We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Taylor Schulteis . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Taylor below.
Hi Taylor, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
When I was in college, I had no idea and also had a ton of ideas of what I wanted to do with my life. The options were endless! My mom always said, “if you do what you love then you’ll never work a day in your life.” I wanted to be someone that never “worked” a day in my life. I moved to Kansas City 7 years ago now and while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do long-term, I wanted to fill my extra time with a hobby. I started baking and decorating at a well-known bakery called Gigi’s Cupcakes and that’s when I realized that my true passion lies in baking. I woke up at 5 am everyday to start the process of freshly baking and hand-piping 500 specially decorated cupcakes to get out the doors. The early hours might throw some people off, but for me it was the warm smells and beautifully piped details on the cupcakes that put me in the best mood everyday. We didn’t have many cake decorators at the bakery, so I took it upon myself to start Youtubing tutorials and binge-watched every cake decorating show you can think of on the Food Network. I practiced decorating on Styrofoam cakes, which led me to being one of the lead cake decorators at Gigi’s Cupcakes and being recognized by their corporate team as well. After two years of working for the franchise, I wanted to be able to work for myself. I was advertising all over social media that I would be starting my own baking business from home, and I’m so grateful that decision has led me to where I am today. Everyday I get to see the smile I put on my customer’s face after seeing the work of art I made for their special event, and that, I believe, is my true purpose.
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 started my in-home baking business, Taysty Cake Co, in the fall of 2017. Going on 6 years now of being a business owner, I have had great success but have also had times of overcoming some obstacles. I owe all of the successful start of my business to the friends and family that supported me since day 1. Shortly before announcing the start of my bakery, my sister had asked me to make her wedding cake–correction, she asked me to make three* wedding cakes for her. I had never stacked nor delivered a cake in my life. This was so intimidating, especially for a new baker. After delivering these three cakes all in one piece, I’d say that was the most accomplished I felt in a long time. After the pictures were shared to social media, I was taking on more wedding cakes left and right. In 2018, I had the honor of making 56 wedding cakes. That sometimes meant one weekend I’d be delivering 3-4 wedding cakes. Weddings were mostly my focus in 2018 and 2019, but when weekends were a little slower, I knew I needed to step up my game. I started to teach myself how to decorate cookies and after many nights in the kitchen perfecting my recipes, cookies started to become my biggest seller. I’ve had many opportunities to teach cake and cookie decorating classes at local schools, libraries, and boutiques and it has truly been an honor to be able share my skills with other people.
I got engaged to the love of my life in late 2019 and got married in December of 2020. Even with all of the cancelled wedding cakes that came from that year, I made the most of my time teaching decorating classes via Zoom and taking on any orders that I could while planning a wedding of my own. I’ve always wanted a Christmas wedding, so getting married in front of 7 Christmas trees and having a gingerbread wedding cake was the only option for me. My gingerbread wedding cake is a very big and relevant part of me because it has lead to greater opportunities. In 2020 Big Brothers Big Sisters of Douglas County reached out to me to see if I’d be apart of their annual gingerbread fundraiser by donating a gingerbread house to be displayed and bid on. After winning first place that year, I made it an annual event for me and have now donated three gingerbread houses over the years. The best thing to come from that was being recruited by the Food Network to audition for Holiday Gingerbread Showdown and after not passing through to the finals for the first year, I became a runner up the second year. Fingers-crossed I have the opportunity to be able to compete on the show this upcoming year!
Although wedding cakes were my main focus in the early years of baking, after giving birth to our daughter in 2022 I realized that my main focus was spending more time with my family on the weekends. I now take on multiple orders throughout the week that include specially decorated desserts for bridal and baby showers, birthday parties, networking events, and company parties. These desserts include hand-piped decorated cookies, company logo cookies, multi-tiered cakes, cupcakes, and even high-end assorted dessert bars. Some of my more notable recent orders include cookies for Christian Braun after winning the NBA finals, congratulatory cookies for Chiefs players, and holiday parties at One Light Luxury Apartments. I have also been recently hired by a talent agency to ship cookies across the nation to their influencer clients which has been a huge success for my small business. It’s incredible to see how much my business has grown over these years and every small connection I’ve made has helped me get to where I am today.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three main things that have lead me to be successful are consistency, passion, and friendliness. I consistently find ways to improve my baking and decorating skills, which has allowed me to greatly increase the quality of my products throughout the years. My passion for baking is what gets me up at 5am even after only getting 5 hours of sleep from a long night of decorating. Like I said before, if you love what you do, you will never have to work a day in your life. Friendliness has allowed me to establish deep relationships with a lot of my customers and even turn some of them into life-long friends.
My biggest piece of advice to someone that would want to get started on the baking journey is to be humble in the learning process. I never looked at anyone in the Kansas City area as a competitor, but rather as a friend and mentor. Don’t be afraid to reach out to anyone with any questions as I’m sure anyone would be happy to guide you through this journey. Give yourself grace because you will figure it out along the way.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
My husband is by far my number one fan. He has been there since day one falling asleep on the living room floor as I’m up working late in the kitchen. Ryan has always been my rock and my leader when I’m in need of someone else to rely on rather than myself. It’s not always easy running a business, but when you have someone that pushes you to work harder, helps you network more, delivers your orders when you’re in need, and cooks you a nice meal when you’re too busy decorating a cake, it makes the business run a lot smoother. They say teamwork makes the dreamwork and I truly believe that Ryan has helped me live out my dream.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TaystyCakeCo.com
- Instagram: @TaystyCakeCo
