Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Kristen Leonard, co-founder of Bliss Confection Co., located in Burlington, MA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We are a custom desserterie that specializes in cakes, cupcakes, cookies, macarons, and cake pops. We are not your stereotypical bakery. We make everything as a custom order to meet our customer's specific dessert requests. Our customers range from people planning their child's first birthday party to corporate catering events to someone craving their favorite pie.
Tell us about yourself
We are a two-women team that is both professionally trained pastry chefs. As former co-workers at a hotel/restaurant in Boston, we always joked that someday we would start our own business. We both made cakes and desserts on the side for family and friends, but after being furloughed from the restaurant during the pandemic, we each increased the amount of business we were doing. Instead of going back to the restaurants, we decided to join forces and make this our full-time job. We both love working with our customers on planning their events and holidays and truly love seeing the ideas come to life and how excited everyone gets to see the final results.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Our biggest accomplishment to date is going from renting commercial kitchen space as a part-time business to outfitting our own commercial kitchen and working full time for ourselves. To look back at where we were a year ago and to see how much we have accomplished in such a short time is almost mind-boggling. It feels pretty great to realize you have accomplished something you were dreaming about but are unsure if the idea would come to fruition.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
One of the hardest things that come with being a small business owner would be accepting criticism or opinions from customers, potential customers, family members, or anyone outside the business itself. When you work so hard at something and put your all into it each and every day, it is absolutely soul-crushing to hear that someone else's experience or their opinion was not a positive one. It is hard not to take the words of others personally when it is your creation and hard work. But we constantly remind ourselves that everybody is going to have an opinion, whether it be positive or not, and everybody is different. We all have likes and dislikes, and that is what keeps our world interesting! Life would be boring if we all liked the same things.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Do what works for you. Even if it doesn't make sense to others, they aren't the ones running the business. It's you. And you need to do what works best for you because your opinion is the one that matters most.
- Take care of yourself. Self-care is very important, and if you overwork yourself or burn yourself out, you won't love what you're doing. And that will eventually show in your work or how you run your business.
- Trust your gut. Always listen to what your gut instincts are telling you and follow your intuition.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.blissconfectionco.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blissconfectionco
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blissconfectionco/
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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