This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
And this week's Throwback Thursday segment, we're going to catch up with a home baker who went from selling cookies at local farmers markets to landing a nationwide distribution deal with a major grocery chain. Cookie Baker goes from farmers market to grocery store. That's the title. Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau, your host.
And every week, every Thursday, in fact, we do take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them. Last week, we had a part-time wedding officiant who has found success by focusing on personalizing ceremonies and crafting memorable stories. What else have we had recently? We had an organizer, a professional organizer. We had a custom PC builder.
I think that was a guy who's working for Best Buy, like he works at Best Buy during the day. He's building custom PCs at night. We had a book editor, all kinds of folks just in the past few weeks. We've been doing this segment for a few years. So what's happened since in our most recent feature?
Here we go. We're going to catch up with that home baker. She sold cookies. Now she sells a lot of cookies. I mean, she's always sold cookies, but now she sells more.
I guess that's the short version. But let's hear the details from her. Her name is Olivia, also known as Liv. I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap-up. Hi there.
It's Olivia from Liv's Luscious Cookies. You might remember me from a few years back when I shared my story of turning my passion for baking into a side hustle, selling my cookies and other baked goods at local farmer's markets and on the weekends. Well, let me tell you, a lot has changed since then. After my feature on the show, several people recognized me at the market. That was fun.
I also had a local TV feature the same week, and I started getting requests for custom orders and corporate events. To keep up with the demand, I decided to take a leap of faith and rent a small commercial kitchen space. It was a scary investment, but it allowed me to increase my production capacity and start wholesaling to local cafes and specialty food stores. One day, I received an email from a buyer at a major grocery store chain who had tried my cookies at a local cafe. They were interested in featuring my products in their stores across the country.
I couldn't believe it. After months of planning, it was a surreal moment seeing my cookies on the shelves of a national retailer. But with this exciting opportunity came new challenges. I had to scale up my production even more and navigate the complex world of food manufacturing and distribution. There were moments when I felt overwhelmed and questioned whether I had made the right decision.
Through hard work, determination, and a lot of learning on the fly, I managed to grow my business to meet the demands of a more regional market. It hasn't been easy, but seeing the positive feedback from customers in several states makes it all worth it. Looking back, I realized that my success didn't happen overnight. It was the result of years of hustling at farmer's markets, perfecting my recipes, and building relationships with customers and industry professionals. My advice to other side hustlers would be to start small, focus on quality, and never stop learning.
You never know where your passion might take you. Today, my cookies are available in over 75 stores, and I'm thinking of expanding to cookie dough and baking mixes as well. It's been a wild ride, but I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share my love of baking with people in lots of places. And to think, it all started with a little stand at the local farmer's market. Thanks for letting me share my updates again, and thanks to everyone in the community who's been so encouraging.
Thanks so much to Olivia for sharing those updates with us. I'm getting hungry, excited to wrap up this episode and go have a cookie. Actually, I'm not sure I have any cookies in my house, but I'm going to get something else. Listeners, let me know what you think, who you'd like to see featured from our archives of more than a thousand stories, 2,693 episodes, in fact, in total, every day since January 1, 2017. Thank you for being out there.
Thank you for making the podcast possible. We've got new episodes out every day. It's always free. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. And yeah, that's it for today, but I'll be back tomorrow.
My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. on the Onward Project.
