An Edible Tweet - Cookie Text
Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jeanne Fiocca, founder of Cookie Text, located in Yorktown, VA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We are the go-between for people being kind to each other! We take your special message, frost it on our homemade cookie cake, and hand-deliver it for any occasion. So anything from "Thanks for getting my mail while I was gone," to "Good luck on your job interview!" Everything we make is made from scratch, personalized, beautifully packaged, and then hand-delivered. We may do dozens of orders in a day but we treat each order like it's our only one.
Tell us about yourself
I had a background in Occupational Therapy before I stayed home and raised 3 sons. I was the text-book soccer mom: volunteering at school and church, managing the soccer team, baking cakes for friends, and keeping the house. When the final boy got off to school I realized all those activities had developed my creative side and that inspired me to launch Cookie Text instead of returning to my former field of work.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Our company's reputation is a huge source of pride for me. I like that even though we are an online business people feel like their orders matter and that they know the people behind the products. The whole business is about connecting people, and while I don't have any idea who packaged my last Amazon order, I'm certain our customers know that real people put time, effort, and care into making their order shine.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Doing the jobs that need to be done instead of the ones I prefer to do. I love so many parts of what we do, but I sure can't stand some of the minutia that I have to see to in order to make sure the books stay balance and taxes are paid. So I think I'd say being disciplined and a bit structured is my biggest challenge.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
1. Make sure you love what you're launching, and you're not just following what you think is a mountain of money. Despite everything we see in the media, it typically takes time to build success, and if it is successful, you'll be doing a lot of it. So you need the love to both build it and be happy when it's thriving.
2. If you mess up, fess up. No one is perfect, and I certainly have made every error there is. When it comes to customer service, owning the mistake and making it right is the key to keeping a client. And when you end up head to head with a client that seems like they simply want to be angry, put it on them to solve the issue: "Please let me know the best way to make this right for you."
3. Do the math. Then do the math again. This is coming from a gal that loathes math, so you know I believe it: if you don't have enough margin in your product or service to sustain your business, don't start it.
Anything else you'd like to share?
Keeping your priorities straight is key, so it was fundamental as I launched my business to have an understanding of how I would measure success. Often money and success are synonymous. For me being an available mother was my first priority. I was able to build the business financially sound and, more importantly, allowed me to be present for my children as much as I preferred to be.
Had I approached it differently, I think we'd be making way more money by now, but I would have sacrificed the limited years I had with my kids close by. My youngest is off to college in the Fall, so the energy and effort I put into mothering can now be diverted to the growth of Cookie Text, and for me, that's just right.
Where can people find you and your business?
https://www.instagram.com/cookietext/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanne-fiocca-50560337/
https://twitter.com/cookietextllc
https://www.facebook.com/cookietext
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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