Baking For Business Podcast
The Baking For Business podcast is dedicated to helping you start and grow your home bakery business and scale and expand with digital products. We believe bakers and treat makers can earn money in multiple ways by sharing their gifts and talents.
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Baking For Business Podcast
#Ep 67: From Police Officer To Full Time Home Baker With Ashley's Sweets And Treats
Today's guest went from bringing in the bad guys to bringing in the sales. Ashley is the owner of Ashley's Sweets And Treats in Canada. Today she shares how she left her career and started from ground zero with just YouTube tutorials and a strong will to learn. From her first cake for her son's birthday to clients asking for more, Ashley's tale is one of determination and pure love for the craft.
During today's podcast we take a closer look at Ashley's life as a home entrepreneur, revealing how her love for baking blossomed into a thriving business. Hear about her grass roots methods of fostering community and product innovation that propelled her brand to heights she never imagined.
In this episode we will cover:
- How she used her maternity leave to kick start her business
- How she used her current home to her benefit to build her foundation
- Which services are helping her bring in more income for her home bakery
- How she used her local community to grow her brand
- Tips for other women business owners to increase their pricing and so much more
Ashley's business journey is a testament to what is achievable with passion and perseverance. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking for a dose of entrepreneurial inspiration, whether your passion lies in baking or beyond.
Resources mentioned
5 AM Club https://amzn.to/3E0bGfE
The Sporty One https://amzn.to/3YSQZvX
The Entrepreneur Community https://www.bakingforbusiness.com/enroll
Loved Ashley's story? Follow her business here https://www.instagram.com/ashleyssweetsbinbrook/
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Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg. I started my baking business with a bottle of DeCerono and one Bundt Cake man. 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? So if you have ever thought about leaving your career, you are not alone.
Speaker 1:In fact, a lot of people that we have on the Baking for Business podcast have decided to have a career change, and today's guest is no different. Only thing was she was actually a police officer how cool is that? For over 12 years, but now she is a full-time baker. So what encouraged her to take the jump? What did that even look like, and how does she even start this journey to begin with. Well, today we're talking live to one of my students who is very much a sweetheart and a really, really awesome beam of light and support within our community. Ashley lives in Ontario, canada, so she's just across the river, the other way, and we're so excited to have her here today. Ashley, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm happy to have you darling, and so just to kind of kick off your journey. So how did you get started with baking first? How did you get into that?
Speaker 2:Well, here in Ontario we're really lucky that we have paid maternity leave when we have babies. So I was actually on. I had an 18 month maternity leave with my daughter, which is a nice long time. You don't get paid very well. So I wanted to have a nice cake, though, for my son for his birthday and I just thought maybe I can watch a couple of YouTube videos and figure something out.
Speaker 2:And one night, while I was up nursing my daughter, I just watched the first video and I never stopped from there. I don't know what it was, I just fell in love. I watched a whole bunch of different channels on YouTube and took different pieces from each one, and I went on Amazon and ordered my first cake decorating kit. I spent $80. I was like, how am I spending $80 on a cake decorating kit? And then I just started practicing and I think about a week or a week and a half later I made my first cake a two tier cake with my first cake a little bit crazy and I just it just went from there. It was all to make my son's birthday cake.
Speaker 1:So a determined mom, determination always wins. Does anyone in your family bake or did?
Speaker 2:you just Nobody does anything like this. You know my mom will bake cookies and pies and stuff. My grandma was a good baker. But you know, prior to this, like I decorated cupcakes with the back of a spoon, I had zero experience. I didn't grow up baking with anybody. It just somehow, it was just innately inside of me, I guess, waiting to come out.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And so what made you decide career? Wise, because for over a decade you were a police officer. So how? How did you get started with that particular profession?
Speaker 2:On a whim and I we should tell people not to become police officers on a whim. I graduated university in 2008, which was when the economy wasn't really doing so well. Right, everything was kind of bad at that time. I always wanted to be a teacher, but there were going to be no job prospects for years and years and years. So I I didn't apply to go to teachers college and at the time somebody had suggested to me, like why don't you try policing? Because there's all these different things you could do within policing. And I thought, sure, why not? So, based on that, I applied to be a police officer and I got hired pretty quickly and, when you know, I was a patrol officer for five years.
Speaker 2:I worked undercover in a plain clothes unit. I had my son when I went back from that, I was a detective in the sexual assault unit, and then I went off with my daughter and I never went back after I had my daughter. What made me want to leave was my kids. I didn't want to put my life at risk anymore, knowing that I had these, you know, two perfect babies at home that I just wanted to be able to come home to every day or not have to leave.
Speaker 1:It's crazy how life changed. You shared, you finished college and then you got into it, but then, all of a sudden, the babies came and the total perspective and I hear that from a lot of moms you see things differently. Light bulbs go off, and so your babies were blessed because their first cake was made by mama. So, what videos in particular? What was your style when you first started baking? Did you know? For sure, because you do the things you do, you do them pretty amazing. You love chocolate, you love cakes and your work is very neat and beautiful. So, when you first got started, what were your thoughts then? Did you have a particular style where you're like I'm going to go for this, or how did you decide what each was?
Speaker 2:Well, the very first cake that I did, like I said, was two tier. The bottom tier was covered in fondant and the top tier was buttercream. And right away I was like I hate working with fondant. I don't know how people cover their cakes. I've tried the paneling method, everything. It's just not my thing. So right from the start, buttercream cakes have been my thing. It's just what I prefer to work with. I love a smooth buttercream cake. There's just something so therapeutic, I think, about smoothing buttercream on a cake and when you get it that nice texture and you can stand back and it's just so nice. But it's just like I don't really know that there's anything particular about it other than as little fondant work as possible and buttercream. That's just what I love to work with.
Speaker 1:Sounds delicious, and so for we have a huge listening over in Canada. Well, we have a lot of people that listen all over, which I'm totally grateful for, but for those who are in Canada, tell us what's the actual name of your business and what are some of the other options that you have to offer as well.
Speaker 2:So my business is Ashley sweets and treats and I offer buttercream cakes. Some of my more popular items are my scones. I love a good scone. I don't like a dry scone. It took me a while to bake it and get it just right. I make cheesecake waffle cones. Those are super, super popular. Those were one of the first things I started to do.
Speaker 2:Macarons I can't keep macarons in my kitchen. When I bake them and post them, they're always gone. And then, yeah, lots of chocolate dip treats. I sell things in two different stores so I sell like chocolate dip pretzels, sour keys, chocolate covered Oreos, chocolate dip pretzels and I make the breakable items. So the small, small and big, whether they're individual size or full cakes that are the chocolate shells filled with candy that you smash open. So great for, like my, my son doesn't actually really like cake and my husband is allergic to eggs so he doesn't eat cake. But they both love candy and chocolate. So I started making them as an option for my husband and my son. And they're also great because they're gluten free. Right, it's candy and chocolate and it just gives that other option for people. And you know it's fun because when my son gets invited to a birthday party. That's what I bring as the gift is I make them their own individual breakable cake and it goes over so well and it's just. It's a unique thing and the kids love it.
Speaker 1:Definitely For those who are listening. So you call them breakable cakes. I know over here in the US some people call them breakable hearts or, but mainly the, the, the chocolate, like the individual chocolate shakes that people get to break. So how did you build your business? You said you got started while you are maternity leave. But what activities was it for you? Was a social media just getting out into the community, because so many people struggle with just building their business and getting it to grow so that they can actually have that clientele.
Speaker 2:So what I did was I, because I was just learning. It was just on my own personal Facebook page at first, as I would make a cake or I'd be working on something and I would just post and say this is what I'm doing. And there were lots of people interested and this was February 2020, so just pre pandemic. And then I decided to create a Facebook group because I was like I'm not going to flood my personal Facebook with just me decorating cakes out of time. I said, if you want to see what I'm doing, come over here. And that's when I created my name, which wasn't a business at that time, it was just the name of my group, and people in the group slowly just started showing interest. And what I did in the beginning is I would just make a cake I wanted to make and I would auction it off and, you know, sell it for $20, $30, whatever it was. It didn't matter to me, and I was ecstatic that I was like, oh my gosh, I just sold a cake that I made for $30, like I was so excited at that point. And then after that, after cakes, I did cakesicles, and when I made cakesicles they blew up. So again, this was. I want to say this was right around when the pandemic hit that I made cakesicles for the first time and the very first night I made them. I made about a dozen and I drove around to people I know in town and I dropped them on their porch and I left everybody one or two or three and I just said, hey, this is on your porch I believe it had started because I think everybody was in at that point and I said I just left you a little something on your porch and people were ecstatic over that and I must have taken orders for three or 400 cakes was probably over the next few weeks, because everybody just loved the idea. The people were doing parade birthday parties I'm not sure if that was a thing around there like where everybody would drive their cars by, so they were handing out cakesicles right, because you couldn't cut cake and serve it, and so really, like, the cakes were great, but cakesicles are what? Like boomed my business and it was just like again watching a video and I was like, oh, I feel like I could make those, you know, and I tried them out and my thing has always been when I've introduced something new to my menu, I give it away for free to people in the community. So now that my group is a little bit bigger, I haven't made introduced something new to my menu for a long time because I have a lot of things on there. But if I do, say a new macaron flavor or a new hot chocolate bomb flavor, I'll say like hey, you know, I've got this new flavor, would love to get your feedback, and people always want to try free stuff. So people love, they will come and get it and everybody always gives me really good feedback, you know, and they're honest to they would say like oh, I think it needs a little more of this, or or I think it's perfect, or whatever. So I've done that. The cheesecake, waffle cones, the macarons, like every single thing I've ever introduced, I've done that and I think that that has been a big part of what's helped my business to grow to, because it it got word out within the community and it was my community that's built this business like.
Speaker 2:I never intended for this to be a business. It was my community coming in and then saying, like you know, we love what you're doing and can you do more of that? And when the pandemic hit, nobody wanted to go to the stores anymore. So people just started being like, hey, can you do this, can you do that? And it blew my mind. I couldn't even believe it. I was like I've been doing this for a month and a half. What do you mean? You want me to take your kids birthday cake? But it was just the community support and you know me giving back to the community. Every time I added something to my menu, we say like here, come and take this. I want you to try it. If it's not good, I'm not going to put it on the menu.
Speaker 1:You tell me power to the people. I love that so many people are afraid. Number one, they're actually afraid to get genuine feedback. And number two, I hear Baker say all the time well, I don't want to make a cake just for content, or well, what do I do when I don't have orders and I tell people, well, give, like, why aren't you giving? But they can't see the end picture in their mind. They're always assuming well, if I'm giving, I'm trying to make money. And I'm always telling people you can make money by giving, by just investing money. And so I love the fact that you have that mindset. When did you decide okay, I'm gonna go all in, like, I'm gonna make this into a business, I'm gonna follow suit. What did that decision look like?
Speaker 2:Well, so here in Ontario we have different rules, so you guys have a lot of cottage laws. In the States we have something that's kind of come in like that since then. But when I first started that wasn't a thing. So to do it legally you had to have a full second kitchen. When you know, it wasn't a business in the beginning for me.
Speaker 2:So I started with all my things in a little Tupperware container and then quickly, you know, there wasn't enough room in that Tupperware container and just in front of me I have what is now my children's toy room, which was a scrapbooking room that I took over and became my bake room. So we put cabinets in there and a fridge and it had everything other than a stove. And then I quickly outgrew that space and it was, believe it or not, 11 months after I first started that I said I think we need to put a second kitchen in. I just put a lot of faith in my community and in myself and I just thought I know what I can do with this.
Speaker 2:This is my basement that I'm sitting in now and it was fully finished at the time when we used to have our office was over there in a small bathroom and I said to my husband I need to take that space over and I need to put a kitchen in. And he's always been incredibly supportive of me and we did that. We tore those out, we built a wall. We have a full second kitchen over there. Now it's got, you know, double oven, multiple mixers, big sinks, everything, and it finished in March of 2021. So when the kitchen opened, it was 13 months since I watched my first YouTube video and it's, you know, inspected by our local public health and licensed through my city and I at that point I was like I'm gonna see now what I can do over the next few months, because my maternity leave was to be ending in, I think, june of that year and I was like what can I do over the next few months so that I'm going to be able to leave policing?
Speaker 1:That's amazing because I'm a firm believer on building on your own land. I think too often in America that's what people don't do. They don't really use the cottage law to the max and I'm like take over a room, change out a room Like it's your land. It's always so much more affordable than just going to a storefront or leasing a storefront, and so was a storefront ever an option for you? How do you feel? I know you shared with me before, but you've impressed report the price of a storefront, so I would love for you to share that when you outweigh the pros and the cons. I know you're happy with your kitchen now, but was the storefront ever a choice for you?
Speaker 2:So I had obviously contemplated that. I didn't know whether I was dreaming too big at that point or not. But yeah, in my small town to try and lease a storefront space, you're looking at about $6,000 a month and that's just your rent, right, like that doesn't cover anything else. So we'd be in the $10,000 a month range minimum, I would think, just to have the doors opening every single day, and to me that was especially with the pandemic kind of just being behind us or we were kind of in the middle of it. I guess still at that point it was just not something I was willing to take on.
Speaker 2:Plus, running a storefront you're out of your house every day at 3.34 am to get in there to bake your cupcakes fresh for your display cases right, it's a lot of time away and in 2021, my kids would have been four and one and a half at that point when we did this kitchen.
Speaker 2:And this just allows me to use the space that we already have with the bills that we already pay, right, oh, adding a little bit onto those bills every single month not $10,000, but to be present for my kids too, so I can get up and bake super early in the morning if I need to, then I can stop and take my son to school, right, or stop and take my daughter to daycare or go on a school trip Like it just allows for so much flexibility in my life that a storefront would have never done that. So for me I don't see a storefront ever happening. Maybe in the distant future if prices ever came down and my kids were older, but certainly not anytime soon, because my kids are young still, like now they're. Oh gosh, how old are they? Six and three and a half. My daughter starts school next month and I wanna be here for their trips and to take them to and from school every day. That's why I left policing and why I'm doing what I'm doing, so I can be present for them.
Speaker 1:I hear that from so many moms. To be present is just like a gift that is so priceless, and so you're in the home with them while you're doing your thing and still providing for them at the same time. So I know that definitely has to be an amazing feeling. At what point in time did you come across baking for business? Because you're actually a member of our entrepreneurial community and you do well. You're always diving in, you're always doing great things. So a lot of people listen to the podcast and I know you told me you said I've never missed an episode. What point made you invest? Like why not just YouTube how to be better at business or watch business videos? Like what made you decide I think I'm gonna invest in this?
Speaker 2:I had done that for a long time and my first introduction to you was the first bake fest and I had watched your class there. And then I started following you on Instagram and it was on Instagram that I then saw teaching your passion, cause I still wasn't a member of entrepreneur community at this point. I took teaching your passion and I just I loved your teaching style, the openness. This is who I am. Take it or leave it, because that's how I run my business. I don't put on a front when I'm on social media. I don't pretend that I'm a perfect mom or a perfect baker. My house is perfectly clean all the time. It's just. This is who I am. And then it was after teaching your passion that I joined entrepreneur community and I loved that.
Speaker 2:And your podcast started just over a year ago I wanna say 15, 16 months ago maybe and I remember the very first episode listening to your podcast. They said I'm gonna be on that podcast one day. And I listen every single week, pretty much the day of release or the next day. I learned so much from it every week. But every single week when I listen to the podcast, I say I'm gonna be on that podcast one day and then, when you asked me to be on the podcast, I said, oh my gosh, I manifested this because I said it every single week when I listened to the podcast. So I you don't know how thrilled I was when you asked me, because every week that would go through my mind as I listened to it and I just I love being a part of the entrepreneur community.
Speaker 2:Everybody in there is so helpful. The classes have been amazing. I just finished more dough as well and I feel like all those things are implementing so many changes that, yeah, you can find some of this stuff on YouTube, but nobody really deep dives into it. Right? You need somebody who's really gonna deep dive into it, and you can watch a thousand videos to maybe capture all the little points. Or you can take one class and get it all in one class, and for me, you know, it's about making the best use of my time. So you know now, like my kids are busy, my business is busy, so I would rather put in the money, invest in myself, invest in my business, get that information as succinctly as possible and then be able to instantly put that into my business instead of trying to find it from all these different little sources, maybe hopefully right on YouTube.
Speaker 1:Definitely, and you do so great with the resources. In fact, one of the things I'm really big on is people diversifying their income, and so I know inside of the entrepreneur community. I shared a class on classes, on teaching local classes in your community, and you have really been killing it with classes in Ontario. So tell us how did the class thing come about and how are you enjoying that, because so many other bakers would be like I'm scared, I'm afraid you know to talk in front of people, or so how have the classes been beneficial to your business?
Speaker 2:So I think that they go back to me having wanted to be a teacher all those years ago and I've just kind of come full circle to now teaching in something I used to know nothing about, and it's just like I think it's such a fun, different activity for people to do right, like there's nobody offering, like the you know Michael's 25 minutes away from me used to offer cake decorating classes. They don't, there's nobody around that I know that offers classes and I just thought, well, I taught myself like I'm pretty confident in my ability, I'm confident in my abilities, I think I can teach other people right. So I kind of practiced like in my head and in my kitchen one day and this is how I think I would do a class, and I took your course and that was huge for helping me. And just you know, I've done. I've done a handful of cake classes, cupcake classes, cupcake decorating, birthday parties. I've got a whole bunch lined up now for the fall as well, for both of those, and it's just a different afternoon out of the afternoon people to sit there and watch the fact that I taught myself this and now I'm teaching other people and to watch them at the end of the class.
Speaker 2:When they step back and they're like, oh my gosh, I made this, like it's just so fulfilling to get to be a part of that experience with people and they are nervous in the class, they're not judging you standing in front of them, teaching them, because you're the expert to them. So even if you don't feel like you're an expert, to the people taking your class you are the expert. So they're not sitting there thinking like, oh my gosh, she doesn't know what she's talking about. They're like how did she just smooth that cake in three minutes and I can't smooth mine in 30 minutes, right? So you know, nobody is looking down on you teaching a class.
Speaker 2:I think that you won't know until you give it a chance and as long as you're prepared and you have your tools and you go over it ahead of time, you know, okay, I'm gonna start by doing this and after we talk about buttercream, we're gonna talk about this and just know how your class is gonna go. Don't do it on a whim, right, plan it out. People really, really love it. They're always looking for something different to do activity-wise, and then you get to eat the cake or cupcakes afterwards. So who doesn't love that?
Speaker 1:Absolutely Looking back over, since you built your business and it's growing so fast and you're doing so many wonderful things, what so far has been your biggest accomplishment? I know from our group I know you've had a one K day, which is awesome, and I know you also taught a huge class where, like you, took over a school auditorium, which was like amazing. But what has been one of your biggest accomplishments, or was that one of them that I shared?
Speaker 2:So the cupcake glass at my son's school. I did that, and this is another thing is I did that as a fundraiser for my son's school, so I took a portion of every ticket and donated it back to the school to go to their food, their nutrition program, which is another amazing thing to be able to do, and I plan to do that, hopefully, two times during the school year next year. So there was 44 people, I think, registered in that class, which was incredible. I've won a couple local awards in our newspapers. The coolest thing to me is I've done a couple of styled shoots and the photographers are amazing and those pictures have been published in online magazines and that's just been really incredible. But maybe the most amazing thing that I like about it and it's not even necessarily just my little business is we don't have a ton of markets in our town and I decided, well, that I started doing popups in my driveway. I was like, well, I'm just gonna do a popup in my driveway and I started inviting other local businesses. I was like, hey, I'm gonna be out here selling my baked goods in my driveway. Do you just want to come with me? I didn't charge anybody anything, right?
Speaker 2:So once we got to about four businesses in the driveway, though there wasn't enough space. So I ended up a local balloon store and I started talking and she was like you know, would you do it here? She's got a really nice property up front. And I said yeah. So now I organize this market twice a year. We do it at night. There's no night markets around here, so we call it the spring night market or the fall night market, and you know it's me supporting other local businesses. I still don't charge anybody for it. We have about 12 or so 14 businesses that can fit now on this front property. That we're all a part of it.
Speaker 2:And the most amazing thing is that I have a lineup at my table every single time before the market even starts. And to me, when I just look out and I see all of these other businesses and I think this started as just me in my driveway trying to, you know, put a couple of things out there, and then it grew to have all of these businesses together, to see all the support that we all have for one another and then to have a lineup of you know, the very first one we did. It was probably minus 30 degrees Celsius. Here it was in the winter, the first one we did and I had a lineup of about 45 people at my table and there were people that waited in that line for 30, 40 minutes, a certain series talking to me for 30, 40 minutes before getting to the table, in that cold, and I was just like wow, like I can't believe that people are here waiting for me this long in this cold weather, and just I just love the whole event though. Everything about it I love.
Speaker 1:I would have cried, probably. It reminds me of a parable, though. There's a scripture in the Bible that says I will make you the head and not the tail, meaning that I'll put you on top and not below. And one of the things I'm getting from you, because I know too often bakers will say well, the market is booked in my community, so I can't do a market. Or well, we don't have anything like that.
Speaker 1:And I always tell people that, as a business owner, you provide value when you give people what the market doesn't have, and so, rather than using those as an excuse to start and to create your own like listen to what you said 14 business owners participate. That's 14 businesses that you've given light to, that you've given brand awareness to so many bakers always wanna bake and they say, well, I wanna make money, but you're making more than money, ashley. You're making a difference, and not just your kids' lives, but in other people's lives, and so I just think that is so amazing. So, to anyone who is on their job or who's thinking about doing this full time, what advice would you have to anyone else who's thinking about a career change?
Speaker 2:So I think that obviously you gotta know your numbers, and this is the big thing too, right Is? I think the biggest thing in the baking world and it might be, in my opinion, because it's predominantly a female based profession is people don't charge enough for their items. So from the very get go, you have to know what are your costs, what are you going to pay yourself, and is it a viable option for you? Because if you're not paying yourself, then it's just an expensive hobby. So you have to make sure that you have those numbers set from the start, and it's what would I need, right, to be able to make in my business so that I can leave my job. There are some people who want to completely replace their income. There's people who want to double their income before they leave.
Speaker 2:I think that a couple of weeks ago on the podcast, I think she wanted to double her income right Before she left. I want to say that that was the thing, but not everybody needs to do that, right. So you have to know what your numbers are, what can let you leave your job and then figure out okay, how do I get there? Right, you always talk about how many cupcakes you have to sell in a day to make so much money in a day, to be able to make $100,000 in a year. So figure out what that means for you, right?
Speaker 2:What are your bills, what's your mortgage, All these different costs that you have? How many orders do you need to have? And then work backwards from there? And maybe you're building it up over a period of time. And it doesn't have to be all or nothing, it doesn't have to be well, I either do the business or I do my job. Start slow, right, Manage what you can manage and then, when it starts to get to the point where you're like I think I can do this, that's when you kind of have to make that decision right.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I'm sure you're not doing cakes anymore for $20 or $30. No, no, no.
Speaker 2:And I think back on doing a $30 cake. I'm just like I loved it at the time. But especially not with inflation. There's no way.
Speaker 1:For those who are afraid to charge their worth as moms, as women, because we have a lot of moms who started out just like you wanted to do for their kids. What advice will you tell to that person who needs to raise their prices?
Speaker 2:So the advice and I think I said it to somebody, maybe an entrepreneur community the other day is if it was your friend that you were giving advice to, what advice would you give them? So would you tell them hey, it's okay that you're only going to pay yourself $5 for that, you'll figure out another way to pay your gas bill? Or would you say no, girl, like you need to be charging yourself, charging at least minimum wage to be able to pay yourself, you know, a reasonable amount of money. So we often want to devalue what our work is and I again, I think that that is predominantly a female thing and it's just whatever. I think the easiest place to start is whatever your local minimum wages, you should never, ever, ever pay yourself less than that. So here, our local minimum wage is $15 an hour. I would never fathom paying myself less than $15 an hour. If you're going to do that, you might as well just go and, you know, continue working a job until you can get that. But I think the biggest thing is and the biggest thing for me is personal growth.
Speaker 2:Read books, listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos. You have to build up that confidence in yourself. In the beginning I was scared I would send somebody a number and be like, oh, this cake's going to be $60. And I was like, oh, they're going to say no, right, and nobody ever said no. And now I'm like, oh, that was really cheap. Of course they didn't say no, but you have to. If you're not growing personally, you can't grow your business. So like I read books nonstop, I listen to podcasts like crazy, like you have to be building yourself, your knowledge, your confidence all the time and then you won't have those issues. I don't ever question now sending prices to people Did I in the beginning, all the time. But you get that confidence as you go and as you grow and I just think that putting the work in personal growth is a huge part of being able to grow your business.
Speaker 1:I love watching you grow over this past year, so, and I think those are wonderful words of advice. So, speaking of growth, what are your plans for the future? What do you have coming up in the fall? Because I believe you're working on classes not just for your community, but other people as well, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have filmed the class for breakable cakes and it is going to get edited in September and hopefully be launched in October and that is for other bakers. I really liked doing the class and it's just obviously, you know, the time of making that happen. And then in the fall is, yeah, all my classes are going to come back, starting in October cake classes, cupcake classes. I look forward to doing that. We have our fall night market at the end of September. So fall is where everything really really gets busy, right October and then it doesn't really stop until Easter. So there's a lot going on. Christmas is always crazy, so I'm trying to make the best use of the you know, the next month or so to get all of my fall menu set right, because I put out set menus for Halloween, thanksgiving, christmas and, you know, try to get ahead of the game as much as possible.
Speaker 1:Investing in personal growth, staying ahead of the game. You've dropped and shared so many nuggets, and your story is just so beautiful, so thank you so much, really, for just coming on the podcast and sharing all of that. Before I let you go, though, are you ready for lightning?
Speaker 2:round. Well, I am ready. I've been going over this in my head.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm sure you know all the questions, but we'll start off with what is your favorite color it's purple, purple and what is your favorite kitchen utensil?
Speaker 2:It's got to be my stand mixer. Saves so much time, awesome sauce.
Speaker 1:What is a book that you would recommend?
Speaker 2:Business book or like personal growth wise. I just finished the 5am at 5am club by Robin Sharma and I loved it. Personally, I also just finished the autobiography of Melanie see, who was sporty spice, and it was sad and amazing at the same time.
Speaker 1:Cool two books, so I definitely list those below in the show notes. And lastly, what is a dessert you can't live without?
Speaker 2:I would have to say a good macaron.
Speaker 1:That sounds delicious, and, oops, I missed one. Who is your celebrity crush?
Speaker 2:That would be Idris Elba. Oh girl, okay, just finished his new show. It's so good.
Speaker 1:Oh, I wasn't expecting that. Do you watch Luther?
Speaker 2:I have not watched Luther. His new show was called hijack. It was very good.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool, all right, well, we'll definitely check it out. Well, ashley, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and hanging out with me. I love hearing your story and I really appreciate you being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you so, so much for having me. It's really been such a pleasure. I'm so honored to be asked to do this.
Speaker 1:You guys. I truly hope that you enjoy hearing Ashley's story. You know, sharing success stories on this podcast is really something I am truly passionate about because I believe as bakers but shout out to all the ladies, especially as women we learn so much from others. And just a couple takeaways that I want you guys to get from this episode, if nothing else, especially for people when they plan on doing this full time. As someone who has done this full time for over seven years, I cannot stress to you the importance of diversifying your income. If you've been around whenever I host the Mordeaux class, whether you have taken the class or not doesn't matter. That is just one thing I am big on and so one of the things I love.
Speaker 1:When Ashley joined our community, not only how supportive and awesome she was and shout out to everyone in the entrepreneurial community, we're always so grateful to have her but she does so well with the classes, and so not only is she baking, is she feeding her community, just teaching. And, like she stated, you're the expert. No matter how advanced, how little or how much you think you know, or that you don't know, you can teach your community something. You can always find another way to share your gifts and your talents with those who are in your neighborhood, with those who are near you and with those who can benefit from it, and so that's one of the things I love about hearing Ashley's a story. As she explained it is that she's doing the classes, she's doing the baked goods, she's completely transformed her home so that she can have a fully operating kitchen and she's really making use of all the things that she can as a home-based business owner, which I think is something that we should all strive to do as well. I hope hearing today's story inspires you.
Speaker 1:Thank you guys so much for listening, and do me a favor. If you are not following me on Instagram, like, what are you waiting for? That's where I share all the tips, all the goodies, and I love more than anything, though, hearing from you guys. I love when you screenshot me, I love when you write me. I answer every single person back, person by person, and so if you have any questions about today's episode or anything I can help you with, please never hesitate to reach out and ask. You can always tag me at Baking for Business. Take a screenshot of this episode while you are listening. I love it when you guys tag me and I will have all of the details mentioned in today's podcast episode below as well. Special thanks to Ashley for coming on. Shout out to everyone out there in Canada and all over the world, all over the globe, especially the US, wherever you guys are listening from. I appreciate you all. I truly hope that this episode inspired you. Thanks so much for listening. Take care and bye for now.