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

Jennifer, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?

My mother is my hero. My mother held a full-time job, took great care in raising my sister and I; and provided all the emotional support I needed growing up. She was one of the most brilliant women I’ve ever known. She was cool before her time, always had a fun and made sure we were kind to others. I had the pleasure of working with my mom in the corporate world after I graduated high school. I got to carpool with her every day for almost two years. As I became an adult, I learned so many other things about my mother and what inspired her views.

It was important to my mother that we go after our dreams but also remember that we must be independent and pay our bills. In my mind, this meant I needed to be a responsible adult but also work toward achieving my dream(s).

In my mom’s last few years, I remember how much she gave to those that were less fortunate than her. Other than donating to her church, she helped several women who were either going through a divorce or just hit a rock in the road and needed a little bit of help. This was everything from giving them some money to help them get started to buying furniture or appliances. She never once asked for anything in return.

My father said I was just like her in looks and sometimes in personality. Her wisdom and kindness ring in my mind everyday and help me be a better person.

Jennifer, 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 own a small bakery in Centennial, CO that serves fresh baked cupcakes every day. We make all our ice cream in-house and it’s amazing. We also make custom cakes, cake pops, cakesickles, brownies, and other delicious treats. When I say ‘we’, I mean the amazing team I have that works so hard to make things happen.

I majored in Art and really wanted to do something creative. However, I took a different approach but once my daughter was born, I started baking her birthday cakes. I had so much fun that in the back of my mind I knew I wanted to try and pursue something.

I love helping customers by providing them sweet treats; and I want to get to know my customers. I enjoy when they email or stop in the shop, or heck even talk on the phone to get to know them a little better. I prefer to build relationships with my customers. I try really hard to help people out when they are in a bind even though it isn’t always possible. When it’s not, I try to see if some of the other bakers can help so I like to be connected to other talented individuals.

Our business is a franchise; however, we are locally, woman-owned. We also like to be creative and come up with new cupcake flavors for our customers to try.

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

Word of mouth has definitely been the best way to obtain new customers. As a small business, it is sometimes difficult to spread the word about our shop and our products. It takes those coming in to help share the love (and sweet treats)!

Any advice for managing a team?

Staff is one of the most difficult parts of owning a business. I want my team members to be happy; to have a good time when working at the shop. You have so many different personalities and diverse backgrounds which is what makes it so much fun. I like to encourage my team to communicate with each other directly and to ask a many questions as possible if they aren’t sure of what to do. The other thing I’m very big on is checking in with them routinely to make sure they are happy, do they have any questions or any concerns and so on. I also try very hard to provide holiday bonuses to my staff as a way to reward them for all their hard work.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.smallcakescolorado.com
• Instagram: @smallcakescolorado
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/smallcakescupcakery