We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ian Villegas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ian below.

Hi Ian, thanks for joining us today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

The name and brand was actually non existent back when we were selling to family members, friends and even on Etsy. So besides our family and friends…Etsy customers were our first actual clients!

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.

Well…it all started when I started after pandemic. My mother was a nurse and was also baking on the side for fun, let’s say about over 10 years. So around 2023 I was working for a bagel company named Toasted at the st Helena farmers market. I then met a lady named Agnes who is the owner of Napa Valley Tea Company. We bonded over living in the Bay Area, being Filipino American and all sorts of things. When I told her that my mother bakes, Agnes had asked me to bring samples…she tried the samples..got us into the markets and the rest was history!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

So the common themes of both occasions were that I was injured and my mom was incredibly tired due to the work load, yet we still made it through. The first one was our first event In San Francisco and we needed to meet deadlines and get there to solidify our commitment to this. I had a pretty badly sprained ankle and my mom was running on little sleep..we had to crank out a certain amount of goods..wake up the next day and get to SF for the event..let’s just say we didn’t sleep… More recently I dislocated my shoulder and had to do a market the following day… I felt that we needed to go. I asked my grandpa to drive me there and he helped me set stuff up so I can sell the goods. I could have easily stayed home and Ed, the market manager would understand…but I decided that we were already in too deep..so I pushed through.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Well…my mom had to quit her job and go full time for this business after 3 months of getting solid feedback from our customers.. She knew that if she continued working at her nursing gig, she wouldn’t have time to commit to the business. Me personally, I had to change my lifestyle, switch up my daily routine, and get used to being a business owner. Knowing that nothing gets done unless you get shit done was hard for me…but I’m glad it was like that in the long run…sometimes you have to just do it..even if you don’t feel like it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @iansbakeshop97

Image Credits

Pia Torres
Marianne Torres
Ian Villegas
Rikishi Fatu