Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Brand Building: A full-time attorney's bakery started in his home kitchen and now ships desserts nationwide.

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Brand Building: A full-time attorney's bakery started in his home kitchen and now ships desserts nationwide. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the show.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: I am Rashwan MacDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: stories and.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Start planning their own. Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: From around the country, talk to celebrities and ask them
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: how they are running their companies, and speak with non
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: profits who are making a difference in their local communities. Now,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: sit back and listen as we unlock the secrets to
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: their success on Money Making Conversations Masterclass. My next deest
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: is a full time attorney turned baker. He founded Confessionist
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Bakery in his home kitchen. He begins selling his cakes
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: to friends and family during the holidays season, just like
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: his grandmother used to do way back in the day,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: and now serves customers all over the country. I met
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: him at an event at an event, That's why he's
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: on the show today. Confession This Bakery leaves us a
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: tribute to the life and memory of Ruth Eleen Burns Guarside.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Master Class. Monte Guarside.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: How you doing Monte, I'm doing great. I'm doing great.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it, so real
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: longer to be speaking with you. I appreciate that compliment.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: But let's get to the real deal. You know, I
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: saw I was at this event. It's an event live
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: remote for popcorn remixed there Gamet Popcorn Company, and they
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: were as part of the campaign, a promotional campaign.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Give it away two of your cake.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Now. I saw one of the cakes was a banana
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: pudding cake.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: And then the other cake was a sweet potato the
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: pie cake.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: Yes. Right now.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: The lady who wanted the banana pudding cake, she locked
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: on that thing like she had won a thousand dollars.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: In fact, she didn't lead the event. She took your cake.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: She put it in her car, turned her car on,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: turned the air condition up high, all the doors, and
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: came back to the event. So she didn't want anything
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: to go wrong with your cake.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: I have a funny story about that. I didn't realize
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: that she had left, or I assumed that she had left.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: And so about thirty minutes after she won the cake,
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: I saw her and I was like, oh, no, she's not.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: Holding the cake. That means she put that cake in
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: her car.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: And I walked over to her to tell her, Hey, listen,
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: that cake is going to droop on you if you
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: don't go turn your car on and turn the A
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: C on it. Before I could open my mouth, she said,
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: it's already in the car. The all she knew, I
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: was dealing with a pro.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Pro And then she said, and I got gazed, so
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: when she was not running out and I commend that.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: But it's a beautiful cake, as well as the sweet
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: potato potcake.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: But when I got you, or when I met you, Monty,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: you know great personality. I was so happy that I
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: met you and watched a man who's working on the craft,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: he said, Rashan, I'm right down the street. I distributed
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: my cakes all over the country, and that was key
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: because I know you're Atlanta base and my show is national,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: and I don't want to frustrate anybody who listening to
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: the show or watching the show going.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Hey, I don't live in Atlanta. I can't participate.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: But the part I did get at the event is
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: that you're an attorney. Yes, Now tell us about your
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: backgrounders as an attorney.
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: Yes, so I've been practicing law. I'm in my twenty
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: third year of practice. I'll be it'll be twenty three
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: years in September, and I work primarily in litigation.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: In the past.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: I work in house now, so I work for a company.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: So I have just one client, which I love, but
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: I've worked. I've done a lot of entertainment work in
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: my private practice over the years as well, music and film.
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: But now primarily I do litigation, hindle litigation matters for
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: the company I work for.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Here, just educate me. When you say you do litigation,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: what exactly does that mean?
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: That is disputes that involve either a judge or an
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: arbitrator or a media or things like that. So I go,
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: I'm in court a lot, although we do a lot
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: of it virtually now, and I'm in arbitration a lot.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Cool, So I want to get that out the way.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: He's has a full time job now on a full
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: time job. He's also has launched his company, Confessionist Bakery.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Tell us about Confessionist Bakery.
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: Yes, so we are a dessert delivery and catering company.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: We are entering our eleventh year in business and we
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: we provide We make cheesecakes, we make pound cakes, and
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: make layer cakes, a couple of pies and a couple
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: of other small, small desserts and we deliver them throughout
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: the metro area Atlanta area, and we also ship nationwide.
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: So we've been we've been doing that, Like I said,
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: my eleventh year. We just across the eleven year mark
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: in April.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Now this always sounds I got to ask you question,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: how do you ship a dessert ar cake nationwide?
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: So the first thing, first things first is you have
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: to preserve it properly. And I learned this technique from
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: my grandmother who during the holidays was to bake I
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: mean hundreds of cakes and she had it no refrigeration,
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: no means of uh, you know, freezer space or anything
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: like that.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: It's all in her her own kitchen.
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: And so she used to wrap them a specific way
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: and seal them up and package them so that they
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: could they would last just sitting wrapped up for you know,
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: two or three weeks with that before they before they
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: had So it.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: Starts with that.
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: We usually freeze them so that we can maintain the
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: integrity of the product. At first, wrap them and then
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: we depending on what the item is, we may cover
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: them in and and tenfoil or something like a luminum foil,
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: and then we pack them in so that they do
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: not move in the container, so they'll be a little
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: bit smudged, because that's just you can't avoid that. But
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: they they are intact and fresh, they'll taste just like
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: they just came out of the oven and cooled off.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Oh that's awesome.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: So just like a two day delivery or express delivery
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: options as well.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: There are there.
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: We do have some express delivery options and most people
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: we try and let people know, Look, it's gonna take,
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: you know, two days to process your order, and it's
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: gonna take probably another three to five to get to you,
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: just because you can never be one hundred percent sure
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: how long it's gonna take. But it usually even kicks
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: I've shipped out to the West Coast usually arrive.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: In you know, four or five days at the longest.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Based on the order.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Great, we won't get into the menu yet, but let's
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: talk about you are the atturney and then you started
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: in your kitchen. Now, but what got you started? You know,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: because of the fact that I'm noted for my process.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: I have a format called Rashwan's Kitchen, and I never
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: I never cooked at home. I have six sisters, two brothers,
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: my mom refused to let me in the kitchen. It
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: wasn't until I went to college and I worked at
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: a Jewish deli I started learning how to cook and so,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: and I didn't learn how to bake cause Steve Harvey
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: pranked me on his talk show in twenty twelve. That's
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: when I learned how to bake and so and baked
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: off of memory of what I remember my mom.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Doing in the kitchen. Tell us your history and your
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: launch point for your baker.
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: You know, there are some real similarities in what you
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: just said there, the first one being that your mom
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: would let you in the kitchen.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: I asked my grandmother.
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: I was in college and I was in town visiting,
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: and I asked her, Hey, why don't you show me
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: how to make a pound cake.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: Her exact words to.
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: Me were, as long as you have me, you don't
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: need to know how to make it right. So she
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: never actually actively showed me how to bake. So fast
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: forward some years after she passed, I really got nostalgic
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: about the things that she used to bake and cook
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: for holidays. She did all the cooking for all the
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: big family gatherings, and I got real nostalgic and I
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: just finished law school and I had I invited her
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: and other family members over to my house to have
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: another thank traditional Thanksgiving dinner that was ended up being
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: the last dinner that I had that that she was
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: allowed that I had with her, and and so I
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: just got more and more nostalgic about it after her passing,
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: and I said, you know what, one of these days,
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna I'm gonna figure out how to bake. And
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: I waited several years. Happened to be gifted by my
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: mother a mixer one year, just because my mom thought
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: I needed one and not knowing that I wanted to bake,
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: And so I used it to make my very first cake.
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: And it was a disaster. So the detail oriented attorney
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: in me could not I just couldn't conceive that I
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: got it that wrong. So I threw everything out. I
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: went back to the store, I got better equipment, better pans.
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: I scoured the internet for the right recipe, and I
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: stumbled upon one. And it was somebody's food blog, you
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: know back of people still blogged, you know, years ago.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: And the guy starts the blog by saying, if you
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: us miss this recipe, this is my grandmother's recipe if
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: you use this recipe, but never did another poundcake recipe.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: So I said, all right, I'm going to see And
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: as I'm reading the ingredients and then the steps, I
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: realized in that moment that I had watched my grandmother
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: bake that pound cake probably fifty times, and my childildhood,
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: I had just never stood by her and watched it
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: first step to last. That I had seen every step
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: on different days in different years. But it all kind
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: of coalesced in my brain as I'm reading this recipe,
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: and I said, I think this is going to be it,
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: and so I tried it. I followed it to the letter.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: I called my mom first. This was my This grandmother
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: was my mom's mother in law. It is my dad's mother.
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: But my dad is deceased, so I couldn't call him.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: So I called my mom and I said, I do
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: you remember? And I asked he a couple of questions,
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: and she gave me a couple of tidbits that seemed
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: to be consistent with the recipe I was reading, and
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: I said, I'm going to try this. So I did it,
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: and I made it. After it cooled, I sliced it up.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: I took a bite, and the first thing I did
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: was cry. It tasted exactly like my grandmother's poundcake recipe,
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: and I knew I was onto something then. And that
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: was the very that was my first successful cake.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: On my second attempt, was it?
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Did you put icing on it? Was it a plane cake?
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: It was a plain pound cake on our menu we
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: call it the original?
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, now was it?
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: Was it? Just?
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: It was no lemon, no strawberry, just a plain crowd
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: vanilla extract pound cake.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: She used to do those in her sleep.
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: She would she would have them and just put them
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: in the freezer, and we would come up from Florida
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: to visit. She would make sure we left home that
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: she she sent went home with us.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Okay, that's the very first with their mante Okay, I'm
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: talking to Monte Garson, attorney turned baker. This a big
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: time baker, his company Confessionist Bakery. Now that's your first
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: time tears came to your eyes. Now when did you
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: start picking up speed where you started distributing it to
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: your friends and family?
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: So, the day that I made that very first cake,
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: I happened to be going to a meeting with a
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: client and I mentioned I was all excited that I
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: made this cake and she said, oh, I'd love to
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: try it. So I let her try it, and she said,
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: you know, you should really turn this into a business.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: And I was like, whoa, what talking about that's that's
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: not that's not what I found out. I'm just happy
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: I know how to make a pound cake.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: Come to find out, her name was Angela Madison.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Angela grew up.
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: The daughter of a baker who had a baking business
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: out on the West Coast, so she was speaking from
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: a place of knowledge and she actually helped me start
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: the business. I was very I had much trepidation about
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: about doing it, but I trusted that if it was
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: good enough for her to say it, I should be
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: selling it. That I stepped up on faith, and the
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: one thing I've learned in my legal career, I've done
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: a lot of things that I've had never done before,
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: and by this point I had had learned that you
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: should never be afraid to try something new.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: And so I, you.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: Know, I stepped out on faith and said, Okay, if
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: it's that good, I'll I'll try it. And so my
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: one of the questions I asked myself was what's going
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: to be different about your cake. Why would anybody buy
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: your cake versus somebody else's Because I have dozens of
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: people in my family hunts and aunties, and a couple
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: of uncles that can that can bake too, So why
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: would they, you know? And so that's what brought about
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: the different flavors that we have on our menu, is
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: if I can start offering flavors that you won't find
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: at your auntie's house, that could be the thing that makes.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: People want to tell us some of those flavors by friend.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: Oh well, let's see, we've got a peach cobbler pound cake, got.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Real pitches in it, said again, real paches and your peach,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: real peaches.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: Cooked and slow cooked over over the oven.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: I mean, we've got like an amaretto pound cake. We've
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: got you mentioned at the top of the show, the
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: Nana pudding layer cake.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Beautiful cake, by the way, beautiful, thank you.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: That's one of our best sellers. It's aesthetically pleasing, but
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: it is delicious. My personal favorite pund cake on our
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: mini is a soup potato pundcake. That was the first
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: flavor I tried, the first new new flavor I tried
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: hearkening back to my soup potato pie being the first thing.
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: What are some of your challenges did you have to
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: deal with in launching this business. Everybody has a great idea,
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: That's what this show is about. Money Making Conversations master
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: clact give advice, pitfalls.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: I would have done it different. You're an attorney, talk
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: to us.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: One of the first challenges was charging people money. Not
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: just charging people money, but charging people the right price.
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: Because in my own mind, I'm thinking, well, I have
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: all these members of my family that can do this,
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: so I really shouldn't be charging too much. And I
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: remember Angela telling me, you know that she was giving
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: people samples and they were like, You're not charging enough,
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: and I.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: Was like, I just can't. I couldn't get past it.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: And then my very first Christmas trying to keep up
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: with all the orders from friends and family that were
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: coming in and I was behind schedule and I was
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: making mistakes and melting down. After I got through that,
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: I said, I don't have a problem charging my price anymore.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: Now that's important for people to understand that because you
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: got the pricing. This I'm talking to Monty guard Side
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: his business ball. He's still a full time attorney. But
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: there's another successful baking business called Confessionist Bakery. How do
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: you identify your customers and how do you find your
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: customer because it's all about scaling that you just started
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: in your home. Are you still cooking in your home?
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: Are baking in your home?
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: And oh no, no, we so we cook out of
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: a commercial kitchen space that uh, and we rent that
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: space as needed and we can you know, I can
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: pretty much book it and then and then head straight
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: over there. So that's part of the reason why it
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: takes two days. We asked for two days processing time
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: so that we can make sure that because everything is
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: made to order and made fresh, so we can get
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: that time scheduled, get in and do what we need
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: to do.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: And uh, and we baked a few things.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: I mean, we kind of have we kind of know
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: what people are going to order, right so on the
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: weekends we the little time in there and stock up
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: on product and then store it, you know appropriately, and
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: then so it's it's not as daunting as I may
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: have made it sound to start.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: No, everything's daunting. That's why you charged. And I was
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: letting anybody that kitchen gets warm, okay, and the cake
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: minimum is forty five minutes in that oven, not that
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: we're not even talking about decorations or adding nice seine
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: and all that stuff, and it's all fresh. So as
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: a baker, I whatever you charge may not be enough.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: What I saw, not what I.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: Saw, especially press of eggs right what I.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Saw, the live remote.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Whatever you're charging, pay it because it's well worth it.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Only thing I didn't get and I'm still disappointed, and
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: I'm going to order that a cake from you. Is
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: the taste I want to get that taste, slice it up,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: share my staff, share it with my family. But customers
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: are very key. How do you get your customers? How
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: do you market yourself? Monty?
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: I have an interesting story about that, if you, if
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: you allow me a moment here. So, one of the
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: things that my initial business partner helped me do when
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: we first got started was.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: Drafting a business plan.
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: And we we we sat a in a room and
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: actually word for word, talked through every element of it
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: and One of the components was identifying our customer and
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: we had a that was one of the longest conversations
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: we had was specifically about that segment, was identifying who
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: we wanted to target, and what we came down to
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: was people who are who have an understanding of what
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: it is that we make because of a prior childhood experience,
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: or that they know what home style desserts tastes like,
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: southern desserts taste like, and then identifying people who may
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: be familiar with that but don't have the time or
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: the skill or the resources to do it for themselves.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: And that really was where we honed in. So instead
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: of worrying about, you know, folks at the at the
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: at the at the church fish Fry, worried about people
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: who were like us, who were professionals, who are busy,
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: have busy schedules, who don't necessarily have time to go
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: spend in the kitchen, who may be living away from
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: home and don't have access to mom and grandma, you know,
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: right away, but want to taste what they have, And
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: that was really our target customer base, and then everything
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: that comes from that is just it's just kind of gravy.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Which is important to hear that because you got to
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: start somewhere, You made your first powder cake, threw it out.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Now as you up and running, there are some best
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: moments in your business and there are some worst moments.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Can you share some of your best.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: And worst moments that you've had to overcome and also celebrate.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Since you've been in business as a baker, you know
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: you kicking butt over there as an attorney, full time
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: checks coming in. We talking about a hobby that is
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: kind of like and sometimes God out a because it
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: does dive into your time, especially when artists come in unexpected.
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: Sure, sure, and and I consider all that a blessing
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: because honestly, the reason why I had such a close
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: connection to my grandmother to start this business was because
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: cooking and baking, as I later came to understand, was
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: her love language.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: And so.
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: For me it was a way to reconnect with her
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: in a way that just it just felt good and
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: it felt right.
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: And so.
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: To answer your question about best moments, honestly, the best
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: moments are kind of like the young lady you described
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: who who was not letting that that nana.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: Putting a layer cake go.
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: I realized that my grandmother was looking for that feeling
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: that she gave people when they tried her.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: Food and her desserts.
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: And so that is a really it's a confirming and
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: warming moment for me. When I get to see people
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: really truly enjoy what we do. It reminds me of
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: my grandmother, reminds me of my childhood, and it reminds
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: me that that person feels exactly how I wanted them
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: to feel. So those really kind of encapsulate my best moments.
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: My worst moment.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: Is very, very specific, very specific.
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: I'm not proud of this, but I shared it with
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: people because I think the young people today call it
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: crashing out.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: I had a crash out moment that first holiday season.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: My red velvet cake was like the thing that people
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: really wanted at that time.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: That's a hard cake to make, by the way. That's
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: a hard cake to make, by the way.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: It is. It's easy for me now, but it is temperamental.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: That's a lot of ingredients. A lot of people don't
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: know about red velvet. That's a lot of ingredients.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: Don't get them right.
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: That it's just and so I was struggling with the
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: balance and some of my ingredients and it was causing
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: my red velvet cake to not all come out of
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: the pan every time. And so I'm about two cakes behind.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: I got somebody showing up to my little townhouse, uh
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: you know, in like four hours, and.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: I still have another cake.
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: It's just I was just feeling the pressure and I
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: made I made this thing, and I.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: Think I probably didn't let it cool and quite enough.
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: I slapped the thing on the on the on the
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: on the cake plate or the cake pad. I gave
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: one player of icing in get the second one on
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: another layer of ice, and the third one half the
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: layer sticks in the pants so it just tears and
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: then lands on top of the other two layers, which
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: means that cake is no good. I have no interest
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: in eating it. I can't sell it. And there's and
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: I'm and I and I and that was I had
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: to go back to the store because I was and
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: in that moment, I realized, you're.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: Not gonna make it, and I I, let's just say,
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: let's just say I.
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: Beat that red vevet cake into a thousand pieces. It
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: was dumb to do that one, because I then had
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: to clean up all. You know, red velvet has red
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: dye in it.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely.
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: So there's flex of red cake on the blinds, on
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: the floor, on the counter, on my apron, and on
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: my faith. It was just and so I had to
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: It took me like forty five minutes just to clean
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: that up. So that's another forty five minutes that I lost.
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: I mean, it was just, it was, but it taught
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: me that you cannot lose it. You can't, You just can't.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: Nothing productive came from that tantrum.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: And that's that's the very key. You know, more work,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: that's what came out of it. More work and more frustration.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about it was a dream that you launched,
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: and most businesses are started on a drink or a
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: love or passion. But it's still a business and a
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: lot of people lose that. That's why I launched this series.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Just want to make a conversation masterclass so people can
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: understand that everybody may have had your experience, this is
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: how they overcame it. Because I try to bring successful
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: people on my show. If you had to give people
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: an advice on how to start a business, what would
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: you give me?
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: Oh man, that's a great question. I would say a
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: few things, some of which we've touched on one, don't
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: be afraid to try something new, I would say two,
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: control what you can control. And specifically as relates to
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: my business, the one thing I knew I could control
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: was the quality of my product and the quality of
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: my customer service. Those are things that I could put
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: my hands on without those two things. If you're in
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: a product service you know, product based business, even in
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: the service based business, if you don't have those two things,
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: it does not matter how good you market, It does
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: not matter how good you look, it does none of
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: that matters. If your product or your service are bad,
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: you can make it will forgive more mistakes than than
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: it won't. And so making sure that your your product
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: and your service are outstanding, and then just trusting yourself.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: There's gonna be good days. Bad days are gonna be successes.
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: There are gonna be failures. They're gonna be ebbs and
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: flow in your income and your revenue, and you have
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: to weather all of that. So those will be you know,
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: the things that I think, as far as advice I
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: would give to young.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Well, so it's product, firsthand outstanding. If I had to
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: say that publicly, his ap presentation is packaging or his
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: first class, so I can say that I've seen the
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: the end results of your experience in the kitchen and
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: deliver it.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: How can we get in touch with you?
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: How can my fan base get in touch with you
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: to maybe order a cake or try not to peruse
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: your menu?
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: Sure? Sure so.
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: Our Our website is Confectionist Bakery at l dot com.
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: You can always find us there. You can find our
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: online menu, you can order online that way. We're on
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: social media. All of our social media handles are Contact Bakery,
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: c O, n F E C T Bakery and so
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: we're on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, slash.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: X my friend. This was fantastic. I'm so happy I
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: was able to meet you at the event, so happy
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: to understand that there's a person out there who's living
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: a full time experience but building a part time experience
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: that one day may be your exit plan away from
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: your full time experience as an attorney. Congratulations Confessionist Bakery
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: based in the Atlanta community but delivers nationwide. Thank you
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: for coming on Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Monty Garsid.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: posted by me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: on the show today and thank you our listening to
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: I want to be a guest on the show, visit
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: Moneymaking Conversations dot com. Our social media handle is money
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: Making Conversations. Join us next week and remember to always
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: leave with your gifts. Keep winning.