We recently connected with Sara Fearby of Flour and Frost in Batavia, NY and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I – like many other people – caught myself stuck in the cycle of 9-5 life. You blink and years of your life have zoomed by and you feel like you do not have much to show for it other than too many hours clocked behind a computer. After my daughter started preschool, I felt like something needed to change for me. I wanted to show her that there is more to life than just work, and that you can take your passions and hobbies and turn them into something all your own.

In January 2023 I took a leap and decided to get my NY State Cottage Kitchen license and open up a bakery. I thought I would take an order here and there but within a few weeks of announcing my news on my personal Facebook, I was getting flooded with texts, messages and calls!. I very quickly realized wow – this could be a real thing!

Most weeks I don’t even know how I can fit it all in. All the responsibilities of work life, family life, and owning a small business can seem overwhelming and there often are not enough hours in the day.

So at the end of the day, should I measure my success in numbers of orders I can squeeze in per week or the sales that add up? Of course that is all well and good and I am grateful for every customer but honestly the satisfaction that comes from knowing I created this, and that I can be a role model for my daughter as a woman owned business doing everything on my own. That is when I feel the greatest sense of success. When she asks to help me or says when she grows older she wants to work at Flour and Frost too!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

For starters, I did not grow up thinking I wanted to own my own business. I did not come from a family of entrepreneurs and I didn’t even consider it as something to think about until I got so sick of the cycle of 9-5 life and not having anything to really feel passionate about. Through the years, I would always be the baker for friend’s birthdays or a holiday event. Cupcakes and American buttercream were my specialty. It would give me something to do when my husband was at work. From time to time, people in my life would say “you should start a bakery” but I would just laugh and say “maybe.” Then in December of 2022, I really started thinking about what it would take to actually do it. I had a few other awesome ladies in my life who either had their Cottage Kitchen license and worked out of their home or had a brick and mortar established cake business that I was able to bounce a ton of ideas off of and then I got to work making calls to other local business owners in my town, the Dept. of Health, etc. to figure out what my next step would be.

I officially took my first order in March 2023. I offer mostly cupcakes, cakes and cut-out cookies and occasionally I dabble in other things like chocolate chip cookies and cake pops. I have done everything from Barbie doll dress cakes to ghost flamingo cookies to a Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings wedding and everything in between. The best part about a small business like mine is that I can completely customize everything for an order from flavor to quantity to design. Stuff you couldn’t just find in your local grocery store bakery. My favorite orders to take are fun birthday cakes!

In the small town that I live in and the surrounding towns and cities, there are dozens and dozens of other bakers just like me but honestly – I have had nothing but the best experience working with them.I’ve personally met a few of them and had conversations with a handful and we have exchanged ideas, laughed about some of the shared struggles we’ve had, sent business their way when our own schedule was too full and supported each other’s social media. It’s been great and probably not what you would have expected! There is such a community in it and from my perspective there is plenty of business to go around, and no one supports a small business like another small business!

I am proud of everything I have been able to do in a year of business so far. I have done so many things I never thought I would do. I’ve done weddings, I have partnered with major companies and other local businesses, I have done craft shows and pop-up events and met a lot of really great people. Most of all though, I have found a creative outlet that makes me feel like I am putting a smile on people’s face.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

For me, social media is probably my weakest point. I didn’t even have an Instagram until I started this business and my personal Facebook had been inactive for months! The baking comes relatively easy, but the social media aspect I struggle with. I wonder how these other people on social media can post their content and go viral and have thousands or millions of views on their videos! It seemed really overwhelming and I didn’t think I would ever get there. And truth be told, even if I didn’t, that’s ok. My page started picking up followers slowly but surely and I I  feel like I have a healthy following now for a small-town side business.

I don’t have a magic answer other than to be authentic. Let your product speak for itself. Yeah I might not have the flashiest page or the most viral content but it’s me and it’s my product and I don’t have a ton of time or resources to dedicate to social media so I am just trying my best every day and trying to at least make a few posts a week to showcase my products and keep my audience engaged!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

When I first started, most of my business was from family or friends of family. An aunt would put in an order, and then that slowly turned into people I went to school with who found me on social media, and before I knew it a majority of the names coming across my messages were people I did not know! It was such a cool and humbling feeling. At this point I would say I am 50/50 on repeat and net-new clients. I appreciate that a lot of my clients do the marketing for me – they are always so happy to share my posts on social media, set my business cards out or tag me in posts to their network. That is how a lot of my new business comes my way.

Aside from that, always being kind and responsive. If there are days I am swamped with my day job or on a vacation with my family and I am getting new customer messages, I just tell them – looking forward to working with you! Give me a few days and I will get back to you with a full quote! etc. These days people have a million options and want things done yesterday so being really approachable, friendly and honest has worked well for me in growing the trust of my clients.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flourandfrostbatavia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flourandfrostbatavia