026 – She Knew When She was 12 with Donna Alufohai of Royalty Cookies

Gift biz on wrapped episode 26.

My Boss says you need to go into business.

We want those cookies.

This is John Lee,

Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

and you're listening to the gift of biz unwrapped.

And now it's time to light it up.

Welcome to gift biz,

unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop

and grow your business.

And now here's your host,

Sue Monheit.

Hi there.

I'm Sue and welcome to the gift biz on podcast,

whether you own a brick and mortar Store sell online or

are just getting started,

you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your

business. Today I have with me,

Donna aloof,

OHI of royalty cookies.

Baking has always been her family's pastime and as a child,

Donna watched and baked right alongside her grandmother and great aunts

royalty cookies was actually inspired by her grandmother's recipe and has

been enjoyed for more than 40 years by family members,

neighbors, and friends.

And so based on that popularity of these delicious homemade cookies

royalty cookies was created and now Donna gets to share her

grandmother's delicious cookies with the entire world.

Welcome to the show,

Donna, thank you so much.

So is there anything you'd like to add to that intro

before we get started In the next few days,

we are purchasing an existing restaurant Tabitha's bistro,

which we'll be adding to royalty cookies.

So you'll have the cookies available in the bistro as well,

correct? Yes.

Oh, fabulous.

As our listeners know,

we like to align the conversation around the life of a

motivational candle.

The light shines on you while you share your stories and

experiences. So Donna,

are you ready to light it up?

I certainly am.

I'm just picturing your new shop and I'm going to make

a little imaginary scene because right next door,

there's a candle shop and you walk into that shop and

you see all these candles.

What color candle would you be most drawn to sky blue

and why sky blue?

Because to me it's endless.

Oh, that's interesting.

And what kind of a quote would be on a motivational

candle that Skype?

No Regrets to me,

the most important thing is to try whatever it is is

to try no regrets.

I think you're right when people are just starting businesses,

you can be frozen in fear,

not sure that you're going to be able to accomplish what

you want to do and that fear can hold you back

because everyone thinks that everything you try has to automatically be

a success and your quote,

no regrets is perfect because if you don't try things,

you don't know if they're going to be a success or

not. So the worst thing to do is just be frozen

and not do anything.

Absolutely. That's exactly what I tell my son.

The old quote of the first step is the most difficult

and it's so true,

but once you get past it and then you look back,

whether it doesn't work out or whether it does,

it gives you inner peace and you say,

well, I tried and you can be satisfied or look at

it. Just took off and did so well.

I'm glad I tried.

And in itself it's motivational and it gives you a very

fulfilling life journey.

I couldn't agree more.

Let's go back Donna,

to the beginning of your journey with royalty cookies.

So you had been making these cookies for a long time

and had a lot of positive response to it obviously,

but what was it that made you switch and decide that

we're not just going to do this just for fun anymore.

We're going to turn it into a business.

Tell us about that story.

How that whole thing evolved.

I Started baking as a,

as you mentioned in the intro and I was around the

age of 12 and I just knew that this was going

to be an important thing in my life.

I just knew it it's always been there.

And I thought someday,

I'm going to sell these never know,

or when,

where, how,

but I just knew it was going to happen.

My grandmother baked by a handful of this and a handful

of that.

And I said to her,

I need to have this recipe.

She said,

okay, well bake with me.

And I couldn't write down a handful of this and a

pinch of that.

So she literally did the recipe,

putting however many handfuls of flour,

sugar, and I'd scoop it out and come to the equivalent

of a cup of flour.

And I was able to capture the recipe.

It was my most favorite recipe out of all the cookies

that she made at Christmas time.

And when I was older living on my own,

I always gave them out as gifts to my friends,

neighbors, colleagues,

and it just grew from there.

People always looked forward to them at Christmas time to fast-forward

one of my past jobs here in Florida.

This was up in Massachusetts and we transferred down here.

My husband and I Florida,

about 20 years ago.

And my son was about two.

I went back to work and again,

giving away the cookies and enjoying my job so much.

You think things are going along just fine.

And suddenly my beloved boss passed away and I lost my

job. You're not quite prepared for that.

And you said,

oh, oh my goodness.

It's what do I do?

So you frantically look for a quick solution.

So I did that.

I had the idea in my mind about the cookies,

but because I wasn't ready on my terms,

I sought employment somewhere else.

Unfortunately it was a very hostile environment.

It was a type of environment where people were coming and

going all the time because people didn't want to stay there.

And I too,

after a while,

maybe two years into it,

I said,

you know,

I need to also look for another job.

This isn't where I want to be.

And one of the colleagues out of the blue said to

me, when are you making the cookies again?

And I said,

no, no,

no. It's only Christmas time that I do it.

It's a lot of work.

And then another colleague chimed in and said,

well, will you sell me some?

And the first one said,

I'll buy them too.

And I kind of looked because that type of comradery just

didn't occur at that place.

So it was something that kind of stuck in my head.

I came home and was preparing dinner.

My husband walked in,

he works for Miami-Dade county.

And his boss is very prominent in the county government.

My husband walked in and said,

my boss says,

you need to go into business.

We want those cookies.

It was my aha moment.

I'm like,

that's exactly what I'm going to do now is the time

on my terms.

I'm going to create my job instead of look for employment

somewhere else.

You know,

you had a big sign because at the point where people

are willing to pull out their pocket book and pay you

it's confirmation of your product,

for sure.

So you had a couple of people in your current position

that you were very quickly going to leave.

And then also your husband's company laying out some corporate potential

for your product that really came to you in that manner.

But I just want to point that out for gift biz

listeners is that if you start seeing that people are willing

to pull out and pay money right away,

that's something to pay attention to for sure.

Donna, I'm going to ask you real quickly.

I'm going to cut in on your story for a second.

Is there anything now hindsight that you would recommend or suggest

to our listeners,

something you might've not known or something where you think maybe

you should have started right after your former boss had passed

before you went into the other company?

Or was it a good thing that you took this journey

in the way that you did?

Well, I don't want to look back and say,

oh, coulda,

shoulda woulda because no regrets,

no regrets.

I really do appreciate everything that I've been through to get

me to this point.

Just like stories of fairy tales.

If I could only do this.

And then the whole world changes it does.

This is the way my life was supposed to.

So, no,

I don't want to change it.

I learned some very valuable things at the past job.

A lot of it,

of what not to do,

which is just as important as what to do.

Very good point.

So take any of your more negative experiences and reverse them,

correct. You know,

here's what I've learned.

Shouldn't happen.

So now I know what should happen.

Correct. And I really appreciate all that.

And I think all of those life experiences along with my

education has come to this point where I've been very successful.

I have to say that baking cookies or,

and I'm sure it applies to many other types of businesses,

but specifically with me baking cookies at home for family and

friends is quite different than manufacturing cookies and selling them commercially.

That was one thing that I took very strategically and slowly

to make sure that I got it right.

One thing that I valued is at the beginning,

when people said,

Hey, will you sell me?

Cookies is when you start having to manufacturer or bake in

large quantities,

I didn't want anything compromised.

I wanted people to say,

are these homemade and they're not anymore.

We did start out as a home-based business,

which is a wonderful tool that they have opportunity here in

Broward county is that they have a cottage law,

a cottage law allows home-based businesses to start.

And when you reach a certain threshold of sales or different

things, then you have to move to a commercial facility.

So it really gave me a nice opportunity to hone my

product, to make sure that nothing was compromised.

Now, when I'm out doing sampling and taste testing and so

on. And when people buy the cookie and they say,

oh, it reminds me of Christmas.

It continually reassures me that I'm on the right track.

Along with that,

you need to make sure that you're in compliance and you

have to learn.

You have to read,

you know,

all the different types of rules and regulations to make sure

that you are in compliance.

One of the things that another quote that is important to

me is I'm not in a rush to fail.

And at the beginning stages,

I would say that that is most important is that you

learn, you learn it.

Well, you look and you make sure that what you're doing

is purposeful and you're going to see the benefit.

I'd rather make small mistakes cause no,

one's perfect rather than big ones.

So that's where I'm at right now.

And in putting that all into place,

I'm seeing steady growth,

continual learning.

And that's what I want to stress.

Most of all is that it's always going to be a

steady process.

It's never,

that you're done.

So along the way,

though, with this steady process,

you know,

you encounter bumps in the road,

you know,

it's not always easy,

everything doesn't go your way.

Can you bring us to a point where you had a

particularly difficult challenge and let us know that story and then

what you did to overcome that challenge?

Well, I Think it's a bump in the road that almost

every single business faces all the time.

And that is financial.

It's funny because when I first started,

I was so excited that I sold 10,000

and then I said,

oh, I can't wait until I get to a hundred dozen.

So at each threshold you think that you've reached the next

level of financial success or in sales that is going to

allow you to be in that wow moment.

Like I made it and then you get there and you're

like, oh no,

I need a bigger mixer.

Oh no,

I need an oven.

Oh no,

I need another facility.

You know?

So those challenges to me,

not quite what I was expecting.

So it continues to this day to be my biggest struggle.

One of the things that I chose to do is to

self fund my business.

I didn't want to take on investors.

I didn't want to put so much money into the business

that I would risk my own personal financial security.

I wanted to grow without that devastating debt.

With that,

it's a decision I made many other businesses,

make it for their own.

Other reasons.

The downside is you grow slower and you could get impatient,

but once you overcome that next threshold,

then I'm excited that,

oh, I did it.

And the threshold that I'm at right now is I'm purchasing

an existing business,

a restaurant that has a proven concept that is profitable,

but something that will give me now a brick and mortar

location of my own,

instead of renting a commercial kitchen,

it will give me a launch pad to grow without being

so heavily in debt every month.

Because the revenues from the restaurant will allow me to incorporate

royalty cookies and grow it further.

That's the path I chose.

If it doesn't work out,

I can sell the business or even worst case scenario.

It's not going to devastate me financially in a way that

I'm going to lose my house or anything like that.

I always weighed that along.

Donna, thank you so much for sharing that story because I

think a lot of people don't really that you really can

start small without a huge financial investment.

And look at what Donna's just done.

She's gone from sampling cookies within baking them with her grandmother,

knowing in the back of her mind that this is something

she would want to do at some point.

So you already,

probably over the course of all those years were starting to

envision what the business could look like.

Then you finally decided to jump in not very long ago,

2010 out of your kitchen,

then you get into a commercial kitchen and now going into

a brick and mortar.

So gift biz listeners capture that dream.

That's something that you want to do.

Like Donna was saying slow and steady,

but it can happen and you don't need to take out

loans. You don't need to have that terribly encumbering feeling of

devastation or fear with having heavy financial weight.

So really great story,

Don. I really,

really appreciate your sharing that with us.

There's a quote that I'd like to put along with that

story. That is,

if it's important enough to you,

you will find a way,

if not,

you'll find an excuse.

It means that whatever it is that is important enough to

you, you will be relentless without just saying,

oh, I can't do it.

There's going to be roadblocks.

There's going to be so many things for example,

which is on a very personal note,

my son,

it took me 10 years to find him relentless research of

doctors throughout the country.

Not understanding why I wasn't able to have children until I

finally, after 10 years found someone to help me.

And I was told over and over again,

you're too old and at 42 with the right doctor and

the right medicine,

I have my most wonderful son.

So What a wonderful story that is,

You just have to keep going.

That also speaks to,

you have to have passion and commitment to,

with whatever you're doing.

How often have you heard stories that people say,

things can't be done just is not possible.

But then you hear someone who was committed to whatever their

course was and said,

I don't care if people are saying that I'm pulling through

because I believe in it.

And that's exactly what you did with your business,

but also even more exciting with your son,

Donna that's fabulous story.

Right? Well,

that's one thing you're going to find as a small business.

People will tell you all the time.

No. So when you believe in the product,

because you're going to find a way and somebody told me

that others are not going to love your product as much

as you do.

Obviously that's why you're in business because you love your product.

So sometimes it could be someone's having a bad day or

you don't know why,

and you're going to get turned down,

but it doesn't mean that you have a bad product because

you have a lot of successes on one hand and maybe

a few nos on the other.

So you have to keep reinventing yourself,

looking for avenues and channels.

You can't be so committed to only one road.

You need to venture out little bits here and there and

to develop,

let's say one road is getting stronger or wider and busier

from another where you want to concentrate on that though.

You don't want to entirely let go of the others.

And before you know it,

you're going to have a full fledged business.

It can't just be one course.

You can't just look at things with the straight and narrow.

It's rare that things are going to happen in a skyrocket

sort of fashion,

Right? You gotta,

you gotta try some things out and then see how it

goes and then pursue the things that are working and table

the things or just close the things that are not correct.

All right,

Donna, let's move over into talking about some type of a

promotion or an event that you've done that has moved the

needle. It's like significantly started to increase sales or something that

you've done.

That's made a significant change in the business.

Initially, I volunteered to do a taste testing at one of

the local wine and spirits stores.

It's, it's a family business throughout Florida.

They have a hundred and something locations and they do wine

tastings and they invite local businesses to give away their product,

to compliment the wine and spirits that they're tasting.

And I volunteered to do that.

And it was the most wonderful experience because I had never

tried giving them a way or seeing the reactions of the

masses of how they would react to my product at that

tasting. I have to say it was a frenzy at my

table. The product is flew out and they wanted to know

where to buy it.

And of course we were just sampling fortunate leave for me,

which was totally unknown to me is that the store had

just been renovated.

So at the grand opening of this wine tasting,

there were all kinds of corporate people there.

Some gentlemen came up to me and said,

are you sold in our stores?

And I said,

no. And he says,

do you want to be?

And I'm like,

of course not knowing that he was one of the vice-presidents

of the store,

that's a bomber.

So in the next few months,

my cookies began to be on the shelf at a very

prominent wine and liquor store throughout Florida.

We started out with just a one or two locations.

I now cover south Florida.

I have seven locations.

It was just amazing.

And to see your product being sold on the shelf and

moving and replacing and taking that also as a deep learning

opportunity learning in what way?

Well learning people's comments,

what they like,

what they don't like.

So customer research,

absolutely. It is such free research when you are out sampling

because strangers will tell you anything.

And particularly kids.

My son is the first one to test any flavor.

If I don't get the thumbs up,

it doesn't go out on the shelf because kids will tell

you adults when they don't know you,

they will also tell you.

And every,

you have to take some of the things with a grain

of salt,

because it could be your competition.

But for the most part,

if you're getting a vast majority of comments that are being

repeated over and over again,

then you can take more credence to it.

So it's really valuable.

One-on-one customer research.

And you know,

a lot of times as companies grow,

they look at themselves as,

oh, I don't need to do that.

I can hire someone.

And the more removed you are from your customer,

you lose that insight.

That's probably why undercover boss is so important because you really

need to stay true to the core of why you're in

business. So One big thing that I want to bring up

with the conversation we've just had is the visibility that you've

had in the market.

You took advantage of being with a company that had a

similar audience to you with the wine shop,

we'll call them power partners because you're not competing with them,

but you have a similar audience to them.

And you had no idea what you were going to encounter.

You know,

being able to meet a huge corporate opportunity.

Absolutely. And it really put me on a different level.

It gave me credibility.

It gave me so many things that it took me out

of the mom in the kitchen.

It put me in the commercial space to start baking.

I had to then get UPC codes and product testing and

all kinds of things that I hadn't had to do before

design a box,

design, a logo and all those things.

And each step of the way I did it all myself,

I even made the prototype of the box.

I went to the manufacturer and I told them,

this is what I want.

You can do it yourself.

There are companies out there that will cater to small businesses.

Some of the employees will help you on the side.

For example,

at the box company,

one of the designers helped me with the colors and so

on, and he did what was needed to submit to the

company. So,

you know,

he works on the side before,

you know it,

you, the look and the feel of a big company,

even though you're still small,

you're still presenting yourself to the public in the way that

is going to be helping you to grow Right,

is right for your image,

a professional image,

et cetera.

Okay. Donna,

on the customer service end,

how do you make your customers feel unique and special and

valued? I Try to be genuine.

I try to under promise and over deliver.

I've always met every deadline.

I try,

you know,

I put little notes on the invoice,

thanking them.

I give away product samples as little gifts.

And in the cases,

if there's room maybe credits on their account for future orders,

things that aren't expected to know that I'm thinking of them.

We're going to flip around a little bit here and move

into what I call the reflection section.

This is a look at you and what's helped you with

your success along the way.

And these are brief,

really quick answers,

just summary type answers.

What is the one natural trait that you have that you

think has helped you to succeed?

Tenacity, The meticulous attention to detail.

You keep on the path and you stay very detailed so

that you can get the result that you're needing.

Correct. Very focused,

very focused.

Okay. And what tool do you use regularly to keep productive

or to help create balance in your life?

Well, Technology,

my smartphone,

my computer,

however, I still keep it simple.

I try not to make it too complicated.

It can be overwhelming.

There's so much out there.

My husband always reminds me that sales will push you in

the correct direction.

And technology helps with that to keep everything organized.

Is there one program that you use more than others or

something else more specific that you could share with our listeners?

Probably Excel.

I use a lot.

That's probably the number one XL.

I use it for all sorts of spreadsheets and lists and

things to keep myself organized.

And what book have you read lately that you think our

listeners could find value?

The seven habits found it very motivational and very positive,

very upbeat.

The seven habits of successful people is that by Stephen Covey.

That one.

Exactly. Yes.

Got it.

All right.

And give biz listeners just as you're listening to the podcast

today, you can also listen to audio books with ease.

I've teamed up with audible for you to get an audio

book, just like Donna's recommending for free.

All you need to do is go to gift biz,

book.com and make a selection.

All right,

Donna, I would like to present you with a virtual gift.

It's a magical box containing,

unlimited for your future.

This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights

that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

What is inside A wonderful memory for me?

When you bring joy into someone's life can be the smallest

thing, no cost,

just the smallest thing.

It's the most peaceful feeling and something.

When you can touch someone else in that way,

when you touch their heart,

that's what it's all about to me.

So it would be a box full of memories that you've

given other people and memories that you have captured for yourself.

Correct? For example,

it could be a hug that you may give someone and

they just may need it,

but it will give them a nice memory.

It could be,

anything could be a walk.

It could be just a smile or it could be a

gift of anything.

But when it touches them,

when you know it,

it reaches them in a way that gives them that peacefulness

in their mind.

That's what I try to do.

That's what I'm all about.

It's really actually very profound Donna,

because you never know when something that you do,

a gesture that you give a smile that you give,

like you're saying a hug.

You never know when that person really needed it the most.

And it's those little things you don't even realize are things

that people will remember and hold onto and recall years later,

and you don't even know you did it correct.

So How can our listeners get in touch with you or

purchase these fabulous cookies?

They can go to our website,

which is royalty cookies.com.

And if they want to contact us,

we have a contact page and they can send me a

note. And there's also a phone number on the contact page

And tell us where you're located for anyone.

Who's just starting to listen and doesn't know.

Maybe they'll be able to jump into your new place.

We Are located on south university drive and Davie,

Florida, just north of Sterling road.

Perfect. Well gift biz listeners.

You also know if you jump over to gift biz,

unwrapped.com, you'll find Donna's show notes page and there I'll have

some detail about the conversation we've just had and also all

the information on how you can connect with her through social

media sites,

the website,

et cetera.

Thank you so much,

Donna, for sharing all of this really great insight into the

whole world of creating your own business and building royalty cookies.

I really appreciate it.

And may your candle always burn bright?

Thank you,

Sue. Thank you so much.

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