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👩🏻‍💻 S Tier Lead Gen - For cottage bakers in 2026.

In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 272 - S-Tier Lead Gen Sources for Bakers in 2026, there's a new trend where people rank things they like and hate by tiers - 🟨 S-tier being the elite. For the oldie goldies like me, "S" apparently stands for superior.

Following down the rankings, 🟩 A-tier means really good, 🟦 B-tier represents what's probably good to have around, 🟪 C-tier is a take-it-or-leave-it, 🟧 D-tier is more of a leave-it, and 🟥 F-tier is the "I wouldn't waste my time."

So this approach to ranking sugar cookie bakers' lead generators is opinion-based, but that opinion comes after years of watching where bakers are getting their leads, how they get those leads, and if those leads seem worth the hassle.

🟨 S-Tier Lead Gen

S-tier lead sources (superior, as the kids call it) are the lead gen sources we'd ask bakers why they aren't on them. These methods of generating leads are what have proven to work in 2026 for cottage local bakeries. Now, will we say the same thing in a year? Maybe not. But if you're on the fence about one of these, consider jumping both feet first - it's working well for your coworkers.

• 🟨 Facebook Groups
• 🟨 Email Marketing
• 🟨 Google Business Profile
• 🟨 Website
• 🟨 Word-of-Mouth / Referrals

 🟩 A-Tier Lead Gen 

Our A-Tier choices were Facebook Business Pages - not because they're not S-Tier important, but because they're very restricted by algorithms. Thus, we knocked it down a peg. That said, you definitely need one to get those juicy analytics you can only get through Business Suite dashboard insights - it'll really allow you to understand exactly who your audience is. Something you can't capture in Facebook groups unless you're an admin. 

SMS (text) marketing is a newer form of marketing, and in the right hands with a solid strategy, can really get conversions going. Spamming SMS is a disaster though (lookin' at you - Paula's Choice).

🟦 B-Tier Lead Gen 

B-Tier could be a few bakers S-Tier, so just because we don't see it mentioned a lot in the groups, doesn't mean it can't move the needle. 

Instagram, Facebook Marketplace, and a personal Facebook profile used to sell can be a treasure trove for bakers willing to deal with the trade-offs, like Marketplace tirekickers and removing your privacy to make a Facebook personal profile sale. 

Instagram can be extremely rewarding if you invest time into cultivating an audience (and recording those darn Reels!).

🟪 C-Tier Lead Gen

LinkedIn, TikTok, and NextDoor have their places and can be a great lead gen for digital downloads, corporate orders, and local business (when your NextDoor is active), but if you're torn between investing your limited time in an S-tier lead source or a C-tier, we'd recommend focusing on the S-Tier before even glancing at the direction of the C-Tier. 

LinkedIn works when you hit the pavement and attend networking events; TikTok is starting to gain more local foot traffic (it may become a B or A-tier by next year for local business leads), and NextDoor is tightening the belt on business reach (so we may lower its ranking by next year - who knows what the wild work of marketing holds).

For the D-Tier and F-Tier hot takes, snag this week's podcast!

👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 272 - S Tier Lead Gen Sources for Bakers in 2026.

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In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 271 - Cookier Interview - Taylor Gandolfi, continuing on with our cookier interview series, we snagged Taylor Gandolfi this week. She's been baking as a side hustle (more on her Italy trip below) since November, and comes from a UX degree, working a day job in public sector user experience design. When asked what she could bring to a podcast interview, her write-up explains this episode perfectly:

"My journey into cookie decorating comes from a lifelong artistic foundation; 🎨 I have loved to draw and paint since before I can remember. I wanted to be an art major in college, but my parents steered me towards a UX design degree.

Before cookies, 🐱🐶🐕🐈‍⬛🐾 I previously had a commissioned painting side hustle and painted whimsical pet portraits primarily (ex: a customer's cat playing drums for his favorite band, a dog playing for a customer's favorite hockey team, a fancy dog drinking a cocktail, etc.). 👶🏻 Unfortunately, this side hustle became unfeasible when I started having babies.

I picked up cookie decorating when I was struggling with postpartum anxiety with my second baby. 🧸 🍪 🤎 I found it to be a wonderful creative outlet, very therapeutic, and got me away from doomscrolling.

I decorated a few sets for my preschooler's class, and the preschool director saw them and was very encouraging. She approached me with an idea to partner with the preschool on presales and give back 20% of the proceeds to the preschool. 📈 From there, I was able to grow my portfolio, get other custom orders from preschool moms, and grow my social media.  

I also work full time as a product designer, ✨ with specialized experience in AI tools. As a product designer, my day-to-day looks like listening to users (or customers), honing in on what they need, translating that into concepts for digital experiences, 🚫 while mitigating risk. ✅ I use that same framework with my customers when designing cookies.

I believe for the podcast, I could provide a lot of insight to listeners on how to scale 🙍‍♂️ human-centered design practices into their cookie business. I can also speak to how cookiers can leverage tech and AI as a tool to help with their process (ex: run lean experiments to mitigate risk, then scale what works well).

As someone who works in AI, 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 I believe that the world is craving human-created products and is really tired of AI slop. With that said, AI is not something that will replace cookiers, 🛠️ but a tool to help cookers do the best job possible when embraced."

If you want to snag her prompt parameters - here it is. C-A-R-E

• 👾 C - Context. Provide as much context as possible
• 👾 A - Action. Be very specific in the actions you want it to take.
• 👾 R - Rules. Telling the AI exactly what to do and not to do, giving it constraints.
• 👾 E - Examples. Attach screenshots of what you like, AND what you don’t like. Hate something the AI won't change? Export it to Canva and make adjustments. 

She adds a really good trick for getting AI to play ball: using talk-to-type - you tend to talk very conversationally, and you talk more. The more information you provide the AI (both positive and negative), the more it has to work with.

👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 271 - Cookier Interview - Taylor Gandolfi.

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🦶 The Right Foot - When getting started.

In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 270 - Getting Started on the Right Marketing Foot, we're continuing with our "back to baking" basics - this time getting started on the right marketing foot.

What used to work - even just 3 years ago - doesn't work today, or at least not as effectively as it once did. As marketing pivots with algorithm updates, platform feature changes, and the introduction of AI, so must marketing.

And this is great news for new bakers looking for their cut of the market share. Because those ol' timers that have been around for half a decade don't have those bright eyes and bushy tails of the new baker who is still hungry for those leads.

🦶 Make the Facebook page

• 👣 Wrong: A personal Facebook page is where you started, but you are restricted from growing here - you can have a creator profile now, but you still won’t have the business metrics and options a page will give you - like running ads. 
• 👣 Right: Your Facebook page is where you collect people - it doesn’t mean your content will be shown, but it’s a nice collection that separates business and personal. 
• 👣 Pro-Tip: You’re not going to get as much engagement on your Facebook page, so you’re going to feel like posting to your personal - stay the course. Because you still have that following on the personal account, you’re going to share from your business page back to your personal profile. We’re not posting organically (or you’ll end up with DMs in your personal messenger to order), but we’re going to slowly migrate that audience over.

🦶 Open the business bank account

• 👣 Wrong: Mixing business with pleasure is an accountant's worst nightmare. You’ll never know if you’re robbing from yourself to fund your business (working at a loss). Also tax season - say it ain't so! 
• 👣 Right: Get the EIN number from your state (when you register your business). In VA, it’s just $50. Open up a business account with a local credit union - you'll get more help from them + you can start building that baking-banking relationship.
• 👣 Pro-Tip: Use an app like YNAB to help you budget. Cookie supplies like cutters can eat your profits up and leave you working for nothing. Make it so the business funds itself over time. Sure, you invest for startup costs, but we’ll want you paid back too. You and the business are two separate entities mentally (and financially).

 
🦶 Jump on the video content bandwagon

• 👣 Wrong: Posting just photos doesn’t work anymore - at least not standalone. And posting AI photos definitely won’t cut it.
• 👣 Right: You get to start in 2026 - where videos are NEWLY the flavor of the month, and the algo is rewarding that. You can cut through years of someone posting photos with just consistent videos.
• 👣 Pro-Tip: You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here either. Find what’s working for someone else, tweak it to make it your own (noooo copycats), record and post. You don’t have to be the original; you just have to be uniquely you and consistent.

🦶 Get consistent with content

• 👣 Wrong: It’ll be tempting to try something for a short period of time, then claim it doesn’t work, and pivot (or stop altogether). Marketing doesn’t work that way - especially online. Consistency is rewarded over flash-in-the-pan viral content.
• 👣 Right: The algo rewards consistency over loooong periods of time - think months. Yes, you can tweak your content along the way, but it can’t just stop and start and expect to pull numbers.
• 👣 Pro-Tip: Using apps like Facebook Planner or Claude Cowork (an AI) in a way that doesn’t replace you in your content (no AI flyers, folks) but helps you manage posting consistently are great tools to keep you ahead of the business burnout. 

 
👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 270 - Getting Started on the Right Marketing Foot.

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In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 269 - Sugar Cookie Side Hustle, we wanted to take it back to the beginning - specifically to those folks who know they want to take on a new hobby that not only covers itself, but also pads the pockets for some decent fun money.

🚗💨 Sugar cookies as a side hustle is an awesome concept because it doesn't require cars, insurance, fuel, or oil changes. You're also in control of your schedule more than those "overlord apps" that ding, and you have to jump to accept the request or face a bad review and a possible account restriction.

Even better? A lot of us already have the basic tools needed to get started - so even the startup costs are lower than most hobbies (just ask me about rug tufting... I ain't had none of that stuff lying around!).

Imaginary Example: You're a stay-at-home-mom.

You have about two hours a day that you can dedicate to baking, and you don't need to carve out anything extra to find them either - stay with me. They're already "baked" into your day during your kids' naptime or right after you put them down for bed. Since decorated cookies only need about 8 hours to dry, this schedule works pretty well for a sugary side hustle.

Here's what an example day could look like:

• 🕓 Your kids wake up at 6:00 AM, and by 6:30 you're prepping them for the morning.
• 🕓 At 7:00 AM, while the day is still quiet, you plan out your designs.
• 🕓 When naptime hits at 2:00 PM, you make your dough and prep your icing.
• 🕓 Then at 8:00 PM, once the kids are in bed, you settle in to decorate.
• 🕓 By morning, your cookies are dry and ready for packaging and pick-up.

🥶 Add in the ability to freeze your sets a week or more out, and you've got a nice little time runway.

You're not trying to replace a full-time income or build an empire; you'd simply like to make some fun money (💸 an actual sugar m-a-m-a lol - u). Whether it goes toward date nights, a family vacation fund, or a little guilt-free spending of your own, cookie decorating can give you a way to earn extra cash doing something creative on your own schedule (🚗🚗🚗 without having to be in a car delivering). With the flexibility of sugar cookies, you could scale this thing up to a brick-and-mortar or tone it down to a seasonal thing you do around the holidays.

Chances are, about 50% of the supplies you need are already sitting in your kitchen already - talk about a start-up cost WIN. A hand mixer, a baking sheet, a plaque cookie cutter, and the basic primary colors for coloring will get you started. And for anything you're missing, you don't have to spend much if you're willing to check your local buy nothing groups, Facebook Marketplace, or simply ask around in a community group (also a great way to signal to a potential audience you're warmin' up the ovens). You'd be surprised what people are happy to give away or sell for next to nothing.

You don't need to invent anything from scratch either - could this BE any easier?! Some of the most popular tried-and-true royal icing recipes aren't even behind paywalls. Mike Tamplin's recipe, Sally's Baking Addiction, Haniela's. And if you want to get spendy, Etsy recipes are just a few bucks but totally not required to get out the gate.

Snag the podcast to learn what you don't need to get started (hint: artistic ability. Just as Corrie and her oranges 🍊).

👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 269 - Side Hustle Sugar Cookies.

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In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 268 - Biting at the Bit for Bartering, Corrie has been running some 'bartering' case studies for podcast land. In these test runs, she's joined a local bartering group and exchanged cookies for a social audit with the group admin.

In another case, she exchanged her cookies for 👩🏻‍💻🎨 some graphic design work her twin apparently refused to execute in a timely manner (my bad, my bad). Her motive was, "I want to report back to the podcast," so here she is - reporting back on what she did, what she'd do differently, and if she'd do it again.

Bartering is the exchange of goods/services for goods/services - one of the oldest forms of commerce in the history of the world. Because it removes the monetary valuation from it, the exchange is made off of ever-changing perceived value - which means your cookies could actually be worth more than you're charging (or valued less - gotta watch out for that - did you know the word barter comes from a French word for "cheater"?).

🤝 How to ask to barter 

Getting into bartering is as simple as asking, but ensure you're asking specifically for what you want, or you're going to be left writing a lot of rejection letters. Facebook groups dedicated to local bartering are popping up too - that's where Corrie found her two exchanges. Write something as simple as, "Hey followers! I want to let you know I'm always open to bartering with my cookies. I'm looking for anyone who wants to barter Botox, landscaping (spring cleanup specifically), and cleaning services. DM me if you're interested!" Some additional bartering tips:

• 🔄 Make a post saying you’re open to bartering (above)
• 🔄 Join a local bartering Facebook group
• 🔄 Post in a community group that you’re willing to barter 

🤝 The benefits of bartering

Aside from what you get in the exchange, bartering can open you up to a new demographic, a potential referral source, and some good review opportunities. Consider that most folks in the bartering world tend to shy away from cash exchanges. With bartering, you can capture that new audience, and just because it's value-based instead of cash doesn't mean you can't get some high-quality connections (and exchanges) out of the deal.

• 🔄 Someone gets to try your cookies that they may not have normally ordered.  You can reach a new demographic of people 
• 🔄 This can turn into a referral source + review source
• 🔄 It works off of the perceived value, so there’s more flexibility in what's exchanged

🤝 The cons of bartering

Not every barter will be a win - especially if the exchange is for services. In Corrie's example, she exchanged for both graphic design and a social media audit. The social audit is shaping up to be AI slop, but the graphic design was enough that she was happy - however, the designer didn't provide the necessary print files nor design the front side of the cookie care card (don't worry, Corrie made me do it). The key is setting specifics when it comes to what you're exchanging and what you're exchanging for.

• 🔄 Not every barter is a win
• 🔄 You lose a lot of the protections that monetary institutions provide
• 🔄 It’s awkward 
• 🔄 As with any client, they can be unhappy 

🤝 Corrie's bartering tips

When it comes to bartering, be specific in what you're looking for. Worst they can say is no, but likely they'll attempt to renegotiate to find common ground for both parties. You're in control - if they're asking for more than you think is fair, you can (politely) say, "I can't do two dozen, but that'd work for a dozen." Look at the big picture - that one barter contact can start referring other clients to you, leave you a positive review, or barter with you again in the future. We asked bakers what they've bartered for, and here are some of the fun answers we got:

• 🔄 Car detailing
• 🔄 Snow plowing
• 🔄 Website
• 🔄 Photography 
• 🔄 Dental work
• 🔄 Botox
• 🔄 Haircuts
• 🔄 Childcare 
• 🔄 Taylor Swift Eras Tour Tickets 
• 🔄 Oil Change
• 🔄 Tattoo
• 🔄 Brick Mailbox for a future credit
• 🔄 Kayak 
• 🔄 Laser hair removal 

👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 268 - Biting at the Bit for Bartering.

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In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 267 - There's Such a Thing as Bad Publicity, if you've not lived under a rock, TikTok is buzzing with some cake pop drama between two bakers. If you have no idea what we're talking about - congrats, you likely have a life and aren't chronically online. The drama is easy to find, but it's lesson-worthy in terms of how your hyper-local small bakery can take some nuggets on how to approach negative press.

Because sure - if you're paid per view, maybe there's no such thing as bad press. But if you're selling at a local farmer's market and someone is upset with you, bad press can cost you clients, your booth, and your good standing with the market host.

There's a lot more at risk when you're the little local guy - so what can we take from the incident, and how can we apply it to our own bakeries? Here's what we've got in this week's Baking it Down podcast episode.

💢 Pause Before You Post

There's simply no better tip we can give you than to take some time before your reply. I'm not talking 30 minutes; we're talkin' a minimum of 6 hours, but 24 hours (so one round of sleeps) would be the recommendation. What you say on the internet lasts forever. Yep, even after that dirty delete or ninja edit, someone out there has screenshot proof of what you initially said. There's no anonymity to hide behind. The pause matters even more on a local scale, because you'll likely see this reviewer (or their friends) at the market next Saturday or at the grocery store tomorrow.

💢 Respond to Your Audience

A lot of times, when we get worked up about an unfair piece of content pointing at us, we're prone to see the argument as a back-and-forth debate, when in reality, we're talking to more than just this one individual - we're talking to our entire audience. And our followers aren't judging who's "right," they're judging whether you seem like a pleasant person to buy a dozen cookies from.

💢 Speak Once then Go Silent

If you followed the protocol and replied without defensiveness, with a response that acknowledges the hurt, and that fully encompasses the public apology - post it and then step away from the keyboard. Back-and-forth debates, more response videos, comment replies, dirty deletes, DMs - that look like someone who isn't confident in their stance. Be short, be kind, then be quiet.

💢 Don't Be Right, Be Good 

We'll be the first to say the customer isn't always right - but in the courtroom of public opinion, it doesn't really matter. Drama seekers don't want a clear-cut case - they want d-r-a-m-a. Eliminate drama by looking at the bigger picture here. Ask yourself what's at risk if you engage. Being right doesn't sell cookies; being the baker people feel good about does.

👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 267 - There's Such a Thing as Bad Publicity.

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🤖 AI Inspo Photo 101 - How to handle client ai inspo images.

In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 266 - AI Inspo Photo 101, one of the top hot button topics we're seeing in not just the Sugar Cookie Marketing group, but all baking-related groups is AI.

Specifically, this podcast covers AI-generated inspo photos sent to the baker by their clients - a niche aspect of the ever-popular AI debate. So, whether you're pro or anti-AI, your customers sending you AI is quickly becoming a part of the job (78% of respondents in a group poll said they've received AI-inspo from clients).

There are a few things we wanted to cover about AI-Inspo. How to identify it, how to address it, and how to incorporate it all make for the better baker. If you don't like AI, you'd still stand to gain from this podcast since we cover the response when someone sends you an AI photo (also, how to handle it in your terms).

🖼️ How to Spot AI-Inspo Photos

As AI gets better, 🔍 it's getting harder and harder for even bakers to spot the nuances of artificial cookie images. So, before we talk about how to address them when you're emailed them from clients, let's talk about 8 ways you can kinda spot AI (they'll have to check a few of these boxes to pass as AI):

• 🤖 Impossibly smooth flooding: zero flood lines (especially on lettering), no slight orange-peel texture, no settling marks.
• 🤖 Gradients: seamless airbrushed-looking color fades across a whole cookie. Possible to recreate with Eddie - but a tell nonetheless.
• 🤖 Detail finer than most marker tips: Even the finest edible marker still has some thickness, and writing with it creates variable line thicknesses, too.
• 🤖 Lettering: Probably the biggest tell - when the lettering is too perfect with no pressure variations (ya gonna know when Corrie has pressure piped something)
• 🤖 Physics-defying details: Shadows are the biggest giveaways, but the detail work that just wouldn't exist naturally on a planet with gravity. That said - always look for the shadow issues.
• 🤖 Too many colors per set: Not saying it's impossible, but the average dozen cookies isn't going to have 32 colors. If a cookie has that many colors, it's either AI or baked for content.
• 🤖 Lighting/reflection discrepancies: Reflections too perfect? That's a tell. Lighting sources not having a natural gradient towards darkness? Another tell.

🖼️ How to Handle the Client

🗣️ You may be considering grabbing your soapbox to preach to your clients that AI is a job-destroying machine eating up creativity and spitting out audible pollution in residential neighborhoods while burning through the water supply due to the open-loop systems that cool the faceless computers, but now is not the time to chastise, dear baker. 

• 🤖 Validate, don't correct: "I DON'T ACCEPT AI IMAGES" would look like, "Oh wow - love this! What a cool concept. While this looks to be an AI-generated image, I think we can adapt it to real-life cookies. I appreciate you giving me your design direction." 
• 🤖 Translate render to real life: "I think we can adapt this floral into a piped flower that looks like example." This way, they know what's possible (and within your wheelhouse) and what won't make the final cut.
• 🤖 Email examples: "Here are a few similar sets I've done that match your theme here. We can adapt these to your inspo photo to design a really unique set." 
• 🤖 Agree before money: Add to your invoice - "Final design is based on the baker's quoted concept; online inspiration images may include AI-generated finishes that can't be 100% replicated." Don't just leave this hidden in your terms; bring it to their attention. 

🖼️ How to Use AI as a Tool

"I'll never use AI." Yes, you will, and you already do. It's frankly now baked into my car's infotainment screen when I navigate to the nearest Olive Garden. AI is everywhere, so how can you use it to your competitive advantage? 

1. 🤖 Use AI to brainstorm complex theme ideas (I think Corrie had a "spaghetti rodeo theme" the other day that AI helped out with). 
2. 🤖 Use AI to help you mix color palettes or scale a recipe (Corrie did this the other day at the local grocery store, Giant).
3. 🤖 Have AI help you with a copy outline - you go back in and write the content. 

✈️ Letting AI ride along with your business journey is a good strategy, but letting AI fly the plane is a recipe to crash and burn 🔥 (well, you'll kinda just be forgotten and blend into the word salad). 

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In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 265 - Cookier Interview: Sharon, y'all asked for some fresh blood... I mean, new perspectives... on the podcast, and Sharon listened! 

Sharon with Fabuela Q Cookies recently found the Baking it Down Podcast - and at the perfect time, too. When her digital database of 3,000+ cookies glitched and deleted half her inventory, she caught the Nextcuses episode and approached the task of redoing this monumental undertaking again in a different way - by tackling her newest cutters first, finding a more reliable app, and giving herself permission to purge.

Sharon's story is common for a lot of bakers - a full-time job (as an SBA loan closer - very interesting to hear how that works on the podcast) and a side hustle of baking cookies. Her goal with the cottage bakery is to have it dialed in should she one day choose to retire (sounds like her bank will protest any resignation paperwork from Sharon - you go, girl!). 

As such, she's in the business of balancing - from a full-time intensive job by day to baking up 30 dozen Christmas light-themed cookies by night, it's no task for the weary.

But Sharon doesn't shy away from a challenge either. She's closed 2 more loans than they predicted (totalling 3 - GO Sharon!) while also repeating the Main Street Collab concept to get new printed corporate cookie business (a time saver for those who have multiple hustles). 

🔥🔥🔥🔥 If that doesn't put a fire under your behind enough, she's also recently completed the Cookie Videos Bootcamp, purchased a subscription to CapCut, got her best bud ChatGPT (goal... post...t - I got the order right, right?) to storyboard her out a script, and went and filmed the thing! 

On top of that, 💻 she's taken on her website (Shopify being her platform of choice) to dial in her website and start getting more of that search traffic while better converting her audience (websites convert better than Facebook messages or forms).

👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 265 - Cookier Interview: Sharon.

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In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 263 - Summer Slowdown, it's that tiiime of year - where both bakers and clients take a step back from the onslaught of End of School and grad orders. 

We say it every year - the dreaded "J" months are the slowest months for bakers because it's the convergence of our clients being out of town or busy entertaining the rug rats, along with a hiatus of any major holidays that tick cookie sales up.

But if you plan to take a baking break or just understand the ebbs and flows of our industry, the summer slowdown can be a great time to take a deep breath and retool, touch up, and tweak before we get into the crazy Q3 and Q4 "cookie Super Bowl" months. So here are ten things you could do to sharpen the ol' butcher knife that'll make quick work of crunch time.

🌞 Stockpile Dough

Batch mix and freeze pre-portioned dough. If you could portion out each storage bag to handle X amount of cookies (this will take some measuring and depends on your roll-out thickness), you could really make the dough thaw process quite efficient. The last thing we want is wasted defrosted dough. Corrie recommends an upright freezer from Wally World to keep your stash outta the way of family ice cream night. Probably best to leave this towards the end of the summer so you're sure it'll last you til Christmas, storage space dependent. 

🌞 Audit those SOPs

SOPs or "standard operating procedures" are the step-by-step instructions you follow when X is triggered. For example, my SOP for a cookie class starts with adding it to the shared Google calendar, emailing the venue, scheduling another reminder email for the venue, downloading the contact info for class attendees, uploading that info to our newsletter contacts, and emailing Corrie the class info (amazing how I still manage to forget stuff even with this approach). 

If you don't have any SOPs or they're out of date, now is the time to sit down and build them out so you're not reinventing the wheel every time something happens in your business - a corporate order comes in, a cookie class is scheduled, a custom order is placed, etc. 

🌞 Learn 1 New Technique

You bought all those courses, and now you're overwhelmed. Make a deal with yourself to just crack open one course and learn 1 specific new skill you know will level up your cookie game (hint - check out these Bootcamps, just 2 days, press play, learn something specific in each one).

🌞 Design your Q4 Offerings

We did this last year with our Christmas in July collab - bakers pre-baked their Christmas cookies in slow July, so come the Christmas rush, they were sittin' pretty with pre-batched content ready to go. You can do that now - and if a trend pops up between now and Halloween, add that to your lineup. But with the bulk of the work done, you're going to be set up for the holiday rush. 

🌞 Batch your Content

Facebook Planner only allows just under 2 months of content to be scheduled, but FeedHive (and similar apps) let you schedule out for the year. So you can create a pre-scheduled content base now to go up well into the holiday season when you're more pressed for time, but you definitely don't want to ghost your Halloween ghosts.

We cover a few more ideas, but you know what your business will benefit from this summer. Get a plan going now, execute in June and July, relax in August, and hold onto your horses in September - it's Cookie Bowl!

👂 Snag this podcast on any major podcast player (Spotify, Apple Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube) by searching for Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 263 - Summer Slowdown.