November 1, 2023 • 32 mins
Finding your niche can be hard for some but for Lady Berry Cupcakes it boils down to two things, fondant and cupcakes! Lady Berry Cupcakes is located in the UK and teaches online classes as well. This episode promises a treat as we are joined by the fantastic Farley, the founder of Lady Berry Cupcakes who has a love and passion for teaching others the joy of fondant and cupcakes.
Her sheer enthusiasm that she brings to her work is infectious, making it a pleasure to learn and listen to her. From beginners to seasoned bakers, Farley's online classes cater to all, offering tutorials on everything from basic lessons to festive classes.
In this episode we will learn:
- How she started her baking business
- How she markets her classes and passion on social media
- What obstacles she has overcome with putting herself out there
- How she teaches her community and grows her brand
Love Lady Berry Cupcakes? Check out her online school at https://www.summersonlineclasses.com/cookie-classes-to-cash
Two ways I help my students earn $2-10k monthly👇?
1.) Grow your home bakery business inside The Entrepreneur Community by clicking here
2.) Learn to sell digital products inside Digital Product Community by clicking here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg.
I started my baking businesswith a bottle of DeCerano and
one Bundt Cake Pan.
Fast forward to today, fromnews to magazines, speaking on
national stages and more.
I can truly say that baking haschanged my life.
So now, as a bakery businesscoach, I get to help others have
the same success.
I've helped hundreds of mystudents across the world in my
(00:24):
global membership program createsix-figure businesses, mainly
from home.
The Baking for Business podcastis an extension of that, from
actionable tips to valuabletools and resources that can
impact you as a business owner.
I truly believe y'all.
We would never have been givena gift if we couldn't profit and
prosper from it.
So come on, darling.
What are you waiting for?
(00:45):
Hey, what's going on, sweetfriends, and welcome back to the
Baking for Business podcast.
Today we have a special sweetyoung lady who's traveled all
the way from the UK to be herewith us today, virtually.
But today we're recording withLady Berry Cupcakes.
Farley is the founder of LadyBerry Cupcakes, which has group
(01:08):
classes, tons of classes, butshe is all about cupcakes, and
so you've probably seen herbeautiful pastel posts on your
feed.
But today she's going to talkabout how she got started, how
she grew her thriving onlinecommunity, as well as all things
teaching.
And so, farley, welcome to thepodcast.
How are you doing today,darling?
(01:29):
I'm good, thank you.
Thanks for having me, you'remore than welcome.
And so, before we get into youronline school, and because you
have over like 160 courses, youlove coming, I love it.
It's too many Too many.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I've got so many ideas in my brain and it's not
enough time to execute them, sothere's probably another hundred
classes in my brain.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Wow, that is so cool.
So how did you get started as abaker?
What got you interested inbaking?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
A complete accident.
I baked my boyfriend at thetime some cupcakes and he was
like these are so bad.
And I was like, wow, thanks.
And so I thought, okay, I'mjust not a baker.
And then as a joke for mybirthday he bought me a baking
class.
And I was like, haha, okay.
So I went along to the bakingclass, hated the baking, but
then we made it like a littleteddy bear to go on top of the
(02:17):
cake and I was like, oh, I lovethat bit.
And then it kind of took offfrom there.
Then a friend of mine herdaughter, was having a birthday
party and the party entertainercancelled last minute.
She was like Farley, I don'tknow what to do.
I've got 12 kids coming to thehouse on Saturday.
I don't know what to do withthem.
And I was like why don't wejust like decorate some cakes
together?
And literally it started fromthere Her daughter's birthday
(02:39):
party and I was like this is somuch fun decorating cakes with
kids.
And I was like brilliant.
And I just started likeadvertising that to my friends
and my family and saying I wasdoing it.
And then I think a friend washaving a hen party.
I was like let's decoratenaughty cupcakes and I just had
the best time ever and theywould kind of give me some nice
feedback saying it was reallygood fun and I was quite good at
(03:00):
it.
So it just took off from there.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Really, that's awesome, and so you sold your
baked goods in the beginning.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
I did.
I felt like that's what I hadto do, because I just looked at
what other people were doing andI was okay.
So if I do this, I have toprovide wedding cakes, I have to
provide cookies, I have toprovide cake pops, which are
like my absolute nemesis.
So I took myself off andstarted playing with all these
things, thinking I had to doeverything, and very quickly
realized that hated the baking,really hated baking.
(03:31):
I'm like okay, so I want to dothis, but I hate the baking side
of things.
So what am I going to do?
So I did.
I did like four wedding cakes.
They turned me gray overnightbecause it was so stressful and
I thought I can't do this,that's not fun.
And so I just experimented withdifferent things and then more
and more people liked mycupcakes and I enjoyed doing
that much more.
(03:51):
So I just carried on doing thatand I started baking for orders
and then I think I gotinquiries saying oh, these are
really cute, could you teach meand my friends how to do that?
And it just kind of evolvedfrom there.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Really, I like that because too often people will
stick to doing something evenwhen it doesn't make them happy.
So I liked how you were adamantand saying you know, hey, the
wedding cakes, all this, like itisn't my thing, but you were
comfortable doing your thing,which is just more so the
decorating and stuff like that.
And so what got you intoteaching?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Well, as I said, people were interested and were
asking me for different eventsand I always wanted to be a
primary school teacher which islike a kindergarten teacher
because I really loved youngerkids and they've got such great
energy.
But I'm dyslexic and I couldn'tget my maths in English enough
to do a teacher's degree.
So I was told, no, you cannever be a teacher.
And I kind of went off andscuttled off and did something
(04:48):
else instead and then I kind ofstarted with the baking and got
into it and thought actually Icould be a cupcake teacher.
I don't have to have my mathsin English for being a cupcake
teacher.
And it just evolved from thereand I just started thinking
about how I could make it into abusiness.
I never thought.
When I was told I couldn't be aprimary school teacher, I was
like, oh my God, what am I goingto do?
You know, it put a real spannerin the works.
(05:10):
But actually I soon realizedthat I can do whatever I want to
do and what I wanted to do wassomething that made me happy.
Every single day it soundsreally knit and naff, but
actually just doing somethingthat made me smile and I enjoyed
so much is what it's all aboutfor me, and the more I did it,
the more hen parties I did, themore classes I did.
(05:31):
I just and even now it's likenine years on and the other
night I was messing around withFonda at 11 o'clock at night.
I'm so obsessed with it that Iknow it's my passion and I just
I feel so lucky that I found itbecause it just makes me really,
really happy.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
That is a blessing.
I love the smile on your face.
If you guys could see it, it'sjust a big, big, huge smile.
But you can tell that you'rereally passionate about cupcakes
and fondant and so you'realways doing like fondant, just
modeling it and making it looksome different type of way.
And so do you remember yeah, Doyou remember your very first
(06:09):
class that you uploaded to youronline community?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I think it was a free Taster class.
I think it was actually thepumpkin class that I just put on
my Instagram yesterday and Ithought, oh my God, maybe I
should redo that because that'sreally, really old and I just
wanted to see how susceptiblepeople were to an online class
and lots of people took it andthen they started making it and
I was like, but they didn't.
They people were worried thatthey couldn't make it for their
customers.
I'm like, no, I'm teaching youas maybe a small business owner,
(06:37):
so you can make these for yourcustomers.
People worry that the designsthey can't then use for their
customers, but that's the wholepoint.
My majority of my audience maybe70% of my audience had their
own small baking business and Iwant to be the person that
provides them with designs andstyles, and so their customers
love their cupcakes even more.
They're probably the bestbakers in the world.
And then sometimes theystruggle with the sugarcrafting.
(06:58):
That's where I come in, so I'mjust about the sugarcrafting.
Of course, I have to bake thecupcakes, unfortunately, in
order to do the cupcake classes,but I'm all about the fondant,
and I know there's lots and lotsof people that hate fondant.
Don't get on with it at all, butI love like miniature tiny tea
cups and teapots and the tiniestridiculous flowers which is
bonkers, because I've got thechubbiest fingers in the world.
So it's like I'm challengingmyself to make tiny detail.
(07:21):
But I'm obsessed with it evennow and I think, oh, should I
get into polytale?
Should I make dolls, houseminiatures and things like that?
There's so many different waysyou can go with if you're good
at creating stuff like that.
So yeah, I do worry I'm goingto run out of ideas, but I
haven't yet, and it's nine yearson.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
That is amazing.
And so for anyone else who isinto fondant because Farley is
all about fondant when youscroll on her site you'll see
she has classes for beginners,classes for special occasion,
classes for festive or fondantmodeling, and so you can just
scroll and see all the differenttypes of things she has.
And I really do like it because, like you stated, there are
(08:03):
classes like when baking andstuff like that.
But just to really hone in onfondant, that's awesome because
you can really help people withsomething that a lot of people
in our industry struggle with.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, for sure, and I think a lot of people struggle
with it, and they because theydon't have the basic skills to
start with.
So I always try to teach peoplethat actually you don't need
fancy fondant, you don't needfancy tools.
I teach so many of my onlineclasses are just using your
hands.
There may be like three or fourtools, but people think they're
going to have to buy a wholebunch of tools and that's not
the idea at all and it wasn'tintentional.
(08:35):
That's just the way I design myfondant toppers by using your
hands, and you can create a lotof them easily.
People look at something andthink, oh my gosh, that's so
complicated, that's going totake me hours, but it really
doesn't.
When you break the shapes downand I think that's a lot of
feedback I get from my studentsis when they come to class they
look on the table and think, ohmy gosh, I'm never going to be
able to make those.
And then three hours laterthey're like, oh, I made those
(08:58):
and they're so happy and realize, actually you break every
single shape down, put themtogether and they're beautiful.
And of course, it doesn't takethree hours to do the online
classes because they're quickdetails but coming to an
intricate class, you can achievereally beautiful things, and
when you're starting out andyou're beginning of course it
takes a little bit longer, butthe more you get into using
(09:19):
fondant, the more you realizehow it can be quick and you can
make beautiful, beautiful thingsthat nobody else has ever made,
which is so lovely, becausethere's a lot of people
repeating stuff, which Iunderstand.
If you're not a creative person, it's hard to come up with
unique designs, whereas I feelI've got the capability to bring
in something new, and I'malways trying to find something
new, and that's what I feel like.
(09:40):
I can offer people somethingunique that their customers have
never seen before, and then thecustomers are going to come
back to them because it'ssomething really special.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Absolutely, and that's another thing that you
mentioned.
You don't just do the onlineclasses, you also do workshops.
You have family workshops, liveworkshops, so tell us about the
workshops that you offer in theUK.
How fun is that, and what doyou walk your customers through?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Oh, I absolutely love .
So I do hen parties, which arehilarious, and by the time I get
there they've usually had aglass of prosecco or two.
So I offer those, which arereally good fun.
I do children's birthdayparties every weekend and every
party is different and everyparty is just a lot of fun, very
loud, and I try not to let themeat too many sprinkles or too
(10:26):
much fun, so they're not toohigh by the time I leave.
So that's every weekend.
I do group classes in London andI also do things like in care
homes.
I go to elderly people in carehomes and it's lovely to teach
them because it's somethingcreative and something fun and
they just they're so happy andthey're just creating something
and it's I do simple design, soit's achievable.
(10:47):
And then they get to eat thecakes and their little smiles is
lovely.
I do team building events inthe city, so I've taught bankers
.
They're like Halloween classes,you know when they want
something fun to do for a teambuilding event.
And of course the guys getreally competitive over a
cupcake.
I don't know how they managethat, but they do.
And then I do a lot of one toone private tuition with
students in the UK and then Iget international students
(11:09):
coming to London and they comeand book me for private, private
tuition Monday to Friday,sometimes five days, two days,
one class.
It's such a variety.
I think every week is differentand that's what I really love
about my job Meeting lovelypeople that come back again and
again is such a joy.
Like a lady came from where wasshe?
Brazil, maybe?
And she said, farley, when Ihave a daughter or her child,
(11:32):
I'm going to come bring her toclass.
And I said, okay, yeah, thatwould be lovely, thinking she'll
never come again.
Six years later she was like,hey, farley, I'm coming to
London, can I bring my daughter?
And I was like, oh my gosh, andit was just like the sweetest
thing ever and I love thatbecause that creates a real warm
sense of community and that'swhat I'm all about with my
business just just making aspace for people to feel like
(11:55):
they can ask me any questions,they can learn and grow, and to
bring their kids.
It's just so lovely and I loveit when maybe I do a group class
or private tuition and somebodybrings their mom.
And I've had a family thatbrought their grandmother, the
mom, the daughter and herdaughter.
So four generations.
That was amazing.
So I just, I just love teaching.
It just makes me so happyseeing my students faces at the
(12:19):
end of their class when theydon't think they can achieve
something like that and they can.
Best feeling ever.
And I'm still not bored of it.
After nine years of teaching, Istill get high from that.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
That's amazing.
I think that's the gift ofentrepreneurship.
You know, when you're walkingin your passion and you find
something that lights you up,you just you don't get tired of
it.
You know we go to bed thinkingabout I'm sure you probably fall
asleep thinking about fondant.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
I was dreaming about fondant last night and I was
like, oh my God, it's 4am, whyare you thinking about fondant?
I was thinking, oh, I could dothese pastel pumpkins in a stack
and I'm like just switch offand go to sleep.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I love these pastel pumpkins.
That sounds so cute.
I like the pink, and especiallywith October.
Oh, that's so adorable.
So she actually has a littleturquoise one that she's showing
.
That is so cute because inOctober is also breast cancer
awareness month and we callboobs pumpkins.
I've got the best pumpkins ever.
(13:16):
My pump, my pumpkin Pumpkinshurt my back.
I wish they were a littlesmaller, but you need some
pumpkins.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You need some tiny ones like these.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Absolutely.
That is so adorable, but thatthat that is a lot.
And one of the things youmentioned because I know my mom
was elderly when I cared for herthe senior teaching seniors.
I think that's a market that alot of people don't tap into,
because we have nursing homes,assistant homes and people who
are living in home care andthose people they love
(13:50):
activities just like, just likewe do.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
And it's such a pleasure to teach them because
they're just, you know, theyprobably a lot of these places
don't get an awful lot ofvariety.
So to go into and do somethinglike a Christmas theme or
something like I'm going to dosome volunteering up the road
because they haven't got thefunding to pay me, and that's,
that's something that it's quitehard to do in the current
climate because the cost ofingredients, of course, is sky
(14:14):
high.
But the joy that brings me anddoing something at Christmas
time and seeing their littlefaces and making like a little
pink, pink Santa Claus not redSanta Claus, a little pink Santa
Claus, or you know, just I, I,that's such a privilege for me
to get to teach them and I justI can't tell you how lovely it
is and to to you know.
Then then sometimes they callback and they want something for
(14:35):
Easter or they want somethingfor I don't know, for the summer
or just a summer activity.
But the sound thing is a lot ofthese places now don't have
funding for extra activitieslike that.
So it's, it's.
There's only so muchvolunteering you can do as a
small business, but it issomething that I really, really
want to do a bit more of as wellin the future, if I can.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Absolutely definitely a heart to serve there, so for
sure.
And your work has been featuredin cake masters.
You've been featured a coupletimes.
That's just how passionate youare about your fondant, and so
tell us about that.
How does it feel to bepublished as a teacher and just
to have your work featured?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
It's so exciting and I can't help being a bit naughty
and I go into supermarketswhere the magazine is sometimes
and I kind of go in and justopen the page where I'm on and I
just perfectly leave it open onthe shelf and I take a little
video of it and it just it justfeels amazing and I have each
magazine I've ever been in.
I just have a little stack ofthem because, you know, those
(15:35):
days where you feel a bit likeoh, really struggling, to say,
having a really tough time, andthen I'll just pick up a
magazine, like look what you did.
You did that.
You're in a supermarket allover the UK and online all over
the world potentially sometimes,and I did that, and so it's
that little pep talk and youjust kind of have those little
reminders that just keep yougoing when you feel a little bit
(15:55):
, a little bit blue or you'restruggling a little bit.
So, yeah, it's amazing.
And I do tell my, my students tobe reasonable, just to say,
like, reach out to the magazines.
The worst thing they're goingto say is no, you know, but you
could just be in the back of youknow, they have a little album
of people's cakes there or youcould offer to feature something
or make something and, you know, just start talking to these
(16:15):
magazines.
But I'm aware that a lot of themagazines recently have had to
close down, which is a realshame.
So the Masters reach out to me,which is lovely, and I'm very,
very lucky to do that, becausethat's a really nice feeling,
because then you reaching maybefamilies or other people that
you may not reach ordinarilythrough my own platforms.
So, yeah, you just get thatexposure as well, which is
(16:35):
lovely.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
You have a love for fondant and it shows on your
feet, it shows when you talk.
But there are so many otherpeople who have a love or a
passion and they're afraid toput themselves out there, either
because they're afraid to golive, they're afraid to show
their face.
And so how do you overcomeBecause I know personally you've
(16:58):
shared a few things that you'vegone through how do you
overcome just putting yourselfout there as entrepreneur and a
business owner?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Initially, I never put my face out there.
I never put my face on mybusiness, even on your website,
and you have a little picture ofyourself.
I was like, do I have to dothat bit?
Can I just put my name?
I didn't even want to put myfull name, and I soon realized
that actually, the way toconnect with my audience and
reach out to people was by beingmyself, and that was the way
(17:28):
that I could talk to people andthey become familiar with you.
And that whole way of buildinga community is by talking to
people and then recognize you,and then when they come to class
, they're like oh my God, I feellike I know you, and so I kind
of experimented with it for alittle bit and then I realized
how powerful that was, and nowmy face is all over my Instagram
.
I'm pretty probably sick of myface, but I think it's really,
(17:52):
really powerful, and Iunderstand that people are shy,
but if you want the growth thatis something that I always try
to tell people Just put yourface out, even if it starts with
a photograph, and just say hi,my name's this and I've been
teaching for this long, becausethat's your unique selling point
.
Nobody else can be you.
And it's that, that that clichewhere where people always try
(18:13):
to stand out from the crowd, I'mlike but you have you, nobody
else has you, and that is howyou will stand out from the
crowd.
And even if you're notconfident on camera, just
practice, just practice withyour friends, practice creating
videos that no one sees, andthen the more you do that, the
more confident you'll be, evenif you set it up that you do it
once a week.
You didn't have to necessarilygo live I don't really like
(18:34):
going live, but I'll do it withmy hands, but not with my face.
But just just set yourself afew goals and you'll realize
that it's not that scary andactually people will start
relating to you more and thenthey feel familiar with you.
Then when they want a cake orthey want some cookies, they're
going to come to you becausethey remember you and they
relate to you.
And I feel like the more I talkto my audience, the more they
(18:55):
kind of relate to me.
And I started sharing thingsabout like my dyslexia.
And then I got alopeciarecently and my hair was falling
out and I was like, well, howam I going to do this?
Because that was a really bigdeal for me behind the scenes
and I thought, well, every dayI'm going to appear differently.
And then I discovered wigs andI was like, oh my God, this is
amazing, I can be differentevery day.
(19:15):
And I thought, well, how am Igoing to do that?
Because how am I going totransition that online for
social media?
Because every day I'm going tohave different hair.
Because I discovered bobs and Idiscovered brown hair and
blonde hair and me talking aboutthat.
I had to tell them because theywere seeing me with different
hair every day and they're like,well, what's going on here?
And so actually, me opening upand I did a video saying this is
(19:36):
what's happening to me rightnow and I'm just going to tell
you, because every day you'regoing to see me with different
hair and I'm just embracing it.
And the amount of people thatthen messaged me behind the
scenes and I had an opportunityto start communicating with them
and talking to them.
And then they were talkingabout their business and how
stressful that is.
So I feel like it's.
My community is about cupcakesand baking and running a baking
(19:57):
business, but it's also aboutbuilding friendships and a
really lovely community and Ithink that's the biggest thing
for me and my business iscreating a fun community where
I'm sharing not just selling mycakes, but sharing tips and
tricks and just being funny andhaving a bit of a laugh with my
audience as well and giving theman opportunity to ask questions
(20:18):
and share things.
And you know, I tried to do ashout out every now and again
other pages, small businessesbecause we know we've been in
the industry a bit longer andhow hard it is to come up behind
us.
So as somebody who's been inthe industry for a while, it's
nice to help those smallerbusinesses because we were there
once.
So that's what I'm reallypassionate about as well behind
the scenes.
I just feel like there's notenough time to do everything.
All my ideas I have in my brainof how I can help people, I
(20:42):
just don't have enough time toexecute them.
And I don't know about you, butI've tried to hire people to
help me do stuff.
But by the time I've hired themand told them what to do, I may
have well done it myself and Ijust think they can't be me.
So I have to find a way tomanage my time and do everything
myself as much as possible,apart from accounts so you can
get a accountant or whatever butthe actual social media side of
(21:05):
things, I just take control ofmyself.
Sometimes I get a bit frustratedwith it, but I post too much.
Anyway, I get totally excited,I get too much content and post
too much and too often, but I'mjust, I'm always trying to learn
the right balance for me andjust leave posts to just be seen
rather than, oh, I've got topost every four hours Like no,
you don't.
(21:25):
So I'm still learning.
I've been doing it well, butI'm still learning of what I
need to do as opposed to what Iwant to do.
But I do like I love thatengagement with people and
chatting and DMs.
I spend a lot of time in my DMsjust chatting to my students,
which is I just think maybe Ineed to set aside time just to
do that rather than taking thatout of my day.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I totally understand.
I'm very personal.
The same city, I love DM andchatting my students, but you
hit it on the head, though.
It is about community and thatis what we're there for to build
and to foster community.
And also congrats to you,because so many people they
don't want to go live, theydon't want to show their face,
they don't want to tell theirstory but, as I mentioned
(22:08):
earlier, there's only one.
You like, we can all do thesame cupcakes.
We may all do the same fondant,but we all don't have the same
face.
We all don't have the sametrials and tribulations and
struggles.
And so when you showed up andwhen you share that, I remember
I saw the post.
I thought, wow, this is likethat's the post that stood out
to me, that made me say, ok, letme invite her on the podcast.
(22:28):
Like we all do the same work,but what's the story there, when
you actually have something tosay that can inspire and
motivate someone, even if it'slike you were saying, hey, look,
I don't know what the hell I'mgoing to look like every day,
I'm just here letting you knowthis is what I'm going through.
It is what it is.
People can relate to that,because I think too often we're
trying to be picture perfect onInstagram, we're trying to
(22:49):
always act like we have, we haveour ish together, or that
there's this work life balance,which it never really is.
It's hard to balance the twoand in the midst we can't just
show up and be human.
And so I love the human aspectthat you show on your page and
you have so many classes.
(23:10):
So how many students have youtaught over over the years?
Speaker 2 (23:15):
I don't know.
I mean nine years of teaching.
I teach every weekend.
I teach every week.
I don't know.
I was thinking over the day.
How many cupcakes have I bakedLike over nine years?
I mean I probably bake 300cupcakes every Monday.
I put them in the freezer and Ijust pull them out as I need
them.
That's a lot of cupcakes.
I did celebrate my 1000 cupcakeparty children's party the
(23:36):
other day.
Wow, I started teaching partiesin about seven years ago.
A thousand parties.
I'm like that's a lot.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, that is.
That is 1000 parties in sevenyears.
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, because I mean I only do those at weekends
because they're in school andthen they're in the summer.
They're not here.
Half turn they disappear.
I do do family workshops inhalf turn, but it's a kind of
hit and miss sometimes,depending whether because my
clients generally are peoplewith money sometimes and they
always head off for the summeror a head off for half turn.
So that varies.
But that's a great thing to doas well, because then you get
(24:13):
the families coming along, whichis lovely.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Absolutely.
What tips do you have foranyone else out there who wants
to teach fondant or who wants totake their love of the craft
and maybe start having in personclasses in their community or
online classes?
What advice would you have tosomeone?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, just do it.
There's so many things, likeeven running a baking business,
the amount of people that wantto do it, or it's a dream of
theirs and they don't even try.
And there's like that winningthe poo phrase I can't remember
what it is, but it's like if youdon't try, you'll never know if
you're going to succeed or not.
And it's like I'd rather trysomething and it not work.
And then I go okay, I'll changedirection.
But a lot of people have anidea but they never try and
(24:55):
execute it.
And that could be what is theirpassion, that could be their
forte, what they're really goodat.
So just go for experiment.
If you're not sure, justexperiment with a group of
friends or a group of mumfriends.
Get them over one evening toyour house and just put them
around your dining room tableand say, okay, I'm just going to
try this out and give me somefeedback at the end.
And that's what I did with myfriends.
(25:15):
I just said, okay, this is myidea, I'm going to give it a go,
just pretend I'm a professionalteacher and then give me some
feedback at the end.
And they did.
They were a bit rude.
They were like Molly, you can'tkeep tidying up everybody's
tools at the table.
So I'm like I've learned to siton my hands and not rearrange
people's cupcakes in their boxesso they look organized, like
things like that.
Just I've learned to sit backand you know, not do that kind
(25:37):
of stuff but just go for it,like just go for it and be
yourself and find what it is youreally love.
Like I said at the beginning, Ithought I had to do everything
and I realized actually thatmade me unhappy.
Trying to do a big cake is notmy thing.
Trying to do cookies, cake popsyuck.
And my heart is with cupcakesand that's what makes me happy
(26:00):
on a daily basis.
So do that, it's okay.
It's better to be really goodat one thing than be semi good
at three or four things.
And I feel like a lot of people, like I did at the beginning,
feel like you have to offer somuch when actually you don't.
You can be the best at cakepops, you can be the best at
cookies and I just feel likeI've just focused on cupcakes
(26:20):
for the last eight years and Ijust love it and there's just so
many ways you can go with it.
Even now there's so manydifferent ideas that I've got,
you know.
So if you can be creative andjust imaginative, then you can
just do whatever you like andmake it work.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
That is so true.
It is always so much better.
Like they say, the riches arein the niches, and it's better
to go deeper and to serve and todo something that you're truly
passionate about than to go wideand to do a bunch of different
things that are pulling.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
You never really master it, if you are so many, I
mean if you had a lot of time,maybe you could master three or
four things, but you'll never bethe best at something that you
could possibly be, and I feellike, actually, then you get
known for being that person.
You get known for being thatamazing cookie artist as opposed
to somebody just of aseverything that's all a bit
average, absolutely.
(27:12):
That is amazing advice.
You are so awesome.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
I'm so happy that we got to have you here and to just
hear your story and yourevolution over all these years
Before I let you go.
Are you ready to play a game ofLightning Round?
All right then.
All right, let's do it.
Farley, what is your favoritecolor?
(27:37):
What do you think it is?
It's pink.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
But not just pink.
It has to be a blush pink, likeit has to be that warm,
charming.
Yeah, it's a certain type ofpink, not just a not very good
bit like the really brightfluorescent pink or anything
like that has to be a soft,feminine blush Feminine blush.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Okay, I'll take it.
What is a dessert?
You cannot live without Dessert.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Can I have two?
Yes, go for it.
Coconut ice cream and banoffeepie.
So good.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Oh, that sounds so delicious.
I love it.
Well, who is your celebritycrush?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Oh, I don't have one.
I kind of like it's likesprinkles.
I take a little bit of JasonMomoa.
I take a little bit of LL CoolJ, because he's cheeky.
Jason Momoa is like a big,chunky chocolate chip, like
solid man.
And then Louis Theroux I don'tknow if you know him.
He's like a British, what doyou call it?
He makes documentaries.
He's like I don't know.
(28:43):
He's like his wit.
He's very quick, witted andsarcastic and I like that.
And then a little sprinkle ofIdris maybe, so like a little
sprinkle of people.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Is that okay?
That's okay.
Multiple men are fine.
That's awesome, all right.
What is your favorite book?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Oh, I just read a book which is very not like me,
but it was called Interthineurby John Crackauer and it was so
good.
It was about the climb toEverest and how they came as a
team and I don't know.
I don't have a favorite book, Ijust like to read a variety of
different biographies, or yeah,I just like whatever.
(29:24):
I'm about to go on vacation andI've got like some fiction
books, I've got some nonfiction,so yeah, anything that just
will hold my interest.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yeah, cool beans.
And lastly, what is yourfavorite kitchen utensil?
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Can a cup of a cup for tea be a kitchen utensil?
I always have to have a cup oftea, very British, I don't
really.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Can a cake decorating tool set be a utensil, you know
, like the one that does thelittle things that should the
ball.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Just like any Dresden tool, any little tool that I
can make my miniatures with.
I can't live without those setof eight tools.
They are my life.
If I didn't have those Icouldn't make what I make.
So, yeah, and I do love a blushspatula, but I'm sure lots of
people say spatulas, yeah, soyou love.
So greedy, I can't decide onone thing ever.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
It's okay.
And for those who are in the UKwho would possibly like to take
a one on one with you or learnmore about you, share with us
your website so people can getmore information.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Sure Thanks, amanda, it's ladyberrycupcakescouk.
You can find everything onthere.
And then I virtually live onInstagram and I'm on Pinterest
and TikTok and Facebook, but ifyou want to find me, I'm
probably hiding on Instagramsomewhere, so most people will
find me there.
And then the online school isattached to the website.
You just go to the website andgo to online classes and all the
(30:50):
classes that are there for you.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Awesome.
I love it From the bottom of mylittle heart.
Thank you so much for coming ontoday.
I really appreciate you sharingyour story.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
You're so welcome.
Thanks for inviting me.
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg.
I started my baking businesswith a bottle of DeCerano and
one Bundt Cake Pan.
Fast forward to today, fromnews to magazines, speaking on
national stages and more.
I can truly say that baking haschanged my life.
So now, as a bakery businesscoach, I get to help others have
the same success.
I've helped hundreds of mystudents across the world in my
(00:24):
global membership program createsix-figure businesses, mainly
from home.
The Baking for Business podcastis an extension of that, from
actionable tips to valuabletools and resources that can
impact you as a business owner.
I truly believe y'all.
We would never have been givena gift if we couldn't profit and
prosper from it.
So come on, darling.
What are you waiting for?
(00:45):
Hey, what's going on, sweetfriends, and welcome back to the
Baking for Business podcast.
Today we have a special sweetyoung lady who's traveled all
the way from the UK to be herewith us today, virtually.
But today we're recording withLady Berry Cupcakes.
Farley is the founder of LadyBerry Cupcakes, which has group
(01:08):
classes, tons of classes, butshe is all about cupcakes, and
so you've probably seen herbeautiful pastel posts on your
feed.
But today she's going to talkabout how she got started, how
she grew her thriving onlinecommunity, as well as all things
teaching.
And so, farley, welcome to thepodcast.
How are you doing today,darling?
(01:29):
I'm good, thank you.
Thanks for having me, you'remore than welcome.
And so, before we get into youronline school, and because you
have over like 160 courses, youlove coming, I love it.
It's too many Too many.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I've got so many ideas in my brain and it's not
enough time to execute them, sothere's probably another hundred
classes in my brain.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Wow, that is so cool.
So how did you get started as abaker?
What got you interested inbaking?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
A complete accident.
I baked my boyfriend at thetime some cupcakes and he was
like these are so bad.
And I was like, wow, thanks.
And so I thought, okay, I'mjust not a baker.
And then as a joke for mybirthday he bought me a baking
class.
And I was like, haha, okay.
So I went along to the bakingclass, hated the baking, but
then we made it like a littleteddy bear to go on top of the
(02:17):
cake and I was like, oh, I lovethat bit.
And then it kind of took offfrom there.
Then a friend of mine herdaughter, was having a birthday
party and the party entertainercancelled last minute.
She was like Farley, I don'tknow what to do.
I've got 12 kids coming to thehouse on Saturday.
I don't know what to do withthem.
And I was like why don't wejust like decorate some cakes
together?
And literally it started fromthere Her daughter's birthday
(02:39):
party and I was like this is somuch fun decorating cakes with
kids.
And I was like brilliant.
And I just started likeadvertising that to my friends
and my family and saying I wasdoing it.
And then I think a friend washaving a hen party.
I was like let's decoratenaughty cupcakes and I just had
the best time ever and theywould kind of give me some nice
feedback saying it was reallygood fun and I was quite good at
(03:00):
it.
So it just took off from there.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Really, that's awesome, and so you sold your
baked goods in the beginning.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
I did.
I felt like that's what I hadto do, because I just looked at
what other people were doing andI was okay.
So if I do this, I have toprovide wedding cakes, I have to
provide cookies, I have toprovide cake pops, which are
like my absolute nemesis.
So I took myself off andstarted playing with all these
things, thinking I had to doeverything, and very quickly
realized that hated the baking,really hated baking.
(03:31):
I'm like okay, so I want to dothis, but I hate the baking side
of things.
So what am I going to do?
So I did.
I did like four wedding cakes.
They turned me gray overnightbecause it was so stressful and
I thought I can't do this,that's not fun.
And so I just experimented withdifferent things and then more
and more people liked mycupcakes and I enjoyed doing
that much more.
(03:51):
So I just carried on doing thatand I started baking for orders
and then I think I gotinquiries saying oh, these are
really cute, could you teach meand my friends how to do that?
And it just kind of evolvedfrom there.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Really, I like that because too often people will
stick to doing something evenwhen it doesn't make them happy.
So I liked how you were adamantand saying you know, hey, the
wedding cakes, all this, like itisn't my thing, but you were
comfortable doing your thing,which is just more so the
decorating and stuff like that.
And so what got you intoteaching?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Well, as I said, people were interested and were
asking me for different eventsand I always wanted to be a
primary school teacher which islike a kindergarten teacher
because I really loved youngerkids and they've got such great
energy.
But I'm dyslexic and I couldn'tget my maths in English enough
to do a teacher's degree.
So I was told, no, you cannever be a teacher.
And I kind of went off andscuttled off and did something
(04:48):
else instead and then I kind ofstarted with the baking and got
into it and thought actually Icould be a cupcake teacher.
I don't have to have my mathsin English for being a cupcake
teacher.
And it just evolved from thereand I just started thinking
about how I could make it into abusiness.
I never thought.
When I was told I couldn't be aprimary school teacher, I was
like, oh my God, what am I goingto do?
You know, it put a real spannerin the works.
(05:10):
But actually I soon realizedthat I can do whatever I want to
do and what I wanted to do wassomething that made me happy.
Every single day it soundsreally knit and naff, but
actually just doing somethingthat made me smile and I enjoyed
so much is what it's all aboutfor me, and the more I did it,
the more hen parties I did, themore classes I did.
(05:31):
I just and even now it's likenine years on and the other
night I was messing around withFonda at 11 o'clock at night.
I'm so obsessed with it that Iknow it's my passion and I just
I feel so lucky that I found itbecause it just makes me really,
really happy.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
That is a blessing.
I love the smile on your face.
If you guys could see it, it'sjust a big, big, huge smile.
But you can tell that you'rereally passionate about cupcakes
and fondant and so you'realways doing like fondant, just
modeling it and making it looksome different type of way.
And so do you remember yeah, Doyou remember your very first
(06:09):
class that you uploaded to youronline community?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I think it was a free Taster class.
I think it was actually thepumpkin class that I just put on
my Instagram yesterday and Ithought, oh my God, maybe I
should redo that because that'sreally, really old and I just
wanted to see how susceptiblepeople were to an online class
and lots of people took it andthen they started making it and
I was like, but they didn't.
They people were worried thatthey couldn't make it for their
customers.
I'm like, no, I'm teaching youas maybe a small business owner,
(06:37):
so you can make these for yourcustomers.
People worry that the designsthey can't then use for their
customers, but that's the wholepoint.
My majority of my audience maybe70% of my audience had their
own small baking business and Iwant to be the person that
provides them with designs andstyles, and so their customers
love their cupcakes even more.
They're probably the bestbakers in the world.
And then sometimes theystruggle with the sugarcrafting.
(06:58):
That's where I come in, so I'mjust about the sugarcrafting.
Of course, I have to bake thecupcakes, unfortunately, in
order to do the cupcake classes,but I'm all about the fondant,
and I know there's lots and lotsof people that hate fondant.
Don't get on with it at all, butI love like miniature tiny tea
cups and teapots and the tiniestridiculous flowers which is
bonkers, because I've got thechubbiest fingers in the world.
So it's like I'm challengingmyself to make tiny detail.
(07:21):
But I'm obsessed with it evennow and I think, oh, should I
get into polytale?
Should I make dolls, houseminiatures and things like that?
There's so many different waysyou can go with if you're good
at creating stuff like that.
So yeah, I do worry I'm goingto run out of ideas, but I
haven't yet, and it's nine yearson.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
That is amazing.
And so for anyone else who isinto fondant because Farley is
all about fondant when youscroll on her site you'll see
she has classes for beginners,classes for special occasion,
classes for festive or fondantmodeling, and so you can just
scroll and see all the differenttypes of things she has.
And I really do like it because, like you stated, there are
(08:03):
classes like when baking andstuff like that.
But just to really hone in onfondant, that's awesome because
you can really help people withsomething that a lot of people
in our industry struggle with.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, for sure, and I think a lot of people struggle
with it, and they because theydon't have the basic skills to
start with.
So I always try to teach peoplethat actually you don't need
fancy fondant, you don't needfancy tools.
I teach so many of my onlineclasses are just using your
hands.
There may be like three or fourtools, but people think they're
going to have to buy a wholebunch of tools and that's not
the idea at all and it wasn'tintentional.
(08:35):
That's just the way I design myfondant toppers by using your
hands, and you can create a lotof them easily.
People look at something andthink, oh my gosh, that's so
complicated, that's going totake me hours, but it really
doesn't.
When you break the shapes downand I think that's a lot of
feedback I get from my studentsis when they come to class they
look on the table and think, ohmy gosh, I'm never going to be
able to make those.
And then three hours laterthey're like, oh, I made those
(08:58):
and they're so happy and realize, actually you break every
single shape down, put themtogether and they're beautiful.
And of course, it doesn't takethree hours to do the online
classes because they're quickdetails but coming to an
intricate class, you can achievereally beautiful things, and
when you're starting out andyou're beginning of course it
takes a little bit longer, butthe more you get into using
(09:19):
fondant, the more you realizehow it can be quick and you can
make beautiful, beautiful thingsthat nobody else has ever made,
which is so lovely, becausethere's a lot of people
repeating stuff, which Iunderstand.
If you're not a creative person, it's hard to come up with
unique designs, whereas I feelI've got the capability to bring
in something new, and I'malways trying to find something
new, and that's what I feel like.
(09:40):
I can offer people somethingunique that their customers have
never seen before, and then thecustomers are going to come
back to them because it'ssomething really special.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Absolutely, and that's another thing that you
mentioned.
You don't just do the onlineclasses, you also do workshops.
You have family workshops, liveworkshops, so tell us about the
workshops that you offer in theUK.
How fun is that, and what doyou walk your customers through?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Oh, I absolutely love .
So I do hen parties, which arehilarious, and by the time I get
there they've usually had aglass of prosecco or two.
So I offer those, which arereally good fun.
I do children's birthdayparties every weekend and every
party is different and everyparty is just a lot of fun, very
loud, and I try not to let themeat too many sprinkles or too
(10:26):
much fun, so they're not toohigh by the time I leave.
So that's every weekend.
I do group classes in London andI also do things like in care
homes.
I go to elderly people in carehomes and it's lovely to teach
them because it's somethingcreative and something fun and
they just they're so happy andthey're just creating something
and it's I do simple design, soit's achievable.
(10:47):
And then they get to eat thecakes and their little smiles is
lovely.
I do team building events inthe city, so I've taught bankers
.
They're like Halloween classes,you know when they want
something fun to do for a teambuilding event.
And of course the guys getreally competitive over a
cupcake.
I don't know how they managethat, but they do.
And then I do a lot of one toone private tuition with
students in the UK and then Iget international students
(11:09):
coming to London and they comeand book me for private, private
tuition Monday to Friday,sometimes five days, two days,
one class.
It's such a variety.
I think every week is differentand that's what I really love
about my job Meeting lovelypeople that come back again and
again is such a joy.
Like a lady came from where wasshe?
Brazil, maybe?
And she said, farley, when Ihave a daughter or her child,
(11:32):
I'm going to come bring her toclass.
And I said, okay, yeah, thatwould be lovely, thinking she'll
never come again.
Six years later she was like,hey, farley, I'm coming to
London, can I bring my daughter?
And I was like, oh my gosh, andit was just like the sweetest
thing ever and I love thatbecause that creates a real warm
sense of community and that'swhat I'm all about with my
business just just making aspace for people to feel like
(11:55):
they can ask me any questions,they can learn and grow, and to
bring their kids.
It's just so lovely and I loveit when maybe I do a group class
or private tuition and somebodybrings their mom.
And I've had a family thatbrought their grandmother, the
mom, the daughter and herdaughter.
So four generations.
That was amazing.
So I just, I just love teaching.
It just makes me so happyseeing my students faces at the
(12:19):
end of their class when theydon't think they can achieve
something like that and they can.
Best feeling ever.
And I'm still not bored of it.
After nine years of teaching, Istill get high from that.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
That's amazing.
I think that's the gift ofentrepreneurship.
You know, when you're walkingin your passion and you find
something that lights you up,you just you don't get tired of
it.
You know we go to bed thinkingabout I'm sure you probably fall
asleep thinking about fondant.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
I was dreaming about fondant last night and I was
like, oh my God, it's 4am, whyare you thinking about fondant?
I was thinking, oh, I could dothese pastel pumpkins in a stack
and I'm like just switch offand go to sleep.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I love these pastel pumpkins.
That sounds so cute.
I like the pink, and especiallywith October.
Oh, that's so adorable.
So she actually has a littleturquoise one that she's showing
.
That is so cute because inOctober is also breast cancer
awareness month and we callboobs pumpkins.
I've got the best pumpkins ever.
(13:16):
My pump, my pumpkin Pumpkinshurt my back.
I wish they were a littlesmaller, but you need some
pumpkins.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You need some tiny ones like these.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Absolutely.
That is so adorable, but thatthat that is a lot.
And one of the things youmentioned because I know my mom
was elderly when I cared for herthe senior teaching seniors.
I think that's a market that alot of people don't tap into,
because we have nursing homes,assistant homes and people who
are living in home care andthose people they love
(13:50):
activities just like, just likewe do.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
And it's such a pleasure to teach them because
they're just, you know, theyprobably a lot of these places
don't get an awful lot ofvariety.
So to go into and do somethinglike a Christmas theme or
something like I'm going to dosome volunteering up the road
because they haven't got thefunding to pay me, and that's,
that's something that it's quitehard to do in the current
climate because the cost ofingredients, of course, is sky
(14:14):
high.
But the joy that brings me anddoing something at Christmas
time and seeing their littlefaces and making like a little
pink, pink Santa Claus not redSanta Claus, a little pink Santa
Claus, or you know, just I, I,that's such a privilege for me
to get to teach them and I justI can't tell you how lovely it
is and to to you know.
Then then sometimes they callback and they want something for
(14:35):
Easter or they want somethingfor I don't know, for the summer
or just a summer activity.
But the sound thing is a lot ofthese places now don't have
funding for extra activitieslike that.
So it's, it's.
There's only so muchvolunteering you can do as a
small business, but it issomething that I really, really
want to do a bit more of as wellin the future, if I can.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Absolutely definitely a heart to serve there, so for
sure.
And your work has been featuredin cake masters.
You've been featured a coupletimes.
That's just how passionate youare about your fondant, and so
tell us about that.
How does it feel to bepublished as a teacher and just
to have your work featured?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
It's so exciting and I can't help being a bit naughty
and I go into supermarketswhere the magazine is sometimes
and I kind of go in and justopen the page where I'm on and I
just perfectly leave it open onthe shelf and I take a little
video of it and it just it justfeels amazing and I have each
magazine I've ever been in.
I just have a little stack ofthem because, you know, those
(15:35):
days where you feel a bit likeoh, really struggling, to say,
having a really tough time, andthen I'll just pick up a
magazine, like look what you did.
You did that.
You're in a supermarket allover the UK and online all over
the world potentially sometimes,and I did that, and so it's
that little pep talk and youjust kind of have those little
reminders that just keep yougoing when you feel a little bit
(15:55):
, a little bit blue or you'restruggling a little bit.
So, yeah, it's amazing.
And I do tell my, my students tobe reasonable, just to say,
like, reach out to the magazines.
The worst thing they're goingto say is no, you know, but you
could just be in the back of youknow, they have a little album
of people's cakes there or youcould offer to feature something
or make something and, you know, just start talking to these
(16:15):
magazines.
But I'm aware that a lot of themagazines recently have had to
close down, which is a realshame.
So the Masters reach out to me,which is lovely, and I'm very,
very lucky to do that, becausethat's a really nice feeling,
because then you reaching maybefamilies or other people that
you may not reach ordinarilythrough my own platforms.
So, yeah, you just get thatexposure as well, which is
(16:35):
lovely.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
You have a love for fondant and it shows on your
feet, it shows when you talk.
But there are so many otherpeople who have a love or a
passion and they're afraid toput themselves out there, either
because they're afraid to golive, they're afraid to show
their face.
And so how do you overcomeBecause I know personally you've
(16:58):
shared a few things that you'vegone through how do you
overcome just putting yourselfout there as entrepreneur and a
business owner?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Initially, I never put my face out there.
I never put my face on mybusiness, even on your website,
and you have a little picture ofyourself.
I was like, do I have to dothat bit?
Can I just put my name?
I didn't even want to put myfull name, and I soon realized
that actually, the way toconnect with my audience and
reach out to people was by beingmyself, and that was the way
(17:28):
that I could talk to people andthey become familiar with you.
And that whole way of buildinga community is by talking to
people and then recognize you,and then when they come to class
, they're like oh my God, I feellike I know you, and so I kind
of experimented with it for alittle bit and then I realized
how powerful that was, and nowmy face is all over my Instagram
.
I'm pretty probably sick of myface, but I think it's really,
(17:52):
really powerful, and Iunderstand that people are shy,
but if you want the growth thatis something that I always try
to tell people Just put yourface out, even if it starts with
a photograph, and just say hi,my name's this and I've been
teaching for this long, becausethat's your unique selling point
.
Nobody else can be you.
And it's that, that that clichewhere where people always try
(18:13):
to stand out from the crowd, I'mlike but you have you, nobody
else has you, and that is howyou will stand out from the
crowd.
And even if you're notconfident on camera, just
practice, just practice withyour friends, practice creating
videos that no one sees, andthen the more you do that, the
more confident you'll be, evenif you set it up that you do it
once a week.
You didn't have to necessarilygo live I don't really like
(18:34):
going live, but I'll do it withmy hands, but not with my face.
But just just set yourself afew goals and you'll realize
that it's not that scary andactually people will start
relating to you more and thenthey feel familiar with you.
Then when they want a cake orthey want some cookies, they're
going to come to you becausethey remember you and they
relate to you.
And I feel like the more I talkto my audience, the more they
(18:55):
kind of relate to me.
And I started sharing thingsabout like my dyslexia.
And then I got alopeciarecently and my hair was falling
out and I was like, well, howam I going to do this?
Because that was a really bigdeal for me behind the scenes
and I thought, well, every dayI'm going to appear differently.
And then I discovered wigs andI was like, oh my God, this is
amazing, I can be differentevery day.
(19:15):
And I thought, well, how am Igoing to do that?
Because how am I going totransition that online for
social media?
Because every day I'm going tohave different hair.
Because I discovered bobs and Idiscovered brown hair and
blonde hair and me talking aboutthat.
I had to tell them because theywere seeing me with different
hair every day and they're like,well, what's going on here?
And so actually, me opening upand I did a video saying this is
(19:36):
what's happening to me rightnow and I'm just going to tell
you, because every day you'regoing to see me with different
hair and I'm just embracing it.
And the amount of people thatthen messaged me behind the
scenes and I had an opportunityto start communicating with them
and talking to them.
And then they were talkingabout their business and how
stressful that is.
So I feel like it's.
My community is about cupcakesand baking and running a baking
(19:57):
business, but it's also aboutbuilding friendships and a
really lovely community and Ithink that's the biggest thing
for me and my business iscreating a fun community where
I'm sharing not just selling mycakes, but sharing tips and
tricks and just being funny andhaving a bit of a laugh with my
audience as well and giving theman opportunity to ask questions
(20:18):
and share things.
And you know, I tried to do ashout out every now and again
other pages, small businessesbecause we know we've been in
the industry a bit longer andhow hard it is to come up behind
us.
So as somebody who's been inthe industry for a while, it's
nice to help those smallerbusinesses because we were there
once.
So that's what I'm reallypassionate about as well behind
the scenes.
I just feel like there's notenough time to do everything.
All my ideas I have in my brainof how I can help people, I
(20:42):
just don't have enough time toexecute them.
And I don't know about you, butI've tried to hire people to
help me do stuff.
But by the time I've hired themand told them what to do, I may
have well done it myself and Ijust think they can't be me.
So I have to find a way tomanage my time and do everything
myself as much as possible,apart from accounts so you can
get a accountant or whatever butthe actual social media side of
(21:05):
things, I just take control ofmyself.
Sometimes I get a bit frustratedwith it, but I post too much.
Anyway, I get totally excited,I get too much content and post
too much and too often, but I'mjust, I'm always trying to learn
the right balance for me andjust leave posts to just be seen
rather than, oh, I've got topost every four hours Like no,
you don't.
(21:25):
So I'm still learning.
I've been doing it well, butI'm still learning of what I
need to do as opposed to what Iwant to do.
But I do like I love thatengagement with people and
chatting and DMs.
I spend a lot of time in my DMsjust chatting to my students,
which is I just think maybe Ineed to set aside time just to
do that rather than taking thatout of my day.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I totally understand.
I'm very personal.
The same city, I love DM andchatting my students, but you
hit it on the head, though.
It is about community and thatis what we're there for to build
and to foster community.
And also congrats to you,because so many people they
don't want to go live, theydon't want to show their face,
they don't want to tell theirstory but, as I mentioned
(22:08):
earlier, there's only one.
You like, we can all do thesame cupcakes.
We may all do the same fondant,but we all don't have the same
face.
We all don't have the sametrials and tribulations and
struggles.
And so when you showed up andwhen you share that, I remember
I saw the post.
I thought, wow, this is likethat's the post that stood out
to me, that made me say, ok, letme invite her on the podcast.
(22:28):
Like we all do the same work,but what's the story there, when
you actually have something tosay that can inspire and
motivate someone, even if it'slike you were saying, hey, look,
I don't know what the hell I'mgoing to look like every day,
I'm just here letting you knowthis is what I'm going through.
It is what it is.
People can relate to that,because I think too often we're
trying to be picture perfect onInstagram, we're trying to
(22:49):
always act like we have, we haveour ish together, or that
there's this work life balance,which it never really is.
It's hard to balance the twoand in the midst we can't just
show up and be human.
And so I love the human aspectthat you show on your page and
you have so many classes.
(23:10):
So how many students have youtaught over over the years?
Speaker 2 (23:15):
I don't know.
I mean nine years of teaching.
I teach every weekend.
I teach every week.
I don't know.
I was thinking over the day.
How many cupcakes have I bakedLike over nine years?
I mean I probably bake 300cupcakes every Monday.
I put them in the freezer and Ijust pull them out as I need
them.
That's a lot of cupcakes.
I did celebrate my 1000 cupcakeparty children's party the
(23:36):
other day.
Wow, I started teaching partiesin about seven years ago.
A thousand parties.
I'm like that's a lot.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, that is.
That is 1000 parties in sevenyears.
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, because I mean I only do those at weekends
because they're in school andthen they're in the summer.
They're not here.
Half turn they disappear.
I do do family workshops inhalf turn, but it's a kind of
hit and miss sometimes,depending whether because my
clients generally are peoplewith money sometimes and they
always head off for the summeror a head off for half turn.
So that varies.
But that's a great thing to doas well, because then you get
(24:13):
the families coming along, whichis lovely.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Absolutely.
What tips do you have foranyone else out there who wants
to teach fondant or who wants totake their love of the craft
and maybe start having in personclasses in their community or
online classes?
What advice would you have tosomeone?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, just do it.
There's so many things, likeeven running a baking business,
the amount of people that wantto do it, or it's a dream of
theirs and they don't even try.
And there's like that winningthe poo phrase I can't remember
what it is, but it's like if youdon't try, you'll never know if
you're going to succeed or not.
And it's like I'd rather trysomething and it not work.
And then I go okay, I'll changedirection.
But a lot of people have anidea but they never try and
(24:55):
execute it.
And that could be what is theirpassion, that could be their
forte, what they're really goodat.
So just go for experiment.
If you're not sure, justexperiment with a group of
friends or a group of mumfriends.
Get them over one evening toyour house and just put them
around your dining room tableand say, okay, I'm just going to
try this out and give me somefeedback at the end.
And that's what I did with myfriends.
(25:15):
I just said, okay, this is myidea, I'm going to give it a go,
just pretend I'm a professionalteacher and then give me some
feedback at the end.
And they did.
They were a bit rude.
They were like Molly, you can'tkeep tidying up everybody's
tools at the table.
So I'm like I've learned to siton my hands and not rearrange
people's cupcakes in their boxesso they look organized, like
things like that.
Just I've learned to sit backand you know, not do that kind
(25:37):
of stuff but just go for it,like just go for it and be
yourself and find what it is youreally love.
Like I said at the beginning, Ithought I had to do everything
and I realized actually thatmade me unhappy.
Trying to do a big cake is notmy thing.
Trying to do cookies, cake popsyuck.
And my heart is with cupcakesand that's what makes me happy
(26:00):
on a daily basis.
So do that, it's okay.
It's better to be really goodat one thing than be semi good
at three or four things.
And I feel like a lot of people, like I did at the beginning,
feel like you have to offer somuch when actually you don't.
You can be the best at cakepops, you can be the best at
cookies and I just feel likeI've just focused on cupcakes
(26:20):
for the last eight years and Ijust love it and there's just so
many ways you can go with it.
Even now there's so manydifferent ideas that I've got,
you know.
So if you can be creative andjust imaginative, then you can
just do whatever you like andmake it work.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
That is so true.
It is always so much better.
Like they say, the riches arein the niches, and it's better
to go deeper and to serve and todo something that you're truly
passionate about than to go wideand to do a bunch of different
things that are pulling.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
You never really master it, if you are so many, I
mean if you had a lot of time,maybe you could master three or
four things, but you'll never bethe best at something that you
could possibly be, and I feellike, actually, then you get
known for being that person.
You get known for being thatamazing cookie artist as opposed
to somebody just of aseverything that's all a bit
average, absolutely.
(27:12):
That is amazing advice.
You are so awesome.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
I'm so happy that we got to have you here and to just
hear your story and yourevolution over all these years
Before I let you go.
Are you ready to play a game ofLightning Round?
All right then.
All right, let's do it.
Farley, what is your favoritecolor?
(27:37):
What do you think it is?
It's pink.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
But not just pink.
It has to be a blush pink, likeit has to be that warm,
charming.
Yeah, it's a certain type ofpink, not just a not very good
bit like the really brightfluorescent pink or anything
like that has to be a soft,feminine blush Feminine blush.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Okay, I'll take it.
What is a dessert?
You cannot live without Dessert.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Can I have two?
Yes, go for it.
Coconut ice cream and banoffeepie.
So good.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Oh, that sounds so delicious.
I love it.
Well, who is your celebritycrush?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Oh, I don't have one.
I kind of like it's likesprinkles.
I take a little bit of JasonMomoa.
I take a little bit of LL CoolJ, because he's cheeky.
Jason Momoa is like a big,chunky chocolate chip, like
solid man.
And then Louis Theroux I don'tknow if you know him.
He's like a British, what doyou call it?
He makes documentaries.
He's like I don't know.
(28:43):
He's like his wit.
He's very quick, witted andsarcastic and I like that.
And then a little sprinkle ofIdris maybe, so like a little
sprinkle of people.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Is that okay?
That's okay.
Multiple men are fine.
That's awesome, all right.
What is your favorite book?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Oh, I just read a book which is very not like me,
but it was called Interthineurby John Crackauer and it was so
good.
It was about the climb toEverest and how they came as a
team and I don't know.
I don't have a favorite book, Ijust like to read a variety of
different biographies, or yeah,I just like whatever.
(29:24):
I'm about to go on vacation andI've got like some fiction
books, I've got some nonfiction,so yeah, anything that just
will hold my interest.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yeah, cool beans.
And lastly, what is yourfavorite kitchen utensil?
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Can a cup of a cup for tea be a kitchen utensil?
I always have to have a cup oftea, very British, I don't
really.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Can a cake decorating tool set be a utensil, you know
, like the one that does thelittle things that should the
ball.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Just like any Dresden tool, any little tool that I
can make my miniatures with.
I can't live without those setof eight tools.
They are my life.
If I didn't have those Icouldn't make what I make.
So, yeah, and I do love a blushspatula, but I'm sure lots of
people say spatulas, yeah, soyou love.
So greedy, I can't decide onone thing ever.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
It's okay.
And for those who are in the UKwho would possibly like to take
a one on one with you or learnmore about you, share with us
your website so people can getmore information.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Sure Thanks, amanda, it's ladyberrycupcakescouk.
You can find everything onthere.
And then I virtually live onInstagram and I'm on Pinterest
and TikTok and Facebook, but ifyou want to find me, I'm
probably hiding on Instagramsomewhere, so most people will
find me there.
And then the online school isattached to the website.
You just go to the website andgo to online classes and all the
(30:50):
classes that are there for you.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Awesome.
I love it From the bottom of mylittle heart.
Thank you so much for coming ontoday.
I really appreciate you sharingyour story.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
You're so welcome.
Thanks for inviting me.
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