in frontof the people that you wanna be
in front of.
What work are you willing to doso that, when you do make this
pivot in your business, you showup successful, you start
becoming a household name inyour community, you start
walking in your gift with alittle bit more peace and
confidence and you startoperating your business with joy
(37:01):
?
You guys, we're business owners, which means we own the
business, but it also means thatat any particular point in time
, we can change the narrative ifwe are not happy with the story
that is being written.
And so I want you to thinkabout all these things the three
questions and the three tips asyou work on pivoting.
(37:22):
Someone asked they said thepivot that I wanna make is that
I wanna step away from thebusiness.
I want other people to run thebusiness so that I can focus on
the clients and the admin andthe stuff like that.
And to the person that askedthat, that was an easy question,
number one.
You just gotta make sure you'remaking enough money, because
(37:44):
your business has to be making aprofit and you have to make
sure that you're willing to paysomeone else.
And then all the things thatyou offer that skilled laborer
are they actually skilled anddoes your business make enough
money to where you can bring insomeone to do all of those
orders while you do the otherthings?
But also, keep in mind you wannapay attention to your processes
(38:05):
, because some of those otherthings may not take long.
So the operations portion ofthe business.
You should probably be pickingone day out of the week to be
working on the business and notin it, and those typical admin
tasks don't take long.
What does take long is when westart to schedule our posts for
the week.
That can take 20, 30 minutes.
You sit down, you schedule yourposts for the week, but then
(38:27):
you get online and then you godown a rabbit hole and now,
instead of working on yourbusiness posts for the week, you
found yourself just mindlesslyscrolling on social media.
That's what takes time, and sosometimes we have to start
paying attention to the thingsthat suck time out of our
business when we pivot, becausewe could be pivoting our
processes as well.
(38:49):
So maybe you're not pivotingyour products and you're not
pivoting your clientele.
Maybe you need to pivot andchange some of your products.
Maybe that's the person whobegs from scratch who maybe
wants to bring in some otherelements in order to help you
cut down on time.
Those are all just some thingsto think about, but no matter
what you choose, you can't gowrong.
(39:09):
Make the change, because whatyou don't wanna do is be laying
in a hospital bed one daywondering what if or what should
I have done or what could Ihave done differently.
Just do it and guess what If itdoesn't work out or something
doesn't go your way?
Set up checkpoints to where youcan check in, monitor your
sales.
Are things going how I plan?
(39:30):
Am I hitting my revenue goals?
You can always change.
You can change your business asmany times as you change your
draws.
Honey, I'm here to tell you justbe like Nike and just do it.
All right.
So I hope those tips helped you.
Go on with your bad self.
Pivot.
Make a change.
Be sure to tag me on socialmedia and let me know if any of
(39:53):
this helped you.
I can't wait to hear from youguys and to see all the
beautiful changes that you makein your business as you show up
for the new year.
Thank you so much for walkingwith me and I'm gonna leave you
guys with the scripture today,john 14,.
Let not your heart be troubled.
Yay, believe in God, and Ireally hope that.
So, whatever trouble you have,give it over to God.
(40:14):
Honey, that's the best businesspartner you can ever have and I
promise you he will never leaveyou astray.
Thanks, you guys, so much forlistening.
Take care and bye for now.
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