We recently connected with Takila Nuss and have shared our conversation below.
Takila, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I started working a summer job when I was 14. I’ve been working ever since. Being young and responsible for myself I knew If I didn’t work, I didn’t eat. So I made sure to work hard at every job I had
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a mother of two. My son Grant. He is in his first semester in college, he is a football player and had the opportunity to get a scholarship to West Liberty University. My baby girl is Saige She is nine. She is the boss of Saige’s Tummy Yummys. We sell her Kool-Aid and treats for kids at our dessert shop.
I am a full-time entrepreneur and it means the world to me to be able to teach my children the importance of hard work and dedication. Without a college degree I was able to start a business in 2015 while I worked 2 jobs. In January of 2020 I opened up My dessert shop inside of The NorthSide Marketplace in Akron. It’s definitely had its ups and downs. Business has been steady Last March my personal business page was hacked and they posted c**************** on my page. Then they took over my business account. After many years I had reached 8000 followers. Now I have absolutely no access to my facebook business account. People in other countries hacked my page and took over. So I was discouraged because my sales were down and I had to start a new Facebook account. I am currently at about 1200 followers. But I’m confident and I know that business will continue to build and we will continue to serve our customers.
I spend most of my days preparing desserts, dipping, strawberries, putting smiles on many people’s faces. Able to serve the public. I personally have a hand in everything that I send out of my kitchen. Knowing that this is my baby and customer service is just as important as a quality fresh product coming out of our kitchen. Praying! I am excited to be adding new products and services. We are going to have dessert flights which will be a flight of different flavors of our cheesecake and banana pudding. We will also be adding dessert waffles to our menu as well as chocolate fondue pots.
I enjoy serving the public for personal consumption to satisfy a sweet tooth, gifts, corporate events, and accounts. Accounts. We also provide catering services for weddings, meetings and birthday parties. We have treat making sessions available for one on one as well as for group sessions.
In addition to providing desserts at our shop, I have also started writing a self-help book for teenagers and young adults. As well as writing a book, and creating journals to sell.
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?
Being a entrepreneur I found that it is so important to educate myself and conduct market research. I was sure to Surround myself with like-minded people. I was open to listening and learning from those that are successful.
Getting a business mentor was vital in starting my business and taking it to the next level.
I also took advantage of resources that are available for entrepreneurs.
I learned that getting outside of my comfort zone help me to advance.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
The number one challenge that I am currently dealing with is recovering from my Facebook business account being hacked. Building up my account for years just to loose it to hackers. I lost $8,000 followers and customers. My page was hacked by people in different countries. And they took it over and placed about $7,000 in advertisements and purchases for websites.
My business has definitely taking a loss. Because of this. I have not been in front of my audience and almost a year. I was definitely a little discouraged at the end of last year. I was really ready to throw in the towel and give up. How can Facebook allow these people to come in and take over all of our personal information.
I was really depressed and I felt defeated.
I honestly was thinking about closing my shop and just going back to work. But I woke up with a different spirit and a attitude of gratitude and decided to do something about it. I was really worried because my biggest time of the year is Valentine’s season. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen if I would get as many sales as I did last year. But Valentine’s Day has came and gone and it was just as busy as last year.
I have decided to add some new items and scale the business. New services. This year started off slow but it’s getting better. I am going to keep the faith, keep a positive mindset and continue to do what I love.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/essentialdippeddelights?igsh=ZW1mZHFyZGdxMTYx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091687977207&mibextid=ZbWKwL
