We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nora Contreras. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nora below.
Nora, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
This is the most common question I get asked.. “what made you start an at home bakery?”. While I have loved baking and cooking for as long as I can remember, baking was something I clung to when I went through a really hard time in my life. This is when I decided to go to school for Baking and Pastry Arts. Upon completion I decided to start a side hustle, to help make additional income with my full time serving job. I launched ‘The Happy Baker’ and it was definitely more difficult to start than I thought. Did I make plenty of mistakes? YES, more than you could image. This is when I stepped back and decided to only bake for family and friends. This allowed me to play with different techniques and designs, while having encouragement from the people closest to me. My family and friends have been my biggest supporters since day one. Once I worked out some of the major kinks I started baking for more people from my community. I started a business page on Facebook, separate from my personal page, so that people could see my work and recommendations from other clients. I also purchased lots of equipment, some that I still have ’til this day, and some that I’ve never used. At this time I also got my first ever KitchenAid stand mixer. This is when it started to feel more official. This first year was so, so difficult, it felt like I wasn’t getting any new customers and I often felt like giving it all up. But these loyal customers stuck with me and allowed me to rebrand a year later to ‘Flour y Flora Bakery’. This rebranding process was necessary while I grew as a baker and person, I needed something that was more… me. At this time I began posting more consistently, I began raising my prices, and taking better pictures to showcase my work. During this time I was also able to quit my full time job and go all in as a home baker. While I still had a lot to learn, I had improved ten fold. I started taking more orders out of my comfort zone, and this eventually grew to an introduction to the wedding industry. I was overwhelmed by all the opportunities that were given to me, but I had to turn some down that just didn’t align with me and my business. I have now grown to over 1000 followers on my page, and do orders for people all over Western NC and Upstate SC. I have been apart of so many weddings, and other special events that keep me busy all year long! While my start up will always be my biggest accomplishment, I still have so much more I want to accomplish.
Nora, 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 am a 25 year old home baker that started this journey three years ago. I offer almost any baked good you could want, but my specialties are my custom cakes, cupcakes, and variety boxes. I really try to get to know my customers before I create any products for them. This allows me to make a very special cake that everyone is sure to love! I believe this really sets me apart from fellow bakers, because it shows my customers I go out of my way to make the perfect goodies for their special days. They aren’t just getting a cake, they are getting a whole lot of love and dedication from me. I try to take all the stress off of my clients and ensure we have a level of trust that everything is going to turn out perfect and just the way they expect. I also believe in everyone being able to get custom goodies, so I am priced very affordably. I also remember all the little details about my regulars, like what they do and don’t like. This shows them that I care about them and their business is appreciated.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I always tell people that my social media presence was awful when I first started. Audiences really like consistency, and seeing your brand. I had a very small following for the first year or so of my business, but it is because I was very inconsistent and really only hoped for word of mouth to travel. I gained 500 followers in a matter of three short months, by posting more consistently and really posting cakes that represented my specific brand. I highly recommend posting at least 3-4 times a week, if not everyday. I also post around the same time every day that I post, so that people are looking for my posts. I don’t have a huge following on Instagram or TikTok, but my Facebook has grown consistently the last year. My goal for this year is to really dig into TikTok and creating more reels for that platform specifically.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I started out my business as a side hustle. I worked full time for a long time to save up enough money to fully fund my side hustle from the ground up. I saved up a couple of grand just to have to fall back on if this didn’t work out. I also saved up money to buy equipment. I invested in classes about photography, to help with that aspect of my social media presence. I also wasted a lot of money on things I thought I needed but still haven’t used ’til this day. I was able to upgrade my equipment and inventory as time went on, and made enough profit to put back into my business. It is hard, as you feel like you aren’t making any money but it definitely pays off in the end if you keep with it!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.flouryflorabakery.com
- Instagram: @flouryflorabakery
- Facebook: Flour y Flora Bakery
Image Credits
Nora Contreras – all personal images