IAM1128- Cake Artist Runs a Home Bakery

00:16 - 00:43 Intro :

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:44 - 00:53 Gresham Harkless:

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Alicia Johnson of Elevation Cakes and Sweets. Alicia, it's great to have you on the show.

00:54 - 00:56 Alicia Johnson:

Great to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

00:57 - 01:25 Gresham Harkless:

Super excited to have you on. And before we jumped into the interview, I wanted to read a little bit more about Alicia so they can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Elevation Cakes and Sweets is a woman-owned home bakery that specializes in buttercream cakes and sweet treats. Alicia's journey started from learning basic cookings from her paternal grandmother who would bake family favorites every week just to put a smile on their faces.

Her grandmother was the first 1 to nurture her love for baking by sending her cookbooks to help her develop baking skills. And this led Alicia to embark in a career in the food service industry working for a premier baking company in their logistics area, then moving on to marketing and lastly branching out on her own. And I absolutely love the story of hearing like how your grandmother planted that seed and now has grown into this awesome business. So Alicia, Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

01:47 - 01:48 Alicia Johnson:

I am.

01:48 - 01:55 Gresham Harkless:

Awesome, well, let's do it then. So to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock. Hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

01:56 - 02:36 Alicia Johnson:

Well, so as you know, I've been having a love for baking for quite some time. And just elevation cakes has been birthed for about 3 years now. And it was something that I had baking on the back end, I was working in the baking industry, I actually was not baking in the baking industry. I was working on the back end doing logistics and marketing. And I kept thinking, oh, I'd love to get back into the actual bakery, getting my hands into some stuff again, but I just didn't know how that transition was going to happen.

And I went to a women's retreat back in the fall of 2018. And a lot of things came out of some of the workshops that we did there. And it planted a seed that gave me the courage and the fire that I needed to, okay, let's get back into this baking thing. Fast forward to November, and I decided this was it. I can't wait anymore. It can't be stagnant. I can't procrastinate. It's time to do it. So I took the steps to Berg Elevation Cakes and Sweets. I registered it. I did everything I was supposed to do.

And I think I got my first customer in December of 2018. And just word of mouth, just kind of had everything just moving faster than I expected. So I'm just blessed with friends and family, people that I didn't know, people that saw a post here or there that was shared, and just things took over after that.

03:39 - 03:59 Gresham Harkless:

Yeah, I absolutely appreciate that. And I think the saying, it was to say, it takes a community to raise a child, a lot of times in business, it takes a community to be able to build that business as well too. And I think when you're able to lean into your gifts, your talents those seeds that are planted very early, then a lot of times, those blessings and things kind of come in different ways that help you propel you forward.

04:00 - 04:14 Alicia Johnson:

Absolutely. So right now, we are a home-based bakery, and we have aspirations to move outside of that. So I'm just blessed to be here to be able to do what I love to do.

04:15 - 04:39 Gresham Harkless:

Yeah, absolutely. And super excited to have you on. And it's so funny, I don't know if you've heard of the E-Myth, but most of the times with people that start businesses, a lot of times they're experts at a certain part of their business. There are a lot of times when bakers, and then they decide that they wanna go on and have their own business. But I love that you had all those different skill sets that were developed outside of it. Great. So I imagine it helps set you up for even more success.

04:39 - 05:11 Alicia Johnson:

Oh, yeah. I think it definitely helped me, especially on the customer service and is 1 thing to be able to make something and put it in front of a customer, but there's the experience that actually keeps them coming back. So I'm able to give them the level of service and attention outside of baking that tells them, hey, you know, it's not just about baking with her. She really cares and she goes the extra mile to make sure that everything is right and I'm gonna definitely come back and order again. So it helps. It definitely helps.

05:12 - 05:30 Gresham Harkless:

Yeah, absolutely. Could you have a better idea of the customer experience, as you said, of that journey, you're able to cater to that, in addition to making some phenomenal food as well. So I know I touched on it a little bit, and I wanted to drill down a little bit more, hear a little bit more on what we can find at Elevation, cakes and sweets, and how you serve the clients you work with.

05:31 - 06:11 Alicia Johnson:

Okay, so I'm a bakery, obviously, and I make cakes. Specifically, I make custom layered cakes. So it could be for event, which could be birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, or it just could be just in the mood for cake. So we have all types of customers. So we do layered cakes, we do dipped treats. So like for dessert table, if you want to dip strawberries or Oreos or macaroons, So we do a couple of French pastries too. So yeah, it's a variety. I'd say we have a variety, about 15 to 20 different items on our menu.

06:11 - 06:18 Gresham Harkless:

Nice. And it sounds like something for every occasion and every kind of taste, but as well too, to make sure that they get something that they're looking for.

06:19 - 06:31 Alicia Johnson:

Absolutely. Although I do cakes, I am very well known for my banana pudding, bread pudding, things like that. So I touch on the homemade type of treats as well.

06:31 - 06:51 Gresham Harkless:

Yes, absolutely. You have me at hello. So I love the sound and taste of that as well. So truly appreciate you for being able to do that. And so I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you so that you know, for your dishes, but for your business yourself personally, or a combination of both, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

06:52 - 07:34 Alicia Johnson:

It's my buttercream. So I have taken a lot of time to perfect the texture, the flavor of the buttercream. And it's just 1 of the things that customers always ask, wow, your buttercream is really good. It's not out of a jar. So, you know, I had to figure out, okay, Everyone can bake cake. There's only as few ways that you can make cake unique to you other than flavors, but it's the buttercream that sometimes people are not big on icing and I get that. So I try to convert those customers. So that's my thing. My sauce is my buttercream.

07:36 - 07:59 Gresham Harkless:

Nice. I love that. And I love you mentioning, you know, the process and the time that you took to develop that. Cause I think so many times, I say a lot of times with baking as it is, and I say in sports, but also definitely in cooking. Like a lot of times people don't see the behind the scenes of what comes out to be that final dish or that, or that business or whatever it is. So I love you talking about that process that you sound like you went through to kind of perfect that and continue to get that better.

08:00 - 08:22 Alicia Johnson:

Yes, yes. So what I make a point to do is make sure whatever I'm putting out there, there's some sort of R&D research and development for those that don't know what that is. Just to tweak to make sure the flavors right is something off. Is it too sweet, how can I scale it back? So I am very technical about all of those things.

08:23 - 08:34 Gresham Harkless:

Yeah. And it's so huge. I think when we're sitting down and we're filling our faces, we don't realize all of those things, but I love that you've been able to do that in your business and obviously in everything you create as well.

08:34 - 08:38 Alicia Johnson:

Right, right. It's an important piece of what I do.

08:39 - 08:51 Gresham Harkless:

Absolutely. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

08:52 - 09:35 Alicia Johnson:

Scheduling. So I think anyone in business doesn't matter what type of business it is. But for some people that may not realize, especially for a bakery business, keeping a schedule, keeping tabs on the ins and outs of your week is super important because if you don't go by the schedule, everything is just, it's haywire. It's definitely haywire. Trying to keep up with what you have for the week, what's going out today, what's coming in today, it can be hectic.

So keeping a calendar, keeping a schedule, I recommend using an electronic calendar that you can sync with your phone. I know that there are other software out there and I'm actually in the process of doing that, but to be honest with you, I use my Apple apps religiously. I use my calendar, I use my notes. And like I said, I am a home business. So I know that as I grow, I need to grow with the products that I use. So as of right now, I'm still relying on Apple, but I'm moving towards something much better.

10:04 - 10:15 Gresham Harkless:

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something if you were to hop into a time machine, you would tell your younger business.

10:16 - 10:43 Alicia Johnson:

Just stressing small things. So if it's something that is on the scale of things is on the lower end, just dust it off. Don't dwell on it. Don't overthink. If you can move on, if you can rectify, that's fine, but just not dwelling on small things because it will eat up your time. And as we know, we can't get time back. So yeah, that would be my nugget.

10:43 - 10:55 Gresham Harkless:

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on this show. So Alicia, what does being a CEO mean to you?

10:56 - 11:37 Alicia Johnson:

I believe being a CEO means being in control of your destiny, your time, your energy, and your talent, your office is everything that embodies who you are. It's part of being a CEO, when you're a CEO, you have control to tap into those things and use them at your discretion. When you're, let's say not a CEO working for another being, you're working on their time and their business and you're doing things to elevate their brand, not your brand.

But when you're a CEO, it's different. It's something, you can see the fruits of your labor in all aspects and it's your name on it. So I just, it's hard to put it in 1 particular thing. I just think the whole experience of the CEO itself, just knowing that that's you, that's your thing, everything you do comes back to your brand, who you are. So yeah, that's what I love about being a CEO.

12:02 - 12:24 Gresham Harkless:

Yeah, I love that definition because it speaks from, a lot of times we have gifts or we have things that we're able to do, but I love that you use that phrase tap into it because we're able to tap into that, and put that energy, that strength, the talents, the skills all towards like 1 brand or 1 thing that manifests itself from ourselves, then it's an extremely powerful and exciting thing.

12:24 - 13:02 Alicia Johnson:

Yes, yes, yes, definitely. And that was 1 of the reasons why, it's good I could bake at another bakery, but at the end of the day, my identity gets hidden because I'm doing it for their brand. So just doing it for Elevation Cakes, it just means the world. It just puts us out there even more, the more we do what we do. So it's amazing. It's stressful. There are a lot of things that come with being a CEO. It's not always a walk in the park, but the reward you get at the end is worth it.

13:02 - 13:25 Gresham Harkless:

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's where, you know, it gets back to like having like a really strong passion and, and mission for what it is that you do, because it's not all you, like you said, a walk in the park or sunshine and rainbows, but I think when you have that mission and you understand that you are putting your fingerprints in so many different ways for your life, for your business, but also for the people that we're serving and making that huge impact, then you start to realize like even the less than ideal days are sometimes, worth it to get to where you want to be.

13:29 - 13:30 Alicia Johnson:

Absolutely. 

13:31 - 13:46 Gresham Harkless:

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Alicia truly appreciates that definition and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic so to speak just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on. 

13:46 - 14:26 Alicia Johnson:

Well, yeah, so again, I am very grateful for you inviting me to the show. Thank you once again. So Elevation Cakes, we are still moving and shaking. We're baking. Although we're on a summer schedule right now, we are opening up the floor for September and for the rest of 2021, we're looking to go out with a bang. So to look forward to 2022, since everything is back open now, We're looking to do some workshops, one-on-one baking sessions. We're going to have some Zoom tutorials coming your way.

So be on the lookout for that. Probably going to roll that out in October. And it's going to be for 2022, but we're going to start promoting that in the fall. And we're just excited for all the opportunities. We have some collaborations with other businesses, and other food vendors doing things like that. And we're looking to go into the farmers market realm of things come 2022 as well.

14:52 - 14:58 Gresham Harkless:

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Loads of exciting things that you have and you're serving the Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia area, correct?

14:58 - 15:34 Alicia Johnson:

I am specifically from Northern Virginia. I am located in Loudoun County, Virginia, but I do service all of Northern Virginia, DC, and Maryland. And I know you mentioned that I could mention how to find me. You can find me on all social media platforms. I'm on Facebook, Elevation Cake, and Instagram at Elevation Cake, and the same with Twitter is Elevation Cake VA. We do have a website. You can go visit us at elevationcake.com and we will get back to you within 24 hours of your initial request.

15:35 - 16:01 Gresham Harkless:

Awesome, awesome, awesome. I truly appreciate that, Alicia. To make it even easier, we'll have the links and information in the show notes as well too so that everybody can click through and follow up with you and contact you and get all that awesomeness, especially the buttercream part as well, and everything else in between and all around. But I truly appreciate you for taking time out and for your creativity and reminding us of the holistic part of business and all the different aspects of any business especially of your business as well. So thank you so much again and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:04 - Outro

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