We recently connected with Nicole Frazier and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Nicole thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.
If I were to start my cake business over today, I would be way more consistent starting out. Fortunately, I am naturally skilled at cake decorating and most tasks weren’t too much of a challenge for me but starting out I know if I were more consistent, I would be well versed in more areas. Although I’m sure I could achieve the cake trends that I have yet to try, I feel I should have set aside time to at least have attempted them by now, and I haven’t. So I’d be more consistent, I’d push my limits more, and I’d make sure to go to things like pop up shops to get my brand out there to more people.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My cake business is named Nicole Marie Cakes & Tings. It was established in 2020 and it was something that I’ve always had an interest in but I never thought to actually attempt to start. Growing up I would always watch the food network and all of the baking shows/baking competitions, but it didn’t dawn on me until about June 2020 that it wasn’t only something I enjoyed watching, but it was something that I was actually gifted with the skill to do. Shortly after my realization, I crafted my first cake and it was delicious! Everyone loved the taste but the appearance of it wasn’t all that great. Although I knew the appearance of the cake needed improvement, I knew that this was my niche! I enjoyed the entire process so much and I was very confident that I could do better on the look of the cake if I just practiced a few more times, and I did just that. As of today, Nicole Marie Cakes & Tings is still standing and I currently offer personalized cakes, cupcakes and bento cake boxes from my home bakery.
When booking an order with me my clients can expect timely responses, thoughtfulness, price transparency, and overall great customer service. If ever a client receives a product from me that they’re not satisfied with, I will do my best to resolve the issue if it is a flaw pertaining to me and the quality of my product.
What sets me apart from other bakers is my attention to detail and the quality of the product that they will receive. I am very organized, clean, detail oriented and I have a background working at established bakeries around the Bay Area.
I am most proud of the elevation of my craft from 2020 til now. Watching my skills improve is one of the best feelings especially knowing how much I love to do what I do and how much I want to put a smile on my customers faces! I want to continue to grow and improve my craft so that I can continue to add the Nicole Marie touch to peoples events, parties, and gatherings for the years to come.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
So initially, I built my audience on social media through my personal pages. A lot of my followers were just family and friends and then as I perfected my craft, I felt more confident to start telling strangers about my business and handing out business cards as well.
My advice to anybody that is trying to start building a social media presence is to be consistent with posting, don’t be afraid to promote/boost a post to gain more eyes on you and your craft, and network! Building relationships and connections with people in real life is a game changer. People can’t support you if they don’t know about you so make sure that you are getting yourself and your name out there whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Have you ever had to pivot?
A time in life when I had to pivot would have to be when I realize that I did not want to pursue what I went to college for as a career. I know that this is common for a lot of people that have attended college, but for me, it wasn’t an easy pill to swallow. Throughout college, I didn’t receive grants or scholarships to attend college. All of my college tuition was paid for through student loans which obviously have to be paid back and so for me to not get a job in the field that I went to school for, I feel like I wasted my time and a whole bunch of money. Although I still plan to be very successful, switching over to wanting to bake versus pursuing public health made me feel like I was so behind. I felt like I could’ve started out with baking from the beginning and that I would’ve been so much further ahead in that, had I not went to college. Everything happens for a reason and I’m sure that me experiencing college was necessary and that it will all make sense one day but to this day, that is something I feel guilt about.
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