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

Hi Effie, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

Growing up I used to love watching baking shows, Did I ever think I could possibly become a Baker? No not having the confidence was so hard so of course my 1st client would be my Sister-in-law. She’s always heard me rant about how Awesome it would be to compete on a cake show so it show so I told her how about I just do my nephew’s cake which he was soon to come. So quickly grab some materials never having a baking class or experience in culinary I didn’t know what I was doing. So here I go long behold I made my 1st cake and it was not too shabby actually I was pretty excited about how well it came out.. And that’s how I discovered I fell in love with doing cakes.

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?

As a little girl watching baking competition shows I never thought I could possibly even dream to be a Baker. Growing up honestly I wanted to be in the medical field it was really exciting even took some high school classes for ithe classes for it. As time went on I quickly became a stabecame a sad home mom which motivated me to find something to do that I really loved and I couldn’t enjoy also raising my kids.As a mom we all know how expensive child care is so that was never an option but sweets in my house was always around.With having so many nieces and nephews and also 3 of my own I had an idea of why not do a cake?I have never taken culinary school or gone to baking classes so this was a big challenge for me. It was a task I was willing to take as scary as it was I did my 1st cake and wow it came out so awesome. My family was so impressed and asked why haven’t I started doing this before, So I created Effie’s cakes. The name Effie’s cakes originated from my grandmother’s name who also passed down the name to me she means the world to me and I will continue to make her proud Her proud. One of my biggest motivations was after my grandmother’s passing I was trying to find something to ease my mind and my pain so I dove into starting my cake business and haven’t stopped ever since. I want to show my kids that With hard work and dedication anything is possible. They watch me grow my business from nothing to now who I am. Challenging myself daily with every order that I get. I love creating something that puts a smile on people’s faces, And even being a part of their special day. When you come to Effie’s cake shop you will definitely get an amazing experience and we’ll get exactly what you want. Our specialties are 3-D cakes But I cater to all occasions from the smallest of a cupcake to the biggest as a wedding cake always excited to create and put smiles on faces.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Dreaming of a cake business was really just a dream. Never in a million years did I ever think I would actually take this and create a whole business, With not having confidence not having the means and just not understanding the whole business side of Business. I really was just going to keep this as as a side hustle and Just stay-at-home.As I started getting more and more calls and request from others I thought? Why not. Along the way of course I have learned a whole lot like pricing and also knowing my worth. I taught myself definitely patience and understanding and watching a lot of YouTube lol. Always remember you can do anything you wanna do with the little dedication and hard work yes there will be UPS and Downs but well worth it up the end.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

I have really come to appreciate Instagram as that was the 1st platform that I put my cakes on. It’s definitely hard work getting your work to be seen. I have come across some amazing people and amazing clients who continue to show support. One thing about support is it’s not always from family and that’s OK your work speaks for itself and getting yourself out there is What matters. Never be scared to take that 1st step that 1st picture or that 1st post we all have to start from somewhere. Dreams don’t happen overnight but never give up push forward hustle on and be brave.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @Effiescakez