We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mendy Silva a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Mendy, thanks for joining us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?
I actually always ask myself this question not out of regret of not starting earlier, where I’d be now if I had started 5 years earlier.
When I first started I was so worried about #1, pricing. This started as a hobby to distract myself from problems going on in my life. Which helped, but then people saw it as just a “hobby” and that it could never turn into anything more so I would underprice my work because I didn’t see the value in my work at that time.
I would go back and change the ways I posted on social media, maybe starting a website before I actually made mine. I know I would have gotten to this point eventually, but if I had more trust and confidence in myself, it would have happened earlier.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi! My name is Mendy Silva, and I am the face behind The Silva Whisk. I am a local cake decorator in the DMV area, who specializes in buttercream, and fondant decorated cakes.
I love keeping up with the newest trends in styles, and always being open to pushing myself with cakes I “think” are too hard or tricky, or ones that I think I can’t do.
I started this path as I was going through a tough time in my life and I needed an outlet. I always enjoyed baking, but never thought about the decorating part until I took some classes at Michael’s to learn how the basics and since then I continue to keep up with what’s going on in the cake world/industry.
I truly enjoy making beautiful masterpieces for customers! I love seeing the reaction, or reading kind messages after an order has been picked up or tasted. I am a mom to two boys, and it makes me super excited to see the smiles on little ones. My kids are truly my inspiration for all of my kid cakes.
Every day I make sure to take time to appreciate my life when it comes to cakes and my business.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Ever since college days, I had been an Executive Assistant. I did enjoy it. I loved being able to take care of someones schedule, and make sure that they were updated with any little detail. I was also working with cakes and working as an EA for about 5 years. I would work for 8 hours, just to come home and work another 5-6 hours on cakes. It was brutal. I was EXHAUSTED. And on top of that, I had my oldest son running around needing to be taken care of while trying to make something of myself. Flash forward to a few years later, I realized how miserable I was working for someone else and that I needed to stop being scared and take my side hustle seriously. Which is what I did. I quit my job, created my LLC for my business and never looked back.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
*** can we combine the question above with this one? They both tie into each other.***
It took a few years, but yes, my side hustle did become my business and main focus.
A lot of how I grew my clientele was through social media. I never understood the power of social media, until now having followers from everywhere and supporting me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thesilvawhisk.co
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/thesilvawhisk
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesilvawhisk