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

Brandy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

In November 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, I made a batch of decorated sugar cookies to take to a Friendsgiving gathering. After the cookies were already made, we came to our senses and decided a large gathering was a poor choice due to the obvious infection risk. With the Friendsgiving canceled, I had four dozen cookies that I certainly didn’t need to eat. I posted on Facebook offering them to local friends and people really responded! Several friends shared the post and all of the sudden I had strangers asking if I’d be offering Christmas cookies. To which I responded, “I guess I am now!” and started taking orders.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a full time Emergency Department RN and a part time cookier. I bake decorated sugar cookies for events such as bridal showers, baby showers, weddings and birthdays. I also teach cookie decorating classes to help others learn how to decorate beautiful treats themselves.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I have a place on my website to subscribe to emails- I sent out updates about holiday pre-sales, cookies classes and availability. I also have a Facebook and Instagram page. I share on local community Facebook groups for those who are not on the email chain. My clients know who I am and that my full time priority is nursing, so my availability is limited. I take fewer orders to ensure I have enough time to dedicate to each individual cookie.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

There was a period of time where I was just saying yes. Yes to overtime at work, yes to cookie orders, yes to plans with friends. I quickly realized that I needed to prioritize and learn to say no- for my sake, my clients, and my families. It’s so easy to get caught up in the monetary aspect of working- saying yes to orders for the money. But if you overbook yourself, rushing and reducing the quality of your work, you’ll burn yourself out and provide a subpar product to your clients. One botched order and I learned my lesson- I started managing my schedule better.

Contact Info:

• Website: Shoregoodcookies.com
• Instagram: Shoregoodcookies_
• Facebook: Shore Good Cookies