Podcast Interview with Melissa Kelly Hill of Twelve Five Cakery

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, Mississippi. The purpose of Melissa's business is to make magic, and that's where she's headed! Listen in today, as I uncover her secret to running a successful cake business in a really small American town.

I asked Melissa to share her story today because she's amazing and incredibly inspirational! And although her bakery is based in a very small town (Hattiesburg has only 46 000 people in it), and she's still at the beginning of her journey of owning a shop-front, she's really making it work. In today's episode, she talks to us about what it took for her to finally leave her hectic bakery job, to start a business of her own. And she shares what she's been doing to create her flourishing, fancy, big-city cake business in a very small town in Mississippi. Tune in now, to find out more.

Show Highlights:

• How Twelve-Five Cakery came to be, and where it's at, currently.
• How Melissa gained bakery experience before starting her own business.
• Owing your own business is liberating, however, it can also be overwhelming.
• Melissa had to teach herself how to bake from scratch.
• After working so hard for so long, Melissa had to figure out who she really was.
• Melissa found it very stressful to work from home.
• Getting shut down by the Health Department.
• Melissa was following all the rules, except one- advertising on Facebook.
• Running a team comes with a lot of responsibility, so that's why Melissa didn't want to start a retail bakery.
• Melissa recently bought another cake studio from someone else in Hattiesburg.
• Where Melissa's business is currently at.
• Melissa feels as if she's still only operating at ten percent of her creative capability.
• How Melissa gets past the small-town conservative price-points and tastes.
• People are afraid that Melissa is too expensive. Dealing with that is her latest challenge.
• The customer should not dictate what you sell.
• It's not easy for a customer to order a custom cake.
• Figuring out where to go with chocolate...

Links:

Twelve-Five Cakery - https://www.twelvefivecakery.com/

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