We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aleksandra Kay a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Aleksandra thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
I graduated college in May of 2020 with degrees in Psychology and Criminal Justice in the middle of the Covid pandemic. I had to figure out something to do to earn money, but with job-hiring being at a complete standstill, nothing was available. I took a risk in indulging one of my life-long hobbies of baking and cake decorating, and began putting some of my desserts on Facebook Marketplace in hopes of making a little bit of money on the side. These sales started to pick up and I had several people asking me for custom cakes. I bought some new cake tools, boxes for storing and delivering the cakes, and adjusted all of my personal cake recipes so they’d be in bulk for all of my cake requests. As I got more requests and orders over the months, I drew up some menus, created social media pages, and built a website to make it more official, and then when the job market started to open up again, I made the decision that I loved this new venture I was taking. In January of 2021, I officially launched Kaykery, my home-based custom cake and dessert bakery. Starting my business at all, especially during a Covid year, was the biggest risk I’ve taken in my life. To put aside the degrees I worked so hard for, to take myself out of the typical work force to work for myself, and to start a business in the middle of a nationwide recession are all huge risks, but sometimes you have to be comfortable in being uncomfortable, because those are when the biggest growth periods of your life will be. I am a big believer in the sentiment that everything happens for a reason, and because of how those Covid years went for me, I am forever grateful for the blessings it brought to me.
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.
My name is Aleksandra Kay and I created Kaykery, my home-based custom cake and dessert business in Parker, Colorado. I created this business out of a life-long hobby and passion I’ve had for homemaking delicious and beautiful desserts. The beginning of my Kaykery journey was a wild one, as I started my business in January of 2021, one of the Covid pandemic years. I graduated college in May of 2020 after having been sent home early because of the pandemic, and I was looking for a way to make some money on the side. Never in my wildest dreams did I think my couple of listings for desserts on Facebook Marketplace would become as popular as they did and that would have been the start of my first orders for my business. My original listings and first 2 years in business consisted of cakes and cupcakes, but in the last year, I have branched out into decorated sugar cookies, macarons, and other pastries and desserts. There’s a thrill in being a part of someone’s special celebration whether it’s a wedding, gender reveal, or a small simple birthday, and the smile on someone’s face when they see their cake will be priceless to me every time.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When I went through my separation and divorce from my husband, I wasn’t sure where I’d go. I was at a low point in my life where I didn’t feel like putting the work into my business, I didn’t know if I even wanted to do custom desserts anymore, and I knew I needed a change of scenery and a change of pace in my life. I had a good friend living in Texas who owned several businesses, and he offered that I come out there and work for him to get some time away from the pressure Colorado had on me. I never thought I’d leave Colorado because this is where my family is and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to abandon my business. I took the risk and I went to Texas for a short period of time to do marketing and business operations for my friend’s coffee shop, and it was so fun to be in a different headspace. While I was there, I started to work on myself in therapy, I discovered exactly what I wanted from business and from my life, and I decided I could come back to Colorado with a clear head and with a newfound passion for my cake business. I’m now seeing record high numbers for orders and revenue for Kaykery and I have the best support from my friends and family to continue to grow.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
There are a million lessons I’ve learned and unlearned in going into business for myself, but the one that stands out to me the most is to wait your turn. When I graduated college during the Covid job-freeze, I didn’t just post up in my house watching TV and letting life go by. Sure, I probably did that for a few weeks just to take a step back and relax for a while, but I started to see everyone else creating something out of nothing. Both of my sisters created Etsy businesses and were still going strong during Covid. They pivoted, added new products to their shops, and continued to grow despite the world being at a stand-still. My dad came upon the opportunity to retire and receive a great retirement package from his company, and he took it. So what about me? Was I just going to sit around and wait for a job to fall into my lap? Was I going to ‘wait my turn’ while everyone around me was doing exactly what they wanted to with their life? No way! It was my turn. I started out in my field of study, psychology and criminal justice, and took a couple interviews, but they weren’t ideal jobs, they were far from where I was living and doing jobs that didn’t have any interest to me even though they were in my field. I took the lesson from each member of my family to do what you love and the money will follow and that’s when I made my first listings on Facebook Marketplace for some small desserts. Those couple posts online reached a lot of people and suddenly I was having to expand, create my own baking space, and buy packaging and tools to work properly. If I had waited my turn for the job market to return to normalcy, I never would have sought a career out of my hobby. If there’s an opportunity out there for you, you don’t have to ‘wait your turn’ to feel worthy of it. You already are. Your time is now.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kaykeryco.com
- Instagram: @KaykeryCO
- Facebook: Kaykery
- Other: Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/KaykeryCO