Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sabrina Mitchell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Sabrina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.
I had never had any interest in cake decorating, but after helping my grandma decorate cupcakes for my cousins wedding I realized I actually enjoyed it. So for my daughter’s first birthday, I made her cake and smash cake. Our photographer saw them and was really impressed so she asked me to make her daughter’s birthday cake. I think I charged her like $20 for a huge sheet cake, but it was my first order! After I made her cake, I posted it to social media and immediately started getting orders from there. I still make cakes (5 years later) for all 4 of her daughters!
Sabrina, 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?
5 years ago I made it my mission to learn how to decorate cakes. My grandmother, mother, and sister had all decorated cakes so it came naturally to me. I run an in-home bakery with big dreams of having a store front one day. I offer my customers custom cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, cakescicles, and cookies. I have taught cake decorating classes at a local art studio as well as had my cakes be apart of styled photo shoots for many photographers. I am completely self taught with everything I do. If I don’t know yet how to do or make something, I study and watch videos until I master the skill. I try to give my customers the best quality stuff for a reasonable price. I have learned over the years that the most important thing is to build relationships with my customers. Those customers are going to be the ones that recommend me over and over again, growing my business.
My favorite thing to decorate is floral designs. I can turn buttercream into realistic flowers on my cakes and cupcakes. Because of this being my best skill, weddings are my favorite orders to take on. They are so elegant and beautiful and really just fit into my niche as an artist.
My bakery name “Mad Batter’s Bakery” is derived from my love of Alice in Wonderland. I wanted something fun, quirky, and reflected myself as my business name!
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
I started out just making my daughter’s first birthday cakes. Our photographer wanted me to make her daughter’s cake because she thought I did really good. I posted those to social media and then orders just started rolling in for me. At the time, I don’t think our small town had very many people making cakes, so that’s what really started the business for me. Once I started building that customer base, my name started getting to other towns miles away. I am delivering cakes over an hour away now! Something I am very proud of, is getting featured front page in a magazine for a giant, gothic wedding cake I made. When you’re from a tiny town of 2,500 people, accomplishments like that are huge. Some weekends I have over 500 cupcakes leaving my kitchen, something I never would have dreamed happening when I first started this business.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I have had to pivot twice in my adult life. The first time is when I quit my only job. My husband was traveling for work and I had just had our first daughter. I felt like life was too crazy and I just needed to step back, so I quit my only job. If I hadn’t quit, then I would have never started the baking business. It has allowed me to be home taking care of our 3 daughters while also helping support my family. I can make my own schedule and not be missing out on their milestones. The second time I had to pivot in my life was while pregnant with my second daughter. I was really sick, and after she was born her health wasn’t the greatest. I stepped back from the baking business for that time (about a year and a half) to focus on our health. After coming back to the business, I kind of realized what I wanted my business to be. I didn’t just want it to be birthday cakes, I wanted to make big, beautiful, elegant orders that reflected who I am and my skills. Since returning back from that break, I have really realized my style and niche as a cake decorator.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Cantrell Creative Studio HJP Photographie