Step up……or Step Out
Step up or Step out
I was home on maternity leave when I was diagnosed with cancer and had to have emergency surgery. Prior to giving birth, I baked cheesecakes for family and friends just for fun. At the advice of my mother-in-law, I started to sell them every now and then. I had a full-time job and never thought they could generate enough income for me to stay home. I needed to stay home and heal, so my Mom took me shopping for supplies and I began to bake individual cheesecakes and generated a surprisingly good income. I loved to bake and ventured into cakes, within a few years I was given an opportunity to bake for a major Soul Food Restaurant in Brooklyn and its sister store which had a café. In the height of my baking and enjoying the extra income, the promotions on my day job caused me to make a hard decision, either I had to take on my business full time or I had to give up the baking business to ensure my children had adequate medical coverage and stability. So, I did what was best for them and just baked as a hobby for the next few years. I would sell for holidays that was it for me, so I thought.
I continued to get promoted and focused on my day job for the next nine years. In the interim, I was creating and baking cookies more than cakes and eventually left cheesecakes alone. Never did I think I would ever be given the opportunity to bake full time again. I was older, the dynamic of baking and selling had changed, social media was the biggest way to network and market, and I was not knowledgeable on all the new stuff.
I began again, by baking cookies and selling them to my friends. I switched my Instagram from a personal page to posting cookies. My oldest son advised me to start a separate page just for my cookies, so I listened. I would sit on the train making my post and would take orders any way I could receive them, text direct messaging, instant messaging, notes left on my desk and emails. Not conventional but, I hustled my orders any way I could. I was back in the baking mode and just as I was getting momentum, I had to stop again.
I had remarried and it was time to relocate to another state, I had to leave my customers, but I had no intentions of stopping my baking for long. When what you do is your passion it does not matter how many times you must step out of the game, the drive to do it is still there even if it lays dormant for 10 years. Your dream is still yours and yours alone.
After settling into my new state, I had the best conversation with an established caterer in my area. She advised me not to be disappointed if the people in this vicinity did not order from me, it was not my product it was the area and I needed to target more urban areas. I clearly understood what she was saying, the few friends I had made loved my cookies but never ordered. When I explained this to her, she told me they would buy cookies from a superstore before they would buy gourmet.
A year later, my son rebranded me and my daughter in law set up my social media accounts, and the page I launched was By Lisa, all things, Food, Home & Lifestyle. The first few weeks, I struggled with content, but I did not stop, I was forced to get creative. I posted a picture of some orange leaf cut out cookies and the reaction was hilarious to me, people wanted to order them. My old customers in New York took a chance on me shipping to them, now I had no clue how to ship cookies, so I googled. I ordered some mailer boxes off Amazon and there I was stepping up to the challenge at my age and it was harder than I thought. Every day we were faced with a new challenge and getting the cookies baked, boxed and to the UPS store was another ridiculous obstacle. I did not have time to bake and stand on a line in UPS.
I had no reason to quit, I was determined to make it work. Our Mom & Pop business was growing, and we hardly had a chance to focus on how to simplify our process. After some quiet time with the Lord, I heard in my spirit something that made me see everything differently. You must step up or step out, but you cannot continue at this level. I shared this with my baby sister, and she encouraged me to open an online store. She encouraged me to get it done and launch it on March 1, 2021, my birthday month. Of course, she suggested this to me on February 26, 2021 leaving no wiggle room. So, I did it. I stepped out on faith and stepped up my game.
The site launched and I have no regrets, I am empowered to grow my business even further. I look back and wonder where I would be had I not stepped out of the race years go. I decided not to look back but to continue to step up because at this age and stage there is no more time to step out and come back in, the momentum is for now. My challenge to you, is do not step out. Instead, be persistent and step up.
