We recently connected with Jodi Jefferson and have shared our conversation below.

Jodi , appreciate you joining us today. So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.

We hold an annual Mother/Daughter Thanksgiving Bake Sale for charity. We just completed our 5th sale in the fall of 2023. Over the years we have raised over $65,000 for local charities ranging from church organizations, non-profits for underprivileged local children and veterans struggling with homelessness and mental health issues. It’s by far the busiest week of the year for us but we absolutely love making a difference in the lives of people in our community. I was recently interviewed by Jay Miralles, from “The Connection” podcast about our philanthropic work, the interview is titled “The Dough that Makes a Difference”. The podcast goes into detail on how we started and why we do what we do each year.

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

I grew up in Hampton, NE, a tiny village of only 436 people. After graduation in 1999, I entered the Air Force, where I faithfully served for 21 years, retiring in the fall of 2020. I’ve been married to my wonderful husband David for 15 years and we have 3 beautiful children, Peyton 12, and Lincoln and Charlie 8. During my time in the service I had the incredible opportunity to serve as a flight attendant where I served many of our nation’s leaders, including Congressman and Senators, Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condaleeza Rice, Secretaries of Defense Rumsfeld and Mathis, Vice President Dick Cheney, First Lady’s Laura Bush and Michelle Obama as well as President’s George W. Bush and Barack Obama. I retired during the height of the COVID pandemic and began baking as an outlet for my mental health and to keep me busy. I began using the power of social media to showcase my products and that’s when things really took off. I remember one particular post I had made reached over 30,000 people and I couldn’t understand how it happened because I didn’t have that large of a following at the time. I later realized that a moderator of a local foodie Facebook page here in Omaha called Omaha Food Lover’s was sharing my posts with the nearly 100,000 page followers. In 3 short years, I have over 6,000 followers, countless loyal clients and have played a pivotal role in many of my clients most exciting times of their lives, from weddings, gender reveals, baby/bridal showers, graduation parties, retirements and birthdays. When I worked on Air Force One our motto was “Perfection is our standard”, I continue with that motto in my own business. I pride myself on not only selling delicious desserts but also by providing the best possible experience for my clients from our initial interaction and always following up with them after their event for any feedback they may have for me, in order to continuously improve my products and services. I’m a State Registered Cottage baker, which means I don’t have a brick and mortar but rather I bake from my home. As much as I would love to have a storefront, my business is working perfectly right now as it allows for flexibility with our children and their activities. I’m a custom baker, therefore I don’t have an inventory on hand like a traditional storefront bakery. Every order is prepared fresh for my client and my calendar normally books 4-6 weeks out.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

For my 42nd birthday I baked 42 cupcakes to hand out to complete strangers while I was out and about that day. My initial goal was to sweeten 42 peoples day. Little did I know, by the end of that day that I would have formed a friendship and close working relationship with the marketing manager and owner of the Texas Roadhouse in Papillion, NE. As we headed into the restaurant for dinner we had about 9 cupcakes left. I told my kids to all grab a few and we would give them to the servers and hostess’ that we encountered in the restaurant. Upon arrival at the hostess stand we were greeted by a gentleman who happened to be the owner, he quickly asked about the cupcakes and I briefly explained my mission for that day and these were what we had left. He loved the idea and asked if I had a minute to speak to his marketing manager. Fast forward a few weeks, Pam, the marketing manager and I met and she explained how they love collaborating with small local business and she wanted to know if we could do something together for their guests for Mother’s Day. I agreed that I could provide 200 treat boxes for their customers. It went over so well, that we teamed up again for Father’s Day for another 200 treat boxes. In October, I got a call from Pam asking if I would be interested in doing the desserts for the associate holiday party at the local Amazon warehouse where they were working to get the bid for the meal. I was ecstatic, of course I was interested. This brief encounter on the night of birthday in January, led to an order of 2,700 cupcakes for Amazon in November and another order of 2,200 mini cupcakes for them in December. I would have never imagined what this simple act of kindness for my birthday would lead to for my business.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media has been such an impactful tool for the growth of my business but the key is consistency. There are several group pages here in Omaha that I share my posts to as well. Groups with 50-100K members, making those posts highly visible to a large audience with the click of a button. Sometimes the algorithms can be against you, however, if you’re consistent with posting, it will pay huge dividends.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Busy Bee Baking Company
• Facebook: Busy Bee Baking Company, LLC

Image Credits
Vanessa Mitera Photography