Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shelby Olstad. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Shelby, appreciate you joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I couldn’t imagine my life not being a business owner. Out of college, I worked for a startup so it wasn’t a super traditional job and I had a lot of flexibility, but I still felt the constraints of working for someone else. Creating and executing my personal vision and bringing my dreams to life is the most rewarding work in the world.

I’m a co-host on a podcast called Screw It Let’s Do This, and last week we interviewed Samantha Daily. Samantha noted how most people don’t wake feeling excited to go to work and how difficult it truly is to find your passion in life that you can pursue as a living. Since the interview, I’ve been making a conscious effort to wake up and be grateful that I’ve been able to turn my passion into my job. It’s such a blessing.

Shelby, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a 27 year old business owner of three different businesses, but my bakery, Miggy’s Bakes, is my first and biggest baby. I’ve always been extremely into baking from a young age and wanted nothing more than to bake every single day. No one else in my family is a baker, so I’m really not sure where the passion came from, other than my sweet tooth.

There is a strong bakery presence in Madison, so I knew I would have to create my own bakery style to be successful. We specialize in custom cakes, gourmet cookies and dessert bars, and a unique fan favorite – cookie cups. They have a cookie base, filled with various fillings (think ganache, peanut butter, buttercream, etc), and topped with edible cookie dough. All buttercream, decadent, and better than the desserts you grew up with, are what we go for. All sweet, all the time. There aren’t any bakeries in the area with the same decor style and flavors, which helps set us apart!

I’m most proud of going after my business dreams at a young age. I quit my corporate job at 23 and have been working for myself full time now for a little over 3 years. It was very scary but I listened to my gut and went for it, and couldn’t be more pleased with the results.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

One thing I love to do is reach out to interesting people who are coming to the Madison area on social media, email, or wherever I can send a message, and offer my desserts. These people are typically comedians (we have an amazing comedy club in Madison), musicians, social media influencers, and more. I’ve been pretty successful with this I think because who wouldn’t want free desserts delivered to them while they’re in town?!

When David Spade was in town, I shot him a message and offered dessert for him to enjoy after his show. He didn’t get back to me, so I reached out to his opening act. He responded immediately and accepted, as well as offering me a seat and a chance to meet everyone performing. I was able to see the sold out show, watch David Spade enjoy my desserts, and meet the whole crew backstage after the show.

The photo I took with David Spade went semi-viral on my page and brought tons of excitement and hype. Shooting my shot and finding new pathways to get to the end result is something I love to do!

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

The first year and a half of my business, I ran the bakery out of my parent’s home kitchen. I had just graduated college and moved home to save on living expenses. At the time I was a working a full time job, then coming home and baking until 2 to 3 AM every night. During this time, I was able to build my savings a ton.

The business was growing and I needed to find a bigger kitchen space that also had the potential for wholesale clients. In Wisconsin, you can’t bake for wholesale customers out of a home kitchen. That’s when I found a kitchen to rent for a really great monthly cost, that also allowed me to build my savings and grow the business even more. This kitchen was a restaurant that served breakfast and lunch, so me and my team went in around 3 PM each day to start our work.

Pretty quickly we grew out of the rented kitchen space which is when I started to look for our own bakery space. I had saved enough for a down payment on a loan, which is what we needed to build out our own bakery. I worked with the Small Business Development Center, which is a free resource that is offered in every state, where they helped me create a robust financial projection package and fine tune my business plan.

Armed with my projections and plans, I went to the bank where I applied for a SBA loan. The loan was secured and I was able to start working on my dreams!

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miggysbakes/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/miggysbakes
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelby-olstad-a26836141
• Other: Podcast – https://www.instagram.com/screwitletsdothis/

  Events Business – https://www.instagram.com/eventsbymiggys/

Image Credits

Nicole Hansen Photo
Sydney Ross Photography