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

Caitlyn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

2 years ago my husbad & I moved from upstate NY to North Carolina. Being around family & friends in NY it was very easy to be able to be a full time working mom of two. Making the move so far away put a wrench in our plans & i soon would have to adjust to being a stay at home mom again. I’ve always had a love of baking & with all the soon to be time on my hands i figured i would put that hobby to use. I knew i couldnt go into a work place full time again so what better way to use my time & make money to help support my family than to start my own buisness, doing something i love.
At the beginning i had no idea on how my buisness would grow. I figured i would get a few orders here & there to occupy my time but nothing crazy. After the first couple months and a few happy customers, word started spreading & from there i knew that this may be worth continuing. Lets be honest, theres always an occasion going on that deserves cake or some other special treat.
2 years later and my buisness has grown tremendously. Im constantly booked between birthdays, baby showers, weddings, and so much more.

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?

When my first daughter turned 1 i bought a normal store bought birthday cake that didnt really have that “wow” factor. At the time i was a stay at home mom, trying to keep myself busy watching youtube videos & tutorials. Her second birthday rolled around and i figured “hey, why not make her cake yourself”, at that point i figured id watch enough videos to try and make it work. It was far from perfect & wasnt the most tasteful cake, but i made it myself so i was proud. Time went on and then not only was i a mother, but also a godmother now. Another opportunity to make cakes for a very special person in my life.
Years of practice, fails, horrible tasting cakes & alot of trial and error has brought me to where i am today. I never thought i would find myself owning my own buisness, doing something i just had as a hobby to keep myself busy.
Today i do a large variety of services. From birthday cakes, custom cookies, cupcakes, chocolate covered treats & special occasion cakes , the options are endless.
As a parent, i know how special our childrens birthdays are. As a wife i know how your wedding cake is one important peice to your big day. With any occasion there is special meaning behind any cake or treat served. I think having a connection to what im making, makes for it to be that much more special.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been making customers happy. When you provide a product to someone & they light up with happiness and are truly pleased with the outcome, word spreads. For every happy customer , there will be multiple to follow. Having someone mention your buisness to a friend, who then comes to you & is just as happy starts a chain reaction of recommendations to your buisness.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think my communication & genuine care for my customers vision has helped build my reputation within the market. When you have someone who will truly listen to your idea instead of pushing their own on you makes a very big impact on people. Listening & working with someone every step of the way has a greater meaning to people than just handing them a product after one conversation.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Www.Instagram.com/sweethummingbirdcakes
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/SweetHummingbirdCak3s/

Image Credits
Richard barlow photography