We recently connected with Ashleigh Sanders and have shared our conversation below.

Ashleigh, appreciate you joining us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

When it came to baking and doing cakes in the cake industry I scaled up by doing a lot of bake sales to get my Product out there more. With me doing that I started to take on doing cakes that was trendy to test my cake skills which was tested a lot! When it came to cakes I didn’t know alot and I had to figure it out on my own. By my giving away free products to start off and also trying new recipes it started to build my clientele and help expand my cake skills and creativity. It’s not as easy as it seems with social media now a days people look at the outside but not within. I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my days from having mistakes on designs , my product not tasting the best, not charging my worth plus some! But you live and you learn, I learned from my mistakes which has got me to where I am today just by constantly working and never giving up. Also by taking constructive criticism, it may be hard to take but if you apply it to what you do you can work through your mistakes to correct them,

Ashleigh, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Ashleigh , I’m a 22 year old baker here in Detroit, Michigan. I started baking when I was 12 , I’ve always had a creative eye for art. In middle school I would always draw, paint, sew and I even did nails but I would always watch cake boss and the art of cakes went crazy so I gravitated towards that and I never stopped since then. The product and services I provide are custom cakes and different varieties of deserts such as cookies , cheesecakes, brownies , pies etc!
While being in the cake industry for so long I feel like what sets me apart from different bakers is my custom cakes designs and my trendy pastries. This makes me so proud because doing some designs that are one of a kind makes me feel special because my customers visions always come to life which keeps them coming back and it lets my future customers know that they can get a one of a kind cake made.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I put my capital together for my business by registering my LLC and applying for business loans in my EIN. By me doing this I was able go fund my business which lead to me opening up business accounts which helped me get business credit cards . With my business credit cards I was able to buy in bulk which saved me so much money !

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

My side hustle turned into my main business and career. I’m so happy I was able to take on baking this far because I always felt like I wasn’t meant to work for other people. I’ve always wanted to be my own boss and to work doing something that I loved and made me happy.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Ashleighscraftedcakes_
• Facebook: Ashleigh Lynn sanders