220. Baking it Down - Ope, It's Amy!

Summary

Podcast Summary: Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪

Episode 220: "Ope, It's Amy!" Release Date: July 15, 2025

In this heartfelt and engaging episode of "Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing," hosts Heather and Corrie Miracle welcome long-time group moderator Amy to the podcast. This episode delves deep into Amy's journey as a baker, her strategies for managing a growing business alongside a bustling family life, and her invaluable role in the Sugar Cookie Marketing (SCM) community.

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1. Introduction and Welcome (00:00 - 01:36)

The episode begins with Heather introducing Amy, affectionately referred to as "Maude Amy" or "mother Amy" within the SCM community. Despite not having met face-to-face until just minutes before recording, Amy's dedication is evident as she made a significant 16-hour drive from Warrenton, Missouri, to join the podcast. Heather humorously notes:

"Amy decided to drive up. From where in Missouri... It's like a 12ish hour drive." (00:43)

Amy's presence is celebrated as essential to both Heather and Corrie, highlighting her role as a cornerstone of the SCM group.

---

2. Amy's Bakery Journey (01:36 - 10:20)

Starting Out: Amy shares her early foray into baking, beginning in high school alongside her sister. In the 1990s, they sold cookies with orders placed at local banks during Christmas, a time when hygiene concerns were minimal.

"I sold my first cookie in February 2000. Like Valentine's Day cookies." (05:50)

Transition from Cakes to Cookies: Initially focused on cakes, influenced by her grandmother's cottage cake bakery, Amy shifted her attention to cookies. Managing five boys added complexity to baking cakes, leading her to embrace the versatility and manageability of cookies.

"I do not enjoy cakes." (05:34)

Niche Specialization: Amy emphasizes the importance of niche specialization in her business, focusing solely on sugar cookies rather than diversifying into other baked goods like cupcakes or custom cakes. This decision allows her to maintain quality and manage her time effectively amidst family responsibilities.

"I have made it my mantra that I am niche. This is what I do." (39:43)

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3. Balancing Business and Family Life (10:20 - 17:12)

Managing Five Boys: Amy candidly discusses the challenges of balancing a growing bakery business with raising five boys aged between 6 and 17. From unexpected ER visits to managing urgent family matters, Amy reveals how she structures her workflow to accommodate her family's unpredictable needs.

"It's the balance of, like, not pushing off orders to the last minute because the chances that I have to drop something quickly and take care of something with my kids is very, very high." (17:12)

Time Management Strategies: To stay ahead, Amy emphasizes front-loading her work, prepping orders as they come to avoid last-minute stress. Despite the chaos, she prides herself on never missing an order, even if it means sacrificing sleep.

"I have never not finished an order. Whether that means I don't sleep, that..." (17:43)

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4. Marketing Strategies and Community Engagement (17:12 - 33:06)

Subscription Boxes: Amy discusses her venture into monthly subscription boxes, tailored to holidays and seasons. This initiative aimed to create a steady income stream and deepen customer engagement by offering themed cookies at a lower price point than custom orders.

"I sold it as you are going to save money and still have holiday cookies." (12:00)

While the subscription model posed challenges, particularly with logistics and customer commitments, Amy found it effective for maintaining consistent business revenue.

Social Media and Online Presence: A significant portion of the discussion centers around leveraging social media, particularly Facebook and Instagram, to market her bakery. Amy highlights the importance of staying active online, even during busy periods, to keep her business visible and engage with a broader audience.

"If you take a break but you want to stay around... just post a little bit without turning it off." (28:46)

Group Management: Amy's role as a moderator is crucial in maintaining the SCM community's integrity. She ensures the group remains a safe and supportive space for bakers to share, learn, and grow together.

"Amy puts herself in the shoes of, if I ask this question, would this response hurt my feelings?" (78:02)

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5. Baking Techniques and Product Focus (33:06 - 46:08)

Preference for Minis: Amy reveals that 95% of her orders consist of mini cookies, appreciating their versatility and higher profit margins. Minis allow her to offer a variety of designs without compromising on time or quality.

"I do think 95% of my orders are minis." (37:37)

Design Strategies: The hosts discuss their approaches to cookie designs, with Amy emphasizing creativity while maintaining efficiency. She prefers a limited number of designs per order to ensure quality and manage workload effectively.

"If you have three kids... three to five is manageable." (26:36)

Avoiding Over-Saturation: Amy addresses concerns about market saturation, insisting that niche specialization and consistent quality can help distinguish her bakery in a crowded field. She encourages bakers to find their unique angle rather than conforming to trends.

"I'm niche because I'm busy." (40:28)

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6. Community and Personal Insights (46:08 - 78:20)

Rapid Fire and Personality Traits: The episode transitions into a fun rapid-fire segment, where Heather and Amy share personal quirks and preferences. Topics range from favorite cookie cutters to unique habits, offering listeners a glimpse into their personalities and fostering a closer connection.

"What's a unique habit or quirk that each of us has?" (51:19)

Sponsorships and Promotions: Heather and Amy discuss various sponsors and promotional offers, including Cookie Design Lab memberships and other baking supplies. They emphasize the importance of tools and resources that aid in business growth and operational efficiency.

"Cookie Design Lab is the one who... it's a baking supply shop." (69:58)

Community Support and Growth: Amy reflects on the growth of the SCM community over the years, acknowledging the diverse personalities and the need for strong moderation to maintain harmony. Her dedication ensures that the group remains focused and supportive, even as it expands.

"Amy has such, like, because she has five kids, she knows how to like, just be the middle of the road... here's the line in the sand." (78:22)

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7. Conclusion and Farewells (78:20 - End)

As the episode wraps up, Heather and Amy express gratitude towards each other and the listeners. They highlight upcoming events like the "roast and toast" sessions and the midsummer membership sale, encouraging bakers to stay engaged and continue their growth journey with SCM.

"Thank you so much to everybody who made such sweet comments." (61:13)

Amy's heartfelt participation underscores her role as both a mentor and a friend within the SCM community, ensuring that bakers feel supported in both their personal and professional lives.

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Notable Quotes:

• "I do not enjoy cakes." – Amy (05:34)
• "If you take a break but you want to stay around... just post a little bit without turning it off." – Amy (28:46)
• "I'm niche because I'm busy." – Amy (40:28)
• "Amy has such, like, because she has five kids, she knows how to like, just be the middle of the road... here's the line in the sand." – Heather (78:22)

Key Takeaways:

1. Niche Specialization: Focusing on a specific product, like minis, can enhance quality and manageability.
2. Balancing Act: Successfully managing a business alongside a large family requires strategic time management and flexibility.
3. Consistent Online Presence: Maintaining activity on social media platforms is crucial for sustained business visibility.
4. Community Support: A strong, moderated community provides invaluable support and resources for business growth.
5. Adaptability: Being open to pivoting strategies ensures resilience in a competitive market.

This episode offers a rich blend of personal anecdotes, practical business advice, and community insights, making it a valuable listen for both novice and seasoned bakers aiming to elevate their cake and cookie businesses.

Transcript

[Heather]

Okay, I want Amy to do the intro. Amy, try to summon the intro energy. Amy, I've taught you well. You've listened to so many.

[Amy]

I do.

[Heather]

Welcome to the Baking it down with Sugar Cookie Marketing podcast. I'm technically on my way out, not from this earth, but she's awesome. I go in tomorrow. But today, Amy, who we all know, we call her Maude Amy, you can call her mother Amy. I call her Amy for myself. She is a saint. She is all of our moms. She's Ahmad in the sugar cookie marketing group. And she has just been a godsend to me and Heather for all these years. But for all these years, how many years have we known you of you?

[Amy]

Five.

[Heather]

Five years. We've never met Amy face to face till 10 minutes ago, but we thought it would be so much fun because I just, you know, my will to be on the podcast today before surgery, while I'm entering a fasting phase, was little to none. But Amy decided to drive up. From where in Missouri.

[Amy]

Warrenton.

[Heather]

And how. St. Louis, Missouri. And it's like a 12ish hour drive.

[Amy]

Well, to hear it was 16.

[Heather]

You're welcome. Well, Amy does have. While I wish she did drive 16 hours for the twins, she does have family in Virginia. But she did make the sacrifice and drive up an extra four hours just to be on the podcast and have lunch with these two nosy girls. You'll never guess where we're going. It's either Olive Garden or Seeds of Juice because this is her last meal. So. Yeah. So, Amy, welcome to the Baking it down podcast. We are so happy to see you in the flesh.

[Amy]

Thank you.

[Heather]

So we thought this podcast, instead of diving into boring marketing, that we could dive into the life of Amy.

[Amy]

Oh, even more boring.

[Heather]

Amy, my question to start off with, let's start off with your bakery. Give us the backstory. When did you get started? Why did you get started? What do you sell now? And I know you have a special niche. Tell us how you got into that.

[Amy]

So I actually sold cookies in high school with my sister. No way. We had a standing order with a bank at Christmas time back in the 90s when nobody cared about germs and we would just put out platters for their customers. And then I stepped away from it. But my grandma was a cake baker. Yeah, she had a cottage cake bakery when I was growing up. And then in high school, did you.

[Heather]

Guys live close to the grandma?

[Amy]

So my grandma lived with us.

[Heather]

Oh, no way. So you kind of saw first, front and center.

[Amy]

I actually have memories of like going to her house before she lived with us and like going to school. Sneak like frosting and they would be short.

[Heather]

You're the ones people post about. Like, my kids take a bite of things.

[Amy]

Exactly.

[Heather]

Yes.

[Amy]

That was me. So funny. But then I did cakes in high school.

[Heather]

Okay. Oh, I guess that's your business name is cookies. Take the cake.

[Amy]

Yes. Because cookies are better than cakes.

[Heather]

Do you do cakes now?

[Amy]

I do not.

[Heather]

Because that would. You'd have to rebrand cakes. Take the cookies. Yeah.

[Amy]

No, I did cakes for a while just for whoever and they stress me out because you have that time frame.

[Heather]

I know I haven't like mentally understood cakes. Yeah. But cake people seem to love cakes or they hate having seen both. Having seen. Which is. Are cakes more insane?

[Amy]

I feel like cakes. The thing about cakes is they have a higher profit margin because.

[Heather]

Because it takes less time. Yeah.

[Amy]

There's less labor.

[Heather]

And then you get the whole wedding market.

[Amy]

Yeah. And you have the wedding market. And people are trained to pay a lot of money for weddings.

[Heather]

They're already doing it for a big event. It doesn't matter if the cake's involved. People are involved. Yeah.

[Amy]

I think, I think cookies have gotten better, but they were more of a harder sell.

[Heather]

I agree.

[Amy]

Because it wasn't until recently it wasn't really like the end thing to do cookies.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

But yes, I do not enjoy cakes.

[Heather]

Because, I mean, are there like melting icing, ptsd?

[Amy]

Yeah.

[Heather]

So isn't Missouri hot?

[Amy]

Yes.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

So I think Missouri is hotter than Virginia with like your humidity.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

Like where my mother in law lives in the mountains. There's no humidity.

[Heather]

Yeah. Like a mountain. Kind of shave it off.

[Amy]

I mean, there's a little bit, but not like. But Missouri, like, you know, summers are creeping up to 100 ish. We've already had some days.

[Heather]

Do you guys have longer summers than Virginia has? We were down south.

[Amy]

Right.

[Heather]

Southern. More south than we are.

[Amy]

Yeah, a little bit. So like you guys, like I always go by like the leaves here.

[Heather]

Yes. Peak.

[Amy]

Say the beginning of October. Ours would peak at the end of October. So not too much difference. We definitely get snow. We get.

[Heather]

Oh, so you get the. Oh, you guys get snow. You just get a shorter winter.

[Amy]

Yeah, we get minus 13. I mean, last year that's a lot. 14 inches of snow. So we get it all. It's four seasons there.

[Heather]

Oh, wow.

[Amy]

Places.

[Heather]

Cory will not be moving. I'm gonna.

[Amy]

We're in the Midwest mountains.

[Heather]

Oh, yeah. That's true. That's true. Okay, so you got started.

[Amy]

So I got started doing cookies when this is terrible. But I saw some cookies for sale from a bakery and I was like, oh, somebody's buying that. Like I could do that and I could probably do better, but that's so rude.

[Heather]

That's how people get started is you buy. Well, that's how Cory got started. She bought them from somebody and was like, wow, that was really. These are very cute. I think I could make. Of course that was an uphill struggle from that. I did not know what went up. The thought and then bop bop. Yeah. Ye.

[Amy]

I just was like, oh, well, I could do that.

[Heather]

And was it buttercream cookies that you saw or was it royal ice? Oh, really? Yeah. I thought you would be a buttercream cookier since you were a cake lady.

[Amy]

No, no, I had four kids at the time.

[Heather]

Oh yeah. How many years ago is this current story that we're talking about?

[Amy]

So I sold my first cookie in 2000. February. Like Valentine's Day cookies of 18. 2018.

[Heather]

Oh, wow. So you've been in the game for a while.

[Amy]

Yeah. So I'm not one of those, you know, like just bad here people. I'm not a Covid baker.

[Heather]

If anyone doesn't know Amy has five kids and not five kids, five boys. It's under the age. So we asked today 17. He just turned 17. All the way down. 17 to 6.

[Amy]

But that's what qualifies me to be a mod.

[Heather]

Yes. Because she has had a wrangle before. That's right. She's right now all the time. Amy must have 32 hours in her day, whereas I only have 24 because there's no. Amy's so active. She's so active with her family. She's helping her mother in law clean out a clear basement. You have a job? Yeah, she works for the taker and then full time. But the interesting part about it, and this is what we talk about behind your back, we're like, if somebody breaks the rule, this is how I know you have five boys. If somebody skirts this, sniffs the no sales. Yeah. Amy will be like, listen, I went back into their lives. I think they started selling around 2015. They've launched into this and this. I know I want to say I have one child, one 15 year old kid. But sometimes I ask myself, what would Amy do?

[Amy]

Oh my gosh.

[Heather]

It would be like look at me in the eyes and lie to me. Tell me that again. Okay, so you, did you start off when you started your bakery, did you start with cakes and cookies or did you Gradually, you're like, this will be cookies only.

[Amy]

I, you know, I did a couple cakes first. Like I said, yeah, we're just friends because I would make. So my son Brady has non celiac gluten sensitivity, so he can't wait.

[Heather]

Pause. Give Brady the shout out to officers right now.

[Amy]

Shout out to Brady Russell.

[Heather]

Hope this makes you famous. We're huge fans, Brady. We're your fans. This one's up for Brady. Back to Brady's story.

[Amy]

So I would make cakes for Brady because he couldn't eat regular cakes. And so, like, I learned how to make marshmallow fondant so I can make a Star wars helmets, things like that that, you know, were copyrighted, but I wasn't selling them. Brady gets what Brady wants. Brady gets what he wants. So I did that. And then, you know, you post on Facebook and be like, oh, look, I make Brady's cakes. And so then I did some anniversary cakes and things. Like, people that were like, oh, can you do this for my family?

[Heather]

Sure.

[Amy]

But, yeah, they stress me out because, like, I know the whole freezing and, like, it's got to be in this. So that's the thing about cookies is I have five kids, so I literally have to give myself, like, an extra day for, like, ER trips.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

And that is not even a joke. That happens quite often.

[Heather]

Maybe we'll be like, hey, guys, I'm gonna be MIA for a bit. We're at the hospital again. Again.

[Amy]

Again.

[Heather]

This is every Monday she sends this message.

[Amy]

Actually, on the 4th of July, my kids were shooting off fireworks in Missouri. Everything's legal. Like, nothing's legal here in Virginia. Their boys are always like, don't go to Nani on 4th of July.

[Heather]

It's boring.

[Amy]

But I was like, we spent easter in the ER, so I don't want 4th of July in the ER. So we made it up, but I was like, please stop shooting at each other.

[Heather]

Five boys. There's, like, back to. You're doing cakes. The issue with freezing now, cookies have allowed you this. Er. Yeah. You probably saw in your mind, like, this is a little bit more freedom, but still in the sweets realm.

[Amy]

But, you know, I don't think that when you get into sugar cookies cookies, you really know what you're getting into.

[Heather]

Absolutely not.

[Amy]

You know, it really is a huge learning curve. And honestly, I learned almost everything from watching people on Instagram.

[Heather]

Yeah. I want to say those Instagram videos are a little dirty. They don't show you the crying, the gnashing of teeth.

[Amy]

That's right. Pulling out your Hair, not sleeping.

[Heather]

They edit those parts out. Yes. Is what I learned.

[Amy]

And they speed them way up. So, yes, I'd say that the dehydrator will change your life. Making a membership.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

First however many years, it was like, oh, well, I need four days because I have to let them dry for eight hours before I can go to the next step.

[Heather]

Okay. So then you're like, you know what? I think cookies is where this is going to go.

[Amy]

Yeah. Well, I mean, people, I guess, were just being nice. And I sold the first ones I put up on Facebook and said, hey, on Valentine's Day, I was like, hey, does anybody want cookies? And I sold some. And then, you know, money hooks you right in, reels you right in, doesn't pay for itself.

[Heather]

You know, whatever. So then. Wow. So then you've been cookies ever since.

[Amy]

Yep.

[Heather]

Oh, that's fantastic. And no cakes ever again. Do you do Brady's cakes? Does Brady still get cakes from. He gets cookies?

[Amy]

Yeah. It depends. Usually it's like, oh, I have too many orders. You get cupcakes.

[Heather]

Hey, listen, it works. And, you know, cakes. Cupcakes are just little cakes is what I've come to learn in my life. So really, what got you into this was Facebook. Yeah. It's crazy how Facebook has. And then you have people, like, defecting from Facebook, and I'm like, oh, no. Yeah, that's true. Okay. So now you do, and you have done. And what you have actually even done a Facebook Live on is you did these monthly subscription boxes for a while.

[Amy]

Yes.

[Heather]

Yeah. So was that difficult to launch like that? To me, I love the idea, but I just need to know what's on a book, like, two months in advance. If a baker said, should I do subscription boxes, what would you tell them?

[Amy]

I would say, if you're not extremely busy. Yes.

[Heather]

I think it's a great way to get your name out there and get the business done. But I think a lot of it is that recurring book of business. You know, if you don't have a solid marketing plan, lead generation, having something on the books every month is kind of what it is. It's very nice. Yeah.

[Amy]

So that was my whole driving force behind. It was like, I knew that, okay, if I could get so many people to sign up for six months, I knew we were at least going to have that much income.

[Heather]

That true? That's true. So when it comes to the subscription box, how did you plan what went inside the box?

[Amy]

So when I launched them and advertised them, I made it very clear that if it was a holiday month. They would be holiday themes.

[Heather]

That's fun.

[Amy]

And that was kind of like my selling point is that. And I did them at a lower price than a custom order. So I sold it to them as you are going to save money and still have holiday cookies.

[Heather]

And I think probably people want them for the holidays anyways.

[Amy]

Yeah. You know, so. You know, and so really the only months that weren't holiday was like August.

[Heather]

Yeah. Which is. Yeah. Like back to school. What we do with the class kids. It's kind of like. Yeah. It's like a free. Yeah. Not everyone has school kids. We did what? Yeah, yeah, we did. We did do that group.

[Amy]

Yeah. And I did like the first year, I just did like a. You know, like watermelons.

[Heather]

I think it was something summery.

[Amy]

Yeah. Just.

[Heather]

Yeah. Like end of summer celebration type thing. How did you choose the day that you would like, would. If you would go by the holiday?

[Amy]

So I would. Yeah. So I would let them know in advance what it was going to be for that month.

[Heather]

And was it was a day, a consistent day, or was it as close to the holiday?

[Amy]

It was as close to the holiday as I could get it.

[Heather]

To me, as a consumer, that would make me feel better about.

[Amy]

I felt like it was a selling point to it because, you know, if I say, oh, you're gonna get holly cookies every month and then you get Halloween in October 2nd, you're like, well, Cory would be fine with it, but nobody else would be. I mean, now, but, you know, or even like, you know, like Thanksgiving. I think I did like a week ahead.

[Heather]

Did you pick up? Do they pick up? Do they. Do you drop off or do you ship pick up?

[Amy]

I pick up.

[Heather]

Nice.

[Amy]

I would say if you're gonna do something like that, you have to really think through the worst case scenarios. People not cocking, people not showing up and, you know, making sure that they.

[Heather]

Paid in advance or someone not show showing up. The holiday being the next day. And they'll be like, what can you do now?

[Amy]

Yeah.

[Heather]

Like, who wants to bring a veil heart? You know. Yeah.

[Amy]

So having all of that like really spelled out and then being. And the whole thing of like, if you don't pick up in 24 hours, it's gonna be donated. You're gonna be frozen. Whatever you pick. Like having that set.

[Heather]

There's that balance of communicating in every possible instance and then feeling like somebody's like signing a legal binding contract. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Amy]

But you know, once you get. Which once you get burned once or twice, then you're like, okay, these are the things that really matter to me. And I think sometimes that we feel like. I feel like bakers feel like there's a hard and fast. This is what. But you're running your own business. So the beauty of running your own business is you are the boss and what works best for your family and for your lifestyle. And that's the whole point of it. Like, I didn't get in a business to have to do what somebody else.

[Heather]

Is doing for sure. And it probably helped you as you were building your book of business using this, that you. If someone was like, hey, we, you know, had a death in the family, I won't be able to pick up that. You were gonna be like, no worries. I'm gonna freeze them. They taste just as good. So you could maintain that relationship as you were growing your business too. See, I know your husband's a pastor.

[Amy]

Yes.

[Heather]

And do you get lead sources from the church? Like, do people know you as pastor's wife? The bake, the cookie lady?

[Amy]

A little bit. This year for Mother's day, I did 500 for the church a little bit.

[Heather]

I like that.

[Amy]

So it was supposed to be 400, and I didn't count. Right.

[Heather]

Crazy. I remember that between the four and.

[Amy]

The 500 mark, I was kicking myself. But you know what? I took them and I packaged them really cute, and I donated them. It was the same week as teacher appreciation week, so I sent them to my son's school.

[Heather]

Oh, that's so nice. Oh, that's fantastic.

[Amy]

I thought like, the twins and said, we gotta market these cookies sometimes.

[Heather]

I got asked yesterday in the group, she said she overbaked for an order. What do I do? Donate? Do I give them to the client as a fee, or do I tell the client I made a mistake and here's an extra.

[Amy]

Yeah, my opinion on that was I would not give them to the client. I would give them to somebody else. Weren't they.

[Heather]

Didn't they have the client's name on them? No.

[Amy]

She said an image, but she didn't say what it was.

[Heather]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Amy]

But I personally would not give them the client because I would be like, well, who can I feed these to that hasn't had my cookies?

[Heather]

Yeah, there's a lead source. Great way to take the Mother's Day cookies and give them to the teachers. If there's one thing I learned from Amy, is that your. The way you structure your life. If you go to church, if you're part of, you know, the girl Scouts, you have kids in the girl Scouts. Those are all avenues. Normally talks to the boy Scouts. Oh, yeah. Any boy Scouts?

[Amy]

I have done some girl scout classes.

[Heather]

Cookie classes.

[Amy]

Yeah.

[Heather]

It's a great way to utilize what's already in your life, because a lot of people are like, how can I think outside the box? You don't. Technically don't even have to go. You're outside in a ton of circles. Yeah. You, your kid and his school. And then church. And then we do cookie classes. Yeah. And then all these siblings are having babies. Yeah. It's just you can truly water where you're actually growing.

[Amy]

Well, my oldest plays hockey, and that is my deal. Clientele.

[Heather]

Yeah. Tell our trick again.

[Amy]

Because it's expensive, some people are willing.

[Heather]

To drop some dough for their kids. Hey, listen, Brady, we need you to pick a sport. Okay.

[Amy]

He likes baseball, actually. Track is his favorite.

[Heather]

Oh, he's a runner. He's a runner. He's a track star. He probably knows that little doodad song. Now, what's the biggest challenge between being a mother of five boys all under 17, which is a while. Just a wild. I introduced you as this. Don't forget. Her name is Amy. She has five sons and. Running your own business. Like, what is your. Like, this is my. Yeah, this is how I.

[Amy]

Well, it's definitely like, that balance of, like, not pushing off orders to the last minute because the chances that I have to drop something quickly and take care of something with my kids is very, very high.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

I mean, the other day, my son comes up with pizza cutter. I'm like, you're literally making a pizza, and we're dropping everything to go to urgent care because you need stitches because you use the pizza cutter. Like so. It's just not pushing that. Like, so.

[Heather]

You front load your work. When you get an order, you prep.

[Amy]

I try.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

In theory.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

So I do try to, like, give myself some leeway because otherwise, I mean, I've. I have never not finished an order. Whether that means I don't sleep, that.

[Heather]

32 hours comes in handy that you have.

[Amy]

Yes. So, yes. You sleep way more than I do.

[Heather]

Look at this face. There's a lung list. Yeah. Early season five. Somebody asked you a question. I said, it's after nine. I am an early bird. But you also are an early bird as well. So this is what we say. If you guys wonder how the group metrics work, me and Amy will stay up to 11:30, and she'll be like this. And I'll be like, yeah. The other. And then she's like, what do you think Cory's saying, I don't know, you have to get him plus, but Cory will wake up at 6 and Amy's like.

[Amy]

Amy will be awake.

[Heather]

She never sleeps.

[Amy]

You catch me on both ends and I'm on a different time zone, so.

[Heather]

Oh, so I didn't even know that. But you also have a job and you do work for the church, so.

[Amy]

I am a social media. Yeah, we got the guy.

[Heather]

How much do you find a crossover between marketing your business and marketing for a church?

[Amy]

Well, Heather knows because I pick her brain. I'll be like, so Heather, how do I. What do you think about this? I run things by her. That's the perk of being a mod second. No, but I mean, it's similar except, you know, the church side of it is more relational. I mean, you want that in your business. And I think some bakers do a better job at it than others. Well, it's really what you want. You know, we talk about all the time. Like people say, should I tell them this? Should I share this?

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

And it's really what your comfort level is. But from the church standpoint, it's more about like constantly how they're involved.

[Heather]

Your call to actions are probably a little bit different.

[Amy]

Yes.

[Heather]

Come join us instead of buy these.

[Amy]

And it's hard too, because like some people look at social media strictly as like an advertising platform and some churches try to do that. But I don't want to go to a church just because it's always like giving me a billboard.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

So it's finding the balance. But I enjoy it because I do the photography too.

[Heather]

Oh, that's good.

[Amy]

So, Amy, I love photography. My dad was a photographer.

[Heather]

If you guys don't recognize, recognize Amy as a moderator in the baking group. Every Friday she'll post these very well taken stage photos, which is so funny. People are like, this is stock photography. Like, don't they get photos? I will say, okay, well, you can't find the lives in the group anymore. They have been moved to YouTube. But didn't you teach alive on photography?

[Amy]

I did two, I think. I think I did well because I did one talking about more about reels, which. That one's pretty irrelevant because Instagram changes.

[Heather]

Like it does every day. Yeah, for sure.

[Amy]

But yeah, I've done. I think I've got three boxes.

[Heather]

Yeah, you did do a green. Yeah, for sure. You did take better cell phone photography. Do you remember? Okay. Do you remember when you taught that first one yesterday? I have these all recorded.

[Amy]

I actually, it's really funny because it was actually at Judy's house.

[Heather]

No way.

[Amy]

Yeah, my mother in law's house. So I was actually in Virginia when I did the.

[Heather]

You can feel the twins essence around you. Yeah.

[Amy]

I went back in my father in law's office and shut the door and said, be quiet, kids. And yeah, I was at her house. It was in July 2021.

[Heather]

Oh, wow. Then the next way you taught was in 2022. Take better cell phone photography. You guys can find all these on the YouTube channel. Yeah. I want to say the cell phone photography, is that what you currently use to take your photos? And they're. They're fantastic.

[Amy]

What I found is I always do this one.

[Heather]

Yes.

[Amy]

I think it's a 14.

[Heather]

Oh, so nice. So it is a little bit newer in the scheme of, again, granted, iPhone comes out with a new phone 22 times a year. So people are going to ask for this one. Making it. Adding editing reels on Instagram. That was in 2022. And you're doing that on a. Most everyone's doing them on iPhones, right?

[Amy]

Yeah. Yeah, but that one is, like I said, that one's.

[Heather]

It's ever changing.

[Amy]

It changed the way that you actually edit on Instagram to look a lot more like TikTok.

[Heather]

Yeah, I think they were trying to. Now, you told me you got the invite to the Cap Cut competitor from Instagram. Do you use that app? It's called Edits. Oh, yeah. So is it a slow rollout or can anyone access it currently they invited me and I haven't made a reel.

[Amy]

In my life, so I'm not sure. Yeah, it came out like I got invited before it was actually available. Oh, I see.

[Heather]

Like when it was like in beta.

[Amy]

Kind of thing, but they wouldn't let you in. They just said sign up and.

[Heather]

Oh, that's crazy.

[Amy]

You'll have it.

[Heather]

Do you use it now?

[Amy]

I haven't really looked into it.

[Heather]

Yeah, I just. My free time, I think now. Well, at least on Android, you can get it. 4.6 stars. 4.6 stars. I actually just use the app Inshot and just mostly because it keeps an account of if I start a video and I actually don't post it, it maintains what I've edited so far. Yeah. So it keeps. What do you. A draft? Yeah, thousands of drafts in there.

[Amy]

I do too, on Instagram.

[Heather]

Oh, really?

[Amy]

I usually edit in Instagram and then it lets you download without audio.

[Heather]

Oh, no. Oh, I see.

[Amy]

Download it. Even if I get.

[Heather]

Does it do the watermark on Instagram?

[Amy]

Not if you download it before you post it.

[Heather]

Oh, nice.

[Amy]

So it just literally edited.

[Heather]

Yeah. And Tik Tok does the same little watermark, too. Now if you download it for a while, they took it away when everyone was.

[Amy]

I went through and like, hurry and downloaded everything without the watermark. Now I'm like, oh, look at all these.

[Heather]

So when it comes to your baking business and you know all the aspects because you've been at it a while, what's your favorite part? And rarely is it ever baking the cookies. Like, there's some aspect of it that's outside of that. I have a feeling you're going to save photography.

[Amy]

I do enjoy the photography, but, you know, I painted for a long time. I used to do murals. My mother was a mural artist and a portrait artist.

[Heather]

Oh, there's a lot of creativity. You have a very creative. Because your dad was a photographer.

[Amy]

Yeah, so my dad was a photographer for a school, a Bible school, and did a monthly magazine. And then he was a wedding photographer, and then he was a pastor.

[Heather]

Oh, wow.

[Amy]

But so it was funny because, like, when I got into Chicago sugar cookie marketing.

[Heather]

Let me see.

[Amy]

When you joined, it was literally like. Yeah, it was like October of when it opened. I don't think there's many people that have been there longer than me. Lucky them. No, but I had was doing cookies. But I was like, in this stage of, like, just seeing what I saw on Instagram and just mimicking, you know, copying.

[Heather]

Yeah, for sure.

[Amy]

And it felt like when I got into sugar cookie marketing, we were all kind of new and fresh and we were all like, wait a minute. Like, I don't have to do the norm. Like, I can be me and do what I want to do. And that's really, like, when I got excited about it because I was like, oh, wait, I can take a stage photo and not just put them on a baking sheet or not on the white, you know, marble countertop. Like, so it really, I think, like, helped me get excited about what I. Yeah.

[Heather]

Versus someone else's business and doing it.

[Amy]

My way and, like, learning that, like, my business is most successful when it's tailored to you, when I'm doing what I enjoy.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

And I'm really, like, watercoloring. I do a lot of watercolor.

[Heather]

Yeah, you really do.

[Amy]

But that's because, like, I have the background in painting because I used to teach, like, you know, like, painting with a twist kind of classes.

[Heather]

Yeah. Yeah, you did do that.

[Amy]

So I did that for when that was, like, in the height of time. Yeah, that's a good way to make money. Good to know because the, you know, like cookies are so much labor to get. Get ready.

[Heather]

Yes.

[Amy]

It was like canvas.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

I ran to Michael's and grabbed the big pack of value canvas and we're good to go. So. But yeah.

[Heather]

Oh, that's so nice how you incorporated something you like into something you love and it made it. I want to say that's the number one thing about marketing. You can join sugar cookie marketing. You're going to see the way that I stage is relatively always the same. But you don't have. That doesn't have to be you. That's just an idea of what you can do and you can really tailor it to yourself.

[Amy]

And I think when people get frustrated in the group is when they think that they have to like, we're trying to tell them that this is the only way. And we're not trying to tell them that. We're trying to tell them, like, figure out works best for you. Yeah.

[Heather]

Because if you try the beads, God forbid, if you try the beads and you don't like the way it looks.

[Amy]

No beads.

[Heather]

If you try the beads or the tea towels and you're like, you know, I don't love the way that looks. That's. You've narrowed down what your likes are. I keep hearing say that my business can be whatever I want it to be, whatever I need it to be at that time.

[Amy]

Right.

[Heather]

And I want to say your business can morph with you like from kid 5, kid 4 to kid 5. I don't know if there's a big difference. To me that would be a night and day difference.

[Amy]

No, the difference is going from two. Two to three is the biggest gap. Once you have three, you're outnumbered. And so at that point, no gravy pass there. And actually I was. There was actually a study the other day that were like parents of kids of three are like the most stressed. So you take those. Yeah. And then like once you get past.

[Heather]

Three, it's like just hand your clothes when you're done with them for the next.

[Amy]

Especially when they're all the same gender.

[Heather]

That helps you a lot. As you've seen your business progress over these years and you've taken on the role of working for the church. Have you been able to make your cookie business work for where you are at in life? Because you, you know, you've had some. Your father in law passed and you did spend a ton of time up with your mother in law.

[Amy]

Yeah, we. Heather and I talked about that one Day because I was like, look how much my business has grown. Like.

[Heather]

Yeah. Looking at my ninth year. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Yeah, I was. Good thoughts about you. Corey just had dreams. I feel like he was doing great with Corey. Amy and I were talking last night.

[Amy]

I'm scared, just FYI.

[Heather]

To keep you in the loop.

[Amy]

Yeah. But you know, like that season I did do some orders and it was. But it was really chaotic, you know, like I would like rush and do them, then leave town.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

One time I had to bring an order with and that was crazy. And I mailed it out from there. I actually had a refund in order because I mailed it back to my sister and they ended up broken and it was.

[Heather]

That's. Yeah. That was out of your control. Yeah.

[Amy]

You know, so I do think though that the fact that I didn't just straight up shut down.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

Which honestly it was mainly a more of a financial thing, like, you know, especially coming back. I mean, my in laws, don't get me wrong, they did not like expect me to pay to come all those times. But it was still just, you know, it was a hard time. It was a lot.

[Heather]

I mean that you're saying a 12 hour drive one way.

[Amy]

It keeping my business and my social media at least active.

[Heather]

Yeah. If you.

[Amy]

When I was ready to jump back in, nobody really even knew that I had taken a break.

[Heather]

Kind of keep that under wraps.

[Amy]

Yeah, I did. And I just kind of went on with what I was doing.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

So then like the last two years of huge growth. Huge growth. Because I am, you know, like I'm in a place now.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

Pushing it.

[Heather]

Yeah. Where you can't. And I want to say, like we've said it before on the podcast, whatever you choose to do, if you want to make a giant announcement or not, I want to say just from hearing this, it's. It's nice to keep your social media at least going. And it doesn't have to be a new set every single day.

[Amy]

No.

[Heather]

It could be like a baking, baking meme once every two weeks. It's just so that you don't fall out of feeds 100 completely. So that when you do want to come back in, because we do see a lot of bakers stop. Their page won't be posted to for a whole entire year. Then they'll come back. But it's an uphill battle because they've ghosted it for a whole entire year. Those people that wanted to support them, because at the end of the day they want to support you. They had to go support someone else just because, you know, their kid had a birthday. I had to get myself a cookie. So just to stay in front. I think that's a great takeaway is while you can take fewer orders, you can post a little less without just turning it off. I like what we said and I think there's a podcast on it. If you take a break but you want to stay around. Here's the ways to increase the funnel to decrease your orders. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like a few more clicks. We're not putting the URL there. We're not saying order today.

[Amy]

Yeah. And I do think too, like, you know, we talk about the content buckets and your baker memes and stuff. I think anything that you can do that stays relevant to your local area.

[Heather]

True.

[Amy]

So, you know, I'm in St. Louis and they love the Cardinals and it's all about the Cardinals.

[Heather]

So is that a team?

[Amy]

It's baseball.

[Heather]

Good to know. I thought we were. Is he playing the Brady's named after the sports guy? Is he from this team?

[Amy]

No. Oh, that's Notre Dame.

[Heather]

He's named after football.

[Amy]

Quarterback. Totally different. Heather does not know sports guys. And it's okay. But in St. Louis, everybody loves the St. Louis Cardinals and they are a baseball team for those that don't know. But if you're from St. Louis, you know, you're like hardcore into baseball. Even women, like everybody, they're just, they care about baseball. So opening day. You know, I posted something about opening day and honestly, I don't like the Cardinals, but I know don't leave us at one time.

[Heather]

Cardinals are the Virginia State Brew. Tell. Hate to know. Yes.

[Amy]

So, but I, you know, I post an opening day and I did a giveaway and it was literally a giveaway of cookies that I had made for photos. So it wasn't even like a special. If I give away anything, I never do it where I have to go make something that's something.

[Heather]

I think with five kids, that is a money making move right there. Yeah, I know people ask like, how can I, how can I take photos when I don't have the order? And it's these kind of tactics of you make the photo, you make the cookie for content and then you use it to donate it. So everything is still serving a purpose. In your cost, were you giving away like a dozen or could it have been less than a dozen?

[Amy]

So I usually. And I know that most. I'm a niche baker in the fact that I love minis. Yes. Which is the two and a Half inch cookies that everybody wants to hate on. I love them and they're my biggest market. I would say 95% of my orders are have a minis in bulk.

[Heather]

And I love the minis idea. We talked about this. Someone said like you're gonna hear a sound real quick. It's just the Diet Coke we know is it when somebody can't come up to the price that I've set, what are my options? And minis is a great option because you have lower surface area, less ingredients. Question from one baker to another.

[Amy]

Sorry, you're out.

[Heather]

My sports. Can't talk about baker. Do you feel like Minis, they, they do take. I'm sorry. She's team hate minis, so.

[Amy]

No, I'm not.

[Heather]

People ask for minis, but do you feel like, like when it comes to minis, if we're doing like a bunch of fruit, they take just as much colors, less time. Yes.

[Amy]

They do not take me. They are so much faster for me. And I re. You know, I read just so you know, if you're in the sugar cookie marketing podcast, I read your posts. Every single one of them gets read. Like, I don't know if there's any posts that I miss and if I miss it, Heather sees it or Corey.

[Heather]

There you go.

[Amy]

But I see a lot of people say they don't. They take just as much time, as much work. I don't believe that at all.

[Heather]

Yeah, for me, they definitely a mini order. And I don't have many cookie cutters, but someone said, can I just get minis, I don't care what they are. And I said, wow, the world is my oyster. And it was this little fruit basket. And I said, wow, this was record time for me to finish these. I mean, you shrink something, you're making less icing, you know, because I call any cookie that's 4 inches or larger an icing eater. It's. It's taking half the bowl, like just on the surface of the bowl.

[Amy]

Well, I'm just looking at. I mean, you know, they say they take as long, but they don't because you're literally flooding less of a surface area. So I do understand where people do feel like they can be complex and it's not.

[Heather]

I think you can make anything too complex.

[Amy]

But I. And I do some very complex.

[Heather]

You do and I do not. I'm not a complex.

[Amy]

I have a higher profit like I have. So they are not just cut and.

[Heather]

Dry half of my smart smart.

[Amy]

They, they are higher price per, you.

[Heather]

Know, but cheaper in scheme. Per square inch. Your mini is going to be a higher price.

[Amy]

It is going to be a match. Yeah.

[Heather]

I want to say from a marketing standpoint, that's genius. Well if, and I don't know what you charge for like a dozen, but let's say me around $80 a dozen. That is out of a lot of people's budgets. But the minis and not making exactly half price because they do take just as much different color icings and things like that. While they don't take as much time to decorate, it puts you in a lot of more people's budgets.

[Amy]

And I do have a two dozen minimum only on minis. So for my minis they can do a full size dozen. They can do two dozen minis or they can add minis to their full size.

[Heather]

And you call that like the filler?

[Amy]

Do you call it? I don't call them filler. I don't really do filler cookies.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

But I am like, I'm not like anybody else in the fact that I do not have tiered pricing because I do cookies to be creative.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

And I am not. And half the time I don't even know what I'm going to do until I sit down.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

Bake. So I, I'm not good about being like. And I'm never probably gonna use procreate and be like here's your order.

[Heather]

Same girl. Same girl.

[Amy]

Like I have little scribbles maybe on their order form but that's it.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

I'm just gonna go.

[Heather]

So if so many places in order with you, at what point do they know what they're gonna pay right up front? Because she doesn't have. She knows you don't know what you're doing yet.

[Amy]

Like I don't your pricing.

[Heather]

So no matter what you're ordering from her, she's not gonna be like oh.

[Amy]

I think if I would say that it's starts at this.

[Heather]

Only because if they say they wanted.

[Amy]

Gold, I don't charge more for gold. I charge if they send me an inspo photo. Like there's a wedding set and it's super intricate. I'll write off the bat, tell them it's more.

[Heather]

Okay. Yeah.

[Amy]

Then that's just because I. And logos, I charge more for logos.

[Heather]

Me. And you're kind of same. Cuz I'm like it starts at this.

[Amy]

Yeah. I tell them it starts at this and then by the time they get like I don't ever do tier pricing as far as saying, well if you want gold, it's going to Cost you this. If you want this many colors, I really don't even tell them how many designs are gonna get.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

Unless they ask. In your mind, what do you.

[Heather]

If you're doing a dozen, how many different designs do you typically lean towards? 4. That's nice. I do six. Just count our fingers.

[Amy]

Yeah, I. I do. I do. I. Sometimes I do do six, but usually if it's a dozen, I do four, and then above that, I do six to eight.

[Heather]

Yeah. And I think if someone orders two dozen, I'll do, like, four of each. And if someone orders just a dozen, I'll do. Oh, so you're expanding it differently. Sometimes my brain isn't that creative, where I could come up with 10 different.

[Amy]

Designs, and sometimes I just don't want to have to do 12 of the exact same. Like, I don't. I mean, it's not fun when I have to.

[Heather]

That's why I like repeating what I'm. Yeah, there's no. And you're so creative as far as your outlets. I think you do tend to want to.

[Amy]

Yeah. And I think so. Not sometimes. Like, I'll be in it, and I'm like, I'm really tired of making that design, and it'll just be a white, and I'll just make up something.

[Heather]

You're so wild.

[Amy]

I'm so sick of this design. I'm gonna make something new. I mean, I never rebake anything, but if it's just. And I like. There again, with a watercolor.

[Heather]

Oh, your options are a little bit.

[Amy]

Sometimes I literally. Like, I did ones that were bugs, and I literally flew everything white, and.

[Heather]

Then you painted it and put the bugs on white. Wasn't it. Was it circles?

[Amy]

I had circles, and then I did, like, hexagons.

[Heather]

Yeah. Okay. What's the one Cookie cutter we'd pry from your cold, dead hand? Oh, I already know it's green. Whatever it is, You're a huge fan.

[Amy]

Okay, I am. I do like the green. Green's always been my favorite color. No, it's actually not green. It's from Amazon. They're these little hexagons, and it's stacking hexagons.

[Heather]

Oh, so you have different sizes within the. The stack. So a plaque is your go to because it's so versatile. Yeah. Within that stack, which one's the size that you find yourself reaching for? Ms. Minnie?

[Amy]

The mini one. Oh, really? So. No, but I really do. I do. I do mostly minis, I would say. I really do think 95% of my orders are minis.

[Heather]

Okay. Are you an Advent calendar, girly?

[Amy]

I have never had success with Advent calendars.

[Heather]

Advent calendars, they either make you or break you. There's bakers who can make Advent calendars move at the speed of light. And then the rest of us are like, how'd you do that?

[Amy]

That's me. I have. I have one customer who. She's actually. The reason that I started the cookie of the month club is because she would literally just text me and be like. And we were friends from our kids playing sports together. And she'd be. Do you have any cookies?

[Heather]

Oh, that's so.

[Amy]

I don't care what they look like. You just have cookies.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

I do think this is gonna sound Whatever. But I do think, you know, there's such a stigma around sugar cookies that they don't taste good.

[Heather]

Yes.

[Amy]

So I do think a cookie of the month club only works if you have a good tasting.

[Heather]

Absolutely.

[Amy]

You know, because people literally just want to eat them. When you're doing that a lot of.

[Heather]

Times in your cookie of the month club. Sorry to jump back to where you were. Sorry. Was it just sugar cookies you put in there, or did you ever do drop cookies?

[Amy]

So I'm extremely niche. I don't offer flavors. I don't offer drop cookies. Same last 4th of July, just really. Because I wanted to take pictures of it. I tried to offer a cookie cake.

[Heather]

Oh, yeah.

[Amy]

But I didn't get any hints.

[Heather]

Yeah. You just were making a cookie the other day. I did get an order of burger cake. I thought it was. I thought someone turned. Did you hit the wrong button? I said, are you sure you hit the wrong. To do it during the day? You understand what a cookie cake is?

[Amy]

I mean, they're delicious.

[Heather]

I think it is a different market. Sugar cookies are so, like, you're. You're ordering for the designs to show off. A cookie cake is a giant chocolate chip cookie. I think it's funny, and I appreciate any sugar cookie baker can cross the paths of those two, because with drop cookies, you're focused solely on it tastes so good. It tastes good. And with sugar cookies, the legend. Right. You like the taste. It's, like, so pretty. And then we got one that's focused on taste and one that's focused on design. And they're so polar opposites, because no offense to my drop cookies, they are different. The earlier drop cookie is, the better he's going to taste. Yeah. Well.

[Amy]

And I honestly, from sugar cooker marketing, have learned that I don't want to have a bunch of fires Going because I don't want to have ingredients.

[Heather]

Yes.

[Amy]

And I have, I personally have made it my mantra that I am niche. This is what I do.

[Heather]

That's smart.

[Amy]

This is, this is all I am. I mean, I. At first I've had people, oh, can you do cupcakes? And too? And I'm like, and cakes. And I would. And it was more like money.

[Heather]

And then.

[Amy]

And so I probably did that maybe three times. And I was like, nope, not for me. And I even say like, when people ask, I'm like, I'm so sorry, but I custom, you know, my specialty. I make it like it's.

[Heather]

Yes, this is the feature.

[Amy]

Yes, I am. I'm top notch at this.

[Heather]

So question, because I know everybody loves to ask this. They love to blame it a lot. Do you feel like you're where you are is over saturated with cooking? Amy has some opinions on this one.

[Amy]

I don't think I'm going to say that, but Heather and I actually had a conversation about this the other day because bakers in my area were complaining about that. And I was like, well, if we're. How I'm going to say it. But I was like, well, if we're that saturated, I'm the ink because I'm busy. And so I don't, you know, I think that that's an excuse.

[Heather]

You know, I think when you see other people making sales, making those posts, it's easy to look internally and be like, well, I'm not making details. But you have to realize Amy even said sometimes she makes cookies for content. So if you looked at that, you'd be like, oh, Amy made another cardinal sale. Gosh darn it.

[Amy]

Well, yeah, And I think too, like, I'm not saying that I don't feel that at times. Like, I definitely do, but. And I live. So I'm 45 minutes from St. Louis.

[Heather]

Okay.

[Amy]

And the reality is if I lived in St. Louis, I would be. My prices would be way higher and I would probably have more clients.

[Heather]

Yeah. Because it's a bigger area.

[Amy]

Right. And I do have some people that have driven up to an hour to come get my cookies from me.

[Heather]

Did you bring me some to taste? Yes, I did not.

[Amy]

Well, it was like, do I wash.

[Heather]

My kids clothes and make Cory cookies?

[Amy]

My husband wants clean clothes. But yeah. So I mean, I do think that, like, it's easy to feel that at times and there. But honestly, there is a lady in sugar cookie marketing that lives. I could walk to her house.

[Heather]

Oh, no way.

[Amy]

And, but you know, she does some Things that I don't do. She does Disney and I won't do Disney. And that's just a personal preference for sure. So I just send them to her.

[Heather]

That's fantastic. And I'm sure when she's booked, busy and blessed, if she's. She's gonna send something to you.

[Amy]

Yes.

[Heather]

It's important to keep in mind, like, Amy's, like, I'm taking off to literally go to the ER to drive 16 hours. And if you only focus on the baker's tagged in that.

[Amy]

Does anybody know a baker?

[Heather]

If you're going to say you're going to be like, well, there's too many of them. I can't do it. But you don't understand that people are constantly coming and going. We are able to see it five years that people take these big breaks or people are out of town or people are stepping back or they're no longer offering this. And there's that market opportunity constantly. I think we're lucky in the sugar cookie realm to have so much opportunity.

[Amy]

Right.

[Heather]

It's not that the big names came in and never left. Right. Because life is ever evolving, ever changing. So it allows for people newer to an industry to come in and not necessarily take all the market, but to set up a niche for ourselves that maybe doesn't compete with your niche.

[Amy]

Yeah.

[Heather]

And then we could work together.

[Amy]

Well, and I do think too, like, a lot of times, you know, we in the group, watching the group for five years, we see people who are like, oh, you know, William Sonoma is doing cookies or whatever. But the reality is we're customers.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

Yeah. Big names are literally never going to be able to be as custom as we are. And that doesn't mean that their product isn't, you know, inferior in any way. But it's. There's always going to be custom things that you want that is custom for sure. That is not going to be something that you can get somewhere else, you know?

[Heather]

And then if they waited to the last minute to order and all the bakers said, I'm booked, it's December, you're crazy. Williams Sonoma is there for them.

[Amy]

Right, Right.

[Heather]

So I think at the end of the day, that's. Customers want to order sugar cookies is the hugest thing.

[Amy]

Right.

[Heather]

Because if they were like, you know what? We're out of this. We're going, you know, we're going to go buy from crumble or something like that. Not saying crumble is bad. It's that they still want to support local bakers. Yeah.

[Amy]

They do And I do think too, like, sometimes we get stuck in, like, you know, honestly, you know, especially in the group. You see. Oh, so and so made sold 100 calendars, and I didn't sell any calendars. You are successful as long as you're pivoting to what you are successful. Absolutely. So when I look and I say, you know, pre sales really aren't my best cup of tea, like, I've literally never had one where I'm just like, oh, my gosh, I have to order more packages. I have so many cookies. And I see that and do I want that? Yes, I want that. But I realized that that's not really in my area what happens. And so I've scaled way back. I only offer usually, like, two designs, and I do much better.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

Than when I try and have all the cute.

[Heather]

I know, I know.

[Amy]

And I as a baker, like, I want to make all the cute things, but if some I. My life and my kids and my husband and our financial situation is not in a place where I can just go make all the cute things and then it not sell.

[Heather]

Yes.

[Amy]

So I have to be very, you know, and I've even tried markets, and the reality is, if you're not doing a drop cooking cookie or something, markets and sugar cookies don't always necessarily go, yeah, at Christmas, I can have one or two. That knocks it out of the park, because, you know, people are in that Christmas cookie for sure. For the rest of your life, you're gonna think a sugar cookie at Christmas. But, you know, for other holidays and stuff, I've just learned that it's really not that successful for me. And I don't stress it. I focus on getting the customs.

[Heather]

And I think that's great because the lady down the street from you, down the way from you might knock it out with pre sales. And that's what I have a lady, she lives in the same area as me, she kills it with pre sales. And I'm like, good for you. Because I need to know what to expect next week. And to have pre sales where you're like, I have to make 50 of this. I'm like, no, I'm more of a custom. Let me make just this one little set kind of thing. Yeah.

[Amy]

I mean, just knowing that, okay, well, if that's not gonna work for me, that doesn't mean that cookies in general isn't gonna work for me. It's finding what does work for me.

[Heather]

I think that's a good way to redirect anyone who comes in the group, like, My pre sale didn't do well, but the lady down the street did well. And I feel like I want to quit redirect it to find something that you're passionate about, one that your customers know. Thankful her presales did well because then she's not taking your customers. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. I'm like, the busy you are with pre sales, the more customs I get.

[Amy]

Right. That's why I'm like, well, then I'll grab all the customs that they're too busy. You know, that's another thing. Like a lot of bakers who were more established by will say, well, I don't offer customs in December.

[Heather]

I saw that. Yeah.

[Amy]

And you know, whatever. Months. And I'm like, okay, well, then I'll.

[Heather]

Grab that opportunity and say, I'm going to capitalize on this because this baker who may have more of a market share is going to step back from there. And then that's how you can really sustain yourself. Yeah, for sure on that. Okay, these are great. This is so. I think this is our first 50 tomorrow.

[Amy]

I know.

[Heather]

I was like, first.

[Amy]

Guess it'll be the longest podcast of all time.

[Heather]

I quickly had AI come up with some questions to see if you could tell us apart in terms of personality. Oh, so we're all on the spot here. I'm on the spot as well. If you had to choose the one thing that makes each of us light up that's different because we're not the same person. I had to tell the waiter yesterday, can we get one to go box? We're gonna put all the same food in it. But we don't live together. I said, sir, I wanted to live with her. I know. We ordered the exact same thing twice, but we still live together. Okay. What makes Corey, if you had to guess, what is cool, what lights me up? Baby, this is AI Squid.

[Amy]

Well, I know what lights up Heather, and that would be Cars.

[Heather]

That is true. That is true. Yeah. Zoom, zoom. Oh, you're going to nail Heather right on. The other thing that lights me up.

[Amy]

Is a police officer behind me actually driving in. I was like, don't speak because you don't want to have to meet Heather's lawyer.

[Heather]

So you my husband.

[Amy]

I know. I was actually thought about it that being hilarious.

[Heather]

Married to Nate Jones. I am Nate Jones.

[Amy]

Well, Heather is definitely cars. And I feel like more techno.

[Heather]

Yes, she is.

[Amy]

Corey is more on the creatives as far. A different creative. Like, she's more of like the hands on creator.

[Heather]

I agree. Yeah.

[Amy]

Archer.

[Heather]

Yes.

[Amy]

I mean, but that's kind of like.

[Heather]

A. I'll take it, though. I am focused on Archer.

[Amy]

Cory likes sleep.

[Heather]

He lights me up and lays me down. Equal question. But what would frustrate either of us the most? Don't say cordo.

[Amy]

I don't think I'm allowed to say on the podcast what really frustrates you.

[Heather]

Oh, yeah, that's true. Had a secret to tell. Which one of us would you confide in first and why? I already know. Because she's a. Because she's awake.

[Amy]

I would send it to Corey, but she'd never answer, so I would go. But you guys have to understand that we have a group chat.

[Heather]

We do, we do.

[Amy]

Literally, if I'm saying if you're at.

[Heather]

Corey, I. I do feel like it's my bat signal to coming down.

[Amy]

Sometimes Corey will ask something, and I'll be like, point above. And be like, read.

[Heather]

I am late to the party every single time. Like, yeah, when I come into town.

[Amy]

I was like, wait, you're coming to town?

[Heather]

But sometimes I feel like Snapchat. Cory, go check. What Amy said. If you don't check, I'll give you the no. But.

[Amy]

So really, I don't ever tell one of you something without telling the other. Although one time, I think Cory and I were talking and Heather came in and was like, quit talking about me.

[Heather]

Oh, yeah. Why is my name here? I do recall. I do recall. Yeah, it was about dating. Yeah, it was way back in the. You know, she was talking to everybody. I was just. Happy roster, you know? If we were both facing a really tough challenge, how do you think we would react differently? Like, how do you think Cory would handle it? She'd sleep through it. But I know.

[Amy]

I do think Cory kind of pulls back.

[Heather]

I do.

[Amy]

But I think you've had some things in your life that have taught you that you need to.

[Heather]

Yeah. Keep it. Keep it close to the chest. I think Heather's, like, straight on. Let's. Let's figure this out. Let's let you guys know. I'm like, oh, I'd love to crawl in a hole, but somebody's gotta. Yeah, exactly.

[Amy]

Cory's not going to do it, so Heather's going to do it.

[Heather]

Now, that'll Message for Heather. Okay, That's a good last two. Thank you. AI. When you're talking to us with this subtle cue, you can tell which one you're speaking with. Okay. When you're listening to the podcast, which we never do a good job and we do sound kind of similar. I know what you Do.

[Amy]

I don't think you do on the podcast.

[Heather]

Really? Really? Yeah, it sounds like. Do I sound like I have a voice for radio? Because I really, truly think I do.

[Amy]

I think you both sound fine on the podcast.

[Heather]

I can't understand myself. Yeah, no, you're not wrong. I don't think I can pull that rain that hard on that guy.

[Amy]

I was curious, like, if I would be like the southern draw slow.

[Heather]

Listen, my husband's got the southern draw slow. I just talk around him.

[Amy]

Well, that's from like the lower part of resort.

[Heather]

Yeah, that's true. You don't really have that deep of an accent.

[Amy]

That's cuz I'm from the Midwest and so we're the milk.

[Heather]

What's a word you say weird to us?

[Amy]

Well, we say ope.

[Heather]

What does that mean?

[Amy]

Oh, like, oh, excuse me, I'm going to say that.

[Heather]

O, P, E. Is that how we spell it?

[Amy]

So Midwest.

[Heather]

Oh, I'm gonna say it like.

[Amy]

So you're in the grocery store and you need to get around somebody. Oh, let me squeeze right past you. Like, oh, it's just. It's literally. Actually, I made a TikTok one time and I was like the Midwest baker and like I would drop sprinkles and be like, oh, burnt cookies. Oh, like, it's just, oh, what do we say?

[Heather]

Get out of the way. Get off the road. This is my new thing. Hey, buddy, you're gonna squeeze my hand? Hey, chief, I'm coming right through. That's so funny. Have you ever mistaken one of us based on something we have said or done that acted like the other person?

[Amy]

Well, that's hard because we're usually talking.

[Heather]

Yeah, you're reading social media.

[Amy]

Literally right there.

[Heather]

I thought that was corn.

[Amy]

Who was it?

[Heather]

Here's a good one. What's a unique habit or quirk that each of us has?

[Amy]

Unique habit or quirk or quirk.

[Heather]

Oh, snakes. That's gross. Amy is standing right by a snake right now and she said, if it comes towards me, please blink towards. Why? So I know to get. I did feed them two days ago so you wouldn't have to deal with that. Feeding is good. That means they're not hungry for you, Amy, so you're welcome. You're welcome for that.

[Amy]

It's a shame.

[Heather]

I'm really sweet.

[Amy]

They would have liked.

[Heather]

Yes. Yeah, the snakes are weird and I saved them. I want to let everyone know I didn't purposefully buy him. I was like, you poor little guy. So, Amy, if someone wants to follow you on social Media. If you want to follow, you can say no, but I know your Instagram.

[Amy]

Has great tips for bakers, so my Facebook. Please don't follow that. Yeah, I keep my face and I. Most bakers don't do this. And I really don't get anything out of it. It's just. So when I started cookies, I learned so much from Instagram bakers, for sure. And, you know, there was a couple of them that I would message them and they would answer me, you know, and they had tons of followers, which I do not. But I will answer you, but I'm Cookies take the cake on Instagram. And I. I just decided I wanted to gear it towards helping bakers because I got helped so much.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

And. And sometimes I'm like, why am I pouring so much into this? Because I literally get nothing out of it. Because I definitely don't get any meta.

[Heather]

Money out of it.

[Amy]

The other day, I got a check for $2. I was like, I broke over.

[Heather]

I got $2. Like, you want to bake minis? Here's your minis.

[Amy]

Yes. Yes.

[Heather]

But on Amy's Instagram, she shows you how to stage photos. You know, I think you even sell an occasional cookie tag. Right. They could find that from Instagram.

[Amy]

I put one out there. Yeah.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

Only because there were so many people are like, where did you get that?

[Heather]

I did.

[Amy]

I was like, honey, you made it. But, yeah, so photography. I really try and help with photography on there and with baking tips because. And even, like, when I teach a class, I tell the people to follow me there because they can see stuff.

[Heather]

More guys are wondering. That's a great idea to get people from classes, which I find are kind of hard outside of signing up for the next class. To get to your social media, we try to group hit or miss. I'm still posting to a religious. Oh, that's good. I'm in there.

[Amy]

I'm in there. I've been like, what is anybody else?

[Heather]

That's the question. No, it's just me. We've got to crack that code. I'm waiting for the December people to join. Yeah. I find that people want to learn. They're more like, I'm going to sit on the sidelines and absorb the teachings versus, like, necessarily putting something out there because they feel so new. They're like, I have nothing to share. But like, your. Your fails are something to learn. And it's hard to tell people, like, push your fails. Yeah, well.

[Amy]

And I actually, on my Instagram did a couple reels lately that were. I Literally asked other bakers to comment, like, their tips, because I. I did like a. What's your tips for puffy icing? What's your color bleed tips? You know, just to see. You know, just to. Because everybody has together.

[Heather]

Yeah, for sure.

[Amy]

But definitely you can find. Yeah, I just. Anything that I feel like helps me, then I go and post it on there to help somebody else because. And two, like, if I get excited about, like, a new technique.

[Heather]

Yeah, I came up for sure.

[Amy]

Whatever. Because I figured out a different way to do pencils this year, and it, like, really excited me.

[Heather]

Pencils are difficult. Give us a teaser. Yeah. It's only half of the solutions.

[Amy]

It involves parchment paper.

[Heather]

Girl, you need to do. Okay, I'm gonna do rapid fire questions. Yeah. Favorite cutter shop? I already know the answer.

[Amy]

Kaleidocuts.

[Heather]

Kaleida Cuts. Amy is a Kaleida Cutter shop.

[Amy]

Wait, here's a question, though, because I was just. We were. We did an extension on our taxes, so we were doing that recently, and so we were, like, looking up how many cutters I bought last year. How many orders. How many times did I order cookie cutters?

[Heather]

Well, she runs. She runs. Does she run one sale or two sales a year? I know she does one for sure. I'm not sure. I know I'm shopping. Am I gonna be like. I'm gonna say 10? I'm gonna say 23.

[Amy]

What?

[Heather]

We're they giant.

[Amy]

I am so frugal. It's ridiculous.

[Heather]

That's great, Amy. Now do. Do you have a 3D printer?

[Amy]

No.

[Heather]

No to sell? No to. Okay, what's the next one?

[Amy]

My kids would like one.

[Heather]

That's a good idea. That's true. They'll probably use it. Number one cookie tool will never be able to take it. You'll never release my dehydrator because it.

[Amy]

Literally opened up my life. Because like I said, having five kids, it would be so hard because my husband be like, well, when are you going to be done? I'm like, well, they gotta sit for eight hours.

[Heather]

Yeah. I have to go back to them.

[Amy]

And now I'm, like, piping them in.

[Heather]

Do you have, like, a ten tray or, like an eight tray?

[Amy]

I have a ten tray, but I only keep, like, six in it.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

Just because I want the room and I do have the fan.

[Heather]

Number of orders you refunded this year?

[Amy]

This year, I don't think I did.

[Heather]

Good. Your meringue powder this year because I.

[Amy]

Told him to dig him out of the dumpster.

[Heather]

Just kidding.

[Amy]

No, this year I did. Really Didn't. Didn't mess anything up.

[Heather]

We're halfway through there. Meringue powder that you use.

[Amy]

Wilton.

[Heather]

Wilton.

[Amy]

Wilton.

[Heather]

You can find Wilton's.

[Amy]

I usually buy it at Walmart.

[Heather]

Oh really?

[Amy]

Because I'm not good at like pre planning. I mean I have five kids and they'll go in the cookie room and.

[Heather]

Walmart getting the snacks for the kiddos and just snag by. You're hate this rapid fire question. Have you unboxed the Eddie yet?

[Amy]

No, I believe it is.

[Heather]

That's what. No, no. I feel like if you're targeting for Lomas, you're not pretty. Yeah. I want to say that that is so normal. It's. It's overwhelming to get something so new, so big. Tech.

[Amy]

It's like the tech. Well one I needed to get a computer that would work with me. But my son, my 17 year old who is very tech savvy the other day was like, mom, we need to get this out. I'm like, I know. We really want to Brady tell Aiden do this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And. And to like finding a space for it.

[Heather]

I'm sure that it's not gonna get hit with a football or a hockey puck.

[Amy]

Actually. Yeah. So I have we our house. I took a bedroom because for our sanity, like I had to have a space because I can just shut the door and you know, with five people, you know, five kids, seven people.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

In and out. It just. I needed a space and sometimes I feel guilty that my kids share a room. So like I'm cookie room. But I'm like, no, it actually makes.

[Heather]

Their life for sure. Yeah.

[Amy]

Listen, I had to share a bed when I was growing up with my sister. So I'm like, you guys have your own beds? My sister used to like draw lines. She would pinch me if I went over the line.

[Heather]

And you know what, sister? We created a pillow divider.

[Amy]

Yeah, but. So yeah, but he's gonna help me do that because I do want to have it up and ready for Christmas because. Oh, that's great for some corporate Christmas.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

Because I usually get some and I hate myself. I know handpiping all those things.

[Heather]

I know your favorite brand of food coloring.

[Amy]

I have a lot of Americolor. I really like sugar art.

[Heather]

The powders. Are you using the powders?

[Amy]

Yeah, but I have a giant box.

[Heather]

Of like the heavenly heavenly 70 nifty 50. One of those.

[Amy]

I have the airbrush nifty 50 and I love that.

[Heather]

Oh really?

[Amy]

I know a lot of people hate on the airbrush, but I Enjoy my airbrush.

[Heather]

I cannot remember the worst.

[Amy]

Well, and I paint with some of the airbrush colors too.

[Heather]

Do you feel like painting with the airbrush colors is better than painting with the gel food colors?

[Amy]

Sometimes they bind up because the gel.

[Heather]

Add the alcohol has like clumping ability.

[Amy]

Yes. Either one of them can like bind up up. I think I feel like red does more than other colors.

[Heather]

Oh, interesting.

[Amy]

You know, and we all could be changing. Who knows? Who knows by 2027 what we're going to be doing? But I have. I really like painting with powders, but I don't have them. But yeah, I'm very frugal, guys. If I can. If I can figure it out and what's in my room, I'm not buying.

[Heather]

I think that's huge. I think it almost take a lesson. Yeah.

[Amy]

I don't buy new stuff stuff very often unless I just absolutely have to have it.

[Heather]

Least used cookie tool besides Eddie the turntable. Yeah. I only really do that with florals. When you got to go in a circle.

[Amy]

Well, I have a cheap one and it like sticks. It's like, not really worth it.

[Heather]

Yeah. Yeah. I hate to scooch us along here, but these cameras. Okay, I'm like, girl, I want to go into your life story. What's your middle age?

[Amy]

Lynn. Amy Lynn.

[Heather]

Huh?

[Amy]

I said that good. 80s middle name. Amy Lynn.

[Heather]

It really does.

[Amy]

I was supposed to be Amy Jo.

[Heather]

That closed off the. That's very nice.

[Amy]

That would have been a family. Like my aunt is Joanne. So it would have been. Because I'm the only one of my sisters that doesn't have a family name. So. Oh, I was a C section. My mom was a little doped up on drugs.

[Heather]

She said Lynn in it.

[Amy]

Yeah, she went with Lynn. So.

[Heather]

Okay, we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Texting questions to the STL me about it by Cookie Design Lab. Save 15 if you use code twins. Yeah. So Amy, you get to choose the number this time. If you win. If Amy has chosen you, you get to redeem a Cookie Design Lab membership for a month where you can print off your own cookie cutters and be frugal like Amy. Yeah.

[Amy]

Oh, and then you'll love me.

[Heather]

Yes.

[Amy]

When I delete your post. So I have to pick a number.

[Heather]

Yeah. Five one, two, three, four, five. I've never been on this side of the computer screen. Ah, Sarah from Maryland. You win. And she said, wishing you a quick and easy recovery. Corey. Thank you and thank everyone who showed up. Yeah. I want to say just thank you to Everybody who made such sweet comments. You know, I did feel out of my realm because Amy's right. I keep cards close to the chest. It was like an out of body experience to share that.

[Amy]

But not doing this the entire time.

[Heather]

I was so nervous. No, you guys have been truly.

[Amy]

So.

[Heather]

I gotta let those pits breathe. So, Sarah, if you email me, heather sugarcookiemarketing.com you can get the Cookie Design Lab membership for free with the rest of you for 15% off. Use code twins. Nice. Next question and then we'll scooch along here. Simple question. She says, can you include a link to sign up for the Instagram collabs in your podcast emails? Or maybe a little email list for people who have participated in past collabs and email them with a heads up of the reminder for the next collab. I hear the collabs, but I never see the links until it's really close to starting time. Explain what these collabs are for SEM.

[Amy]

So they are where I'm getting a steak, just so you know.

[Heather]

You do.

[Amy]

So the cookie collabs are when we as a group, we build engagement by posting something that we pick a theme and I don't know, do we feel like they're as successful now that we. The hashtags.

[Heather]

Not my favorite. The only option. Yeah, we tried it. We sat down. That's truly the only way.

[Amy]

Yeah, well, I mean, because hashtags used to be like, you could just click the hashtag and it would take you to everybody's. But last time it was pretty easy.

[Heather]

To still find some.

[Amy]

Yeah, it still pulled some of them in. But basically it's a way that we go and we build engagement on each other. There's post. So then that hypothetically pushes us up in the algorithm, which if you follow it and you actually check yourself before and after, it really does make a difference.

[Heather]

No, it did that.

[Amy]

Did it make millions? No, but it did get me a lot of new eyes on my stuff. So yeah.

[Heather]

So the next collab is July 25th at 10:00am Eastern Standard Time. Sorry to my Californians. We'll adjust. It'll be a cookie my logo, where you're going to turn your own logo into a cookie and the hashtag for that will be hashtag SCM collab logo. Right? Yes.

[Amy]

Yes.

[Heather]

So last time it was SCM Collab Baker. Because the weird hashtags and how they work, we have to choose a new hashtag every time. So this one will be logo. This one will be a great one. If you know you Wanted to print. You got to get Eddie out now. He's gonna have to make an appearance. If you do want to showcase that you can make corporate orders come December when you're really busy with classes and everything like that. This would be a great time if you wanted to print your logo and showcase what you. You can do. But also piping logos or using edible printer sheets still whatever it is, to demonstrate a skill that you can. And this is corporate girly era tactics. And then everyone will come and engage with you for that one hour and you'll see an increase in likes, which will be an increase in reach. Also last Thursday I did my first roast and toast. Hilarious. I went and just claimed it. I gotta. I got a messenger back and I'm doing a roast and toast this Thursday at 2 and another one next week at 6 in preparation. I'm just gonna explain what the roast and toast is because I'm sorry, I.

[Amy]

Did not sign up for the roast and toast.

[Heather]

Yeah. Heather made me against my will sign up for it. So I definitely had everyone who watches said, wow, I thought this was so much nicer than I thought it was. And I wish I had signed up. Yeah. So the roast and toast, we have a mid summer membership sale. It is from July 27th to August 2nd. Amy's actually in the cookie college as a little. Thanks for being a moderator. What do you. If you could tell people were on the fence about the midsummer membership sale, who would be the ideal baker to snag? Guys watching this. Don't mind the gun to Amy's head right now. Yeah. Say what we talk like the snake coming out. Come on, Felicia. Look at her.

[Amy]

So what I think is the most like, who it's beneficial for because it's.

[Heather]

Not a perfect fit for everybody. And that. I know, but for the person who I'd like to. Who would you say it was?

[Amy]

I think that it's anybody who's actually like genuinely serious about growing their business. You know, I don't think that. And if you're like me and you don't like to spend money, now is the time to hop on it.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

Because really, like, I don't think you grasp the value behind it until you're actually in it and you're like looking through it and also like. But you do have to be like self motivated to use it.

[Heather]

You do. It does require.

[Amy]

Because it's one of those things that you're getting out of it, what you're putting into it. So if you're going in there and you're looking up classes and you're doing the classes, then you're gonna get something out of it. And you know a lot of people. And there's another Facebook group that a lot of people really like, because Heather's nicer in there.

[Heather]

Yes, she is.

[Amy]

I'm not in there, so I don't get to, you know, be mean in there. But, you know, because I think a lot of people look at it as just, oh, well, that's where you get cookie class kits. But it's not really the. Really. To me, when it was created, the concept behind it was to help you be growing and learning, like, the ins and outs of your business. Like, you know, somebody. We were watching Jeopardy. And I knew what SEO was, and my kids were like, how do you know that? I was like, that's. Cause Heather taught us about search engine optimization. So, you know, my one Jeopardy. Question of all time. Um, but, you know, like, it's. It's more for, like. And I tell people all the time, they're like, I want my business to grow. Where do I start? I'm like, literally, you can start here. Like, it's worth it. And I think bakers sometimes are hesitant to invest. Sure. But the reality is if you're going to make money, you're gonna have to spend some at some point. So it's better to have it targeted into something that you can, you know, actually see.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

And you can track, you know.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

How this actually is helping you. And if it's not, then you cancel.

[Heather]

Yeah. I want to say going in there with the mindset of tracking, like, I'm going to do, I'm gonna up my photo. I'm taking the photography course. I'm gonna see if I get more engagement. Here's what my engagement was before I took the course. Here's what it is after. Granted, nothing is overnight. So your first. I think some people.

[Amy]

Write off SEM in general because they.

[Heather]

It's not instantaneous.

[Amy]

You try it one time and they're.

[Heather]

Like, well, that didn't work out.

[Amy]

But, you know, it's that consistent. Like. And really social media marketing, if we're going to sell on social media, we have to be consistent.

[Heather]

That's. Yeah.

[Amy]

Even with your, you know, or if you have a Google profile or whatever, you have to be maintaining it.

[Heather]

I mean, if you made one post, we all made a million dollars.

[Amy]

We wouldn't be here.

[Heather]

We wouldn't be talking about.

[Amy]

Right.

[Heather]

Yeah. Thank you so much. That was good. Goodbye. Lunch later. It looks like a steak is coming in soon. But if you want the. To watch the roast and toast, in which case I'll do. It's only 30 minutes and only spend five minutes per baker. A compliment sandwich too good. Can I just do like a breakdown? Because I thought it was so good. Okay. I didn't know what Heather had planned for this roast and toast. Heather didn't know what Heather had planned.

[Amy]

That's why I didn't sign up. Because I did not want her just.

[Heather]

Stay on the toasty part.

[Amy]

Never.

[Heather]

You know, I'm so sorry. The roast is the. The toast is the stick on the roast. The good part. So she took people who signed up. She either chose a Instagram profile from them. So she went over your bio, the website, your Facebook. It wasn't that. She went through all 52 of your social profiles and website and tore you apart. She gave you the. Hey, you did great. Here. Here's what I would suggest to add to one thing that she said that I actually implemented myself and I am in scm. I've been in there for years. Was. She was right. My Instagram looks very similar to my Facebook page. So to have in my Facebook bio three different links where they could click to my Instagram or my TikTok or my website. I was wasting that. That space because at the end of the day, whatever you don't find out my Facebook, it's not going to appear on my Instagram. So I took it off and just. Just put my website on there. Because at the end of the day, that's where you go to make an order. So I don't want them to have 52 more clicks because. And then get lost in the sauce of my Instagram which looks.

[Amy]

And then get distracted and get their.

[Heather]

Five kids go to the er.

[Amy]

Right.

[Heather]

Yeah. Yes. I thought that was good. So you guys can watch the rest of this. I'm roasting and toasting five more bakers on Thursday at 2pm Eastern and then again at 6pm the next following Thursday in preparation for the midsummer membership sale, which will be the last week of July, from July 27 to August 2. And everything we have is on sale. If you are like Amy and like to save money and you've been on the fence about this, you could sign up for just a month. You could see if you like it, implement the stuff. I think you're going to like what you said. But this will be the only sale we run until. And I hate to use the word, the vending ready for November. Yeah. That means cooler weather. I'm willing I know. I really am trying to will it into not me.

[Amy]

I'm like, like, please, I don't want school to start.

[Heather]

So there. Then they go. They leave. They go off on the bus and.

[Amy]

Then the principal calls you.

[Heather]

Yeah, that's true. That's true. My bad. Our sponsors. Amy, how much do you listen to the podcast? Can you list out the sponsors in any form you want to? No. Give her a little hint. Okay, first, I could have told you a lot. I could have told you what they.

[Amy]

Were like a couple months ago.

[Heather]

Cookie design lab is the one who. Actually, that's a new one. I'm still going to quiz her on these. Okay. This is a baking supply shop. They were a vendor at the vendue blend. This is the newest one. Even I had trouble remembering.

[Amy]

I don't know who you picked.

[Heather]

It is baking me crazy code favorite twin or Heather. Just kidding. It's code favorite twin for 10.

[Amy]

I follow them on face or Instagram.

[Heather]

This is a meringue powder Corey likes.

[Amy]

Oh, so the Bakey bake twin.

[Heather]

Save 10% royal batch. This. This is. We spoke at what's Popping Con? It's by this company.

[Amy]

You're talking about Cookie Con or Betty Con?

[Heather]

No, what's Popping Con? It was for cake poppers. Oh yeah. Do you remember this one? Do you do cake pops?

[Amy]

No, I. Again, sugar cookies.

[Heather]

I almost bought her this. Daisy makes it to what? I almost bought you a mold. And I said this will collect dust over in Amy's house. Let me not add that to her. This is.

[Amy]

Is true, Hunter.

[Heather]

Okay, last but not least. He's in a box in your basement.

[Amy]

He's not in my basement. Cuz my basement is old.

[Heather]

In a box in your cookie room.

[Amy]

He's sitting in my cookie room. And my sister.

[Heather]

He's looking at you in a big old box. Yeah, no, Eddie is great too.

[Amy]

So I guess I feel like once I pull him out, like then.

[Heather]

Then it's real.

[Amy]

Like things can.

[Heather]

Absolutely. I love leaving things in the boxes, girl.

[Amy]

I actually have something else in the box. So it's not just that. My Vindi Bloody door prize.

[Heather]

What's a bendy blending?

[Amy]

Like the icing.

[Heather]

Where did you win it from? Wait, I remember this.

[Amy]

Oh.

[Heather]

I don't know if she's still in business anymore, but she was. I. That one's a plug in play ma'. Am. That just shakes it. But what she's doing, it's like they use it in a dental office, right?

[Amy]

Yeah, technically. And it.

[Heather]

What it did was it shook out the Bubbles out of the teeth mold that you would use to be fair.

[Amy]

I got it in November. Like life is crazy in November.

[Heather]

Listen, we are almost.

[Amy]

Which is why you needed to do the midsummer sale. Because you can literally be like laying in the pool watching Corey teach you.

[Heather]

How to take photos. There you go. When should we. When should we post that? You can pendy the group for the Vendy blend.

[Amy]

Oh my gosh.

[Heather]

Not too soon. 4. 4. I think Darcy Heater designs did that. I think you're right. I think you're right. I think it was. I wonder if she's still.

[Amy]

I don't know. Sometimes I have Vendi blendy. Like, you know, ptsd.

[Heather]

Yeah. I don't know. I was thinking maybe. Okay, August, back to school. I was thinking September. Ish. Time frame.

[Amy]

Yes.

[Heather]

Okay, I'm going to my favorite part of the podcast now. So we do have Twinterest that we typically do. Okay. This is Cory's idea. I thought it was a genius. And instead of doing Twinterest, I said let me give Amy some of our favorite things. We tried to remember if we featured these in the podcast, but you have to open them up and show them to the YouTube channel.

[Amy]

To the YouTube channel.

[Heather]

And we'll explain what they are. In case we didn't. These were our favorites from the mall. Our favorites from the mall that we have featured on the podcast. We said Amy could have some more faves and we'll explain to you.

[Amy]

Oh, okay. Let's see.

[Heather]

This is a yeti Diet Coke or use it as your choose.

[Amy]

I drink Zevias. Do you know what a Zevia is?

[Heather]

No, I don't.

[Amy]

So it's basically with stevia.

[Heather]

So it's. Oh, nice.

[Amy]

Supposed to be better for you than.

[Heather]

Is it a can thing?

[Amy]

Oh, that's what I'm saying.

[Heather]

Sweet.

[Amy]

Yes. Favorite is cream soda. So I'll just stick it in there.

[Heather]

This keeps them cold for hours and hours. Where could we get a xivia Molly?

[Amy]

I buy them at Costco.

[Heather]

Do you guys have Costco? We do have Costco but we ain't got no membership.

[Amy]

So they're usually like, you know, they're like, well, everything up Midwest pricing. It's. They're pricey for Midwest.

[Heather]

Yeah.

[Amy]

So it's like, like. But if you get them at Costco, it's like 54 cents a can. Which is cuz they're usually like closer to $2. That's really good. But they're like all natural.

[Heather]

Didn't you I just talk about sharing a membership? Yeah, we were Talking about just using the same face on a membership. Stealing.

[Amy]

We were going to do a family. I have Sam's and Costco. So, you know, we do it for the pizza.

[Heather]

That's what we were talking about.

[Amy]

And the rotisserie chicken.

[Heather]

That's what we're doing. Yeah.

[Amy]

But, yeah, I can get. Get pizza from Costco or Sam's and feed my whole family for like 20 bucks, which is insane.

[Heather]

That's good. So for a family of seven and six are men. Yeah.

[Amy]

Yeah.

[Heather]

I eat a ton. Okay, what is this one? I think I know what this one is because this is my favorite one. Okay. Small, but my take. This is. Let's see. She's almost there. She's almost there.

[Amy]

Sorry to all you people online. Listen up there.

[Heather]

Okay? This is Aveda. It's a peppermint thing. Reduces stress. Just cake it all over. Yeah, I was gonna use it all the way on the way home, but it has a cooling sensation to it. If you put it on the back of your neck, you'll feel cooler. If you're allergic to peppermint, don't. But just eggs. And also what I learned, it's a mosquito repellent. Oh, yes.

[Amy]

Oh, I heard you guys talk about that.

[Heather]

Huge fan favorite of the Miracles.

[Amy]

Well, you know, Missouri.

[Heather]

Mosquitoes. Mosquitoes.

[Amy]

Mosquitoids are bad.

[Heather]

Mosquitoes are bad. Opie.

[Amy]

Oh, Opie got a skeeter bike.

[Heather]

Let's see what this one is.

[Amy]

I think I remember actually in high school, I worked at a summer camp, and I kid you not, one year, one day, I counted 50 mosquito bites.

[Heather]

Stop.

[Amy]

On one leg.

[Heather]

I hate that. I would hate them.

[Amy]

It was the year that, like, they were supposed to be carrying diseases and stuff, too.

[Heather]

Zigen baggers. Okay. This is my favorite chapstick. It's from Sephora, which you'd find a mirror sister Addison for at any given time. I really like this in terms of. It's the fresh. If you guys can't see, what, it's on YouTube. It's Fresh Chapsticks. In the mint. In the peppermint mint.

[Amy]

I like mint.

[Heather]

You're gonna be so kissable. You might have child number six zero on the way.

[Amy]

Literally yesterday. So I, you know, I'm staying with my mother in law and we used to live there, so there's lots of.

[Heather]

People I know there.

[Amy]

And the lady and she's like, you trying for any more kids? And I'm like, no. Like, he's almost seven.

[Heather]

What?

[Amy]

Yeah, we're past diapers, Amy. We got other things we're doing in our lives.

[Heather]

We're not doing that.

[Amy]

ER visits.

[Heather]

Okay. This scissor we've talked about a lot. This is a very sharp scissor and it's got. I've gotten it for both of my grandmothers at Christmas and I really like it. She's calling me old lady. Listen, we either said this is going to put you back into the ER with the kiddos, or it's going to be your favorite scissor.

[Amy]

The ones hiding in the cookie room.

[Heather]

There you go.

[Amy]

So one of my sons really likes to cut stuff and I literally can never find my.

[Heather]

Is it the pizza cutter, son?

[Amy]

No, that was Aiden.

[Heather]

Aiden.

[Amy]

He about took his top of his finger off of the pizza cutter.

[Heather]

Are you kidding me?

[Amy]

So crazy.

[Heather]

Is it a Costco pizza too?

[Amy]

No, it was Aldi pizza.

[Heather]

Okay.

[Amy]

Super milk conditioning hair.

[Heather]

This smells so. It smells like a holiday in a bottle.

[Amy]

You guys act like a. I like.

[Heather]

Have a health beauty routine. I have five kids problems. So you enjoy. I actually use this myself this morning. Not your bottle, I promise. But I use my own bottle. It smells. It's got like cinnamon and it just smells so good. But it's like a leave in conditioner that you can put in. Oh, it says lush. Does it smell lush? Lush and loose. Yeah.

[Amy]

And all I brought was myself.

[Heather]

That's a gift to never tell for any. Delete more threads. Okay, Amy, we did a whole podcast on this specifically. This is the La Roche. Okay. Yes. This is the chocolate we said was marketed really well at the mall when we did a Christmas in July with my sisters last year.

[Amy]

Yummy, yum.

[Heather]

You can eat snack on that when you drive back. Yes. It should be melted. You eat it on the way to the mall when we go. Okay, I think that takes us to the podcast. Thank you so much. Amy's in the group a lot. If you. If she deletes your threads, it's not out of animosity. No, it's never. It's always just to keep the group on track and a safe place because she says at the end of the day, it's dangerous in other groups. Yeah, not in all groups, but being a baker is lonely and sometimes you do need to ask if my kid has hand, foot, and mouth. I'm sure you've had it 22 times in your family with how many kids you have. It's just nice to be able to come and not have some other baker be like, how dare you? No, you can ask those questions. And Amy just makes it a safe space and she Amy puts herself in the shoes of, if I ask this question, would this response hurt my feelings? Would it add to the solution or would it detract from my experience here? And so what you guys don't really understand is Amy's your little guardian angel. She is, she is. Well.

[Amy]

And really, when SCM first started, I don't think you guys realized that it was gonna go as big as it went. And so there wasn't really even a needle. You didn't think for my team. And then some things happened that were like, okay, like, this doesn't feel good.

[Heather]

Yeah. You know, as the group grew.

[Amy]

Right.

[Heather]

And there was a lot more personalities in there. We did need someone. And Amy has such, like, because she has five kids, she knows how to like, just be like, middle of the road, here's the line in the sand. And that's what you kind of.

[Amy]

You have to be fair overall.

[Heather]

Yes.

[Amy]

And so sometimes it makes some.

[Heather]

Literally we'll see a thread and I'll be like, maybe Amy will get to before we have to. Yeah.

[Amy]

I've learned that I can't like, expect. I have to be like, psa. I'm not gonna be available for five hours. So you're on your own.

[Heather]

Sometimes we're like, amy's not here. The Lord has spoken this red.

[Amy]

So if you ever see the group just totally locked down for the day, it's probably because I'm not available.

[Heather]

But we do appreciate you honestly have been a godsend.

[Amy]

Thank you.

[Heather]

And I feel like you are our. Two years ago, Amy was like, guys, I just want you to know I wanted to this anymore. Thank you so much for the time and, and I appreciate it. And I was like, Corey.

[Amy]

Heather said, Cory, I had to go on there. Like they wouldn't answer me. And finally I had to be like, April Fools.

[Heather]

You can take two season Wednesday.

[Amy]

It was so sad cuz Heather, like wrote me this note that was like, oh, we understand, but we're sorry. Like, you could hear her tears through it. And I was like, Amy, we were April Fools.

[Heather]

Oh, I said, I even said it's everything. I. But you have been such an asset to us and we're getting ready to take you to the mall just to give you that steak dinner. Didn't you guys at the mall? Yeah, no, we went like yesterday, the day before, the day before that. We had a prep. We had to prep for Amy. Yeah, that's how it works. So thank you guys for being on the podcast. You can follow Amy on Instagram. Ookies. I'll put it in the Wednesday, Wednesday newsletter. Nobody reads. Yeah. And then you can find Amy in the group if you have any questions. She did the live. You can find it on YouTube.

[Amy]

All you have to do is say a bad word and I'll be right there. She'll be gone. Right?

[Heather]

All right, guys, thank you so much. Let me turn off my millions of views, guys.

[Amy]

It's hot.