We were lucky to catch up with Rebecca Sims recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rebecca thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

When I first started baking it was more of a hobby and I would bake for family on the holidays & for my kids and I was living in Augusta, GA at the time. I moved to Covington, Ga in 2017, Once I started to take my baking & custom treats to another level in 2018 I came up with the name Sweeter Than Sweet Treats. I did a few orders for people I met while working at Burlington. My first Pop Up Shop was in March 2019. Fast forward to the year 2020, I invested some time into teaching myself how to better my cakes & decorating skills. I added 14 plus different cookies to my menu as well. My next Pop Up Up shop was October 2020 and all of 2021. At this time I needed a business name that stood out so I decided to use my second grandbaby (Justice) nickname (Toot) as the face of my business. Toot’s Cookies & Sweet Treats is my official business name as of July 2022. My clientele has grown tremendously in the area through Word of mouth, pop up shops, and a lot of Social Media engagement. Moving forward I see more growth for me and my baking business. This is my scale from 2018 until now.

Rebecca , 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?

My future career and goals was not to be a baker/custom treat maker. It’s just a skill that came naturally. My presentation & skills grew over the years. My customers are always at a WOW when they picked up their. I go above and beyond for each order that I have. No order is the same. My new, future, and returning customers will always get the WOW treatment from Toot’s Cookies & Sweet Treats.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

As far as social media goes, I use Instagram (IG) the most. I had to really get into the habit of posting my products, using hash tags, making reels, and being consistent. I try to post in the morning, midday, and evening if I have the content. My followers grew over time. When I’m talking to potential customers I always pull up my IG page so I can talk about my product and show them at the same time.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I created my website using WIX and I have the link in BIO on my Instagram page. This allows customers to view my website and submit an order request form.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tootscookies21.wixsite.com/tootscookies
• Instagram: toots_cookies21