Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Julia Hatch. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Julia, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I definitely want to credit my work ethic to my parents and a bit to swimming. I am a first generation Chinese American, my parents are Chinese refugees from Vietnam. They escaped a war and endured a lot of hardships to make their way to the US. They did this knowing they wanted to start a family here and give their future children a better life. I watched my parents work long hours and sometimes overtime to provide for us and make sure we had everything we need while also being able to participate in club level sports and private lessons. Both my parents at different points went to night school to earn their degrees. Just by learning from their example, I learned at a young age to balance my schedule to fit everything I wanted and needed to do in the time that I had available. I started competitive swimming around the age of 4 and I went club level by the age of 6 so by middle school I was doing double workouts. I would wake up at 4am for practice, go to school and then go back to practice in the afternoon, come home, have dinner, do my homework and then bed. I still did my school work, had an occasional piano lesson here and there (I was on and off for a few years) while being able to still do things I loved like read, bake, hang out with friends. I was never afraid of a little bit of hard work to get everything done.
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 name is Julia Hatch, I am a Chinese American born and raised in Texas. I’ve lived here most of my life, moved away for about 7 years and just recently moved back to the area. I currently work in IT sales and I have a wonderful husband and two pretty adorable children ages 4 and almost 2. I’m also the owner of Julia’s Just Desserts which I started in February of 2020 in Moncks Corner, South Carolina but now Julia’s Just Desserts is a home bakery located in Hutto, TX. Since I’ve moved to a new area I want to grow my clientele again, I had a great customer base in South Carolina that kept me busy and I would love to do the same here. I absolutely love being part of someone’s celebration. You might think oh she’s just a baker but I really do feel honored every time a customer picks me to help them celebrate their special occasion. One customer said something that stuck out to me…that my cake will always be remembered because it was part of their son’s birthday party and it’s in their family album and that just makes me smile. It’s not something bakers really think about all the time but it sticks with me now. In relation to that I also love creating the joy and fun experience with teaching classes. It’s great seeing people of all ages come out to decorating classes to learn something new and just to have fun. I can’t wait to start that here back in my home state. Definitely be on the lookout for my future presales and class schedules, I can’t wait to meet everyone.
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?
It is hard to pick just three but I would say, time management, perseverance, and consistency. If you are starting out or even if you’ve been doing this a while, time management is key! When I first started out, I said yes to every single order and I would go days without sleep trying to make sure I got my work done, my kids fed and taken care of and then get all of my baking orders done. After a while I learned to say no and I learned what my limits were and I do have a pretty good idea of how to manage my time. Now is there still a few times I might take on too much? Yes…but it’s way better than it was 3 years ago.
Perseverance is important because without it, you really aren’t going to get very far in business, especially if you are starting from scratch. You are going to come across a lot of different obstacles in your journey and you’ll need to be able to push past them.
Consistency, whether it be in your terms and conditions, what you charge, or your marketing, make sure to stay consistent. You do not want to be a push over and you want to be clear on your boundaries. Really sit down and figure out your prices and stick to them. Stay consistent with your marketing, a lot of marketing can be done by just having a constant schedule to post on your social media profiles.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
Whenever I feel overwhelmed I usually have to take a step back, take a deep breath and then sit down to figure it all out. I will write everything I need to do and when it’s due down. Then from there I usually group the items by due date and do a reverse timeline. What a lot of people don’t realize with decorated sugar cookies or cakes is it takes more time than just a day to do. So for instance if I have a cookie order due Saturday, I know I need to have it packaged and ready by Friday night so I work backwards to figure out when I need to start this process. Once I have everything broken down and on the calendar, I usually feel better, it comes out as a game plan to tackle everything rather than one big giant mess in my head.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.juliasjustdesserts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliasjustdesserts
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juliasjustdesserts
- Other: TikTok and Threads @juliasjustdesserts
Image Credits
Julia Hatch Sean Hatch
