Strategic marketing and a four-week program help Anaheim Hills-based baker quadruple her sales

Some of Jamie Green’s earliest memories include baking with her grandmother. As she got older, she began experimenting with creative pastries, flavor profiles, and decorations. After word spread about Jamie’s baked goods, she became the desert person at events for friends, families, and customers. She specializes in cupcakes, cakes, and other sweets, including special diet treats that are gluten-free and vegan.

When Jamie—who also works full-time at a tech company—turned her hobby into a business with Jamie Cakes, Cupcakery & Confections in 2018, she says, “I did all of the permitting on my own because I didn’t know there was someone out there who could help.”

However, after the City of Anaheim set up a meet-and-greet for new businesses, Jamie met SBDC business consultant Manal Richa. Manal worked with Jamie to tackle her biggest challenges, including marketing her business online.

When Manal helped Jamie set up her website, she showed her how to tag everything, so when people look for specific things, she’ll be their first search result. Before Manal, Jamie was “just doing social media, like Instagram and Facebook. Once I started working with Manal, she helped me set up a Yelp business page and website and taught me how to promote myself better. With all of her marketing help, my monthly sales quadrupled. It really went from a little hobby to an actual business.”

Manal also connected Jamie with OC MADE, a four-week program that assists entrepreneurs with critical planning, marketing, and financing for developing their business. Individuals who complete the program are then approved to sell at the Orange County Market Place, which hosts between 5000-7000 visitors on any given weekend. “The OC MADE program helped me get the necessary insurance and all the permitting I needed to be a vendor at the OC Market Place,” Jamie says.

Manal says the top reasons for coming to OC MADE classes are to:

• Receive business guidance on inventory, pricing, marketing strategies, customer service skills, and building your database
• Introduce and test your products at a local market, regardless of whether your business is going to be online or have a store-front 
• Find new customers for both brand-new and established businesses looking to expand their clientele

Citing her immense increase in sales and networking opportunities, Jamie calls the SBDC “the biggest driving force to the success that I’ve had since working with them. Just continuing to do things the way that I was prior to working with the SBDC, I definitely don’t think I would be as successful as I am now.”

Check out Jamie Cakes, Cupcakery & Confections’ Facebook to see her detailed and delicious sweets, and visit her website to browse the menu and place your own order.

Jamie Green, Owner of Jamie Cakes, Cupcakery & Confections

jamiecakescupcakery@outlook.com
(714) 605-8473
https://jamiecakescupcakery.com
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