0:02

Hey , sweet friends , my name is Chef Schaumburg

0:04

. I started my baking business with a bottle

0:06

of DeSerono and one Bundt cake pan

0:08

. Fast forward to today , from news

0:11

to magazines , speaking on national

0:13

stages and more . I can truly say that

0:15

baking has changed my life . So

0:17

now , as a bakery business coach , I

0:19

get to help others have the same success

0:21

. I've helped hundreds of my students across

0:24

the world in my global membership program

0:26

six-figure businesses , mainly from home

0:28

. The Baking for Business podcast is

0:30

an extension of that , from actionable

0:32

tips to valuable tools and resources that

0:34

can impact you as a business owner . I

0:37

truly believe , y'all , we would never have

0:39

been given a gift if we couldn't profit and

0:41

prosper from it . So come on , darling

0:44

. What are you waiting for ? Hey

0:49

? What's going on , you guys ? And welcome back to the

0:51

Baking for Business podcast . I'm super

0:53

excited to be with

0:55

y'all today . I'm always excited , but today

0:58

I actually have a special guest

1:00

, because I love it when I really get to hang with

1:02

real people , real bakers

1:05

who are really doing amazing things

1:07

. And so today I'm joined with Katrina Bland

1:09

. She is the owner of Sweet Benefits

1:11

. Sweet Benefits is an e-commerce

1:14

bakery located in Maryland

1:17

, and you guys would not believe

1:19

this , but she actually has a

1:21

healthy background . She's a personal

1:23

trainer . So how the hell do you do personal

1:26

training and baking

1:28

? But she makes delicious desserts

1:30

which are very much health conscious

1:33

, if you so desire , and she speaks

1:35

from some amazing corporate clients as

1:37

well , and so we're going to hear all about it . So

1:39

, katrina , welcome to the podcast . How are you

1:41

doing today ?

1:42

I'm doing well . Thank you so much for

1:44

having me . I appreciate the opportunity

1:47

to speak to your

1:49

audience .

1:50

Absolutely . You're more than welcome , darling . So tell

1:53

me , how did you get started

1:55

? What brought you about into the baking world

1:58

?

1:59

I think I got started . Well , I know

2:01

I got started mainly because it

2:03

was a connection that I had with my mom

2:06

. My mom was considered

2:08

like the big mama of the family

2:10

, so she didn't give out presents

2:12

, but she cooked for every

2:15

holiday , for every event . She

2:17

baked and she cooked . So she

2:19

always instilled food

2:22

and fellowship in us

2:24

. She's like I may not be able to give you a gift , but

2:26

I can always give you something good to eat

2:29

and a safe place to be , and

2:31

so that legacy has always

2:33

stayed with me , and

2:35

in order to honor her , I

2:37

actually got into baking myself

2:39

as a career .

2:41

That is so sweet . I love

2:44

that . That's amazing . But

2:46

, katrina , you have a personal

2:48

training background , right ?

2:51

I do have a personal training background

2:54

and it's funny because Sweet

2:56

Benefits is

2:58

because I was a personal trainer

3:01

and as a personal trainer

3:03

I often had clients that didn't

3:05

know how to incorporate

3:08

healthy meals , even when

3:10

it came to desserts . So

3:12

my slogan sweet benefits

3:14

actually reflects that . It's

3:16

like you can have sweets that have benefits

3:19

. So you can have sweets that have

3:21

things that have healthy things for you

3:23

, like cinnamon , which we know is good

3:25

for inflammation and reducing your blood

3:27

pressure . So that's actually

3:30

how Sweet Benefits the name came about

3:32

, because I kind of incorporated my

3:34

lifestyle and the fact that

3:36

I had a passion for baking into

3:39

one . I wanted people that wanted

3:41

to be able to indulge to

3:44

know that you don't have to sabotage

3:46

your diet in order to

3:48

have some sweet treats .

3:51

That sounds delicious , because

3:53

I've definitely sabotaged my diet

3:55

before . But we won't get into that

3:57

. And so you're going

3:59

about your business . You're baking for your

4:01

clients . What made you actually decide

4:04

to say , hey , I want to make this

4:06

official and to actually turn

4:08

this into a business ?

4:11

I think my love for baking

4:13

was always there because of my relationship

4:16

with my mom , and then I

4:18

became vegan for a number

4:20

of years . So it

4:22

was at that point where I wanted

4:24

to be able to incorporate

4:26

a vegan lifestyle also into my

4:28

bacon . So I decided

4:31

to go to culinary school , thinking

4:33

that I could get the technique to help

4:35

me make products

4:37

that didn't incorporate animal

4:39

products . But lo

4:41

and behold , the chefs in culinary

4:44

school are like why would you not want

4:46

to put eggs in it ? You know what eggs

4:48

do for the structure

4:51

of the bacon ? And I'm like , yes , but

4:53

there are some people that have dietary

4:55

restrictions or live a lifestyle where they

4:57

don't want to incorporate those things in there

5:00

. And so I

5:02

really went to culinary school for the love

5:04

of it and to get more education on

5:06

the science part , so

5:09

that for that reason

5:11

I learned that I was probably going to

5:13

have to do this on my own and to do more

5:15

research . Because the chefs

5:17

are like we have the best butter , the

5:19

finest butter , the best

5:22

, which they do , which they really

5:24

did , we have the best eggs

5:26

, and they couldn't understand why

5:28

. So I said , okay , I'll

5:30

learn the technique here and then I'll

5:32

be able to make the replacements on my own . So

5:35

that's really when I decided

5:37

that this will be a business for me

5:39

and I want to be a one-stop

5:42

shop for people that need non-dairy

5:44

, that maybe need vegan

5:46

or need a gluten-free

5:50

friendly option , and so

5:52

Sweet Benefits is how

5:54

it came about .

5:56

Man , yeah , butter is definitely

5:58

. Butter is amazing

6:00

, but so are

6:03

your baked goods . And so tell me , what are

6:05

some of the things that you offer at

6:07

Sweet Benefits that follow those dietary

6:10

guidelines that you mentioned ?

6:12

So , we have our French macaroons , and

6:16

French macaroons are naturally gluten

6:18

free because they're made with almond

6:20

flour , almond meal

6:23

, yes , and so they can also be made

6:25

dairy-free if you make your filling

6:27

dairy-free . So there's many

6:29

different ganaches or fruit

6:31

fillings that you can use in macarons

6:34

that make a dessert for somebody

6:36

that's following that particular lifestyle

6:38

to be able to enjoy . So

6:40

I always am educating

6:43

my customers and letting them know . Did

6:45

you know you can get macarons ? You know , I mean

6:47

, I also make non gluten containing

6:50

cakes , but sometimes you want

6:52

something that you're familiar with and people don't

6:54

know the ingredients , and so

6:56

they're like , oh my gosh , French macarons are

6:58

gluten free yes , they are , and it

7:00

can be made dairy free as well . And

7:02

then I also do gluten

7:04

free cupcakes and cakes as well

7:06

.

7:07

Yeah , I eat up some macarons

7:10

and you're right , they're naturally gluten

7:12

free and it doesn't dawn on us . I just , I

7:14

just eat them because they taste good .

7:16

They are so good . They are so good

7:18

and one of the patisserie

7:20

items that I loved

7:22

even before I went to culinary school

7:25

, and I was lucky enough to have

7:27

a French chocolatier when I

7:29

was in culinary school and

7:31

yeah , so I also had a love for chocolate

7:33

. I love dark chocolate , and

7:35

when you learn from somebody that

7:38

that is their culinary

7:40

expertise , it just gets even

7:42

better .

7:44

Absolutely yeah , dark chocolate has so many

7:46

amazing health

7:48

benefits that I know of , and

7:50

I need to start eating more than that , but it'd

7:52

be the milk chocolate that'd be calling a sister's

7:54

name . So so , yeah

7:57

, and speaking of which , so in this

7:59

industry , it can just be so easy

8:01

, because these are the things

8:03

the gluten free , the vegan

8:05

that we don't see really glamorize

8:08

much . You know , we see

8:10

the unicorn cakes and everyone's into

8:12

cookies now . And so how is it

8:14

for you to stay on path

8:17

? Is it ever hard ? Did you ever

8:19

try other trends ? Or were you just certain

8:21

like no , this is my lane

8:23

. I'm going to stay in it and believe in it .

8:26

Well , I feel like , because I'm

8:28

so passionate about it it

8:30

is my lane and I do recognize trends

8:33

. I also want my customers

8:35

that have those dietary restrictions

8:37

to know that you can also be on

8:39

trend with those items , because

8:41

I can make that item for

8:44

you with your dietary restrictions

8:46

. So the whole purpose of Sweet Benefits

8:49

was because I never wanted people

8:51

to feel left out . If

8:53

you have a doing

8:57

non-dairy and so many allergies

8:59

have come about now , kids are allergic

9:01

to everything , which we never had growing

9:04

up . You literally can't even take cupcakes

9:06

and stuff to schools because so

9:08

many kids have allergies and

9:11

some of them are severe . So

9:13

I just wanted to have a bakery where

9:15

, whether you were now , I can

9:17

bake with eggs and and I do

9:19

for the customers that want regular

9:21

baked goods . But I also want

9:23

people to know that if

9:26

you are non-dairy or if you are

9:28

vegan or if you're gluten-free friendly

9:30

, you can still indulge and enjoy

9:32

and your things can look just as beautiful as

9:35

the regular baked goods .

9:37

Absolutely , and so you're sharing your

9:39

passion with people , you're educating

9:42

people on your profile , you're growing

9:44

your business and raising your brand

9:46

awareness , and so I

9:48

know you as an amazing student , because

9:50

you've also recently completed

9:52

some corporate

9:55

accounts accounts with some

9:57

really big people and so

9:59

tell me what

10:01

got you , or what made

10:04

you decide to step out of

10:06

the box and to look into adding corporate

10:09

accounts to your baking

10:12

business ?

10:13

I'll tell you that I got a baking coach

10:16

and

10:19

she teaches an amazing class

10:22

, mordeaux , and

10:24

it literally is that it gives

10:27

you the pathways to be able to

10:29

add different revenue streams

10:32

to your business that I didn't

10:34

even know existed . So

10:36

just by taking your class , you

10:38

gave us so many different avenues

10:41

to be able to incorporate

10:43

other sources of

10:45

revenue for our business , and

10:48

that is amazing . And

10:50

obtaining corporate clients

10:52

is a part of that class . So

11:07

many different platforms that you shared

11:09

with your students allowed us to be able to flourish in our business and be able

11:11

to cater to corporate clients , and I love it . I do , I love it . I love the class . We learned a

11:13

lot and , as a result , we're

11:15

able to get some really good

11:17

corporate clients get

11:23

some really good corporate clients .

11:24

You're so kind and I love having you as a student and to someone who's listening , because

11:26

I think people think that you know they sign up for the class . It'll

11:28

be a walk in the park , but

11:30

you actually you

11:32

stuck it out , you know , and I remember

11:35

it was a couple months after

11:37

the class . You showed up , you did

11:39

the work , but then I

11:41

got a message that you get

11:43

a request for 650

11:47

cake jars . What the

11:49

hell did that feel like , getting that email ?

11:53

I think , had I not been

11:55

in the class , it would have been overwhelming

11:59

, right , but we have so

12:01

many tools in our tool belt that

12:04

we learned from the class and

12:07

we have the community that

12:09

when you get something like that , if you aren't

12:11

comfortable with it , you can go to the

12:13

community . We can also contact

12:16

Chef and be like , listen , this

12:19

is what's going on . What is

12:21

your advice ? You know what I mean , how

12:23

do we handle this ? And so

12:25

that's what we do , that's what I did

12:28

, and it seemed

12:30

like a big feat . But

12:32

when you're equipped with the things that you need

12:35

and you're organized

12:37

, we keep track of

12:39

our inventory and

12:41

the class makes

12:43

it easy for us to be able to take

12:45

on orders like that . Yeah

12:47

, the main thing is being organized , knowing

12:50

that if you get in a bind and

12:52

you need some help , you have a community , but

12:55

the EC community . We also have chef

12:57

that's always there to be able to provide us

12:59

with the guidance . We also have chef that's always

13:01

there to be able to provide us with the guidance , and she did

13:03

and I did , and it was amazing . It was

13:05

amazing , it was amazing .

13:17

Yeah , you go , girl , and that order alone , not to put all your business out there , but

13:19

as a four figure check from just one client , and so many people in this

13:22

industry think that those type of checks only come for people who do fondant

13:24

or wedding cakes , but four

13:27

figures . So how did you feel when you got your

13:29

big check ? It's like

13:31

, yeah , I

13:34

know , that's right , show me the money . Yeah

13:39

, so fast forward . Now you've

13:41

also had the privilege , which a lot

13:43

of my students have , of baking

13:45

for not one , but two Amazons

13:48

.

13:49

Yeah , yes , yeah

13:51

. We have a lot of fulfillment centers

13:53

in Maryland and

13:55

when I first got my first order

13:57

, I was like looking

14:00

at the address and you don't recognize it

14:02

at first , and then you know , you map quest

14:04

it because you want to know exactly where

14:06

you're going . And when I pulled

14:08

up , I saw that the ASW

14:11

smile and I was like what ? This

14:13

is Amazon ? Because when you get your order

14:16

it might not always say Amazon

14:18

. I was shocked

14:20

. It was a large order , so I

14:22

knew it had to be a company , but I didn't

14:24

know if it was just like a building or

14:26

, you know , like some corporate event or some

14:29

company having

14:31

a big event for their staff

14:34

. But it is , and it was a company , it was a

14:36

corporation and it was Amazon . And

14:38

I've baked for them a lot

14:40

Different locations

14:43

. Yeah , it's been a blessing

14:45

.

14:46

And now so many people think , well

14:48

, that it's easy for a chef

14:50

like me because I've been around or I have a big

14:52

following , but what I love

14:54

to share with people , you're

14:57

an average baker . Your account you're

14:59

under 600 followers

15:02

, correct ?

15:03

Correct . Yeah , yeah

15:06

, so followers don't equate

15:08

to money . Amen , I'm

15:10

here to tell you that . So don't be

15:12

discouraged because you don't have a lot

15:14

of followers when

15:16

you're equipped with certain other

15:18

resources and

15:21

platforms . Your

15:24

followers and your customers don't

15:26

come from Instagram

15:29

. They don't . They

15:31

come from a lot of different other places . And

15:33

so I'm here to tell you , don't

15:36

be discouraged by that , because I

15:39

did not think that

15:41

I would ever get the corporate

15:44

clients that I got . I

15:46

don't have 2000 , 3000

15:48

, 10,000 followers

15:51

, no , but the people

15:53

that I have have found me from different

15:55

platforms and from Google and

15:58

um , I don't even know if those

16:20

people know I even am on Instagram .

16:22

Yeah , honestly , yeah , honestly . And so that's something

16:24

that I'm big with teaching my students , because

16:26

when we put all our eggs

16:28

in one basket and only rely on social

16:30

media , there are so many other

16:33

places that people can find us that we

16:35

don't even know until someone puts

16:37

us on , and so that's always

16:39

. My big thing

16:41

with the Mordor class is to put other people

16:43

on and say hey , you think social

16:46

media is all right , check out some of these places

16:48

.

16:49

Absolutely .

16:50

Would you say I know the Mordor

16:52

course is around 400

16:55

and that's high for some people . Would

16:58

you say that it ?

16:59

was worth it . Oh my gosh . Yes

17:01

, absolutely . There

17:03

are so many platforms and so

17:05

much information that we learn from the course

17:07

that you're going to make that money

17:09

back tenfold . I

17:11

mean , it's an investment in yourself and

17:14

if you are a business , it's a tax write-off

17:16

. So I think what

17:18

we have to realize is that in order to

17:20

have a business , you have to invest

17:22

in yourself and in your business

17:24

, and doing

17:27

those things will make you more profitable

17:29

in ways you didn't even really realize , because

17:32

I didn't even know some of these platforms

17:34

were even out there . So

17:37

I think the information is powerful and knowledge

17:39

is wealth .

17:43

Absolutely . I definitely believe that

17:45

, to anyone listening who wants

17:48

to be like you and maybe offer

17:51

more health conscious things or to

17:53

kind of , you know , do things that bring

17:55

a little bit more joy to them , versus following

17:57

some of the trends and having

17:59

all that baker burnout , what would you

18:01

say to encourage anyone as a personal

18:04

trainer ?

18:06

I would say everything in moderation

18:08

. That's with anything

18:10

in life . You know what I mean . But

18:13

I feel like life is meant to be enjoyed

18:15

and we enjoy it through food

18:17

, through fellowship , through friendships

18:20

, and so there's so many things

18:22

that you can do , there are so many

18:24

ways that you can not

18:26

overindulge . There are so many things

18:28

that you so many baked goods out there

18:30

that will help you satisfy your

18:32

sweet tooth and not sabotage your

18:35

diet , and they'll be

18:37

beautiful , they'll be enjoyable

18:39

, they'll be delicious , you'll enjoy

18:42

it . You'll exercise , if that's

18:44

what you're into , and you

18:46

know you'll have a good life . It's okay , it

18:48

really is . I mean , and you know you'll have a good life . It's , it's okay , it really is . I mean you

18:50

just have to find a balance , and in everything

18:53

we do , we find a balance . You know what I mean . We eat

18:55

well when we can , we have dessert

18:57

, we have good desserts . They're all health

18:59

conscious desserts out there . The

19:02

main thing is that you enjoy

19:05

life . Yeah , don't feel

19:07

like you can't do something , because you can

19:09

, even if you have to do it in moderation , absolutely

19:13

.

19:13

And not only can you do it and bake it like you

19:15

do , but you can also bake an

19:17

amazing profit from it as well . Absolutely

19:21

yes . And so what are your

19:23

future plans for sweet benefits

19:26

? Are there anything that you

19:28

have coming up or any anything that

19:30

you want to add ?

19:32

There is . I'm looking to do some

19:35

development with

19:37

some recipes that I'd like

19:39

to be able to share to my customers

19:41

or to some bakers . I

19:43

do make French macarons , so I'm actually

19:46

thinking of releasing an ebook

19:48

for French macarons

19:50

for beginners , a 101 . So if

19:52

you're interested in making that patisserie

19:54

, that petite cookie that everybody

19:56

loves and thinks is very

19:58

temperamental , it can be temperamental

20:00

, but there are things that you can do

20:03

to produce a really good product

20:05

, a really enjoyable product . Produce

20:09

a really good product , a really enjoyable product . So I'm thinking of releasing an ebook for

20:11

that and maybe a class that you could watch that will give

20:13

you some step-by-step instructions

20:15

. So it's one thing to see it on the ebook , but

20:18

you also have that second assistance

20:20

if you need it . I need to see

20:22

the steps and then I'm thinking about actually

20:24

producing a course for that , in

20:27

addition to being able to , possibly

20:30

, I have brownies on my menu that are very popular

20:32

, so I'm actually looking into shipping those

20:36

statewide . So some of the things that

20:38

are on the horizon for me .

20:40

That's awesome you go , girl , For anyone listening

20:43

who is interested because

20:45

, yes , I have been on her and I have told her this

20:47

will greatly benefit the community . I

20:49

always believe in all of my students

20:51

. Once they have hit an amazing level

20:53

of success , that they can

20:55

have another opportunity

20:58

to generate income by blessing the next person

21:00

. And so if you're a baker that's struggling with macaroons

21:03

, you can definitely learn from

21:05

a personal trainer and someone

21:07

who's attended culinary school . So be

21:09

sure you slide in her DMs and say

21:12

add me to the macaroon

21:14

waitlist . That way she can add you on

21:16

her waitlist when her course comes

21:18

out . From the bottom of my heart

21:20

, Katrina , thank you so much for coming

21:22

on the show . I really appreciate you

21:24

being here today .

21:26

Thank you , Chef . I appreciate the opportunity

21:29

and if anybody's on the fence

21:31

, you guys need to go ahead and make that investment in

21:33

yourself and your business . You won't be disappointed

21:36

.

21:37

Absolutely , and I'm so happy

21:39

to have you as a student , but even more so happy

21:41

to have you as someone who helps and blesses

21:43

other people . So thank you for sharing your

21:45

story with us today .

21:47

Thank you .

21:49

All right , you guys . So how awesome was

21:51

that interview . Special thanks to

21:53

Katrina of Sweet Benefits

21:55

for sharing her story and

21:58

her journey . I wonder how

22:00

many other personal

22:03

trainers or really health

22:05

fit conscious people we have out there

22:07

. You know , life is all about balance

22:10

, and so kudos to her for being

22:12

able to balance the two as

22:14

well as shout out to everybody else who does listen

22:16

If you are vegan or gluten

22:19

free or dairy free . The

22:21

entire dietary way

22:24

of baking is really really

22:26

big now because , like she

22:28

said , there are so many people with allergies

22:30

and it's so nice that people

22:32

have other options . So , to all of you guys

22:34

who are baking like that , kudos to you for

22:37

being an amazing source

22:39

of hope in your community

22:41

and , as Katrina mentioned

22:44

, I am super proud to have her

22:46

as a graduate of the More Dough program

22:48

, and if you would like to start adding

22:50

corporate clients to your baking

22:53

business as a source of additional revenue

22:55

, then we would love to have you in the program

22:57

. Also . At the time of recording this this

23:00

comes out Wednesday the doors

23:02

to More Dough actually open on Thursday

23:05

and they will be open until May

23:07

31st only . So More

23:10

Dough is a five-week group

23:12

coaching program . I teach it live

23:14

. There's always replays . You get access

23:17

to the program even if you cannot attend

23:19

, and we go over step by step

23:21

how to prepare your home baking

23:23

brand or your home bakery shop so

23:26

that you can start to attract corporate

23:28

clients . And so , if that's you

23:30

, if you love to work with some amazing companies

23:33

, some of my past students have worked at places

23:35

like Amazon , target , walmart

23:38

, lexus . There are so many different

23:40

wonderful corporations that actually

23:42

love hiring local , small , based on

23:44

businesses . And , just like Katrina stated

23:47

, even though her following is small

23:49

, she's not worried because most of her clients

23:51

don't even come from social media . And that's

23:54

how I am , and that's what I'm always trying to tell

23:56

you guys is to diversify your income

23:58

, spread out the ways that you make money

24:00

, and this is an amazing way of doing

24:02

so . So I would love to see you in the more

24:04

dough course If you were interested

24:07

. The link will be in

24:09

the show notes or you can

24:11

just always DM me the

24:13

word more dough information

24:15

on Instagram and then I

24:17

will send you information on the more

24:20

dough program . Just shoot me a DM

24:22

saying more dough information and I will send

24:24

you the info . All right , thanks you guys

24:26

. So much for listening to the moon and back

24:29

. I hope that her story and

24:31

her message inspires you guys as well , and

24:33

take care and bye for now .