SWEET BOSS It’s hard to believe that a new year is just around the corner, but it will be here before we know it. At the end of each year, I always take time to reflect on how things went in my business. What did I enjoy? What do I never want to do again? Those types of things. This process helps me to refine my business, and it has allowed me to build a business and a suite of services that I actually enjoy doing. Since I’ve gotten my process down to a science at this point, I wanted to share my steps to help if you’re also looking to refine or reshape your business going into the New Year. REFLECT ON YOUR “WHY.”
Your Ideal
BUSINESS MODEL BY CYDNI N. MITCHELL
Cydni N. Mitchell (a.k.a. Cyd) is a bakery consultant and the sweet business coach behind Sweet Fest®. Based in Atlanta, GA, Sweet Fest® is an online company that supports the business needs of the sweets community in the areas of professional development, marketing, branding, and web design. By trade, Cyd is an accountant and financial analyst with a master’s from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the co-founder of the Sugar Coin Academy, an online business academy for business owners in the baking and sweets industry, and she is also the organizer of The Ultimate Sugar Show, Georgia’s largest annual baking and sweets expo in Atlanta. thesweetfest.com facebook.com/thesweetfest instagram.com/sweet_fest 78 americancakedecorating.com November | December 2021
Most of us in this industry found ourselves in business by accident. We started baking for family or as a hobby, and next thing you know friends and co-workers are offering to pay you for cakes and treats. I call this being an “accidental entrepreneur.” When you’re an “accidental entrepreneur,” it can be easy to be thrown into doing everything because, in the beginning, you’re not sure exactly what you want to do. But when you take on all the orders and do everything, you can find yourself feeling burned out and unhappy because you’re not necessarily doing the things that give you joy or fit your purpose. The first step in creating your ideal business model is to reflect on why you started your business and where you want to take it. Did you go into business so that you could be more available to your family? Was it more about having a creative outlet? Is this a career path that you want to continue in the future? Once you have a clear idea of why you do what you do, make sure to write it down and keep it somewhere that you can easily find.
