We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jamie Andrews. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jamie below.

Jamie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I was a stay at home mom for 20 years for my two daughters. I worked various part time jobs and volunteered much of my time with whatever activities my girls were involved in such as Girl Scouts, School events, concert band and marching band in high school. While volunteering, I had also been making cakes for 10 years or so for friends and family and they always encouraged me to sell my cakes!! After my girls graduated from high school I needed to go back to the work force and find a full time job so I decided to give selling cakes out of my home a try. Thus Sparkling Divine was born!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Over the years, I’ve made some very fancy cakes. From one tier to three tiers, “topsy turvy”, fancy and fun themed like “Nightmare Before Christmas” which was one of my favorites. But I’m a perfectionist and it takes forever for me to make these cakes, so it became tedious and tiresome. Also, the stress of delivering these cakes you’ve spent hours on is never ending! I once delivered a cake, and had it fall apart in the driveway. Yes, I did cry! Fortunately, it was for some friends who were very kind and understanding. It wasn’t a complete loss; I was able to salvage two of the three tiers.

With that said, I decided I wanted to focus on more of the smaller cakes for those everyday occasions, special occasions or just because a girl (or guy) needs some chocolate occasions. I thoroughly enjoy taking a simple cake and making it gorgeous by adding color and sprinkles. We won’t even go into my sprinkle habit here! Make sure you check out the sprinkle page on my website. Yes, I’ve got an entire page of just sprinkles with over 50 options to choose from!
Most of my cakes come in two sizes, 6-inch or 8-inch rounds. I’ve found that many people don’t want to make the decision on what kind of cake, frosting, or filling. So, I’ve put the most popular combos on my website and customers can pull up the “Cakes” page, find one they like and place an order with me easily. I’m constantly experimenting with recipes and frequently adding to my menu. I’ve even included Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free Dairy Free & Vegan options as well.

Besides cake, I wanted to offer other options for open houses, graduations, birthdays, etc. where a cake wouldn’t work with people coming and going. My brownies, bars and cookies are very popular for finger food types of events. They work great when you need to feed a lot of people on a smaller budget. And, I’m proud to say you’ve tasted nothing like my most popular salted caramel bars! They will melt in your mouth and leave you wanting more! Oh, and those coconut raspberry bars are pretty good for breakfast, lunch, dinner and a midnight snack!!

One of the things that sets me apart from others is my website. I’ve got great visual representation of all my menu items with photos that I’ve taken myself. I have prices listed with all my desserts so you can easily find something to fit your budget. When you stop by my website, you know exactly what you are going to get and how much it will cost. I also bake all my recipes from scratch and choose to use only the finest ingredients! Some of my recipes have taken a lot of time to perfect. I pride myself in offering simply beautiful cakes and other goodies that taste amazing.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best source of new clients has been finding and following local groups in my area that focus on small businesses. Fortunately at the time I started my business, I found a couple of gals who were looking to bring more businesses to the area that I happen to service. I was a home based business so I wasn’t sure if they would be willing to work with me because I didn’t have a store front. They took a chance on me and I became a community partner. This means I pay them a yearly fee and they post my info on their website/blog and advertise my business on their social media platforms. This was a match made in heaven because it helped me find customers in my zip code. I’ve also reached out to other networking groups in my area and have had similar results. I don’t have a storefront so I have to get creative on how I can find more clients.

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

What helped me in building my reputation is always being consistent with the product I offer. I don’t send any menu items out the door without ensuring it lives up to my high standards. My desserts have to not only taste delicious but their texture and they way they look has to be perfected as well. There have been so many recipes I’ve created that took many many times to get just right before I could add it to my menu. An example was my gluten free dark chocolate chip cookies (gluten free can be quite a challenge sometimes), it took 15 tries to get the recipe the way I wanted it. They always tasted delicious but most of the recipes would end of with dry cookies the next day. I wanted to have gluten free cookies that held their flavor and did not dry out after a couple days. You could say it became an obsession to get them right. Bottom line is I want my clients to feel like the money they spent on my desserts was worth every penny.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sparklingdivine.com
• Instagram: sparklingdivinexoxo
• Facebook: Sparkling Divine Baked Goods

Image Credits
All images are my own.