September 25, 2024 • 31 mins
Can a loaf of bread change your life? For Sarah from Sarah's Sourdough(@saradoessourdough), the answer is a resounding yes. Join us as we unravel Sarah's journey from an Australian stay-at-home mom in Oklahoma to a flourishing sourdough entrepreneur.
Discover how Sarah managed to scale her home-based bakery from humble porch pickups to a thriving enterprise, thanks to a pivotal viral moment and a strategic focus on digital products. Sarah’s $20 ebook, "Sourdough for Beginners," became an overnight success, generating over $13,000 and proving the power of trust and relatability in building a loyal customer following.
In this episode, we will discuss:
- How Sarah started her cottage bakery
- How she transitioned from wholesale to porch pick up's
- How she uses content to grow her brand
- How she is using her platform to teach others to have sourdough success with digital products and more
Want to connect with Sarah? Follow her here on Instagram (Sara Does Sourdough)
Ready to make sourdough? Check out her guide here and be on the lookout for her new video course.
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 Sean Bird.
I started my baking businesswith a bottle of DeSorono 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, sweet friends, and welcomeback to the Baking for Business
podcast.
Today is a wonderful daybecause we are talking to Sarah
from Sarah's Sourdough.
Chances are you've probablyseen her viral post the
(01:05):
beautiful young lady who sets upfor her porch pickup and
chances are you've definitelyseen her beautiful breads and
the amazing crumbs that sheshares.
Today she's going to talk allabout how she started her
journey, but also her amazingdigital products, how she's
helping people in the sourdoughrealm to grow, expand their
(01:27):
business and get started.
So, sarah, welcome to thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Hello, glad to be here, Hi listeners.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
It's so nice to meet you.
So for those who may not know,how did you get started baking
in general?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So I was never a big baker until COVID actually.
So I became like a stay at homemom and just needed, you know,
some different hobbies.
I am a hobby girl.
I'm always like dabbling indifferent hobbies so music, art,
(02:05):
cooking but I was like never abaker.
And after I had COVID Iactually had something called
parosmia and this is where likefood, like lots of different
food tasted like rotten meat for18 months and it was horrible
and as like a foodie, like thatwas honestly, this sounds so
(02:30):
dramatic because it's just food,but it was a very dark time in
my life and then so it was mostfood for you know, a long time
that tasted like rotten meat,except for like bread and
potatoes.
So I you might notice my weirdaccent I'm actually Australian
(02:51):
and I've been living in Oklahomafor almost nine years now.
When I first came to America, Ihad like extreme culture shock
with the food.
So food here it was just verydifferent.
Everything is like sweet andeverything and I'm used to it.
Now I love American food now.
(03:12):
Okay, I just wasn't used toeverything like being fried and
everything having sugar and likeso much salt.
I wasn't, it was just acultural shock, but I love.
I love American food now Okay,don't get me wrong but it was
especially the bread that gaveme some culture shock.
It's like it's a different typeof bread to the bread back home
(03:36):
in Australia and in Europe andit's sweet.
And so during this time afterCOVID, where I was, a large
portion of my diet was bread.
I was a little bit miserablebecause it wasn't like the type
of bread that I love.
And then I started seeing likesourdough all over my social
(03:59):
media.
Like did you ever get thesourdough algorithm?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yes, I guess a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So I just saw, honestly, like it wasn't
professional bakers making thesourdough bread, they were like
stay-at-home moms doing it.
I had a lot of time on my hands, I was at home, so stay-at-home
mom, and I just decided Ithought you know what?
And so stayed home mom, and Ijust decided I thought you know
(04:29):
what, I'm just desperate forsome good bread so I can have
some tasty Vegemite on toast.
And so I started sourdoughbaking.
And so I was never a big bakerbefore that I hadn't.
I wasn't baking muffins orcookies or any other type of
bread.
I just like sour baking was myfirst exposure to baking in
(04:50):
general.
Um, so I I took it took like amonth to make a good loaf.
Um, first of all, I made mystarter from scratch and it was
definitely not ready when Istarted.
Uh, I, I wish I had photos ofmy first loaf.
I was too embarrassed by it,but it's like no, I wish I had a
photo so I could just see howfar it came.
(05:11):
But it took a month to make agood loaf and from there, you
know, I just became obsessed.
So, yeah, that was so.
I baked my first loaf ofsourdough January 2022.
That's the timeline, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So from going through that, dealing with the, the
food kind of allergy relaxreaction that you had, and then
finding sourdough and falling inlove, what made you decide to
say, okay, I want to do this as,as a business?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
So, um, I never, ever , ever thought I could have a
business, that I could run abusiness.
Um, my husband is theentrepreneur of us.
I am always, I have always been, we've been, entrepreneur of us
.
I am always, I have always been, we've been.
We got married very young.
I have always been like I willsupport you and cheer you on,
(06:16):
like I was always that person.
I never thought like I couldmake money in this way.
So, um, like I said, I becameobsessed with sourdough.
I was literally for almost ayear, giving away 10 to 15
loaves a week.
I was baking so much bread togive away to family, friends,
(06:39):
neighbors.
We didn't have much money atthe time at all, so it was just
a way to give to people as well.
Um, a fresh loaf of bread isworth a lot to someone.
They, they know that you lovethem when you, when you bake
them a fresh loaf of bread.
I was doing that and peoplewould say to me you should sell
(07:00):
this, you should sell this.
And I think I was just soself-conscious, like not
confident at all.
I didn't think it was like thatgood, good enough to sell.
I didn't want to have to worryabout having a business or like
(07:20):
the different.
I'd heard about cottage foodlaws.
When I looked into a little bit, I didn't want to have to deal
with that, so it was never on myradar at all.
And then, january 2023, I gotapproached by one of my friends
who started a market.
She started a little foodmarket basically a farmer's
(07:45):
market, but like in a littleshop, and she needed a sourdough
bender.
She said, hey, why don't youjust try it out?
Um, so that was January 2023.
I sold my first loaf ofsourdough bread.
I just went, I had to take thatjump and just went ahead and
did it.
I went to actually drop my loafoff.
(08:07):
At like I had like six loavesmy first drop.
I went to drop those off and Ithought, oh my gosh, I need like
packaging, like I don't havelike a name or anything.
So I thought I'll just doSarasota, it's literally on the
fly and I don't know.
I just I just stuck with thatsince then.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
That's amazing.
And so now you're doing themarkets.
You've sold your first loaf.
I'm pretty sure business picksup because from selling that
first loaf to now having postswhere you're doing your porch
pickup which your porch pickupposts went viral.
So now you go from selling frommarkets to having this
(08:52):
beautiful at-home setup.
What made you decide to jump onthe bandwagon of pop-ups and
just really doing your own bigsales from home?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So when I was doing it's the wholesale model, that's
how I started.
I was selling it at my bread ata discount to a market and so
that they could make money,right, so you sell it for less,
and it was always on like theirschedule.
I had to do a certain amount ata certain time each week and as
a mom of littles um, that was Ilike wanted to do it.
(09:26):
I, like you know, I was verymuch like hustling that first
little bit, um, but it wasputting a lot of stress on me,
um, cause I had.
How old was I?
I had a six month old at thatpoint.
Um, yeah, my youngest was sixmonths, and so I just thought it
(09:47):
would be wise if I start, if Ididn't put all my eggs in one
basket.
I really wanted to startbuilding my own customer base.
Technically, my only customerwas this one little market.
I tried a little market pop-up.
That just it was.
It was fine, but it was just abit more stressed than I wanted.
(10:10):
You can tell I'm not.
I don't like being stressed, um, so, yeah, so I actually saw
some other people on Instagramdoing like a porch pickup model.
One of them was the early risein San Francisco they did this
(10:31):
porch pickup model and so I wentahead, I signed up.
There's this platform calledhot plate, which is actually the
great platform I think.
Have they been on your podcastbefore?
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, we talked to the CEO Rishi.
He shared a wonderful platform,yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So I got on that, I started using that and I had my
first porch pickup I think inMarch of 2023.
And I had three orders and Iwas so excited it just went on
from there.
I just kept it consistent.
So I was doing wholesale andporch pickups at the same time
(11:11):
and my end goal was to just doporch pickups, cause I knew,
like with my, the way my familyis, like my husband's, very,
very busy.
He's so supportive, but he hashis own business.
Um, and then I have my twogirls.
I just knew like the porchpickup model would be what's
best for our family If I couldjust be home and run my business
(11:33):
completely from home on my ownschedule and build up my own
customer base from that.
And so, yes, that's what Istarted doing and I did it every
single week.
So that was March.
I started some weeks.
I did not get any orders at alland I would still bake and then
reach out to my customers.
(11:53):
And, yeah, guess what people,if they found out you just baked
a fresh loaf of bread, they'llcome drive and pick it up and
pay for it.
Um so um, the biggest thing wasjust being consistent with that.
I wanted to be known as mycustomer's baker, their bread
(12:14):
baker.
So what happened was I got to apoint I was baking 50 loaves a
week out of my home oven and Iwas spent.
I was getting to that point ofbeing stressed again.
It's like baker burnout, rightwhen it's like I need to invest
in some more equipment to makethis more manageable so I could
(12:37):
make more money as well in lesstime.
And so it was October of 2023.
I invested in a bread oven verylarge investment, like $8,000.
I invested in a bread oven verylarge investment, like $8,000.
And I spent a couple other youknow few more grand like with
some other bakery equipment thatI couldn't have at home here.
(12:57):
And in that same week, um, I hadmy first like viral video and
it was me setting up for myporch pickup and since then I
think so I think I my hot platelike customer base was like 200
people at that point, and thenafter that week, it got up to
(13:20):
700 people.
So I've gained like 500customers that signed up to my
menu notifications like one week.
So that happened.
And then I also I didn't knowthis was a thing I had a my post
on Facebook marketplace goviral.
I didn't know that you couldget trending on Facebook
marketplace, but that's whathappened, so a lot of people
(13:40):
locally found me from that aswell, and I'm so thankful.
Um, I dropped wholesale cause,you know, like I said, push
pickup was my goal just to bakeonce a week, do it all from my
home, have customers come to me,meet my customers, and so I
dropped wholesale and ever sincethen, this is what I've been
(14:00):
doing every single week.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
That's amazing, and so now fast forward.
You're being profitable withyour sourdough, you're having
amazing success.
Your posts have gone viral andwith that comes questions.
So one of the things I alwaysrecommend to my students is to
scale, and you did thatbeautifully, because you got
started with digital products,which I love.
(14:25):
And so was there a fear of howdid you now, where you stepped
into the digital realm ofthinking, do I want to share my
recipes?
Should I?
Yes, Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Well, the thing about teaching is you're being very
vulnerable because it's likeyou're literally like am I
qualified to teach someone this?
Like what if my student doesbetter than me?
Like there's a lot of that typeof thing.
And so, literally, like, if youdecide you're going to teach
(14:57):
someone something you have to bewilling to like, let that go
Right, and like, let it go andlet all that self consciousness
go, let insecurity go, and just,you know what the best thing
you can do in life is pass onskills and, um, teach others.
(15:18):
You know what the gift that youhave in your hands and hope
that they do better than you.
And so I got asked a lot withthe, you know, my, my account
was growing and a lot of peoplewere asking me.
They were seeing that I wasteaching in-person classes and
they said are you going to takethis online?
I really want to learn from you.
(15:39):
Um, there's a lot of beginnersourdough resources out there,
but you know, people are drawnto certain teachers and so, for
my audience, I really wanted toput something out there where
they could learn sourdough justfrom scratch, and so I came out
with a digital product.
It's a $20 ebook Sourdough forBeginners a step-by-step guide
(16:00):
to making your first loaf.
That's all it is.
It's literally, it's not toocomplicated, it's just.
This is how you make your firstloaf and it's an overview of
understanding sourdough.
It's kind of like afoundational resource.
So I came out with that withDecember 2023.
And I think it's made like$13,000.
(16:23):
Whoa, that is awesome.
Yes, and so most of that wasright at the start.
You know, you know I get it.
You know, maybe once a day ittrickles in and some days a bit
a bit more orders Depends.
If I have a video, do reallywell, funny enough, sell more of
(16:44):
those.
But I just have the one, oneresource right now and I'm
working on some others for inthe future.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
But yeah, and I think that's so amazing because too
often people think you know thatthey have to sell, like
multiple recipes, or they haveto keep putting things out there
.
But you literally you'vegenerated over $13,000 in
additional revenue to yourbakery brand with just one $20
(17:14):
guide.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yep, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Oh my gosh, that is so amazing.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I'm so, I'm so thankful and it's amazing Like
the.
The number one thing is like Imade something like that exactly
fits my what my audience wanted.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, and you said it best too.
Everyone always has thatquestion of okay, well, it's
free or it's already out there,like why would someone buy from
me?
But it's because people buyfrom who they can relate to and
not everyone gives informationthe same.
So I love how you said it'slike it's step-by-step.
(17:50):
You walk your people throughand they have that one resource
where they can learn from seeingyou, and then take it to the
book and then learn how to learnhow to do it themselves.
And so from that guide, whatplatform do you sell your guide
on?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
It's just on my website.
I looked into Etsy and stuffand I thought I already have a
website that I'm paying for.
I'll just put it on there.
So that's what I'm not.
I'm not like a pro websiteperson.
I just use Wix.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I just I do too.
I use Wix, I love Wix.
We have an amazing Wix guy, andthat's awesome, because
sometimes it's just about doingthe best you can with what you
have.
Like you said, you already havea site, so there's no need in
investing both.
So what is your day-to-day looklike now in selling digital
products and being a cottagebaker?
(18:45):
What does a day in the lifelook like?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Okay.
So, honestly, the way, the wayI live my life is to have as
much downtime as I possibly can,and so I work really hard, like
three days a week basically.
Uh, well, two and a half days,so like from Tuesday afternoon
to Thursday evening I'm workingreally hard, and then the rest
(19:11):
of the week I'm with my familyand with my girls and we're
having fun, and so so basicallyTuesday afternoon I'm prepping
all my ingredients for prep day,which is Wednesday.
Tuesday afternoon I also I feedmy starter, I measure out all
my water and flour andeverything and salt.
(19:33):
Like I do everything so thatit's easy when I wake up in the
morning on Wednesday, I wake upat four or 5am and I mix my
dough.
I do about 130 bakes a week, sothat includes like bread and
like pizza bases and stuff, um,and so that's about how much I
(19:54):
can do right now and that isthat is a wonderful like over
100 loaves as just a one womanentrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
That is amazing.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, that's a good like to be able to do that
weekly.
Like I'm so thankful it's a lotof work, um, but I'm I'm
thankful that that consistency.
Now, wednesday, I'm preppingall day.
I've hired a baking assistant,which was one of the best things
that I did.
Like she does all the cleanup,the cookie dough packaging,
(20:26):
helps me weigh out loaves um,also, without her at this point
I wouldn't have time to make somuch content, and so she just
saves me a lot of hours withcleanup and stuff to where I can
put that into making contentand so, speaking of content, do
you notice any one post inparticular that helped you to
(20:47):
like, really sell your eBooks,or any one post that your
students like?
Yeah, um, when, basically, whenI talk about, okay, this is how
you make a sourdough loaf, um,those, definitely those do the
best because it is literallywhat my eBook is about.
(21:08):
And so when I, whenever Imentioned the ebook, it sells a
lot of like.
I post a lot of lifestylecontent as well, like what my
life looks like in the cottagebakery, and not every post is
meant to sell my ebook, right,um, and not all my posts do so.
I have noticed, in particular,ones that talk about my ebook,
(21:30):
or ones that are about like, howto make, actually how to make
that, or those are the.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
That's the content that I noticed that I've taken
sales, yeah, that's awesome, andso now, from this amazing guide
that you have, now you'reworking on another awesome
digital product resource foryour students, which is showing
them how they can host their owncommunity classes, which is
(21:57):
something I'm passionate aboutas well.
So, community sourdough classes.
So what will that resource looklike for your students, and
tell us what made you want toshare that one okay, so I hosted
I think it was 15 liveworkshops last year.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Um, particularly sourdough, right, because that's
what I do.
I had so many local peoplewanting to, wanting to learn
from me, and so I started doingworkshops.
I honestly was so stressedabout it when I was first doing
it.
It was a lot of just figuringthings out, but last year, 2023,
alone, with just doingworkshops, that added $15,000 to
(22:41):
my business.
Yes, yes, and most of that timeI was severely undercharging as
well.
Um, so I must how many?
I said I did 15 classes.
It was either.
It was between 15 and 20, umclasses, and and so I honestly,
I have so many cottage bakersthat follow me and my journey
(23:05):
and so many people are like, ask, you know, you can tell like
they wanted to know how I wasdoing classes.
They were in the same spot I waslast year trying to figure
things out, because people wantto learn from them too, and so I
wanted to put together aresource to show people how to
teach a sourdough class, and soit's a video workshop.
(23:27):
It's fully recorded, likemasterclass style kind of thing.
It's an all in one package,like giving you all the
resources for it, but it's alsolike teaching you how to come up
with your own class as well.
It is particularly sourdough.
Yeah, I know I'll get asked,asked questions can I do this?
If I have like a cookiebusiness and something it is, I
(23:49):
did make it for, in particular,how to host a sourdough workshop
, um.
So, yes, that's the.
That's a resource.
I'm excited.
It's.
It's honestly it's to addanother income stream to
people's cottage bakery business.
But even like stay-at-home momsthat know the skill of
(24:09):
sourdough there's so many peoplelike that out there and so, yes
, excited.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I love this for you.
I know your baking followers,your fans.
They're going to benefitbecause really that's the only
two ways that I found tohonestly scale within this realm
is either with teaching,teaching classes and teaching
digital products.
So your students woulddefinitely benefit from that.
(24:37):
And for all you sourdoughlovers, we will have all of
Sarah's information in the shownotes, so if you click it, you
will be able to go straight toher guide.
You'll also be able to go toher website so that you can join
her mailing list and get allthe details of when that course
drops.
And so, sarah, what advicewould you have for anyone who,
(24:58):
in their baking business, isthinking about a digital product
, but they're scared?
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I would ask you like why?
Why are you scared?
You kind of have to get to theroot of the problem.
For me, coming out with adigital product, I knew I was
being so vulnerable and I foundout the fear was out of a place
of insecurity, and so I was.
Honestly, I battled withinsecurity a lot of my life.
(25:28):
I'm kind of just I'm in myconfidence era right now, yeah,
and so a lot of it is justbelieving in yourself.
You have a gift that the worldneeds.
There is someone that is goinggonna thank god that you taught
them what.
What you taught them, it'sgonna impact people's lives.
(25:51):
Um, you have, you have thisgift in your hands and it's kind
of a selfish thing to keep thatto yourself, girl.
So, yeah, and some people justneed that little push, that
little encouragement, thatlittle bit of you know showing
them how to do it, which, amanda, I mean, that's what you do.
You help people with digitalresources, digital products, and
(26:14):
so it's like why not?
Speaker 1 (26:21):
happy that you opened up and decided to share your
gifts.
I know that your guide will beamazing and I know that your
video course is going to beawesome.
Also, sarah, from the bottom ofmy heart, thank you so much for
stopping by the podcast BeforeI let you go.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
We're going to play a quick game of lightning round.
Are you ready?
Okay, let's do it.
What is your favorite color?
Okay, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
What is your favorite color?
Blue.
What is your favorite kitchenutensil?
You cannot live without.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I love my Danish whisk, my dough whisk.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Do you have a celebrity crush?
Probably Ryan Reynolds.
I don't know All the.
Or the fox from Robin Hood.
Oh my gosh, it's always beenhim.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Okay.
What is a dessert you cannotlive without?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Oh, honestly, just okay, this is going to sound
weird, guys, but they're calledlicorice bullets.
It is dark chocolate coveredblack licorice and I I my mom
brings them from Australia.
Anyone who comes visits fromAustralia they know they bring
(27:39):
me so many of those, but that'ssomething I always have.
They don't sell them here, butthat's something I always have
in my pantry.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
I've never dipped my licorice, but that sounds good.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
It's good.
Yeah, well, it's an acquiredtaste.
It's an acquired taste.
I've heard I'm obsessed, butI've heard from other people,
like my husband, that it's anacquired taste.
What is your favorite book?
My favorite book?
Definitely the Hobbit.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Awesome and I believe we got through them all.
Sarah, from the bottom of myheart, thank you so much for
stopping by the podcast.
It was such a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Thank you All right you guys.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
So how amazing was Sarah.
I hope that you were trulyinspired by her story.
There are so many differentnuggets that I got from speaking
to Sarah that I'm sure willdefinitely help you guys as well
, and one of them is it's soamazing to see us evolve, not
just as bakers but as women,because what I really loved is
(28:45):
that how Sarah stated.
You know, she did wholesale,but when she wanted more, she
went for more Porch pickup.
She did porch pickup, but whenshe saw an opportunity to serve
more with the questions shereceived, she stepped into
digital products.
Now she has her guide, which Imean over $13,000 in sales on
one guide.
(29:05):
Oh my gosh.
I love that.
As a result, those are the typeof results that I love for my
students to have, and I knowthat if Sarah could do it, you
can do it too.
So all of her links below are inthe show notes.
I hope that she inspired you toall the sourdough people.
You better hop on her guide,because that's gonna be your
go-to to help you elevate yoursourdough people.
(29:26):
You better hop on her guidebecause that's going to be your
go-to to help you elevate yoursourdough and just all bakers in
general.
I hope that her story helpedyou to understand it's never too
late to start something new.
Go for your dreams and, ofcourse, why not go digital honey
?
And if that's you, then I wouldlove to invite you to Digital
Wealth for Bakers as well.
Digital Wealth for Bakers is anamazing online comprehensive
course where I would love toinvite you to Digital Wealth for
(29:47):
Bakers as well.
Digital Wealth for Bakers is anamazing online comprehensive
course where I would love to beyour personal guide.
There's different courses tohelp you start, grow and build
your digital product business.
We have an amazing supportivecommunity with other like-minded
six-figure baking entrepreneursthere helping and contributing
and making sure that everyone'squestions are answered, and it
(30:09):
is just such a beautiful placefor you to network with other
bakers and for me to literallyhold your hand while you make
your digital products.
So what's stopping you?
You can always visitwwwbakingforbusinesscom
backslash DWB to start workingwith me inside of Digital World
for Bakers, and I'll also addthe link to the show notes as
(30:31):
well.
Until then, thank you guys somuch for listening.
I pray this story inspired youand, as always, take care and
bye for now.
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Sean Bird.
I started my baking businesswith a bottle of DeSorono 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, sweet friends, and welcomeback to the Baking for Business
podcast.
Today is a wonderful daybecause we are talking to Sarah
from Sarah's Sourdough.
Chances are you've probablyseen her viral post the
(01:05):
beautiful young lady who sets upfor her porch pickup and
chances are you've definitelyseen her beautiful breads and
the amazing crumbs that sheshares.
Today she's going to talk allabout how she started her
journey, but also her amazingdigital products, how she's
helping people in the sourdoughrealm to grow, expand their
(01:27):
business and get started.
So, sarah, welcome to thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Hello, glad to be here, Hi listeners.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
It's so nice to meet you.
So for those who may not know,how did you get started baking
in general?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So I was never a big baker until COVID actually.
So I became like a stay at homemom and just needed, you know,
some different hobbies.
I am a hobby girl.
I'm always like dabbling indifferent hobbies so music, art,
(02:05):
cooking but I was like never abaker.
And after I had COVID Iactually had something called
parosmia and this is where likefood, like lots of different
food tasted like rotten meat for18 months and it was horrible
and as like a foodie, like thatwas honestly, this sounds so
(02:30):
dramatic because it's just food,but it was a very dark time in
my life and then so it was mostfood for you know, a long time
that tasted like rotten meat,except for like bread and
potatoes.
So I you might notice my weirdaccent I'm actually Australian
(02:51):
and I've been living in Oklahomafor almost nine years now.
When I first came to America, Ihad like extreme culture shock
with the food.
So food here it was just verydifferent.
Everything is like sweet andeverything and I'm used to it.
Now I love American food now.
(03:12):
Okay, I just wasn't used toeverything like being fried and
everything having sugar and likeso much salt.
I wasn't, it was just acultural shock, but I love.
I love American food now Okay,don't get me wrong but it was
especially the bread that gaveme some culture shock.
It's like it's a different typeof bread to the bread back home
(03:36):
in Australia and in Europe andit's sweet.
And so during this time afterCOVID, where I was, a large
portion of my diet was bread.
I was a little bit miserablebecause it wasn't like the type
of bread that I love.
And then I started seeing likesourdough all over my social
(03:59):
media.
Like did you ever get thesourdough algorithm?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yes, I guess a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So I just saw, honestly, like it wasn't
professional bakers making thesourdough bread, they were like
stay-at-home moms doing it.
I had a lot of time on my hands, I was at home, so stay-at-home
mom, and I just decided Ithought you know what?
And so stayed home mom, and Ijust decided I thought you know
(04:29):
what, I'm just desperate forsome good bread so I can have
some tasty Vegemite on toast.
And so I started sourdoughbaking.
And so I was never a big bakerbefore that I hadn't.
I wasn't baking muffins orcookies or any other type of
bread.
I just like sour baking was myfirst exposure to baking in
(04:50):
general.
Um, so I I took it took like amonth to make a good loaf.
Um, first of all, I made mystarter from scratch and it was
definitely not ready when Istarted.
Uh, I, I wish I had photos ofmy first loaf.
I was too embarrassed by it,but it's like no, I wish I had a
photo so I could just see howfar it came.
(05:11):
But it took a month to make agood loaf and from there, you
know, I just became obsessed.
So, yeah, that was so.
I baked my first loaf ofsourdough January 2022.
That's the timeline, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So from going through that, dealing with the, the
food kind of allergy relaxreaction that you had, and then
finding sourdough and falling inlove, what made you decide to
say, okay, I want to do this as,as a business?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
So, um, I never, ever , ever thought I could have a
business, that I could run abusiness.
Um, my husband is theentrepreneur of us.
I am always, I have always been, we've been, entrepreneur of us
.
I am always, I have always been, we've been.
We got married very young.
I have always been like I willsupport you and cheer you on,
(06:16):
like I was always that person.
I never thought like I couldmake money in this way.
So, um, like I said, I becameobsessed with sourdough.
I was literally for almost ayear, giving away 10 to 15
loaves a week.
I was baking so much bread togive away to family, friends,
(06:39):
neighbors.
We didn't have much money atthe time at all, so it was just
a way to give to people as well.
Um, a fresh loaf of bread isworth a lot to someone.
They, they know that you lovethem when you, when you bake
them a fresh loaf of bread.
I was doing that and peoplewould say to me you should sell
(07:00):
this, you should sell this.
And I think I was just soself-conscious, like not
confident at all.
I didn't think it was like thatgood, good enough to sell.
I didn't want to have to worryabout having a business or like
(07:20):
the different.
I'd heard about cottage foodlaws.
When I looked into a little bit, I didn't want to have to deal
with that, so it was never on myradar at all.
And then, january 2023, I gotapproached by one of my friends
who started a market.
She started a little foodmarket basically a farmer's
(07:45):
market, but like in a littleshop, and she needed a sourdough
bender.
She said, hey, why don't youjust try it out?
Um, so that was January 2023.
I sold my first loaf ofsourdough bread.
I just went, I had to take thatjump and just went ahead and
did it.
I went to actually drop my loafoff.
(08:07):
At like I had like six loavesmy first drop.
I went to drop those off and Ithought, oh my gosh, I need like
packaging, like I don't havelike a name or anything.
So I thought I'll just doSarasota, it's literally on the
fly and I don't know.
I just I just stuck with thatsince then.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
That's amazing.
And so now you're doing themarkets.
You've sold your first loaf.
I'm pretty sure business picksup because from selling that
first loaf to now having postswhere you're doing your porch
pickup which your porch pickupposts went viral.
So now you go from selling frommarkets to having this
(08:52):
beautiful at-home setup.
What made you decide to jump onthe bandwagon of pop-ups and
just really doing your own bigsales from home?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So when I was doing it's the wholesale model, that's
how I started.
I was selling it at my bread ata discount to a market and so
that they could make money,right, so you sell it for less,
and it was always on like theirschedule.
I had to do a certain amount ata certain time each week and as
a mom of littles um, that was Ilike wanted to do it.
(09:26):
I, like you know, I was verymuch like hustling that first
little bit, um, but it wasputting a lot of stress on me,
um, cause I had.
How old was I?
I had a six month old at thatpoint.
Um, yeah, my youngest was sixmonths, and so I just thought it
(09:47):
would be wise if I start, if Ididn't put all my eggs in one
basket.
I really wanted to startbuilding my own customer base.
Technically, my only customerwas this one little market.
I tried a little market pop-up.
That just it was.
It was fine, but it was just abit more stressed than I wanted.
(10:10):
You can tell I'm not.
I don't like being stressed, um, so, yeah, so I actually saw
some other people on Instagramdoing like a porch pickup model.
One of them was the early risein San Francisco they did this
(10:31):
porch pickup model and so I wentahead, I signed up.
There's this platform calledhot plate, which is actually the
great platform I think.
Have they been on your podcastbefore?
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, we talked to the CEO Rishi.
He shared a wonderful platform,yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So I got on that, I started using that and I had my
first porch pickup I think inMarch of 2023.
And I had three orders and Iwas so excited it just went on
from there.
I just kept it consistent.
So I was doing wholesale andporch pickups at the same time
(11:11):
and my end goal was to just doporch pickups, cause I knew,
like with my, the way my familyis, like my husband's, very,
very busy.
He's so supportive, but he hashis own business.
Um, and then I have my twogirls.
I just knew like the porchpickup model would be what's
best for our family If I couldjust be home and run my business
(11:33):
completely from home on my ownschedule and build up my own
customer base from that.
And so, yes, that's what Istarted doing and I did it every
single week.
So that was March.
I started some weeks.
I did not get any orders at alland I would still bake and then
reach out to my customers.
(11:53):
And, yeah, guess what people,if they found out you just baked
a fresh loaf of bread, they'llcome drive and pick it up and
pay for it.
Um so um, the biggest thing wasjust being consistent with that.
I wanted to be known as mycustomer's baker, their bread
(12:14):
baker.
So what happened was I got to apoint I was baking 50 loaves a
week out of my home oven and Iwas spent.
I was getting to that point ofbeing stressed again.
It's like baker burnout, rightwhen it's like I need to invest
in some more equipment to makethis more manageable so I could
(12:37):
make more money as well in lesstime.
And so it was October of 2023.
I invested in a bread oven verylarge investment, like $8,000.
I invested in a bread oven verylarge investment, like $8,000.
And I spent a couple other youknow few more grand like with
some other bakery equipment thatI couldn't have at home here.
(12:57):
And in that same week, um, I hadmy first like viral video and
it was me setting up for myporch pickup and since then I
think so I think I my hot platelike customer base was like 200
people at that point, and thenafter that week, it got up to
(13:20):
700 people.
So I've gained like 500customers that signed up to my
menu notifications like one week.
So that happened.
And then I also I didn't knowthis was a thing I had a my post
on Facebook marketplace goviral.
I didn't know that you couldget trending on Facebook
marketplace, but that's whathappened, so a lot of people
(13:40):
locally found me from that aswell, and I'm so thankful.
Um, I dropped wholesale cause,you know, like I said, push
pickup was my goal just to bakeonce a week, do it all from my
home, have customers come to me,meet my customers, and so I
dropped wholesale and ever sincethen, this is what I've been
(14:00):
doing every single week.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
That's amazing, and so now fast forward.
You're being profitable withyour sourdough, you're having
amazing success.
Your posts have gone viral andwith that comes questions.
So one of the things I alwaysrecommend to my students is to
scale, and you did thatbeautifully, because you got
started with digital products,which I love.
(14:25):
And so was there a fear of howdid you now, where you stepped
into the digital realm ofthinking, do I want to share my
recipes?
Should I?
Yes, Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Well, the thing about teaching is you're being very
vulnerable because it's likeyou're literally like am I
qualified to teach someone this?
Like what if my student doesbetter than me?
Like there's a lot of that typeof thing.
And so, literally, like, if youdecide you're going to teach
(14:57):
someone something you have to bewilling to like, let that go
Right, and like, let it go andlet all that self consciousness
go, let insecurity go, and just,you know what the best thing
you can do in life is pass onskills and, um, teach others.
(15:18):
You know what the gift that youhave in your hands and hope
that they do better than you.
And so I got asked a lot withthe, you know, my, my account
was growing and a lot of peoplewere asking me.
They were seeing that I wasteaching in-person classes and
they said are you going to takethis online?
I really want to learn from you.
(15:39):
Um, there's a lot of beginnersourdough resources out there,
but you know, people are drawnto certain teachers and so, for
my audience, I really wanted toput something out there where
they could learn sourdough justfrom scratch, and so I came out
with a digital product.
It's a $20 ebook Sourdough forBeginners a step-by-step guide
(16:00):
to making your first loaf.
That's all it is.
It's literally, it's not toocomplicated, it's just.
This is how you make your firstloaf and it's an overview of
understanding sourdough.
It's kind of like afoundational resource.
So I came out with that withDecember 2023.
And I think it's made like$13,000.
(16:23):
Whoa, that is awesome.
Yes, and so most of that wasright at the start.
You know, you know I get it.
You know, maybe once a day ittrickles in and some days a bit
a bit more orders Depends.
If I have a video, do reallywell, funny enough, sell more of
(16:44):
those.
But I just have the one, oneresource right now and I'm
working on some others for inthe future.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
But yeah, and I think that's so amazing because too
often people think you know thatthey have to sell, like
multiple recipes, or they haveto keep putting things out there
.
But you literally you'vegenerated over $13,000 in
additional revenue to yourbakery brand with just one $20
(17:14):
guide.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yep, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Oh my gosh, that is so amazing.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I'm so, I'm so thankful and it's amazing Like
the.
The number one thing is like Imade something like that exactly
fits my what my audience wanted.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, and you said it best too.
Everyone always has thatquestion of okay, well, it's
free or it's already out there,like why would someone buy from
me?
But it's because people buyfrom who they can relate to and
not everyone gives informationthe same.
So I love how you said it'slike it's step-by-step.
(17:50):
You walk your people throughand they have that one resource
where they can learn from seeingyou, and then take it to the
book and then learn how to learnhow to do it themselves.
And so from that guide, whatplatform do you sell your guide
on?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
It's just on my website.
I looked into Etsy and stuffand I thought I already have a
website that I'm paying for.
I'll just put it on there.
So that's what I'm not.
I'm not like a pro websiteperson.
I just use Wix.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I just I do too.
I use Wix, I love Wix.
We have an amazing Wix guy, andthat's awesome, because
sometimes it's just about doingthe best you can with what you
have.
Like you said, you already havea site, so there's no need in
investing both.
So what is your day-to-day looklike now in selling digital
products and being a cottagebaker?
(18:45):
What does a day in the lifelook like?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Okay.
So, honestly, the way, the wayI live my life is to have as
much downtime as I possibly can,and so I work really hard, like
three days a week basically.
Uh, well, two and a half days,so like from Tuesday afternoon
to Thursday evening I'm workingreally hard, and then the rest
(19:11):
of the week I'm with my familyand with my girls and we're
having fun, and so so basicallyTuesday afternoon I'm prepping
all my ingredients for prep day,which is Wednesday.
Tuesday afternoon I also I feedmy starter, I measure out all
my water and flour andeverything and salt.
(19:33):
Like I do everything so thatit's easy when I wake up in the
morning on Wednesday, I wake upat four or 5am and I mix my
dough.
I do about 130 bakes a week, sothat includes like bread and
like pizza bases and stuff, um,and so that's about how much I
(19:54):
can do right now and that isthat is a wonderful like over
100 loaves as just a one womanentrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
That is amazing.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, that's a good like to be able to do that
weekly.
Like I'm so thankful it's a lotof work, um, but I'm I'm
thankful that that consistency.
Now, wednesday, I'm preppingall day.
I've hired a baking assistant,which was one of the best things
that I did.
Like she does all the cleanup,the cookie dough packaging,
(20:26):
helps me weigh out loaves um,also, without her at this point
I wouldn't have time to make somuch content, and so she just
saves me a lot of hours withcleanup and stuff to where I can
put that into making contentand so, speaking of content, do
you notice any one post inparticular that helped you to
(20:47):
like, really sell your eBooks,or any one post that your
students like?
Yeah, um, when, basically, whenI talk about, okay, this is how
you make a sourdough loaf, um,those, definitely those do the
best because it is literallywhat my eBook is about.
(21:08):
And so when I, whenever Imentioned the ebook, it sells a
lot of like.
I post a lot of lifestylecontent as well, like what my
life looks like in the cottagebakery, and not every post is
meant to sell my ebook, right,um, and not all my posts do so.
I have noticed, in particular,ones that talk about my ebook,
(21:30):
or ones that are about like, howto make, actually how to make
that, or those are the.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
That's the content that I noticed that I've taken
sales, yeah, that's awesome, andso now, from this amazing guide
that you have, now you'reworking on another awesome
digital product resource foryour students, which is showing
them how they can host their owncommunity classes, which is
(21:57):
something I'm passionate aboutas well.
So, community sourdough classes.
So what will that resource looklike for your students, and
tell us what made you want toshare that one okay, so I hosted
I think it was 15 liveworkshops last year.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Um, particularly sourdough, right, because that's
what I do.
I had so many local peoplewanting to, wanting to learn
from me, and so I started doingworkshops.
I honestly was so stressedabout it when I was first doing
it.
It was a lot of just figuringthings out, but last year, 2023,
alone, with just doingworkshops, that added $15,000 to
(22:41):
my business.
Yes, yes, and most of that timeI was severely undercharging as
well.
Um, so I must how many?
I said I did 15 classes.
It was either.
It was between 15 and 20, umclasses, and and so I honestly,
I have so many cottage bakersthat follow me and my journey
(23:05):
and so many people are like, ask, you know, you can tell like
they wanted to know how I wasdoing classes.
They were in the same spot I waslast year trying to figure
things out, because people wantto learn from them too, and so I
wanted to put together aresource to show people how to
teach a sourdough class, and soit's a video workshop.
(23:27):
It's fully recorded, likemasterclass style kind of thing.
It's an all in one package,like giving you all the
resources for it, but it's alsolike teaching you how to come up
with your own class as well.
It is particularly sourdough.
Yeah, I know I'll get asked,asked questions can I do this?
If I have like a cookiebusiness and something it is, I
(23:49):
did make it for, in particular,how to host a sourdough workshop
, um.
So, yes, that's the.
That's a resource.
I'm excited.
It's.
It's honestly it's to addanother income stream to
people's cottage bakery business.
But even like stay-at-home momsthat know the skill of
(24:09):
sourdough there's so many peoplelike that out there and so, yes
, excited.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I love this for you.
I know your baking followers,your fans.
They're going to benefitbecause really that's the only
two ways that I found tohonestly scale within this realm
is either with teaching,teaching classes and teaching
digital products.
So your students woulddefinitely benefit from that.
(24:37):
And for all you sourdoughlovers, we will have all of
Sarah's information in the shownotes, so if you click it, you
will be able to go straight toher guide.
You'll also be able to go toher website so that you can join
her mailing list and get allthe details of when that course
drops.
And so, sarah, what advicewould you have for anyone who,
(24:58):
in their baking business, isthinking about a digital product
, but they're scared?
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I would ask you like why?
Why are you scared?
You kind of have to get to theroot of the problem.
For me, coming out with adigital product, I knew I was
being so vulnerable and I foundout the fear was out of a place
of insecurity, and so I was.
Honestly, I battled withinsecurity a lot of my life.
(25:28):
I'm kind of just I'm in myconfidence era right now, yeah,
and so a lot of it is justbelieving in yourself.
You have a gift that the worldneeds.
There is someone that is goinggonna thank god that you taught
them what.
What you taught them, it'sgonna impact people's lives.
(25:51):
Um, you have, you have thisgift in your hands and it's kind
of a selfish thing to keep thatto yourself, girl.
So, yeah, and some people justneed that little push, that
little encouragement, thatlittle bit of you know showing
them how to do it, which, amanda, I mean, that's what you do.
You help people with digitalresources, digital products, and
(26:14):
so it's like why not?
Speaker 1 (26:21):
happy that you opened up and decided to share your
gifts.
I know that your guide will beamazing and I know that your
video course is going to beawesome.
Also, sarah, from the bottom ofmy heart, thank you so much for
stopping by the podcast BeforeI let you go.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
We're going to play a quick game of lightning round.
Are you ready?
Okay, let's do it.
What is your favorite color?
Okay, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
What is your favorite color?
Blue.
What is your favorite kitchenutensil?
You cannot live without.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I love my Danish whisk, my dough whisk.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Do you have a celebrity crush?
Probably Ryan Reynolds.
I don't know All the.
Or the fox from Robin Hood.
Oh my gosh, it's always beenhim.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Okay.
What is a dessert you cannotlive without?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Oh, honestly, just okay, this is going to sound
weird, guys, but they're calledlicorice bullets.
It is dark chocolate coveredblack licorice and I I my mom
brings them from Australia.
Anyone who comes visits fromAustralia they know they bring
(27:39):
me so many of those, but that'ssomething I always have.
They don't sell them here, butthat's something I always have
in my pantry.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
I've never dipped my licorice, but that sounds good.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
It's good.
Yeah, well, it's an acquiredtaste.
It's an acquired taste.
I've heard I'm obsessed, butI've heard from other people,
like my husband, that it's anacquired taste.
What is your favorite book?
My favorite book?
Definitely the Hobbit.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Awesome and I believe we got through them all.
Sarah, from the bottom of myheart, thank you so much for
stopping by the podcast.
It was such a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Thank you All right you guys.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
So how amazing was Sarah.
I hope that you were trulyinspired by her story.
There are so many differentnuggets that I got from speaking
to Sarah that I'm sure willdefinitely help you guys as well
, and one of them is it's soamazing to see us evolve, not
just as bakers but as women,because what I really loved is
(28:45):
that how Sarah stated.
You know, she did wholesale,but when she wanted more, she
went for more Porch pickup.
She did porch pickup, but whenshe saw an opportunity to serve
more with the questions shereceived, she stepped into
digital products.
Now she has her guide, which Imean over $13,000 in sales on
one guide.
(29:05):
Oh my gosh.
I love that.
As a result, those are the typeof results that I love for my
students to have, and I knowthat if Sarah could do it, you
can do it too.
So all of her links below are inthe show notes.
I hope that she inspired you toall the sourdough people.
You better hop on her guide,because that's gonna be your
go-to to help you elevate yoursourdough people.
(29:26):
You better hop on her guidebecause that's going to be your
go-to to help you elevate yoursourdough and just all bakers in
general.
I hope that her story helpedyou to understand it's never too
late to start something new.
Go for your dreams and, ofcourse, why not go digital honey
?
And if that's you, then I wouldlove to invite you to Digital
Wealth for Bakers as well.
Digital Wealth for Bakers is anamazing online comprehensive
course where I would love toinvite you to Digital Wealth for
(29:47):
Bakers as well.
Digital Wealth for Bakers is anamazing online comprehensive
course where I would love to beyour personal guide.
There's different courses tohelp you start, grow and build
your digital product business.
We have an amazing supportivecommunity with other like-minded
six-figure baking entrepreneursthere helping and contributing
and making sure that everyone'squestions are answered, and it
(30:09):
is just such a beautiful placefor you to network with other
bakers and for me to literallyhold your hand while you make
your digital products.
So what's stopping you?
You can always visitwwwbakingforbusinesscom
backslash DWB to start workingwith me inside of Digital World
for Bakers, and I'll also addthe link to the show notes as
(30:31):
well.
Until then, thank you guys somuch for listening.
I pray this story inspired youand, as always, take care and
bye for now.
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