We recently connected with Kelly Mabee and have shared our conversation below.
Kelly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
Our little family started growing and I knew I wanted to be home with the littles. My husband is in full time ministry which is more of a lifestyle than a job, so I sought something flexible, fun and friendly to our family’s needs. Baking is therapeutic, joyful, creative and surprisingly social. It creates many connections, friendships and memories. I’m so thankful I get to do this as my job.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
SHC is known for fine home-made cakes, cupcakes, cake pops and French macarons. I operate efficiently but time doesn’t dictate how I produce my bakes. The process can’t be rushed, that’s the secret to all beautiful bakes.
My specialties are buttercream frosting that even people who “don’t like frosting” can enjoy, clean designs, from-scratch flavors, dietary restriction friendly, weddings and of course, my four kids running to the door when clients pick up.
I love to add extra touches because, well, I can. The best part of having your own business is if you want to be generous, do it. You want to add some extra cake pops into the order, go for it. You get a text from a client-become-friend and it sounds like they could use a surprise cake, terrific. At the end of the day, it’s about the love of the craft and the clients.
Adding flowers, toppers, setting up dessert tables, pre-cut wedding cake first slice and first anniversary boxes and some of the ways I add my own small-business care at no additional cost. I truly enjoy what I do and love the joy that it brings!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
The job serves my family, my family doesn’t serve my job. The temptation of a growing business is to give more and more of yourself, your time and your family’s time to it. There’s wisdom in managing boundaries and assessing how the business adds or takes away from a healthy lifestyle. I personally find so much peace in knowing my identity is in Jesus and not my work- it frees me to enjoy everything I do.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
When Covid hit, SHC was only about 6 months old and had been growing so well. We pivoted to serve smaller gatherings, changed the way we did pick-ups and wedding consultations, and the job truly was such a blessing and sense of normalcy during such a strange and scary time. I do much of my processing, thinking, praying, problem solving while I work. It was joyful and such a gift to still be able to bake for people during the pandemic.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Sweethomecakery.com
- Instagram: @sweethomecakery
- Facebook: @thesweethomecakery
Image Credits
Myself