We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lezlie Walton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lezlie, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
Yes, naming something that means so much to you can be a tough thing to do. I personally chose my business name by sitting back and thinking of all the things I love; the gifts God gave me, things my clients compliment me on and how I feel about whatever it is I’m doing.
Before I was blessed with Touch of Love Cookies, I was blessed with my own massage therapy business named Touch of Gold Therapeutics. You may notice the similarities in the word “Touch”. This is what I mean by thinking about what gifts God gave you. All my life I’ve always been intrigued by human touch. whether it be physical, emotional, mental or any other way you can touch someone in a therapeutic and healing way. I’ve been in so many industries including, light industrial work, big plants, factories, home health care, assisted living, massage and now cookies. I can work in just about any field and find my niche and create a way to enjoy what I’m doing as long as I have access to people and helping them.
I realized a long time ago I prefer customer service rather than administrative work. I remember my mom telling me when I was young, I’d jump on the back of family members and just start rubbing their backs or brushing their backs with a hairbrush, or start squeezing their feet, lol. So, it was no surprise that when I realized there was actually a career where you can do all these things and get paid for it, I was in!! Massage therapy was my new love.
My mother and grandmother also always told me that I was always willing to get right in the kitchen and play in all the flour, all the pots and pans, I always wanted to help and be part of what they were doing.
At the risk of sounding a little crazy… I have always had hot hands. I mean piping hot! My hands tingle when I’m scared or nervous. When I’m happy and my usual self my hands are hot but when I’m upset, sad or flat out ticked off then my hands get ice cold. When I hug people, massage people or talk to people, I always here the same thing; that they feel better. They say things like ” your words TOUCH MY HEART”, “I feel like the hug TOUCHED MY SOUL”, “Girl, you have the MIDAS TOUCH,” “Everything you TOUCH TURNS TO GOLD,” (which is how I chose the name for my massage business, Touch of Gold Therapeutics).
So, now with my cookie business I already knew that the word, TOUCH would be in the name and then I just had to figure out what is it I’m trying to give through my cookie business and that answer is LOVE. When I make my cookie dough I have only the happiest of music playing, worship music or music that makes me want to sing while in the kitchen or I have a great inspirational podcast playing that helps me think of a bright future or an audio book of personal development or an uplifting story. I don’t really like other people around when I’m making cookie dough, it’s really kind of personal and I won’t allow others energy in my kitchen because I do feel that the touch that comes from my hands in that moment needs to be pure and happy and loving. I do not touch my cookie dough if I’m upset or sad because I do feel it makes a difference. Love is the only thing I want to feel while I’m creating in my culinary lab.
Love is the most important thing of all. God gave me the gift of touch and he gave me love and I do my best to show love to all that come in contact with. When people say, “they can taste the love in my cookies”, this melts my heart and I know I chose the right name for the right business at the right time.
So, If ever you are stuck looking for a name, just sit back and think of God’s gift to you, all the things people have said to you, what you want to be known for, what you want to give, and I promise it will come to light but don’t force it, when its right it will roll of your tongue like honey just like, Touch of Love Cookies LLC rolled off of mine.
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?
I have been making Chocolate chip walnut cookies since I was 14 years old with my mother, but it turned into an actual business in 2020 when I closed down my massage business so I could move back to my hometown to live next door to my father, after my mother’s unexpected passing in 2020. I provide cookies. That’s it. Just cookies. I’m affectionately known as the cookie lady now. I love cookies, it’s my most favorite treat. I am a very disciplined person. it’s not that I’m perfect by any means, it’s just that I know if I don’t practice discipline then I will be on the couch, chilling for absolutely no reason. Being an entrepreneur has opened my eyes to things that needed to change in my life. Such as the nightly “after work” cocktail most adults have fallen in the habit of doing. I am proud to say that I made the decision to live an alcohol-free lifestyle for myself for no other reason than it’s better for me. I need to be in bed early in order to get up early and alcohol doesn’t allow you to do any of this or any other part of daily routine correctly. I need to get up at 3-4am daily to begin my morning routine, turn the oven on and get to it! My morning routine consists of 20 mins in my sauna while I listen to a positive meditation or prayer, a 25 min Epsom salt/detox bubble bath, doing my face remedy, cold rolling my skin to help close pores, getting dressed for the day, Bible reading, silence and purposeful breathing and then it’s time to get to it in the kitchen. We all need a good 60-90 mins to pour into ourselves in the morning before we allow the world and all the humans in it to come for us. I love going to the gym and it actually has nothing to do with weight loss. I’m thick and that’s alright with me, I use the gym as a stress reliever and time to zone out and crush some cardio. The great leg muscles and not getting any fluffier is just an added bonus, lol.
When you need a delicious treat for an event or family gathering and you don’t have time to bake or you just don’t like to bake, then I’m your girl I love to provide homemade pieces of love for you to share with others, My favorite thing is when clients buy cookies as a thank you or just because gift for someone and they think of me and Touch of Love Cookies to do so, This really warms my heart because, again it’s the love they feel when they enjoy these delicious cookies. I would say what sets me a part is that I’m not passionate about baking, I am passionate about baking my cookie dough that I’ve been perfecting for 30 years. I could care less about making a pie, cake, dipped fruit or even cookies with frosting and glitter or painting faces on the cookies. I do not offer custom made cookies or any other treat because that’s not my gift, my gift is classic, rustic homemade cookies that you can eat every crumb of. This is my lane and I do it well, I’m not trying to do all the things just to fatten my menu. I know a lot of other bakers that would better fulfill a client’s wish and I gladly refer out anything I don’t offer, and I love to help other business owners get business as well. I still have a long way to go and as far off as my cookies being in the freezer section of grocery stores seems to be, I’m super proud of myself for still pushing and fighting and battling through life’s ups and downs, never giving up and doing any farmer market, trade show, donation or fundraiser I can, to get this product into the mouth of anyone who loves cookies until I get to the point where people can just go buy whatever flavor of Touch of Love Cookies from the store I will be out here proudly being The Cookie Lady.
I’m also proud of the fact that I have a whole website for anyone to order from, I still giggle a little bit when I wake up and see someone ordered on the website. Out of all the cookie shops they can go to and buy and eat right then and there, they still want to order cookies, pick them up or have them delivered and wait for the best cookie in town instead of settling for what’s faster. This makes me so proud and happy, and I would like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for your loyalty.
www.tolcookies.us
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Yes!! I love personal development. I listen to audiobooks all day and I’m a you tube girl. I follow so many wonderful influential influences and motivational speakers and business owners. some of my favorite books are,
The 12-week year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington. They speak to how to create a powerful year by taking all your goals and putting them in a quarter instead of a year.
Atomic habits by James Clear, He speaks of changing habits, layering habits, creating new habits in a profound way so that you can actually understand what’s going on with your body, mind and cravings for mediocrity that were used to, and he gives you great ways to layer good habits while choosing better ones that gives you the best productivity.
I absolutely love David Goggins, Jim Kwik, Eric Thomas, Ed Mylet, Robin Sharma, Brendon Burchard, Dr. Anita Phillips, Sara Jakes, oh my goodness the list goes on and on. I don’t listen to the radio in the car, I always have on my Bluetooth and jamming on some good stuff in my ear of all my influential friends all day long. Even if you’re not doing everything at your best at the moment, I feel just getting all the good words in you on a daily will seep in one day and change is going to come.
We have to be at our best personally to be a great entrepreneur, boss, leader, influencer of any kind. I’ve always been a nice person but the things I’ve learned from doing personal development has been life changing. We need to know what’s going on with us before we can ever help someone else. Any business you’re in is going to require attention, kindness, thoughtfulness, resistance, logical thinking, business planning, patience. vigor, boldness, organization, empathy as well as many other traits we need to have in order to expect to demand the right to buy, sell, trade, teach or offer help of any kind or have a voice in any industry. We need to always be a student of growth and acceptance of ourselves and the knowledge to seek change, if need be, in order to be our best and I feel this is the biggest thing that has helped me in life and business.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Well, even though I do not have a team under me at the moment, I’ve always been the lead or manager at any job that I was employed. So, I have a soft spot for team building and keeping a great relationship with your team. keeping high morale is a must in business. I have seen so many unhappy employees stay and suffer or leave with haste and I’ve seen managers lose all faith in themselves, their team or even the reason why they should keep up the work, let alone try to keep up good work. Your team needs to know that you have their back they need to be able to trust you and how you move. I’m not saying be super friendly and cross professional boundaries (which are very important) But, I am saying they should feel like you are approachable. They need to know that they can trust you to keep what they tell you private. If they see you gossiping about other staff, then it’s only fair to assume you’d do the same to them behind their backs. They need to know you want to give them good pay, but they must do the job your hired them for, it’s helpful to have counseling available, manageable hours, getting what they deserve, honesty about their expectations as an employee, sticking to your word, maintain your own temper and words. you must remember you are just an employer you’re not God or nobody’s parent so relax with your own expectations of others as well. I strive to be a great employer when I do have the team that I vision and when I’ve had employees in the past, I have always treated them with the respect they deserve. Basically making sure your staff is taken care of, even with just small things, it makes a big difference. Happy staff is the best way to bring in and keep business. If we could do it on our own we wouldn’t need a team but, if you need a team be kind to them and that’s when the loyalty will stick and morale will be high.
and most importantly! If you have a toxic employee you must rid of them quickly because an employee that calls in constantly or has habitual tardiness, takes short cuts, full of excuses and if their not a team player it will pull morale down super fast.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tolcookies.us
- Instagram: touch_of_love_cookies_llc
- Facebook: Touch of Love Cookies LLC
- Yelp: Touch of Love Cookies LLC