We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adriana Villegas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Adriana, thanks for joining us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

Scaling up my business was one of the hardest parts of owning a business. It’s easy to start, its easy to bake, but what isn’t is consistently going out and making a name for yourself. Showing people who you are and what your business can provide for them.

One of the biggest key factors that gave me the confidence boost and courage was joining the Mavs take action program and becoming a contestant on The Greatest Baker 2023. I would say this was the turning point for me because it not only gave me the tools I was looking for but it also gave me the confidence I needed to keep going. It pushed me beyond my limits and made me go for the uncomfortable. I had to pass out flyers, attend seminars, get total STRANGERS to vote for me in a competition that was global! Face to face was the only way to strive at this point.

That to me is the biggest lesson to scaling up. Start being comfortable doing the unconfutable, because if you can’t do it for yourself then why should someone else do it for you?

Adriana, 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’ve always been a very creative person. My first business was at the age of 15. I was selling custom shirts, cups, and hoodies in school using the money I saved from my fist paid internship. Since then, I always knew I wanted to become a business owner, just wasn’t sure in what. Flash forward to 2020 when I started baking again. I was always one to enjoy the kitchen but this particular time I was very stressed and not in the best headspace. My routine turned into work, gym, & sleep, which for me, was very unfulfilling and I just didn’t find joy in anything. So I found a way to distract myself and I started learning how to bake from scratch. After about 3-4 months of just baking and testing items I started to bring some around friends and family. This is how I got the idea to turn it into a business. Many people were offering to place an order for their family parties and well I said yes!

Slowly, I started to get a small clientele and decided to start joining local markets around me. This is where the real magic started to happen. I started gaining a social media following and got more and more orders. For me the biggest thing that was setting us apart from all other bakeries was our baked from scratch motto while also offering unique items like Cream puffs and Fruit tarts. I think I am most proud of the way I have handled my obstacles. I struggled a lot with finding my clientele and posing on my socials. I’d like for my future clients to know that all our items are carefully curated and baked with love. I want for our pastries to remind you of your grandma’s kitchen every time you take a bite of our freshly baked goods.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think the biggest thing that helped was getting out into the community. When you really think about it, there are so many events that are being hosted around you. Join those local markets, volunteer for an event, shoot give out samples! Everyone loves a free item, especially one you can eat! Building a reputation is not for the weak, till this day I am still learning to build a community and learning to connect with those around me. My biggest crutch has been the local markets. It’s the best way to get into your community and connect with so many people who 90% of the time are looking for someone like you. This to me is the most effective and fastest way to build a clientele and reputation for your business.

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

NOT EVERYONE will have the same success story. This is, till this day, so hard to understand. You cannot compare your business to those around you. I would get so frustrated with myself because I would compare my success to those around me. I would see someone who started their business 1 month ago and to me they were booming. I’m talking sold out every week, 6 figure business and again all within only 1-2 months of launching. To me this not only hurt but would almost discourage me to continue. It made me feel less and would start planting those seeds of doubt. Don’t feed into it! It’s not your story and that’s ok.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://crustybites.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crustybites_/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/crusty-bites-dallas

Image Credits

N/A