We recently connected with Priscilla & Michael Sweet and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Priscilla & Michael, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about your team building process? How did you recruit and train your team and knowing what you know now would you have done anything differently?
When we started our business it was just us. Priscilla and Michael. Our company has had a steady and slow growth and little by little we started making decisions to outsource certain tasks. We were the typical “we can do it all ourselves” to save money. Well – no – you cant lol. Anytime you start thinking about paying someone to do something you aren’t good at or simply don’t want to do, these thoughts go through your mind like “can I afford it?”, “how can I trust they will do a good job?” etc. We had to change our mindset to do just that – TRUST. Of course hiring people who believe in your vision helps! We own a bakery, so hiring some college kid to make cake pops whose career path was criminal justice wasn’t going to fly. Understanding the type of people was critical to our success. We were looking for people who were hardworking, trustworthy, ambitious, goal oriented, competitive, and down right just a good work ethic (shows up on time, keep good personal hygiene, etc.

Naturally, we looked in our own circle first. Family and friends. We needed all of the above mentioned plus someone who was fast, liked routine and believed in our vision. So we hired our number 1 supporter….Mom. Secretly, it had been our goal to bring mom on full time with the Bakery and retire her from her Medical Assistant career. So we pitched an offer. To match her pay, plus now we can really be known as “family owned” and we can spend all day together. We knew she was worth every penny and more – if she gave us the level of work she gave a company who honestly to them she was just another employee – we were happy. We thought – holy crap – how are we going to do this? She’s been on board for almost 4 months and we’ve double our revenue for last quarter. Coincidence?

Prior to Mom, we decided to take a closer look at what we really wanted to do. Priscilla decided her focus was going to be cakes. So that meant we needed a talent to take over the custom cookies. We received an email out of the blue from a stay at home mom who was looking for a part time job in a bakery. It was something she enjoyed doing but was not interested in starting her own business. She just wanted some extra funds to help hubby out with the bills and be able to offer her 5 – yes 5 children some new experiences. We asked for her portfolio – her cake skills were not ideal, but we saw something in her skill that made us offer her a trial run. She did a few cookie orders and we offered her the title of Lead Cookie Artist. She accepted! It was something she could grow her skills on (with our help of course). She has been with us a little over 2 years increasingly getting better. We’re constantly investing in her knowledge with new tools, tutorials, and self-care. We took a chance on what was a very shy, withdrawn person who ended being one of our most important team members.

Now we turn to friends. Priscilla’s prior career was in retail management and in that career she made many friends. So when we learned that a coworker had been fired shortly after losing her husband suddenly , we thought “hey, why doesn’t she come work for us”. We hired her with the notion that it was just a few hours a week to get her out of the house so she wouldn’t fall into a deep depression. She was in what she called a “dark place” , a place no one should be in especially if there are people who can help. What we found in her was a VERY competitive, social person. She loved talking to people about anything and the bakery. So we made her our Sales and Consultations Lead. She handles consultations with couples for their wedding and guides people who call in about their custom cake order. Shortly after we saw her potential we put her in a networking group. She made friends, we made money it was a win-win.

To this day there is nothing unconventional about the way we hire people. We pay attention. We listen when someone says “hey, are you guys hiring” we get to know people. We want to know their goals and ambitions and we want to help them get there. We think that’s lacking in today’s marketplace. The thought that if they win, we win and everyone is so much happier. It’s important to hire people who believe in the business and believe in the vision. Hiring someone who likes to bake is not the same as hiring someone who likes to bake and wants to see your company on page 1 of Google. It’s not the same as hiring someone who like to promote your business and is also willing to do it at all hours of the day wherever he/she may be.

As far as training, we are big on – sure we’ll show you the end result that is expected – we don’t necessarily care how you get there – just get there. Priscilla can teach someone a cake design and we can almost guarantee that it will not look the same. Michael can teach someone a recipe and there’s a chance it will come out different. Maybe better (which we don’t mind) – but different. We provide resources and general training – but if you can’t be an independent learner – you may not be a right fit for our company.

If we were to start today and the resources were available, we would outsource sooner. So as soon as you recognize there is something you hate doing – like the books (this became overwhelming real fast), find someone to do them. We waited way too long to hire an accountant and it was very expensive to clean up the books. Now we know where we stand and any given time and have a budget and goals etc. If you’re a reader we recommend Who Not How – By Dan Sullivan. We both wish we would have read this book sooner in our journey. Focus on WHO can help you get there not HOW you’re going to get there. I don’t think there is much else we would have done differently – part of being an entrepreneur is finding what works and what doesn’t work. The only other thing would be do your research. Know where the type of people you want to hire hang out. We won’t find many prospective employees on LinkedIn. Our employees may be on NextDoor, or social media so that’s where we look.

Priscilla & Michael, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Long story short – we both come from different backgrounds. Priscilla spent 18 years in retail management which Michael spent the better of 10 years in Product Software Management in the healthcare field. As you can see – there no sugar or flour involved in either of these roles lol. Priscilla had been dabbling in a new found interest – decorating cakes. She baked, decorated and handled the delivery and/or pick up. One day, Priscilla got a phone call from a lady who got her information from a mutual friend. She was inquiring about an order for her son’s wedding coming later that year. Her request was a tower of 10 different Italian cookie recipes, and cake pops for each of the tables – each set themed after a different Disney movie. Well that order came, all 3 of us spent about 23 hours preparing and baking and then we transported the cookies and cake pops to the venue. At the venue we spent 3 hours assembling this cookie tower and Michael had to walk it about 50 feet over a cobblestone pathway to its table. We hung out that night in the area because we also had rented the displays for the some other treats. Later that night we packed up our things, went home and basically said “That was fun, let’s do it again!”. It’s funny how things work out. At Priscilla’s job, the company was reorganizing and her boss was fired – meaning someone new was coming in. You know how you just know you won’t get along with someone? That was the case here. Priscilla had a hard time working with this new boss. Michael had already been out of work and he said “Let’s just do it, Let’s start a bakery…” Priscilla put in for her vacation and never went back. That was over 5 years ago and it is the best decision we ever made.

Now we own a successful bakery that caters to custom cakes, weddings and edible promotionals for businesses. We help people celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, promotions, new businesses, employees etc. We provide appreciation gifts. We have built a reputation of stellar customer service based on response time and overall experience. When you order a cake through us, it’s a process. It’s not geared toward making the sale, it’s geared towards making sure the client gets exactly what they envision. We provide edible art. The stuff we make cannot be found in grocery stores. We take pride in our creations and our team.

Our brand is fun. Our brand is unique. Our brand supports creative work environments and culture. Our brand supports community by giving back to causes that are near and dear to our hearts – Pets & Children. We built this in to our website to where anytime an order is placed through our website part of the proceeds go to Arizona Child Crisis automatically. Arizona Child Crisis removes children from toxic environments and places them in proper care. We are Silver Rose Bakery and our tagline says it all, “Whatever it is, It’s worth Celebrating!.”

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Word of mouth and Networking – hands down. We knew when we started we did not want to do cold calls, door to door or anything like that. We knew being in our industry, reviews were important so we starting asking people who ordered if they would share their experiences. We also joined a networking group. It started with Michael and now 3 of our team members are in networking groups. Don’t be shy of a paid membership. The fee is to weed out those who are serious vs those who are just there to promote themselves for solely gain.

Have you ever had to pivot?
I’m sure a lot of business owners had to do this during Covid19 and we’re no exception. We had started our business with the idea that we had a minimum order and our focus was weddings – events with A LOT of people. So when Covid hit – we had to think fast. If you can imagine events were dropping left and right and so were our spirits. We had been toying with launching our ecommerce site and even though it was unfinished Michael turned it on. Holy Moly – did it take off! We never thought that while people were stuck at home that they would still be celebrating birthdays. well Duh – of course they were they just weren’t allowed to leave the house. So we put that website up faster than a toddler reaching for a cookie Lol. Offered Covid safe delivery. Individually wrapped treats, and lowered the minimum order amount. We had our best year ever in 2020 because we thought fast and we are able to adapt to the times.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.silverrosebakery.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/silverrosebakery
• Facebook: facebook.com/silverrosebakery
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/silverrosebakery
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/silver-rose-bakery-peoria-2
• Other: Pinterest.com/silverrosebakery Tik Tok @ silverrosebakery

Image Credits
AZ Wed Pics Stratus Adventure Photography