The Business of Baking Podcast

Welcome to the last episode of season 3, and 2019! In the final episode of last year, I spoke about all the lessons I learned during 2018. Looking back and reflecting on everything that’s happened to me this year, I decided that it would be a pretty good way to end this season’s podcast episodes as well because 2019 has been both the worst and the best year I can ever remember, and I’ve learned such a lot from all...

Today is an exciting day because I'm interviewing Tracy Vasquez, the owner Sugar Beez, a cookie company that mostly makes really beautiful royal icing cookies. Tracy hails from Wonder Lake, Illinois. She's the mom of five grown-up daughters, and she works full-time as a police dispatcher. She is a very interesting person and her experience has been quite different to that of most of the other home-bakers that I've spoken to on the ...

In this week’s episode, Michelle shares an excerpt from her blog and book, The Business of Baking. This article, “You Couldn’t Pay Me Enough”, contains a collection of witty humor, entertaining anecdotes, and a comical simplification of the unfortunately relatable clients that bakers often encounter. 

From the “Do you know who I am?” clients, the “Is she serious right now?&rdq...

Is your cake business based in a small town? And, as a result,  are you experiencing problems making it work? Today, I'm very excited to introduce you to someone I have had the pleasure of teaching, who I am now very proud to call my friend, and who has, in my opinion,  a very distinctive artistic point of view. I'm delighted to be interviewing Melissa Kelly Hill today, from the Twelve-Five Cakery, in Hattiesburg, Mississ...

Have you been noticing how the face of our industry is changing? And have you seen how many businesses have been pivoting recently? My life has also changed a lot in the last year. My second book is already in the making, and although traveling to teach has been a really big part of my life for a very long time, I've decided not to do that this year. And, looking at my business, I've been making decisions about what to do with The ...

Would you like to make a good living out of a confectionary business? Do you believe that it's possible to do this? Today, I'm excited to introduce you to Danira Cancinos, from Dani's Dulce Confections, in Sylmar, California. One of the questions I'm asked very often is "Can you make enough real money out of this to support a family?". Although I always say you can, people still seem to think it's impossible. So Dani is here on the...

Welcome to another exciting episode of The Business of Baking podcast!

A few episodes ago, I read you an article from my new, yet unnamed book, and it had a lot of positive feedback. 

Although I don’t really anticipate becoming a real-life coach, I have discovered that I can coach from my podcast by telling you how you can change your life, everyday. And it’s not always as scary as you think it might be!

My new ...

Welcome to the Business of Baking Podcast! I’m so grateful to be able to chat to you every other week on the podcast. Some weeks I do solo shows, and other weeks I get to introduce you to some pretty amazing entrepreneurs who think outside the box, or have an interesting story to share.

On today’s podcast, I’m so excited to introduce you to my friend, Miranda, who has a pretty amazing product line. She’s th...

Did you know that I'm busy writing my second book? To be honest, I'm finding the process of writing this book really hard. Not the writing part because that comes pretty easily to me and I love it. I'm finding it difficult because this time I'm writing about life and not about baking or about business. For today's episode, I decided to be brave and do something a little different, so tune in now, to find out more.

My life has not ...

Did you know that May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the United States? Mental health is something that I really think more of us need to be talking about, specifically in the small business arena. And these days, I'm also a lot more open and honest about the hard stuff about small business. In May, last year, I had a really incredible and eye-opening conversation with Laurel Harlan, a licensed therapist and cookie business ow...

We’ve all heard the saying “if I only knew then what I knew now”, especially when it comes to business. If we could all avoid the mistakes and hard learned lessons that come with maintaining a business, we would. Today, Michelle shares her cheat sheet to managing your own business and how to establish the foundation you need to be successful. To learn more about how you can create a flourishing business and mainta...

Have you been considering giving up your business lately? 'Should I quit my business?' is a question that tends to come up for many of us small business owners when the going gets tough. In today's episode, I'll be taking a look at why we sometimes think about quitting, and whether or not it really is the right time to do it. This is something that I've talked about a lot on my blog, but never before on the podcast. I realize that ...

Do you think that getting too much business could ever be a problem? Today, I'm talking to Tim Engelbrecht, from Hello Sweetheart, a Sydney-based wedding photography and videography company. Tim runs the business with his wife, Mim, and they are really busy! Sometimes they do as many as four weddings in one day, so things can seem a little out of control, but Tim thinks it's a great problem to have.

I decided to interview Tim toda...

Have you ever wondered what it's really like to run a cake business? In today's episode, I'm answering a beautiful and fascinating question from one of the podcast listeners. She wanted to know what kept me in my business for ten years, why I continued with it, and why I decided that it was time to end it. She also asked me about what the process of ending the business entailed. This was really interesting for me because I've never...

Are you willing to try something new? And then try it again if you fail? In today's episode, I'm talking to the inspiring Kim Werker, who I think is completely amazing! She is totally my people! She is an unbelievably talented woman who describes herself as a camp counselor for grownups and she thinks we need to aim for creative, messy fun, rather than hoping for perfection. 

This season, my intention is to interview people w...

Welcome back to the podcast for 2019! I'm really excited to be back and I've come up with a whole list of topics that I want to talk about and a range of really interesting people to interview. My plan is to interview people who are a little bit left of center in our industry, related to it but not necessarily directly involved, like wedding photographers, marketers, or crafters. There are also some experimental episodes coming up ...

I've really had an unbelievable season of podcast episodes this year! I've done my best, given it a proper run, and I've loved it, but like all good things, it has come to an end. Today's episode is the very last episode of this season. 

I did some awesome solo episodes this year, where I talked about all sorts of things, like the worst advice I ever got, strategies for mental health, and getting through the rough stuff in li...

What's it like, being a female in business? And has it ever affected your business negatively? These are questions that people often ask me. They're really good questions and it's something that I actually care about a lot, yet I've found that I've been avoiding discussing this topic- and I don't really know why. Perhaps I've been hesitant to share my thoughts because I actually feel so strongly about all of this. Anyway, right now...

Do you have to follow a gluten-free diet? Today  I'm going to be talking to Paula Onink, from the Netherlands. This is really exciting for me because I don't often get to interview people from Europe! Paula is one of my students as well as someone I consider a friend and she owns Gebaksjuwelier, a gluten-free bakery in Culemborg, Netherlands.

On the show today, Paula talks to us about her experience so far, with her real-life...