Looking to make changes in your business? If you want to change your niche, clientele, or processes, then this episode is for you. Join me as we navigate the transformative process of pivoting your bakery business with precision and passion.
In this episode, we tackle the essence of strategic change and how it's not merely about immediate reactions but crafting a vision that propels your business forward. With three guiding questions and a trio of tips, I'm here to help you ensure your next pivot is as flawless as your favorite recipe.
My own story is a testament to the courage and adaptability that pivoting demands. When a health scare called for a time-out, I discovered the power of pivoting yet again and the importance of crafting a business model that values personal well-being. In sharing this story, I hope to inspire you to find your niche, bake with purpose, and remember that it's not about chasing every request but about remaining true to your authentic self.
The episode rounds off with a deep dive into the significance of market research and carving out your own space in a bustling market. Whether it's rebranding, cleaning up your social media, or simply learning to say no, this conversation is about embracing empowerment and the success that comes from staying mindful of your boundaries and core values. So gather your rolling pin and notebook, and let's get ready to rise to the occasion together.
Busines FREEBIES:
Grab my FREE resource guide and get 30 plus resources to level-up your home bakery business click here to grab my FREE guide and get more tips from me every week.http://bit.ly/bakersresources
Are we friends on Instagram? If you enjoyed this episode TAG ME at @bakingforbusiness
I really do appreciate each and every one of you guys and LOVE meeting new baking friends.
Looking to make changes in your business? If you want to change your niche, clientele, or processes, then this episode is for you. Join me as we navigate the transformative process of pivoting your bakery business with precision and passion.
In this episode, we tackle the essence of strategic change and how it's not merely about immediate reactions but crafting a vision that propels your business forward. With three guiding questions and a trio of tips, I'm here to help you ensure your next pivot is as flawless as your favorite recipe.
My own story is a testament to the courage and adaptability that pivoting demands. When a health scare called for a time-out, I discovered the power of pivoting yet again and the importance of crafting a business model that values personal well-being. In sharing this story, I hope to inspire you to find your niche, bake with purpose, and remember that it's not about chasing every request but about remaining true to your authentic self.
The episode rounds off with a deep dive into the significance of market research and carving out your own space in a bustling market. Whether it's rebranding, cleaning up your social media, or simply learning to say no, this conversation is about embracing empowerment and the success that comes from staying mindful of your boundaries and core values. So gather your rolling pin and notebook, and let's get ready to rise to the occasion together.
Busines FREEBIES:
Grab my FREE resource guide and get 30 plus resources to level-up your home bakery business click here to grab my FREE guide and get more tips from me every week.http://bit.ly/bakersresources
Are we friends on Instagram? If you enjoyed this episode TAG ME at @bakingforbusiness
I really do appreciate each and every one of you guys and LOVE meeting new baking friends.
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg. I started my baking business with a bottle of DeCerono and one Bundt Cake Pan. Fast forward to today, from news to magazines, speaking on national stages and more. I can truly say that baking has changed my life. So now, as a bakery business coach, I get to help others have the same success. I've helped hundreds of my students across the world in my global membership program create six-figure businesses, mainly from home.
Speaker 1:The Baking for Business podcast is an extension of that, from actionable tips to valuable tools and resources that can impact you as a business owner. I truly believe y'all. We would never have been given a gift if we couldn't profit and prosper from it. So come on, darling. What are you waiting for? Hey, what's going on? Sweet friends, and welcome back to the Baking for Business podcast. I'm so excited to have you here with me today. I'm also so appreciative Real quick out the back as you're listening to this, although I know this information is timeless and people will pivot it at different times, but at the time of me recording this, this is the last podcast of 2023, and I just want to say how grateful I am. I'm so, so grateful to everyone who listens to the Baking for Business podcast, to everyone who has left the review for the podcast, to everyone who tags me on Instagram because you know that's my place and just says how much each episode has blessed them or helped them, but also to all of my students, the people who I work with all year long, who have came on the podcast and shared their stories of success and their stories of transparency and have allowed me to use their businesses as examples to inspire and to motivate and to fuel others. Thank you so much to my students. I really appreciate you for doing so and helping me to foster community and helping me to show up every single day and just show people that it's possible. So thank you Without further ado.
Speaker 1:Today we are talking about pivoting, and the reason why is because sometimes, when we go into a new year is usually when I see people will always say I'm done, I want to pivot, because towards the end of the year, it causes us to reflect on things, which is wonderful. Reflection is an amazing thing because from reflection we learn. I don't believe there's any losses, I believe there's lessons, and so if something happened this year that triggered you, that made you want to step back, that made you want to reevaluate, that made you want to level up more, something that inspired you and made you want to go for something more than I say go for it. Always follow your heart. But today I have three questions that I want you to be sure you're asking yourself, as well as also have three tips to help you in regards to pivoting. So I want to make sure that you know how to pivot your business with success, aka switch your niche, change your product offerings maybe you're pivoting your clientele, whatever and so I have my notes here. I just want to make sure I remember everything that I have to discuss with you guys.
Speaker 1:But one of the first things I want to tell you is that pivoting is natural, and is normal when we first start off. Sometimes we have so many dreams and aspirations and we think I want to do this, I want to be this, I want to serve this, and that's okay because those dreams, they fuel us. But what happens is that once you get out there, you literally start becoming more of a business person, because when you first start off, you have all these ideas. You're thinking with your creative hat. Someone told you, oh, this is delicious. And you thought okay, well, it's good, and they say I should sell it, so let me do so.
Speaker 1:But in the process, you become a business owner, and a business owner owning a business is so much more than that product that you're making. That's only a really, really small percentage of it. Now you have to market the product. You have to brand the product. You have clients. You have an element of customer service that you have to deal with. You have to look at the market. You have to do a competitor analysis. You have to really decide how am I going to show up in this industry and how am I going to change it. How am I going to be different? Oh, and News Flash. Yes, the market is saturated. Every market is saturated. It's cool.
Speaker 1:So if you want to pivot, that's fine, but don't ever let what someone else is doing stop you from living out and doing your dreams. And so as you begin to go through all that, you find out that business is a lot more, and that's normally where that pivot comes from. I can't tell you how many brands over time have pivoted. Instagram actually used to be a bourbon app. They used to share different bourbons and stuff like that. We know Facebook has pivoted to Metta, so you're not alone in making a choice to change, and whenever you decide to do something for you, you can never go wrong.
Speaker 1:But a couple of questions that I want you to keep in mind when it comes to pivoting, and one of the first ones is does the change serve you in the long run? So, again, today we're talking about how to pivot with success, and I want you to have success in every single thing you desire, but I want you to ask does the change serve you in the long run? And I wanna tell you why. I have a couple of stories and examples actually went live as I'm recording this on Instagram and I asked people for some questions to get some feedback, and we're gonna answer all of those. Also. The reason why I say does it serve you in the long run is because too often, people make changes based on emotions, and the problem with that is that your emotions are going to always change. How many people sat back? And if you look at your 2023 goals, you probably had this long laundry list, but what happened when the motivation and the emotion changed? Some of those things that you set out to do may not have been accomplished, and so if we're taking a different stroll, if we're pivoting our business, I wanna make sure that is this something that's going to serve you in the long run.
Speaker 1:Recently, this year, I actually pivoted my business and I shared it on social media. I quit offering wedding cakes, and I know how some of you guys are. So today I'm gonna be talking to the wedding cake people, to the cook ears, to the baked goods people, to the creative people, to the bloggers. I got multiple examples, so hang in there. I just wanna make you aware of some things as you pivot. So what happened was and not to go deep into it one day I was doing a wedding cake.
Speaker 1:Well, fast forward, let's go to the beginning. When I first started off, I started doing pound cakes and I thought pound cakes was all I was going to do. I was set. You guys hear on the intro that I started the business off with doing a pound cake, and so I wanted to only do pound cakes. What I noticed was that the type of clients who were willing to pay, they were cool with pound cakes. They just didn't want them as often, because a pound cake is more of a dense cake. You know, it's a Southerness around dense cake. So then they started asking me about blunt cakes. You know, are there lighter cakes?
Speaker 1:Now, for those who don't know, a pound cake and a blunt cake are two totally separate things. Okay, although it's called a blunt pan, you can bake a pound cake in a blunt pan, but a blunt cake is usually like your normal cake recipe. It may be a sponge or a chiffon cake. A pound cake is something that's already dense, hence it got the name pound cake, because in the olden days it used to require a pound of everything. All right, so I pivoted. I started offering blunt cakes, lighter versions of the pound cake, prepared a totally different way.
Speaker 1:After that, I pivoted again, because I wanted more products to offer, and I realized that cupcakes were a cool thing. People were asking for cupcakes. Now here's one thing I want you to keep in mind we can't pivot every time someone asks us for some. We're gonna talk about people, please, in a little later on. But your clients may come to you and they may ask you for tons of different things.
Speaker 1:You don't have to do everything that everyone asks you In the beginning. When you're new, though you will, and reason being number one is because you're still kind of trying to find yourself. Number two you may not feel comfortable with your style. Number three if you don't have that salesmanship had one, or if you're lacking that confidence to articulate what it is you want, then you're probably not comfortable saying no. And so sometimes in the beginning, you do all the things because you're trying to please all the people. If that's, you, come back and listen to this podcast in a year, because I guarantee you, when you get wore out from that shit, you'll start making changes. So let's just go ahead and put that aside. So I wasn't making changes to people, please people. I was just making changes because I wanted to make sure that I could build this business up and to give myself as many opportunities as possible. So that was the next change.
Speaker 1:Well, what I noticed after that was that the cupcakes took the front seat, and that kind of hurt my feelings. I'm not even gonna lie y'all. I was like I want y'all to like my pancakes, like. It's what I started out with, like, but there were certain people who wanted pancakes at a particular price and there was worth way more. And I noticed, though, the marketing with the cupcakes. I was able to fill a gap when I looked at what other people in my city offered, when I looked at how people were finding me online, when I looked at what people responded to at markets, I changed, and so I've changed multiple times over the year.
Speaker 1:Fast forward to the wedding cakes, because that was the first example. Over time, people started asking, well, do you do tiered cakes, do you do stuff like this? And I was like, okay, well, I know how to do it, but it was one of those things where, honestly, I don't like the stress of it. So now, remember, the question number one was does this serve you in the long run? So, fast forward. I started doing the wedding cakes. So now I offer pound cakes, cookies, cupcakes, wedding cakes, but I offered them minimalistic.
Speaker 1:One day I was in the middle of ice in a wedding cake and my arm started hurting and it was just kind of like aggravated me. I was on time with my schedule and so I said, okay, is this a muscle spasm? We're like what the hell is going on? Let me go get this checked out. So I crunk, coded the cake, finished the cake for the day, put it in the freezer, went to the hospital, ended up getting admitted and they literally told me. They were like are you okay? And then multiple people came in the room and I'm like, yeah, like I just thought it was a muscle spasm or maybe I was just stressed out from the cake, like what's going on. And then the lady says, well, your EKG is registering that you're having a heart attack, so we just have to get you checked out before we let you leave. And do you know what the next words out of my mouth were? But I have a order to finish right. Crazy, I know crazy, because, like many business owners and creatives, we're always thinking about clients, people who honestly, don't even know how much we think about them and wouldn't give a damn for us. The information literally went over my head and I was so focused on well, if you admit me, how the hell am I supposed to finish this cake? I've given this shout out before, but shout out to my girl Q, who stays just a couple streets over. I had to call her, my husband had to give her the crumb coated cake and all the ice and she had to take it home. Finish the cake for me Ended up staying a couple hours in the hospital.
Speaker 1:Turned out it was just the EKG, everything was fine. But they did tell me then and address the stress issue. I realized then you know what Cakes do stress me the big out. I'm trying to stop cursing. Y'all know this right Sounds like I'm done. As soon as I got home from the hospital I put that dish off my menu. I was done. If somebody called, I referred them, I pivoted and it was okay. No one missed the wedding cakes. People asked, but they didn't hound me and even if they would, I would have answered them.
Speaker 1:I kind of took a step back from the wedding industry. Now I know what you're thinking, especially if you follow me. Well, I don't fancy you to be much of a wedding cake person anyways, no, you don't. But one thing you know about me is that I believe in making big dollars from the small things Y'all also have to keep in mind I'm someone who, when I share with you guys, I have an award winning business. That award was actually from the bridal industry. So this is just another little business tip. But as someone who makes small things, you should always find big ways to sell those. And so, while in your mind you might not be thinking well, I don't think of Chef Schomburg when I think of wedding cakes.
Speaker 1:I had a lot of brides as clients because I was always pitching wedding favors. Remember, I specialized in alcohol and fuse. I was always doing bachelorette parties. I would do tiered cakes for bridal showers, stuff like that. So, yeah, it affected. But I also believe that when I started telling those people no, it made space for me to focus on other ways that I get money in my business, which is with my corporate clients. So all I did was I just turned up the heat on them.
Speaker 1:So question number one will it serve you in the long haul? Does it serve you with your health? Is this a decision that you're making because it's actually gonna help the strength of the business, or is this something that you're just making at the last minute, maybe because a new trend came out and you're trying to keep up with something or someone? So just think about that and keep that in mind when you think about this particular pivot. My next question that I have for you how will people adapt and are you ready for that adaptation?
Speaker 1:You know I had a student who actually is the opposite. She makes wedding cakes, she had a one-on-one consultation with me and that's all she wants to do. The only problem was that she was doing treats and she was doing cupcakes and she wanted to do the opposite. She's like well, I'm tired of this, the treats and the cupcakes. I think I just want the wedding cakes right, because in a lot of people's mind in our industry, we classify things, we have a saying or we have a feeling or a belief as in well, I can make more money if I did wedding cakes, because wedding cakes are a higher ticketed item, and that's true. There are some wedding cakes that go for 1,000, 3,000, 5,000 and in reality, I don't know of any cookies that go for 1,000 or 3,000. But what you also have to understand is that it also takes you a lot more to get that sale. So when you're on social media and an average person knows you and runs into your brand, it's so much easier to sell a slice of pound cake or a sugar cookie or a decorated cookie, a pie, a baked good, than it is to actually sell a wedding cake. So I'm not against it, but what I'm just telling you is that a lot of times when I speak to students, that's always their thing. Well, chef, I'm gonna go into the wedding industry because I'm tired of just the cupcakes and stuff and I want a big sale.
Speaker 1:Okay, so this particular young lady, she pivoted. She was doing good with her cupcakes, she's done a couple of wedding cakes, but guess what? The wedding cakes are here or there. Her people have not yet adapted and so, although her skill level continues to rise and she's taken so many classes, she's learned so many different things, people aren't calling her for wedding cakes. So that's my next question to you.
Speaker 1:So when she had a coaching column and she had a one-on-one, she's like okay, at this point I just wanna make money. But if I could be honest, I wanna be a wedding cake designer, but I don't get booked for them. Often I may do only one to maybe two, with the most wedding cakes per month. Well, there's 30 days in a month. So what else is happening with those days? And if those wedding cakes that people call you for, if they're not the big fancy $3,000 cakes, because some brides, on average they might just want a $600 or $700 cake not every bride wants that. So if you're not hitting that sale, then you have to start being honest with yourself. And then.
Speaker 1:So my advice to her the very next week, your ass needs to go back to selling cupcakes. I'm not against you doing wedding cakes, but here's what I want you to do. I want you to keep having your cupcake sales if they generate daily revenue. So what I told her to do was kind of reframe how she looked at it In her mind. She thought selling cupcakes meant that she was going down like she was digressing, and I had to tell her which again and if you're listening, I'm not coming for you.
Speaker 1:So many people think like this. You're not more than because you make a wedding cake. So as we tend to evolve and as we tend to get more skills, you don't want to bite the hand that feeds you. If cupcakes were bringing revenue into your business, you don't cut that off. However, there's different ways to control it. So maybe you post the cupcakes less but you post more of your wedding cake so that you can attract that audience. Or maybe you continue having your cupcake sales but then you use your revenue that you make from those cupcake sales to then put yourself in more bridal shows or to put yourself in your city's top magazine or to run an ad on your local radio station. So you let cupcakes give you the income you need to fuel the dream that you want to have.
Speaker 1:So again, how are people adapted Once you make that change? You can't just expect people to say, when you change, one day I want to be a wedding cake designer, oh, now everyone's going to know you. No, now I'm not discouraging you, but let's just keep it 100. Chances are there's already a top designer in your city. Planners already have a list of people. Chances are it may be hard for you to get on that preferred vendor list, which is what a lot of wedding cake people like to do.
Speaker 1:And so all I'm asking you is that, in the meantime, while you're working on booking these orders, you also have to understand that if you've never done a $1,000 or $3,000 cake, what do you need to start doing? You need to start working on your portfolio. Well, guess what that means? You're going to be making some dummy cakes. You're going to be making some practice cakes, cakes that people are not ordering. Are you comfortable with that period of maybe having to work on your portfolio and build so that you can show people what you're made of before those orders come in? So those are things I want you to think about again. All the wedding cake people. I am not discouraging you, that's not what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is let's just keep it real. If you know damn well you're not booked every single week with wedding cake orders, what is so wrong with having something else serve you in the meantime? Just something that I want you to think about. So how will people adapt If it takes them a while to adapt with this pivot and this change? Are you comfortable with that time period and what are you going to do in the meantime as a business owner so that you can still be generating revenue into this business? Those are just some things I want you to think about.
Speaker 1:The third thing what research has to be done for you to win? So you've decided all right, I'm going to make a pivot, I'm going to change. Either you're a bait good person that's going to hop into the wedding industry, or either you're in the wedding industry and you're like I'm fed up, I want to hop out of it. Or maybe you're a person one of the young ladies on the broadcast said that because of her health, she was no longer able to do heavy lifting. So maybe you've decided to pivot by not selling your bait goods. Maybe this pivot can mean and this is a recommendation that I have for you guys maybe you start selling classes, maybe you start selling courses, maybe you start selling your recipes, maybe you start doing tutorials, or maybe you become a blogger. We've had several bloggers on the podcast. We've had Chels Sweets, we've had Sweetest Menu, so we've had several other people because selling your bait goods is not the only way to make money in this industry. Okay, so that's just something I want you to think about.
Speaker 1:So, if that's the case, what research has to be done in order for you to win? And what I would love for you to do is do a competitor analysis, that thing that you want to do. Maybe you're a pound cake person and now we'll start for cookies. Or, like I said, you're a bait goods person who wants to go to wedding cakes? Who is the number one person in your city? And also, please, don't look at social media, because when you look at social media, you kind of fall down this trap of comparison items. Go online who's ranking number one? Look at services like Yelp who pops up? Who's the recommendation? Who's number two? Look at some of the top planners in your city. Who are the people that are already on those lists, who are some of the people that are already winning. And now, when you find those winners, here's what I want you to do. We're not going to go look at them with an attitude of adoration. Don't be scrolling, because I know how some of you guys are.
Speaker 1:You tell me on private one-on-one calls well, this person is winning, and I don't understand, because my stuff tastes way better than mine. Well, honey, it's because no matter how good something tastes, if you can't market the thing and no one knows you exist, you got a serious problem. So sometimes it's not that in your mind you're thinking well, I taste better than my competition. Yeah, but taste isn't the only thing. Are you hiding behind labels such as I'm introverted or I'm shy? And the reason why I say that is because I don't believe in anyone being introverted or shy. I've said it on the podcast a thousand times I do not label you. Those are labels that you give yourself.
Speaker 1:And if you tend to hide behind those labels, are they characteristics? Yeah, maybe, but guess what? They can be changed. So if you're shy, what are we going to do about your shyness? Because you also said that you wanted this business. If you're introvert, what are we going to do about that? That's just something that has to be worked on. That's just like me saying I'm fat. Well, what if next year, when I record this podcast, I'm down 100 pounds and then I'm finer? Do I still say I'm fat? No, I changed. I took small daily habits and applied them so that the person that I was would no longer be and I would be something else. Are you willing to make that change? I'm not fat. I carry fat because once I lose the fat, then guess what it's gone. You're not introverted. You carry introverted tendencies because once you work on opening up yourself, guess what it's gone. But the thing is, are you willing to do the work in the in-between? So now, when we research this person, who's winning? Why are they winning? What are some strengths they have? If you're looking to pivot, what are some things that you can add that maybe the market doesn't have?
Speaker 1:I'm going to break this down a little further and give you an example. There's a bakery in my town called Ambrosia Bakery. They make this cake that's called a fresh strawberry cake. They actually have it trademarked if you look it up and what it is is whipped cream, they dice strawberries and then they put it on a yellow cake and people go crazy for it. So when I decided that I was going to do cupcakes, I started looking at other bakeries and seeing and this was when I pivoted years ago. So just giving you a little pivot sauce who's winning and what are they winning at?
Speaker 1:Well, it turned out that this particular bakery I read someplace that actually sold $3 million a year with this one cake and I thought what Damn, that's crazy. So I didn't say, oh, okay, well, let me make a fresh strawberry whipped cupcake. No, I'm not trying to be another carbon copy version of them. I believe all of us were fearfully and wonderfully made. So I looked at them and I looked at the market and I said, okay, well, if people like strawberries, what's missing? How can I fill in this gap? So if that's their strength, then how can I do this in another way? And so I sat down and I actually came out with three particular cakes and cupcakes that were all strawberry-themed. And this way, when someone found me or they reached out, then I had something more to offer.
Speaker 1:So that's what I want you to do what research needs to be done in order for you to win the people who are already winning in that thing that you want to pivot towards. What are some notes that you can take from them? What are some gaps that you can feel? How can you hit the market and be different and stand out? How can you be a disrupter? How will you make people think differently? And so a lot of you guys see this on my Instagram post. You'll always see these cupcakes.
Speaker 1:It's a strawberry cupcake with a strawberry on top, and usually there's a chocolate cupcake next to it, and it's because they're my top two selling flavors. And so when I came out with that, I realized wait a minute, amanda, you were doing alcohol and fuse, you were doing pound cakes, which you loved. I kept thinking in my head why do people go so crazy over the strawberry cake? But then I forgot. Strawberry is actually like the fruit of Louisiana. They grow down here all the time. So then I started tapping into other ways. Well, what if I only get my strawberries from farmers down here? Well, how can I form an alliance with them and start using their strawberries?
Speaker 1:And so, once I made these little changes and I kind of saw how I wanted to show up, I did a strawberry cupcake with cream cheese buttercream. I did a cognac cake with strawberry frosting, with dehydrated strawberries in the frosting, and then I actually did a strawberry cupcake. I have a strawberry cupcake with lemon, with lemon buttercream, which is like strawberry lemonade. I gave people three options. I filled in the gap and I tapped into what was working for other people, but I didn't lose essence of who I am. And then it turns out that the infused one is the one that people really really like, along with the one with cream cheese. So I did the research. I saw I was winning for other people, but I approached it my own way, without changing my brand, by being true to who I am.
Speaker 1:And so that's what I want you to do as you're about to pivot, as you look and see what's working in your town. Does your town have a crumble or maybe they don't have a crumble? Does your town have a nothing blunt cakes? Is that popular or maybe they don't? Is there a gap that you can feel? How can you hit the market and be a disruptor? And that's something that I want you to think about when you're pivoting. Now, the next couple things that I have are tips, and these are real life tips. Number one when you pivot, you may lose followers. Let them go. I had this happen on two incidents at several people when I used to do and show pound cakes a whole lot more. You know they express well, you don't do the pound cakes as much and I would always tell people it's not that I don't do them, they're there, it's just that I'm showcasing other things because they sell to different people.
Speaker 1:I can't please everyone. Another time I pivoted some of you guys know this when I actually started teaching I had a partnership. I talked with another young lady. I decided to end that partnership. I closed my business or well, honestly, I let that person have the business. The business is still open. I walked away from it and I had to start all over again. So the person listening to this it has to start all over again. Honey, do it, you're gonna be scared. And in the process I lost followers. I had some people who they weren't happy. They didn't want me to split my other membership. It operated a certain type of way. It was a certain type of price. Guess what? It's okay. That young lady is still teaching. If she desires to teach it that's what makes her happy Then have at it. Right, I want everyone to be happy, because God gives us all gifts, but I couldn't keep showing up and not being happy. I can't not please everyone.
Speaker 1:I also want to tell you to the person listening to this who's deciding that in this year, when you pivot, you want to start teaching, you want to start doing digital products or you want to step out of baking for customers altogether and you want to start blogging. To that particular person or anyone who maybe you're a hobbyist and you're deciding. You know what. I just want to get legit with this thing. I want to get a license. I want to stop doing the cash app, the Venmo being all ghetto, taking these trailer trash park particular clientele I know that was harsh, but whatever and you just want to do a total 180, go for it. Go for it. Here's one thing I can tell you I do not regret and I want you to listen to what I said again.
Speaker 1:I literally gave someone else. That means that person got to keep the name, that person got to keep the Instagram page, that person got to keep the contact list, all of that. All my classes were gone and I had to start over 1,000% from scratch and if I could do it again today, I would have done it much quicker. It was something that I thought about for the longest time. So if you're that person and that's the pivot that you want to take, I'm here to tell you go for it.
Speaker 1:You will lose followers, and it's okay. Don't ever lose yourself in the process of trying to make other people happy. And losing followers is also a good thing, because if people resonate it with one particular type of content and you don't offer it anymore, then again that's great. Let them go. We can't serve everyone. You also have to keep in mind the second tip, aside from losing followers and, like I said, it's fine You're changing your contacts Is that you will get tested. So to the person who maybe is deciding you know what? I don't want to do children's cakes anymore. I meet some students who say that I just want to do dessert style cakes or I want to go into this particular. You're going to have that customer that's going to say well, you did it last year, so how come you can't do it this year? You'll get tested by people or you'll have people reach out to you again.
Speaker 1:Be assertive, but also understand that setting boundaries is okay. Most bakers are women and, as women, we tend to want to people please. It's in our nature to want to take care of everyone. But if you've decided, for whatever reason, that you need to pivot either because it's no longer serving you, because it stresses you the hell out, because you're tired of dealing with a particular clientele just tell people no. And also understand this when you tell people no, you don't owe them an excuse. I don't owe anyone a reason.
Speaker 1:I had several people ask me when I left my former membership why? Because I wanted to, because it made me happy, just like I had several people ask me well, you don't serve wedding cakes anymore. Why? Because they're no longer available, because I decided it didn't serve me. And that's the only answer that I owe anybody. You don't owe anyone anything. It no longer served me.
Speaker 1:And now I could go into detail. I could say I wasn't happy, or the wedding cake stressed me out, or maybe they weren't bringing in a profit. You could, but you don't have to. Too often we explain ourselves too damn much. If I say I'm not doing something anymore, I'm not doing it. And guess what y'all? Even going into 2024, I'm still not offering wedding cakes and I'm actually leaning into my cookies a lot more. Cookies cakes, corporate clients, christ, entrepreneurial community those are like my five C's that I'm leaning into for 2024. Cookies cakes, corporate clients, entrepreneurial community, christ, those are literally like my five C's. Customer service that could be another one. But confidence, courage, those are more things that I'm leaning into and so if I say I don't do something, I don't do it. That's just like a lot of you guys listen to this podcast. Pretty soon I'm gonna be opening up the doors to the entrepreneur community and entrepreneur experience, which you'll hear more about. I have three programs. I open the doors once a year. When it's open, it's open. When it's closed, it's closed. And I don't do it.
Speaker 1:And so just feel comfortable telling people. No, don't ever feel pressured that you have to people, please someone, because remember, every time you say no to someone else, you're saying yes to yourself, and that's what I tell my students all the time. So if that cake stressed you, the hell out, maybe you lost that sale, it's okay. Don't operate from a scarcity mindset. I don't want you to think, oh my gosh, I'm losing money. I'm losing money Like I won't have the money, uh-uh, reframe that. You know what that sale wasn't for me. It didn't serve me, but I'm allowing so much more opportunity to come find me. That does serve me. What is yours will come to you and you will not have to chase it, you won't have to ask or you won't have to beg, because at the end of the day, you're a child of a king. I firmly believe that, so you're gonna be taken care of, and that's just something that I don't want you to forget. And then the last little tip that I have for you be prepared to put in the work For all of those who want a different type of clientele, for those who are maybe focusing more on a smaller ticket item like I said, it may be the wedding cake person who's walking away from wedding cakes and you wanna do more smaller ticket items or to the cookier.
Speaker 1:I know several cookiers who do these big, elaborate cookies that take hours and then they say you know what these cookies take so long. I don't think I wanna do raw ice and I think I wanna do a cookie another way. And I tell people all the time go for it. You can always do stenciling, you could do messaging, you could do fondant cookies. I find several different cookiers who pivot from the more intricate stuff to only focus on. Could you at Eddie, start focusing on corporate clients? If that's your goal for 2024, I'll be around in June when the course opens but again, make the pivot, be okay with it, but start doing the work.
Speaker 1:And the work might mean that maybe you have to clean up your social media feed. Maybe you have to start going to a few more places where you position yourself to be in front of the type of person at once. Maybe you gotta do a total rebrand, and I'm not just talking about changing the colors of your logo, your name for those who are pivoting. I always have a small group of people and I'm gonna be that friend to tell you who always say I wanna pivot, I wanna serve luxury clients. Okay, honey, if you wanna serve luxury clients, please don't do that with a ghetto ass name. Okay, you're gonna have to change a lot more to get a particular type of clientele to purchase from you. So that's just a little piece of love and advice, and I know your friend or your homie is not gonna tell you. But just changing the colors in your logo one day isn't just gonna up and make luxury clients come. You're gonna have to work on a lot.
Speaker 1:So are you ready to put in the work? Are you ready to go to places where your idol client is? Are you gonna be investing in doing that bridal show? You know the one you complain about, that's $1,000, but that's actually gonna get you in front of the people that you wanna be in front of. What work are you willing to do so that, when you do make this pivot in your business, you show up successful, you start becoming a household name in your community, you start walking in your gift with a little bit more peace and confidence and you start operating your business with joy? You guys, we're business owners, which means we own the business, but it also means that at any particular point in time, we can change the narrative if we are not happy with the story that is being written. And so I want you to think about all these things the three questions and the three tips as you work on pivoting.
Speaker 1:Someone asked they said the pivot that I wanna make is that I wanna step away from the business. I want other people to run the business so that I can focus on the clients and the admin and the stuff like that. And to the person that asked that, that was an easy question, number one. You just gotta make sure you're making enough money, because your business has to be making a profit and you have to make sure that you're willing to pay someone else. And then all the things that you offer that skilled laborer are they actually skilled and does your business make enough money to where you can bring in someone to do all of those orders while you do the other things?
Speaker 1:But also, keep in mind you wanna pay attention to your processes, because some of those other things may not take long. So the operations portion of the business. You should probably be picking one day out of the week to be working on the business and not in it, and those typical admin tasks don't take long. What does take long is when we start to schedule our posts for the week. That can take 20, 30 minutes. You sit down, you schedule your posts for the week, but then you get online and then you go down a rabbit hole and now, instead of working on your business posts for the week, you found yourself just mindlessly scrolling on social media. That's what takes time, and so sometimes we have to start paying attention to the things that suck time out of our business when we pivot, because we could be pivoting our processes as well.
Speaker 1:So maybe you're not pivoting your products and you're not pivoting your clientele. Maybe you need to pivot and change some of your products. Maybe that's the person who begs from scratch who maybe wants to bring in some other elements in order to help you cut down on time. Those are all just some things to think about, but no matter what you choose, you can't go wrong. Make the change, because what you don't wanna do is be laying in a hospital bed one day wondering what if or what should I have done or what could I have done differently. Just do it and guess what If it doesn't work out or something doesn't go your way? Set up checkpoints to where you can check in, monitor your sales. Are things going how I plan? Am I hitting my revenue goals? You can always change. You can change your business as many times as you change your draws.
Speaker 1:Honey, I'm here to tell you just be like Nike and just do it. All right. So I hope those tips helped you. Go on with your bad self. Pivot. Make a change. Be sure to tag me on social media and let me know if any of this helped you. I can't wait to hear from you guys and to see all the beautiful changes that you make in your business as you show up for the new year. Thank you so much for walking with me and I'm gonna leave you guys with the scripture today, john 14,. Let not your heart be troubled. Yay, believe in God, and I really hope that. So, whatever trouble you have, give it over to God. Honey, that's the best business partner you can ever have and I promise you he will never leave you astray. Thanks, you guys, so much for listening. Take care and bye for now.