We recently connected with Andrea Laviolette and have shared our conversation below.

Andrea, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Learning the art of cookie decorating takes PATIENCE. I see all the time in my cookie groups (yes, they have those!) people trying to bypass the “learning” part of cookie decorating, and jumping straight to sales. So many times the “issues” these people are having with their icing, for example, would be corrected by having the patience to truly learn the craft. Learn what makes royal icing special, how to stabilize it. If it’s cratering, what can you do to minimize that? If it’s bleeding, what tools can you use to eliminate that issue? All of these things will come naturally to you by simply DOING. You cannot skip the process of learning and practicing, it’s just not possible!
My one piece of advice for new cookiers is always the same, patience!!!

Andrea, 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 have always enjoyed working. Since 15 years old, I’ve held many jobs, and enjoyed learning about all types of industries and how companies do business. I truly believe all opportunities (good and bad) have made me the person I am today. I always knew I had an entrepreneurial spirit, however, I never took the leap to build something of my own until a couple years ago.

My story of cookie decorating starts the year I became sober – I am proudly alcohol-free for (almost!) 3 years. Being part of a sober community, I realized I needed to fill the time that was once filled with a bad habit. My best friend (the most amazing human ever!) DRAGGED me to a cookie decorating class locally. As I decorated my first set of cookies, I immediately fell in love. The way royal icing works decorating cookies is magical, and I was able to be creative while making something that could be eaten for my family and friends!
My girlfriend and I then set out to do it at home ourselves. Boy, is that a learning curve! Knowing how thick or thin to make the icing, how much color is too much? How do I get the icing in the bags neatly?!? It was so much work, but so rewarding! Having ADHD, I found myself HYPER focused on everything cookie decorating for the next few months. I devoured how-to videos, practiced techniques, and immersed myself in all things cookies.

After feeling confident and being asked if I sold the cookies, I decided to dive in to selling. I named the business after my EVERYTHING in life, my two children, Oliver (Ollie) and Audrey (Grace). Boy, was it a SLOW start! I remember just WISHING for my first few orders – wanting to have an excuse to make more.

I started researching ways to market & grow a social media following. Instagram?! Wow, was I lost! I listened to podcasts, read blogs, all the things to help me find visibility to buyers. One item I forced myself to do early on was create a website. Again, another huge learning curve. I spent an entire Sunday building it – From morning until night. I was DETERMINED. My website still isn’t perfect, and I want to make it more user-friendly, however, I am a FIRM believer in “Done is Better than Perfect.” After the website, and some great networking on social media, I started to see some traction.

Two years later, I am working with a FULL calendar. As many know, Ollie Grace Cookie Co. is a side hustle for me. My main occupation in sales keeps me busy Monday-Friday, and I work on cookies nights and weekends. Although sometimes it feels like I never STOP working, I find so much pride in owning a business. In my second year of business ownership, I have been able to give back (Cookies for a rehab center, donations for silent auctions, etc.) and I hope to be able to do that more in the future – Philanthropy has always been a major passion of mine!

I guess this wasn’t as brief as I wanted it to be. Overall, I can contribute my success to perseverance, passion, sobriety, and amazing, supportive people in my life! I am grateful every day for these people.

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

Building a captive audience on social media is a difficult task. I know someone who has THOUSANDS of followers on Instagram, and guess what? She has ZERO sales. Having an audience doesn’t necessarily equate to sales. From the beginning, I immersed myself in podcasts that taught me how to use Instagram, Facebook, and SEO best practices to build not only a following, but a following that would BUY from me. Consistency is key. Showing up and being present are the main pieces people forget. You can’t post once a month and ghost the rest of it and expect people to stay engaged. I also respond to all messages, comments, etc. If you are not responding to people, you are not only missing out on the interaction piece, YOU ARE MISSING OUT ON THE ALGORITHM! Having more comments, interaction on your post will push that post up the algorithm. Not responding is a silly waste of that potential!

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I LOVE books and reading., so I would say I have a TON of favorites, however, I always go back to Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. Often, entrepreneurs (or sales people) forget that you want to be likeable, and to do that, you need to talk about yourself less and ask more questions. I know this seems like the most obvious thing, however, we need to understand WHO we are selling to – Ask about THEM, get excited with them! You are not just a robot taking orders, be authentically you, and do it in a way that shows you care about the buyer! I would say over 80% of my orders are repeat clients. What a HUGE compliment! I will continue to prove to those clients that I am here for them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.olliegracecookiecomn.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Olliegracecookieco
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OllieGraceCookieCo