In this episode, we dive into the common struggles of starting a microbakery, specifically overcoming "analysis paralysis." Alissa has been working hard for over three months on perfecting her recipes, creating a logo, setting prices, and finalizing her menu. However, she finds herself stuck, second-guessing her efforts and unsure of how to officially launch her business. We explore practical strategies to move past the fear of rejection, how to handle the overwhelming pressure of competition, and the benefits of starting small and local.

We also discuss leveraging Facebook groups as a low-pressure way to introduce your bakery to potential customers, instead of relying solely on personal social networks. Caroline shares her own experience of starting organically through conversations rather than hard sells and how staying consistent through both busy and slow times will help build a strong, loyal customer base. If you're feeling paralyzed by self-doubt or unsure about when to launch, this episode offers actionable insights to help you confidently take the next step!

Links to things we talked about:

Free printable microbakery planner:  https://www.carolinebower.com/planner

The Bread Winner Inner Circle Waitlist:  www.carolinebower.com/innercirclewaitlist

Alissa Simmons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bygraceandgrains/

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

___

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

Caroline

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.

If you want to grow in a community of fellow bakers who understand the same challenges that you're facing.

If you want to be able to collaborate, have access to my own experience. And get coached just like Alissa does on this call.

Then definitely consider joining The Bread Winner Inner Circle. If you haven't already joined the waitlist, you can do so in the show notes, the link will be there for you. And without further ado, let's jump into the episode.

Welcome back to another episode of The Bread Winner Podcast I'm your host, Caroline Bower. And today I am joined by a guest. I have Alissa Simmons with me today.

Alissa, do you want to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself? Well,

perfect. So you put an application in when I was offering free coaching episodes. And I'm so glad you did. So I have the questions that you filled out here, but I'd love you to tell us what your goal is for our conversation or what you'd like to focus on today.

I love that. And I love your honesty. And I think so many people can relate to getting started. stuck in that analysis paralysis and just there's probably a little bit of fear of rejection and like what if no one actually buys my thing just this fear of getting started [00:04:00] getting over that hump

Yes, definitely fear of people rejecting it. Or, there are tons of other bakers in my area. I don't like to look at them as competition because I hope everybody wins. But it

still makes me a little nervous,

yeah for sure i totally get that so i did look at your instagram and your breads are gorgeous

Thank you.

The breads that you're baking look lovely I mean, It looks like you are ready to go and you have everything kind of lined up and it's just a matter of getting started. So what step do you think you would need to take to

officially.

Yeah. Does that feel kind of scary?

Absolutely.

Um, Are you active or are there active groups on Facebook in your area with like moms or business promotions

Oh

Yeah.

definitely. I'm in them

Yeah. Um, Have you considered posting, letting your first post be in there rather than just from your personal Facebook account?

No. thought of that. Um,

How does that land? Does that feel any

It does kind of yeah, because

i'm putting It out to people that I don't know, you know,

hmm.

Yeah,

I totally agree. I have never posted about my bakery

from my personal Facebook page. Oh, okay

Okay, and I've like, built that up in my head,

that that's what I need to do, you know?

Maybe you don't need to. I mean, If you want to, if that feels like if you want the support from friends and family, do it. But if it feels easier to get started in a little bit more anonymous, not anonymous, but like a group that doesn't know you personally, maybe that could get you kind of over the hump and unstuck.

I'm for it.

Do you want it? It was just, This, like, organic

conversation.

Does that.

feel doable?

Yeah, totally. Because you're not necessarily putting yourself out there, but you're putting

yourself out there.

Mm hmm. Yeah. And it's some weird psychological thing where it just feels a lot safer. I don't know the, like, psychoanalysis reasoning, but posting in a group where you're not, like, intimately connected. Doesn't feel as scary for some reason.

Yeah, I think I can do that for sure.

Cool. What would keep you from doing that?

Just fear, I guess, but I think I could, I

can see myself doing that.

Like very soon, like maybe

tomorrow,

because it, it does feel safer for

me,

just

nobody orders bread from me, which is not a big deal.

Mm hmm. And then you could try again in a different group and see how it goes over there. Because some of the groups are weird and like, some of them have restrictions around posting about business. Or, um, some of them, it's hard to get seen. But it's kind of a matter of like trial and error and, you know, just sort of playing around and seeing what

Okay. Yeah.

Because I mean, it's, it's gotta be a numbers game at that point, you know, you're, you're posting to a bunch of groups eventually somebody is going to try it and they're going to love it and they're going to tell their friends.

So I love that idea. Thank you.

Yeah. Perfect. , Do you feel confident in what you want your post to say or do you want to kind of break

Okay. So if you were just to kind of like off the top of your head, throw something out, what do you think would feel natural? Like, how do you think would be a natural way to invite that conversation?

I mean, I definitely liked your

post, how you had extra loaves um, because I do always have extra loaves. I'm currently not baking for anybody. So I just bake a ton of bread. Um, and I freeze it or give it to friends. So I feel like that would be an honest and good thing for me to post.

Yeah, totally. Do you have an ordering platform set up yet?

Okay. Look at you. You're ready.

I know, I know. Like, I ha

I am telling you I am like, I'm like, ready, but I am not

Yeah. I'm so excited for you. ,

I, yeah. I'm so excited.

But then you stay consistent, and then it sort of evens out, and it's a gradual growth. But the trick is to continue and not get discouraged when you're in that little dip.

Okay.

So you continue posting, you show up in the groups every week, you let people know that you are the sourdough baker in your area, and they'll start to get to know you, and you'll gain your regulars.

And then those posts, will get seen even if they're not interacted with, they'll get seen and people will be like, Alissa's the one with the bread around here. Do you, have you set up a Facebook page for your business? I know you have an Instagram page.

I have.

Okay.

So that way you're building that audience on Facebook and they're seeing whatever you're posting on Instagram in kind of getting to know you and seeing the person behind the business So that's another kind of facet is if you haven't already introduced yourself It would be a great idea to put your face up there, also kind of feels scary sometimes um, if you just throw a little like introduction, like here's a couple of facts about me here, and then pin it, to the top of your page so that people have that personal connection.

Okay, so I'm gonna do the post

Mmhmm.

now. Like, how do I know that I have enough things on my menu, what's a good amount of things because you look around at everybody else's menus and they have like 20 things and like for me, I would do better with a smaller menu um, because I have a lot of other things going on in my life. So, like, is that enough?

I love that question. So what does it, what would your menu look like right now?

Um, it would have

four different loaves of sourdough. and one type of cookie, a brown butter chocolate chip cookie, and

That's exactly what my menu looks like each week.

Really?

Okay.

I, focaccia is the only extra thing that I would have, but I always have a regular loaf, a sandwich loaf, two flavors, a savory and a sweet, cookies, a scone and focaccia. And then I rotate the flavors.

Okay. And I guess just like,

I'm just comparing myself to too many other bakers who are further along, probably, which is probably an issue for all of us really um, is the comparison aspect. So, yeah.

Um, What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for the next person. And if you're building a business that you want to enjoy and you want it to stay around and not fizzle out and burn out in a couple months, it needs to work for your life.

That was like the one thing. When I was like deciding that I really wanted to go through with this, like I have to set up these boundaries because my kids are my number one and we do homeschool. I'm very involved with the homeschool community, my church community. I just do a lot of things, but I also want to do this.

So I, I have to have some sort of boundary and it's gotta be attainable, like my goals, you know?

I feel like a lot of people are ending their market seasons now, but we're just beginning ours. in Arizona because we're finally in the double digits. It's like 80 right now, but it'll probably be a high in the 90s, you know, so we're just, we're just getting started and I'm seeing my fellow [00:16:00] bakers here getting ready for the farmer's market and I would love to do that too. Um, is it too soon for me to jump into a market when I literally don't know what I'm doing?

I don't think so. I think you learn as you go. That's a really, really fantastic way to connect with an audience that you wouldn't normally be able to reach. and kind of, especially if it's local to your area. If you have a way to invite people onto your ordering platform so they get your weekly notifications, it's a great way to gain loyal regular customers and chat face to face so they feel connected to , And as long as you are confident with baking enough, I don't think it's too soon.

Okay.

Yeah. , do you feel Like there's anything that would be really hard about doing a market?

Yeah, that's a good question. Um, so a lot of market organizers will kind of cap it at a certain amount. And that kind of varies from market to market and how many vendors they have. My regular market usually has two other sourdough bakers,, out a total of like 30 vendors. one in particular, we've become good friends and we pretty much both always sell out.

That's part of the key of markets too, is sticking with the same one once you find one that feels like a good fit, and coming back to it so that people know where to find you. Um, and as far as being the new one, I would say be friendly, uh, maybe ask questions even of the more seasoned bakers, pick their brains. If you feel like you need to, you could reach out ahead of time and say, Hey, I'm just getting started. I'll be at the market. Would you like to share your menu with me so that we can make sure that we're not overlapping? You don't have to do that. I've never done that personally, but some people do. , Just so that they don't feel like their toes are being stepped on. But I would say don't overthink it too much. If the other bakers have been pretty consistent and regular at the market, they probably have their established customers already. So you're not coming in and trying to take their customers.

Yes,

totally.

, I can see it being, I mean, I was the new one on the block. A year ago, and it definitely felt a little scary, but I felt that if I just kind of stayed in my lane, , and did my thing, I mean, that's kind of the best that you can do. that's, that's worked out well.

So did you just go up to them and introduce yourself? Yeah,

And then at the end of the market, sometimes if I have extras, , I'll offer them to the other vendors, not the sourdough vendor, generally, because they have their own bread. But it's a good way to get connected with other businesses is just to give them a loaf at the end if you have extras.

It's like the ultimate gift.

Okay. That sounds good.

Perfect. All right is there anything else that feels like it might stop you from moving forward or achieving your next goals

Maybe time

management, possibly. Like, I feel like my brain kind of wanders, like new recipes. Um, it wanders towards newer things and wanting to try out new things. And then I get distracted, uh, from what I'm supposed to be doing. Um, so. Maybe, what are some time management things that you

love?

Um, waking up early and getting a lot of things done before the kids wake up. Because once the kids wake up, you never know what's gonna happen.

I feel that. So maximizing those morning hours. Do you write out your plan what's kind of been your strategy for planning up to this point?

Um, I do like a weekly plan ahead but I don't always stick to the plan, so maybe planning ahead like I have been doing and then doing like something the night before maybe for the next day. Because things happen and things change so

often, you know,

And time blocking has been really helpful. So just basically break it all down by hour and then like drop your things that need to happen into time slots. So you have some flexibility, you can move things around if you need to. if you have like a 20 minute task, don't have to like map out every 20 minute block of your day.

And I found, I don't know how old your kids are,

three

in ten.

chunk of time, or if they can work on workbooks or something, , but invite them into that schedule. And so I found that really helped them because they knew what to expect. And then we would block out time, like board games, and they knew that they got focus time with me. During those chunks of time.

And so bringing them in and helping them feel like they have some ownership and they're collaborating and they're part of what you're doing in a way , that can maybe help make those, the daytime feel a little smoother. That's, the way that I survived summer. My kids aren't homeschooled, but, I wanted a very intentional summer with them. , But I also had to work and so that made it

really doable.

I can see myself doing that.

Perfect. , I have a free planner with the time blocks that I designed. I can put it down in the show notes, but I can also email it to you. Most time blocked calendars don't start as early as a baker's schedule. So I made mine start at 5, and that way you can kind of drop in your chunks of the tasks that need to happen during the day. Scheduling is kind of trial and error, and it's a little bit of failing sometimes. And giving yourself grace and adjusting and tweaking to make it work for your life. Yeah. Does that feel more doable?

Yes. Definitely going to try that.

okay. Do you still have scheduling or time management questions?

No.

Okay. Cool.

Okay. Yeah. I'm ready for the next steps..

Okay, so, you've been stuck, , what, will you do tomorrow to move forward?

I am going to post in a local group about having extra bread and wondering what I should do with it. And I'm just going to open up some conversations with some locals.

Perfect. And then chances are they're going to be like, I want some. And so then you just give them your link and, do you have your inventory limited so that you won't get overwhelmed with orders?

I'll have to look at that.

Okay. Probably a good idea to make sure that it's capped at a certain point.

Okay.

So that you don't just get inundated and then realize that you took on too much to get started.

Okay. I agree.

Yeah, , I'm excited. I'm ready. And I'm really grateful for your podcast. , I feel like you started it like right at the right time when I needed it. So I just really appreciate you coming on and being so open and honest with all of us. It's, it's awesome. I know a lot of us. appreciate it.

Thanks. That's so, so kind. Um, it's been really a joy to do. And I realized that there was, there was no podcast and there needed to be one. So

Yeah.

Honestly, just to get some steady customers. , even if it was literally one, two, five, I would be happy with that.

That sounds like such

a great goal.

and and to do a market and to do a market.

Yes. Okay, cool. Um, so for the market, Do you, know markets in your area or do you need any pointers for that? .

I actually know of a couple

markets. I have them on my calendars. Um, I just need to do the thing.

Okay. That's good to know.

All right. Well, I am so thankful for your time, Alissa, and really enjoyed chatting with you. And I would love an update in the next couple of weeks as you get going.

Absolutely. I'm here for it. Thank you.

You're so welcome. It's been so great.

It would make my day if you screenshot this episode and shared it on Instagram and tagged me so I can see where you're listening from. I'm carolinebower_sourdough and I love resharing those posts. I will be back soon, but until then, happy baking.