We caught up with the brilliant and insightful KELLY MABEE a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
KELLY, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?
It’s truly such a blessing to have a job that fits one’s lifestyle. Everyone thrives in a different environment and pace. I’m grateful to have a work schedule that is flexible around my family and, though there are challenges with always having access to my work (because it’s from home), it is able to be broken up into smaller pieces and fits well. Sometimes I do wonder how productive I could be if I was working from a less distracted setting, but the pros far outweigh the challenges. Anyone who works from home knows it presents challenges such as: compartmentalizing, resisting work when it’s your time off, letting your family live in the workspace, holding good boundaries and teaching the family to respect your workplace. That’s always something I’m working on, I have to constantly strive to keep a healthy balance so my children don’t feel like I’m always working. That leads to my next point: work hours! They’re are an entirely different hurdle, because I CAN make my own hours, it’s tempting to overwork/burnout. In this season of life, I have 4 children under 9 (which is the easiest so far, at one point there were 4 under 5!) so I tend to start working around 8pm each night. Most nights turn into mornings, but I’m so thankful I don’t miss out on after school time and dinner time each day.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Sweet Home Cakery started as a hopeful endeavor. My husband and I had recently moved from our home state to help with a church re-launch. We couldn’t afford childcare but we knew we needed both of us to work. I started baking and thank God, it took off. The most miraculous part was that I started my business in August of 2019. SHC grew even through lockdowns and a massive reduction in gatherings. I streamlined my menu to fit smaller gatherings, grew my client base, and then business was booming once everything returned to normal.
I think my style and love for flavors sets me apart. My favorite feedback I get is “I don’t even like cake, but I love yours”. Generally, cake can be reduced down to overly sweetened, over extracted, over-colored or bricked with fondant. When you think of cake, you should think of abundance. Texture, levels of flavors and a design that is so carefully created that it’s memorable for years to come. Sometimes I laugh at myself with these $35 cakes and how much effort I put into make them look perfect, but I truly love that everyone can have luxury cakes for their most special occasions. One of my favorite quotes is from Val on Great British Bake off, “when you bake, you always bake for a reason. You’re giving it to people, so you make it the best you can. And you make it with love”. Each dessert is tied to a memory, a reason, a sentiment and I’m so grateful to be a part of them.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
I’m very blessed to have a business that survives on word-of-mouth. My clients are generous with their compliments and references. I try to maintain a business format through email but a lot of my clients have become friends and we just text now. I adore launching giveaways and do several a year, that gets me a small increase in steady followers. I launch flash sales mostly every weekend to use up any extra elements I have acquired over the week, and there’s a very loyal fanbase over those sales. You know who you are! I also try to schedule out my regulars by recording their special dates that I know of so if they forget to book me, I’m already ahead of them.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
My “business partner” is my best friend, my husband, Sean. We met in 3rd grade, it’s quite the story for another time. I love getting to run SHC with him. He is incredibly supportive and encouraging. He’s my taste-tester, dish-washer, and most importantly he protects my ability to actually turn a profit by monitoring my pricing. Every home-business owner I know struggles with pricing, I’m happy to give you Sean’s number if you need a stern talking-to about how and why you should raise them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sweethomecakery.com
- Instagram: @sweethomecakery
- Facebook: @thesweethomecakery
Image Credits
They’re all my photos except for the one with me decorating the cake, that is by Miranda Dolson Photography.