We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brandy Berlinski a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Brandy, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
Brandy, 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 a self taught baker, who really invests myself into all of my clients. Rarely ever is my interactions with my clients a “one and done”. I appreciate their business and I appreciate them as a human being. They make up a large part of who I am and how I want my business to be. A large chunk of my branding is done online through my social media so it’s important to keep that online presence by posting regularly and sharing snippets of my everyday life, as well as my decorating process. Showcasing these aspects of my life and business has given my followers, friends & clients a direct avenue to inquire about any techniques I use, decorating or baking advice I have etc. Like so many others, I am a self taught baker and I also have room for growth and being able to learn from each-other whether it be new decorators or established decorators is very very powerful & I look forward to all future growth within the Cookie community!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Being an artist and creator is resilience itself. Not everyone is going to appreciate my style of art nor have the same taste in flavour that I have. You must choose a decorator that fits your needs and I’ve learnt that I cannot always provide to each persons specific needs. I have my own style just as many other cookiers do. Be proactive when choosing your cookie decorator for your event. I have faced instances where the client was very unhappy with their custom set. Of course you try to discuss the details of their set as clearly as you can. For example: shapes, colours, designs, names etc. Unfortunately, things can easily get lost in translation or the client simply expects quality outside of what your capabilities are. And from an artist perspective, my interpretation of a colour could be completely different from the customers interpretation. And with the cost of cookies being so low, we have to be mindful of our time and where we are spending it on each set. These situations always set me back for a hot minute, but I have surrounded myself with such an amazing group of people especially through social media! I cannot stress enough the quality of people I have that support me online and their words of encouragement affect me greatly in such a positive way.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I am still learning to unlearn underselling myself and underselling my worth! What I’ve learnt is that in some cases, you give an inch and people will take a mile. If you don’t stand firm in your decisions people will always think there is leeway. You must learn to not compare yourself to other artists and charge appropriately.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @notyourbasicbatchcookies
- Other: https://greatestbaker.com/2023/brandy-berlinski