In this episode of The Bread Winner Podcast, Caroline Bower dives into the transformative power of a dedicated planning week. Caroline shares her step-by-step approach to setting yourself up for a successful season in your sourdough microbakery. From gathering invaluable customer feedback through surveys to reflecting on your mission, vision, and values, she outlines how this focused time can refresh and revitalize your business. You'll learn how to use this week to fine-tune your menu, test new recipes, and prepare for the upcoming holiday season, all while ensuring your business remains aligned with your core values.

Caroline also provides practical tips for maximizing your planning week, including recipe testing, creating engaging content, and effective communication with your customers. Whether you're coming off a busy season or gearing up for a new one, this episode will help you lay a solid foundation for a thriving and sustainable microbakery business. Tune in to discover how a strategic planning week can make a significant difference in your bakery's success.

Links to things we talked about:

Apply for a free coaching episode

Get a copy of the Google Forms survey I sent to my customers

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Download the FREE Guide and Checklist, Your First Steps to a Successful In-Home Bakery at https://mailchi.mp/thebluebirdbreadco/checklist to begin building YOUR thriving microbakery! 

Caroline Bower Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolinebower_sourdough

Ep 14 - Planning Week

Welcome to the Breadwinner Podcast. This is the show for sourdough micro bakery owners who are building a sustainable, successful, profitable business from their home. If you are already in business or if you're dreaming of starting one, this is the place for you. I'm your host, Caroline Bower. I own a successful in home sourdough bakery, and I am here to share everything I've learned that works and that doesn't, plus everything that I'm researching along the way so we can build thriving businesses together.

Before we get started just a quick reminder, that there's still a little bit of time to apply for a coaching episode. This is a chance to receive free coaching on an episode of The Bread Winner Podcast. If you're feeling stuck, if you've been facing a challenge, if you're not sure how to get to the next level of your business. This is a really great opportunity for you. It's an opportunity that [00:02:00] only comes around a few times a year. So don't miss out. The link is down in the show notes to apply. It's free. It's a coaching episode where we will coach you through your struggle. And other bakers will get to listen in and learn alongside you. I'm really excited about these. Don't miss your chance to apply and don't let fear or nerves hold you back.

All right. And now into today's episode. So with the shift in seasons, setting aside a planning week can really be a game changer. Whether you're feeling like you've got it all under control or maybe you're just a little frazzled coming off of summer.

Planning week can be like hitting the refresh button on your business.

It can give you much needed time to think, to dream, to plan out the next steps and to rest.

So grab a cup of coffee, grab a notebook. Get ready to take some notes and let's get started.

So we all know that running a micro bakery that lasts is not just about baking bread and selling it. It really is about making decisions to run an effective, efficient, intentional business.

So taking a week to step back to assess, plan, and rest gives you clarity and direction and sets you up to enter the next season, feeling clear, focused and confident.

And once you've experienced a well-organized planning week, you're probably going to want to build this into the rhythm of your business every season.

So I personally did this yesterday. I used a free Google form and I sent it out, sent the link out to my customers in the texts that they receive every Sunday. So normally that text says. Hello, the menus open click here to place your order. Yesterday, the menu set, the text said.

No bread orders this week, but I really would love to hear from you. Click here to fill out the survey. And then I am offering a giveaway as an incentive. So I said, I'll be choosing five of you to receive a free loaf of bread of your choice for filling out the survey.

I'll also share it a couple of times on social media.

I have about 40 responses already. And tons of valuable information. To help build the next seasons of my business.

So my form asks them about their current favorites on my menu. What they want to see more of my, on my menu, any specific flavor requests? And then I asked them about their priorities. This is something I've been really wondering about. So having the data to back it up is really important. I asked them things like. What do you value when you're buying food for your family?

I've been wanting to move more into organic freshly ground grains. And the data shows that if I add in a little bit of that to the menu, There's enough demand to support a small amount of that, but probably not my full menu.

Other questions that you can ask could be things like your ordering process.

Do they like the day that your. That they're picking up on. Do they like the timeframe? Do they need any changes there?

And then you can also include a spot just for general feedback. So I included a spot and said, use this space to.

So for that reason alone, I highly recommend reaching out to your customers with the survey.

If you already have a list, whether on hot plate or the simply bread app or another platform, send your message via that list. If not, just push it down on social media a few times.

If you're a little unsure on what questions to add to your survey. There's a link in the show notes to grab a copy of my survey.

I just made a copy of the exact one that I sent out. I took out just my personal bakery information. And you can use that and copy it and then add your own magic. Add whatever questions you might want to add in your personal information. And take that and run with it. Don't get stuck, just take action and you will be so glad you did.

All right. Once that survey is out in the world doing its thing, the next step is to get a little introspective and reflective.

So just check in, see if you're still aligned with where you're heading. Do your mission, vision and values need a little tweaking. Do you feel like you are making decisions that line up with what you say your business is all about?

So this is your chance to make sure that your business is still on track with the path that you envisioned and if it's not, are you heading in a new direction that you feel wonderful about? Or do you need to course correct a little bit?

Once that's done, the next step is to review what's been working at one and what hasn't. So stay in the coffee shop. Keep that notebook open and spend a little more time journaling.

So you're going to just take a look at your business and ask yourself what has worked really well in the past year, six months, three months? What do you want to repeat? What are your customers positive about. Maybe you introduce a new product that was a hit.

Maybe you tried a new. A new market that went really well. Or maybe you tried something that didn't really resonate with your customers? Not a lot of sales, just not at all. A lot of feedback. Maybe you took on more than you had the capacity for, and you're on the edge of burnout.

That's what's going to give you your business, that sustainability. So it will keep growing with you season after season.

So we want to make sure that you're setting yourself up to be super successful and maximize your opportunities; what you feel comfortable taking, without burning yourself out.

So this is an opportunity to intentionally bake. So that you can take a beautiful marketing photo of your staple products.

Second and one of the most fun parts of planning week is recipe testing.

I'll be trying some fun seasonal flavors, maybe some sweet rolls. My customers surprisingly asked on the survey for more sweets, I expected more staples. So I'll be exploring things like muffins, cookies, pastries, and I'm really excited. So while you're baking without deadlines, take this opportunity to prop up your phone and take some B roll video content.

Don't worry about making a perfect. Do make sure you show your face, and show your process to bring people into it.

You're not going to use these clips now, but they're just going to hang out on your phone because they are going to be super valuable to use for the entire season. You can keep recycling little clips from that B roll over and over in different ways. As you share your process, as you connect with your customers. As you introduce new flavors.

And while you're recipe testing, snaps some photos as well. Again, like I said, make sure you get your face in some photos. Your customers really want to see your face. And if you're growing a larger social media account, you'll find that the reels that show your face are much more likely to do better than just the real show in your process. You can make some of each, but people really will connect with the ones that actually show you.

So this not only drums up excitement for the coming season. But it also gives you a chance to hear the feedback firsthand from your customers and see what they really think about the products that you're considering adding to the upcoming menu.

So this makes it easier for customers to plan in advance. If they know that they love a flavor and they're waiting for it, they're going to know which week to look for. Or maybe they'll get really excited about seeing something on the menu and be ready and on the lookout for that order to open. I just designed this in Canva. It's a very simple little rectangular graphic and then print it on the home printer four to a page on cardstock and then cut it out and put one in each bag. Since it's cardstock it's less flimsy, so it won't get bent and messed up in the bag.

And so they can bring it home and just put it on their fridge and remember you week after week.

All right, so there you have it.

A step-by-step guide to using a planning week to set you up for success for the upcoming season in your micro bakery.

So you remember this isn't just about getting organized. It's really about setting yourself up with a firm foundation for the upcoming season, paying attention to your values of your business, staying align and knowing what your capacity is as the seasons change.

I'm so proud of you for taking the time to set yourself up for success. And making sure that you're running the business and not letting your business run you. We are all about creating a business that lasts here at The Bread Winner Podcast.

Thank you so much for taking some time with me today.

If you found this episode helpful. If you're doing your own planning week. I would love to hear about it. So take a screenshot of this episode. Tag me on Instagram. I am Caroline Bower underscore sourdough. And I would love to see it. I loved her reshare those podcast screenshots.

If you haven't already make sure you're following the show. So you don't miss an episode. They're new every Monday and Thursday. So subscribing make sure that you don't miss out when a new one drops. All right, I will be back soon with a new episode. Until then happy baking.