The Six Figure Mom

From Side Hustle to Career Entrepreneur with Pete Tidwell

June 11, 2019 Erin E Hooley Season 1 Episode 11
The Six Figure Mom
From Side Hustle to Career Entrepreneur with Pete Tidwell
Show Notes Transcript

If you dream of being an entrepreneur and starting a business, but also have to manage a full time career, this inspiring story is for you! Learn what it takes to build a business while managing a 9-5 job and turn that side hustle into a full time entrepreneurial career! 

Starting a business is never easy, but with grit, determination, sacrifice and a clear perspective, building the business of your dreams is absolutely within reach!

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the conquering chaos podcast. I'm your host, Aaron[inaudible], president and founder of multimillion dollar ecommerce children's clothing line, Bailey's blossoms. So it turns out I'm pretty good at business, but what really lights my soul on fire? It's providing other entrepreneurs and mom for new owners with the tools they need to truly succeed. So if you have a business or have one on your heart, you're in good company, pull up the chair or dropping some ear buds and let's conquer some chaos today. Hello guys, and welcome to another episode of the conquering chaos podcast. If you have a side hustle or are considering a side hustle, this episode is the one for you. So we are going to be talking all about how to balance a side hustle, particularly when you also have a full time career, what it takes to make it work and even turn it into a full time operation. So before we get started, today's listener review is from Chelsea Arnell, who says, Aaron's podcast is nothing short of amazing. She has such a likable and engaging voice that I could listen to all day. I love her inspiring stories and how relatable she is. I can't wait to learn more about conquering chaos from this incredible mom and entrepreneur. Thank you so much Chelsea, for your kind words of encouragement and for taking the time to leave a review. It's seriously seems like such a small thing, but it really goes a long way in letting me know that all of this hard work and hustle is worth it and making a difference. So if you really want to make my day and get a shout out on a future episode, please take a quick minute to leave a review and give me your feedback on the show. And with that I'm incredibly excited about today's guest. I have p to dwell here with me today and he knows what it takes to take his side hustle and get off the ground and really take it to the next level. He's a self taught Baker Marketing Professional and entrepreneur and he is known as the mighty Baker and his the two time winner of the food network channels, cake wars. And what's better is he started the mighty Baker from his home back in 2013 while balancing his growing family, three kids and a full time career. So I can't wait to dive into his story and his expertise. Pete, thank you so much for taking the time to be here today.

Speaker 2:

You are so welcome. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

Of course. Of course. Now before we get started, I love to know a three fun facts that everyone needs to know about you.

Speaker 2:

Three fun facts, fun facts I juggle. That's kind of a funny thing that somebody wouldn't know about me. I love having adventures with my family. We go on hikes every Sunday afternoon, just kind of local, kind of chill hikes just to spend some family time and love. It's a cha cherished time that my kids have just grown to love. So that, that's one other thing and you know, aside from my passion for baking, if I wasn't a baker I would definitely be a pit boss and I would be a barbecue and smoked meat, gay, so that,

Speaker 1:

that's another thing. There's another side hustle for you. So that's great. Oh yeah. Very cool. Well, I'm dying to get into your story and I know our listeners are too. So let's talk about the beginning days and what inspired you to start your side hustle.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's inspiration goes back a little bit further than 2013. Um, every from when I was 15, until I was 28, I worked for my older brother Tad to dwell and he owns a few of the Gandalf of those. So I worked for him for 14 years. And the reason I share that is because he was always a huge inspiration to me and a growing up teenager, teenage years through high school, through college. He was always an example to me and I always knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to own my own business someday and work on something, but I wasn't sure what it was back then. I also had some inspiration as a young child. My grandpop Brinkman, um, ran his own typewriter repair business and office supply store up in Vancouver, Washington, and he ran that for 35 years. And that was his career and I really was impressed with, you know, I saw his hard work, but I also saw that he was able to put together his life how he wanted. He was able to go golfing. He was able to go on vacation with his, with his wife. Um, and I was really impressed by that. And then fast forward, um, when I was in college at Byu trying to figure out what in the world that was going to study, I found the advertising program there in the communications department. And while I was there I was able to work on some really fun projects to kind of get me into the small business world a little bit. And at the same time I started watching food network shows and food shows and started baking and doing cakes on the side a little bit. And from that, uh, when I was in my last few years, last couple of years of college, I decided to start teaching myself how to bake. I didn't start a business at that point because that was in 2011 but I started kind of baking and making some cakes and, and then as a hobby or doing it for other people. You know what, in 2010, 2011, it was mainly just a hobby. It was something I enjoyed to do. But then in 2011, I out on a whim, I decided to ask somebody that worked with me again, all photos if I could make his wedding cake. And, and it was super out on the limb because I had never done a wedding cake before. And I'm like, Hey, uh, Eric, do you think I could do your wedding cake? And he's like, will you ever done if you ever done one before? Nope. And I'm like, no, I have not done them before, but I've watched hundreds of videos and I'm confident I can do this. And luckily they took a chance on me and I made my first wedding cake. Um, it was right at the beginning of 2011 and it was nothing short of a success. And it was, it was amazing. It turned out great. It didn't fall. I was able to deliver it. It, it, it did take me like 20 hours to do, but oh my gosh, I love it. Okay. So after making that first cake, then what? So then after making that first cake, um, it was right towards the end of, um, being at Byu, we did a short internship out in New York City, um, for a few months during my junior year at Byu at L'Oreal and then came back, finished my senior year and then went back out to New York City. So my wife and I are one year old daughter. W moved to New York City to the big apple to live in Manhattan in 2011 and we didn't, Yup. Working at L'oreal, I got a full time job offer with them. So working as a product in product marketing there and, and it was a highway from cakes. I know. And that's the kind of funny thing is when, while I was at Byu, I almost quit at Byu to go to culinary school because I was really interested in food. And, and a little bit of cakes at the time, but something, something inside me was kind of telling me like, don't do that, stay at Byu and follow that path, which I was really upset about it, but at the point just because I was like, I don't like what I'm learning at Byu. And that was before I found the advertising program and, but it was a super, like I look back now and it was a super pivotal moment because both my wife and I were sad to have that answer be no because I was miserable in school at the time and it wasn't very happy. I wasn't enjoying what I was learning. But we, we took that inspiration, that feeling that we had and continued and that led us to New York City to work there at, at L'Oreal. And it was interesting. It was a super fun experience and a super growing experience just to learn a lot of product development, a lot of marketing, especially for a large corporation. Right. And I was there for about a year. Um, I decided to leave there, not because it was a bad job, but it was, it wasn't, it was not, um, utilizing the creativity in my brain. Um, there wasn't enough creative outlet that I had at that position. Exactly. There was something missing. And so I left there and then worked at Microsoft at their advertising office on Sixth Avenue and I worked there as a contract job for about a year. Just I needed the money. It wasn't that exciting of a job. Um, but during that job it provided me the opportunity to have like a nine to five, whereas my L'Oreal job was like a 70, 80 hour a week job cause I demand a lot. Whereas at Microsoft, because it was a contract job at allowed me to work a 40 hour work week and have some side hustle time. So what I started doing is I ordered a pastry textbook online and I taught myself from beginning to end through this huge thick pastry book of cake recipes, pastry recipes, croissant dough, like everything. And, and in evenings and weekends, that's what I would work on. And anytime that I would have a night that I was just, because most nights that'd be super, super down that I had to go to work the next day. And I'm sure my wife got fed up with that. And, um, and you know, anytime I was in those down moments, she would look at me and tell me Pete, go in the kitchen and go make something. Because the Times that she saw that I was the most happy was when I was working in the kitchen and working on a recipe or learning something new in the kitchen. And, and that was a big learning for me because, you know, I hadn't necessarily noticed of myself up until that point, but she noticed, she's like, that makes you happy if like your day job doesn't make you happy, maybe there's something to this baking side. Um, because I truly see that, that, that, that makes a difference in your attitude, how you hold yourself, those kind of things. And so it was interesting. So it was coming up to the end of my contract job at Microsoft. Um, we were living in New York still. And then the decision came of, do we stay in New York, do we move back to Utah? Um, and right at that same time, my parents, um, were leaving on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints and they left to go to Mozambique in Africa for a couple of years and their house was empty and we were able to live in their house and for free for two years. And we're like, that is a blessing in disguise right there. Um, and so the goal was when we moved back to Utah to move back, get a job in marketing and to start a bakery business from home. So was your wife helping you and at this point making the cakes or was she just supporting you? You know what, she's just been an amazing support to me throughout this whole thing. She likes making cookies, but she has no interest in, that's awesome. Doing, doing cakes or anything. She's actually an author and she's working on, um, some novels right now, which is pretty exciting. So we're, we're both supporting each other in some crazy things and stuff. Right. Okay. So now you're in your parent's home, you've got access to their house and I'm assuming their kitchen. So we moved back to Utah. I got a full job, a full time job in marketing, um, at, at Doterra. And then I was like, okay, how am I gonna Start my business? You've identified what makes you happy now? Exactly. And it's funny because my, my parents like, they have like this old like seventies kitchen. I mean, they're still in the same house to this day. Um, and that's what's this old seventies kitchen ovens. Teeny. There's not very much counter space. Like it's just, but because I'm, and most states have this, but Utah has a law called the cottage food law and that allows you through the Department of Agriculture to a license your home kitchen as a business kitchen. Oh. And from the beginning just because of my learning about business and marketing, I wanted to make sure that I opened a fully legit legal business from home and I went through all the hoops, jumped all through the hoops to get my business license and get my kitchen inspected amongst having a full time job. So I was working my nine to five and then I would come home and work on my business.

Speaker 1:

That's amazing. And I have to actually stop you for just a second because I think a lot of people get stuck on the legalities and all the hoops that you, you said that you jumped through. Yeah. And I think that that stops a lot of people in their tracks. They're saying, I've got this dream, I've got this goal. But then they look at the paperwork and the stuff that's not fun and they go, ah, it's not worth it. So what, what was it that pushed you through that? Was that just experience and seeing other people be entrepreneurs and the, the challenges and pitfalls that arise when you don't push through the unpleasant to get to the joyful side.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a good question. Um, you know, as I looked at it, um, I really looked at it from the perspective of I wanted to do this, I wanted to do it seriously so that people would take me seriously and, and so, and it did scare me a little bit in the beginning cause I, you know, opened up the websites to like register my business and you know, establish an LLC and learning about what an LLC and what

Speaker 1:

Corp and all that kind of stuff, even in writing stuff that you really wanted to learn about. Exactly.

Speaker 2:

And after looking at it, I think what really drove me is just, I mean ever since I was a kid I've always had this attitude and work ethic of, and then it's from my parents, but I've just this work ethic of like do whatever it takes to get the job done. And even if it's not fun, even if it's not pleasant, there's certain things you have to do to make it

Speaker 1:

that next step and make that next leap and let that, I think that was something just inside that just kept me that drive. Just kept me going. Like I'm like, I'm not gonna let this stop me. Right. If this is, if this is my barrier, like I'm not gonna let this stop me, I can do this. That's exactly it. If that's your barrier, then how far are you really going to go? And your determination, your dedication to push past whatever else comes up in your, in your way. So it's a really good identifier and almost separator between those who are taking themselves seriously as you said. And those who are maybe a little bit more passive or, or maybe a little less believing in what they're trying to accomplish. Exactly. I love that. Awesome. Okay, so you did all the right things, you set your foundation strong and what's next?

Speaker 2:

Okay, so of course when you know launching a new brand, launching your business, like what are you going to name him? The business. And a lot of people ask me, where did the name of the mighty Baker come from? And it actually came from my wife. So she bought me an iPod when we were living in New York City for my birthday. Had it engraved on the back, Pete to dwell the mighty Baker. And She just Kinda just, you know, out of just for fun came up with it. And so when we moved back and came to Utah and we're starting the business, um, it came to the naming part and it was just, it just made sense right there. That's great. I love that are like, hey, the mighty baker, that's fun. I had a friend of mine and that, a graphic designer that I reached out to and he designed the perfect logo for it. And what we did to launch the business is we're like, well, how, how do we get the word out now? Like, I'm baking, I'm making these yummy desserts. How do I actually get it out there to see, even if people like my stuff, right. So what we did is I did a lot of research and I, um, one Saturday we were walking around in downtown Provo and I think we were at the grocery store and saw across the street, the downtown Provo farmer's market. And we went over there and walked around and it was like the first Saturday of that summer and were like, this is, this might be a fun opportunity. So I looked into how much does it cost to put up a booth, what licensing type stuff are involved. And it turned out that it was only$20 a week to set up a booth and to sell stuff. And I was like, that's a really fun opportunities. So yeah. And so like the next Saturday we booked a booth and we made a bunch of cookies and May and you know, got some printed printed pictures of some wedding cakes that I had done and put those on display and we didn't know how much to make or how little to make and and really even how much to charge to. Right. And in the beginning we didn't charge enough at all for what we were for what we were doing. And of course I've changed that, you know, over the years. But one of the big roadblocks for a lot of people, how, you know, how much is enough, what do I charge? All of these things. So where did you turn to kind of gain that into? Oh yeah. And I could go off on this for like a whole like hours, but I'll do give it brief. Um, so now, you know, I know that the most important part of it is, is making sure that you pay yourself what your worst for the time that you're spending to produce that product. Right. And in the beginning I was taking my cost of ingredients taking, you know, the amount of time that it took me to put it there, but I didn't really put together all the other time, like the going to the grocery store, the clean up, the traveling back and forth to set up the sitting there at the market all day and like all those little time pieces. So then when you're actually doing the breakdowns, you're like, oh, I didn't make very much money. And so, and so then we slowly learned each week and we ended up doing the Provo farmer's markets for 22 weeks in a row. Um, that first summer. And bless my wife's heart, she was my cookie maker. I would make all, I would make a lot of the other stuff and she'd help make the cookies and I'd be working at my full time job and she'd be at home, you know, packaging up cookies that we bake the night before and also have two kids at home. All of these different things. And my wife also, you know, pretty much put her her author career kind of on hold for me for quite a few years. Um, now she's getting back into it heavily now over over the last year. But she kind of put a lot of dreams on hold for me is, you know, pretty emotional for me and because she's made a lot of sacrifices to help me get to where I'm going. And so now it's time for me to give back to her, which is kind of fun.

Speaker 1:

That's amazing. So you're working this full time job, so you're coming home and you're, you're working the second side hustle in the evenings and every, every weekend.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it was crazy. I was getting probably no sleep. I would work 40 hours during, during the week and then coming home and we're working to, you know, one to, you know, maybe someone's 3:00 AM and sleeping for about four or five hours, get up the next day and do it all again and that, and, and it was crazy cause bridge business grew pretty fast. Um, and so that was 2013 and um, for the next two and a half years and kind of followed that same path.

Speaker 1:

What is your goal to make this a full time business? Is that what you had your sights set on? Like you are trying to grow it to x, x size to be able to leave your, your corporate career?

Speaker 2:

You know, in the very beginning I wasn't sure, but once I was intuit about a year and a half, that's when I started thinking like, oh there's some real potential in this could come a full time thing.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Okay. So now a year and a half into it, you're going strong, you've got your sights set on turning this into a big thing. So then, then what happens? How did you make that jump from one to the other? Cause that's a, that's a scary thing.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah. It's super, super scary. And how I did it is I really started focusing on my wedding business, wedding cakes and catering as those were the more profitable parts of my business. And an interesting thing happened in the beginning of 2015 is my job at doterra. My fulltime job actually changed a little bit. Our department's restructured and some of my more favorite parts of my position actually changed. And so at that point, that was kind of a pivotal time because I had my business that was at this point where it was kind of almost to the tipping point where I was like, I was, I was a bit afraid of promoting it more because then like I would get zero sleep, um, or the other part of it was, is let's hit this really hard. And so right when my job was changing, it Kinda gave me motivation to really push hard on my business. And so I started promoting my weddings like crazy and I was able to book enough weddings that I got up to June of 2015 and then went to my wife and said, hey, on paper, this makes sense. It's crazy, but I have enough wedding cakes booked that should carry us through these months. And at the same time I was looking for and looking for a potential location too. And that was kind of part of my, our discussion and back and forth was, hey, we have enough weddings to carry us for a few months. We have a potential location that we could open up that could also increase sales and provide income. And luckily my wife, my wife is a and a huge supporter and she's like, yeah, let's do it. Awesome. And no hesitation. I was probably more scared than she was actually. Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so then did you just jump all in at this point?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so you know when, when it was June, I told Doterra that um, I was going to be quitting at the beginning of July and working on my own business. So I gave them a month in advance just to make sure that they had everything covered on their end. I make sure I didn't leave them in alerts or anything. Also because I wanted to leave them on good terms just in case I needed to come back someday. That's something I've always tried to do and then I need any job or any type thing is leave it at a good place so that you can utilize that connection in the future. Absolutely. Um, so yeah, so I left there and in July and had a crazy successful summer of doing weddings. Um, and then at the end of that summer and Tobar of 2015 we opened my little storefront shop.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's amazing. Okay. So at this point it would be easy for people to go, oh awesome. You're on easy street now. Things are great. The end. But I think the one constant that I, that I know from every entrepreneurial journey is that is never the end. And that part of the success journey is being able to stack up all of these learning experiences and grow from them, conquer them. And then take on the next challenge and pivot. And so, so let's talk about that for a bit. Have you experienced any challenges that have caused you to have to pivot?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, totally. I opened in 2015 shortly after opening, my wife actually challenged me to, to apply on cake wars on the food network and we ended up going on and, and ended up winning. Obviously I did well, but I was not expecting to win. Awesome. Went on there too, by the way. Thank you. So fun. And so I did that right after we opened, it was, you know the, it was August of 2016 so within that first year of business and then at the end of that year we were invited again a second time to go on cake wars and we ended up winning. And during these two, these two opportunities, are you shutting your company down to be able to go and do this or are you doing it in tandem and again, not sleeping? That's a good question. So the first time, the first time was within two months of hiring a few people. At my shop because the first six months I was just working at my wife and I, and I guess that's an important point to share too, is in the beginning, you know, we bootstrapped the whole thing together. We didn't have any money. We had to buy used equipment. We did not, you know, get everything that we wanted to because we didn't have the money. My Dad loaned us a little bit, but like as for Labor, like I was working 80 hour weeks and my wife would be in there with our, with our newly newly born son at the time. That was like four months old and crying while she's helping customers. And Yeah, like full on family business style going on at this point, were you questioning it when you quit a 40 hour work week to go and work for yourself for 80 hours? You know,

Speaker 3:

I was Gung Ho but my wife wasn't sure yet.

Speaker 2:

I was, I was still like, had that fight mode in like I'm going to do whatever it takes. Like this is gonna work, this is going to work. Whereas sometimes, sometimes my, my wife, you know, she would be very supportive, but sometimes like, all right, well I guess we get to do this again tomorrow. And, and just, just staying in that fight and continuing on. And there was times definitely where I thought to myself, like first off, I know I have to make this work because I signed a three year lease. But on the second hand I'm like, but like, this is going to be rough. Like I need to hire employees, I'm going to kill myself if I keep working this much, like I'm going to read, I'm going to suffer from this. Right. Um, and so then in the beginning of 2016 I started hiring some people, and this is right before you get on the show. Yeah. And this is hilarious because I hire this, this lady named Gabby, super amazing woman and I tell her within a month of her being there, hey, just so you know, I'm going to be in La and it's during the week she was seeing her, she was like almost had a heart attack because he's like, I just got hired. I don't even know what's going on here. I'm like, Gabby, I know you can do this then. No, I know, I know you can do, you're going to be there for how long? For Five. Five business days. Okay,

Speaker 3:

so 2016 in 2017 were amazing years in business. My goal was going into 2018 was build up, my staff had an item, employees. I was ready for a super amazing year in business. Then some things happened. Um, we had some local construction that happened right by our shop in downtown Provo and they're putting in a new UTA bus bus line down there. And of course with businesses, there are a lot of unseen circumstances that happens sometimes and you have to, you know, deal with them somehow. Um, unfortunately our in store traffic went down by 65%. And the reason for that was is the construction would close our roads from time to time. And I think it was that combined with our parking issues. We had some other businesses move in next to us. Um, but all in all, what happened is because of the lack in, in store traffic, and I had my staff already to go, my fulltime Baker and unfortunately I had to let my fulltime baker go because I couldn't afford to pay him anymore. I had to let a couple other employees go. And so then I, you know, started taking on the burden of everything myself. I was in the bakery at probably two, 3:00 AM every day. I'm working 15, 18 hour days sometimes and just trying to keep things going and keeping the doors open. And it was, you know, we had our good months and we had our really bad bumps, but all in all at the end of the summer it was coming up to the time that my lease was coming up and I kind of had to make a very pivotal choice right then in that part of me was like, we'll do, I resign. And then once the construction's done, maybe things will change. We've always, we've always had, you know, horrible parking issues going on. And so looking at all of that, it was the hardest decision of my life to make, to make this decision. It was so hard because I wanted to do everything possible to keep this thing going, but unfortunately I was ready to keep working and keep going. Right.

Speaker 4:

Crazy on it. And I actually, I started to have some back problems and some other health issues that came up because I was not getting sleep and I was working too much. Right. And my wife's like, this is not long term sustainable. Like maybe you can do this for another year. Right. And that kind of lit something up. And in me in the, I was thinking to myself, I was like, why? I'm willing to fight for this, but we're not getting paid for me fighting this hard. Right? And so like if I, if I'm working 80 hours a week, I better be making thousands of dollars. Um,

Speaker 1:

and even then, it's just kind of what we're kind of lifestyle are you trying to create for yourself? And so having that ability to have to step back, especially when you put your blood, your sweat, your tears, and there's so much history for you individually and you is your family and all of your and your team members in that place, those decisions are not even remotely easy and incredibly, incredibly burdensome and emotional and hard sometimes to see clearly. So I think that that's amazing that your wife stepped in. It's like a clear perspective. Say, Hey, let's look at it from all of these different angles. Um, is this really what we want moving forward? Hard decisions

Speaker 4:

was I had, was such a hard decision and having to bring all my employees into a meeting and tell them they didn't have a job was such a hard experience. It took me, it took me probably an extra couple of weeks to actually do it. I probably should have done it earlier, but I was just trying to hold on and hoping that maybe someday we'd have like a miraculous big sales day or something. Right? So that was trying to avoid it a little bit. Right. And, but I had to bring him in and had let them go. And it was so, it was a very hard experience for me to do. And I hope, I hope to never have to do that again.

Speaker 1:

Golly, I can't even imagine. I mean, that's an incredibly devastating decision to have to make. And so now you're regrouping and, and what, going back to a nine to five again, or what's the plan?

Speaker 4:

Yeah. Yeah. So at that point, um, another thing I'll add too into the equation is they wanted me to resign another lease for three years at a higher rate, as well as having had a bad, you know, horrible third year in business. And so all in all, I decided that was the best decision at the moment to continue to do wedding cakes on the side. Um, but, um, of course having to, you know, get income for my family. I knew doing the wedding cakes would not be enough to, you know, support my family. And luckily when I left Doterra in 2015 they told me that if I ever wanted to come back that I'd be more than welcome. And so I went back, I applied, got a job in marketing over there, and I've been working over there for the last quite a few months now. And the goal was get a full time job and two, I wanted to regroup on my business. But honestly, like in the first couple months, I just needed a break and to focus on myself and my family and just kind of get grounded again in life a little bit because I had been working so much and I needed to catch up a little bit. And so those next couple of months were, you know, hard because getting, going back and working a full time job after working for yourself as a really hard thing. Absolutely. It is not easy because all of a sudden you're answering to somebody else, whereas before you made all the decisions yourself. Right. And so that was a really tough thing. Um,

Speaker 1:

oh my gosh. I mean the amount of learning experiences and this one pivotal moment alone, you've got incredible sacrifice from day one all throughout you've got your ebbs and flows and then you have these opportunities to make pivots where you recognize the need to put your life and your lifestyle into perspective and see if this is really what you're working towards and what are you working towards. And I think that that really sums up in so many ways, entrepreneurship, there's, there are going to be good years and good times and difficult ones and the ability to just step back and to constantly put yourself back into check and kind of do an inventory of your life and your time and, and your finances and your efforts to really see is this is where I'm headed, is this, is the ultimate destination okay with me or do I need to, do I need to pivot and change direction or change degrees just slightly so that I can be more in line with where my end goal was when I started.

Speaker 4:

Exactly. I think oftentimes entrepreneurs, at least myself, I, I get working so hard that I forget about myself.

Speaker 1:

[inaudible] given everything and you're the last person on your to do list. You have the last thing on your to do list. Yes. I think that most entrepreneurs could probably relate with that. What is your concept moving forward as you're kind of regrouping on yourself and your life and what you want, have you gained clarity as far as what now? What you're pushing towards? You've already done the side hustle, you know how to do it, you're doing it again or how are you doing it differently this time?

Speaker 4:

That's really interesting. You know, in January of this year I had kind of a huge awakening. You know, after I, my business was closed for a few months, I then was able to, you know, get back, you know, with myself and get back into good place and I was able to sit down and think about my, with completely fresh different eyes because I had known what the past of my business was. I know, you know, was able to recognize the struggles and recognize how I got certain places, things I did right, things I did wrong and I knew I wanted to start and work on something different. And there was a business idea that I had years ago. I read at the beginning of my business of something that I wanted to do in the future of the mighty baker and that came to mind. And so I started working on this new angle on this new business plan. And the interesting part of this is is that because of my experience now, oh, as I build a new business, I'm looking at it from the perspective rather than building a business that's a job for myself and that's going to take 80 to a hundred hours a week. I'm trying to create a business that I can employ people, it can be profitable and I can be the more CEO, CMO, creative person for the business rather than everyday in and out operations. I love that. It's really fun and a huge, a huge blessing to is. My, a really good friend of mine runs a catering business and I, I'm able to use his kitchen right now for doing some wedding cakes. And at his kitchen a couple months ago I started doing cake decorating classes. What I've learned is that I really love to teach and I love to teach things, especially that I'm passionate about like cakes and it's been such a fun opportunity. They'd kind of see that side and also recognize the joy and the happiness that it's brought me just to be creative in the kitchen. And as I've spoke with other people, with people in my classes, um, I've formed this really fun business that I'm actually opening this fall in September in Provo and I've kind of moved on it pretty quick. Um, I'm actually going to be opening a location in the shops of Riverwoods in Provo this September. That's amazing. Yeah, it's amazing. The way to put it most basic is that it's going to be a cake decorating supply shop slash a place for um, cake decorating classes and a place where people can just come and decorate cakes. So it's going to be amazing. I am like sitting on the edge of my seat because I'm going, oh my gosh, there's so much stuff in here that I can completely relate to. I the number of times that people are going, oh, what makes a successful entrepreneur? Well, the only difference between successful entrepreneur and one that doesn't succeed as the one that doesn't succeed takes that first try all that first major roadblock and says, oh, I'm, this isn't for me. I'm done. And they throw their hands up and then they assume that they are no longer if they're not a successful entrepreneur, but you're taking this trial to step back, this opposition to step back, gain clarity on it, pivot direction, so slightly to

Speaker 1:

make it more inline with what you really want.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I love that. One of the biggest things I've learned is that every time you fail in a business or even in life, it's an opportunity to then grow and become even stronger person and a stronger entrepreneur.

Speaker 1:

The biggest opportunity. Right. Oh, it's huge. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Oh, that's awesome. I love it. Okay. So exciting things are happening for you clearly. That's so great. I'm super excited for you. I mean, and really you said it just right. Every time that we have experienced also a big trial, a big opposition in the beginning, it scared the tar out of us and we'd be like, oh, cover your faces, crawl back under the covers, sobbing into your pillow. And now it's like, oh, something big is coming and you can just feel it and you're just kind of on the lookout and you take the blinders off and you go, all right, I'm watching them pay attention, Lord. Give me some inspiration because I know that this is happening for a reason and it's going to, even though I don't see all the pieces right now, I'm going to, so I'm on the lookout.

Speaker 4:

Yeah. Um, I had one, one quick thing I wanted to add too is that, um, my strategy for this business too is I have a few of my past employees that are ready to come on with me and my strap. My strategy is that I'm going to actually keep my full time job and work this and start this as a side hustle because I want to start a sustainable business that can be profitable and I don't have to take money from in the beginning. My goal is to keep my, to keep my fulltime job at least for six months, if not a year or more. Just for that reason right there. And it forces me to create a business that is sustainable and s and causes me to have to form something that is simple as well and not over complicated because I have to make something that I can hire other people to run and have me still be able to manage it lightly. Um, but it's been a very interesting kind of dynamic that that's common. I'm super excited, um, for the, for the future.

Speaker 1:

I love that. Okay. So seriously, so many awesome takeaway throughout this whole conversation and the ones, I just want to wrap this up in as number one sacrifice, right? I mean, being willing to make the sacrifices to make that side hustle into the dream that you really see creating that vision in your mind and really going after it. But that takes a degree of sacrifice. But in contrast with that, being willing to make the sacrifice but not to the ultimate detriment of you being able to put in healthy limitations, healthy parameters that say I'm not going to be the last priority on the list because that's when hard lessons are learned[inaudible] and then three, being able to know when it's time to pivot, when a big challenge comes along, it's not a dead end in the road. It is a turn in the road. And taking that step back to be able to gain that clarity, to be able

Speaker 4:

to push through on this new opportunity and take it as an opportunity to shift and go towards that ultimate vision again, even if it needs to be adapted and changed or tweaked. Oh totally. And I think with the, with the sacrifice piece surrounding yourself, with people in your life that are also willing to sacrifice as well. Um, and having those cheerleaders because you need those people around you to help bolster you up. Absolutely. And having those people not only just to bolster you up but also to give you a reality check when you need one. Yes, exactly. That's awesome.

Speaker 1:

Okay. So for those who are clearly going to want to follow more of you and your journey, where can they find you?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, you can find my website is a mighty baker.com. Um, and probably the best place is on Instagram and my handle on, there's just the mighty baker and if people follow me on there, you'll see our fun announcements in the coming months of our next fund projects.

Speaker 1:

That's good. So great. Pete, congratulations so much on all of your access, on all of your opportunities for learning and for really taking that bull by the horns and tackling it head on. I think that's fantastic. Thank you so much. You are so welcome. Thank you for taking the time to connect with me here on the conquering chaos podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, will you please take a moment to leave a review? It's the fuel to my fire and lets me know that my efforts to enact change and broaden your perspective of what's possible matter. Thank you so much for your support. If you want more content like this, don't forget to subscribe and connect with me on social media@aaronethanweekorataaronequally.com. Have a fantastic day. Get out there and congress and chaos.