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

Dee, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Branding is one of the most important tasks to complete when starting a successful business. It communicates to your ideal client who you are as a company, what services you will be providing, and how you can benefit them as being a consumer.

I actually started my home baking business part time in 2014 under a different name, Dee’s Sweets. As you can tell, I named it after myself. Since my first products were specialty gourmet cupcakes and I was also known as the “cupcake lady”, I had a cute cupcake with heels as a logo and my business name below it. At that time, as a new small business owner I had no idea what I was doing, I just knew from watching You Tube videos and reading articles about starting a business, that I needed a name and a logo, so that’s what I came up with. I didn’t know that I needed to attract my ideal client with a catchy name that represents my business. Also I didn’t know anything about an ideal client, I just wanted to sell cupcakes to make some extra money.

After a few years, I realized I was attracting the wrong customer. I was speaking to everyone instead of one specific group. I always seen myself making beautiful desserts for special events like weddings and bridal showers, but I never attracted those types of customers, so I knew I needed to make some changes. I took an online course in 2018 on how to improve my business and was taught that the name of your company and brand is what will set you a part from the competition in your industry. Since I am a huge fan of weddings, I wanted to come up with a name that would attract my ideal client which were brides.

In 2019, I completely changed my business model from selling just cupcakes to becoming a dessert caterer for weddings and other elegant events. That is when my company name went from Dee’s Sweets to Elegant Impressions Bakery. My logo changed as well. No longer did I have the sassy cupcake with heels as a representative, instead my logo is my business name in fancy gold cursive on a pink background. The name represents elegant desserts for elegant occasions. I make sure every product that I create, whether its a full dessert table with a variety of pastries or a simple order of macarons, impresses my customers. I also made sure that my website and social media pages attracts clients that have expensive taste. As a result, I was able to pursue my career of baking full time in 2020.

I would have never thought that my business would take off like it did during a pandemic. Even though lots of venues were closed at the time for events, my clients still made a way to celebrate life’s occasions and I am honored to provide services to them with elegant desserts and impressive customer service. Since then, I’ve had many wonderful opportunities; being a contestant on a baking TV show, catering many weddings throughout Southern California, being added to a few venues as a preferred vendor for dessert tables and most important, gaining loyal customers. Elegant Impressions Bakery will always believe that “every occasion deserves beautiful desserts.”

Dee, 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 am Dee Williams, dessert caterer and owner of Elegant Impressions Bakery. My home baking business is in Moreno Valley, and I provide dessert catering services for all occasions throughout Southern California including the Inland Empire, Orange County and Los Angeles. I started my baking business only selling cupcakes and pound cakes as a side hustle in 2014 while working a full time job when I lived in Atlanta Georgia. In 2018 when I moved back to California, I decided to take my business more seriously and develop a plan on how to attract the customers that I felt needed my services.

Ever since I was a child growing up in the Bay Area, I had a love for baking. Mostly all of the women in my family inspired and gave me the tools and basic knowledge on how to bake. Around the holidays I would help my grandmother prepare her sweet potato pies for our family. We also watched many cooking shows such as Julia Child and Yan Can Cook. My mother bought an Easy Bake Oven for me when I was in elementary school and I used to bake mini cookies and cakes for her and her friends. My Aunt Gwen taught me how to make pound cakes when I was in Jr. High and I would bake them for church events and family gatherings. My other Aunt Jean made delicious cakes for birthdays, dinner rolls and peach cobbler for holidays and I always admired her baking skills.

Throughout the years of my life, I was always intrigued with cooking and baking, continuously watching the Food Network and day dreaming about having my own cooking or baking show. I never really put much thought into owning a business, I just knew I loved working with food. My husband actually came up with the idea of me baking and getting paid for it. So I did lots of research on how to start a home baking business and after a few weeks, I had an idea of what I wanted to offer to customers. That is when my business started.

After 6 years of baking part time, I went from just selling cupcakes and pound cakes, to changing my business name and brand and finally becoming a dessert caterer, offering a variety of desserts for all occasions. The supplemental income was ok, but I felt I needed to be more involved full time to make some more money; working a full time job wouldn’t allow that due to my strenuous schedule. Then 2020 came. Like everyone else in the world, schools were shut down and we had to home school our children, so I was laid off and took care of my kids while my husband still worked. Even though we were going through a pandemic, and times were uncertain, I decided to focus more on my business and offer customers my desserts just to bring some sort of normality and comfort to a scary situation.

Instead of offering desserts for dessert tables, I would offer treats like cinnamon rolls, muffins and cookies for their small family celebrations. Cupcakes were also available, but I really wanted to market “comfort” desserts. I even had customer appreciation giveaways during some holidays. Anyway that I could help my community with desserts, I was willing to do it. My mother always told me “what you put into this world is what you will get out of it.” After many acts of kindness, more opportunities started happening for my business. I was a contestant on Hulu’s baking show: “Bakers Dozen” in 2021, (I didn’t make it to the 2nd round but I had an awesome time being on TV), my clientele was growing fast, I had huge orders from well known companies, I made more money working for myself than I have ever made working for someone else, and my biggest achievement was having time to raise my family on MY time.

As a small business owner of almost 10 years, I have learned to become more personable with my clients. Everyone has a story behind what they are celebrating, whether it’s an event for a celebration of love, life or death. I make sure that each person that uses my services or purchases my products will receive stellar customer service and delicious desserts. I appreciate every single order, event, comment, review or feedback (negative or positive). Without my clients, I am no longer in business for something that I love to do, BAKE. Many small business owners don’t realize how important it is to go over and beyond for the people that keep your business alive. These days good customer service is so hard to come by and when you support Elegant Impressions Bakery, you will receive a wonderful experience.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Excellent customer service and professionalism has built my reputation within my market. There is not a day when I don’t answer my business phone without saying thank you to the customer for calling and stating who I am and my business name. Since I don’t have a storefront, it’s very important to interact with each customer professionally, so they can feel comfortable with purchasing from a home based bakery.

For any type of home business, a website is crucial to let customers have easy access to your products. Sure you can start with taking orders from social media, but you never know when Facebook or Instagram can stop working. Look at it like this: You rent space from Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, nothing on there is truly yours, it belongs to the social media platform and you have less control. Whereas you own the space and the content on your website. You have more control on how you want to speak to your customers.

I give a lasting impression for each customer, even when they don’t purchase from me or I don’t offer the products that they need. Customers really appreciate your kindness and patience, that’s how you keep them coming back. Like the old saying goes “treat others how you want to be treated.”

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

Having great products and knowing how to promote them correctly. I use many resources to promote sales, new products or events where I may be selling products in person. Email, my website and social media are the main ways that I communicate with new and old customers. It’s a way to keep them intrigued about my business. I always talk about the products that I offer and how it can help solve a problem a customer may have. That builds trust in my brand and once you have a customer that trusts your business, they will pass that information to the next person.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.elegantimpressionsbakery.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/elegantimpressionsbakery
• Facebook: facebook.com/elegantimpressionsbakery