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

Natalya, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Success is defined differently for everyone, for me it starts with consistency. Starting a business takes a lot, a lot of all of the things! (All the things consistency, determination, knowing your self worth etc.) That being said I think back to when I first started baking, sooooooo many years ago to where I am now and it was from me being consistent. No one, well the average person doesn’t start with a huge client base. In this era of social media it’s easier to promote yourself but you HAVE to do it on a regular basis.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Honestly it all started for me as a child helping my grandmother and mother in the kitchen. It didn’t matter what they were making, if they called me in there or not I was present! Around my middle school years is when the spark was ignited. There was this summer program my friends and I heard about that gave you credits towards higher education courses and also gave you something to do during the summer. Here I took a home economics class and learned even more about the kitchen, baking and cooking etc. There was week where we made biscuits and red velvet cake. Of course we learned more than those two things but those stuck out because I came home eager to make them! My mother was so sick of me making those two things, I think that’s why neither of use eat red velvet cake or biscuits that much now! I remember making red velvet cake almost every week trying to perfect it. After that class I took an interest in decorating cakes and even took a few classes to learn the basics. I didn’t really use the skills right away and kinda just put the whole idea of cake decorating down. One day me and a friend were cleaning my room and found my old cake decorator tools. My friend asked why I stopped and I really didn’t have an answer but I was told my face lit up when we talked about it. Shortly after that conversation I picked it back up. Fast forward to 2012 when I moved to a new city and I started to take my craft seriously. As most new business owners I picked a name and just went for it. Business was business trying to build clientele and make a name for yourself isn’t always easy but so worth it. After about 11 years in Tampa,Florida I decided it was time to move myself and the business to another city and state. In 2023 I moved to Georgia and started building my clientele back up, and here we are!

Have you ever had to pivot?

Being an entrepreneur you HAVE to have the ability to pivot, it’s vital to the success of your business. There was an order I had to complete that required some sculpted teddy bears, sculpted as in made from fondant. Don’t get me wrong I have experience with fondant, not a fan of it so I don’t use it as much. In light of knowing the teddy bears were needed I ordered some, I was working smarter not harder. Of course I ordered them a week in advance and now it is literally the day before and I have no teddy bears! Pivoting, I’m scrambling, I think I drove to 10 different stores trying to find the same thing or something similar to what I ordered. While I was out I accepted the fact that I had to make them and picked up some tools to help me out. I remember sitting at my dining room table the night before the order was due making these little teddy bears. The next morning I woke up to my package being at my door and I was so relieved. I still have the sculpted bears as a reminder to pivot!

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

That’s a tough one, I’m going to have to say social media hands down! It’s free and there are multiple platforms, which gives you access to so many potential customers. A close second is word of mouth. You know what they say, clients/customers will always remember 2 experiences a very good one and a very bad one! Thankfully all of my referrals have been overly happy!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweeet_tooth_confections_llc?igsh=OGczd3psOTRnYWNw&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1887W7nTHA/?mibextid=wwXIfr