We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Linda Caro a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Linda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

My first client was actually someone that I already knew. We had gone to high school together and we were Facebook friends. I only had a personal Facebook page at the time and I had posted a few cakes that I made for my kids. I received the message on Facebook and it was an order for a cake. At this point, I did not announce that I was taking orders so I thought that was interesting. She sent me a photo of the cake she wanted and how many people she wanted it to feed. It didn’t look too hard so I made up a price (I did not know how to price cakes yet) and then I bought supplies and got to working on it. After she picked up the cake and had the party, I received another message telling me how much everyone loved the look and taste of the cake. I had been so nervous that maybe it wasn’t good enough, so hearing that really made me so happy and excited! So after that, I decided that this would be my new side business.

Linda, 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?

I feel like I ended up in this business almost by accident. I never fully intended to have a business where I make cakes. It sort of fell in my lap. I began only making cakes for family as just a dessert for a birthday party. I’ve always had an interest in art and I love making things by hand so for my kid’s parties I started experimenting with fondant and making decorations for the cake out of fondant. I’ve always been the type of person to DIY things myself before ordering it from somewhere so naturally I tried to make cakes on my own. And who knew, I would actually be decent at it?! As the orders started rolling in, I became so busy with making cakes that I quit my part time night job I had for a few years. My kids were so young at the time that I would take care of them in the daytime, and then when my husband came home from work, he would watch them and I would go to work. My cake business just took over as my new nighttime job. I started off making custom cakes and cupcakes. I also sold cake pops for a while. Cake Pops were very frustrating for me to make so I stopped making them. Now I offer custom cakes, cupcakes, and custom decorated sugar cookies. What sets me apart from other cake artists is my attention to detail. Details are what make a custom cake custom! Clients love little details and it makes them know you really care about their order. I always make sure I am proud of what I present to the client so that they will be pleased. I pride myself on my great customer service and delivering a great cake is part of that. Another part of great customer service is replying to emails promptly. I know sometimes life gets busy but letting the client know that they are important to you is huge. Clients really appreciate when you respond right away, especially if they have emailed multiple bakeries. I have received a lot of orders from this alone. Clients have told me that they emailed several bakeries and I was the fastest to respond and they liked my work so I got the order over the other bakeries. I enjoy making my clients smile on multiple levels!

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

One of my biggest victories was getting a huge order from Mattel. I was contacted by Mattel for the task of creating a tiered cake and 750 cupcakes for Barbie’s 60th birthday celebration at Mattel headquarters. I had to send over sketches of cake designs (I never send sketches before getting a deposit so this was the first risk on my behalf) I also had to digitally design different cupcake designs which is something I don’t do. I sent this all over and then Mattel wanted me to make a Barbie head out of flat fondant and send it over so they can see my work. This is my bread and butter so I was very confident sending this over. But again, this is something I do not do. I never send over a sample of my work beforehand. I usually instruct potential clients to look at my online portfolio. I really wanted this gig so I did everything that was asked of me. After all of this, I was told that there were about 4 more potential cake artists that wanted this gig so now I was competing for the spot. We had to submit over our quotes for the cake and cupcakes. I was traveling almost 2 hours away and traveling with a tiered cake and 63 dozen cupcakes meant that I needed to rent a vehicle. All of my expenses went into this quote. I did come back a little higher on the quote than my competitors. I was told that Mattel had a bit of a budget but they wanted me so I took a risk and said I would lower the price of my cupcakes to fit the budget. I was contacted shortly afterwards and was told that I got the gig! I was so excited! It took me several weeks to make everything from the fondant details on the cake, to the fondant discs for the cupcake toppers, printing pages and pages of edible images for the cupcakes. There were a couple of minor hiccups on delivery day (Car rental place not having a van for me to rent was one of the obstacles I was facing) But in the end, everything went smoothly. The delivery went perfectly. I even got to cut the cake and show everyone there that the inside cake colors matched perfectly. Hearing people say it was the best cake they’ve ever eaten and that the fondant details on the cake were perfect really made my heart sing!!! This was the biggest client I’ve ever had and I thank God every day for giving me the opportunity! The icing on the cake (haha) was that Mattel ended up paying me my asking price on the cupcakes after I thought I would be getting less. I couldn’t have asked for it to go more perfect!

How did you build your audience on social media?

My first social media account for my business was Facebook. I created a business page and started there. I still don’t really manage the page very well. The audience on Facebook I feel is harder to reach than on other platforms. I got an Instagram page afterwards and was more pleased with the interactions there. My focus was just on posting to Instagram. My following really started to grow on there so it was more rewarding to post on IG than to FB. When I posted my cakes/cupcakes on IG, I would put hashtags that would target people nearby. For example, I would put #Escondidocakes to target people in my city who were looking for cakes. I would also hashtag nearby cities and other words pertaining to the cake. The theme of the cake, the style of the cake, etc. My following started growing and growing! It grew so much that I got contacted by producers for Food Network’s Cake Wars show. My page continued to grow after my big win as well. My advice to those who are just starting to build their page on social media is to stay consistent with posting. Usually post once a day and also post a story once a day. I’ve noticed over the years that on Instagram, people like to see videos (reels) over seeing just a photo. Make sure you take notice on what is getting the most engagement. For business accounts, you’ll be able to see this in your account under professional dashboard and checking out your insights. Also be sure to post things only related to your business. If you post mainly cakes but then you start posting about your personal life, people will get confused and become uninterested. One more important thing- when it comes to a business account, always make sure you keep away from certain topics like politics. You will lose followers if they do not agree with you. Be sure to always stay professional and stay away from things that can hurt your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lhcakery.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlehunnyscakery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LittleHunnysCakery
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LHCakery
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LittleHunnysCakery
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/little-hunnys-cakery-escondido