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

Justina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

I started my business, Just Sweet, in 2016.. it started taking off to the point where I was comfortable quitting my full time job and relying on caking as my sole income. In 2018 I was diagnosed with uterine cancer. I also had my son in 2016, so he was 2. Him and my business were the only things in the world that made me happy and one thing that my doctor told me that stuck with me like glue was “keep doing what brings you joy as much as you possibly can”. So that’s what I did.. It would have been easy for me to lay around feeling sorry for myself but I couldn’t do that to my baby… or my business I worked so hard to get to where it was. I continued to be the best, most energetic mom I could be while still running my business to the best of my abilities.
I had to undergo chemotherapy for treatment and of course there were times during that period where I was just too sick and weak to work or mom. My son at 2 years old was one of the most understanding, amazing, helpful kid I could ask for. Majority of my customers were understanding of that as well if and when I would have to cancel unexpectedly… some of them not so much and that was the most challenging thing for me.
I strive to please my customers. I go above and beyond to do so it was more so my feelings were hurt when it came to those customers because I knew there was nothing I could do in that moment to please them or rectify the situation other than of course a full refund but that’s only half of the issue when the event is within days away so that’s where I would become conflicted at times… “should I just take a break”, “but this one of the 2 things bringing me life in this moment”… I ended up taking on less and taking more necessary self care days and everything worked out.
I went into remission a year later in 2019 and was diagnosed a second time late 2019 and got a full hysterotomy followed by chemotherapy to treat it. I basically repeated that same cycle through it all, but by this time, my business was going very well and I had more clientele than I could even take, so I had to take on way less than the first round. I also had that first experience under my belt to where I applied lessons learned during that time.
I went into remission again a year later and have been cancer free since. Those experiences taught me how to problem solve, communicate, and tackle anything thrown your way head on with no fear because passion for what you do or who you’re doing it for, persistence, and faith will get you through.

Justina, 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?

My name is Justina Hutton, I am 29 years old and I am the owner of Just Sweet out of Minneapolis, MN. I started my business in 2016 after having my son and realizing there was no way I was ever going to be comfortable working a 40+ hour a week job still living paycheck to paycheck and that if there was one thing I was good at, it was baking and making anything look pretty. I quit my job 6 months into promoting my business and have been able to support my son and I ever since.

Just Sweet is a luxury cake and treat brand that strives to provide all customers with top notch customer service, the freshest, top shelf ingredients, while keeping up with the latest design trends.

My dream doesn’t stop at million dollar business.. I want to get my name and story out there to inspire and help the world. I would love to be an advocate for cancer patients and survivors, for domestic abuse victims and survivors, and be a mentor for young women who struggle with mental health such as depression and anxiety and low self esteem.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Just Sweet is a home based business, so I rely on social media and word of mouth for majority of my clientele and audience. When I started out, I was getting up to maybe 10 likes on posts. It is a little discouraging if I’m being honest, and I think every entrepreneur can relate on that, but you literally just have to keep promoting, keep pushing your business, do give aways, run contests that require people to share your business and promos to get attention. People will start to see you and once people start supporting you, others will naturally follow.. that’s just how social media works.

The biggest piece of advice I can give is to figure out your target audience and focus solely on that audience and what they gravitate towards.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Being interactive and engaging with your social media friends and followers is huge!

I also feel like being your true self and being as transparent as possible with your followers helps them relate on more than a business level, its personal at that point and people love that, people love being able to connect with the face behind the brand.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.itsjustsweet.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/justsweetmn
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/justsweet