Shownotes
Motivational Quote
Business Inspiration
How it all started [4:11] Icing Smiles defined [6:39] Creating the company [10:17]A Candle Flickering Moment
Dealing with a website hack [23:34] A PR nightmare turned very sweet [26:00]Business Building Insight
Building a business while working full time [15:20] and [16:29] The cake that changed the game [11:54] What it takes to run their non profit company [17:40]Success Trait
The ability to listen and develop rapport lead to a huge corporate sponsor [29:58]Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
An old-fashion “to do” list where she schedules her day [31:23]Valuable Book
Real Love: The Truth About Finding Unconditional Love and Fulfilling Relationships by Greg Baer
Contact Links
Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest InstagramIf you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Gift biz unwrapped episode 37.
Speaker:You've Got to let go of perfection in a growing business.
Speaker:This is John Lee,
Speaker:Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to give to biz unwrapped.
Speaker:And now it's time to light It up.
Speaker:Welcome To gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Monheit.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:I'm Sue and welcome to the unwrapped.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. And today I would like to welcome Tracy Quesenberry.
Speaker:Tracy is the founder and executive director of icing smiles.
Speaker:I seen smiles is a nonprofit organization that provides custom celebration
Speaker:cakes to children with critical illness and for their siblings.
Speaker:She believes that everyone has a responsibility to give back with
Speaker:their God given talents.
Speaker:And Tracy has identified in herself.
Speaker:Two of these talents.
Speaker:One is her artistic skill of cake decorating,
Speaker:and the other is the ability to work with numbers specifically,
Speaker:international tax plan cake decorating,
Speaker:however is much more fun.
Speaker:Unfortunately, it doesn't pay the bills.
Speaker:So she spends her days juggling between her job as an
Speaker:international tax consultant and her role at IC and smiles.
Speaker:She's also a mom to two great kids,
Speaker:Emily and Justin.
Speaker:So with that,
Speaker:Tracy, welcome to the show.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:So thanks for having me.
Speaker:I'm so thrilled That you're here with us.
Speaker:Would you like to share anything else that possibly I didn't
Speaker:cover in the introduction Now.
Speaker:I think you got the key points.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Well, as our listeners know,
Speaker:we like to align the conversation around the life of a
Speaker:motivational candle.
Speaker:The light shines on you while you share your stories and
Speaker:experiences. So Tracy,
Speaker:are you ready to light it up?
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:Wonderful. In your case,
Speaker:these are candles that are on a decorative cake.
Speaker:Okay. We're going to stick with the theme here.
Speaker:Gotcha. All right.
Speaker:You have a beautiful Cake in front of you with candles,
Speaker:glowing brightly.
Speaker:What color are those candles?
Speaker:Well, they would be purple because those are the,
Speaker:I think smiles,
Speaker:colors. And that's what motivates me.
Speaker:My original answer was going to be white.
Speaker:Cause I was thinking of a fragrant candle and I love
Speaker:the smell of vanilla buttercream.
Speaker:So that's where I was headed with that.
Speaker:But if it's on the top of a cake,
Speaker:it's gotta be purple,
Speaker:Gotta be purple.
Speaker:And actually your logo is purple and white.
Speaker:So there you go.
Speaker:Those are our colors.
Speaker:Okay. So you've got purple candles on a white cake,
Speaker:let's say.
Speaker:And what is the motivational quote that is on your cake?
Speaker:My motivational quote,
Speaker:always since I was a kid has been ships.
Speaker:Don't come in,
Speaker:they're built things,
Speaker:not going to come to you.
Speaker:You have to work for them.
Speaker:So if you want something bad enough,
Speaker:you don't just wait for your ship to come in.
Speaker:You make sure you get out there and you build that
Speaker:ship and you take it on.
Speaker:Yeah. Yourself,
Speaker:You take control of the situation.
Speaker:You got it.
Speaker:Right. I think so many people in life just wait and
Speaker:they let life happen to them instead of taking the forefront
Speaker:and being the captain of your ship,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:Absolutely. Well,
Speaker:let's go back and talk.
Speaker:It's so interesting.
Speaker:Always to hear how people have gotten to the places they
Speaker:are, not necessarily with their corporate jobs like yours,
Speaker:with international tax planning,
Speaker:but the passionate thing that you're doing,
Speaker:the thing that drives you the most.
Speaker:And right now it's icing smiles.
Speaker:But talk to us about how the whole concept evolved and
Speaker:how you've gotten to where you are today.
Speaker:Sure. And I think it really kind of goes hand in
Speaker:hand a little bit with my corporate job.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:everybody thinks that when you start a nonprofit,
Speaker:it's this light bulb moment.
Speaker:And for some people it is because they have experienced the
Speaker:loss of a child or the illness of,
Speaker:or they were caregivers to someone with Alzheimer's that wasn't my
Speaker:situation. Mine was not quite as much a light bulb as
Speaker:it was a puzzle.
Speaker:And it was a several different pieces of a puzzle that
Speaker:came together that formed icing smiles.
Speaker:I'd say the biggest part of that is I was always
Speaker:very career focused.
Speaker:I worked for Marriott international for about 20 years.
Speaker:I was on the career track on the international tax side
Speaker:and really enjoyed my job.
Speaker:But it was just that it was a job.
Speaker:I would go home at the end of the day and
Speaker:I would feel,
Speaker:what difference did I make today?
Speaker:And I really couldn't say I made a lasting difference,
Speaker:just kept on the path that I had always intended until
Speaker:I had children.
Speaker:Both of my children were born prematurely.
Speaker:And while neither one of them experienced life-threatening situation,
Speaker:we had an introduction into the medical world and we saw
Speaker:what some of these families were dealing with.
Speaker:My son ultimately had an immune deficiency and that prevented me
Speaker:from putting him in daycare.
Speaker:Cause every time he would go to daycare,
Speaker:he would end up sick.
Speaker:So I had to take family medical leave.
Speaker:And during that time kind of re-evaluated where am I going?
Speaker:I'm on this treadmill of career and family and lack of
Speaker:balance. And just really decided at that point,
Speaker:I picked up cake decorating as a hobby to do for
Speaker:my own children and fell in love with the craft,
Speaker:but really didn't want to start a business it's way too
Speaker:hard to make money doing custom cakes.
Speaker:And I understood the business and the liability side and said,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what, what can I do with this in a way that
Speaker:I can participate in the craft without having a for-profit business
Speaker:and dealing with your bride Zillow's or your high wealth individuals
Speaker:that can afford custom cakes?
Speaker:So I said,
Speaker:well, if I give my cakes away,
Speaker:then I get the best of both worlds.
Speaker:So that's really was the impetus for icing smiles.
Speaker:I made a cold call to Ronald McDonald house and said,
Speaker:would this be something your families would be interested in?
Speaker:And the rest is kind of been a runaway train for
Speaker:the last five or six years.
Speaker:Wow. So you,
Speaker:what you really did is you took the craft that you
Speaker:loved, which was cake decorating and merged it with this very
Speaker:personal experience you had with your own children and you saw
Speaker:the need,
Speaker:and then you tested it out yourself then.
Speaker:So you were making cakes providing to Ronald McDonald house first.
Speaker:Yes. And then how did this idea expand let's and let's
Speaker:for our listeners,
Speaker:because I don't know that we fully covered this.
Speaker:Let's expand to exactly what icing smiles does today.
Speaker:And then talk about how you went from you doing it
Speaker:personally to creating the business the way it stands today.
Speaker:So let's first start with what does ice and smiles specifically
Speaker:do? Okay.
Speaker:Well, we are,
Speaker:as you mentioned,
Speaker:a nonprofit organization,
Speaker:we provide a Labrecque custom celebration cakes to kids with critical
Speaker:illness. We also serve their siblings because we understand that they're
Speaker:the unsung heroes of,
Speaker:of medical family.
Speaker:Families will apply for a cake through us.
Speaker:We verify the eligibility of the child and their siblings.
Speaker:And from there,
Speaker:the family requests,
Speaker:certain dates,
Speaker:and we match them with our local volunteers and create these
Speaker:elaborate food network type cakes for these children to give them
Speaker:a little bit of sense of normalcy in very trying times.
Speaker:And who would these local volunteers be?
Speaker:They are both home-based bakers and professional bakers all across the
Speaker:U S we have a database of about 8,000
Speaker:volunteers at this point.
Speaker:Wow. 8,000.
Speaker:So some of them may really be in an established business
Speaker:and some people might just have the skill like you did
Speaker:in the very beginning and are just doing this also as
Speaker:a gift back from themselves.
Speaker:Correct. And do you vet them in any way in terms
Speaker:of they have to have certain qualifications to be on the
Speaker:list? That's A great question.
Speaker:We actually accept all volunteers with the 8,000
Speaker:volunteers that we have in compass,
Speaker:a wide range of skill sets.
Speaker:So we have some,
Speaker:we literally have your food network bakers all the way down
Speaker:to someone that has just made their first batch of buttercream
Speaker:and is using the will in one method and piping stars
Speaker:on their cakes.
Speaker:It runs the gamut.
Speaker:And what we try to do as much as possible is
Speaker:utilize all the bakers we have,
Speaker:although it's a little difficult,
Speaker:we have a dream cake program.
Speaker:So we use our best bakers for the dream cake program.
Speaker:And then we have a fun cake program.
Speaker:Once a child's received a dream cake from us,
Speaker:they're eligible to receive a fun cake,
Speaker:as long as their illness still qualifies them.
Speaker:So that's a way we use our bakers that are a
Speaker:little bit less experienced.
Speaker:They would be then in the fun cake category,
Speaker:Correct on occasion,
Speaker:we'll do certain partnerships with hospitals and things like that where
Speaker:we'll bring in cookies or brownies or something that's not decorated.
Speaker:But for the most part,
Speaker:our focus is on our dream cake fund cake program.
Speaker:And one thing that I didn't mentioned,
Speaker:and I do,
Speaker:we tend to forget about is we have a cookie club
Speaker:where we send decorated cookies to kids that we've served previously
Speaker:that are going through a difficult time and that's prompted.
Speaker:And those kids are referred by our volunteers and we'll just
Speaker:send them out without notifying the family that they're coming.
Speaker:So it's a true surprise to the entire family Without saying,
Speaker:but I'm going to state it here.
Speaker:The end result is just a wonderful experience for the family
Speaker:to bring some happiness and little,
Speaker:very special moment to the child and the family.
Speaker:Absolutely. And a lot of people don't recognize,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:if you think about it,
Speaker:how often do you see pictures being taken in the hospital?
Speaker:We're giving these families or reason to forget about their illness
Speaker:for a little while,
Speaker:and a reason to take pictures,
Speaker:which will provide them with some lasting memories,
Speaker:even though it's a difficult time,
Speaker:it's a happy memory during that difficult time.
Speaker:That's really our mission.
Speaker:Love that.
Speaker:Very heartwarming.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Let's go back and talk now about how icing smiles started.
Speaker:So like more on the business and you were doing this,
Speaker:you connected with Ronald McDonald's house.
Speaker:And so we're providing,
Speaker:so you were being the baker that you now have the
Speaker:database of.
Speaker:And how did it transition from that you doing it just
Speaker:as one person to icing smiles,
Speaker:take us through some of that journey.
Speaker:It's Really kind of funny actually,
Speaker:because my original vision,
Speaker:when I started doing it for Ronald McDonald house was the
Speaker:hope that I could get other bakers involved.
Speaker:I did incorporate right out of the gate.
Speaker:So I didn't just work and say,
Speaker:become a volunteer at Ronald McDonald house.
Speaker:I incorporated icing smiles mostly for the legal protection that it
Speaker:would provide me.
Speaker:I'm serving food to sick kids.
Speaker:And my husband was already not thrilled,
Speaker:bad idea.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:well, if I incorporate that will protect us legally.
Speaker:And then we get liability insurance and all of that.
Speaker:There's also certain federal laws that have to deal with the
Speaker:donation of food and doing it through a nonprofit that was
Speaker:helpful for us.
Speaker:So I incorporated out of the gate with the hopes that
Speaker:it would grow.
Speaker:And I had a vision when I started that it would
Speaker:really become a Make-A-Wish for cake.
Speaker:And as a matter of fact,
Speaker:my, I would have loved to have the name bake a
Speaker:wish, but I didn't want to be confused.
Speaker:Make-A-Wish cause that's really what we're doing is we're providing dream
Speaker:cakes. So I had the goal to get to this place.
Speaker:Just didn't know how long it would take.
Speaker:I like to say that it was a 10 year plan.
Speaker:That 10 year plan quickly became a 10 month plan.
Speaker:We did a few cakes for Ronald McDonald house and it
Speaker:was, we meaning me and it was slow out of the
Speaker:gate. It was hard to get them to provide me enough
Speaker:time to get the cakes prepared.
Speaker:I maybe did two cakes in the first four months.
Speaker:And then we had a request for a child in Illinois.
Speaker:We did a cake for that child.
Speaker:I reached out I cold called bakers,
Speaker:told them what I was doing.
Speaker:I would love their support.
Speaker:Ironically, a food network baker was the first person besides myself
Speaker:to do a cake ricing smiles.
Speaker:And that was Bob
Then this is the key part where everything changed overnight.
Speaker:The next request outside of Bob that was done was for
Speaker:a child in New York city.
Speaker:I'm still close to the family.
Speaker:His name is Ben and I reached out cold called multiple
Speaker:bakers in the New York city area.
Speaker:And that's a hotbed for cake decorating.
Speaker:So I was really calling the best in the world and
Speaker:didn't necessarily know what was going to happen.
Speaker:Kate Sullivan from cake power was the one who accepted this
Speaker:request. And she did a three dimensional Yoshi cake from Mario
Speaker:brothers for Ben.
Speaker:And I say that this is the cake that launched icing
Speaker:smiles because Kate blogged about her experience delivering this cake and
Speaker:how emotional it was.
Speaker:And she is followed by many decorators all across the world.
Speaker:And when she blogged about her experience,
Speaker:I got bum bombarded that blog got shared that got passed
Speaker:on to pink cake box in New Jersey,
Speaker:which is an amazing bakery.
Speaker:And they read blogged.
Speaker:And we literally,
Speaker:it was probably either June 24th or 27th.
Speaker:I can't remember the exact date.
Speaker:Our first cake was in January.
Speaker:This was six months later.
Speaker:My email just went crazy.
Speaker:And one day we had 300 people reach out to me
Speaker:and say,
Speaker:I'm interested in baking for you.
Speaker:And I had a decision to make that day.
Speaker:Am I going for this?
Speaker:Or are we going to stay a local organization in central
Speaker:Ohio? And I said,
Speaker:where God guides,
Speaker:God provides he's guiding.
Speaker:So let's roll and see what happens.
Speaker:And we're now serving all 50 states.
Speaker:We have a chapter in Canada as well as in Holland.
Speaker:And we're working on additional international chapters.
Speaker:What I love about your story is that you were going
Speaker:along a path.
Speaker:Okay. And so you had a good sick,
Speaker:what did you say?
Speaker:Four months?
Speaker:Five months,
Speaker:maybe six months where you only did a couple of cakes
Speaker:and then all of a sudden it exploded.
Speaker:So let's take both of those sections just for a second.
Speaker:Sure. How were you feeling during those first months you had
Speaker:this vision,
Speaker:you were doing it yourself.
Speaker:You reached out to a couple people to do a couple
Speaker:of the cakes,
Speaker:a couple of the jobs,
Speaker:but there wasn't a lot going on.
Speaker:Right. Were you nervous?
Speaker:How did you feel about that?
Speaker:More quiet,
Speaker:dormant time.
Speaker:I knew the potential.
Speaker:I spent a significant amount of time trying to identify how
Speaker:do I get traction?
Speaker:And at that point I was more concerned about supply than
Speaker:I was demand.
Speaker:I knew once families heard about our service,
Speaker:that it would be something that they would take advantage of.
Speaker:But I was concerned about the supply side.
Speaker:Custom cake decorating is a significant skill and a significant number
Speaker:of hours.
Speaker:I couldn't imagine somebody willing to give up 2100 man hours
Speaker:of their time,
Speaker:plus their materials and give these cakes away.
Speaker:And that's what I was asking them to do.
Speaker:So I was really concerned.
Speaker:I spent a lot of time writing my cold calls.
Speaker:How do I approach a baker and ask them to do
Speaker:this? What things do I need to sell when I approach
Speaker:them? Ironically,
Speaker:all that time was kind of wasted because I had them
Speaker:at hello to coin a movie Right after the blog article.
Speaker:Yes. The thing I like about your story is you really
Speaker:knew where you were going.
Speaker:You had a passion for the cause.
Speaker:And during a time when you didn't necessarily have the business
Speaker:in, you kept planning and figuring out in a strategic way,
Speaker:how you were going to make this to continue to grow.
Speaker:And the good thing is you also,
Speaker:weren't really under pressure because you had another job.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's not like you were all in this had to work
Speaker:right from the start,
Speaker:which when people plan in that way,
Speaker:you kind of take shortcuts.
Speaker:You don't necessarily put the quality or the support underneath your
Speaker:business. So for those of you who have full-time jobs also
Speaker:have a hobby or a craft on the side.
Speaker:And you're thinking of turning this into a full-time business,
Speaker:listen to what Tracy did here and take that as a
Speaker:way of an example for yourself to be able to grow
Speaker:in a less stressful way and just go slowly down the
Speaker:road, if you will,
Speaker:to make sure that all of the support and all the
Speaker:base underneath your business is there.
Speaker:Okay. So that was step one.
Speaker:In these two phases that I've identified sounds like you were
Speaker:going to add something.
Speaker:I would,
Speaker:I'd love to add something because I think when you talk
Speaker:about that base and that foundation being there,
Speaker:I knew out of the gate that I needed to define
Speaker:what it was that we were.
Speaker:So in effect I needed to define our brand.
Speaker:Not that we had a lot of competition in the market,
Speaker:but how were we going to be viewed in the public
Speaker:eye? And you know,
Speaker:people laugh,
Speaker:you're a charity.
Speaker:It doesn't really matter.
Speaker:Well, it does because donors want to know what it is
Speaker:they're donating to.
Speaker:They want to know that it's a well done in a
Speaker:well-run. So from the get go,
Speaker:I treated this like a business and I was always focused
Speaker:on this action or that action.
Speaker:What is it going to say about my brand?
Speaker:Anything that I put out in the public eye,
Speaker:how were people going to view it?
Speaker:And would that make me attractive to donors or would that
Speaker:pull people away?
Speaker:Very strategic in communication and what got put out to the
Speaker:public. So that,
Speaker:that brand was well-defined as we got some traction Well-defined and
Speaker:also credible,
Speaker:because I think a lot of people with non-profit,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:how much money is actually really going through well,
Speaker:in your case,
Speaker:it's product going through not money,
Speaker:which is what's really cool.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:But it's also both.
Speaker:One of our biggest challenges is that people don't recognize that
Speaker:we have about $150,000
Speaker:operating budget.
Speaker:That's cash based.
Speaker:We need $150,000
Speaker:to command,
Speaker:to operate at this point of our growth.
Speaker:And that's outside of the cake donations.
Speaker:So that covers things like state registrations.
Speaker:It covers our database.
Speaker:It covers our technology and our website,
Speaker:our liability insurance,
Speaker:a lot of things that people don't necessarily recognize.
Speaker:So we had both and that's one of the PR and
Speaker:marketing areas that we really had to focus in on because
Speaker:we get that question a lot.
Speaker:If your product is all donated,
Speaker:what do you need?
Speaker:Cash donations for?
Speaker:How are you fundraising then to be able to get that
Speaker:hundred and 50,000
Speaker:that you need to keep icing smiles alive?
Speaker:It's a great question right now.
Speaker:It's almost a third,
Speaker:a third and a third.
Speaker:It's a third individual donations.
Speaker:Just your average donor that sees our mission and sees the
Speaker:impact that we're having and donates to the cause.
Speaker:The second,
Speaker:third is corporate sponsorships.
Speaker:We work really hard to develop relationships with corporations for the
Speaker:most part,
Speaker:they're within the food industry,
Speaker:but we're trying to branch out beyond that.
Speaker:So Domino's sugar and Nielsen,
Speaker:math, even Nella,
Speaker:chef rubber,
Speaker:smart baker.
Speaker:Those are examples of our corporate sponsorships that help fund our
Speaker:operations. And then the final third is on events that we
Speaker:host fundraising events that we host that give the local community
Speaker:a chance to come out and enjoy what icing smiles has
Speaker:to offer.
Speaker:And those events we call the buttercream ball.
Speaker:It's really not a ball.
Speaker:It's more of a cocktail party,
Speaker:but buttercream cocktail party sounds kind of silly.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:Cause that's a really good peak into how people,
Speaker:especially for a non-profit,
Speaker:how you do support the business.
Speaker:So I appreciate your sharing that with us.
Speaker:Sure. Okay.
Speaker:Going back to the phases.
Speaker:Now this first phase was what I'll just call the growth
Speaker:phase. And then all of a sudden this blog gets posted
Speaker:and you are overcome with people who want to get on
Speaker:the list and want to participate.
Speaker:And the wonderful thing that I heard from you is you
Speaker:were open and receptive to kind of a change in path
Speaker:because you thought you were going to just stay local.
Speaker:This huge opportunity presents itself and you didn't sit and wait,
Speaker:you decided I'm doing it.
Speaker:Yeah. Talk to us about that time.
Speaker:In all honesty,
Speaker:it was really scary because I tend to be very risk
Speaker:averse. So to me it was okay if I take this
Speaker:on, do I have the capacity as the only administrative person
Speaker:running this organization?
Speaker:Do I have the ability to handle these volunteer applications?
Speaker:I don't have a volunteer application.
Speaker:People are just emailing me and saying they want to get
Speaker:involved. So what do I not know?
Speaker:It was probably the biggest time in my life where I
Speaker:just threw myself on my face and said,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I just have to have enough confidence in myself that I
Speaker:can pull it off and enough faith in God that he's
Speaker:going to provide me with the resources.
Speaker:And we're just going to have to roll and hope.
Speaker:I don't blow it along the way.
Speaker:And there are certainly areas I've blown it.
Speaker:And there are others where we've just been incredibly blessed.
Speaker:First year we did 45 cakes.
Speaker:We're doing 3,500
Speaker:a year at this point in our growth.
Speaker:And we're probably at capacity from an administrative perspective,
Speaker:unless I can get staff on board to handle some of
Speaker:the requests.
Speaker:We're probably at capacity right now.
Speaker:Wow. Just the growth that you've had in how many years
Speaker:did you say five?
Speaker:It'll be yes.
Speaker:Our sixth anniversary will be the end of January.
Speaker:That is spectacular.
Speaker:It kind of sounded though that when this all hit and
Speaker:you made the decision and now you're figuring out how you're
Speaker:going to manage it all,
Speaker:you first decided,
Speaker:yes, we're going to do this.
Speaker:Then you decided based on faith one way or another,
Speaker:this is going to work out.
Speaker:And then you kind of took a logical approach to how
Speaker:are we going to handle this?
Speaker:How are we going to do this?
Speaker:But you also mentioned some failures.
Speaker:There are some things that didn't quite work.
Speaker:Can you tell us about one of those and something maybe
Speaker:that was unexpected that occurred and then how you dealt with
Speaker:the situation?
Speaker:There's Probably probably several overall.
Speaker:I think what I have to say,
Speaker:probably that sets the tone for the examples that I will
Speaker:use is you have to have a thick skin.
Speaker:You have to accept your limitations and you have to be
Speaker:able to say,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:I'm one person.
Speaker:I am doing the best job that I can.
Speaker:And I just have to hope that that's enough.
Speaker:When you experience that type of growth,
Speaker:there are going to be balls that you drop.
Speaker:There are certainly things that we didn't expect along the way.
Speaker:We didn't expect to figure out how to deal with situations
Speaker:where a baker can last.
Speaker:We did not expect to deal with families that you get
Speaker:feedback from them,
Speaker:that they can't get too many calories.
Speaker:So they're disappointed.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:you'd be shocked when you run a nonprofit,
Speaker:you kind of anticipate,
Speaker:well, you're not going to get any complaints either way because
Speaker:you're doing something positive.
Speaker:And that's mostly what my job entails now is how do
Speaker:you handle those types of unexpected negative situations?
Speaker:And we handle them the way we would,
Speaker:if we were a for-profit to a certain extent,
Speaker:that customer is always right.
Speaker:And we have two customers,
Speaker:we've got our volunteers and we've got our families that we
Speaker:serve. So you handle them with respect and you just suck
Speaker:it up and where you're wrong,
Speaker:you admit you're wrong and you apologize and say,
Speaker:I'll do better.
Speaker:And you move on some of the biggest challenges that we
Speaker:faced right before one of the largest trade shows of the
Speaker:year, we were rolling out a whole bunch of things,
Speaker:including ticketing to the events that I mentioned back in November,
Speaker:the buttercream balls and our website got hacked and got hacked
Speaker:so badly that we had to go down.
Speaker:And when our website goes down,
Speaker:our operations go down big applications from families,
Speaker:come in through our website.
Speaker:We went down so bad.
Speaker:We had to start from scratch.
Speaker:We couldn't even fix the bug enough to go back up.
Speaker:We had to redesign a website.
Speaker:And at this point in our growth,
Speaker:I'm surrounded by amazing people with amazing skills and amazing dedication.
Speaker:And we were able to pull off a website brand new
Speaker:in three days and we were ready for this trade show.
Speaker:It wasn't perfect.
Speaker:And you just have to say to people doing the best
Speaker:we can,
Speaker:we're not perfect,
Speaker:but hopefully it's enough for ya.
Speaker:And we rolled.
Speaker:And our team is just amazing.
Speaker:So it's knowing where you don't have strength and putting the
Speaker:right people in place to do the job for you and
Speaker:building that strong team.
Speaker:Whoa, I am so sorry that that happened to you.
Speaker:How did you know that it was hacked?
Speaker:Was it just not there anymore?
Speaker:Yeah, we went to go on and you get a blank
Speaker:screen. It was panic because we really did not have the
Speaker:skill set within our staff to be able to do this,
Speaker:but we did within our volunteer base.
Speaker:So you just reach out to a volunteer,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:your volunteer base and say,
Speaker:we need some help.
Speaker:And you know what,
Speaker:if we didn't get it,
Speaker:we would simply do just that.
Speaker:We'd put a temporary site up that said under construction and
Speaker:we would just have to roll.
Speaker:And that's where you've got to let go of perfection in
Speaker:a growing business,
Speaker:you got to have a plan B and put in place
Speaker:a quality plan B because sometimes things are out of your
Speaker:control. Right?
Speaker:And really good point.
Speaker:Talking about plan B for your website,
Speaker:any images that you have,
Speaker:anything that goes onto a website,
Speaker:make sure you have that stored somewhere else as well.
Speaker:Like don't just take an image,
Speaker:put it on the website and then delete a file or
Speaker:something. Keep everything somewhere.
Speaker:So that at least you have all of the parts,
Speaker:all of the elements to a website.
Speaker:If something like this happens,
Speaker:I've gone so far is to take screenshots of different pages
Speaker:of the website.
Speaker:Just so you have it all because you don't then need
Speaker:to reinvent all the wording and all of that from the
Speaker:start. You can just copy what was there before.
Speaker:Absolutely. Oh my Gosh.
Speaker:I'm so sorry that you went through that,
Speaker:but I'm really glad you brought it up for us today
Speaker:because that's a really good learning.
Speaker:I have another really fun example.
Speaker:If you've got time that I think would be really fun
Speaker:for your listeners.
Speaker:I don't know if anybody saw,
Speaker:we call it Elsa gate.
Speaker:We had a situation where there is a popular cake blog
Speaker:that compares like these top quality cakes done by the best
Speaker:in the world with amateur cakes.
Speaker:And usually the amateur cake is on the losing side.
Speaker:It's not fair to say amateur.
Speaker:They say they only take work from professionals,
Speaker:but they're less quality.
Speaker:Let's just put it that way.
Speaker:And unfortunately,
Speaker:this blog got ahold of one of the cakes that we
Speaker:delivered and they compared it to a cake done by one
Speaker:of the best in the world.
Speaker:And ours really did pale in comparison in all fairness,
Speaker:but this got picked up by another blog and then went
Speaker:viral. Well,
Speaker:when I say it went viral,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it went to the today show,
Speaker:it went to people,
Speaker:magazine people.com.
Speaker:It went all over the place.
Speaker:So we were dealing with a lot of backlash over a
Speaker:couple day period.
Speaker:It started on a Wednesday.
Speaker:I let it ride completely until Monday.
Speaker:And then I finally said,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:Enough is enough?
Speaker:And I posted,
Speaker:and this was there.
Speaker:Here's your plan B how do you react to something that
Speaker:was unexpected?
Speaker:And it was such negative press and everybody making fun of
Speaker:this cake.
Speaker:So I posted an open letter on social media and I
Speaker:basically said,
Speaker:we understand that our cakes,
Speaker:once they're put out there,
Speaker:they're public domain,
Speaker:people can say and do whatever they want in the world
Speaker:of social media,
Speaker:but understand the impact of what's happened.
Speaker:I now have a baker whose work is being made fun
Speaker:of, she donated this cake to a sick child.
Speaker:I now have an administrative team that is mortified by what's
Speaker:been going on and it kills their motivation.
Speaker:When they're spending 20 to 40 hours,
Speaker:volunteering for us a week to see something like that happen.
Speaker:I also had a child who is absolutely devastated that this
Speaker:amazing gift that she received was being made fun of in
Speaker:social media.
Speaker:So this was a situation where when this first happened,
Speaker:it killed all of us.
Speaker:It broke our spirits.
Speaker:It was devastating.
Speaker:I posted that letter and why posted was not just a
Speaker:picture of the cake,
Speaker:but a picture of the baker delivering the cake to the
Speaker:child changed the entire tone while my open letter went viral
Speaker:and what's come of that has been multiple corporate sponsorships,
Speaker:thousands of dollars in donations since that point.
Speaker:So they say any press is good press.
Speaker:That was another situation where we woke up devastated and it
Speaker:turned into something absolutely amazing all in the way you handle
Speaker:it. If you handle it professionally with respect,
Speaker:you always managed to find something good,
Speaker:come out Of it.
Speaker:Right. It sounds like your first hope was just to let
Speaker:it die.
Speaker:Yes. Because you went from,
Speaker:what did you say Wednesday to Monday,
Speaker:but then your letter,
Speaker:interestingly enough,
Speaker:because many times they'll say don't talk to the naysayers and
Speaker:all that on social media.
Speaker:But what you did is you didn't just talk,
Speaker:you represented the personal effects that it had behind the scenes
Speaker:to your business and to the recipient of such a wonderful
Speaker:gift and all that,
Speaker:and look at what happened.
Speaker:Right? And we didn't batch.
Speaker:That was the message that we continually say,
Speaker:no matter how we are being bashed,
Speaker:believe it or not,
Speaker:we get it.
Speaker:We still go out there very positively.
Speaker:And just say,
Speaker:we understand,
Speaker:but here's the other side,
Speaker:Right? Well,
Speaker:I am so glad that all ended well for you and
Speaker:did actually very well for you as you're describing best Thing
Speaker:that could have happened to us.
Speaker:You didn't think that at first on that Wednesday,
Speaker:I'm quite surely not,
Speaker:oh my Tracy,
Speaker:we're going to roll over into the reflection section.
Speaker:Now this is look at you and what's helped you with
Speaker:your success along the way.
Speaker:You have mentioned that you've always liked baking and all of
Speaker:that since you were a little girl,
Speaker:but what other natural trait do you have?
Speaker:That's helped you to be successful?
Speaker:I think hands down,
Speaker:it's the ability to build rapport with people,
Speaker:no matter what business you are in,
Speaker:you have to listen.
Speaker:You have to see what resonates with the person that you're
Speaker:speaking with and find a way to develop an connection with
Speaker:that person.
Speaker:And I really believe that that is by far the one
Speaker:trait that has allowed us to succeed.
Speaker:And I can give you a great example.
Speaker:We brought on domino sugar as a corporate sponsor because it
Speaker:became as a result of a personal connection.
Speaker:I attended an event that the wife of the CEO of
Speaker:domino sugar was attending as well.
Speaker:We happen to sit next to each other at this event
Speaker:and hit it off amazingly.
Speaker:Well, she was trying to start a nonprofit.
Speaker:I gave her some tips.
Speaker:I told her about,
Speaker:I think,
Speaker:smiles. The next day I got a phone call from the
Speaker:CEO of Domino's sugar and they have been a corporate sponsor
Speaker:of ours for the last three years.
Speaker:It's all personal rapport.
Speaker:It never would have happened.
Speaker:Had I not taken the time to listen and develop that
Speaker:relationship. And I didn't do it with the intention of pulling
Speaker:a corporate sponsorship out of it.
Speaker:So I really believe that it's personal connections that make all
Speaker:the difference in the world Fully agree.
Speaker:What tool do you use regularly to keep productive or to
Speaker:help create balance in your life?
Speaker:I have none.
Speaker:In all honesty,
Speaker:I have none technology I would say is probably the best.
Speaker:And I use an old fashioned to do list.
Speaker:I find I'm the most productive when the night before or
Speaker:the very first thing I do in the morning is schedule
Speaker:out my day.
Speaker:So there's no downtime wondering,
Speaker:okay, what do I need to do next?
Speaker:I wake up at four in the morning,
Speaker:every morning,
Speaker:get a cup of coffee,
Speaker:schedule my day.
Speaker:And I'm moving by four 30 and my day ends at
Speaker:10, no matter what.
Speaker:So it's knowing that that time has got to be productive.
Speaker:You don't waste time and you don't feel as tired and
Speaker:mentally drained trying to figure out,
Speaker:okay, what happens next?
Speaker:Now obviously things happen during the day,
Speaker:but if I don't start off on that,
Speaker:but in that reflection and that quiet time,
Speaker:it makes it really hard.
Speaker:It's a written piece of paper and a pen.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:So then when you're scratching things off,
Speaker:you're seeing a sense of accomplishment throughout the day.
Speaker:Absolutely. Whether it's a workout day or it's a,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:start with email,
Speaker:it doesn't matter,
Speaker:but it's scheduled from four 30 to 10:00 PM.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:And I like what you just said in there scheduled,
Speaker:so you fit everything in because you've got it planned out.
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:So you may have a little more balance in your life
Speaker:than you think you're just ultra busy,
Speaker:ultra Busy.
Speaker:And I will say,
Speaker:I can't tell you.
Speaker:I execute that tool every day.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's my goal when I don't do that,
Speaker:that's when things start to fall apart A good point.
Speaker:That's good insight though,
Speaker:too. And what book have you read lately that you think
Speaker:our listeners could find value in?
Speaker:I hope this isn't too corny,
Speaker:cause it is not a professional book.
Speaker:It's more on a personal level,
Speaker:but the book is called real love by Greg Bayer.
Speaker:And the reason I love it,
Speaker:it's about really kind of understanding people's motivations as well as
Speaker:your own and the defense mechanisms that you put up in
Speaker:dealing with any relationship.
Speaker:It's mostly geared towards a significant other,
Speaker:but the concepts in that book are amazing and they can
Speaker:be applied to any relationship at all,
Speaker:whether it's personal or professional.
Speaker:So I highly,
Speaker:I command real love.
Speaker:Wonderful. And you know,
Speaker:we just got done talking about how important developing connections with
Speaker:other people are.
Speaker:Yes. So that just,
Speaker:that makes total sense.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:This book I'll have to check into it.
Speaker:Yeah. It's was life-changing for me for many reasons on a
Speaker:personal level.
Speaker:And it gave me insight into me where I didn't even
Speaker:notice I was kind of putting up some walls and some
Speaker:defenses and I realized,
Speaker:well, you know what?
Speaker:That's not good in any relationship.
Speaker:So it's helped me to kind of recognize when I'm doing
Speaker:it as well as recognizing other people so that you can
Speaker:make them feel a little bit less defensive and a little
Speaker:bit more open to and receptive to what you're saying.
Speaker:And you can understand then possibly better where people are coming
Speaker:from too.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:We'll give busy listeners just as you're listening to the podcast
Speaker:today, you can also listen to audio books with ease.
Speaker:I've teamed up with audible for you to be able to
Speaker:get an audio book just like real love for free.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make a selection again.
Speaker:That's gift biz,
Speaker:book.com. Okay.
Speaker:Tracy, we are beginning to wind down now and we've arrived
Speaker:at our dare to dream question.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights
Speaker:that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:Donors, lots and lots of donors.
Speaker:If we did not have to worry so much about where
Speaker:our funds were coming from,
Speaker:all of our team could be focused on serving and just
Speaker:delivering these cakes and creating these memories for the kids.
Speaker:Especially my time being used,
Speaker:trying to figure out where are we going to get this
Speaker:funding? I don't have any personal goals besides being able to
Speaker:serve and live comfortably.
Speaker:So if I could just get these donors in the door,
Speaker:then I could spend my life serving.
Speaker:There You go.
Speaker:More cakes and out to the world.
Speaker:You got it.
Speaker:Fabulous. All right.
Speaker:So I am quite sure we have a number of people
Speaker:who'd would be interested in how they might be able to
Speaker:get in touch with you,
Speaker:either for a cake or to be on the list,
Speaker:to be able to make some cakes and just become part
Speaker:of this wonderful organization.
Speaker:Can you share with us how people can get in touch
Speaker:with you?
Speaker:Absolutely. Well,
Speaker:a lot of the information that you would need can be
Speaker:found on our website,
Speaker:as long as it's not hacked and that's icing smiles.org
Speaker:on there,
Speaker:you'll find volunteer applications as well as applications to get a
Speaker:cake. I also can be reached through the website.
Speaker:If you're looking for personal contact information or I can be
Speaker:reached@tracytracyaticingsmiles.org. Wonderful.
Speaker:And I believe you've also given me information already for your
Speaker:Facebook page.
Speaker:Yes. Facebook,
Speaker:Twitter, all of that.
Speaker:So gift biz listeners.
Speaker:Remember you can jump over to the show notes page.
Speaker:That's available at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com. And there we'll have all the links,
Speaker:including the ones that Tracy's just shared.
Speaker:So you can connect up with her in any way that
Speaker:fits you best.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:Tracy. This was so informative and such a great look behind
Speaker:the scenes of a nonprofit and specifically your very unique way
Speaker:of helping people.
Speaker:I really appreciate everything you've shared with us today and may
Speaker:your candle and all the candles on all the icing styles,
Speaker:cakes always burn bright.
Speaker:Thank you for the time to Learn how to work smarter
Speaker:while developing and growing your business.
Speaker:Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business
Speaker:in life.
Speaker:It's our gift to you and available@giftbizonrap.com
Speaker:slash tools.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
Speaker:next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever grander products.
Speaker:Have your logo or print a happy birthday.
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Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:Would you like to be on the show or do you
Speaker:know someone who can provide valuable insight from their experiences?
Speaker:If so,
Speaker:we'd love to hear from you.
Speaker:All you need to do is submit a form for consideration.
Speaker:You can access the form@giftunwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash guest that's gift is unwrapped.com
