We were lucky to catch up with Kimberly Breitenstein recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kimberly, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
I am definitely happy as a business owner! However there are plenty of times that I think about just getting a regular job. As much as I love my job and my business it gets scary when the work gets slow or just when there is a lull in activity. Since my whole business revolves around events/gatherings, when those begin to slow down, my income takes a dip too. Also, since there has been a steady increase in cost of raw material (butter and eggs especially) I’ve had to make the choice of raising my prices.
Running a small business is super stressful somedays and on those days I wonder about a regular job. The idea of steady hours and steady pay seems so good and I’ve thought about if I should just take a break from Turtle Leaf and pick up a normal job. As I’m getting older and thinking more about have children I keep thinking along the lines of ” I need a steady paycheck to be able to do x, y, and z.”
However, as much as the allure of a normal job is, the TOP factor to my continuing of running Turtle Leaf is just remembering how much I absolutely HATED my life when I had a regular job. The prior two jobs I had left me completely burnt out and hating life, even though both were for a bakery!
The second factor is that since I own Turtle Leaf, I am able to control my work schedule as much as I want. For instance, this past summer I had some pretty serious health issues and because I worked for myself, I was able to take the whole summer off. Something that I am sure I wouldn’t have been able to do with a regular job.
Things like that always reaffirm that having Turtle Leaf really is my dream job and as enticing as a regular job sounds like, I know that I wouldn’t be as happy at one!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Kimberly Breitenstein! I am a 25 year old cookier and I have been running Turtle Leaf Cookie Design for almost two years now!
I got started in the cookie industry while I attended college at Stephen F. Austin State University. In my junior year of college I got a job at the local bakery and began my baking journey there. While working at the bakery I actually mainly did cakes, however I always knew that I wanted to be a cookier. As my time came to an end at the bakery I realized quickly that I needed some kind of income, and what better way to generate some income than to lean on skills that I have acquired while working.
I started out offering cookies and cakes to friends and family for Halloween thinking that it would be a one off and I would be finished after Halloween. However, Turtle Leaf began to grow more and more and eventually it became my full time job! I ended up moving to the Houston area around November of 2020 and as we moved I realized that Turtle Leaf was going to be my full time job!
Currently, Turtle Leaf only offers decorated cookies. I aim to help clients make a lasting impression on guests whether it be for a child’s birthday party or a large corporate event. My cookies not only look great but they also taste amazing. In fact, I even offer 12 flavors at the moment and am always experimenting and testing new flavors.
I am most proud of my participation in the Baker’s Box collab project presented by With Warm Welcome. It was an incredible opportunity to be in a box with some of the best Houston based bakers!
In particular I want my clients, both future and current, to know that I always put my all into each order. I have a 3d printer that I invested in that now allows me to custom make any cutter I want per order and so I am always actively working with my clients to make sure that they get their dream set of cookies and am always open to my clients giving me feedback/ideas that they are wanting to see play out on their cookies!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I have had to unlearn saying yes to every inquiry that comes my way. I got into the habit of never turning away any order whether it fit my schedule or not. As time has gone on, I realized that I really need to take consideration of my time. As much as I hate not taking every order, it’s just not possible for one person to take every order.
I used to be really burnt out every week from just taking on either too many orders or just orders that I really shouldn’t have been taking. Lately though, I have been getting better and better about keeping my boundaries and saying no to last minute orders or orders that I know I am not up to par on completely just yet.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
Currently, I keep in touch with clients primarily through instagram messaging. I love interacting with my clients via stories and dm and really try to become friends with everyone!
For brand loyalty, honestly, I am fairly good at remembering individuals and I feel like that helps. When I see previous clients out and about I tend to try and say hi to them and that seems to generate returning customers. Along with interacting with them in my social media, I feel like becoming friendly with my clients helps bring them back for future orders. In general though, I just love being friendly with my clients!
Contact Info:
- Website: turtleleafcookiedesign.com
- Instagram: @turtleleafcookiedesign
Image Credits
Robert Breitenstein