207. Baking it Down - Nobody Likes a Party Planner

Summary

Episode 207: Baking it Down - Nobody Likes a Party Planner

Release Date: April 15, 2025
Podcast: Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪
Hosts: Heather and Corrie Miracle

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Introduction

In Episode 207 of Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing, hosts Heather and Corrie Miracle delve into the pitfalls of over-planning in the baking business. Titled "Nobody Likes a Party Planner," the episode humorously explores the challenges faced by perfectionists and serial starters, emphasizing the importance of balancing planning with execution to foster business growth.

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The Dangers of Over-Planning

Heather and Corrie kick off the episode by distinguishing between two types of planners: Perfectionists and Serial Starters. Both, despite their good intentions, can hinder business progress if not managed properly.

Perfectionists

Perfectionists are likened to architects who design luxurious skyscrapers but never open the doors to tenants because the building is never "perfect" enough. Their endless pursuit of flawlessness can delay launches, preventing businesses from generating revenue.

Heather [07:08]: "Perfectionism is a form of laziness because both the lazy person and the perfectionist are never executing."

Serial Starters

Serial starters are akin to individuals who lay numerous foundations for houses but never complete them. They inundate their businesses with ideas and resources without following through, leading to stagnant growth.

Corrie [08:00]: "Serial starters collect and purchase a lot of starter materials but never execute, moving on before the fad ends."

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The Importance of Execution and MVP

The hosts emphasize the concept of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)—launching with the least amount needed to start and then iterating based on feedback. They share personal anecdotes about launching imperfect projects and learning from the outcomes.

Heather [03:11]: "We said, let's get it out the door, and we will fail forward."

Corrie [06:28]: "What if there is a typo? We'll get into it. Don't worry if there's not at least two typos."

By advocating for "launch and learn," they highlight that perfecting a product before release can lead to indefinite delays.

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Strategies to Avoid Being a Party Planner

To combat over-planning, Heather and Corrie suggest several actionable strategies:

1. Accountability Buddies

Partnering with someone who can hold you accountable ensures that ideas are executed rather than endlessly planned.

Heather [21:43]: "Accountability buddy is great because they're still on your side and you can say, hey, what were the roadblocks?"

2. Setting Deadlines

Establishing clear timelines prevents projects from lingering indefinitely in the planning phase.

Corrie [21:53]: "Heather loves her deadline."

Heather further illustrates her use of project management tools to enforce deadlines:

Heather [21:57]: "I have Asana pulled up right here. I actually taught a course on it in the cookie college."

3. Utilizing Project Management Tools

Tools like Asana help keep track of tasks and deadlines, ensuring that ideas progress from conception to execution.

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Flexibility and Adaptation

The episode underscores the necessity of being adaptable in business. Heather and Corrie share experiences of pivoting their strategies based on market feedback and unforeseen circumstances, such as the pandemic.

Corrie [29:27]: "Let's pivot. Oh, this one works a lot better."

Flexibility allows businesses to abandon non-viable ideas and focus resources on what truly works, preventing the stagnation caused by rigid planning.

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Launching and Learning

Heather and Corrie advocate for a proactive approach to launching products and services. They encourage bakers to release offerings, gather feedback, and make necessary adjustments rather than waiting for absolute perfection.

Heather [30:19]: "Launch and learn."

This approach not only accelerates business growth but also fosters a culture of continuous improvement and resilience.

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Conclusion and Final Insights

In wrapping up the episode, Heather and Corrie reiterate that execution trumps perfection. They share final thoughts on maintaining a balance between planning and doing, reminding bakers that:

Heather [32:07]: "Failure is a part of business. You just got to keep failing forward and that's the key."

By embracing imperfect launches and being open to adjustments, businesses can thrive and continuously evolve.

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Notable Quotes

• Heather [07:08]: "Perfectionism is a form of laziness because both the lazy person and the perfectionist are never executing."
• Corrie [08:00]: "Serial starters collect and purchase a lot of starter materials but never execute, moving on before the fad ends."
• Heather [03:11]: "We said, let's get it out the door, and we will fail forward."
• Corrie [06:28]: "What if there is a typo? We'll get into it. Don't worry if there's not at least two typos."
• Heather [21:43]: "Accountability buddy is great because they're still on your side and you can say, hey, what were the roadblocks?"
• Heather [30:19]: "Launch and learn."
• Heather [32:07]: "Failure is a part of business. You just got to keep failing forward and that's the key."

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Final Thoughts

Episode 207 of Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing serves as a valuable guide for bakers navigating the delicate balance between planning and doing. Heather and Corrie effectively illustrate how over-planning can stifle business growth and offer practical solutions to foster a proactive and adaptable entrepreneurial mindset. By prioritizing execution and embracing imperfection, bakers can ensure their businesses not only survive but thrive in a competitive market.

Transcript

[A]

Did we just do this entire podcast?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Are we doing it again? Yes.

[B]

Sometimes you got to go back to the drawing board.

[A]

Sometimes you got to plan. But not too much.

[B]

Not too much. Yes. Well, welcome to the Baking it down with the Sugar Cookie Marketing podcast. We're actually a spin off from a group that is on Facebook. If you haven't joined, please join us in there. We're letting people in at all times. So if you answer the questions, I'm gonna get your body in the biggest thing.

[A]

Oh, I've been pending forever. You didn't answer the questions. Well, I can't seem. Cancel request.

[B]

Yeah, resend it.

[A]

Look at the bottom of your app.

[B]

There's a glitch going on. But there is a glitch.

[A]

It's at the bottom.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Sometimes it's a pop up and if you are a quick clicker, you're not.

[B]

Going to see it.

[A]

So jumping into today's podcast, no one likes a party planner, which I know you think is about Susan Reid, who we also hate. We do. But this is about ideas guys. And if you're wondering who an ideas guys is, go talk to my exes. They're everywhere.

[B]

Listen. I met them and they had the best laid plans of Mason men, but.

[A]

They did not have the best lay plans of women. Which is what brings us to today's podcast. Five topics we just want to cover about the dangers of being a party planner, which is a pun on. Party pooper.

[B]

Party pooper. Heather had a great. What is it? An analogy about skyscrapers, foundations. So go and jump into that because that was genius.

[A]

So we're going to talk about two different types of planning. And the issue with today's podcast, it's not black and white. Typically, planning exists in a gray area where it is healthy. But too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So we are going to talk about perfectionists and serial starters in regards to being planners without execution by them. So we have the perfectionist, which we'll talk about in a minute. They're building a skyscraper. It's a high end luxury skyscraper on the New York City skyline.

[B]

It has the amenities of all amenities, finishes, everything.

[A]

Just stunning. The skyscraper is super high, but they never open, they never let anyone move in because it's still not perfect enough. It can be better.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And then we have the serial starter, the other type of planner who's like, I have all these. Look at the horizon of all my ideas. They're laying foundations. Everywhere there's foundations.

[B]

We got a community of Foundation.

[A]

They said, we are going to build so many ideas. We are going to. So they're laying massive amounts of foundations, but they never complete the homes, and still nobody can move in. And neither of them is right. And now there's this one guy, he's like, I build one home at a time. I lay the foundation. I put a first story in, a second story. I get the. The clients moved in. I get the, you know, people buy the home, and then I add to the home as we go along. And that's who we want to focus on in terms of business. Yes. So let's go back to our list. I got five points to help you prevent you being the party plan approver.

[B]

If you had to. Because we're dividing this podcast into two types of people. Which one are you perfectionist and which one am I?

[A]

Serial Foundation.

[B]

The serial starter.

[A]

So this one, if you've listened to any trendy, like, startup podcast articles, the mvp, the not most valuable person, the most valuable planner. It's the minimum viable product, meaning the least amount. I need to get it out the door just to see how it goes. And we call that launch and learn. So there's the learn, learn, learn, then launch. That's the issue.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We have the person who's like, let's get it out the door. We're going to fail forward.

[B]

Yeah. I want to say, when me and Heather started our cookie classes, we had the ugliest conference room.

[A]

I'll let you know. The MVP, it was the.

[B]

It was 10 people squeezed into a room that baked all day. It was just windows. There was two sides that were actually just windows.

[A]

The room wasn't conducive to the location, the angle of the tv. So we had to do a diagonal setup, which made it weird. Nobody could walk between the tables because there wasn't enough room.

[B]

No.

[A]

But we said, let's get it out the door, and we will fail forward.

[B]

And we're gonna learn from this. Tweak it as we go. Maybe Instead of cramming 12 people in, maybe the room is more conducive to 8 people, and 8 people would have a better time than 12 would.

[A]

Turned out, that was true.

[B]

Here's the thing. We did have to launch it to figure out 12, wasn't it.

[A]

But then you have. The other person was like, let me learn from other people. Awesome. And that's what these Facebook groups are. So good. But Corey said, great point. She was like, I'll see somebody like, how do you teach a cookie class? All these phenomenal answers. Okay, well, how do you secure a venue? All these phenomenal answers. Okay, well, how do you. Like, you're. You're still in the planning stage. You're getting all these decent enough answers to get that MVP out the door, but you don't want to launch because. And I think on the end of both of these is, I don't want to fail.

[B]

I. And that is totally human and totally something that we all suffer from. You can plan so much and be worried about the outcome, so you never launch. You can never be a failure if you never launch something because it was never launched. And you can be like, no, I still get. It's still working on that idea. Still work. Me and Heather work with a dumb. A bunch of different business owners.

[A]

I meant to say a bunch of different. Okay, my.

[B]

My psychology was coming up. So we work with a bunch of different business owners, and we have business owners that have a million ideas. And me and Heather are like, okay, love this. Love where you're going. What do you want us to do with these ideas? And when we say, what do you want us to do? They're like, I don't know.

[A]

I'm still have. I still have some ideas.

[B]

I'm still planning.

[A]

Let's not execute, because what if my ideas change? We had a client, ran a hair salon sign on with them. We require deposit, you know, because product is what you preach.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I said, okay, get that deposit paid and then we'll start. So we do like the preliminary back and forth, deposits paid, then we get to the planning.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Because the planning costs money. Because it takes time. Well, they turned my inbox into a little diary.

[B]

It was a diary.

[A]

Is it a. Corey, this client is just having ideas and. And because they want me to keep a log of them, which I actually had to create a spreadsheet for because there's so many ideas.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We stayed with them with their ideas for years. Never ever made the website. Never ever started the marketing campaign. Finally, I did refund in that deposit because I was like, what you need, which is a bunch of ideas, is. And what we do execute, we're just not cut out.

[B]

We're not there. Yeah. She almost needed, instead of us, a business coach to help wrangle some of the ideas and be like, okay, we're gonna have to say no to that.

[A]

And that person would have spoken to us. Yes. So when I think of MVP in terms of marketing, like, let's get the website up. It's not perfect. It'll have typos in it. But it's up and we're gonna come back to it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And we're gonna fix it and we're gonna add to it. We're gonna make this different. We're gonna change this image. But we've got something up there. And now there's that freeze. Like, but what if there is a typo?

[B]

What if there is a typo?

[A]

At the end of the day, there's a typo. We'll get into it. Don't worry if there's not at least.

[B]

Two typos and something Heather writes. She didn't write it.

[A]

When we launched a website, I think the first iteration of the sugar cookie market. Yes. I said, hey, if you find a typo, I'll give you ten bucks.

[B]

I think people found six typos. $60.

[A]

Cheapest idea I've ever had. But hey, get it out there. And look, we could turn it into a fun game because I know there's typos. Yeah. Horror Baker. But the minimum viable product. What's the least amount of effort you need to get something out the door that still does enough for somebody to pay you? And that perfectionism is going to actually rob from you because it takes your time, which time is money. And then you never execute. So moving on to the two types of perpetual planners, which we talked about. The perfectionist. Yeah. A couple podcasts ago, I heard a quote that perfectionism is a form of laziness because both the lazy person who owns it and the perfectionist are never executing. They never have to do.

[B]

I know. And the perfectionist can be like, no, I'm not lazy.

[A]

I'm planning this.

[B]

At the end of the day, no one's launched. The lazy person has not gone off the couch. The perfectionist has not pressed submit on the couch.

[A]

They've done a bunch of mental mind work. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And they're like, well, the lazy person. Hasn't you created a really dangerous excuse you gave it, huh? Me? No. The perfectionist.

[B]

Yeah. Okay.

[A]

I'm not a perfectionist. I've never done that long. The perfectionist is like, I am working. It has to be perfect. And thus I am actually doing something. In reality, you're doing nothing. You're doing nothing but overthinking, which is over planning. I know. Then you have the serial starter, and Corey said, this one's dangerous because they. They collect, they purchase a lot of the starter materials, lose interest, or the fad has ended.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Move on to the next thing, purchase a bunch of stuff. Fad has ended. Or they Lost interest, move on to the next thing. Now they feel like they're doing just as much work as a perfectionist.

[B]

Yeah, you have so many great ideas, but they're just the foundations of the home.

[A]

I know we hurt some feelings on last week's podcast. You have some potential in a box. That 3D printer. Yeah, that Cricut, that Eddie, everything that's in a box. You are a serial starter because you're not. You're not. You're. You're acquiring the acquisition, the planning. Yeah, but you're not learning and putting out and attempting mvp. Right.

[B]

A lot of times there's a lot of trends that happen in the baking world, whether it be, you know, hot cocoa bombs. Hot cocoa bombs, bro nuts. Target trays.

[A]

Really? Target trays.

[B]

The Taylor Swift, when she was on tour, those things came.

[A]

Yeah, those real quick fads.

[B]

Yeah, the quick fads. So you might be like, oh, right now would be an amazing way to teach Taylor Swift cookie decorating classes. Great. That is a fantastic idea. She's on tour for two years, so you got plenty of time. A lot of people never ended up teaching the class because they're. Well, you know, the set just turned too complicated and it was way too many colors. The venue wasn't going to be.

[A]

I was going to have everyone dress up as Taylor Swift. Like these roadblocks, which I find feels like, well, I'm creating the mvp. You've just moved a bunch of roadblocks into execution. Well, you know, the twins say lower your cost, so I wanted to find a free venue. Okay, dangerous, because you just used us as an accomplice in your lack of execution. What the twins say is, find a cheap place if you can. If it's free, even better. If not, factor that into your prices and get that out the door. Class is our money making season. As we move into, like the December months.

[B]

Starting a serial starter, this is where I fall in. And I'm. I'm realizing it now in my 36th year of life that it is an expensive hobby to start things. It is. Heather knows I'm a serial hobbyist. I got into the mandala paint.in dotting rocks things. Yeah, you dot paint on rocks.

[A]

And it was funny because Corey was like real into it a year ago. And then, yeah, like a couple of weeks ago, you showed back up with your rocks.

[B]

I said, if I don't use this, it will have won.

[A]

The paint had thinned or thickened. Yeah, I know. So Corey's like, my own serial starter has destroyed my ability to make ladybug rocks.

[B]

Ladybug. I'm making them again.

[A]

I said, as soon as I'm finished.

[B]

With the rocks, I'm giving this to another person to take onto there. I love starting. You know, I got was big into let me learn how to write calligraphy.

[A]

Right. And I'll say I'm the perfectionist with the same symptom. I bought an iPad. It's an out of date iPad now. And I was like, I'll take procreate class. I have a Kawaii Cuties class tonight. You do? And I've been taking Arm with Flow, which is free. And the Kawaii Cuties class is only $10. But I've had this iPad since 2017. I know.

[B]

And that was your initial thing, why you got the iPad.

[A]

Cory, if I get this iPad, I'm going to learn how to draw. Yeah, I just started drawing on it this year.

[B]

But here's the thing. At the end of the day, if we didn't use these things, the pain of.

[A]

And I'll say if you can. If you can clone yourself, but the clone is an evil version of yourself. And you name it Corey, you'll have a great break check. Because Corey is a different type of planner than I am. She's a serial starter.

[B]

Serial starter.

[A]

And I'm the perfectionist. So I'm like, well, I'm not gonna do the iPad until the sun, moon, and mars are aligned and then it's a sunny day in spring. And Cory, have like, you've had this iPad for forever and all you do is watch Netflix.

[B]

I want to tell you though, when I brought those dots the other day, the little mandala painting dots, you're like.

[A]

That was again, because Corey's a serial starter. And I'm like, how much? You never know what she's going to pull out of her. What's that? The babysitter that had the deep bag that things were coming out of Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins. I do love me a Mary Poppins bag on Gary Poppins. You just don't know what she's going to pull out of her next thing. She started. So I'm like, you know, whatever happened to this thing? I think you were doing coloring books at one time.

[B]

Listen, the other.

[A]

But I'll say Corey came a couple months ago. I think it was around Christmas. And you gave away your coloring books.

[B]

I did.

[A]

Because you're like, this is a cereal starter and I'm not this person anymore. And that's what Corey said. The issue with the cereal Starter in regards to cottage bakeries. Oh, my goodness. Everyone's doing. What is those cookie carts.

[B]

They're doing that porch pickup where you have the cooler on your porch. And the coolers were being sold at Marshalls for like $150. I saw people, like, suckling them up. They were cute.

[A]

They're making money. If I buy this, I'll make money again. We're in that planning stage, but we never get to the execution stage. And Cory's like, that takes up a ton of resources. The storage, the thought, the plan.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Knowing full well you'll never execute it. Corey's like, it's like the first you bought something, you're not using it, and now you have to sell it.

[B]

I know.

[A]

The front hand slap and the backhand slap because you truly are accepting that you're a serial starter in recovery.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Here's. Aren't I let it go. Like, part of healing is selling it. It feels bad, but it'll feel better on the other side.

[B]

And if you're going to use the selling it as a roadblock, gift it to somebody that will use it. And you know what you're like, but I lost money on it. And you know what? It's getting a new life in a.

[A]

New home that really helps me with my donation. Like, I like this business suit jacket. I haven't gone to a business suit jacket meeting in years. There's somebody who could wear this business suit jacket that's a high quality, never worn, and maybe get their dream job from it.

[B]

Ye.

[A]

Let go.

[B]

The serial starters is easy to fall into because it feels good to start a new idea. You feel like you're moving your business forward, but if you take a step back, you're taking away from an idea that's already been planted, that's growing.

[A]

Right. You're. You're taking some of that energy that's better spent on something that's already out, that's already working for you, and then you're. You're wasting it.

[B]

The worst part of the serial starters with access to social media is they'll post the idea before they've done any of the legwork behind it. So you'll get your audience in this mix messaging kind of thing. We're teaching classes, I'm doing come to you party things. And we'd never execute on them because the idea was there, but the homework behind it never was.

[A]

Someone had asked, they said, hey, you know, I'm kind of new to this in regards to marketing. I want to launch a product. I Think I'll do a couple teasers. And then what do you think I should launch? And I said we're the algorithm hardly is giving us the light of day. I wouldn't even launch the teasers. I just launch.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because what if the teaser. Hey, here's what might be coming. Here's what might be coming later. Like we're not even able to get enough eyes on that for us to be putting it off with teasers. Because remember, only we check our pages directly. Everyone else may happen to catch it in a scroll.

[B]

For sure. For sure. The two types of people. The serial planner and the serial starter.

[A]

The two types are the perfectionist and the serial starter.

[B]

The perfectionist and the serial starter. The two types of posts they'll make in the group can look very similar.

[A]

To each other because the groundwork and it's also very healthy questions.

[B]

They're very great questions.

[A]

Planning. And that's the next planning is good. This is point three. Planning is good. Over planning is not.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So go back to the two types of posts.

[B]

So someone, the perfectionist will say, I want to teach a cookie class. What do I need to do? In the comment section will be everything that they need to get to get started. But I'll see a post from them the next week. I'm planning on doing classes. What do I need to do? And I'm like, I think they asked that last week. There's still so much planning. And then I'll see and I'll scroll back. Let me see. Last year they asked the same question. They've been planning to do cookie classes for years.

[A]

So you want to teach a cookie class. Like I'm like, but you just asked that question. Got phenomenal answers over here. Here you're okay because you're still in that planning stage. The planning stage feels like growth. It feels like moving your business forward. In reality it can be as long as there's an execution timeline.

[B]

Yeah. And then the serial starter. I'll see them ask, I'm going to teach a cookie class.

[A]

What do. How are bro nuts molds? Cake pops? We doing cake pops? Yeah.

[B]

And I'll be like, oh my goodness. I thought you were teaching classes last time. I know. The. The questions are both fantastic though. But you have to self diagnose which one of these types of people you are.

[A]

And then there's that version of them. That's actually the right form of planning. And that's why I said black and white. Thinking is rough. I'm planning too much and playing too little. We have to have a plan. So planning is good. It is a part of the process. It's the over planning with no deadline, no execution. And that's almost like an internal come to Jesus moment. Right? You know, if you suffer from this, you'll know that you had these ideas and you never executed it and you probably made a bunch of reasons why. But you know what those ideas were. So Corey and I will, you know, and that's why I do like Accountability Buddies.

[B]

And in the cookie college, Heather actually posts a thread. I think you do it each month.

[A]

Each for Thursday at 10:00am yeah. And study buddy thread.

[B]

Study buddy thread. What the study buddy thread is is to find someone who is not you. Unfortunately, when two serial starters get together, it's a serial starter party. But me and Heather are opposite of each other. She said she's the perfectionist, I'm the serial starter. We almost need each other to break check each other. Because Heather was talking about, I want to make a new website and I want to launch these ads behind it.

[A]

Just launch the ads, then take the course on it, like launch, then tweak. And I'm like, well, you know, but. And then I can give her a bunch of, you know, the better the ad set is, the more targeted options, the cheap it'll cost us.

[B]

But right now she's making zero doll with no ads.

[A]

Right?

[B]

And she would continue to make $0 with no ads if she took the class in.

[A]

Also be able to say, but we didn't expend any money. Like I really did optimize it. I didn't optimize it. I never went out the door. I know, I know, but I plan to optimize.

[B]

But Heather comes down and break checks me because I'll be like, hey Heather, I wanna, I wanna start selling things at cookie classes. Okay, I, that was a fantastic idea. Even I had to come tell myself on Sunday. I'm like, yeah, I didn't do any of the work behind that. So we, let's scratch that idea for Ry.

[A]

Like you kind of start building it in like this person's going to say it. So I'm going to say it before they say it that I had this idea and I didn't do it. So I'm going to tell them that I didn't do it and then you can. That's why I always think the accountability buddy is great because they're still on your side and you can say, hey, what were the roadblocks? Were they artificial? Did you bring them in so you didn't have to execute or were they legitimate and it was proof that that wasn't a viable product.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

I think a lot of this, you know, I love that, you know, we're not unique. Yeah. It's been problem we've had. Somebody else has had and discovered a solution to it. We can implement that solution if we want. If we don't, we can start for sure.

[B]

For sure.

[A]

So planning is great. That's why the sugar cookie marketing group exists for that planning side. But over planning is not great.

[B]

Yeah. And they lie in both the best of intentions. So it's really hard to be like, you are bad.

[A]

It's kind of one of those dangers when you're so close to right that wrong kind of looks. Right.

[B]

Yeah, I know.

[A]

Right?

[B]

I know. No one can look at you and be like, you're a bad business owner. You're technically not. Like, you do need a plan in place. You don't need plan so many of them, but you also don't need a plan for five years.

[A]

Well, Cory and I are a hit pan aas.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Right. So we're saying, like, don't buy the next thing until the one you have is completely gone.

[B]

So funny. My husband was like, why do you. Why do you have this random hair thing and this shirt out on the counter? I was like, oh, I actually, me and Heather went to the mall and instead of buying things, we ended up shopping each other's closets. So for this hair product, she's going to give me an essential oil. And for this shirt, I'm getting three shirts in return. He's like, you guys are weird. But no one spend money.

[A]

Someone. I almost thought on a Saturday at mom's house, we could have a garage sale. Everyone brings 10 items they don't want to see if they could exchange with somebody who brought 10 items that they do want. Right. And then you can, like, shop it around and then maybe find something you would actually like. It's funny. I said to my little sister who's obsessed with blushes, oddly, I said, can you go find me in your collection a blush you don't like? She came down with six products. And I said, I only asked for one. And I offered to pay for it, but she was like, but I don't use these. And it makes me feel bad that I don't use them. So can you take them?

[B]

And that's people who are the serial starters with me.

[A]

We suffer because that's a second backhand. Corey's like, buying the thing and not using it first. Backhand having to get rid of it and acknowledge that you failed with it. Yeah. Second backhand.

[B]

Yeah. That's very hard pill to swallow. If I never get, if I never start marketing. I have these apples. They were from Target. They're these plastic apples. They are getting a new home. This year for teacher appreciation day I had the best idea. Like I would fill these up with different types of cookies and it would be so cute. At the end of the day the idea was great and I stocked up on the apples. I never sat down to cost out what it would be to fill these apples with enough stuff that someone would want to buy them but at a price point that someone would want to buy them. So I've had these apples in a storage bin for now two years and I have to come to grips with. You either have to kiss that apple goodbye or give them to your own teachers during teacher appreciation. And you know, it's hard to say that was a good idea. That didn't work out.

[A]

Yeah. And they are great ideas and they felt great having ideas. It felt great acquiring the tools for the idea if it didn't exit the room, if the idea is still in the cranium, if the apples are still in the bin, still hanging on the free tree, you've got to say that that was an it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I had the best of intentions. I'm going to clear out, donate, recycle and I'm going to start kind of what we're doing with these hit pan things. I'm going to have an idea and I will not have a new idea until this one is fully executed or laid to rest.

[B]

Right. And then same with the perfectionist. I'm not going to start something new until this is executed. Here's the thing. You gotta execute it.

[A]

So I think a great way to do this. Accountability buddy. And a timeline, not an ambiguous one. Okay.

[B]

I want to say an account. So you have to say I can't start a new idea till this idea is done. The perfectionist needs. You have to start a new idea by this date because the other one.

[A]

Is executed on if it was acknowledged that it wasn't. Right. And they dress great. But the deadline. So Cory and I'll be like, when are you going to get this done.

[B]

By Heather loves her a deadline.

[A]

I got to put a deadline. I like project management software because it kind of forced the hand.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I have asana pulled up right here. I actually taught a course on it in the cookie college. And the people who know know, they're like asana is it?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because you have to look at your timeline every time you log in. Like I can see. And then every, like I look at the calendar view. Right. So they had these little tiles of what I said I was going to get done. If you don't get it done, you can't check it off. You can slide it to the next one. But those I'm carrying my ideas with me because we have to move to the next calendar. Then I can say, you know what? It wasn't this one, wasn't it? I'm going to cut you loose, my little guy. I'm going to move you away from my calendar and a little narwhal will be disappointed in me. So I do like project management software because project managers need deadlines.

[B]

Yeah. Heather loves a electronic project manager device. I have old fashioned pen and paper stuff around me.

[A]

Let's say you cover that little paper with another paper. Then you don't have a deadline no more. Yeah.

[B]

No, I have it where it says right on this board and I wrote each one down on my to do list and then my, my sales as though I still use job form. I write it down and I pull that paper off. Here's my next to do.

[A]

It has to get to done however you want. That accountability. I like Asana. I get an email saying here's your seven overdue tasks girl, what you doing? And then Corey will use pen and paper. We do meet every Monday to go through what those deadlines are and say hey, does this need to be extended? This need to be tabled? Does this need to be just laid to rest out back or does this need to be executed on.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then. Okay, well I have a lot of ideas which ones to execute on. Which one will make you money easiest. I know. Mvp, get it out the door, move on to the next guy.

[B]

The problem a lot of bakers get stuck on is ego is tied into it because this is works of art, you know and you want to have the biggest, better, best thing that gets most likes.

[A]

I don't want the works of shopping cart.

[B]

Yeah. It's not always the thing that's the easiest to sell. So you could be. I see a lot of bakers get stuck here. I want to teach a class but I want to do it for intermediate. This is the.

[A]

Cory and I talk about this one a lot because intermediate classes cut off a lot of the I'm bored on Saturday. Where do I go?

[B]

I know now you have niched your audience down to someone who's trying to learn the craft, right?

[A]

That's training. If you worry about training your audience. Intermediate class. Okay, so Corey and I, you know, we talk about it like, hey, for the cookie class, kids, folks want intermediate classes. What do. And Cory's like, it's just not our mvp. It's not the one we know that works. It may be better for another creator to create. It's not gonna be for us, the six basic cookies and the four basic icing colors. That's gonna be.

[B]

That's what I know works. That's what I know. We could. It's the cheapest thing that appeals to the most amount of people. It might not be the coolest, bestest. Oh, my God, look at it.

[A]

But it's the mvp. It's the idea out the door that works. And we can keep wash, rinse, and repeat. And it's still working.

[B]

What I see other bakers do is say, I want to really offer an intermediate set. We can be like, you know, at the end of the day, people want something fun to do on the weekends. So you want to cater to the most amount of people. That's our marketing brains talking about that. When the person who wants to say, I want to cater and do a difficult set, there's so much one you've niched down your market. It's so much smaller.

[A]

Well, Cory and I will say, why teach the intermediate class when the beginner one was getting booked out? Is it ego or is it strategy? It.

[B]

And you got to. What we don't want to do, and this falls into the serial planner, is you had 25 people in your beginner class, and only one person said, oh, I would like something a little bit more difficult.

[A]

And you said it. They indicated, they promised. But then you ex. You take this entire concept and rebirth it. All the time and effort and energy, and maybe they don't sign up, and.

[B]

Maybe they don't sign up. But you had 24 people who were happy with the basic set, but you only heard that one who said, I would like an intermediate class. You take all the time and effort, make the intermediate class. You actually do come to fruition. You are. You said, all right, we're open for signups. No one signs up. You haven't done the most viable product.

[A]

And that's. My next point is intentional roadblocks. I think a byproduct of perfectionism or the serial starter is I'm so close to the point of execution, I need to build a roadblock so I don't.

[B]

Have to say that your boyfriend one time had A website. He was getting ready to launch, and he. And you're like, all right, what's the launch day?

[A]

I said, yeah, we. You know, he had lost his job and he was going to start his own company. And I was like, awesome, this is great. You know, let's get the website up. Well, yeah, but I got to do the photo shoot first. Well, it was an. It was a information systems company. We did that.

[B]

They really, truly needed to be the.

[A]

So I was like, okay, you know, I have a decent enough camera. No, no, no. I gotta get it done professionally. Okay, Fair. I'm not that good of a photographer. But, like, I was like, for what? Well, I need it for the about page. Well, you don't need that to launch. How much does a photographer cost? What's $10,000? Yeah, 10,000. Like, these are roadblocks. You don't need that to get out the door. Sure. When you start producing income, do whatever you want.

[B]

It feels good to sit in that space where no one said no to you. You're not a failure. You're a planner.

[A]

You're a planner.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Nobody gets an F in planning.

[B]

No. You could be the best player ever.

[A]

And you know, that dude's still planning.

[B]

He's still planning to this day.

[A]

Been broken up for years.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And the website's still not.

[B]

I know. Heather and me, love, we will launch something unperfected, and it will fail. It will fail. Yeah, it'll fail. And I'll be like, oh, the only embarrassing part, truly, is to me and Heather. But if she fails with me, I'm like, oh, we fail together.

[A]

Yeah. I think we launched the sugar cookie marketing website in 2021. 2020, something like that. And I know there's typos on it, so I said to people, like, hey, 10 bucks if you can find a typo. And I paid out in Starbie's cars.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And don't worry, they found them. Yeah. But what if I'd be like, I can't put the website up until everything's perfect.

[B]

I think we'd still be waiting because there's always something better you could do. Heather was talking about our website and. And she was talking about my mixing bowl website.

[A]

She was like, I would love to.

[B]

Have a video of you on there. Yeah, I'd love a video, but I don't see me doing a video anytime soon. Let's get that bad boy.

[A]

So get it up. Add the video later. Get up the minimum that Google needs to see to rank. Add more to it later.

[B]

Yeah. Because if you waited to get a video done, you had to get it. You had to get a good day, a good location. You had to get the photographer, the videographer, the edits. Your website could have been ranking all during that time.

[A]

And you could have come back and tweaked it, because you can always do that.

[B]

Yeah, but a lot of people wait because it's not exactly the way they envisioned it and you wasted so much time. Yeah.

[A]

My almost second to last point, Be flexible. Corey and I did not set out in 2015 when we started rumors about this. We're not. We did not say, hey, we're going to start a company that helps people sell sugar cookies. No, actually we wanted to help tow companies specifically.

[B]

I was like, towing trucks.

[A]

Yeah, tow trucks. Yeah, right. So we met with a guy and he was like. So we're like, yeah, we made a website where we tell this guy like, hey, we met at his office. He was like, you guys don't understand the towing industry. And we're like, yeah, you guys steal cars from people. He was like, yeah, everybody. Okay, you do get it before. So then we're like, okay, you know, we tried it. We knocked on a couple doors. It wasn't there. But we're like, hey, we knocked on a couple of those doors. But these doors answered small service based businesses. Let's pivot over there. But what if we had still. What if we're still trying to get tow companies to sign up for websites?

[B]

And you can look at it, be like, heather, Cory, you fail. Failed. You failed at the toe touch.

[A]

We failed on toe tucks, thank goodness. And we failed forward because, like, that one isn't landing. Let's not spend the rest of our lives trying to make it work. Let's pivot. Oh, this one works a lot better. Okay. A whole pandemic. Let's pivot.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And let's move forward. And one thing you can do and you can kind of see that pandemic was a big line in the sand for people to be like, well, I'm still working on it.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Or put laid it out to rest. That wasn't it. The pandemic showed that. And then I moved into this other thing. So be really flexible. Because. Because the other side of planning is that we fall in love with the idea. We won't let it go if I let it go. So we're like, plan, plan, plan, plan, plan. Oh, it's not working. Plan, plan, plan, plan, plan. And we're just, oh, he left before. It's too hot. For him, these aren't, you know. Yeah. You're gonna be the only one. Okay.

[B]

Every time you touch the table, it does look like I'm in an earthquake.

[A]

Yep. You. Okay, so be flexible. And a lot of times your market will kind of indicate. Turn here, take a right there. Take a left. Left there. Do that. It doesn't mean your plan wasn't right. It means your plan is doing what it's doing. When you execute, you're able to tweak. So again, launch and learn.

[B]

Launch and learn.

[A]

Figure out what's not working. The last one is the baker who adapts and launches while tweaking will always outperform the polished baker who never exits the gate.

[B]

There's some Polish bakers out there. Their photos, perfection. It looks like they've got the best venue that was catered to cookie making. And it looks like a dream world of cookie decorating. And they look amazing. If I'm waiting for that, I'll be waiting a heck of a long time.

[A]

Right. But the baker who. Okay, so everyone wants to teach a good class, right? Why not? Everyone talks about how successful they are. Huge margins. Okay. You got the one baker who's like, yeah, I'm teaching it to four in my basement.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Barely. Just figuring it out as I go. And then you have this baker's like, I'm securing the perfect venue as the sun cascades across the delicious light.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then that person's like, I still. I still planning. I'm still trying to find the perfect venue, trying to find the perfect set. I'm trying to look perfect myself. But that baker who is doing the four in their basement, she's now teaching 20.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

She's now about to get a private class. She's going to get a contract with the winery.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But this perfect baker is still planning that one who is like, yeah, it's pretty good. We'd love for it to be better. We'll get there. When we get there, that baker will make more money than the baker who is perfect.

[B]

It is. It's so true. The person who was like, if I can just perfect my photography before I go to sell. Listen, at the end of the day, something is better than nothing.

[A]

Something is better than nothing. But they're like, but something better is better than nothing. No, no. Something is better than nothing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Something that gets better as we keep doing it is also better than nothing.

[B]

I want to say, if you look back, my photography has gotten better over the years.

[A]

It has.

[B]

The things that I sold back then and the photos I took, I'm like, that was a little ugly.

[A]

But if Corey waited until today to finally make her face, look at the.

[B]

Five years I would have skipped over.

[A]

The big takeaway of perfection in the serial starter. These two things is they just don't want to fail.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

If I keep starting new things, there's potential. I can be good at one of them. And if I don't launch this one thing, it never has to not work.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And failure is a part of business.

[B]

It is. It truly is.

[A]

You just got to keep failing forward and that's the key. And you're not. And it feels gross to fail. It feels gross to plan something and it not work out. But. But if you repurpose that in your head, if you re badge it as in, I did not fail, you know, Edison, I just learned a hundred ways it doesn't work. And I know he didn't have the.

[B]

Light bulb, but I did cakesicles for the first time. You folks out there who are doing cakesicles, I don't know, you're blessed by the Almighty. I was going through the cakesicle stuff that I bought and I said, this needs a new home because it's not my home. I made a batch, they were horrendous. Stressed me out. I said, you know what? That I made one batch.

[A]

Uhhuh.

[B]

I failed at becoming a cake sickler. But that's okay, cuz I can close that chapter, rehome the new things. It's not taking up any space anymore, but I need to stay on track with what I'm good at.

[A]

But someone's gonna be like, well then why not lean into being okay, you can fail forward. You could be that. And Cory's gonna say, is my joy here? Is my margin here? Is my strategy here? Or is this going to. Did I dilute what I'm good at? And that's a part of that planning. That's good. And that double edged sword where too much of it actually takes food off the table.

[B]

Right. Thank God I missed the bronuts. I let that wash right over me.

[A]

You know, hot cocoa bombs, bro nuts, any Disney movie that you know, you just got to move quickly, you got to be flexible, you got to be that. How little can I invest and still get it out the door while still looking professional enough not to get somebody upset with me. You see, that's a balancing act. So you just gotta focus on that moving into stupid card trade text questions. Nice.

[B]

How many questions do we have?

[A]

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. If you guys Want the chance at a stupid card tray? The text in numbers. 571-55-65644. One more time, it's 571-55-65644.

[B]

So there's no such thing as a stupid question. But the reason why we call this segment the stupid this questions, there's this stupid car tray. It's because we are sponsored by the stupid car tray. The stupid car tray actually evens out your front passenger seat. So whether if you're taking a cake to a location, you're taking cookies to a destination, it levels out that seat so none of your cookie details get squished on your way there.

[A]

Back to the planning of this. When I posted Stupid Cartray who was vendee blending this last year, and I said, hey, you know, I posted a picture, they sent me a graphic and I made an announcement in the group, you can use code sugar for 15% off. That's stackable. But I posted and someone's like, my husband had this idea. Yeah, he's a planner.

[B]

He's a planner.

[A]

Stupid card tray is an executor. And that's why stupid card tray is able to sponsor. And you know what?

[B]

Stupid card tray has three versions. And you know why they have three versions?

[A]

Because every time they're tweaking and that's the big takeaway. Stupid card tray is an insane idea to me. However, it is highly functional and they keep getting it better and better. I know. Had they waited for V3 before they ever launched V1, there'd be V0.

[B]

If I choose one. Were they the first person to or were they the last person to?

[A]

If you pick the first person, it would be the person that texted in yesterday.

[B]

Okay, then.

[A]

Oh, hey guys. She's getting crazy. Get a little crazy. 909 area code. 909.

[B]

That's a Wyoming if I ever heard one. 909, Idaho.

[A]

Louisiana. Oh, I was out there. Riverside and San Diego. I've never been to California. Hi, ladies. I taught my first paid class this past weekend and it went great. Look at you executing. Wow.

[B]

Good job.

[A]

I do have a question, you guys. Guys. Oh. Do you guys do two consistencies in your cookies? I did a 15 second consistency and it seemed that was crusting over too fast. So the lady got a lot of uneven. It still turned out, but it was pretty cute.

[B]

Instead of doing two consistencies, we only do one consistency. But what I'll do is actually do a loose flood. And if you find that it's crusting over, that's the Meringue powder that's doing that. I would take some meringue powder out of your recipe and it will allow it to crust slower, give more time, even it up.

[A]

So Corey and I, trial and error. Yeah. We learned that too thick of a flood created a lot of upsetness in the class participants because they were like, you know, some of these cookies are kind of large surface area. Right. So they, they see the large surface area and they think this will be easier.

[B]

They're. They're going so slow. The tip is barely cut. But they don't want to cut it anymore. So they're taking 52 years to cover.

[A]

The surface of the cookie. And then I'll have Cory dementia. Like, look at how fast she's laying this piping. Because it gives the class attendees a better experience. While you may not decorate that cookie with that consistency, the people that are working slow because it's their first time, we find that a very loose flood. Not as to have runoff on the cookie, but I'd rather that than frustration because it's cresting too fast.

[B]

One time we did do a class that I used a little bit thicker consistency and they were very frustrated with their end result. So what I said, instead of giving them what I actually, actually used to mine, we're going to do a little bit looser and we're going to turn the temperature down of the room.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And what that does, when you make the temperature colder, it allows it to crust over faster between the steps.

[A]

In our membership, the cookie class gets typically all the flood consistencies are the same to be easier on the baker prepping. Every once in a blue moon, we'll do one icing bag that has a different consistency and that'll be a detail bag. And I'll make a note of that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

To both the bakers and the class attendees. Like, hey, these are. And it kind of like it's a great, great trial by fire to learn about consistencies. But you're going to see us always lean to that looser.

[B]

The classic class kits always for flood. There's no extra outline.

[A]

You're.

[B]

You're decorative like I do.

[A]

MVP buddy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The minimum amount of icing bags because two. Bless you guys who do the two consistencies of the same color. I want to go home and eat lunch. But the rest of you guys, if you want to teach them. So 909, if you email me, [e-mail] with the rest of your phone number, I'll hook you up with Phil to get that Stupid card. TR if you did not win, you're still able to enter in next week or use code Sugar to get that discount. 15% stackable. Moving on. Not a winner. But first to my heart, first of all, thank you for all you do. I look forward to listening to your podcast each week and will often go back and relisten to old episodes. One episode I've returned to a few times is on copy. I often struggle to think of what to say when posting pictures of my work. I would love it if you created another episode it on copy to advertise like customs versus pre sales.

[B]

Oh, I love that.

[A]

That's a great idea. I write that down as a thing. But to give you guys some context on what copy means, that's the caption. Copy is any written or print material used to sell something. Yeah, so when she's saying the copy, she's saying Mike. The caption goes with the picture. I post now. We always talk about it. It's easy to be like, love doing the set and you post something. I'd rather that than post nothing for sure. But there's better versions of copies. So the copywriters, they write copy. I know. Jobs, a whole industry, they'll come up with these copy formulas. Now it's like a plug and play. Like, what are those things where they. It says add a noun and then you put the word and it's supposed to make some fun.

[B]

I know what it is, but I don't know what you call it.

[A]

I almost think it starts with E. Do you think AI could get it for me? Let me talk to Gemini. What is that game where there's like blanks?

[B]

Did you type the word light blank?

[A]

I like to. Like to talk to me like at me, like blanks. And you add the noun and it makes a funny story. You know, they always had a mad. I know, I know.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Do you think AI is going to get it? No, said. Just a sec. You're thinking of Mad Libs. Mad Libs is a phrasal template word game where one player prompts the other for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story before reading it, often resulting in a humorous story. Uh, that's the same thing with not as fun. Same thing with copy formula. So the Aida formula says with the first a cre, get attention. With the I create interest. With the D create desire. And with the final A create in action, which is telling them how to buy that. So, yeah, we can add that. Hyde Park, Massachusetts to the podcast list and kind of delve in deeper. Like let's pick like pick three formulas and then we'll write copy for them. One for customs and one for presents. Love it. Last but never least, this is a text from Houston. Hi, my favorite twins.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Thank you. This is. Oh, newlywed Ashley with Apple bakery in the Houston area. Oh, hey. I've accumulated a really large email list over the last three years. How often do you recommend going through and deleting contacts that aren't opening emails? That's. That's an interesting strategy. I've actually never manually gone through and done that. I'm not opposed. Especially if you're reaching the limit of a free plan.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I think she's probably using something like mailchimp. It'll give you a star rating off of that email recipient.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And how they interact with your emails. So if you're just removing them, if.

[B]

They don't open any of them, if.

[A]

There'S no additional cost and you're not heck bent on your open rate, maybe I think your energy is better spent somewhere else. Unless you're at the 500 limit, which I'm sure Mailchimp's always trimming that one down.

[B]

Yeah, for sure.

[A]

And then you have to go to a paid plan. Then I'd try to find me 100. Odds are you probably landed in their spam filter. Or it's an email that they never. I. I sign up for emails to get the 20% off and I do it through this email I never use. Yeah, don't cut me off. But I really just did want the 20% off that one time.

[B]

It was so funny.

[A]

I did get an inquiry from someone and she, her email was party of five.

[B]

Party of five, Lewis. And I was like, oh, this is her.

[A]

When she signs up, when she gets reservations, you're she not going to be opening. So when I go through, there's apps that you can run an email list through. They're called scrubbers. I think Bright Verify is one I used to use and you can run an alist through there and it'll say if the email is no longer active. Great way to trim out that. But she's saying if I know that they're never opening it, should I delete that? If you did, I would never tell you not to. I think that's a little time consuming. Again, I would do it if you're really conscious about your open rate. But if your open rate's decent, it's on the industry average. I wouldn't focus on it. I have 100% open rate. But I only email two people. It's also not braggadocious like wow, great to say that, but two people ain't it.

[B]

It's your mom and your sister.

[A]

So for example, the Wednesday Wednesday newsletter emails to about 8200. Yes, only about probably 1500 of those don't make the inboxes for whatever reason. It doesn't make it. So that means 6,000 reached an inbox and of that 4,000 maybe opened and then the clicks will be in the hundreds. Right. So am I gonna go through 8,200 people out, which ones aren't emailing and delete them? I'm not over my plan usage yet and I'm happy with the open rate. Yeah, so no.

[B]

So I'd put something, maybe write a blog post over doing something like that. Something that has.

[A]

Yes, put your time and efforts. I do like the question though. It is an interesting strategy. If you are on a free plan. I would do that but you're dealing with only 500 emails at that point. So she said I got a big old chunky one with three years worth of emails which is great. I would just continue doing.

[B]

Yeah, great question though. Great question.

[A]

Okay, last one and then we'll move on on you guys. I just finishing. I just finished listening to the Expound and then Expand podcast and I'm thinking to myself how in the world did you get into my house and see my cookie closet filled with boxes I bought in an online auction? An online auction. That sounds fun. The price was great, but I did not fully realize they were already assembled and how much room they take out. Yeah, they do that sounds she said. The target crates that I bought on sale at half price two or maybe three years ago, thinking I would paint them a different color to match a season of holiday. I was planning to sell cookie packages for it. By the way, I also have several mugs that I was planning to do cookie bouquets with as well. I laughed out loud when you talked about the backers. My scratch and dent order arrived just this morning. I already had white, black, marble and walnut. I got another white and a concrete. My thought process was on having the most versatile ones and having options as I take pics of my cookies which I have often forgotten and only remember to when the cookies have left my position. I too have several bins of cookie cutters that I've not used yet. I tend to gravitate to the same group of cutters as my core base and then may maybe print cookie cutter if there's Something in particular I need. Yep. I have a bamboo mini. It was a gift from my husband. I will say that is one purchase I really do like having. I'm also trying to figure out where you got the superpower of being able to know exactly what I was thinking when I bought those boxes and crates and mugs, et cetera. Everything you said on that podcast was exactly my thought as I made those purchases.

[B]

Here's the thing. You're not alone. And I know that one.

[A]

That podcast.

[B]

I was talking to myself in it.

[A]

So I could replay it to myself. Yeah.

[B]

And it's just learning, you know, what you need, what you don't need. Like I said, I have. I said in my. I posted an Instagram reel. And I said I've collected a lot of shred over the years. A lot of colorful, nice, pretty shred. And now I'm going to use it with reckless abandon and just get to the white. Get back to just the white shred. That works just as well for absolutely every order. Is it going to be colorful?

[A]

No.

[B]

Is it going to be cheaper and less ways to store it? Absolutely.

[A]

Right. It's that again, that gray area. There's some things you need for better packaging, and it's not everything. There's some planning.

[B]

You're a serial planner.

[A]

I've heard this once. Not applied to, like, cookies or business. Like, we fall in love with the person we want to be.

[B]

That's who I am.

[A]

But that's not who we are.

[B]

No.

[A]

Right. It's who we would like to be. And you can't fall in love with potential. Right. So don't purchase potential.

[B]

I tell you, you can't fall in love with men potential.

[A]

What do you think the book was that I was reading? So that is our texting questions. If you guys want the chance to win the same people who didn't win this weekend, your texts are red. You can text in next week. It still counts. 571-56-5644. Or if you're listening on Spotify or our podcast player, Buzzsprout, there's a podcast dot com. There's just a button you can click and send in that message code sugar@the stupidtech.com website to get 15% off stackable.

[B]

Nice. Love my stupid card tray. Next up, the cookie college.

[A]

Tell us what you've been working on.

[B]

So we're actually. We just dropped the cookie class kits. And if you didn't know, the cookie college gets everything that we offer. They get the cookie college courses, which there's how Many courses now.

[A]

Over 80.

[B]

Over 80 courses. They get a private Facebook group, a private podcast, which we'll be filming after this, and they get all of our memberships. So the cookie class kits, the digital downloads, the baker's business basics, and the $2 transfer club.

[A]

And it's more than just that. You get the challenges, you get the mastermind, the community freebie, for sure.

[B]

Yeah. And that's why we love the cookie college group. It's a little bit more relaxed. We can tackle some questions that maybe the main group couldn't handle because, you know, they'd be like, run to the next customer.

[A]

Well, consider this. It's the only group we run that we allow sales in. Every third Thursday, a post goes up. We call it the sales thread.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You can go in there and you can tell something. I had somebody who signed up for the $68 or $76, whatever their membership was at the time, and then sell an eddy printer for $3,000. So they were like, this is a. And so if you're like, hey, I do have that stuff in a box. That's not who I'm as a person, I want to get rid of it. The twins don't allow sales. Invest in the cookie college. Get all those added benefits. Make sure you use them, because we want to be that person. And then sell off your dough sheeter. I have people selling dough sheeters all the time.

[B]

Yeah. Cookie college courses are. If you're wanting to grow and streamline your business in 2025, those courses will help you. There's one about how to set up a newsletter. A lot of times, you know, reach on social media is so hard to get. I'm. You're. We're like, we're barely getting any views. If you want to bypass that ending up in someone inbox is the last chronological place that you can end up. Where you send the email is where it shows up.

[A]

Ashley, who texted in to the podcast, has been in the cookie college, I think, for as many years as she's had a newsletter. And now you can say, because everyone. I said, well, I have no one to send this to. She's been doing this for years now. She has so many. She's willing to trim people.

[B]

I know. So. So setting up a newsletter is the next biggest thing. It's a great avenue for your business.

[A]

Logical. Different access. Not competing with the buzzy story about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. You're able just to get in that inbox of people.

[B]

Yeah. And then we talk about strategies of what to include in your newsletter to make it want to be opened.

[A]

But also I'm talking about project management software, Asana. There's a course on how I use Asana to really keep myself in check with my ideas.

[B]

Right, Right. Great. There's so many courses in there. If you're looking to grow your business in 2025, if you want to use the J months, as we go into the summer months, the lull months, June and July, that's the time to plan. Yeah.

[A]

And that. And that means execution is September, October, November. Yeah.

[B]

So get you a study buddy on the study buddy thread and let's plan right now for a successful end of the year. Quarter four is the make it or break it Men. Men and the boys separated during quarter.

[A]

Quarter four. Today is April 15th, the accounting day. Yes. So I was on the phone with the accountant late last night and he was talking about. And I was like, yeah, in the cookie world, the super bowl is December and leading up to that are the playoffs and scouting is the jmons. Yeah.

[B]

So if you want to, we love to help you grow your business in this quarter and going into quarter three, into quarter four. Um, it's the.

[A]

Here's what I can promise you. If you sign up, we help you with planning and you choose to execute, which I tell them all the time. If you sign up is one thing. If you take classes, one thing. If you input, put, implement is another thing. I guarantee I'll pay for myself and then some for you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Meaning I can help you earn that money back. The cost to join and then some because the classes implemented produce more income. It does.

[B]

It truly, truly does.

[A]

Only teach you. And Cory and I are very heck bent on this. We only teach you what we also use ourselves.

[B]

Absolutely. And I'm sitting there writing the blogs. Heather says I need 500 more words on it.

[A]

I said, I don't want fluff, I want something. If they read this blog post, they could walk away and make.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which is actually taking us into our sponsors. You can learn more about [e-mail], but our sponsors is what's popping con. Cory and I are speaking on the Tuesday, I think at 10:30. And I told Amy, who's running it, I said I want them to be able to. We can only speak for 45 minutes with a 15 minute Q&A. I said I want them to be able to take this class, leave that next day Wednesday, and make money off of what they learned. So what we're doing is content strategy in local Community groups. Because we all have community groups groups. But not all posts perform. How do we get them to perform? How?

[B]

Well, what are the tips and tricks? The little knowledge and know how that if I make this post I can use it 100%. It's going to be working for me.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So our tips and tricks what to avoid times all the strategy behind a community group.

[A]

45 minutes. Yep. Boop. Cuz she was like, you guys don't sell cake pops with sugar cookie marketing. She's like, but you can sell.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So how can we use that? And that's what we came up with. She said she loved it. So we're on the books.

[B]

Yeah. Cannot wait. That is what is the day for.

[A]

May 4 through 6? We're speaking on the 6th. If you go up there, it's in Kent, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland. If you go there and then you want to stay longer. They have a like a thing at her shop. She has a brick and mortar.

[B]

She's got that coolest packaging for cake pops I ever did see and they are just a monster when it comes to production packaging. She's like in a grocery store now. She is a cake pop truck that she drives around. She's just a wealth of knowledge.

[A]

She was a part of the vending blender this year. Yes, she was. I said to Corey, you know the vendors are great but I always said, whoever this lady it was the first one, I was like, she's got a business shoulder on her head because she.

[B]

Came back to us.

[A]

She got a business head on her shoulder. She got a business shoulder on her head. She had him in both places. She had a business head and a business shoulder. I said, she came back and she gave me a report back on her number. She's like, here was what the expenditure here was. I said, that's what I want. Right? So what's popping Con? I think the code is twins. To save $25, you can do go to what's poppingcon.com and register and that is May 4th through the 6th. Or you can stay that extra day and do it the seventh. That's Sunday through Tuesday and that extra day being Wednesday.

[B]

And the lineup of the people that she has, like cake poppers, like big name cake poppers. Like I see their videos. I'm like, this person has a million followers.

[A]

This person asked her this yesterday and I think she actually added it to check out. Some people in the sugar cookie marketing group were like, hey, are you guys doing a meetup? No, this is the first event. So I Don't think that we're going to do our own meetup. Like we kind of do a cookie con. So I asked her if people who are not attending the con can they go to the mix and mingle event and now it's here.

[B]

No way.

[A]

But it's on. But it says the add on dinner ticket for non registered participants.

[B]

Oh that's nice.

[A]

40 bucks and it will be on Monday evening. So if you did say hey I'm not here I can't stay. I do live in the area. Area sounds like you can come for 40 bucks.

[B]

Let's do it.

[A]

That's the Monday evening dinner at bell tower brewing.

[B]

Oh nice.

[A]

And then Cory and I if you do want to stick around, you can get general admission. It's still 300. You can an extra 25 off code twins I think and that'll be that next day.

[B]

So Heather will make a post today. Tomorrow with the deets.

[A]

I just wanted to get some confirmation. Now they have a bunch of add on workshop as well. Those are 75 external to the thing. You can check that again. It's all under what's popping con.com. nice. And that will be in just a couple weeks in Kent, Ohio. Drivable distance for these two.

[B]

I love me a drivable distance.

[A]

We can say hi to your ex. We will not be saying invite him to the bel we will not be saying hi. Next but never least a cor backers that was referenced in the text in question.

[B]

Backers co rebrand they have rebranded to the backers company. The backers co is a done for you you photography studio in a mini form. It's fantastic. If you've ever seen my photos we're.

[A]

Corey confessed that I bought those 10 foot by 6 foot backdrops. This is for your cookies. This is for your cookies. This is actually storable.

[B]

I know they're my the ones I buy she has a few different sizes for like cake people. I don't do cakes. So the ones that I buy are all 23 by 23 and they are fantastic. The one that I suggest you get first before you dive deep into them there's so many pretty colors that you could actually dive deep into but the white matte finish is the one I grab 92% of the time.

[A]

What would be the code if I didn't want to pay full price but I wanted 25 off of the use.

[B]

Code sugar cookie so she oh my. My thing went out.

[A]

Okay, keep going.

[B]

Yeah yeah.

[A]

Use code sugar saves you. We're going to do this as the hot summer months.

[B]

You're going to have to just put us our just our overlay faces as we talk.

[A]

I'll put some for that with the.

[B]

Little, you know, there was a little mountain y. So cute. Code Sugar cookie saves 25%. They've always just offered 20% off. They've recently changed it to 25% off to give bakers a little bit of a break. A bake break. A bake break baking break.

[A]

That was code sugar cookie. The cake pop on was twins. The bakey bake code is twins. Bakey bake is royal batch. If you wonder what we use at cookie class, Cory's finally gifted it.

[B]

You know, their little, little extra gift is a two ounce patch of rowan.

[A]

Nice. Because we have a class on Saturday.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

We're actually teaching the cookie class kit from 2023. Jumping into Easter. Somebody signed up for our kitty cute kitties class.

[B]

Oh, they did. I cannot wait to teach that. That'll be the first time we teach that one. No, we did not.

[A]

So cute. We didn't win. So we are. Oh. So the meringue powder again, that question, the texting question was like, hey, what flood consistency do you use Cory for royal batch bake a bake because it gives a little bit more flexibility to the class attendees. The better they feel that they did.

[B]

The more likely they'll come back.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

Yeah. Leave a five star review. Be less frustrated.

[A]

So if you're like, well, I don't like this icing because it crossed over too fast. Let me take it to the cookie class. I would suggest not to because you want them to have that. I did better than I thought I would experience.

[B]

And if you wanted to, I feel like something happened. Jeannie's dreams is having a little delay in her.

[A]

I saw like a shortage of something.

[B]

So if you wanted to test it out. Heather asked me to post my recipe.

[A]

Yeah, I know. You adjusted technically.

[B]

Yeah, I just adjusted her recipe a little bit. I can post that in the baking.

[A]

It's the thing. Who was it? Wilton's getting it.

[B]

Wilton's is getting.

[A]

Yeah. So now it's the.

[B]

Where can you find it?

[A]

Where can you find. So if you were looking to test something out, might as well do it. Yeah, that's code twins at checkout last not least, actually. I think they're gonna start talking about Freddie here soon. Jennifer said she was going to send me some talking points. I haven't seen that guy in real life, but I know some of you have. But Eddie, the edible food printer is a Direct to food printer.

[B]

Yeah, I actually just ordered. I. I'm almost.

[A]

I was like. Was like, what is this $3,000 charge? And I was like, we gave one away.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I said, if it's 3000, it's Eddie.

[B]

I was getting close. Not close, because the guy can print on an empty print printer cartridge for. Yeah, no, the man needs to print on money. Eddie can print on, like, an empty printer cartridge for a while, but I didn't risk it for the biscuit, so I actually ordered one. It came so fast.

[A]

Don't worry. The accountant asked me.

[B]

It came so fast.

[A]

Eddie is a printer, so it gets printing colors. You know, I was bragging about this brother's printer.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And the printing subscription blue doesn't work. Are you kidding? Yeah. To email him like, you're. You're my 25 limit paper. I can't get green coming out of here. That's hilarious.

[B]

I've wondered. There was gonna have to be a flaw in that thing. Of course. Eddie is an edible printer. He prints directly on food. He uses edible food coloring that looks like a printer cartridge.

[A]

Like, now here's a confusing word. It's not a printer that prints on edible paper. It prints on the food.

[B]

Yeah, on the food. So the royal icing top, instead of bringing your airbrush out and it, like cursing the day it was born, but.

[A]

You got out of the box. You did.

[B]

I hate bringing it up. Eddie will actually print directly onto the surface of the cookie, and that's what I use him for. I had an order last week. It was so complex. It was a flamingo astronaut. It was a school mascot.

[A]

I think you sent me a picture because you asked me to read the background. I did.

[B]

Yeah. And I told her, I said, you know what? I know what I can do and what I can't do, and I'm not going to make that flamingo look good at the price that you want him to look like. So I said, but what I can offer you is I can print him onto the surface of cookie and add a few star details so it looks like he's in space using royal icing. And she loved that idea.

[A]

I know we're coming to the end of the podcast and I. I don't like client bashing. I could tell people, like, at the end of the day, clients. Clients aren't always right. But in the business strategy and what a 50,000 member group needs to do, we just need to have not client bashing comments. But I know some of those people are cooking right here. I'm Going to do client bashing because nobody can reply to me. I was looking in the Eddie group, Eddie printer users group on Facebook if you want to see Eddie in action. And somebody had sold printed cookies and made it very clear these would be printed using a direct to food printer. And the client was like, really disappointed that the print came off in one lick. Like she wanted the. The ink layers. Like she wanted each bite to look like it had a color. Like, I was like, man, somebody will complain about it.

[B]

They absolutely will. I think Eddie is the coolest thing since sliced bread, love.

[A]

Since sliced bready.

[B]

Since sliced bready. Yeah, you can find them. Heather said you can go to the printer users group on Facebook, but you also, if you want to see, they actually share a lot of people. Yeah, they share a lot of people's content that tag Eddie on their. Their Instagram, their Tick tock and their Facebook. So if you wanted to go see how people are using them, what they're using them for, that's a great way to do it.

[A]

Love it. That takes us through today's podcast, Twin Twist. You got one? No. Do you got one? You have one? Do you mind something?

[B]

I. Oh, my brain is flipping through the things. I don't know. Oh, we finally found a dubai chocolate bar. 15 at times. We did.

[A]

That was ridiculously priced. But Corey and I hadn't had one yet.

[B]

Yeah. And I. And we just walked by a kiosk.

[A]

If you don't know what Dubai chocolate bar is, it's.

[B]

It's like milk chocolate infused with pistachio in katafi. I don't know if I'm saying that right.

[A]

Oh, I don't even know.

[B]

Those are the little hairy things that.

[A]

Look like they're coming out. Yeah. I'm going to say I really liked it. Would I buy it again? No. Did I enjoy that I had it? Yes.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I like that texture.

[B]

I like the taste of not as. It's like a sweet and savory. So instead of ultra sweet sweet, the pistachio gives it a little bit of a savory.

[A]

Yeah. Corey, as soon as you took a bite, she's like, you're like this. Because I don't like that overwhelming sweet. Trust me, you'll find with a bag of candy at all times.

[B]

Yeah, I know. But Heather does like a little less sweetness.

[A]

Yeah. Sometimes. Yes.

[B]

Yeah, it was good. Check it off the box. $15.

[A]

That was a great winter. So now you've left me standing here with my pants.

[B]

You bought this oil that you already had.

[A]

Okay, I'll do this one. I signed up for Kawai Cuties procreate class. It's tonight at seven, tomorrow at seven and the next day at seven.

[B]

You have to tune into all three.

[A]

Yeah, she's actually it's not a pre recorded class, it's a live class. Okay. And we're all tuning in in a Facebook group. Nice. I will take the class tonight at 7, tomorrow at 7, the next day at 7. And I'll post my Kawaii cutie.

[B]

Oh, can't wait.

[A]

And this is me. Executy execution Executy your Kawai Cutie. Okay kids, we'll see you next week with hopefully longer video feed than this week. But these cameras do not like hot. I don't know.

[B]

And we had already filmed it one.

[A]

Time already and I think you. I almost think it's because I don't have the highest storage memory card in this. What you going to do?

[B]

At least you didn't wait till you got the highest storage card.

[A]

Well yeah. I want to say how imperfect is this? But is it getting out the door? I know. Cuz if we waited for it perfect.

[B]

We wouldn't be posting right now.

[A]

You're not going to find perfection from these jokes. You will not find perfection from these jokes.