We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Mitchell recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ashley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?
Every since I was little, I have always had a fascination with Walt Disney. I was born and raised just 20 minutes down the freeway from Disneyland, so Disneyland and the Walt Disney Company have always been a big part of my life. I homeschooled and did online school for most of my elementary and high school education, so I had a super flexible schedule. This lead to the ability to be at Disneyland with my mom and older brother quite often during the school week, spending time together and enjoying exactly what Walt Disney had in mind when he was creating the park – a place where children and their parents could equally enjoy an activity together. I have always had an entrepreneurial personality, which lead me to have numerous little “businesses” when I was a kid. I sold homemade snickerdoodle cookies to kids walking home from school, had Fruit Loop necklace stands, sold my Halloween candy, had a custom slime business, and more all before I turned 12 years old. Throughout all these things, my love of Disney and all that Walt created motivated me to do anything I could dream. Walt stood by the idea that, “all our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” While I have never known him personally, His legacy and example have stuck with me for many years and been my motivation to makes my dreams and ideas become my reality. Walt’s legacy has influenced me to not let anyone make me think I don’t have what it takes, to have courage, and to dare to dream.
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 Ashley, I am 17 years old, and I own my gourmet cupcake and cake business, Tiny Bird Bakeshop. I’ve always wanted to start my own business, and decided to take the plunge back in march of 2021, not long after my 15th birthday. I wanted nothing more that a job so I could be making some money, but I was too young to be hired anywhere. I decided to take matters into my own hands, and employ myself! After a lot of time thinking about what I could sell and what to call my brand, I decided to start with custom cupcakes and name it Tiny Bird Bakeshop. At the time I had been spending time mastering the art of decorating layer cakes and new I had a passion for baking. While I loved baking and decorating cakes, it was extremley time consuming. As I was thinking of ways to make my love of creating beautiful and delicious cakes possible, I decided that I would take the same flavors, fillings, and buttercreams I loved making into cakes, and put them in a smaller, personalized package of a cupcake! Cupcakes are much easier to produce in larger quantities, making it possible for me to work at a higher volume. I also believe that they are great for any gathering, because each guest is able to have their own cute, perfectly proportioned dessert. As far as the name goes, I wanted to call it something that really felt like me. I didn’t want to call it something that had no meaning, and I also didn’t want to use the word “cupcakes” in the name. I didn’t want to limit what I could sell my putting one specific item in the name, so I decided to go with the word bakeshop. Tiny Bird is a nickname that my dad has called for as long as I can remember, so I put the two together, and Tiny Bird Bakeshop was born. I sell custom cupcakes to clients for all sorts of events, ranging from birthday parties to corporate gatherings, I make assorted half dozen cupcake boxes for holidays, and I now offer custom cakes to go alongside customers custom cupcakes.
I am proud of myself and how far I have come through what I have created. Being a teenager in high school, some people tend to underestimate your ability and work ethic. However, I want people to know that working with me will be every bit as professional as it is if they were working with someone twice my age and that I take my job very seriously. I want to create the best experience for every person I make cupcakes for, and I hope to leave them with something even better than what they originally thought they wanted. I strive to create the perfect balance of delicious flavors, and adorable decorating to fit every theme. I absolutely love what I do, and still get a rush of excitement each time a potential customer comes into my DMs or email. Nothing brings me more joy that getting to do what I love. I have also started sharing things on my page that will teach others how to do what’s I have learned, so they can become confident bakers too! I love getting to connect with people over something we all have in common, even if we live hundreds of miles from one another. I am so grateful for the different opportunities I have from Tiny Bird Bakeshop. None of this would be possible without the amazing support of my family, friends, and customers!
How did you build your audience on social media?
Building an audience on social media is tough. The algorithm is never in your favor and it is extremely tiring to put so much time and effort into something that you can’t control. However, I did decide to use Instagram as my main platform for advertisement and sales, because it was going to be the most accessible for me. I have a webiste that is under development right now that I am really looking forward to using in the future, but for the last almost three years, instagram has been my main platform. The biggest piece of advise I would give to someone starting out on social media with a business and product to sell, is the importance of the quality of your followers, rather than the quanitiy. For example, If you had 200 followers who bought from you, supported you, and shared your brand with their friends, that is way more beneficially that 1000 followers who never buy anything, don’t interact, and don’t share what you do. This is sometimes hard to remember, but it really is true. For me, the number of followers I have doesn’t really matter to me, because a large portion of those who follow me are customers. They keep me in business, and that is worth more than any follower amount ever could be worth.
Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?
A few weeks after I started Tiny Bird Bakeshop, Mothers Day was coming up. Before this I had just been making one flavor each week and selling individual cupcakes. My supportive friends and family were buying them from me, but I wasn’t selling many to anyone else. I wasn’t surprised because I was so new, but I still hoped to get busier and build up my clientele. I decided to put together an assortment of cupcakes in a half dozen box to advertise for Mother’s Day. This was my first assorted box ever and without it, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today. I advertised on my instagram and my mom posted about me on our communities Facebook page, and I got a crazy amount of orders. It really gave me the confidence to keep pushing forward from there on out! Without that day, I don’t know where I would be. It taught me so much, and helped encourage me to keep working hard to grow. I have now grown my clientele to hundreds of people, and I have found other opportunities to share what I do on local TV shows, and magazines.
Contact Info:
- Website: tinybirdbakeshop.com – this is under development!
- Instagram: @tinybirdbakeshop
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tinybirdbakeshop – this is also just getting started!