Toronto Startup Employee Bakes Custom Cakes

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

In today's story, what's up, by the way, welcome. This is Chris Guillebeau for Silesil School. In today's story, a Toronto startup employee and power lifter, she does a couple of different things, also ices her way into a sweet, profitable side hustle that bakes up an extra $600 per month. Now I got to know this person a bit recently for my 100 Silesils tour when she baked up one of the most amazing confections I have ever seen. People have been bringing cupcakes and other treats to my book events for years.

It started almost a decade ago when I went to every stage and every province on what I called an unconventional book tour. And since then people continue to bring treats of different kinds, but I've seen a lot and I got to say this one really took the cake. I'll post a photo in the show notes of this incredible cake that she baked and brought to that event. And in this story, I'll tell you how she makes it all happen. Toronto startup employee bakes custom cakes.

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Karen Nguyen is a wearer of many hats. She's a client success manager for her day job, a competitive power lifter in her spare time. And somewhere in that process, she fits in a side hustle baking custom cakes. Maybe the inspiration came from her childhood when she'd help out her dad in his coffee and donut shop.

Or maybe it was when she grew up and entered the world of work and found herself bored sitting at a desk. Whatever it was, baking cakes became her creative outlet, a way to layer it in with her other activities. She'd return home after a long day of computer work and stand at the kitchen counter mixing and baking. Thanks to lots of practice and lots of YouTube videos, she cultivated a real talent. When Karen made a job change and transitioned into her current role working for a cloud-based HR software company, she had the opportunity to put her off-resume skills to work.

As a small team, her company didn't have a birthday committee to plan anything extra special for colleagues' birthdays, so they resorted to buying greeting cards and generic store-bought desserts. Karen raised the game when she started baking her custom cakes. And they weren't just custom, each cake was always a surprise designed to fit each employee's likes, hobbies, and interests. Karen loved seeing the joy it brought each person who tasted them. After receiving rave reviews for her innovative and tasty cakes, Karen decided to try sweetening others' lives and her bank account.

She wanted to go and taste-test other markets. She began by offering her service to people she knew, friends, family, and other coworkers. Then she took it half a cup further and held cake-tasting parties to improve her product prior to selling it. From there, she was able to develop a base recipe that she then customized with various flavors. The parties were also a great way to get referrals.

Before she knew it, Sweet Afternoon Bake Shop was in business. Startup costs were low. She got a local business license, as well as a food and safety license, and invested a couple hundred dollars in baking equipment. However, the cake business started off half-baked. Karen got a few word-of-mouth referrals but found it challenging to attract customers online.

To improve her marketing skills, she began taking courses through CreativeLive. What did she do when she got her first real order? She says she took a nap to celebrate. In her words, "I was so nervous about my first paying customer that I stayed up all night and worked all day to ensure their order was perfect. Once the cake was picked up and delivered, I'm pretty sure I fell asleep." Karen believes that she is the reason why her cakes are special.

She's not a professional baker, so she's found a way to bring her own flair. She adds dramatic sugar toppers to her cakes and tries on unique flavors like burnt sugar coconut, matcha red bean, and sweet potato chip crumble. She also understood that photo documentation of her finished product was important. At first, she just used her iPhone, but after a few orders, she invested in a good camera and some studio lights to have more professional pictures. Perhaps the most interesting fact about Karen's side hustle is that she doesn't actually taste her own cakes.

When she started Sweet Afternoon Bake Shop, she was heavy into powerlifting and on a specific diet, which for some reason did not include icing. She knew from great feedback from customers and friends that her cakes were yummy, and so far it hasn't been a problem. She currently sells two or three custom cakes per week and bakes in an extra $600 a month in profit. The bake shop is on the rise and adding even more tiers to its cakes. In the future, Karen plans to include cocktails and cake decorating parties for adults, along with mini cake decorating parties for kids.

[Music]

Awesome, congratulations to Karen. As I can attest, her cakes are delicious. They are delicious and they look incredible, amazing. As I mentioned, I will put a photo of her cake that she made for me on the show notes page along with links to her site and anything else I mentioned. Now here's something that she shared with us that I thought was really interesting.

She said, "Although making custom cakes is not revolutionary, it's still something that people seek on a daily basis. It's always someone's birthday, someone's anniversary, someone's special occasion. I actually held myself back from baking for a long time because I was so focused into fitting into my fitness persona where sugar, cakes, butter, cookies, and so on are frowned upon. But I wanted to have my cake and eat it too. I wanted to show people that you can be dedicated to your fitness and nutrition, but also cater to your creativity, ultimately living a balanced lifestyle." So I thought that was pretty cool.

The power lifter doesn't actually taste her cakes, but really enjoys making them for others. There's so many possibilities, so many opportunities out there. Remember, there is something for you too. It doesn't have to be incredibly innovative. It doesn't have to be something that no one has done before.

There is a way you can make extra money without quitting your job and perhaps pursue a creative outlet at the same time. That is my encouragement for you today, and those show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/944, episode 944. Thanks so much for listening, my friends. I'll be back again tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau, and this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]

From the Onward Project.