Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alexis Rice. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alexis, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

My parents have ALWAYS installed in me to work hard, keep God first and go after everything I want no matter the consequences. These goals have been taught to me over and over from a young child to my adult age.

Being an entrepreneur is never easy EVER! However, my parent pushing me to never give up and always follow my dreams is one of the biggest takeaways I have from being a business owner. Its many days I want to quit, it’s many days where things are so hectic I don’t know if I’m coming or going but I keep pushing. I don’t allow these hard moments to break me because it will always be a rainbow at the end of a storm.

Through everything, I pray and know God doesn’t allow his children to go through anything we can’t handle!

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 name is Alexis Rice. I am the owner of Sweet Treats By Lexx.

I began my career in baking when I was around the age of 12 with my great grandmother Murray “Mama” Davis. She would always assign me to be her kitchen assistant! Together, we would bake cream cheese pound cakes which are now one of my signature dishes! “Mama” passed away May 2009 and that’s when baking became my life.

Baking is an avenue for me to relieve stress and be creative of my own will! I can honestly say the kitchen is my safe haven when there is no other outlet to turn to! For most of my life, I’ve felt as if I was a shadow; people overlooked and underestimated me and my skills for years. However, I started allowing my work to speak for me and that’s why I am where I am today.

Sweet Treats By Lexx is something I’ve been running since 2016 when I was a senior in high school. It was my side hustle, something I did for fun in my free time. Everyone enjoyed my treats and my clientele started to pick up which is what pursued me to keep pushing for my dream. That allowed me to be where I am today.

In 2019, I relocated to Texas, I began doing pop-up events on the weekends, and weekly sales and started doing on-foot marketing selling my desserts. Fast forward to 2022, we now offer hands-on group and one on one classes and we recently just opened our own studio space in Hurst, TX

I am known for my cream cheese pound cakes, moist red velvet cake, and delicious strawberry cake.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective way to gain clientele is constant marketing and networking. Customers aren’t going to come to you so networking with other business owners and people around will allow you to sell yourself and your product. Never stop promoting your business or the items you sell. As a business owner, it’s NEVER too much promoting you can do for your business.

Social Media Marketing is a great way to reach multiple people in a short amount of time. However, some customers want to be interactive with you, they want to know the face behind the business. So, pop-up shops, networking mixers, and social media lives are great ways to gain clientele while also showing them the who behind the brand.

Another strategy that works for me is in-person marketing, Hanging flyers, going to local businesses to hand out business cards, and plenty of networking events

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Sweet Treats By Lexx was once just a high school side gig; I would sell cake slices and other desserts with my mom at her job. The feedback I was receiving on my desserts was amazing. As I started to gain more clientele I made the decision to go to culinary school after high school. Proceeding to 2015 I am a senior in high school getting ready to go to college, I applied to Johnson & Wales University; in my 4 years of learning the ins and outs of baking, I made the decision to take my career on full-time once I graduated.

In 2019, I relocated to Dallas, TX. When moving to Dallas it was such a scary experience seeing all these amazing bakers and I was just starting off, fresh out of college. I began to do pop-up shops and other networking events around the city to get my name out and let the city know Sweet Treats By Lexx is here and ready to serve you! My constistentcy in promoting and networking are the two biggest things that have helped me to be where I am today. Even when things got rough I never gave up on myself, when I didn’t make any sales I still continued to promote my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sweettreatsbylexx.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweettreatsbylexx_/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sweettreatsbylexx
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexxsweettreats
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sweettreatsbylexx_/video/7108538927107149099