We caught up with the brilliant and insightful TAira Dickerson-Holder a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

TAira, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I believe that without failure you cannot succeed in life. I’ve made more than a few mistakes that have taught me more than perfection would have. Many business owners fail a couple times before their business starts to the thrive and that’s where the motivation & determination comes in.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

T’s Hot Pot started in my one bedroom apartment. I was a 20-year-old with no baking experience what so ever. I was and still active duty Army, at the time I was a private working in a dining facility on Fort Hood. One of my NCOs at the time took me under her wing and taught me the basic of baking, building a structural tiered cake and designing cakes. I took what I learned and kept perfecting my craft and watching endless amounts of videos from YouTube to Food Network. I’ve created hundreds of cakes, I believe the best part of my business is seeing the customers reactions and just making their event special from birthdays, baby showers and weddings each one is always different and special. I take pride in my work, so everything I put out makes me proud because it’s a representation of me as a business owner.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

An effective strategy I’ve used to gain clientele and customers when I first started was business cards. I put them in different stores all over my hometown and attached some anytime I was sending a cake order out. I also use social media such as Facebook and Instagram. Social media is the number one source of gaining customers and new clientele because it reaches a lot of future customers at one time.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn, is understanding that I do not know it all. You have to remain teachable, in order to achieve a successful business. Every day I still learn new techniques, that can help me perfect my craft. The world is always changing every single day with new trends and ideas, especially with the food industry. I mean look at viral TikTok recipes.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tshotpot/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/100063488053607/