Meet Lisa He

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lisa He. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lisa below.

Hi Lisa, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?

I had generosity modeled for me by all of my caretakers growing up. I’ve seen my parents and other family members make huge sacrifices for their friends and each other for the common good, and they’ve always taught me to give and help whenever I can. At the end of the day, we’re all human, and if we’re in a position to help each other, it’s our duty and it’s something I take seriously.

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 run 2 small businesses:

1. Borderlands Bakery is a cookie decorating and baking supply company offering useful tools, creative 3D printed products and unique merchandise. We create lots of useful decorating and baking content across all social media platforms, plus, we offer virtual classes and physical classes in the Orlando, FL area. I recently authored my first cookbook at well, Matcha Meets Macaron

2. My Custom Bakes is the easiest all-in-one suite designed to simplify and streamline your cottage bakery business. Market, manage, and monetize your orders within one simple platform—without any of the hassle. Founded, designed, developed & maintained by your fellow cottage bakers. 100% community funded with a FREE and paid tier at only $10/month.

I’ve been lucky enough to turn the things I’m passionate about into my livelihood, and while that’s not the “best” path for everyone, I love to help others do the same, which is why both of my businesses play support roles – we assist people with their baking, whether that’s for hobby or business. Community is also incredibly important and I’ve spent the last 13 years building up a supportive community in the cookie decorating space.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1. Persistence and resilience are super important in life and business. A lot of people give up after a few setbacks and they never get a chance to live out their dreams. Keep moving forward, think outside of the box when you meet challenges, break through the immense resistance that’s inevitable. Figure out your “why”, never forget it, allow that to fuel you.

2. I want to say that discipline is your best friend- but that sounds rigid and… boring and not very motivating. But the reality is that discipline WILL carry you through some difficult times. There are so many mundane tasks that have to be done as a part of life (and in business), the longer you procrastinate on those, the longer it’ll take to achieve your goals – discipline will help you do the things that don’t really seam fun, but are good for you. It’s also tied in with delayed gratification.

3. Health is wealth. You get one body and mind. Take good care of it. Find a form of movement you enjoy, do it consistently, and don’t overcomplicate it, just move. Eat quality food if you can. Sleep enough. Figure out your mental health situation. It’s all worth it.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

My industry has completely changed during and post-Covid.
Covid created a whole new generation of bakers – for the cookie decorating community specifically, we saw in boom in the popularity of decorated cookies and more people started to learn the craft. Having the ability to practice while we were all sheltering in place is something no one really did before Covid – this birthed talent, technological advances and competition beyond what we could imagine.

This also means the industry is more saturated than ever, and standing out becomes challenging. I’ve built our brands slowly over a decade, and sometimes it can feel like these post Covid cookiers are way cooler than me and it affected the ego and mind, which in turn has impacts on how I feel and behave- this is a big hump I’m trying to get passed right now- I know I will, but it’ll take time – I have to continuously find new ways to keep things fresh for our community in a very competitive space. Definitely challenging, but I’m choosing to look on the bright side and using this as a huge learning opportunity to stay resilient and persist 😉

Contact Info:

Image Credits

James d’Shone
Clayton Guzman

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Productivity
Where do you get your work ethic from?

We’ve all heard the phrase “work hard, play hard,” but where does our work ethic

Productivity
Tactics & Strategies for Keeping Your Creativity Strong

With the rapid improvements in AI, it’s more important than ever to keep your creativity

Productivity
From Burnout to Balance: The Role of Self-Care

Burning out is one of the primary risks you face as you work towards your