Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brittany Seader. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Brittany, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Out of necessity! Over the last year and a half I’ve separated from my husband, moved out of our house and assisted my parents with my dad’s cancer treatments, while owning my own business, working 2 other jobs and being a single mom. But to be honest, what’s the other option? You have to keep pushing through because everything is important in its own right and deserves my attention. So even on days where I want to stay in bed, I can’t. I put my head down and sometimes I promise myself that if I can just get everything done that I need to in a day, I can spend the evening binging Real Housewives instead of doing laundry.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a baker, my business is named Barrows Baking Co.! I have been baking since I was young with my mom. When the world shut down in 2020, I decided to start posting pictures of the treats I would make on Instagram out of boredom. Through Instagram I met Kayla Ross with Grapes and Gouda, who happens to live in my neighborhood and owns a charcuterie business. She started offering my treats with her boards, and also encouraged me to start my own business selling my baked goods.
There is nothing I love more than finding a recipe, dropping everything to test it, and see if I would change anything about it. I love when the seasons change and I get to start thinking about my menu for the next season. The creativity keeps me going and researching what my next step is. I’ve had to teach myself social media, marketing, branding, etc.
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?
Perseverance is number one. Even when no one orders from you, no one watches your social media, I just keep trying. I keep changing what I’m doing, what goods I’m offering, how I’m photographing them until it sticks.
Second, a good dose of not caring what other people think. In the beginning (and still sometimes) I felt embarrassed about posting pictures of my silly cookies and had to tell myself repeatedly that if I saw someone posting their skill and trying to sell it, I would never judge them. I’d cheer them on.
Finally, politeness and professionalism. Back when I worked in an office, we were trained extensively on customer service and specifically how to be thorough, concise and detailed and that is so much more important than I thought at the time I was grudgingly being trained. I want all my customers to think I am professional, knowledgeable, and that they can trust me and my judgment.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
Lists, lists and more lists. I truly feel like I can tackle anything when I’ve broken down every single task into lists and bullet points. For example, in September I baked 3000 cookies for a local school district over 4 weeks. It overlapped with the largest dessert table I’ve ever done. I broke down what and how much I need to prepare and bake every single day of the month. I made grocery lists by week, and by store. There is nothing that makes me feel like anything is doable more than going through the entire project in my head and getting it on paper.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @barrowbakingco | https://www.instagram.com/barrowsbakingco?igsh=MWEzYjQxYmxjeHkwZw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: Barrows Baking Co. | https://www.facebook.com/barrowsbakingco?mibextid=kFxxJD
Image Credits
Jess LaRocca Photography + Design
