We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Madison Guthrie a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Madison, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
I have always been a creative person, so it partially comes naturally to me. There are times when I get in a rut creative wise, but I tend to search Instagram and other social media platforms for new ideas or ways to get me out of that rut. There have been so many times that I have seen a reel on Instagram of a new technique for making a certain cookie design, and I’ve thought to myself, “Yeah, why not?! Let’s try it!” This is truly how I develop my skills.
Being a creative person in general, when I am not making cookies, I am always doing something crafty in my free time. When I get home from work most days, I immediately pick up a crochet project I have been working on. I’ve even started to sell some of these projects on my Square site as well! I always have to be creating something or working towards some sort of creative goal.
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?
My passion for baking really started at such a young age for me. This continued throughout high school and college where I would constantly stress bake. During this time I really started to think about what I wanted to do with my life. Ultimately I decided to study Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing at NC State University.
During my junior year of college, I got a job at a local bakery where I was able to learn exactly the skills I needed in order to venture off on my own and begin the dream that was and now is Yellow Garden Bake Shop. In February 2022, I quit my bakery job and pursued my passion full-time.
I have been based out of a commercial kitchen space since March 2022. During the past year and a half I have participated in many markets around the Triangle. My main focus has always been my custom sugar cookies, and that side of my business has really exploded in 2023. I am so unbelievably thankful for anyone who has supported me since starting this dream.
In the near future I have lots of custom cookies to create as well as various markets to attend. Custom cookie availability and all market information can be found on my website (yellowgardenbakeshop.com/calendar). Each week my cookies can also be found at Bad Cat Coffee Company and Crema Raleigh located in downtown Raleigh as well as the Wake Forest Coffee Shop in downtown Wake Forest.
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?
My marketing degree has greatly helped me in learning how to market myself and my business in order to gain a strong customer base. Through my last job, I learned how to create a website as well as running a Google business page. My Google business page has greatly helped people discover my business through the use of reviews and those keywords attached to my page. Creativity is always a useful skill to have! My creativity helps each day when designing custom cookie sets or coming up with new recipes for markets. Creativity also plays into the marketing aspect of any business as well, so it definitely is an added benefit. I believe, especially with custom cookies, that being detail oriented is so important. Owning a business is no easy task. There are so many small details that you constantly have to be paying attention to and keeping up with on a weekly or monthly basis.
For anyone just starting out on their journey, I highly recommend learning some marketing skills. This could be as simple as researching some small businesses that focus on marketing and looking at what tips they have to offer. You can even search some Google digital marketing certifications and run through those courses.
Creativity isn’t always something that can be learned, but there are so many ways to be inspired! I constantly look on Instagram and other social medias for new techniques to try and new designs to experiment with. This goes for both my cookies and crochet. I believe that it is so important to always be trying new things.
Being detailed oriented is such a great skill to obtain. While looking at the big picture is always good, and important, it is even more important to keep those details close at hand. This is especially important for deadlines! I recommend keeping a color coded planner for all business needs.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
One of my favorite Instagram accounts to look at for inspiration is @mikandcookiesco. Mik creates cookie signs all throughout the year and she is such an inspiration! I learned how to incorporate transfers into my cookie sets by watching her videos and chatting with her.
The chance to create cookie signs with local businesses would be an absolute dream. If any local businesses have a unique sign that they believe would be perfect in cookie form, please reach out at [email protected] or over Instagram DMs.
Contact Info:
- Website: yellowgardenbakeshop.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/yellowgardenbakeshop
- Facebook: Facebook.com/yellowgardenbakeshop
- Other: Tiktok.com/@yellowgardenbakeshop
Image Credits
Cookie cake wedding cake photographed by Samantha Beane (Instagram.com/samanthabrookephoto_)
