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Send us Fan Mail ♻️ The Cutter Declutter - Rules of organization for bakers.In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 285 - The Cutter Declutter, Corrie's in the middle of planning a move, and as such - she needs to purge. You know, make eye contact with that stuff in the back of the cabinet you've refused to acknowledge buying for the last 3 years because "you might need it some day" - some day came and went about 365 days ago, and you still pretend you never knew that cabinet existed.  🔄 That's the topic of this week's podcast - the rules and systems she's implemented to help sort without feeling like a sinner. Take some, tweak some, throw some away - but maybe these can help you clear the cutter clutter too. 🔄 "If I'm reaching over it, I need to let go of it." This rule is about those things you have multiples of, but know you have a favorite. That one spatula that's fully silicone over the ones with the wooden handles. That pair of scissors that cuts super fine versus the pair you snatched from a school backpack when summer vacation started. That one fine-tip marker that does exactly what you want it to do rather than those ones that always seem to smudge. Keep the one you love, pitch / recycle / donate the rest.  🔄 "Gather like with like." This one's my favorite. You don't know how much you have until you see it all in one space. Find every scribe you own and put it together on the table. How many do you have?? More than 2? Pair down. Same with cookie tags, cutters, and spatulas (wow, rough podcast for spatulas, huh?). How many do you really need? Probably not 10 baby rattle cutters, right? Find your three favorites, trim the rest. 🔄 "Clothes get tossed that are stained, torn, or don't fit." This comes from What Not To Wear (anyone love Stacy and Clinton as much as we do?). Clothes that have a set-in stain aren't going to be a great representation of your brand. Clothes that you don't feel good in, you won't naturally reach for. Donate them. A cool hack - turn your hangers backwards. At the end of the year, whatever hanger is still facing the wrong way = it hasn't been worn. Purge it. 🔄 "Use with reckless abandon." If you bought it, use it aggressively. There's no point in saving the "good" business cards for specific use-cases. Use👏them👏up. The goal should be to "hit pan" on as many ingredients, supplies, and packaging as possible - that means you're using it to grow your business. 🔄 "Touch it." I nicknamed opaque bins "bins of sin" because what you can't see, you can't address. If you really want to know what you have (and thus declutter it), you have to actually see it all. Take it out of that forgotten cupboard, set it all out on the table, and make a decision. The podcast quote this week? Clutter is just a decision that's been put off. Make the decision today. 🔄 The Redundancy Rule. Okay, this one is mine. If it has 0% redundancy, you can buy it guilt-free (as long as you use it). If something shares 50% functionality with something you already have, think the purchase over before you make it. If you have a pair of scissors already, but they're not for fabric, then maybe fabric scissors are an okay purchase. If something shares 80% functional redundancy with something you already own, I'd probably pass on the purchase. ⛔⛔⛔ And nothing you buy should share 100% redundancy. You don't need 23 black ballpoint pens.  🔄  "The 365 buh-bye." If you haven't touched a supply in a year, you likely do not really need it to make your business successful. After an entire year, you've likely come up with a better substitute for said "thing," and thus the thing no longer needs to take up valuable real estate in your home office. We have ten more decluttering tips on this week's podcast - give it a listen, and let us know if you have any rules to keep the roost organized! Oh - and don't forget my "Secrets to Shopping the Vendy Blendy" Facebook Live on Thursday at 6:00 PM about the Vendy Blendy! You can watch last week's Live on YouTube. 👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 285 - The Cutter Declutter

Send us Fan Mail 🪦 RI Don’t Hold Your P- When it’s time to speak up. In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 284 - RI-Don't Hold Your P, thank goodness we're nearly done with our "spooky sugar" series (because the names are getting harder to keep on theme). Things that are scary to businesses are the things that were preventable until they grew 5 legs and ran off on ya. That's today's podcast, born from the drama we've seen hit our FYPs over the last few weeks. 🪦 Deadly Inspo Disclaimer Inspiration photos are "for inspiration only" as long as you communicate that to the client before they hand you that cold, hard cash. When you ask someone what they want, and they send you a photo, there's a high chance they expect you to replicate it pretty darn close. Adding a simple disclaimer to your Jotform or Google Forms that says "inspo photos help guide my creative process, but end result won't be a 1:1 replication" will help break the ice(ing) with client expectations. What you don't want to happen is to not add that disclaimer, hand over the cookies baked with love (and hard work and time), and have the client question where these designs came from and how come you didn't mirror the pic they sent you. 🪦 The Deadly Delayed Quote The inclination that you can "wow" the client into opening the wallet a bit wider is a weak strategy when it comes to high-priced, edible items. Lead with your minimum - it kicks out the tire kickers while also setting expectations and eliminating sticker shock. We often find people scared of quoting clients aren't 100% positive in their pricing. There's a cost floor for every quote - the minimum you can charge and break even (including time costs). Then there's a price ceiling - the highest you can charge in your market and with your skillset before a client will no longer pay that price. Somewhere in between covers your costs, adds profit, and keeps clients happy. Knowing that number is a big part of why we're launching the Profit Blueprint in the Cookie College this month. 🪦 The Silent Skillset Killer If it's not in your wheelhouse, you need to be wh-eally honest. Simply stating, "Hey - love your ideas! This technique isn't something I can knock out of the park, but here's another method I can definitely include to get it really close to your concept. Does this fit the bill?" Worst case - they go with another baker, and you're not stuck with a really awkward conversation when they ask why you didn't do what they asked. All in all, not that bad of an outcome. We're all at different parts of the cookie journey, and regardless of where that is, taking on the work you know you can execute fully is the best business decision, and saying no is an amazing way to grow a great business that doesn't cause you stress from upset customers. 🪦 The Haunted Highway of Delivery We see this a lot in our very populated "sprawl" in Northern Virginia. With so much "cross-contamination" in local groups, it's easy to see why someone tagging a baker from X in a group about Z can lead to the issue of "wh-Y do I need to take a day off work to commute to pick up a box of cookies?" from the client. Be very clear on your location - in fact, include it on your website, your forms, and in your bios on social (bonus - it can be a ranking factor, and it's something some AIs can read and make recommendations based on). The BIG takeaway from this podcast episode: be up front or find yourself 6 feet under (jk - 🧛🏻‍♀️ you'll just be buried in bad reviews - muhahahahaha). And don't forget my Live 2 - Let’s Pre-Shop The Vendys! 🛒 (30 Minutes) on Thursday at 6:00 PM about the Vendy Blendy! You can watch last week's Live on YouTube. 👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 284 - RIP.

Send us Fan Mail 👹 Biased Baker Boogy Man - Haunting you with bad advice.In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 283 - Biased Baker Boogy Man, we've got more ways for you to scare up sales - and this topic is about actually not taking advice. Sugar Cookie Marketing Group turns 6 today, and as such - we know a thing or two about Facebook groups because we've seen a thing or two. And two-day's podcast covers some of the haunting comments we've seen repeated over the years. 👹 The RIP Baker This is the baker who no longer bakes but rather takes to the comment sections, giving antiquated advice that's often too out-of-touch to take center stage. We're not saying bakers who have retired don't have great advice, but often - from the comfort of their La-Z-Boy chair and not over an oven- they have the leisure of opinions that may not be the most sound advice for a new baker or a baker in the process of business expansion. If a baker retired even just last year, they don't have the knowledge base to handle a client sending AI-inspo photos or how to rank in an AI-first Google search, or that Facebook groups have shifted to a wild "anonymous" and nickname world.  DO take their advice, but also rank it appropriately. These seasoned bakers have a great database of experience to pull from, but on the more cutting-edge of marketing, they may not be the first comment I'd listen to. 👹 The Haunted Hater Once a baker hates their client base, they're in the beginning stages of closing. We can't hate the lifeblood of our business for long without seeing it affect the bottom line. Hater bakers will be the first to comment with vim and vigor that the 😡 CLIENT IS WRONG and 😡 YOU SHOULD BLOCK THEM and 😡 BERATE THEM ON YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE and... you get the point. It's very lopsided advice, and likely not the tip you'll want to take when it comes to getting good reviews and growing a referral network. We would recommend not taking any advice from this type of baker - they're in a negative headspace, and they want everyone to know about it. 👹 The Burned-Out Burned Baker Must like the Haunted Hater, the burned-out and burned baker is tired, exhausted, and about to quit cookies altogether. These baker comments will make you feel like no one buys cookies, the economy is bad, and the world's about to end. To take advice from these comments will have you depressed you even bought a mixer in the first place.  Here's the thing - every month I take a poll in the SCM group of 50,000 bakers (38,000 active members) about their sales this year compared to last. And every month in 2026? The majority (by a long shot) have reported more sales than last year. That's EVERY poll I've taken this year! The burned-out baker has something broken in their business, and it could be pricing, bandwidth, or even their personal life. Don't let Eeyore tell ya the sky's falling - it ain't. 👹 The Hellish Hypeman We love a baker who loves other bakers! Bakers who have been in your shoes are the first to tell you you're amazing, awesome, and chock full of talent and royal icing. But the hellis hypeman takes it a step further by putting you at odds with your client. If you have a client issue, blowin' a bunch of hot oven air up your bakin' buns won't help you deal with that client issue. Yes - you spent forever on that set, and yes - the client has to be blind not to be stoked, but that does not help your situation. Telling the client (aggressively) that they're insane for their feedback is a fast-tracked way to be coming back to the group in a few days asking how to handle a bad review. And don't forget my Facebook Live on Thursday at 6:00 PM about the Vendy Blendy! 👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 283 - The Boogy Baker.

Send us Fan Mail 🎃 The Pricing Pumpkin - Stop being scared of profit In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 282 - The Profit Pumpkin, we are continuing to force the "scary Halloween-themed" podcast lineup, this time talking about things that scare off your profitability (pumpkins have nothing to do with it other than also starting with a "P"). 🎃 Fear of the Quote Something that's scary - especially if you're new or recently raised your prices - is sending that first quote. The fear of rejection or ghosting (heh - Halloween) is enough to barely squeak out a price that doesn't cover much profit in hopes it secures the sale. I mean, a business that doesn't make sales is a closed business, right? 🥧 We have some "pumpkin-spiced" suggestions for this. Have your website state your minimum cost per dozen based on your actual numbers, and know exactly what your break-even number is. This is the number that covers all of your costs (including time) without accounting for profit. Charging anything below this number is slowly putting you out of business because you're technically paying the client to order from you through your loss of income from the costs of production (aka making the order). 🎃 Haunted Chasing Payment  We always suggest full payment at the time of booking, mostly so you're not chasing payment after the order is delivered. But there's a strategy behind offering partial payment or payment at pickup; if that's your business strategy, be prepared to chase. It can be scary to hand off hours of your hard-spent time and effort in a box of a dozen cookies, only to hope the client remembers their side of the bargain - cough up the cash. Our suggestion - brace for impact. You took the risk to secure the order, so budget for the ghosts, because it will happen. But good news - you'll likely have gotten more orders because you took the risk - so it all works out. If you keep gettin' burned, move to payment at booking. 🎃 The Quote Ghost Much like the fear of the quote, getting ghosted once you quote someone can suck - but it's just business; don't take it personally. In fact, I'm knee-deep in pitching the Vendy Blendy to some of the shops you suggested. Guess what - ghosted left and right, but that doesn't necessarily mean no (although it could, and that's fair), it could indicate I haven't explained this completely made-up event featuring made-up words in a way that gets the shops to see the potential for sales. Don't be afraid of the ghosted quote - and also don't be afraid of a few follow-ups until you earn the firm "no thank you" - it's a gift in disguise (heh - because Halloween). 🎃 Time Terrors Not accounting for labor costs can be one of the scariest threats to your bottom line. In fact, in the Profit Blueprint we're rolling out this month, we have a tab dedicated to seeing your profit % if you account for time and how bloated your profit appears if you don't. Time costs money, and not pricing with time in mind means you could be losing money on each order and not even know it - how scary. Snag this week's podcast to hear the other Sugar Scaries as well as snag the winner of the Artiste Mixer we're giving away to one person pending for the Vendy Blendy. 👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 282 - The Pricing Pumpkin.

Send us Fan Mail 😱 Authentic in a World - of Sc-AI-ry In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 281 - Authentic in a World of SC-AI-ry, we are not bashing AI. In fact, I think most bakers should find a way to incorporate it into their workflow, automation, and planning. But in marketing, specifically your interface with the clients, authenticity always wins. And oftentimes, being authentic is the opposite of easy. So while bakers out there are generating their images, copy, blog posts, and newsletters, doing it the ol' fashioned manual way can help you cut through the AI clutter. Unfortunately, not automating something typically translates to it taking longer - but consider this: If it takes .002 seconds to generate and post, was it worth posting at all? And with AI labels on Meta posts and Instagram accounts being labeled AI-generated, I believe we may be seeing a depreciation in content that is AI-touched (meaning hand-typed - is that even a word?). So there's an additional incentive to be yourself. People want to see you, and algos may possibly be showing your content more if it's from you. The strategy summary: you can stand out by going against the flow here. 🧟‍♂️ Authentic Photography When everyone else is using AI to generate pre-sale images, standing out is your own slightly imperfect photography style. Those small crumbs you forgot to brush off the backdrop, the reflection of the cello bag in the camera lens - that style people can recognize your bakes from - this is what's going to have you stand out. Finally - being imperfect is the move to come across as authentic. AI could never. 🧟‍♂️ Authentic Copy Writing your own captions - typos, hanging participles, and the incorrect use of effect and affect - can help you stand out authentically. Yes - we preach professionalism, but the game has changed. Everyone, seemingly overnight, is writing copy that could be published in the encyclopedia. It's so perfect, it's actually become predictable (check out Google's recent update on SEO using AI-written articles). Humans are messy, and so is their writing. People want you. If copy is tough for you, AI can be the jump point; then add yourself back in. AI is an amazing tool, but it's a less-than-stellar replacement for the real you. 🧟‍♂️ Authentic in Front of the Camera Corrie and I discussed this at length - the last frontier AI really struggles to generate is you... like literally you - the you in front of a camera (I know, I hate it too). The fastest way to cut through generated content? Be yourself in an Instagram story. Stories were designed to be "behind-the-scenes," so by nature, they're expected to be messy. And that's what the people who watch stories want to see. In fact, Instagram's CEO said to stop sharing feed posts to stories - people don't want to see that; they want YOU. This month of October, I've decided to post a story to Sugar Cookie Marketing's Meta profiles every day - despite how the hair and makeup turned out. 🧟‍♂️ Authentic In-Person Events Ain't no AI making a humanoid (yet, at least) - stand out by going out. Sign up for that vendor event, join that business networking group, teach that in-person class, and man your cookie carts - these are going to separate you from the digital stunt doubles a lot of bakers are using as their replacements. If you're about to comment, "I hate AI," you've entirely missed the point of this post. I think all bakers should consider finding ways AI automation can buy back their time and make their business more efficient. But in terms of marketing and reach, right now the vote is to stand out by being as you as possible on the customer-facing side. 👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 281 - Authentic in a World of SC-AI-ry.

Send us Fan Mail 😱 Scary Scope Creep - How to stop the spread. In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 280 - Scary Scope Creep, we are scarin' you straight back to staying within scope, aka what you and the client originally agreed on for their order. Scope creep is the scary term for agreeing to a design and a price, but over time, through minor changes and alterations, the initial quote no longer matches the bloat. You're now making less profit or, even worse, losing money on this order. And really, it's everyone's fault while also being no one's fault. No one sets out to "get one over on their baker," and no baker sets out to lose money on an order they worked hard on - that's why it's called creep - it creeps in slowly, stealing your profit and your peace of mind. Here's how to stop scope creep in its scary tracks. 🧟‍♂️ Creepy - Not Having a Form Let the form be the scary bad guy here. Having a form forces your client to stay in their order lane. Two dozen minimum? The form communicates that. Payment due to click submit? Form forces their hand (and wallet). Having a form is the first line of defense against scope-creeping clients. 🧟‍♂️ Creepy - Not Limiting Emails Scope creep is rarely brazen. No client is going to send you an email that says, "Hey - I know we agreed to X price, but I'm going to add Y changes and still expect the price to stay the same." Oftentimes, it creeps in through endless back-and-forth emails with changes that aren't reigned in. When you see that a client will be coming up with an endless list of ideas, rate-limit their emails. "Awesome - two more emails to dial in design and lock in the final details, and we'll be all set."  🧟‍♂️ Creepy - Not Requoting When a change is made after the quote was finalized, don't be scared of saying, "Awesome - let me requote that for you." You're not forcing them to pay it; you're letting them know the change in scope results in a change in rate, and they have the option to accept or reject that change. It's a great way to train your clients that changes result in charges. Otherwise, you're training them to scope creep - and it won't go over well when you eventually decide to walk that "free work" back one day.  🧟‍♂️ Creepy - Scope Creeping Yourself The client ain't always the one to blame when it comes to scope creep. If they agreed to X, but you added gold, 2 more designs, and 3 more cookies to their order - you just robbed yourself. "But I just want to overdeliver!" Overdelivering when you're losing money is bad business. Put on the good business owner hat and instead of over-delivering for $0, try upselling them. Maybe they'll be willing to pay too! 🧟‍♂️ Creepy - Not Knowing Your Numbers The easiest way to fall victim to scope creep is not truly knowing your numbers - ingredients, labor, packaging, overhead, and profit. If you're unsure if your costs are covered and that you're pulling a profit, you won't know where the scope creep haunts ya. Good thing The Cookie College is rolling out the Profit Blueprint this October!  👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 280 - Scary Scope Creep.

Send us Fan Mail 🎙️ Pod Guest: Jonathan Brandel - Cookier turned 3D printer...er? In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 279 - Cookier Interview - Jonathan Brandel, we had the third in our series of guest speakers this year! This week featured Jonathan Brandel (our potentially long-lost triplet), who is a full-time worker, baker, father of three, and now a 3D printer. Printer-er? How do you say that correctly?  He takes us through how he balances it all, what new tech is comin' to the world of 3D printing, and some tips on keeping the ol' print bed warmed and ready to go. But before we jump into the podcast, here's how you can contact him for 3D printer design work: hello@brandel3ddesigns[dot]com and (a work in progress) website: www.brandel3ddesigns[dot]com 🖨️ His Backstory - Brandels Baked Goods  If you haven't met Jonathan in the SCM group, you've likely not had a 3D printer issue. He's a superstar at troubleshooting. Jonathan began his baking journey in a unique way - when his wife was pregnant with their first, looking for additional ways to make some money - from baked pies to caramel, he landed on sugar cookies when a friend sent a picture - something he didn't even know existed before that instance (makes me wonder how the rest of y'all first discovered sugar cookies). As a man now with three kids and a full-time job and two more hustles - the bakery and the 3D printing business - Brandel (I like to call him by his last name lol) focuses on high-margin items and streamlining production, which makes sense when time is the most valued asset you have. His bakery goal? Collaborations with other bakers. His oven and his 3D printers work in tandem to fill a gap in his local market in Oregon. He partners with bakers to produce 3D-printed marketing materials, QR codes, and cake pop molds and cookie cutters. Unlike most bakers here, the cart came before the horse - meaning the 3D printer came before the desire to print cookie cutters at home. He started (aka cried through) an Ender 3 Pro, migrating to the Bambu line as an early adopter, but now, as tech has caught up to the wall Bambu smashed down, he's added a few new printers to his growing collection (Brandel - do you name your printers like actual names??) As far as marketing - community groups are still his primary lead gen - yep, even for the 3D printing biz! The "Final Frontier" of word-of-mouth is still alive and well. If you'd like to contact Jonathan for 3D printing collabs or to hire him to design custom STLs, he says he's open to it! I left his email at the top. 👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 279 - Cookier Interview - Jonathan Brandel.

Send us Fan Mail 🧟‍♂️ Cost Creepers - Scary ways you’re losing money. In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 278 - Cost Creepers, the Cookie College is comin' up with Blueprints (more on that soon), and the first 14-day Blueprint focuses on accurately pricing your bakes profitably - the key word being: profit. One of the most insidious threats to your profit margin is sneaky overhead costs (also called indirect costs). These are the line items in your budget that are needed to make the sale but aren't directly related to that specific order - the Canva subscription to make the graphic that you posted to the Facebook ad that brought in the website lead that you added to your CRM software.  These costs are necessary for running a cottage bakery, but they can also grow out of control. That subscription to an STL library you never use can be just as dangerous as that website subscription that just increased in price (lookin' at you, Square). And we're not telling you to hit the cancel button 100 times. We're challenging you to cut back the creep. What do you really need? What do you use so often that it may be worth the yearly upgrade for the discount? What can you sell to buy back some cash flow? What can you invest in to increase those margins? 💸 Software and Subscriptions These are the sneakiest overhead costs because of auto-renewals, rate increases, and forgetfulness. That cutter box subscription? Maybe it's not helping you plan a set that resonates with your audience. That graphic subscription? Is there a plan downgrade that still fits the bill? That Canva subscription? Can you join a grandfathered team and get that price down? Always check back on these - I like auditing them at least twice a year and seeing if that subscription still serves my purposes. 💸 Business Expenses These expenses are required to keep the business above board - your LLC renewal, that CPA's yearly invoice, your PO box, and the farmer's market fee. Don't forget - some of these can still be shopped around. Your insurance could be increasing year over year, and another company would love your money... I mean, business. 💸 Shared Utilities As home-based businesses, we share the air conditioner literally with our families - some of that needs to be covered by the business and the rest by the home. Same with electricity, water, internet, trash, phone plans, gas - you get the point. These costs can fluctuate, but taking an honest look at whether your pricing covers these types of costs is important for creating a profitable business. Once you take an honest look at your costs - overhead, labor, ingredients- and add in profit, you can see what needs to give and what needs to double down. And that's what we're doing with the Profit Blueprint -  14-day spreadsheet walkthrough that leaves you with an honest look at what your dozen actually makes you. 👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 278 - Cost Creepers.

Send us Fan Mail 🤡 First Timer Follies - When you’re new and need orders. In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 277 - First Timer Follies, we're wrapping up our New Baker's series, talking about first-timer mistakes you don't have to repeat if you snag yesterday's episode. When you're new to any industry, it's easy not to know what ya don't know - and that's what this beginner podcast series is for: to help new bakers miss the missteps when just getting started, saving them time (and tears).  You can reference the series here: 🎧 277. Baking it Down - First Timer Follies🎧 276. Baking it Down - How To Turn Down Orders When You Need Orders🎧 275. Baking it Down - Big Shoes Battle🎧 274. Baking it Down - Allow Us to be Your Personal Yodas🎧 273. Baking it Down - Content Cookies for Beginner Bakers🎧 270. Baking it Down - The Right Foot when Getting Started🎧 269. Baking it Down - Sugar Cookies as a Side Hustle🙅‍♀️ Don't overbuy cookie cutters Corrie said a big impulse when you're first out of the gate is to snag each and every cookie cutter, dreaming of a certain style of baker you want to be, typically centered around a specific aesthetic.  But it's your skill set and your client base that determines which cutters you'll find yourself reaching for most. So start with purchasing simple shapes and plaques - these are versatile shapes you can use again and again. Oftentimes, bakers will end up never even touching the very cutters they spent their early dollars on - and that's a profit problem. Take notes from the folly of your elders - not every cutter is worth the squeeze when you're just getting started! 🙅‍♀️ Don't jump on trends Trends are as awesome as they are a risk - you can make quick money, sure, but you can also be stuck with an endless supply of Labubu boxes or Target crates. Let the more established bakers snag those trendy sales - they have the audience for it and the skills for quick turnaround (before the trend dries up). Focus on popular (repeating) holidays at Christmas or Halloween that are guaranteed to come back in style year after year (and use up that extra pumpkin-shaped packaging).  🙅‍♀️ Have an order intake form in place With Google Forms being free and Jotform being essentially free for new bakers, you don't have to learn that you need an intake process in place by missing an order or spelling a name wrong.  Take a lesson from every baker before you and make a form that gets all orders coming in to one place rather than managing texts, emails, Facebook messages, and Instagram DMs (it's only a matter of time before you miss some important detail that will force a refund or catch a bad review). 🙅‍♀️ Don't offer everything You may feel like offering everything everyone wants will get you every dollar they have. Fun surprise - it actually works the opposite. Analysis paralysis + loss aversion + expiring ingredients = offering everything when you're just getting started can be bad news for profit margins.  Start with the basics, master that, grow the customer base, then add the cake pops + bronuts + sourdough, etc. When you're just getting your sealegs under ya, it's not the time to be adding more boats to the fleet. 👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 277 - First Timer Follies.

Send us Fan Mail 🛑 How 2 Turn Down Orders - When you’re new and need orders. In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 276 - How To Turn Down Orders When You Need Orders, the beginner baker needs to turn down orders - yes, even when they need orders. Sometimes the client isn't the right match, the client has expectations that exceed current skill set, or the baker just doesn't have the time to handle as much back-and-forth as a specific client needs to feel comfortable.  So how do you turn down orders when you need more orders? The typical recommendation is to say you're booked - which works pretty well for an established baker who is well... typically booked. But for the new baker, it puts them in a bind. They reject the client by claiming they're booked today, but are posting in a Facebook group looking for orders tomorrow. It's a fast way to lead to an upset client and an awkward conversation.  We have a better strategy (actually copy templates) you can steal. ❌ Client is coming from another baker Issue:  "I recently had a potential customer who has been a little strange and kind of insulted my work. She normally gets her cookies from another baker who has been doing this for a decade, but tried my cookies at a market and likes my flavor better. So when we discussed her cookie designs, she kept saying whatever “I’m most confident in” that I can make look like this other person because “she’s been doing it for a decade so you should check out her work.” Basically saying my designs aren’t up to par with this person who has been doing it for much longer." (this was an actual thread posted in the Sugar Cookie Marketing group) Response: "Hey client! I really gave this order some thought, and while I appreciate your confidence in me, my goal is to ensure my clients are 100% happy - even if that means referring them to another baker.  I don't believe my current skillset will knock this out of the park in the way your order deserves, and having a client that I've missed the mark with is far worse than losing a sale. Thanks so much for considering me, and I hope XYZ baker can really stick the landing on these! In the meantime, I'll be in the kitchen working on new techniques, and I'd love the chance to work with you on a future order when I've had more time in the saddle!" Now, I understand my wording puts a lot of the "accountability" on you and not on her being high maintenance, but we feel like this delivery softens the blow of "I don't want your order." Tweak, delete, or steal it!  ❌ Client needs some babysitting Issue: Client is asking for too much babysitting back and forth. Response:  “Hey client! Love the direction we’ve gotten with this order - it’s going to turn out really amazingly. Let’s firm up the details in the next two emails so I can make sure I meet your due date on this order - I don’t want any snafus with the postal system causing any delays.  Here’s what I need from you: [list of outstanding design choices] Once I get that, I’ll start gathering the supplies for your order. We’ve got your invoice paid, and then I’ll be in the kitchen! If you want to reply to this email with any outstanding questions about your order, I’ll knock those out in my final response, and we can finalize this!" ❌ Client is asking for a more advanced set Issue: This person is asking for designs outside the skillset you’re comfortable with: Response: “Hey client, thank you so much for considering me. I just reviewed your cookie inspiration photos you sent over, and I want to be 100% with you and my abilities. I don’t think I’ll be able to nail the look you’re going for, but I also know you deserve someone to knock this set out of the park for your big day. I wouldn’t be comfortable with taking your order, but I do have a few bakers I’m going to recommend that could probably nail this specific look for you. I don’t know their availability, but here’s the link to each Facebook Page so you can see their past work and review it before reaching out! Thank you so much for even considering me. I’m going to work hard on my decorating skills so I can be confident in this look and earn your business down the road!” ❌ Client is anxious about the order Issue: Client is anxious about the order process and feels distrustful of the baker. Response:  “Hey Client! Thank you so much for trusting me with your big day and cookies. I am so excited to bake these up for you! I just want to let you know how the process goes so you can feel at ease and know that your cookies are being taken care of and are my utmost priority. Since we booked you already and we've got about 2 weeks before I start prepping your order, what I’m doing now is reviewing everything, and I’m going to send you an update email 1 week out from pick-up. After that, I’m going to start the prep process by getting the dough mixed, finding the corresponding cookie cutters to the ones we discussed, and then I’ll begin baking. I don’t send update photos as I go since they won’t make sense until I’m done. An eye-less Elsa isn’t for the faint of heart! Once I finish the set, I’ll send you an email with an order update, a look at your finished set, and we can nail down a pick-up time for the next day." 👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 276 - How To Turn Down Orders When You Need Orders.

Send us Fan Mail 👟 Big Shoes Battle - How to compete with the big bakers. In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 275 - Big Shoes Battle, we're back on our beginner baker series, and good news - even if you're new and it feels like you're takin' on the Big Dog Bakers who have been in the space for 5+ years, you can still play ball. Here are five ways that being the underdog actually gives you the home-field advantage over more established bakers regarding your marketing approach. 👟 Followers Don't Matter.Ten years ago, we wouldn't be able to tell you that followers were just a made-up number that doesn't affect marketing. Today we can tell you that. Yes, having a base of followers adds social proof and signals to a customer that you aren't a made-up cookie business out to steal their money and disappear into the abyss. But you can now reach far more than your follower count - it's the plus side of algorithm-based reach. So even if you have 100 followers, a quality post that reaches the right audience has the potential to reach thousands of would-be clients. Post in a local Facebook group, and their followers are now wide open to your reach - and you didn't even have to make and run a Facebook group. The potential to reach more in your audience has never been higher - and you don't have to get 1,000,000 followers to do it (remember when you could only reach the people who followed your page??). 👟 No group tags? Tag yourself.If you're new to baking, you're not going to get as many tags as a more established baker with a long-term network of referrals and word-of-mouth. But guess what? You can be your biggest fan right out of the gate. Put the blinders on if seeing the other baker tags affects you negatively, but always tag yourself. And be honest about it too. None of this, "I hear [myself] is a really great baker!" Approach it this way: "Hey Mary! I'm Corrie with Mixing Bowl Cookies [tag page], and I'd love to have the chance to work with you on your event! Here's a picture of a set I've done similar to what you're looking for. If you want to work together on this, here's how to get started [how they place an order with you]." Don't forget to include a picture, emojis, and line breaks. 👟 No email list? Start now.A small but engaged email list = better than a large email list that the seasoned baker has forgotten to email for over a year (55% of bakers said they haven't emailed their audience in the last 12 months). A quick win for a new baker - starting (and staying consistent with) an email list. Email is the final frontier of chronological order, and even if the clients don't open it (20% is the industry open rate standard), they still saw your brand and know you exist for their next order. 👟 No incoming orders? Make content.That big baker who is fully booked doesn't have time to make content that could go viral, get shared, or reach that next order from someone who otherwise wouldn't know you exist. While they're busy baking it up in the kitchen, you get busy recording content. In the world of Reels, you can quickly grow an audience just from a few decently performing vertical videos. Stream this week's pod to see our solution for bakers who are so new, they have no reviews. Yep - you can take the big dogs on here too!   👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 275 - Big Shoe Battles.

Send us Fan Mail 🧙‍♂️ Your Yodas - allow us to be... In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 274 - Your Yodas Allow us to Be, we're back on our beginner baker series, and what better time than to reintroduce ourselves, tell you a bit about our background in marketing and sales, and how we got into the wild world of Sugar Cookie Marketing and The Cookie College. 🧙‍♂️ Hi, I'm Heather Born and raised in Northern Virginia right outside DC, I recently moved to West Virginia - as wild and wonderful as the adage says. But before that, I worked in B2B sales for a property restoration company. Who knew there was a billion-dollar industry just hoping your house burns down during a hailstorm while your toilet overflows?! Wilder world than West Virginia ever could imagine. While working in B2B sales, I also managed the company's online presence - a lot of the same stuff I talk about today (with a 15-year update on the materials). While doing that during the day, I started an e-commerce website solely to understand more about how online sales, product sourcing, and marketing worked. It was a wild time where spending literally any money on Facebook ads pushed the ads out to just about anyone and everyone on the platform. From there, I started flipping websites - fancy way of saying creating a website that generates either traffic or conversions, then listing the site on a marketplace for someone else to take over. All of this "dabbling" prepped me for a phone call from Corrie saying we're jumping into local, service-based marketing as our own company. Built that up for half a decade focusing on websites and SEO, along with ads and social - then BAM, a global pandemic that threw half our client list into a holding pattern. Badda-bing badda-boom, twin says, "Hey, we're bored - wanna help some cookie people with their marketing?" That was October 2020.  Since then - I'd like to say I know a thing or two because I've worked with tons of bakers over the years who have real-life seen a thing or two. With our powers combined, we're captain... wait, I mean - we can learn from each other, and thus - I'd like to help you learn how to win at cookie business. Our goal is to help you through our own experience and the experiences of other bakers we've worked alongside, solving problems, talkin' strategy, and celebrating wins for the last 6 years (SCM's bday is October - can you believe it's been 6 years?!).  🧙‍♂️ Hey there. I'm Corrie. I'll write this on behalf of Twin 2. Corrie got married at 19 (or 20?? I forget), had her son Archer at 21. She moved to Ohio for like 6 months, moved back to Northern Virginia, got divorced, and a few years later remarried to a really great guy who works as a police officer by day, weight lifter by night. When she was in her twenties, she got into car sales - 🚗🚙🚕🛻 which she cites as one of the most complex sales funnels most people would ever experience. It prepared her for a transition to home services sales for the rest of her twenties until she decided to stress her twin by saying, casually one afternoon, "Hey - quit that job, we start a business tomorrow. See you at 8."  No one works harder than Corrie - I call her the locomotive. She'll head in a direction and only stop when she runs through a brick wall. 🧁🍪🥧🍴 When Covid hit, she decided to try out the hobby of sugar cookies, and the rest is history. You don't have to be the best at decorating to be really good at business, and failing forward is a part of the recipe for success. With her baking experience and my affinity for tech, we make a decent pair of Yodas to help guide your bakery business in efficiency and profitability.  Basically, 💍 *gets down on one knee*, we're asking if you'd let us be your Yodas.   👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 274 - Your Yodas Let Us Be.

Send us Fan Mail 📹 Content Cookies - For the beginner cookier. In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 273 - Content Cookies for the Beginner Baker, we acknowledge there's an issue between when a baker gets started selling and the amount of content they have... or, well, don't have. A lot of the content that bakers post comes from the orders they take, and they get orders from the content they post. So when you're new to selling, you've got a bit of the 'chicken or the egg' going on - how can you make content if you don't have orders? There are a few strategic approaches that won't have you burning through (baking up?) your margins when money is at the tightest point for any startup - at the beginning. 📹 Point #1 - Segment the Cookies in a Set One single cookie set order of a dozen cookies featuring 4 different designs can get you a lot more content than that one photo you posted. Use the zoom and crop features! Corrie will turn a "jungle birthday" into a single cookie for National Lion's Day (hey - did you know Monday was National Lion's Day?). Stage it multiple ways and take pictures of each design. Have a "pyramid" setup and then do an isolation setup on a white backdrop. The more you make your cookies work for you in the beginning, the less you'll have to stress when it comes to "what should I post today?" 📹 Trends don't require experience Most popular trends on TikTok and Instagram don't require being an expert decorator as much as they require you figuring out what's trending and posting before the trend dies down. TikTok even has its own trend tracker.  August's "I never told you this, but" trend could easily be done with your business partner or spouse - throw on an apron and make it bakery-themed, and there's a lot of potential there. 📹 Behind the scenes contentNo one has better (butter?) behind-the-scenes content than a new baker with actual time to make decent B-roll featuring behind-the-scenes of starting a bakery. From finding a cake pop cart (all the rage these days) to figuring out a new type of floral piping strategy to setting up at your first farmer's market - it almost works in favor of the new baker.  Behind the scenes should be one content bucket you're constantly pinging with videos. Vertical video format will be your quick-win way to cut the line in front of more established bakers. 📹 Notta Cookies Regardless, the new baker needs to get time in the proverbial saddle (er... apron), so practice, practice, practice. But instead of having to fire up the oven for cookies you'll pitch anyway, check out "notta cookies" - the original concept came from the creators of CookieCon, and it's literally a plastic practice cookie - that way you're only losing on the ingredients cost of royal icing while still being able to tackle new techniques. Heck - make the "notta cookie" practice into videos - hey, did we mention make more videos? Listen to the strategies behind our last time - turning practice into give-a-w-a-y-s to increase brand awareness, grow reviews, and get real-life taste testers so you're "wasted ingredients cost" actually hits your marketing budget.   👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 273 - Content Cookies for the Beginner Baker.

Send us Fan Mail 👩🏻‍💻 S Tier Lead Gen - For cottage bakers in 2026. In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 272 - S-Tier Lead Gen Sources for Bakers in 2026, there's a new trend where people rank things they like and hate by tiers - 🟨 S-tier being the elite. For the oldie goldies like me, "S" apparently stands for superior. Following down the rankings, 🟩 A-tier means really good, 🟦 B-tier represents what's probably good to have around, 🟪 C-tier is a take-it-or-leave-it, 🟧 D-tier is more of a leave-it, and 🟥 F-tier is the "I wouldn't waste my time." So this approach to ranking sugar cookie bakers' lead generators is opinion-based, but that opinion comes after years of watching where bakers are getting their leads, how they get those leads, and if those leads seem worth the hassle. 🟨 S-Tier Lead Gen S-tier lead sources (superior, as the kids call it) are the lead gen sources we'd ask bakers why they aren't on them. These methods of generating leads are what have proven to work in 2026 for cottage local bakeries. Now, will we say the same thing in a year? Maybe not. But if you're on the fence about one of these, consider jumping both feet first - it's working well for your coworkers. 🟨 Facebook Groups🟨 Email Marketing🟨 Google Business Profile🟨 Website🟨 Word-of-Mouth / Referrals 🟩 A-Tier Lead Gen  Our A-Tier choices were Facebook Business Pages - not because they're not S-Tier important, but because they're very restricted by algorithms. Thus, we knocked it down a peg. That said, you definitely need one to get those juicy analytics you can only get through Business Suite dashboard insights - it'll really allow you to understand exactly who your audience is. Something you can't capture in Facebook groups unless you're an admin.  SMS (text) marketing is a newer form of marketing, and in the right hands with a solid strategy, can really get conversions going. Spamming SMS is a disaster though (lookin' at you - Paula's Choice). 🟦 B-Tier Lead Gen  B-Tier could be a few bakers S-Tier, so just because we don't see it mentioned a lot in the groups, doesn't mean it can't move the needle.  Instagram, Facebook Marketplace, and a personal Facebook profile used to sell can be a treasure trove for bakers willing to deal with the trade-offs, like Marketplace tirekickers and removing your privacy to make a Facebook personal profile sale.  Instagram can be extremely rewarding if you invest time into cultivating an audience (and recording those darn Reels!). 🟪 C-Tier Lead Gen LinkedIn, TikTok, and NextDoor have their places and can be a great lead gen for digital downloads, corporate orders, and local business (when your NextDoor is active), but if you're torn between investing your limited time in an S-tier lead source or a C-tier, we'd recommend focusing on the S-Tier before even glancing at the direction of the C-Tier.  LinkedIn works when you hit the pavement and attend networking events; TikTok is starting to gain more local foot traffic (it may become a B or A-tier by next year for local business leads), and NextDoor is tightening the belt on business reach (so we may lower its ranking by next year - who knows what the wild work of marketing holds). For the D-Tier and F-Tier hot takes, snag this week's podcast! 👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 272 - S Tier Lead Gen Sources for Bakers in 2026.

Send us Fan Mail 🎤 Cookier Interview - Taylor Gandolfi with Taylor'd Cookies. In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 271 - Cookier Interview - Taylor Gandolfi, continuing on with our cookier interview series, we snagged Taylor Gandolfi this week. She's been baking as a side hustle (more on her Italy trip below) since November, and comes from a UX degree, working a day job in public sector user experience design. When asked what she could bring to a podcast interview, her write-up explains this episode perfectly: "My journey into cookie decorating comes from a lifelong artistic foundation; 🎨 I have loved to draw and paint since before I can remember. I wanted to be an art major in college, but my parents steered me towards a UX design degree. Before cookies, 🐱🐶🐕🐈‍⬛🐾 I previously had a commissioned painting side hustle and painted whimsical pet portraits primarily (ex: a customer's cat playing drums for his favorite band, a dog playing for a customer's favorite hockey team, a fancy dog drinking a cocktail, etc.). 👶🏻 Unfortunately, this side hustle became unfeasible when I started having babies. I picked up cookie decorating when I was struggling with postpartum anxiety with my second baby. 🧸 🍪 🤎 I found it to be a wonderful creative outlet, very therapeutic, and got me away from doomscrolling. I decorated a few sets for my preschooler's class, and the preschool director saw them and was very encouraging. She approached me with an idea to partner with the preschool on presales and give back 20% of the proceeds to the preschool. 📈 From there, I was able to grow my portfolio, get other custom orders from preschool moms, and grow my social media.   I also work full time as a product designer, ✨ with specialized experience in AI tools. As a product designer, my day-to-day looks like listening to users (or customers), honing in on what they need, translating that into concepts for digital experiences, 🚫 while mitigating risk. ✅ I use that same framework with my customers when designing cookies. I believe for the podcast, I could provide a lot of insight to listeners on how to scale 🙍‍♂️ human-centered design practices into their cookie business. I can also speak to how cookiers can leverage tech and AI as a tool to help with their process (ex: run lean experiments to mitigate risk, then scale what works well). As someone who works in AI, 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 I believe that the world is craving human-created products and is really tired of AI slop. With that said, AI is not something that will replace cookiers, 🛠️ but a tool to help cookers do the best job possible when embraced." If you want to snag her prompt parameters - here it is. C-A-R-E 👾 C - Context. Provide as much context as possible👾 A - Action. Be very specific in the actions you want it to take.👾 R - Rules. Telling the AI exactly what to do and not to do, giving it constraints.👾 E - Examples. Attach screenshots of what you like, AND what you don’t like. Hate something the AI won't change? Export it to Canva and make adjustments. She adds a really good trick for getting AI to play ball: using talk-to-type - you tend to talk very conversationally, and you talk more. The more information you provide the AI (both positive and negative), the more it has to work with. 👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 271 - Cookier Interview - Taylor Gandolfi.