041 – No More Excuses: Start Your Baking Biz with Cydni Mitchell of Sweet Fest

Gift biz on unwrapped episode 41,

I started thinking there's nothing like,

Hi, 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 unwrapped podcast.

Whether you Own a brick and mortar shop sell online or

are just getting started,

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

business. Today,

I have joining us Sydney.

Mitchell Sydney is the founder of the suite fest.com.

A global online directory designed to connect sweet lovers with local

sweet makers by trade.

Sydney is an accountant and financial analyst.

She's worked closely with many of the suite makers on her

site to help them develop and successfully implement their own social

media marketing strategies,

rebranding initiatives,

and business plan remodeling.

There are tons of resources available to help suite entrepreneurs develop

their baking talents.

But the goal of sweet Fest is to help sweet makers

run the business side of their suite businesses.

Sydney's philosophy is there must be a balance between a delicious

product and a solid business marketing strategy.

No sweet business can be successful without having both in place

Sydney and sweet Fest work to provide sweet business owners with

the keys to obtaining that balance to ultimately be successful in

their business.

Wonderful. That sounds so important and so necessary.

Sydney, thank you very much for coming on the show today.

Well, thank you so much for having me Sue.

This is such an honor and privilege and just FYI.

This is my first interview,

so super cool.

Oh my gosh.

I'm so excited.

Are there any gaps you want to fill in with the

intro before we get started?

Not really.

I think it says so much.

I mean,

I know that there are so many,

I interact with so many sweet makers on a regular basis

and they all pretty much have a similar background in that

they love to bake.

They've always baked or,

you know,

they have been baking since they were little kids,

right. And they were in the kitchen with their grandma.

But what ends up happening is they have this love of

baking and people asked them to bake for,

you know,

birthday parties or bridal showers.

And the next thing,

you know,

it's like,

Oh my gosh,

I have a business and they're charging people,

but you know,

they have no clue how to run the business.

And so that's where sweet Fest comes in.

So it's helping them to,

like you said,

I understand running the business side of the,

of the baking business,

so Right.

All right.

Well, as our listeners know,

we like to align the conversation around the life of a

motivational candle.

So the light shines on you,

Sydney, and you're going to share your stories and your experiences,

how you've created the whole concept of sweet fast.

So are you ready to light it up?

Absolutely wonderful.

Well, what color would your motivational candle be and what would

the quote be?

And that candle,

my color would be pink.

And you will see that throughout all of sweet fists that

pink is my color.

Pink is just so bright and happy and that's kind of,

you know,

my personality and that's the personality of sweet face.

And the quote that would be on it is people won't

remember what she said or did.

They will remember how you made them feel.

And that's from my Angela.

It's an important quote.

When you start talking about sales and marketing and all of

that, it's getting to that emotional side that really helps you

connect with customers and clients and all of that.

So your quote is right on.

It's actually one of my favorites as well.

Well, let's jump Right into sweet Fest now.

I mean,

in the intro,

you talked a little bit about how you recognize that there

was the need in the industry,

but dive down a little bit deeper now,

how did you take that concept?

Find the need and start developing it into what is now

sweet Fest.

I was living in Greensboro,

North Carolina with my best friend and we,

well, I love sweets and she kind of deals with sweets

just because of me.

And we discovered this bakery called sweet mix and it was

fairly new in the area,

but they were kind of tucked away in a little corner.

And I felt like I'd found like this Juul,

this precious Juul and the rough,

Oh my gosh,

sweet, sweet megs had the most delicious cupcakes.

And the frosting was always amazing.

Any flavor that she had was just delicious to me,

it tasted like someone's grandmother was in the back baking,

you know,

these bacons from scratch.

And I knew we found a winner when my roommate,

my best friend was the one that was like,

okay, can we go to megs?

And she doesn't like sweets like that.

So she would be like,

let's go to max.

So I knew we had a winner.

And so I started telling people in my office,

I was like,

have you guys been to sweet max?

And they're like,

no, we've never heard of it.

But everybody always buzzed about this other bakery that had been

in town for,

you know,

maybe like 20 or so years.

Every time I went to that bakery,

I was not impressed.

And so I'm like,

how is it that people are so in love with this

other bakery?

And nobody knows anything about megs.

And it really bugged me.

It bugged me to no end.

It's like,

because Meg's cakes are so much better.

And so I just kind of went on this like ad

campaign for people.

Like I would bring megs into the office.

I left her business cards everywhere.

And we went there so much that the owners started to

know us.

Meg got to know us,

her dad,

her parents are always in there working the register.

So I would come in and we would have this conversation

about, you know,

how we can get people to know about megs.

I'm like,

cause at the end of the day,

if you just get your treats into their mouths,

they will come back here.

Right. Right.

So I just went on this session of how can I

get people to know about megs?

And then also at the same time I had a friend

that was starting up a bakery out of her home.

So all these little pieces started coming together with,

okay, how am I going to help my friends?

Cause by this time I'm thinking of Meg as a friend

of mine,

you know,

how am I going to help my friends to get more

exposure again,

along that same time,

Instagram was really starting to blow up.

And so I'm like,

okay, well I noticed that some of the most popular pages

on Instagram are the suites pages are,

are pages that have food on them.

You know,

cause that's when everybody's doing hashtag you know,

nom, nom and hashtag other things related to food.

So I was like,

okay, well let's just at least start an Instagram page so

that we can get more exposure for these people.

And then it just kind of sparked from there.

we started up a website.

I wanted this website to just be a directory for sweet

shops. I started thinking there's nothing like that out there,

right? If you want to go to new Orleans or if

you want to go to Chicago or if you want to

try little known sweet shops,

anywhere in the world,

you'd have to Google specifically Chicago donut shop.

And I was like,

that's just too much.

Like I don't want to be like Chicago donut shop in

Chicago, cupcake GRI,

and put all of that into Google.

I feel like there should be one place that you should

be able to put that in.

And that's what we Fest is.

Gotcha. So when you started the Instagram account,

they were not for sweet megs.

And then your other friend who had a home bakery,

this Instagram page was the initial development of the sweet fast.

Yes, Absolutely.

The Instagram page was to help all sweet makers because I

started to realize this was an overall need for the sweets

community and not just specific to these friends of mine,

but they were my inspiration behind it.

And so did you have the website then already as well?

No. I started the Instagram page before I started the website,

but I had the idea for the one time as the

Instagram page.

So I wanted to get the idea out there,

which was why I started the Instagram page before the website

and started connecting with people in that way.

And we never even posted a picture until I think we

had been around for several months on Instagram and we had

400 followers,

which is amazing to me before we had any pictures.

It was only based off of just the tagline,

connecting sweet levers with sweet makers and then a profile picture.

That was something I just pulled together on my phone that

said coming soon.

So that's another reason why I encourage my speak makers to,

if nothing else,

just at least start getting out there,

regardless of whether you have things pulled together.

Now you should definitely develop a professional face to it.

But in the beginning,

you know,

start where you are and then grow from there.

And that's kind of how sweet fests all began.

Now. What would you equate?

Let's talk a little bit of detail here because this is

really interesting.

What would you equate the reason why people were following you

on Instagram,

even though you didn't have anything up yet,

were you commenting on other people's photos or were you directing

them over to your site?

That just said coming soon and doing some type of teasers

400 Pretty awesome.

Right? No content,

right? Yes.

We should go down this line cause I want to talk

Instagram with you.

Cause you have continued to grow that platform.

So let's stay,

let's stay with this for just a second.

And so,

okay. So,

so Sydney,

what did you do besides just putting the site up to

have people coming Well?

So I'm an analyst to my core.

And so what happened with me and Instagram is that I

started to analyze how the whole operation worked and that it's

really, I mean,

in social media in general is based off of your interactions

with other people on the platform.

And so it's not like we created an Instagram account and

then people just came to it.

No, it was,

we created the account,

we had the tagline,

but then we went and liked people.

We interacted with people,

we liked their pictures.

We commented on their pictures.

We had interactions with them and people would be like,

Oh, I'm so ready for this site.

Before we even had a domain name,

people who were already excited about what was coming because of

the interactions that we had with them before we had pictures.

And before we had any of that.

So it's all about how you actively interact with people,

especially on Instagram is how you interact with them and their

pictures. You start following them.

You like their pictures,

you comment on their pictures.

You, you know,

you leave a smiling face with heart eyes,

all that good stuff,

right. You interact with them and yes,

it does take work.

But at the end of the day,

that's actually how we've grown from zero to 400 with no

pictures. And then from 400 to 4,500

right now That's spectacular.

And how much time of day would you say you devote

to doing that commenting on other people's pictures,

just so that their eyes come back to you,

I'd say I'd probably devote about an hour or so throughout

the day when we first started,

I was on there several hours a day,

but it wasn't like I would sit in the room for

five hours looking at Instagram.

It was more like 30 minutes here,

15 minutes there between commercials.

I mean,

you can do it any time in it.

It will add up.

So now you have the Instagram account established at what point,

and give us a little detail behind how the website then

developed With the website.

I wanted to have one place for everyone to go if

they were interested in suites.

And so I got a Squarespace,

the original site was on Squarespace and it was more of

a list.

So you would come to the home page and then there

would be a couple,

you know,

a couple icons for articles.

And then you would click over to the directory of sweet

spots, which is what I called it at the time.

And it was literally like a list of eight ended up

coming up to about 200 sweet makers from a us from

the UK we had from Canada.

We had from Australia,

all that good stuff,

but it was a list and it wasn't exactly what I

was looking for,

but it was within my abilities at the time because I

was the one that created the site.

And you know,

like I said,

my whole goal was for it to become like a Yelp

or a yellow pages where people could come in and type

in as a search.

And so,

you know,

I'm like,

okay, well,

I've got to figure how we can make this more like

a search because this doesn't look like what I want.

So, like I said,

before you go within your abilities and then you try to

grow from there.

And that's really how the first website came about.

to be able to look like a directory.

And with the directory,

I was able to do that basically because I did a

lot of research around plugins on WordPress.

And I don't really tell too many people.

So now it's out there.

The website that we're on right now is on WordPress,

but it is based off of a plugin that helps with

building that directory look and feel.

And so you're on a wordpress.org

site. Yes.

Yes. Okay.

Just for our listeners,

if any of you,

I have a couple of points I want to emphasize now

that Sydney has been talking about,

and we'll start with the website.

If you are in a situation where you are just now

starting a website,

you can capture free websites@aplatformcalledwordpress.com,

which I highly suggest you do not do emphasize,

not do the platform you want to be on is wordpress.org.

Now it takes a little bit more to set it up.

You need a hosting company.

We're not going to go into all of the detail about

that right now,

but word to the wise,

it is worth taking the time to set it up on

that type of a platform,

wordpress.org, because that will allow you to bring in plugins and

to really create a site that is a good site for

you to use long term for your business.

So that's my first point.

The second thing,

which I think is also really important,

Sydney is you started off right away and walked the path

and developed as you went along,

you started with the Instagram account,

even though you didn't have a website yet you didn't wait

to say,

Oh, I'm going to put all of this together first.

And then I can get started.

There's a saying,

that's going around a lot right now,

which is called imperfect action.

And the point here is don't wait until you got all

your ducks in a row.

Yes. You want to start planning,

but don't make that keep you from starting.

It's better to start get things out there.

And you want to start with having,

you know,

some knowledge base behind you in terms of doing the right

things. Just like I was talking about the wordpress.org,

but so many people have ideas.

They're going to get to this,

they're going to do this.

And they feel like they just can't actually get started until

they have all these things in place.

And then guess what happens?

They never get started.

They never,

never do it.

This is a perfect example,

Sydney of talking about how you were stepping it up and

building on top of what you had,

but you got started first.

So that's so important.

I'm so glad that this came up.

What would you say as you were going along the way,

maybe it was with the website or something else as you

continue to develop.

And I know we're not done with talking about sweet Fest

yet in terms of where it's going,

but at this point,

so you were just setting up,

you've got a couple of things in place.

Now, what type of challenge did you encounter along the way

that could be helpful for our listeners to understand in terms

of what you encountered and how you overcame it?

I think at that point,

the biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to build

in a way that I could be able to fit it

in with my budget as well.

So at the time,

and even now,

you know,

I, sweet Fest was the thing that I did on the

side, even though it's my passion.

It is what I love to do.

I still have a day-to-day job as a financial analyst.

And so the challenge was how did I balance having to

go to an office for,

you know,

eight, nine hours a day and work on another company's books

and then have to come home and then,

you know,

work on sweet Fest.

It's not like sweet Fest had this $20,000

budget to put into a website because obviously I could have

paid for a developer to build the directory as it is

now, but that was not my budget.

So I had to teach myself,

I had to train myself on how to be able to

do this,

which is why I did so much research on,

okay, there's gotta be a way to do this on my

own. And I do have a slight background.

I've taught myself a slow bit of code,

but even before that,

it was okay,

there's gotta be a plugin somewhere.

There's gotta be something.

And so I just did a lot of digging and that's

how I overcame it.

I did a lot of digging on my own because I'm

like, I want this and I don't have $20,000

to build it.

So I need to figure out how I can build it

on my own.

It strap.

There's nothing wrong with that.

I bootstrapped every single company that I started.

You know,

you can go either way.

It's certainly the decision of the business owner,

which way to do it.

But if you don't have a lot of money,

just like Sydney is talking about,

there are so many things now that you can do that

are more turnkey.

They get you to your end goal.

We're so fortunate in that now.

So your comment really is you knew you wanted to put

this together.

You didn't have the financial ability to hire someone,

which is obviously always the easier way to go for the

most part.

So you had the financial challenge.

You also had the time challenge because you're still working,

but you had your eye on the ball in terms of

what you were trying to accomplish and you just figured out

how to get it done.

Yes, absolutely.

I buckled down.

I sacrificed,

you know,

time with friends and hanging out and all that good stuff,

but I knew that the ultimate goal was sweet fests in

a directory format.

And I was not going to stop until I got to

that. So,

and look what you've got now.

Right. I know.

Okay. Okay.

So let's continue on now because that's not all that sweet

Fest is about.

Let's talk a little bit about where you're headed in the

future and what you're planning.

Right? So along with the whole challenge of how do I

get my friends,

how do I get this sweet community to have more exposure?

I start to realize that a lot of them,

like I said,

have this same story of,

we love to bake,

Oh my gosh.

Now we're charging people and Oh my gosh,

now I don't know how to run a business.

What do I do?

How do you know,

how do I get my books in line?

How do I price my treats?

How do I form a marketing strategy?

What does all of that look like?

And because all of that is in my background.

I mean,

my background is in business.

I have a master's in accounting and I've gone to business

school. I wanted to help them with that.

And plenty of them came to me for that.

Once they found out she's an accountant,

she's a financial analyst.

Oh, help me help me understand about this business side.

So once I started interacting with more and more sweet makers,

again, I saw that there was a need for that.

Originally I thought the need was just for gaining more exposure.

And then once I dug in a little bit deeper,

then I'm like,

okay, wait,

the consistent message is that people really need help with the

business side.

So that's another reason why sweet Fez went the direction that

is going now with helping with the business side of the

baking business.

So originally it was just help them with marketing their company

by building a directory.

And then it was like,

wait, the real need is on the business end.

So let me help them with that,

because that is what I also know about.

Right. And fabulous perception,

because you had your initial goal and what you thought you

were going to be doing and you still are doing cause

that's part of it.

Yes. But your eyes were still wide open and you were

listening to the audience also and identifying that yes,

there is this additional need of how do you run a

business? So really good.

And so what are you doing about that?

So now,

now I'm able to provide a training tools and guidance for

professional development for the sweet community.

So, and I know you're on Periscope and I'm a big

advocate of Periscope.

And so I do business scopes as often as I can

usually about once a week in the least.

and what is your scope handle?

And my scope is sweet underscore Fest.

Okay, wonderful.

I wanted to get that out.

There Are all the listeners.

Yes. And I love scope.

Oh my gosh.

If for anyone who's in the baking industry or any type

of business at all,

I think scope is a good fit for a lot of

entrepreneurs to help basically establish their knowledge and their skillset.

I mean,

because you basically can interact with potential customers and they get

a chance to see,

you know,

what knowledge you have and be able to pick your brain

and, and,

and talk to you directly.

And it's awesome.

I love it.

So, Absolutely.

I mean,

I'll just underscore that for half a second and then I

want to move on with a couple other questions,

but the thing that's very cool about Periscope is you're looking

in somebody's eyes.

If you are watching a scope and you really get a

good feel,

just like how here in the beginning we ask what your

candle color is.

It's kind of an indirect way to get,

to know who you're talking with with a Periscope.

You can look right into that person's eyes and understand more

about them on a subtle versus what you would know just

over the phone or just hearing audio Periscoping.

If you've never tried it before.

My handle is gift biz gal and Sydney's handle is sweet,

underscore fast.

A great thing to check out.

If you are interested in want to see another way to

get really some valuable content Talked about scope,

and that's one way I've connected with the sweet community and

helping them to understand the business side of baking.

But I've also started offering online courses as well as we've

had conventions in the past.

So it's all about helping to build information and knowledge for

the sweet community.

So those are a couple of different ways and we're hoping

to provide a newsletter and all these great things in the

future. Wow.

You are jumping in big time.

Yes. Both feet,

both feet.

And so now Today with all of those things in the

works and some of it you're talking about what you're already

planning to do,

some of it sounds like it's a future plan to bring

in when you can,

but how are you managing all of this now with your

full-time job?

There's been some adjustments that are being made and some sacrifices

that are being made as well.

But, you know,

I'm just having to reassess my schedule.

And I just,

I brought on an assistant,

that's helping me with the admin side,

but that's freed me up a little bit as well.

So, you know,

so sites are set on cutting the leash soon.

So well,

that's pretty exciting.

Yes. Yes.

You know,

we're, we're strategically making plans to be able to do that

in the near future.

So big announcements coming forward soon,

hopefully knock on wood.

Right. It'll happen.

I know.

And you are an action taker.

I knew that from the second I met You.

Yes. So actually I'm Sydney and I met at a,

it was America's baking and sweets right in Chicago.

Yes. Yeah.

We met at America's baking and sweets when we were both

setting up our booth.

So that was pretty exciting.

I call Sue my guide.

She was my guide throughout the whole weekend.

I was like,

so I don't know what's going on.

You handled it just fine.

You're already as stars.

And no question about that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Let's Talk a little bit about you specifically.

And what types of things you found that help you to

be successful as you are pursuing and developing sweet fast,

what would you say is one natural trait that you have

that's helped you to be Successful?

I think that I'm pretty personable.

I, I definitely get that from my dad who has been

in sales my entire life and he never met a stranger

and I'm pretty sure that's where I've gotten it from.

I like people,

I like to get to know people.

I like to get to know their background story.

And that really helps me because it's not like I'm faking

interest. Like I'm actually interested.

Like I got actually want to know,

you know,

well, what got you into baking and what are your challenges

or what are ways that I can help you grow and

help you understand more about your business?

To my core,

I'm a helpful person.

And I'm a friendly person.

And I think that that has taken me pretty far and

will continue to take me far in this industry because you

know, everybody wants to feel important.

Everybody wants to feel like their story matters.

And whenever I interact with any of my sweet makers before

we even really get started before I even talk about graphic

design with them and logos or marketing,

I want to know their story.

And I want to know their goals.

I want to know where they're trying to go.

And so we have that conversation,

I'll spend 30 or 45 minutes just having a chat with

someone just to find out their backstory because there's no way

I can help you go forward.

If I don't know where you've been.

So what tool do you use regularly that helps you keep

productive or to create some type of balance in your life

between growing sweet Fest and working full-time and all of that?

I would definitely say my Apple TV,

why my Apple TV helps me stay balanced.

And I'll tell you my schedule on a,

you know,

during the workweek is I get up.

I drive through Atlanta traffic,

which is something serious in itself.

And I go to an office and I work for another

company and I do financial analysis.

And then I come home and then I work on,

you know,

eat dinner and I work on sweet Fez for about four

or five hours.

I'm really into Hulu and Netflix.

I love TV,

I love TV series and movies and all that good stuff.

And so it helps keep me balanced and keeps me entertained.

And I actually force myself.

So I will come home from work and maybe it would

have spent five hours working on sweet Fest after work.

And then I'm like,

okay, time out.

I gotta do something else.

I'm one of those people,

because I'm so passionate about sweet Fest.

I could work and work and work on sweet Fez.

And so three or four o'clock in the morning knowing getting

well that I need to get up at seven o'clock in

the morning to go to work.

So I forced myself,

you know,

around 11 o'clock at,

in Elise to just take a break and watch TV.

So good for you,

You for recognizing that you need to take a break and

step away every once in a while,

you know,

it's so easy in the beginning because you have so much

passion and you know,

you're developing something and it's so exciting,

but just to go so overboard and spend,

so, so,

so much time developing your business,

which absolutely you do.

I mean,

it's like having a second child for sure.

But you do need to take time off or you're just

going to burn yourself out.

Absolutely. And one of the scopes that I did my best

friend's mom called me right after the scope.

And she's like,

you have got to get some rest.

And I knew exactly.

She was coming from a place of love.

I mean,

she's like my second mom.

And I was like,

you know,

you're right.

I mean,

and by that time I had been working,

I was up working on the courses that probably,

you know,

three nights straight.

And, and you could tell it was,

it was on my face,

but she also could tell,

cause she's like I said,

she's like my second mom.

So she's watching the scope and she's like,

okay, I'm calling you.

This is not a business call.

This is a mama call.

You need to get some rest.

Totally true.

So take that to heart gift biz listeners.

You really do.

You need to have balance if you're going to create something

successful, that's going to be around for the long term.

Absolutely. So,

all right.

What book have you read lately that you think our listeners

could find value in?

My mom just recently gave me a book called this too

shall pass.

And it is a Christian book based off of a collection

of inspirational prayers and stories.

And poems is a solid book if you are really looking

for, okay,

I'm under so much stress and so much pressure.

I need something to just,

you know,

put some perspective back in my life,

you know,

kind of a sanity reference book.

Yes, absolutely.

It's a book of prayers and it has a lot to

do with your faith and just,

you know,

believing that this time is just temporary,

whatever it is that you're going through.

I would recommend that for anyone who's just under a lot

of pressure and stress.

And especially if you have a Christian background Just as you're

listening to the podcast today,

you can also listen to audio books with ease.

I've teamed up with audible so that you can get a

free audio book.

Just like the one that Sydney's mentioning for free.

All you need to do is go to gift biz,

book.com and make a selection.

Okay. We are starting to wind down,

but I want to introduce one more topic before we get

to our final question.

And that is,

I'd like you to cover a little bit about what this

course is.

I understand it's just newly on the market,

but would you describe,

because there may be listeners here who could take advantage of

this and this would be really valuable for them as they're

going on their journey.

Just talk a little bit about what the course is and

who it's really made for Right.

Well, so the course is called how to develop a professional

brand. And I basically take you through a series of questionnaires

and, you know,

checklists that will help you get to your brand.

I stress in the course that your brand is not just

your logo.

And I think a lot of people have this impression that,

you know,

your brand is your logo and it's not.

Your brand is so much more,

your brand is how you present yourself to your customers.

It's how your website looks.

It's how,

you know,

you present yourself at events and your web URL,

your Facebook page,

your Instagram account,

your social media accounts,

your packaging,

it's, it's everything.

Your brand is not just one little logo.

It's every touch point you have with your customer,

Every touch point you have with your customer.

I want people to understand that it doesn't take thousands and

thousands of dollars to make your brand look professional,

because that's where I am with sweet Fest,

right? I said,

I didn't have $20,000

to build a website,

right. But when you go to my website,

a lot of people have told me,

you can't tell that one person built that,

you know,

it doesn't look,

it looked like I had a team.

It looked like I had someone who has a background in

web development that built the site.

And I want to bring that to people and I,

people to understand that it all has to do with your

color consistency.

It has something to do with your message and being consistent

through your message.

And that's how you develop a professional brand.

It doesn't take a major budget to develop a professional brand.

You see what I mean?

Got it.

All right.

So you focus specifically on people who are in the sweet

industry. So bakers and cookies,

candy cakes,

donuts, donuts,

everything. Would there be any value to anybody who is outside

of that industry to look at the course since the course

is about branding,

or is it specifically for people within the sweets industry?

It will definitely be of use to anyone who has a

business or is looking to start a business and needs help

with developing a professional look.

You know,

I direct my,

my lessons towards the sweet community,

but it's,

these are things that are applicable to any side of business.

But my examples,

especially in this course,

my examples are really just suites related.

But you can say you can twist it any type of

way as far as the examples go.

So I think it's a really good course for anyone who's

in business or is looking to start a new company,

all of that.

I think it I've encouraged other business owners to get into

it as well.

And how would people gain access to that course or your

website? Why don't you give us all your contact information at

this point?

Yes. So the general website is the sweet fest.com

and that's where our directory is housed.

And then we have the suite success project,

which is basically our area that is for professional development for

the week community.

And the suite success project website is bit dot Lee slash

sweet Fest dash courses.

And that'll take you to our course portal that has,

you know,

our, our courses now.

And then that's where our other business tips are going to

be. That are,

you know,

printed that you could print out and all that good stuff.

Super. All right.

And so anybody and to be on the directory,

that's no charge,

right? Right.

It is absolutely free to be on the directory.

And you get to add your sweet pictures,

your logo,

your web URL,

your Facebook page link,

your any other social media links you can add out there

as well.

So, and then you can have reviews.

You can add videos.

All right,

well, gift biz listeners.

If you are in this industry,

there is absolutely no reason why you wouldn't.

As soon as we are done with this podcast,

jump over and put yourself on that directory.

Absolutely. For sure.

And all of you know,

because you've been listening to my podcasts awhile,

if not for the new people who are joining us now,

and this is your first podcast,

you can jump over to our show notes.

Page Sydney has her own page,

and you can find that at gift biz,

unwrapped.com, there,

I will have a link to her website where you can

get on and go to the directory.

We'll have a link to her class,

her Instagram account,

Facebook page,

just a number of different ways that you can interact with

Sydney and sweet Fest.

So make sure to jump over and get on that directory

again, if you're in the industry and you haven't done so

already, all right,

Sydney, I will now invite you to dare to dream.

I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights

that you would wish to obtain.

Please accept this gift in our presence and let us know

what's inside.

Thank you so much.

So I appreciate this gift.

You're welcome.

I can't wait to hear what it is.

Well, actually it is unlimited funds.

And I say that because at the end of the day,

I really want to help this weak community to my core

and people who've interacted with me.

They know I want to free as many captives from cube

jail as possible.

I love that.

That should be your quote.

Oh my gosh,

that is bad.

That's me.

I want to free people from cube jail.

And at the end of the day,

there are so many people who are entrepreneurs that just want

to break out of cube jail,

and all they need are the resources and they need just

a little bit of help.

They need guidance.

I provide that now with sweet Fest and I'm able to

provide some for free,

but you know,

some I do need to charge for just because,

you know,

the platform isn't free,

the time that it takes to develop the courses isn't free.

And so unfortunately I ended up having to charge Well,

and you're running a business and because I'm running a business.

Absolutely. But if I had unlimited funds And that's,

that's just where I am.

I, I just want to be able to do this for

people for free.

Like, I just want to be like,

here are the tools,

here's the guidance.

You can do this.

You can break out of cube jail.

You don't even have to pay for this,

this and this,

you know,

like, and I would invest in people's sweet businesses.

And I would say,

you know what?

Don't even worry about going to a bank.

Like, I believe in your dream here have this money,

like this.

That's where I am.

And so I would have unlimited funds to be able to

help sweet community grow.

Like that's what I would do.

I love that.

Well, here's to hoping that there's a big pink bag full

of green money.

That goes your way one way or another.

Thank you so much.

Well, Sydney,

thank you so much for joining us today.

You've really given a deep dive into a lot of really

important points here that we can all use,

whether we're in the suites business or other businesses.

So I really appreciate your sharing time,

experience your views and your expertise,

and we all wish you nothing but the most success as

you continue to develop sweet Fest,

may your candle always burn?

All right.

Thank you so much.

I really appreciate it.

Learn how to work smarter,

developing and growing Your business.

Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business

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It's our gift to you and available at gift biz,

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