We recently connected with Jayme Turnage and have shared our conversation below.

Jayme, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today 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?

At first I just came up with ideas. What kind of cookies did I like? How did they make me feel? How did my cookie desires change with the seasons,? Then it hit me, nostalgia. I loved the nostalgia of my childhood when eating cookies. Remembering making them with family, the smell, the fresh out of the oven experience.

I wanted my brand to be nostalgia. I wants people to eat a cookie and think an out their grandma, their campfire s’mores, their favorite indulgent snack or meal from childhood. That’s where my flavors came from.

After that I drilled down every plan and question i had, I resourced, googled, took classes, and found a veterans business center at my local
Community college. It all happened so fast and I’ve learned so much in just a year.

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?

I am a disabled veteran with a service dog. I am also a military spouse. Moving and having some specific needs has made it difficult to find work in my industry.

I was musing over it with my husband as he was eating cookies I just made. And he said, you should just bake cookies for people, everyone loves them.

So I started. And I built a website. I go to farmers markets and other local vendor exhibits. I spread the word and market cookies as a good alternative to cakes or cupcakes for birthdays and events. I even recently released a cookie cake !

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

From the beginning, I was participating in events and farmers markets, and posting on community pages. People just don’t know who you are or even about you without simply happening upon you.

Yes, social media is important and that is my secondary strategy, but algorithms make it hard have consistent visibility without an already large following or audience interaction. I join community pages, advertise, and attach myself to large events to get my name out there. It works! People who have seen my pictures online have come to events and said they dawn just to try the cookie they saw.

But ultimately, cookies can be an impulse buy. So often people see my booth and grab something, and tell others they have to try ! I have repeat customers at my markets which then turn in to future online orders.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Simply: that being successful can not be as regimented as I want to make it. I am a planner and organizer and I want it down to the detail in a step by step process.

Business is about having a foundation, but also being able to adjust, take risks, and understand that you will take some losses. I’ve learn so much about how much to make and what to make based on where I was selling, to whom I was selling, and what week/day/season it was. You learn that people spend most of their money the weekend right after a a payday. You’re going to sell more during holidays. If it’s supposed to rain, you’ll likely not get as many customers coming through. And you will definitely learn that sometimes you will have wasted product, and you can account for that.

Contact Info:

• Website: Moosesmunchiescookies.com
• Instagram: Moosesmunchiescookies
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoosesMunchiesCookies?mibextid=LQQJ4d