Shownotes
Motivational Quote
Business Inspiration
It all started with Sweet Meg’s [4:08] The Sweet Fest Directory idea was formed [6:52]A Candle Flickering Moment
How do you create something big while working full time and with a small investment [15:10] and [21:46]Business Building Insight
What you need to get started [8:27] and [13:35] Website development and evolution [10:59] Wordpress.com versus WordPress.org [12:38] Keep your eyes and ears open to a bigger need of your audience [18:18]Sales and Visibility Tips
How they grew to 4,500 followers on Instagram [9:16] The value of using Periscope for your business [19:48]Success Trait
Cydni is personable and naturally curious about people and their stories. She got this from her dad who is a lifelong salesman. [23:08]Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Apple TV – hear how this helps her balance and keep energized for her business. [24:27]Valuable Book
This Too Shall Pass by Margaret Anne Huffman
Course for Sweet Business Success
How to Develop a Professional BrandContact Links
Website Facebook Twitter 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 on unwrapped episode 41,
Speaker:I started thinking there's nothing like,
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to the gift of 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 gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Whether you Own a brick and mortar shop sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. Today,
Speaker:I have joining us Sydney.
Speaker:Mitchell Sydney is the founder of the suite fest.com.
Speaker:A global online directory designed to connect sweet lovers with local
Speaker:sweet makers by trade.
Speaker:Sydney is an accountant and financial analyst.
Speaker:She's worked closely with many of the suite makers on her
Speaker:site to help them develop and successfully implement their own social
Speaker:media marketing strategies,
Speaker:rebranding initiatives,
Speaker:and business plan remodeling.
Speaker:There are tons of resources available to help suite entrepreneurs develop
Speaker:their baking talents.
Speaker:But the goal of sweet Fest is to help sweet makers
Speaker:run the business side of their suite businesses.
Speaker:Sydney's philosophy is there must be a balance between a delicious
Speaker:product and a solid business marketing strategy.
Speaker:No sweet business can be successful without having both in place
Speaker:Sydney and sweet Fest work to provide sweet business owners with
Speaker:the keys to obtaining that balance to ultimately be successful in
Speaker:their business.
Speaker:Wonderful. That sounds so important and so necessary.
Speaker:Sydney, thank you very much for coming on the show today.
Speaker:Well, thank you so much for having me Sue.
Speaker:This is such an honor and privilege and just FYI.
Speaker:This is my first interview,
Speaker:so super cool.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:I'm so excited.
Speaker:Are there any gaps you want to fill in with the
Speaker:intro before we get started?
Speaker:Not really.
Speaker:I think it says so much.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I know that there are so many,
Speaker:I interact with so many sweet makers on a regular basis
Speaker:and they all pretty much have a similar background in that
Speaker:they love to bake.
Speaker:They've always baked or,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:they have been baking since they were little kids,
Speaker:right. And they were in the kitchen with their grandma.
Speaker:But what ends up happening is they have this love of
Speaker:baking and people asked them to bake for,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:birthday parties or bridal showers.
Speaker:And the next thing,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I have a business and they're charging people,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:they have no clue how to run the business.
Speaker:And so that's where sweet Fest comes in.
Speaker:So it's helping them to,
Speaker:like you said,
Speaker:I understand running the business side of the,
Speaker:of the baking business,
Speaker:so Right.
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:So the light shines on you,
Speaker:Sydney, and you're going to share your stories and your experiences,
Speaker:how you've created the whole concept of sweet fast.
Speaker:So are you ready to light it up?
Speaker:Absolutely wonderful.
Speaker:Well, what color would your motivational candle be and what would
Speaker:the quote be?
Speaker:And that candle,
Speaker:my color would be pink.
Speaker:And you will see that throughout all of sweet fists that
Speaker:pink is my color.
Speaker:Pink is just so bright and happy and that's kind of,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:my personality and that's the personality of sweet face.
Speaker:And the quote that would be on it is people won't
Speaker:remember what she said or did.
Speaker:They will remember how you made them feel.
Speaker:And that's from my Angela.
Speaker:It's an important quote.
Speaker:When you start talking about sales and marketing and all of
Speaker:that, it's getting to that emotional side that really helps you
Speaker:connect with customers and clients and all of that.
Speaker:So your quote is right on.
Speaker:It's actually one of my favorites as well.
Speaker:Well, let's jump Right into sweet Fest now.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:in the intro,
Speaker:you talked a little bit about how you recognize that there
Speaker:was the need in the industry,
Speaker:but dive down a little bit deeper now,
Speaker:how did you take that concept?
Speaker:Find the need and start developing it into what is now
Speaker:sweet Fest.
Speaker:So in the summer of 2013,
Speaker:I was living in Greensboro,
Speaker:North Carolina with my best friend and we,
Speaker:well, I love sweets and she kind of deals with sweets
Speaker:just because of me.
Speaker:And we discovered this bakery called sweet mix and it was
Speaker:fairly new in the area,
Speaker:but they were kind of tucked away in a little corner.
Speaker:And I felt like I'd found like this Juul,
Speaker:this precious Juul and the rough,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:sweet, sweet megs had the most delicious cupcakes.
Speaker:And the frosting was always amazing.
Speaker:Any flavor that she had was just delicious to me,
Speaker:it tasted like someone's grandmother was in the back baking,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:these bacons from scratch.
Speaker:And I knew we found a winner when my roommate,
Speaker:my best friend was the one that was like,
Speaker:okay, can we go to megs?
Speaker:And she doesn't like sweets like that.
Speaker:So she would be like,
Speaker:let's go to max.
Speaker:So I knew we had a winner.
Speaker:And so I started telling people in my office,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:have you guys been to sweet max?
Speaker:And they're like,
Speaker:no, we've never heard of it.
Speaker:But everybody always buzzed about this other bakery that had been
Speaker:in town for,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:maybe like 20 or so years.
Speaker:Every time I went to that bakery,
Speaker:I was not impressed.
Speaker:And so I'm like,
Speaker:how is it that people are so in love with this
Speaker:other bakery?
Speaker:And nobody knows anything about megs.
Speaker:And it really bugged me.
Speaker:It bugged me to no end.
Speaker:It's like,
Speaker:because Meg's cakes are so much better.
Speaker:And so I just kind of went on this like ad
Speaker:campaign for people.
Speaker:Like I would bring megs into the office.
Speaker:I left her business cards everywhere.
Speaker:And we went there so much that the owners started to
Speaker:know us.
Speaker:Meg got to know us,
Speaker:her dad,
Speaker:her parents are always in there working the register.
Speaker:So I would come in and we would have this conversation
Speaker:about, you know,
Speaker:how we can get people to know about megs.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:cause at the end of the day,
Speaker:if you just get your treats into their mouths,
Speaker:they will come back here.
Speaker:Right. Right.
Speaker:So I just went on this session of how can I
Speaker:get people to know about megs?
Speaker:And then also at the same time I had a friend
Speaker:that was starting up a bakery out of her home.
Speaker:So all these little pieces started coming together with,
Speaker:okay, how am I going to help my friends?
Speaker:Cause by this time I'm thinking of Meg as a friend
Speaker:of mine,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:how am I going to help my friends to get more
Speaker:exposure again,
Speaker:along that same time,
Speaker:Instagram was really starting to blow up.
Speaker:And so I'm like,
Speaker:okay, well I noticed that some of the most popular pages
Speaker:on Instagram are the suites pages are,
Speaker:are pages that have food on them.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:cause that's when everybody's doing hashtag you know,
Speaker:nom, nom and hashtag other things related to food.
Speaker:So I was like,
Speaker:okay, well let's just at least start an Instagram page so
Speaker:that we can get more exposure for these people.
Speaker:And then it just kind of sparked from there.
Speaker:So it started as an Instagram page Arlee in 2014 and
Speaker:then summer of 2014,
Speaker:we started up a website.
Speaker:I wanted this website to just be a directory for sweet
Speaker:shops. I started thinking there's nothing like that out there,
Speaker:right? If you want to go to new Orleans or if
Speaker:you want to go to Chicago or if you want to
Speaker:try little known sweet shops,
Speaker:anywhere in the world,
Speaker:you'd have to Google specifically Chicago donut shop.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:that's just too much.
Speaker:Like I don't want to be like Chicago donut shop in
Speaker:Chicago, cupcake GRI,
Speaker:and put all of that into Google.
Speaker:I feel like there should be one place that you should
Speaker:be able to put that in.
Speaker:And that's what we Fest is.
Speaker:Gotcha. So when you started the Instagram account,
Speaker:they were not for sweet megs.
Speaker:And then your other friend who had a home bakery,
Speaker:this Instagram page was the initial development of the sweet fast.
Speaker:Yes, Absolutely.
Speaker:The Instagram page was to help all sweet makers because I
Speaker:started to realize this was an overall need for the sweets
Speaker:community and not just specific to these friends of mine,
Speaker:but they were my inspiration behind it.
Speaker:And so did you have the website then already as well?
Speaker:No. I started the Instagram page before I started the website,
Speaker:but I had the idea for the one time as the
Speaker:Instagram page.
Speaker:So I wanted to get the idea out there,
Speaker:which was why I started the Instagram page before the website
Speaker:and started connecting with people in that way.
Speaker:And we never even posted a picture until I think we
Speaker:had been around for several months on Instagram and we had
Speaker:400 followers,
Speaker:which is amazing to me before we had any pictures.
Speaker:It was only based off of just the tagline,
Speaker:connecting sweet levers with sweet makers and then a profile picture.
Speaker:That was something I just pulled together on my phone that
Speaker:said coming soon.
Speaker:So that's another reason why I encourage my speak makers to,
Speaker:if nothing else,
Speaker:just at least start getting out there,
Speaker:regardless of whether you have things pulled together.
Speaker:Now you should definitely develop a professional face to it.
Speaker:But in the beginning,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:start where you are and then grow from there.
Speaker:And that's kind of how sweet fests all began.
Speaker:Now. What would you equate?
Speaker:Let's talk a little bit of detail here because this is
Speaker:really interesting.
Speaker:What would you equate the reason why people were following you
Speaker:on Instagram,
Speaker:even though you didn't have anything up yet,
Speaker:were you commenting on other people's photos or were you directing
Speaker:them over to your site?
Speaker:That just said coming soon and doing some type of teasers
Speaker:400 Pretty awesome.
Speaker:Right? No content,
Speaker:right? Yes.
Speaker:We should go down this line cause I want to talk
Speaker:Instagram with you.
Speaker:Cause you have continued to grow that platform.
Speaker:So let's stay,
Speaker:let's stay with this for just a second.
Speaker:And so,
Speaker:okay. So,
Speaker:so Sydney,
Speaker:what did you do besides just putting the site up to
Speaker:have people coming Well?
Speaker:So I'm an analyst to my core.
Speaker:And so what happened with me and Instagram is that I
Speaker:started to analyze how the whole operation worked and that it's
Speaker:really, I mean,
Speaker:in social media in general is based off of your interactions
Speaker:with other people on the platform.
Speaker:And so it's not like we created an Instagram account and
Speaker:then people just came to it.
Speaker:No, it was,
Speaker:we created the account,
Speaker:we had the tagline,
Speaker:but then we went and liked people.
Speaker:We interacted with people,
Speaker:we liked their pictures.
Speaker:We commented on their pictures.
Speaker:We had interactions with them and people would be like,
Speaker:Oh, I'm so ready for this site.
Speaker:Before we even had a domain name,
Speaker:people who were already excited about what was coming because of
Speaker:the interactions that we had with them before we had pictures.
Speaker:And before we had any of that.
Speaker:So it's all about how you actively interact with people,
Speaker:especially on Instagram is how you interact with them and their
Speaker:pictures. You start following them.
Speaker:You like their pictures,
Speaker:you comment on their pictures.
Speaker:You, you know,
Speaker:you leave a smiling face with heart eyes,
Speaker:all that good stuff,
Speaker:right. You interact with them and yes,
Speaker:it does take work.
Speaker:But at the end of the day,
Speaker:that's actually how we've grown from zero to 400 with no
Speaker:pictures. And then from 400 to 4,500
Speaker:right now That's spectacular.
Speaker:And how much time of day would you say you devote
Speaker:to doing that commenting on other people's pictures,
Speaker:just so that their eyes come back to you,
Speaker:I'd say I'd probably devote about an hour or so throughout
Speaker:the day when we first started,
Speaker:I was on there several hours a day,
Speaker:but it wasn't like I would sit in the room for
Speaker:five hours looking at Instagram.
Speaker:It was more like 30 minutes here,
Speaker:15 minutes there between commercials.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you can do it any time in it.
Speaker:It will add up.
Speaker:So now you have the Instagram account established at what point,
Speaker:and give us a little detail behind how the website then
Speaker:developed With the website.
Speaker:I wanted to have one place for everyone to go if
Speaker:they were interested in suites.
Speaker:And so I got a Squarespace,
Speaker:the original site was on Squarespace and it was more of
Speaker:a list.
Speaker:So you would come to the home page and then there
Speaker:would be a couple,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a couple icons for articles.
Speaker:And then you would click over to the directory of sweet
Speaker:spots, which is what I called it at the time.
Speaker:And it was literally like a list of eight ended up
Speaker:coming up to about 200 sweet makers from a us from
Speaker:the UK we had from Canada.
Speaker:We had from Australia,
Speaker:all that good stuff,
Speaker:but it was a list and it wasn't exactly what I
Speaker:was looking for,
Speaker:but it was within my abilities at the time because I
Speaker:was the one that created the site.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:my whole goal was for it to become like a Yelp
Speaker:or a yellow pages where people could come in and type
Speaker:in as a search.
Speaker:And so,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:okay, well,
Speaker:I've got to figure how we can make this more like
Speaker:a search because this doesn't look like what I want.
Speaker:So, like I said,
Speaker:before you go within your abilities and then you try to
Speaker:grow from there.
Speaker:And that's really how the first website came about.
Speaker:And then we migrated it over in the summer of 2015
Speaker:to be able to look like a directory.
Speaker:And with the directory,
Speaker:I was able to do that basically because I did a
Speaker:lot of research around plugins on WordPress.
Speaker:And I don't really tell too many people.
Speaker:So now it's out there.
Speaker:The website that we're on right now is on WordPress,
Speaker:but it is based off of a plugin that helps with
Speaker:building that directory look and feel.
Speaker:And so you're on a wordpress.org
Speaker:site. Yes.
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:Just for our listeners,
Speaker:if any of you,
Speaker:I have a couple of points I want to emphasize now
Speaker:that Sydney has been talking about,
Speaker:and we'll start with the website.
Speaker:If you are in a situation where you are just now
Speaker:starting a website,
Speaker:you can capture free websites@aplatformcalledwordpress.com,
Speaker:which I highly suggest you do not do emphasize,
Speaker:not do the platform you want to be on is wordpress.org.
Speaker:Now it takes a little bit more to set it up.
Speaker:You need a hosting company.
Speaker:We're not going to go into all of the detail about
Speaker:that right now,
Speaker:but word to the wise,
Speaker:it is worth taking the time to set it up on
Speaker:that type of a platform,
Speaker:wordpress.org, because that will allow you to bring in plugins and
Speaker:to really create a site that is a good site for
Speaker:you to use long term for your business.
Speaker:So that's my first point.
Speaker:The second thing,
Speaker:which I think is also really important,
Speaker:Sydney is you started off right away and walked the path
Speaker:and developed as you went along,
Speaker:you started with the Instagram account,
Speaker:even though you didn't have a website yet you didn't wait
Speaker:to say,
Speaker:Oh, I'm going to put all of this together first.
Speaker:And then I can get started.
Speaker:There's a saying,
Speaker:that's going around a lot right now,
Speaker:which is called imperfect action.
Speaker:And the point here is don't wait until you got all
Speaker:your ducks in a row.
Speaker:Yes. You want to start planning,
Speaker:but don't make that keep you from starting.
Speaker:It's better to start get things out there.
Speaker:And you want to start with having,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:some knowledge base behind you in terms of doing the right
Speaker:things. Just like I was talking about the wordpress.org,
Speaker:but so many people have ideas.
Speaker:They're going to get to this,
Speaker:they're going to do this.
Speaker:And they feel like they just can't actually get started until
Speaker:they have all these things in place.
Speaker:And then guess what happens?
Speaker:They never get started.
Speaker:They never,
Speaker:never do it.
Speaker:This is a perfect example,
Speaker:Sydney of talking about how you were stepping it up and
Speaker:building on top of what you had,
Speaker:but you got started first.
Speaker:So that's so important.
Speaker:I'm so glad that this came up.
Speaker:What would you say as you were going along the way,
Speaker:maybe it was with the website or something else as you
Speaker:continue to develop.
Speaker:And I know we're not done with talking about sweet Fest
Speaker:yet in terms of where it's going,
Speaker:but at this point,
Speaker:so you were just setting up,
Speaker:you've got a couple of things in place.
Speaker:Now, what type of challenge did you encounter along the way
Speaker:that could be helpful for our listeners to understand in terms
Speaker:of what you encountered and how you overcame it?
Speaker:I think at that point,
Speaker:the biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to build
Speaker:in a way that I could be able to fit it
Speaker:in with my budget as well.
Speaker:So at the time,
Speaker:and even now,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I, sweet Fest was the thing that I did on the
Speaker:side, even though it's my passion.
Speaker:It is what I love to do.
Speaker:I still have a day-to-day job as a financial analyst.
Speaker:And so the challenge was how did I balance having to
Speaker:go to an office for,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:eight, nine hours a day and work on another company's books
Speaker:and then have to come home and then,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:work on sweet Fest.
Speaker:It's not like sweet Fest had this $20,000
Speaker:budget to put into a website because obviously I could have
Speaker:paid for a developer to build the directory as it is
Speaker:now, but that was not my budget.
Speaker:So I had to teach myself,
Speaker:I had to train myself on how to be able to
Speaker:do this,
Speaker:which is why I did so much research on,
Speaker:okay, there's gotta be a way to do this on my
Speaker:own. And I do have a slight background.
Speaker:I've taught myself a slow bit of code,
Speaker:but even before that,
Speaker:it was okay,
Speaker:there's gotta be a plugin somewhere.
Speaker:There's gotta be something.
Speaker:And so I just did a lot of digging and that's
Speaker:how I overcame it.
Speaker:I did a lot of digging on my own because I'm
Speaker:like, I want this and I don't have $20,000
Speaker:to build it.
Speaker:So I need to figure out how I can build it
Speaker:on my own.
Speaker:It strap.
Speaker:There's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker:I bootstrapped every single company that I started.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you can go either way.
Speaker:It's certainly the decision of the business owner,
Speaker:which way to do it.
Speaker:But if you don't have a lot of money,
Speaker:just like Sydney is talking about,
Speaker:there are so many things now that you can do that
Speaker:are more turnkey.
Speaker:They get you to your end goal.
Speaker:We're so fortunate in that now.
Speaker:So your comment really is you knew you wanted to put
Speaker:this together.
Speaker:You didn't have the financial ability to hire someone,
Speaker:which is obviously always the easier way to go for the
Speaker:most part.
Speaker:So you had the financial challenge.
Speaker:You also had the time challenge because you're still working,
Speaker:but you had your eye on the ball in terms of
Speaker:what you were trying to accomplish and you just figured out
Speaker:how to get it done.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:I buckled down.
Speaker:I sacrificed,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:time with friends and hanging out and all that good stuff,
Speaker:but I knew that the ultimate goal was sweet fests in
Speaker:a directory format.
Speaker:And I was not going to stop until I got to
Speaker:that. So,
Speaker:and look what you've got now.
Speaker:Right. I know.
Speaker:Okay. Okay.
Speaker:So let's continue on now because that's not all that sweet
Speaker:Fest is about.
Speaker:Let's talk a little bit about where you're headed in the
Speaker:future and what you're planning.
Speaker:Right? So along with the whole challenge of how do I
Speaker:get my friends,
Speaker:how do I get this sweet community to have more exposure?
Speaker:I start to realize that a lot of them,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:have this same story of,
Speaker:we love to bake,
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Now we're charging people and Oh my gosh,
Speaker:now I don't know how to run a business.
Speaker:What do I do?
Speaker:How do you know,
Speaker:how do I get my books in line?
Speaker:How do I price my treats?
Speaker:How do I form a marketing strategy?
Speaker:What does all of that look like?
Speaker:And because all of that is in my background.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:my background is in business.
Speaker:I have a master's in accounting and I've gone to business
Speaker:school. I wanted to help them with that.
Speaker:And plenty of them came to me for that.
Speaker:Once they found out she's an accountant,
Speaker:she's a financial analyst.
Speaker:Oh, help me help me understand about this business side.
Speaker:So once I started interacting with more and more sweet makers,
Speaker:again, I saw that there was a need for that.
Speaker:Originally I thought the need was just for gaining more exposure.
Speaker:And then once I dug in a little bit deeper,
Speaker:then I'm like,
Speaker:okay, wait,
Speaker:the consistent message is that people really need help with the
Speaker:business side.
Speaker:So that's another reason why sweet Fez went the direction that
Speaker:is going now with helping with the business side of the
Speaker:baking business.
Speaker:So originally it was just help them with marketing their company
Speaker:by building a directory.
Speaker:And then it was like,
Speaker:wait, the real need is on the business end.
Speaker:So let me help them with that,
Speaker:because that is what I also know about.
Speaker:Right. And fabulous perception,
Speaker:because you had your initial goal and what you thought you
Speaker:were going to be doing and you still are doing cause
Speaker:that's part of it.
Speaker:Yes. But your eyes were still wide open and you were
Speaker:listening to the audience also and identifying that yes,
Speaker:there is this additional need of how do you run a
Speaker:business? So really good.
Speaker:And so what are you doing about that?
Speaker:So now,
Speaker:now I'm able to provide a training tools and guidance for
Speaker:professional development for the sweet community.
Speaker:So, and I know you're on Periscope and I'm a big
Speaker:advocate of Periscope.
Speaker:And so I do business scopes as often as I can
Speaker:usually about once a week in the least.
Speaker:And I'm hoping to up that in 2016 and,
Speaker:and what is your scope handle?
Speaker:And my scope is sweet underscore Fest.
Speaker:Okay, wonderful.
Speaker:I wanted to get that out.
Speaker:There Are all the listeners.
Speaker:Yes. And I love scope.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:If for anyone who's in the baking industry or any type
Speaker:of business at all,
Speaker:I think scope is a good fit for a lot of
Speaker:entrepreneurs to help basically establish their knowledge and their skillset.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:because you basically can interact with potential customers and they get
Speaker:a chance to see,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what knowledge you have and be able to pick your brain
Speaker:and, and,
Speaker:and talk to you directly.
Speaker:And it's awesome.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:So, Absolutely.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'll just underscore that for half a second and then I
Speaker:want to move on with a couple other questions,
Speaker:but the thing that's very cool about Periscope is you're looking
Speaker:in somebody's eyes.
Speaker:If you are watching a scope and you really get a
Speaker:good feel,
Speaker:just like how here in the beginning we ask what your
Speaker:candle color is.
Speaker:It's kind of an indirect way to get,
Speaker:to know who you're talking with with a Periscope.
Speaker:You can look right into that person's eyes and understand more
Speaker:about them on a subtle versus what you would know just
Speaker:over the phone or just hearing audio Periscoping.
Speaker:If you've never tried it before.
Speaker:My handle is gift biz gal and Sydney's handle is sweet,
Speaker:underscore fast.
Speaker:A great thing to check out.
Speaker:If you are interested in want to see another way to
Speaker:get really some valuable content Talked about scope,
Speaker:and that's one way I've connected with the sweet community and
Speaker:helping them to understand the business side of baking.
Speaker:But I've also started offering online courses as well as we've
Speaker:had conventions in the past.
Speaker:And we're looking to have a conference in 2016 as well.
Speaker:So it's all about helping to build information and knowledge for
Speaker:the sweet community.
Speaker:So those are a couple of different ways and we're hoping
Speaker:to provide a newsletter and all these great things in the
Speaker:future. Wow.
Speaker:You are jumping in big time.
Speaker:Yes. Both feet,
Speaker:both feet.
Speaker:And so now Today with all of those things in the
Speaker:works and some of it you're talking about what you're already
Speaker:planning to do,
Speaker:some of it sounds like it's a future plan to bring
Speaker:in when you can,
Speaker:but how are you managing all of this now with your
Speaker:full-time job?
Speaker:There's been some adjustments that are being made and some sacrifices
Speaker:that are being made as well.
Speaker:But, you know,
Speaker:I'm just having to reassess my schedule.
Speaker:And I just,
Speaker:I brought on an assistant,
Speaker:that's helping me with the admin side,
Speaker:but that's freed me up a little bit as well.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:so sites are set on cutting the leash soon.
Speaker:So well,
Speaker:that's pretty exciting.
Speaker:Yes. Yes.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we're, we're strategically making plans to be able to do that
Speaker:in the near future.
Speaker:So big announcements coming forward soon,
Speaker:hopefully knock on wood.
Speaker:Right. It'll happen.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:And you are an action taker.
Speaker:I knew that from the second I met You.
Speaker:Yes. So actually I'm Sydney and I met at a,
Speaker:it was America's baking and sweets right in Chicago.
Speaker:Yes. Yeah.
Speaker:We met at America's baking and sweets when we were both
Speaker:setting up our booth.
Speaker:So that was pretty exciting.
Speaker:I call Sue my guide.
Speaker:She was my guide throughout the whole weekend.
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:so I don't know what's going on.
Speaker:You handled it just fine.
Speaker:You're already as stars.
Speaker:And no question about that.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Let's Talk a little bit about you specifically.
Speaker:And what types of things you found that help you to
Speaker:be successful as you are pursuing and developing sweet fast,
Speaker:what would you say is one natural trait that you have
Speaker:that's helped you to be Successful?
Speaker:I think that I'm pretty personable.
Speaker:I, I definitely get that from my dad who has been
Speaker:in sales my entire life and he never met a stranger
Speaker:and I'm pretty sure that's where I've gotten it from.
Speaker:I like people,
Speaker:I like to get to know people.
Speaker:I like to get to know their background story.
Speaker:And that really helps me because it's not like I'm faking
Speaker:interest. Like I'm actually interested.
Speaker:Like I got actually want to know,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:well, what got you into baking and what are your challenges
Speaker:or what are ways that I can help you grow and
Speaker:help you understand more about your business?
Speaker:To my core,
Speaker:I'm a helpful person.
Speaker:And I'm a friendly person.
Speaker:And I think that that has taken me pretty far and
Speaker:will continue to take me far in this industry because you
Speaker:know, everybody wants to feel important.
Speaker:Everybody wants to feel like their story matters.
Speaker:And whenever I interact with any of my sweet makers before
Speaker:we even really get started before I even talk about graphic
Speaker:design with them and logos or marketing,
Speaker:I want to know their story.
Speaker:And I want to know their goals.
Speaker:I want to know where they're trying to go.
Speaker:And so we have that conversation,
Speaker:I'll spend 30 or 45 minutes just having a chat with
Speaker:someone just to find out their backstory because there's no way
Speaker:I can help you go forward.
Speaker:If I don't know where you've been.
Speaker:So what tool do you use regularly that helps you keep
Speaker:productive or to create some type of balance in your life
Speaker:between growing sweet Fest and working full-time and all of that?
Speaker:I would definitely say my Apple TV,
Speaker:why my Apple TV helps me stay balanced.
Speaker:And I'll tell you my schedule on a,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:during the workweek is I get up.
Speaker:I drive through Atlanta traffic,
Speaker:which is something serious in itself.
Speaker:And I go to an office and I work for another
Speaker:company and I do financial analysis.
Speaker:And then I come home and then I work on,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:eat dinner and I work on sweet Fez for about four
Speaker:or five hours.
Speaker:I'm really into Hulu and Netflix.
Speaker:I love TV,
Speaker:I love TV series and movies and all that good stuff.
Speaker:And so it helps keep me balanced and keeps me entertained.
Speaker:And I actually force myself.
Speaker:So I will come home from work and maybe it would
Speaker:have spent five hours working on sweet Fest after work.
Speaker:And then I'm like,
Speaker:okay, time out.
Speaker:I gotta do something else.
Speaker:I'm one of those people,
Speaker:because I'm so passionate about sweet Fest.
Speaker:I could work and work and work on sweet Fez.
Speaker:And so three or four o'clock in the morning knowing getting
Speaker:well that I need to get up at seven o'clock in
Speaker:the morning to go to work.
Speaker:So I forced myself,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:around 11 o'clock at,
Speaker:in Elise to just take a break and watch TV.
Speaker:So good for you,
Speaker:You for recognizing that you need to take a break and
Speaker:step away every once in a while,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's so easy in the beginning because you have so much
Speaker:passion and you know,
Speaker:you're developing something and it's so exciting,
Speaker:but just to go so overboard and spend,
Speaker:so, so,
Speaker:so much time developing your business,
Speaker:which absolutely you do.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's like having a second child for sure.
Speaker:But you do need to take time off or you're just
Speaker:going to burn yourself out.
Speaker:Absolutely. And one of the scopes that I did my best
Speaker:friend's mom called me right after the scope.
Speaker:And she's like,
Speaker:you have got to get some rest.
Speaker:And I knew exactly.
Speaker:She was coming from a place of love.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:she's like my second mom.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you're right.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:and by that time I had been working,
Speaker:I was up working on the courses that probably,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:three nights straight.
Speaker:And, and you could tell it was,
Speaker:it was on my face,
Speaker:but she also could tell,
Speaker:cause she's like I said,
Speaker:she's like my second mom.
Speaker:So she's watching the scope and she's like,
Speaker:okay, I'm calling you.
Speaker:This is not a business call.
Speaker:This is a mama call.
Speaker:You need to get some rest.
Speaker:Totally true.
Speaker:So take that to heart gift biz listeners.
Speaker:You really do.
Speaker:You need to have balance if you're going to create something
Speaker:successful, that's going to be around for the long term.
Speaker:Absolutely. So,
Speaker:all right.
Speaker:What book have you read lately that you think our listeners
Speaker:could find value in?
Speaker:My mom just recently gave me a book called this too
Speaker:shall pass.
Speaker:And it is a Christian book based off of a collection
Speaker:of inspirational prayers and stories.
Speaker:And poems is a solid book if you are really looking
Speaker:for, okay,
Speaker:I'm under so much stress and so much pressure.
Speaker:I need something to just,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:put some perspective back in my life,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:kind of a sanity reference book.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:It's a book of prayers and it has a lot to
Speaker:do with your faith and just,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:believing that this time is just temporary,
Speaker:whatever it is that you're going through.
Speaker:I would recommend that for anyone who's just under a lot
Speaker:of pressure and stress.
Speaker:And especially if you have a Christian background Just as you're
Speaker:listening to the podcast today,
Speaker:you can also listen to audio books with ease.
Speaker:I've teamed up with audible so that you can get a
Speaker:free audio book.
Speaker:Just like the one that Sydney's mentioning for free.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make a selection.
Speaker:Okay. We are starting to wind down,
Speaker:but I want to introduce one more topic before we get
Speaker:to our final question.
Speaker:And that is,
Speaker:I'd like you to cover a little bit about what this
Speaker:course is.
Speaker:I understand it's just newly on the market,
Speaker:but would you describe,
Speaker:because there may be listeners here who could take advantage of
Speaker:this and this would be really valuable for them as they're
Speaker:going on their journey.
Speaker:Just talk a little bit about what the course is and
Speaker:who it's really made for Right.
Speaker:Well, so the course is called how to develop a professional
Speaker:brand. And I basically take you through a series of questionnaires
Speaker:and, you know,
Speaker:checklists that will help you get to your brand.
Speaker:I stress in the course that your brand is not just
Speaker:your logo.
Speaker:And I think a lot of people have this impression that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:your brand is your logo and it's not.
Speaker:Your brand is so much more,
Speaker:your brand is how you present yourself to your customers.
Speaker:It's how your website looks.
Speaker:It's how,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you present yourself at events and your web URL,
Speaker:your Facebook page,
Speaker:your Instagram account,
Speaker:your social media accounts,
Speaker:your packaging,
Speaker:it's, it's everything.
Speaker:Your brand is not just one little logo.
Speaker:It's every touch point you have with your customer,
Speaker:Every touch point you have with your customer.
Speaker:I want people to understand that it doesn't take thousands and
Speaker:thousands of dollars to make your brand look professional,
Speaker:because that's where I am with sweet Fest,
Speaker:right? I said,
Speaker:I didn't have $20,000
Speaker:to build a website,
Speaker:right. But when you go to my website,
Speaker:a lot of people have told me,
Speaker:you can't tell that one person built that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it doesn't look,
Speaker:it looked like I had a team.
Speaker:It looked like I had someone who has a background in
Speaker:web development that built the site.
Speaker:And I want to bring that to people and I,
Speaker:people to understand that it all has to do with your
Speaker:color consistency.
Speaker:It has something to do with your message and being consistent
Speaker:through your message.
Speaker:And that's how you develop a professional brand.
Speaker:It doesn't take a major budget to develop a professional brand.
Speaker:You see what I mean?
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So you focus specifically on people who are in the sweet
Speaker:industry. So bakers and cookies,
Speaker:candy cakes,
Speaker:donuts, donuts,
Speaker:everything. Would there be any value to anybody who is outside
Speaker:of that industry to look at the course since the course
Speaker:is about branding,
Speaker:or is it specifically for people within the sweets industry?
Speaker:It will definitely be of use to anyone who has a
Speaker:business or is looking to start a business and needs help
Speaker:with developing a professional look.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I direct my,
Speaker:my lessons towards the sweet community,
Speaker:but it's,
Speaker:these are things that are applicable to any side of business.
Speaker:But my examples,
Speaker:especially in this course,
Speaker:my examples are really just suites related.
Speaker:But you can say you can twist it any type of
Speaker:way as far as the examples go.
Speaker:So I think it's a really good course for anyone who's
Speaker:in business or is looking to start a new company,
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:I think it I've encouraged other business owners to get into
Speaker:it as well.
Speaker:And how would people gain access to that course or your
Speaker:website? Why don't you give us all your contact information at
Speaker:this point?
Speaker:Yes. So the general website is the sweet fest.com
Speaker:and that's where our directory is housed.
Speaker:And then we have the suite success project,
Speaker:which is basically our area that is for professional development for
Speaker:the week community.
Speaker:And the suite success project website is bit dot Lee slash
Speaker:sweet Fest dash courses.
Speaker:And that'll take you to our course portal that has,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:our, our courses now.
Speaker:And then that's where our other business tips are going to
Speaker:be. That are,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:printed that you could print out and all that good stuff.
Speaker:Super. All right.
Speaker:And so anybody and to be on the directory,
Speaker:that's no charge,
Speaker:right? Right.
Speaker:It is absolutely free to be on the directory.
Speaker:And you get to add your sweet pictures,
Speaker:your logo,
Speaker:your web URL,
Speaker:your Facebook page link,
Speaker:your any other social media links you can add out there
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:So, and then you can have reviews.
Speaker:You can add videos.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:well, gift biz listeners.
Speaker:If you are in this industry,
Speaker:there is absolutely no reason why you wouldn't.
Speaker:As soon as we are done with this podcast,
Speaker:jump over and put yourself on that directory.
Speaker:Absolutely. For sure.
Speaker:And all of you know,
Speaker:because you've been listening to my podcasts awhile,
Speaker:if not for the new people who are joining us now,
Speaker:and this is your first podcast,
Speaker:you can jump over to our show notes.
Speaker:Page Sydney has her own page,
Speaker:and you can find that at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com, there,
Speaker:I will have a link to her website where you can
Speaker:get on and go to the directory.
Speaker:We'll have a link to her class,
Speaker:her Instagram account,
Speaker:Facebook page,
Speaker:just a number of different ways that you can interact with
Speaker:Sydney and sweet Fest.
Speaker:So make sure to jump over and get on that directory
Speaker:again, if you're in the industry and you haven't done so
Speaker:already, all right,
Speaker:Sydney, I will now invite you to dare to dream.
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 in our presence and let us know
Speaker:what's inside.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:So I appreciate this gift.
Speaker:You're welcome.
Speaker:I can't wait to hear what it is.
Speaker:Well, actually it is unlimited funds.
Speaker:And I say that because at the end of the day,
Speaker:I really want to help this weak community to my core
Speaker:and people who've interacted with me.
Speaker:They know I want to free as many captives from cube
Speaker:jail as possible.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:That should be your quote.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:that is bad.
Speaker:That's me.
Speaker:I want to free people from cube jail.
Speaker:And at the end of the day,
Speaker:there are so many people who are entrepreneurs that just want
Speaker:to break out of cube jail,
Speaker:and all they need are the resources and they need just
Speaker:a little bit of help.
Speaker:They need guidance.
Speaker:I provide that now with sweet Fest and I'm able to
Speaker:provide some for free,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:some I do need to charge for just because,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the platform isn't free,
Speaker:the time that it takes to develop the courses isn't free.
Speaker:And so unfortunately I ended up having to charge Well,
Speaker:and you're running a business and because I'm running a business.
Speaker:Absolutely. But if I had unlimited funds And that's,
Speaker:that's just where I am.
Speaker:I, I just want to be able to do this for
Speaker:people for free.
Speaker:Like, I just want to be like,
Speaker:here are the tools,
Speaker:here's the guidance.
Speaker:You can do this.
Speaker:You can break out of cube jail.
Speaker:You don't even have to pay for this,
Speaker:this and this,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:like, and I would invest in people's sweet businesses.
Speaker:And I would say,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:Don't even worry about going to a bank.
Speaker:Like, I believe in your dream here have this money,
Speaker:like this.
Speaker:That's where I am.
Speaker:And so I would have unlimited funds to be able to
Speaker:help sweet community grow.
Speaker:Like that's what I would do.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Well, here's to hoping that there's a big pink bag full
Speaker:of green money.
Speaker:That goes your way one way or another.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:Well, Sydney,
Speaker:thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker:You've really given a deep dive into a lot of really
Speaker:important points here that we can all use,
Speaker:whether we're in the suites business or other businesses.
Speaker:So I really appreciate your sharing time,
Speaker:experience your views and your expertise,
Speaker:and we all wish you nothing but the most success as
Speaker:you continue to develop sweet Fest,
Speaker:may your candle always burn?
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:I really appreciate it.
Speaker:Learn how to work smarter,
Speaker: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 at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrap.com/tools. Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for
Speaker:the next Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company.
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