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

Sheree, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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.

I was 4 weeks postpartum and making the biggest wedding cake delivery to date! As humans, I think there is some innate part of us that likes to make things difficult for ourselves. Why did I decide to scale up my business right after having a baby? I will never know. Sometimes you just get the itch to step out on the ledge and go for it!

I had been making custom cakes for a couple years. Orders were few and far between which was okay with me, at the time. I had created a very poorly made website, listed out some very low pricing, and got a logo. I didn’t have any social media accounts specifically for my creations, everything was on my personal page. Looking back, this makes me shudder! I don’t even know how anyone found me in those early days but I will forever be grateful for those first clients who were willing to take a chance on me.

But it all changed when something unexpected happened. My husband decided he was going to start a YouTube channel! He is a professional table tennis player. Yup, you read that right. Did you even know table tennis was a real sport? I didn’t either until I met him. Well, he wanted to see if he could monetize his knowledge of over 25 years of experience on YouTube. This meant he needed have 4,000 watch hours in 12 months, and at least 1,000 subscribers. And just like that, a competition was born. I started an Instagram and Facebook account for my business, Cakes That Are Baked. The race was on to see which of us could get to 1,000 followers first. Little did I know that this silly little competition, (which I lost, by the way! I know, spoiler) would be one of the best things for my little business.

I am fully aware that success is not defined by how many likes you have on a post or how many followers you have. However, social media can be a very powerful tool and it’s free! I decided to start by taking an online course on how to grow your business through Instagram. It cost $10 and I feel like I learned so much about who I wanted as my client and how to reach them. It was simple things like, make sure you have a clear and concise Instagram bio so people know exactly what you’re offering and where you’re located, be consistent, and create engaging posts. I started taking any free seminar I could find about food photography and how to find your personal design style. These were usually “free” in the sense that they were trying to get you to buy something at the end, but they were still filled with really great information.

I also had amazing friends who work in marketing and offered their professional help. One friend told me to experiment with giveaways, create good networks, and to engage with others with similar profiles. I started taking part in collaborations, helped with cake classes, and did a bridal fair. I started reaching out to people to be a part of photoshoots and bridal fairs. I attended open houses at venues to meet people in the wedding industry and get inspiration.

Another friend in marketing had an hour long skype session with me. I remember nursing and rocking a baby to sleep while we talked. He was brutally honest (in a kind way of course) about my website, logo, and current social media page. He asked what my goals were and I remember hemming and hawing because I was too afraid to admit to myself what I really wanted. Eventually I blurted out that I would love to have so many customers that I could pick and choose the ones I really wanted. I gushed about how I’d love to make elegant wedding cakes and be able to charge much more than I was charging. His next question surprised me. “Do you make cupcakes a lot?” he asked. “No, not very often.” I responded. “Then why is your logo a cupcake?” He questioned. It was simple yet profound. If I wanted people to know I made beautiful, elegant, expensive wedding cakes then I obviously needed a logo that was a cake! He also gently told me that my website “definitely looked like you made it.” He encouraged me to post what I wanted people to buy from me. If you want to sell wedding cakes, post wedding cakes! It seems so clear to me now, but I needed to hear it.

I spent the next weeks remaking my website, getting a new logo, and redoing all my pricing. I started posting more and more wedding cakes on my Instagram page and I even did a professional wedding cake photoshoot. And it worked! The orders started flying in! It was exhilarating and terrifying. But as exhilarating and exhausting as this all was, it was only the beginning!

Finding your ideal clients in one thing, but delivering your product is a whole other ball game! All the sudden I had more clients than I could handle and no experience with so many back to back orders or processes to keep things running smooth and orderly. The spring and summer of 2021 were the growing pains of my business. I was stretched to a limit that I didn’t know I had. While still trying to figure out how to be a new mom, I was doing 4 of 5 wedding cakes a week with other celebration cakes sprinkled in. I was doing cake tasting and client consultations multiples times a week (which seem really fun, but are stressful and time consuming). There were lots of very late nights, mistakes, tears, and last minute grocery store runs. There were many mistakes! I had a wedding cake cakes melt in the back of my car, I baked the wrong flavors for a birthday order, and once I didn’t get paid because I forgot to ask for the last half of the bill! Thankfully I was blessed with many understanding and kind clients who treated me with patience and understanding. These mistakes became life lessons and that summer I grew more than I ever thought possible. These months also helped me to realize my limits, helped me create efficient processes, and learn to ask for help.

I am happy with where my business is today! I did hit 1,000 followers on Instagram just a few days after my sweet husband, and there have been many times when I’ve had so many orders that I’ve had to turn people away! I never dreamed I would be turning people away because I was too busy! I haven’t fully reached my goals, I’m still working and making new goals along the way, but I am proud of my product and the growth of Cakes That Are Baked. I quadrupled my income in less than a year and I did it all with a new born and had another baby! (And I even helped my husband film and edit all of his YouTube videos, so he can really thank me that he beat me in that bet!) I’m so incredibly grateful for everyone on this journey who has supported me by being a customer, a friend, a support, or all the above!

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

I am a custom cake decorator! I started Cakes That Are Baked back in 2018. Have you ever seen videos on social media of someone making a cake in fast motion? Well, I saw one of those videos, too. And then I couldn’t stop watching them. That led to a, “I could make that,” type of attitude. My husband took me to the store, we bought some supplies, and the rest is history!

Except it turned out that it was a lot harder than the 30 second video made it seem. After a lot of practice, mistakes, and hours of watching YouTube videos, here we are today! Adding some extra razzle dazzle to your special event is my love language! Creating unique wedding cakes and personalized themed cakes fills me up. I love a bride and groom who are willing to think outside the box to create something new, whether it be a unique shape, have unique colors, or even something kind of nerdy.

As a woman, you have a lot of titles, but “cake lady” is definitely one of my favorites! Who doesn’t like the person who brings them cake?

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

You don’t have to say yes to every client! You may not be the right business for them and they may not be the right client for you.

When I first started taking cake orders, I felt that if I turned anyone away I would never get another order ever again! It seems dramatic, but I was new to business and naïve. I ended up taking an order for vegan Mickey Mouse cupcakes. I had no idea what I was doing. Vegan baking is a whole different ball game than what I was used to. I ended up at Walmart at 3:00 in the morning, so many tears were shed, and I wasn’t even able to deliver the full 2 dozen cupcakes that were ordered because they kept collapsing. I was so embarrassed having to deliver my measly 19 cupcakes and I didn’t do well in school the next day because I didn’t get any sleep or do any of my homework because I was baking a disastrous mess.

I’m not suggesting that we don’t go out of our comfort zone and try new things. But, this experience taught me that I didn’t want to do vegan baking. Decorating is where my true passion is and that is what I wanted to focus on! I have found baking friends who do special in vegan or gluten-free treats! I think everyone would have been happier if I would have realized that it is okay to say no if the customer is not right for you!

P.S. I haven’t taken a Mickey Mouse order since.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Social media has been the most excellent source for new clientele. It’s free and pretty much everyone uses it. But, more importantly, know who your idea client is! Once you know that, you can use social media to your advantage. For me, a few years ago I really wanted to get more into wedding cakes, especially wedding cakes with a unique vibe. So, I started making practice cakes and posting those. Pretty soon, the right clients came along, which just gave me more content, more experience, and more confidence!

Contact Info:

• Website: cakesthatarebaked.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cakesthatarebaked/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cakesthatarebaked/