We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Amanda Luecke. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Amanda below.
Amanda, thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about how you think about burnout, avoiding or overcoming burnout, etc.
For a long time I didn’t avoid burnout and would push myself until I would almost collapse from working so much. Although I’ve since gotten better at taking breaks, I still struggle with this. Whenever I start to feel like I’ve taken on too much, I try to give myself as much time as I can to complete the order(s) so I can still get a decent amount of sleep at night. It’s an ongoing process and I’m still learning how to balance everything.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My story always starts out a bit sad, as my business was created after the death of my mom. She passed away in 2016 and I felt lost. I had a 9 month old and was trying to find ways to be able to stay home with her. While looking for jobs, I started baking, as that has always been an escape for me. I’m always trying to learn new things so when I saw royal iced cookies online, I was intrigued and wanted to learn more. I spent the next few days watching as many YouTube videos on royal iced cookies as I could and started baking. The idea that you could create what seemed like an unlimited amount of things with this icing was amazing and I immediately started practicing. The more I learned, the more I wanted to decorate so I would make them for friends and family. After a few months, my husband suggested that I try to sell my cookies and as hesitant as I was, I decided to go for it. I advertised wherever I could and took on every order that came my way. Soon, I was consistently booked and started getting a steady flow of regular customers. Over the past 7 years, I’ve pushed myself to learn as much as I can and perfect my skills to the best of my ability. I also started teaching cookie decorating classes and doing holiday presales and just completely immersed myself into the world of cookie decorating. My business name, Minnie’s Cookies was named after my mom. Her name was Mary, but so many people called her Minnie or Min. As the person who taught me everything I know about baking, and was an incredible baker herself, it seemed only fitting to name my business after her. She was amazing in so many ways, and I like to think she’d be proud of me and would have loved to be a part of it all.
At the beginning of 2023, I switched from artificial dyes to completely natural colors. I started working with this amazing company, PRSM Sugar Co. The owner, Adam, is amazing to work with and answered all of my questions and worked with me with any issues I had. Being able to work so closely with the product I’m using is pretty incredible. With more and more dye allergies, I really wanted this as an option for my customers and felt that I should just move everything to natural colors. After using them for the past year, my amazing friend Amy and I decided to create a short guide that introduces people to natural colors. We have been working tirelessly on this guide in the hopes that it will help all the people who have switched or are wanting to switch to natural colors. We are hoping to release it in late February/early March. Amy is a fellow cookie decorator who owns her own business, Cakesmith Baking. She also uses all natural colors. We met through cookies and have been friends ever since. We recently started a new venture together that encompasses natural dyes, as well as teaching others everything we know about cookie decorating. Over the last year, we also started designing cookie cutters. It started out as something we did just for ourselves, but as we designed more cutters, people would ask us where we got them from so we decided to start selling our designs. We were able to have them produced and sold through an amazing cookie cutter company, Sweetleigh Printed. Since my business is called Minnie’s Cookies, and hers is Cakesmith Baking, we chose to name our new business, MinnieCakes. This business is brand new but we have a lot of aspirations for what it can become! 2024 is going to be a great year filled with cookies, but also some new adventures that I’m very excited about!
I absolute love creating cookies for my incredible customers. They are the reason I have a business and I am forever grateful to them. So, even though I am starting up some new adventures, I will still be making custom cookies as it has been and still is a great outlet for my creativity.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three qualities that I think are most impactful are customer service, supporting others, and hard work. Owning a business is hard work and with me being the sole employee, I’m in charge of so much more than just decorating cookies. I also have to write and reply to all emails, run all of my social media pages, do the photography and marketing, take care of finances, meet all of my deadlines etc. Mistakes happen, but it’s what you do to fix those mistakes that’s important. My customers put a lot of trust in me and my sole job is to make sure that they get exactly what they want. When I make a mistake, I am honest and up front with them because that’s just who I am. I probably talk too much and divulge too much but I want people to understand how much I care in the hopes that they can give me another chance. And I am always so overwhelmed by the amount of understanding that people will give you when you’re honest with them. Own up to your mistakes, and do everything you can to make it right. Your customers are the reason you have a business, so treat them well.
In this business and any business, there will be others who are in the same line of work as you. They are not your competition. You are your only competition. They are your supporters, and you are theirs. The cookie world can be very lonely. We spend a lot of our time decorating cookies by ourselves, some into the late night like me, but usually alone. When I first started my business, I often felt that tinge of jealousy when I would hear of another baker nearby and I think that’s normal. But the more cookie decorators I met, the more I realized that they were just as alone and insecure as I was. We all have our own insecurities and when we have each other to lean on, we don’t feel so alone. I have met some of the most incredible bakers who have become my friends. We support each other because we have realized that when something amazing happens to one of us, it doesn’t take anything away from our own successes. I love the quote “a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.” There is room at the top for everyone. I would not have gotten as far along in this business as I have without the friendships I’ve made. Having people who understand exactly what you’re going through is such an immense help when your brain starts taking you down the wrong path. So support those around you, cheer them on when something great happens to them, and be there when they need you because there will become a time, many times, when you will need them too.
And finally, hard work. As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” I am going on my 8th year (will be in June) of cookie decorating. I started with using toothpicks for my scribe tool and would pad my boxes of cookies with saran wrap and package them in zip lock bags. I didn’t know any better. I used the tools and knowledge I had at the time to do what I thought was right. I didn’t learn how to decorate cookies overnight. I have spent countless hours watching videos online and practicing and making mistakes and hopefully learning from those mistakes, to get where I am today. Back in 2016, there wasn’t the amount of cookie knowledge that there is now. You have to give yourself time to make those mistakes and try different things to figure out what works best for you and your business. Something that works best for someone else may not be the same thing that works for you. You need to take the time to learn about your craft and perfect it. So many people compare themselves to other people who are at a completely different point in their journey. I’ve done it myself and it has taken a lot to stop doing that (as often). You can’t compare yourself a year in, to someone who is 5-10 years in. You will just feel defeated instead of celebrating how far you’ve come. So many cookie decorating skills do not happen overnight. Give yourself time and be patient and work hard. Nothing about owning your own business is easy. Many days I have to force myself to keep working when I just want to stop and relax or go to sleep. I have deadlines and things that need to get done so I push. Now, don’t stay up all night either, but that’s more about time management. Something I’ve been know to struggle with as well.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I love collaborating with other people, organizations and/or businesses. I am always looking for collaborations that are in line with my business, or interests. I am currently working with a couple businesses and have really enjoyed it! If you are looking for someone to highlight your business/products in the form of cookies, I’d love to chat! I’ve been trying to learn more about videography and editing to keep improving my cookie videos and am always up for learning something new! I thrive on new challenges that push my limits!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.minniescookies.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/minniescookies/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MinniesCookies
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV0SpC78q4OOYHk8Xwh1e-g
