We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cheryl Smith. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cheryl below.
Hi Cheryl, so happy to have you with us today and there is so much we want to ask you about. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others developed certain skills or qualities that we are struggling with can be helpful. Along those lines, we’d love to hear from you about how you developed your ability to take risk?
I started cooking and baking for just small gatherings or family functions and I would get so many compliments on how good it tasted and I would be permanently assigned to make certain things Lol. I decided to venture out into decorating cakes and making different assorted goodies and was told numerous times “you really need to consider going into business for yourself, these cakes and sweets not only look good but they taste good”. I was nervous to even think about trying to sell my stuff but one day I said you know all my 3 children are adults and this is something I absolutely love doing and I told myself it’s now or never so I pulled the big girl panties up and just did it.
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 make cupcakes, cake pops, dipped treats (pretzels, Oreos, Rice Krispie treats, wafers) and cakes. The most exciting part about baking and decorating is the creativity that you can put into what you are doing. Most of my customers give me complete creative control with minimal requests (ex. certain colors, flavors, add specific candy somehow). I am able to get to know a few facts about them and likes or dislikes etc and then I try to incorporate them with designs and decorations. I hope that in the future I would be able to expand into having a spot of my own.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think the best qualities to have would definitely be confidence first off, you cant doubt yourself and unfortunately we can be so hard on ourselves and when you start doubting yourself or work, company, brand etc you begin to fill your head with toxic space, believe in you. Honesty would have to be the 2nd one, be honest with your customers if you can’t do something it’s ok let them know. It’s better to be honest than to have a disappointed customer. Thirdly take time to practice it helps with building better skills, I make practice stuff all the time or try new ideas and give the stuff away and all I ask is an honest opinion, whether it’s good or bad that helps me in keeping customers happy. Lastly do your research and watch videos of other people in the same line of work most of the time they are giving tips and ideas and that can always be very helpful.
How would you describe your ideal client?
My ideal client is one that has a small amount of requests on what they want, brings me lots of details on what they like and that is open to exchange ideas and thoughts and then gives me creative control. Then what makes me the happiest is when they ask for something basic and then it’s better than they expected and are extremely happy with the end result. Those are the best customers Lol
Contact Info:
- Instagram: goodiesbylynn
- Other: Tik Tok- goodiesbylynn
Image Credits
all images taken and provided by Cheryl Smith
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.