5 Mindset Shifts to Make Your Home Bakery More Successful

by Aurelia Lambrechts | Home Baking Biz Tips

5 Mindset Shifts to Make Your Home Bakery More Successful

We all want our Home Baking Businesses to thrive and be our full-time job.

And over my last 6 years of full-time baking it’s become crystal clear that our baking talents or resources are not the key factors that determine our business’s success at all!

We keep thinking the reasons our Home Bakery is struggling are our recipes, abilities and lack of resources, but they are not to blame.

It’s not really everything outside you that’s holding your business back, but everything that’s going on in your MIND…

I never used to give much credit to my thought life and mindsets until I went to a psychiatrist (for the first time EVER!) 2 years ago. She told me something I will never ever forget:

“The quality of your thoughts will determine the quality of your life.” Powerful statement, right?

And she was right, because your thoughts influence your feelings >> your feelings influence your actions >> your actions determine your results.

That’s the power and authority your thoughts have in your life.

Over the last few months I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking over which specific mindsets I have struggled with as a Home Baker.

Understanding, recognizing and changing these mindsets have been absolutely KEY to my business’s success!

Let’s get to it! Here are 5 Mindsets that are Sabotaging your Home Bakery – right under your nose…

1. Scarcity Mindset to Abundance Mindset

This is a mindset I’ve struggled with since childhood because it stems from competition. All kids are raised in a competitive environment. School is one huge competition. Academics, sports even personality are all governed by competition.

We are taught that there can only be ONE winner.

If Suzie won the 100 meter dash and is the winner, that means I am the loser. BUT, my friend, business is NOT like sports. In fact, business is NOTHING like sports! Especially CREATIVE businesses – and Home Bakeries definitely fall in this category!

The scarcity mindset will let your thoughts play out like this:

“Oh no! There’s a new home bakery in my neighbourhood! This is a disaster!
I need to be better and do better than her…
How can I get to the clients first?
How can I stop her from stealing my clients?
This has just ruined everything! Oh no, her chocolate cake looks better than mine!! Couldn’t she just have picked another neighbourhood?? I was here first!”

The scarcity mind set has taught you that “this town is not big enough for the two of us”… I used to go through this tormenting thought cycle every other day during the first 3 years of my Home Bakery. But that scarcity mind set is a LIE. Plain and simple.

There is no winner or loser in baking!!!!

We are all on the same team here! There’s more than enough sunshine and business for all of us! We have a common goal: to bless the world with ridiculously delicious Home Baking.

Other Home Bakers are your friends, not your competition.

99% of home bakers are kind, generous and loving. They are your teammates. If they win – you win! If you win – they win!

Our goal is not to drive each other out of business, is it? NO!! Our goal is for people to experience the awesomeness of flavourful baking.

And most importantly, remember that there are 8 BILLION people on the planet. And all of them need to eat every day.

The problem is we home bakers just ASSUME we need EVERYONE in our town/city to order from us if our business is going to survive. This is simply FALSE.

Just because someone else is successful, doesn’t mean there’s less success for you. Thinking like this is a FALSE belief that I also had when I started out.

But as a full-time home baker of 6+ years I can now tell you with 100% certainty that you only need about 100-150 loyal clients to succeed. That’s ENOUGH to make a comfortable living as a baker.

You don’t need everyone to order from you. You don’t need thousands of clients to succeed. Just 100-150 loyal clients is ENOUGH. And it’s a very possible goal!

2. You DON’T Need to Please Everyone

I’ve come across hundreds of home bakers that say on all their platforms that they “bake anything for any occasion”.

They have a mindset that this is the only way they can get new clients and be successful. I used to say this too! But it is one of the biggest mistakes that’s sabotaging your baking business!!

Defining a niche is a MUST for any business.

The word “niche” means that you plan your menu and home bakery in such a way that it appeals to a small, specialized section of the population.

The word “small” may be a bit alarming, but let me explain the incredible advantages of defining your niche. I’ll use a metaphor to illustrate my point.

Let’s say you have a headache and go to the pharmacy to buy some tablets to fix your headache. On the pharmacy shelves you see 2 possible options to help you fix your headache.

On the left you see a box with the words “Quick, effective relief for headaches!”.

On the right you see a green bottle that says: “The tablet that does it all! Fixes hair loss, pimples, stomach cramps, headaches, nausea and dementia”.

Which medicine would you choose? You’d choose the box that specifically fixes headaches, right?

Because it’s purpose and focus is clear. You know that it understands your problem and that it will solve that problem for you. And the same principle applies in EVERY single type of business.

Defining a niche that you are passionate about and good at will grow your business because it will appeal to and thoroughly answer the needs of a very specific type of customer.

That’s why doctors specialize in specific areas of medicine. It’s why hardware stores, jewelry stores, book stores, butchers, carpenters (I could go on and on and on) still remain successful.

They’ve defined their target market and do what they are good at and passionate about. They’ve defined their niche and stuck to it.

They’re considered as experts in their niche and are famous for giving their clients the best service possible.

Imagine if a jewelry store also sold hardware?! American Swiss Jewelry & Hardware.

Your perceived value of their jewelry would decrease drastically, wouldn’t it??

Their reason may have been: “But then we will appeal to more clients! People who want jewelry AND people who want hardware! Our potential clients will increase by 62%!”

BUT by trying to please everyone, even their current jewelry clients will end up moving on to another store that caters specifically to their needs.

So remember, if you’re trying to please absolutely everyone with your selection of products, you will end up pleasing no one.

Lucky for you there’s a guide in the Free Resource Library called “How to Find the Perfect Niche for Your Home Bakery“. Join the Free Resource Library now to get the free guide.

3. Distinguishing a Personal Expense from a BUSINESS INVESTMENT

One of my TOP MISTAKES that held my Home Bakery for 3 YEARS is my inherent, championship grade frugal-ness. I absolutely LOOOOVE saving money. I’ve even written a post on 5 Tips to Save Money in your Home Bakery.

But I failed to understand and embrace the one thing that is BETTER than saving money… And that is making more PROFIT.

Buying something that will enable my business to generate more profit is not “spending”. Such a purchase an investment in the success of your business.

It’s not like you’re buying a dress that you just wear, enjoy and eventually throw out. If it’s a tool or resource that will empower your business to generate more profit, go for it.

The investment will pay itself off in a matter of weeks and you’ll be FAST-TRACKED TO SUCCESS!

In the name of “saving money” I held my business back for 3 long years and I seriously regret it. Investing in a few programs and tools earlier on would have gotten me to my goals 3 YEARS FASTER.

3 Years is a lot of time.

Time is something you can NEVER get back, but money is something you can MAKE back.

During those first 3 years I regularly placed myself in a position where I’d rather spend my time than spend my money. This mind set is exactly what kept be getting to burnout point over an over again…

Listen friend, YOUR TIME IS THE MOST VALUABLE RESOURCE YOU HAVE. Don’t treat it like it’s limitless – because it is absolutely not. It’s priceless.

Invest in time saving tools & resources wherever you can. This will get you to your goals FASTER.

Whether that’s investing in Home Bakery pricing & bookkeeping templates that help you to do your finances in just 10 minutes per week! Not to mention they take all the stress and anxiety out of managing your Home Bakery’s finances.

Or joining my free resource library and completing the Home Bakery Business Plan Template.

Or reading books about how to market your baked goods in a way that customers actually pay attention and place an order! Instead of constantly struggling to get new customers, just learn from the people who have gone before you 🙂 Get my book recommendations here.

4. Transitioning from a Freelancer to a Boss

I recently watched a video by online entrepreneur Courtney Chaal on this topic. All home bakers start out as freelancers meaning that someone asks for a certain bake for a certain day and we proceed to make it for them.

The client calls the shots. They determine what we make and when we make it. This means that our business strategy is to just REACT to our clients.

You might still be running your Home Bakery this way and be thinking “well, what other way is there??”…

There is another way my friend and that is to become a BOSS and start running your business like a boss.

A boss decides what services and products they do and do not offer. They call the shots and determine the course of their business.

A freelancer is just reacting to clients and their business will end up going wherever their clients end up taking them – which could be in circles and not forward.

There is a COLOSSAL difference between a freelancer and a boss!!

ALL Home Bakers do start out at freelancers, but if you desire success for your Baking Business, you will need to make the mindset shift into the boss world – sooner rather than later.

As soon as you have defined a niche you want to commit to, it’s time to put on your boss pants.

Your clients will no longer be deciding what you bake and when you bake it for. YOU will now be the one deciding how your business is going to operate.

Another amazing benefit of boss pants it that you get to decide who you want to work with or not.

I sometimes get emails from potential clients and their tone will be quite aggressive like they own me or something. Experienced that before?

In theory I know I could accommodate their order, but they don’t respect my batch quantity rule or collection times or expect me to reply to their email over a weekend. ALL of those are signs of someone I do not want to work with.

So then I say NO.

And the BEST perk of boss pants is that you will get to create your own signature products that you can sell over and over again without the need to customize every single bake for every single client.

This enables you to:

Deliver the best possible bakes for your clients,
charge more because the quality is so high,
bake what YOU enjoy and
save MASSES OF TIME!!

Are you ready to make that mind set shift into the boss world?

5. You DON’T Need to be Like Sally

Comparison can be the biggest stumbling block in your journey as a Home Baker. But I’ve learned that the authority of comparison is only as severe as I allow it to be.

You can walk out of it, free, at any time YOU CHOOSE. Think of it as the “V for Vendetta” prison cell scenario.

Believe me, I know first-hand how difficult it can be to make this mind set shift! We were all raised in a competitive environment as kids. We were graded on everything and every single activity, test, event, etc. was an opportunity for competition!

This has caused our brains to constantly compare our work to other people’s work. Sometimes people close to us will even accidentally say things like “why can’t you be more like that?”.

Any CREATIVE absolutely needs to overcome the obstacle of comparison in order to find their own voice because nothing stifles your own creativity (and confidence) like constant comparison.

Confidence and success will not magically come to you the day that everyone else’s work sucks. That’s impossible! Everyone around you has to keep growing and exploring.

We need to learn how to deal with the brilliance of others and be your own true, awesome self in the midst of that.

Being exposed to the baking talents of others needs to be a healthy, objective experience EVERY time. Remember that all home bakers are your friends – not your enemy or competition!! (read mind set #1 – Scarcity Mind Set)

If you keep comparing your baking to anyone else’s, you will never be able to gain the open ground you need to explore your OWN creativity and authenticity.

Your Home Bakery’s BEST CHANCE AT SUCCESS is completely embracing who you are meant to be – NOT who Sally is meant to be.

6. Overcoming the Fear of Failure

BONUS Mindset!! 😀 But, truth be told, I started writing about this crazy prevalent mind set that MOST Home Bakers struggle with and quickly realized that overcoming the Fear of Failure is a whole blog post on its own…

So I decided to discuss this topic with you NEXT POST. Click here to read “How to Overcome the Fear of Failure in Your Home Bakery”.

There are so many valuable perspectives about conquering fear – I can’t wait for you to read them!! They’ve transformed my life and my business.