We were lucky to catch up with Ebony Jones recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ebony, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I was a working wife and mother of one starting to feel like I needed a hobby to keep from losing myself in the cycle of a daily routine so a couple of friends and I decided to take a cake decorating class at local store (Michael’s). On the first day of class I was thinking oh my goodness what have I signed up for. I had to go and purchase all of these tools I had never heard of. I was afraid that I was way over my head with this idea. However it turned out to be fun and it seemed to come natural to me. Having my two friends Elena and Rafayele take the classes with me made it even more engaging. Well after I received my certification for completing the first class (Buttercream decorating), I moved on to the next level, then continued until I’d completed all stages that were offered. I would post the finished cake on my Facebook page and people would give me compliments. Then one day a friend of my husband asked if I would make a cake for an event. I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous in my life. Cakes are a huge part of every event so I did not want to mess this up. I talked to my husband and some friends about it and decided to take the order. It was a learning experience but they loved the cake (or at least that’s what they told me at the time). Now that I look back at it, that cake was most definitely made in the early stages of my cake decorating career but as each cake I’ve made it taught me something new. However after that I received another order, then another and then it hit me that this may be something that I’m good at. This could be more than a hobby. So I sat down and thought of a business name. I felt like my cakes weren’t your normal grandmother’s traditional cakes but instead a work of art. Art that you could eat. So I decided that I would become Edible Art by Ebony. I started a social media business page and started advertising my cakes and it grew from there.

Ebony, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Ebony Jones and I am a wife and mother of 3 boys (Tyler 17, Ethan 10, Greyson 7). As a lot of wives and mothers I started to feel like I was needing an outlet so I decided to take on cake decorating. Well that catapulted into a business once I saw how many people enjoyed my work. I create traditional cakes for events, specialized decorated cakes, cupcakes, cakesicles, character cakes, rice krispy treats and many more sweet treats. I enjoy being a part of my client’s special moments by having the honor of doing their cake/treats for their events. I have clients that I’ve done their baby shower cake and I’ve also done that same child’s 5th birthday cake. So those type of clients become like family to me. I watched the mother while she was pregnant with her baby and then I’m still there when that same baby gets her 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th birthday cake. As baby showers and birthday parties have evolved into these huge events my cake decorating has also had to evolve to keep up with the trends. Edible Art by Ebony is not just about me anymore it’s about a family that I’ve built with people I would’ve never met if I had not made the leap to start my business.

In the early years there were times where I would take a break from cake decorating just because I felt overwhelmed with life, kids, a home, a full-time job and cake decorating after my full-time job. So I took a step back, reevaluated how much I wanted this business to work and I found balance. Instead of trying to take 5 orders a week maybe I only needed to take 3 orders a week. I needed time for kids, my understanding husband (Marcus), sports, homework and all of the things they needed me for. I wanted Edible Art by Ebony to work, I wanted to continue being a part of my clients happy moments so I found the balance.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Funny thing is social media is how my business started and how it grew. Seeing as it started as a hobby and I received my first orders from a post on social media. In the beginning my social media presence wasn’t growing so I started doing contests that entailed people to like/follow my page in order to get my likes to a certain number before I chose a winner for a free sweet treat. Recently I attended a cake retreat with hundreds of other bakers/decorators. I learned so much about social media growth from other “cake sisters and brothers”. One of those things was that paying for the Ad on social media helps reach a wider audience. I truly have seen my social media presence grow just from boosting my posts.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Life caught up with me when I found out that I was becoming a mother of 3. I was a wife and a mother of 2 boys, pregnant with my 3rd son, a full-time application developer for a large company and part-time cake decorator. I couldn’t see how I was going to do all of that so I had to make a change in my life. I took a couple months off from cake decorating to focus on life and prepare for a new life. When I felt the time was right I knew that I had to make a change in the way that I did my business. The change may not sound huge but it made a huge difference to me. I had to put a cap on the amount of orders that I would take in a week and sometimes evaluate the complexity of the order for said week. I also had to change the way that I handled the financial aspect of my business such as payment schedule. That had become a stressful part of the business that I didn’t want to drag into my new lifestyle.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edibleartbyebony/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EdibleArtByEbony

Image Credits
Vivid Exposures by SLJ/Shandra Johnson