TLC3 Publishing

What’s the name of your business?
So Sweet! Cookie Company

Do you have a passion for this?
Yes, every day

How did your passion begin?
By taking a cookie decorating class with my Mom

What year did you start your business?
2018

What have been your biggest struggles? 
Time, there’s never enough to fulfill all of the request for orders.

What has been your biggest accomplishment?
Fulfilling an order for 400 individually wrapped custom cookies all by myself

As a small business owner what’s your advice for motivation?
I’m always looking around for inspiration, whether it by on social media, when I’m in a craft store, by talking to customers. Honestly, because I love the creative process, I don’t have any concerns with staying motived for new ideas. It’s all still feels new to me because I look around at other “cookiers” and see how much I still have to learn & grow.

How do you budget your resources amongst advertising for yourself?
I honestly don’t actively advertise, I try to keep my Instagram and Facebook page active with new posts and content.  My best advertisement has been referrals/word of mouth.

What’s your best form of advertising that you use to promote your business?
Word of mouth

What’s your favorite social media platform?
Instagram, I love doing searches on it via hashtags

Does your passion ever burn out?
Not yet

Do you have a quote or bible verse that you live by?
No, but I do love to remind myself of my mission statement: “Bringing smiles to faces and sweetness to tummies”

What are your future goals for your company?
To offer more holiday offers to a wider range of customers, by doing this I would need to scale back on some custom orders to it’s a trade off.

What’s been your biggest regret in business?
No regrets, but balancing a home based business and family life was difficult in the beginning.

What advice would you give to somebody who has a passion to start their business?
If you have a strong support system in place, don’t be afraid to take some risks, you’ll never know what works unless you spend time & money to try new things.

How many years have you been in business? 
2

How many years were good years and how many years did you struggle?
There is not a lot of margin in the cookie business; I have yet to make a profit.

Do you have a big networking group?
My network is small in terms of a customer base because I do direct sales (my health department license
does not allow me to ship).  My cookie network is spread across the country, we all share ideas and tips with each other.  I hope to be able to go to the next CookieCon Convention to meet them in person.

What organizations are you involved in?
I am not involved in any organizations, but I have a few customers that are part of organization that I support on a regular basis with cookie…..Littlest Angel Guild,
Orange County Performing Arts Academy, NCL, and Christian Arts Theatre

Does the small business administration or Chamber of Commerce really help? 
I haven’t got involved with our local chamber but the SBA is very helpful with tax information and food certification?

If you could write a law to help small business owners what would it be?
I have a Cottage Food License with the County of Orange which means I am licensed by the Health Department to bake out of my home kitchen.  Unfortunately, the IRS does not recognize my kitchen as an area that I can “write off” on my taxes.

Did AB15 affect you?
It has not affected me that I know of yet?

What do you think the future is for social media?
As long as people continue to use it, I think it will continue, evolve and be sustainable.

How do you manage your small business as a mom?
This was one of my challenges transitioning from an “office job” to a home based business.  I needed to learn to “shut down” my business activities when my son came home from school and switch to mom/wife mode
for the benefit of everyone.  In the beginning I was trying to be all things to all customers and never said “no” because I was trying to build my business. This negatively impacted my family life, as I was working late nights and weekends trying to complete orders.  I also struggled with keeping up with household chores.  Since then, I’ve learned to stop working after school and on weekends, and limited the number of orders to what I can complete during a regular “work week”.  I’ve also hired a housecleaner to help me with the chores.  This balance was essential to ensuring I’m successful at all of my “jobs” 🙂

Do you feel like you’ve always been treated fairly as a woman in business?
No, I was not treated fairly by H & R Block during my appointment to get my So Sweet! Cookie Company taxes done last year. He kept asking me questions about my husband which was very annoying.

Do women benefit from being a woman owned business?
I mostly deal with women because they are the ones purchasing the cookies for events, so I suppose we understand flexibility and timing with regard to family obligations.

How do you make your customers feel special?
I try to make my customers feel special from the moment they connect with me (usually online or text) to the moment they pick up their cookies.  I try to be very responsive to their communication, when I can’t accommodate an order I am genuinely sad and let them know so, and when they pick up their order I almost always am organized enough to give them a “gift cookie” for them to eat right away. I also like to write personal messages on the postcards created by TLC3 Publishing. 

What’s your rate of retention on your customers?
All of my clients have referred me or ordered again.

How do you determine if you should work with a client or not what are your red flags?
I try to work with everyone that would like to place an order.  Sometimes I think that new customers don’t realize that it’s just “me” and I am not able to fulfill all requests.  I have a cookie schedule and when I’m maxed out on time, I have to politely decline.

How many people work in your company?
It’s just “me”, during very busy times I have 2 helpers.

Do you own a sole proprietorship, a partnership or a corporation?
LLC because I was concerned about protecting our personal assets in the chance that someone became ill from eating my product.

Is there anything you are doing during the current state of affairs to help out your community?
How are you giving back? 
I am still able to bake cookies. I am trying to adjust my business to meet the social distancing requirements by
offering free porch delivery and distance payment options.  I know that many of my customers are looking for activities for their kids and I am in the process of developing some Easter options to meet this need. A few of my orders were cancelled because the client had to cancel their event.  So now Im making cookie kits for families to create together while they are in quarantine.

What’s the best way to contact you?
I prefer customers email me so that  I have a complete record of their order, but I try to respond to all modes of communication. People can also my instagram @sosweetcookiecompany for my latest creations. 

*mention this interview and share the love.