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There's a recipe that helps increase sales without decreasing dollars - but it may require some deconstruction of self-made roadblocks. 

🤔 "Heather - are you gonna make me get in front of a camera?" 

You know me so well. But yes - yes, I'm going to encourage you to step your adorable little buns in front of an iPhone, smile, and let the world know just how likable you really are.

First Up - 😍 Likability

The first step in this three-part sales funnel - being likable. But how, you ask? It requires being relatable - and a cheat code for being relatable is letting people see you - 🤳 yep, stepping into the limelight. 

Your cookies are awesome - but I don't know a cookie - however, I can know you - I can know that you're local, that you have kiddos, that you struggle with finding entertainment for said kiddos, that you're military or that you're workin' a side hustle! Listen - humans love to see other humans. Check out this heatmap on a Dolce and Gabbana ad - the eyes tracked Scarlett's face, not the product. 

📸 Along with steppin' in front of the paparazzi (even if the paparazzi happens to be your iPhone on a tripod), try these methods of becoming the most likable baker in your area:

• Meet the Baker Post - try posting this once a quarter - even if it feels repetitive, most people don't see your posts due to the algo. Try a "Five things you didn't know about me - don't judge me for number 4!" to pull your audience in.
• Bakery Photoshoot - say CHEESE! These types of photoshoots are "likable" content gold mines! 
• Reels with Your Face - do a dry run! Practicing in front of a mirror or in a private Live will make this feel more natural.

Next Up - 🧠  Know

Okay - we like you. We love your face, your brand, your brand photoshoot, and your relatable posts - now we need to know about what you sell, how you sell it, and how I can get ahold of it (we retooled this one a bit). Answer the questions Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. 

• 🤔 What's for sale?
• 🤔 How do I buy it from you? 
• 🤔 Where are you located? 
• 🤔 Are you taking orders right now?
• 🤔 How can I give you my money?

You can be the most likable person in the world, but if you make it too hard to give you my money, I'm going to be lookin' for another less relatable but easier-to-pay baker. Pairing likability with spend-ability makes a match made in moolah heaven. Keep the funnel short here and you'll see a much larger bank account. 

Last up - ❤️ Trust 

Ah - trust. It'll make or break you and you won't even see it coming. When your customer makes a purchase, they wanna know that if things go south, you won't gho-st. Or that you're on their side vs on the opposite side of the boxing ring. 

Maintaining a trust-first brand above all else will make clients feel safer when parting with their hard-earned cash. How to present a trustworthy brand? Here are a few tips of the trust trade:

• Have your refund policies visible and favorable for the client. The average return per year in SCM? .5 orders - yes, ONE HALF of an order per year.
• Offer a 100% money-back guarantee. I know, I know - the "refund twins" strike again - but consider the peace of mind your audience will have knowing that if they're not happy - they'll still be happy. I'd happily throw cash money your way.
• Have an extensive FAQ section. Trust = communication. Having questions answered and repeatedly accessible lets people know that they're in safe, sugary hands.

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🧠 Comparison Awareness 101 👀

It's that tiiime of yeeeear... where we feel like we're fallin' behind. And it is EASY to fall into comparison fatigue! 

1. 😞 "They sold out, but I have wide-open weekends."  
2. 😔  "They filled 3 classes, and I haven't even listed one."
3. 😖  "They got the BRP snowman belly bags, and I missed them before they sold out."
4. 😓 "They're doing 4 Christmas markets, and I only sold a few customs this week."
5. 😭 "They're doing something and I'm not and now I feel bad, sad, depressed, burnt out, resentful, and all around - bum humbuggy." 

Heyo - you're not alone - but you don't have to feel stranded on the island of negative thoughts. We've come up with a list on this week's podcast to keep you sane and smiling this holiday season by being aware of the dangers of comparison and to help you stay in your unique lane - happy and hopeful.

1️⃣ 1. When someone says they sold out, it doesn't mean you didn't - everyone has a different number.

If I wanted to sell 10 of something, and Corrie only sold 2 of something, she'll have a likelihood of selling out 5x's faster than me. But all I hear is the "I'm sold out 'til the end of the year!" What a defeating Debby downer when I'm sitting here with eight more left to sell! ⚠️ Compare Aware Alert ⚠️ - Her "sold out" and my "sold out" are unique to each of our unique situations. I can be happy for Corrie, but understand that her goals and mine are worlds apart - and that's okay. I'll compare myself to myself last year (more on that later).

2️⃣ 2. Squirrel brain - focus on 1 thing. The great group ideas will be here when you get back.

🐿In a group like SCM where there are genius ideas whizzing back and forth all day long, it's easy to get distracted and fall into the dark pit of analysis paralysis where the thought of doing this thing comes at the opportunity cost of now not being able to do that thing. ⚠️ Compare Aware Alert ⚠️ -  Doing anything is better than doing nothing. Find one thing - commit to it, and execute on it. Do that one thing the best you can. The ideas will still be here when you're finished with that one thing. And if you don't get around to them all? No sweat - you did something - and that's worth everything.

3️⃣ 3. Set up an unmoveable goal that fits your lifestyle.

"'I'll sell 10 custom orders this December." Great goal - stick to it. Don't get jealous of someone teaching 5 classes or of something attending 4 holiday markets. ⚠️ Compare Aware Alert ⚠️ - Find your goal that fits your lifestyle. It won't look like anyone else's because your life isn't anyone else's. Find a goal - set it - and forget about changing it. Don't get sucked into the (easy to fall into - ask me how I know) holiday greed at the expense of your happiness.

4️⃣ 4. Likes don't equal sales.

It's easy to think that the cookie page that has 1,432,671 likes probably sold 1,432,671 cookies - but that's a false reality. ⚠️ Compare Aware Alert ⚠️ -  The cookie classes page we post to? 2 likes on my last post. The classes? Booked with a waiting list. Two likes from your target audience are worth 2000 likes from an audience who can't give you their money. Stay in your happy lane and keep marketing, niching, and targeting like your happiness depends on it.

5️⃣ 5. Budget buffer time - assign "OFF DAYS" as a task - and make a conscious effort to not work. Working = bad on these days.

It's easy to fall into the hustle trap of thinking "I'm just sitting here watching Hallmark city boys lose to the local small-town hunks when I could be baking cookies, makin

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Tasty Tin 

• Website: tastytin.com
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Garlic Dust

Sweet Frosted KC * 

• Website: www.etsy.com/shop/sweetfrostedkc
• Deal: 25% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Skinny Pencil Cutter

Cheerful Cutters *

• Website: www.cheerfulcutters.com
• Deal: 20% Off (excluding subscriptions)
• 1️⃣ #1: 5 Ornament Cookie Cutter Set

Sweet Cutter Co *

• Website: sweetcutterco.com
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Sweet Gingerbread Man Cookie Cutter

Vanilla and Confetti * 

• Website: www.etsy.com/shop/vanillaandconfetti
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Personalized Notepads

The Sugar Pod *

• Website: thesugarpod.com/
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Baker's Sampler's Set

Mulberry Treats *

• Website: www.mulberrytreats.com
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Mugs

Brighton Cutters

• Website: brightoncutters.com
• Deal: 30% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Christmas Advent Cookie Cutters

Cookie Artist Directory

• Website: cookieartistdirectory.com
• Deal: 22% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Pro Listing

Cute Cookie Kits *

• Website: www.cutecookiekits.etsy.com
• Deal: 20% Off + Free Shipping over $35
• 1️⃣ #1: Cookie Cutters

Mollie Rae's *

• Website: www.mollieraes.com
• Deal: 22% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Baking-Themed Stickers

Bakery Tee Co

• Website: bakeryteeco.com
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Your Neighborhood Cookie Lady Tee

Home Sweet Bakery by Sol *

• Website: www.etsy.com/shop/HomeSweetBakerybySol
• Deal: $1.00 Recipes ($4 off)
• 1️⃣ #1: Brownie

Cutterly *

• Website: cutterly.pro
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Annual Subscription

Morr Decor *

• Website: www.morrdecor.com
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Cutter/Stencil Combinations

Sweet Details GR *

• Website: sweetdetailsgr.com
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Logos

Busy Bakers *

• Website: busybakerssupplies.com/
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1 Best Seller: Edible Ink Markers

Sweet Pink Olive *

• Website: www.sweetpinkolive.com
• Deal: 30% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Airbrush Machine

The Cookie Box Club *

• Website: thecookieboxclub.com
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Stencils

Sugar Dot Cookies *

• Website: www.sugardotcookies.com/
• Deal: 25% Off Templates
• 1️⃣ #1: Pumpkin Transfer Templates

Sam’s Cookie Company

• Website: www.samscookiecompany.com/
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Bella Add-In

Bee’s Baked Art Supplies - Jennifer Harris

• Website: www.beesbakedartsupplies.com
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Tipless Bags

SugarDashCo *

• Website: sugardashco.etsy.com/
• Deal: 25% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Scripted Numbers One to Nine

Minted Prints *

• Website: www.minted-prints.com
• Deal: 20% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Cookie Cutter Lounge Membership

aeCore Backers *

• Website: /www.aecorebackers.com
• Deal: 30% Off
• 1️⃣ #1: Polar White Backdrop

The Cookie College *

• Website: www.thecookiecollege.com/
• Deal: 25% O

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🎁 Chrazy Christmas Cookie Schedules

First - let's announce the winner of the SCM Second Boo-thday Bash! Thanks to all who entered - you guys are awesome, and I can't believe we get to work with you in growing our businesses by makin' dough making dough! 

️🎉 Congrats to Daniell Bartolo! ️🎉

So awesome, awesome, awesome. Thanks to all who participated and each and every one of ya who make this group what it is. And if you're bummed you didn't snag you an Eddie, you still can along with some STELLAR Black Friday deals in the 2022 Vendy Blendy!

And now - let's talk Advent Calendars LoL. Here's the #podcastpoll results from over 1,000 members on whether or not they'll be selling Advent Calendars this year:

• ️🚫 79% will NOT be selling advent calendars
• ✅ 21% will be selling advent calendars 

More marketing nuggets (also, I'd like to apologize about the podcast this week - we were a bit all over the place 😅). The holidays are upon us! Halloween is less than a week away, Thanksgiving is in just over three weeks, and then the cookie Super Bowl - Christmas - isn't far behind.

So what do? Here's our hot take: plan ahead - like as in, right now. You're going to want to plan ahead so you're not "standing by the oven by Christmas lights" later this month. You know I love me some quotes. 

"Failing to plan is planning to fail." 

So - let's plan. Here's where we'd start:

• 🎁 Assess what packaging you can use from last year. Remember - saving money means making money. If you have packaging options left over from last year, clear out the closets! Sell that stuff before you order more holiday-themed packaging.
• 📦 Order your packaging now. If you find that your packaging closet is lacking, order it now, don't wait. Miss Cookie Packaging has some of the cutest packagings and unfortunately, everyone knows it. She often sells out.
• 📸 Cutters? Reuse what you got. Cutter shopping is a blast - and if you're runnin' low, then definitely stock up, but if you can use what you used for last year's offerings, then you can pocket more of that cold hard cash in the form of fewer purchased and hopefully reusable photos. 
• 📆 Nail down your schedule now. Figure out pick-up dates, custom cut-offs, class dates, etc. Have it all written down - and make them 🩸 blood dates - immovable unless by an act of God Almighty. You'll be able to plan ahead and communicate more effectively with not only your clients but also your family. 
• ️🥇 Set your goals and stick to them. 'Tis the season of giving, not greed. It's easy to fall in love with the endlessly filled cookie classes and order emails longer than a CVS receipt, but it's also important to have boundaries. Remember - you'll want to spend time with your family this season, not with the oven. Set a sales goal # or a total order number and once you reach it, call it quits and go enjoy your life. We work to live, not live to work. 

You got this - stay hyped, follow these tips, and stick the seasonal landing this holiday rush! You know the SCM group has your back - so let's get this holiday bread! 

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🙊 Quote "Quote" Unquote

This week, Heather reads off her favorite (absolutely random) quotes. Here goes:

• 💰 If it costs you your inner peace, then it’s very expensive.
• If you don't cultivate discipline, you will be a slave to your impulses.
• 🪓 The ax forgets but the tree remembers.
• Did you say that to be helpful or hurtful? / 👂 What do you want me to hear when you say that?
• When an inanimate object wants more from me than it can give to me, that's called clutter.
• You either do hard things to make your life easier, or you do easy things that make your life harder. Choose your hard.
• You suffer from one of two pains - the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.
• 🥕 Throw them a carrot so they don’t try and eat the whole garden. 
• I'm going to give you your flowers. You can water them or not. 
• It's not for sale, but it ain't free either.
• 🍎 The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit. 
• You can't learn to drive in a parked car. 
• If there's a due date, then treat it like a DO date. 
• If it smells like 💩 everywhere you go, you might want to check your shoes.
• 🙊 Never miss an opportunity to shut up.
• The first step to fixing any problem is not to make it any worse. 
• What we resist, persists. 
• The price of creativity is the judgment of others. 
• 🛬 It's always better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.
• How we say things is how we think things. 
• Make it easy to do things right and hard to do things wrong. 
• Don't compare yourself to others, but to who you were yesterday. 
• 📊 What is not measured cannot be improved.
• If you name it, you can tame it.
• You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. 
• 15% of a watermelon is better than 100% of a grape. 🍇
• You don't stop playing when you get old. You get old when you stop playing
• 🌳 Sometimes you've got to burn down some trees to save the forest.
• Clutter is nothing more than postponed decisions.
• A great partnership is one where both people are striving to do 60% of the work.
• ️🎶 When you're happy, you hear the music. When you're sad, you hear the lyrics.
• The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. 
• ⌚ What good is a Rolex if it just tells you what time your lunch break is over?
• Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. 
• You are not responsible for your first thought because we are humans with nervous systems. 🧠 You are responsible for your second thought though.
• In strategy, the longest way around is the shortest way home.
• 🦷 You brush in the morning to keep your friends and you brush at night to keep your teeth.
• I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived - and dying I will tend to later.
• Winners are focused on the finish line. Losers are focused on winners. 🏁
• 🛍️ Everyone will pay for a product if it can pay them back.
• The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
• 🐝 Bees don't waste time telling flies that honey is better than 💩.
• The more you sweat in peace the less you bleed in war.
• If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.
• A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
• 🚗 Money is a passenger in the car, but I never let it behind the wheel. 

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It struck me the other day - Susan the Scammer is actually really good at marketing. I mean - look at her! This little "event planner" has marketed so well that an entire industry knows about her antics! 👏 And 👏 the 👏 woman 👏 still 👏 doesn't 👏 quit. 

If we think about it - we can actually learn a pretty solid marketing lesson from the lady with the bluest of hearts. But beyond the scam, Susan has a pretty solid marketing campaign that's gotten her a lot of business (never repeat business though, mind you). So what can we learn from Miss Reed? 

1. 💙 Be consistent

Susan hits the pavement consistently. She replies consistently. She keeps her funnel short and converts bakers time and again. She keeps the process simple. And she's simply a good scammer - and that's something we can learn from ol' Susy Reed. Keeping your communication consistent, your order pipeline consistent, and your workflow consistent creates conversions. 

2. 💙 Don't take no for an answer

Susan has been ghosted, lambasted, told up one way and down the other by more bakers aware of her scammy ways - and yet she remains undeterred! Suzy keeps going - no after no - until she finds a yes. She's the embodiment of "it's not personal, it's just business." Don't let the next NO take you to your knees. You're a business owner now - no is a part of your life and the more you learn to love these two little letters, the more successful you'll be - just like Reed.

3. 💙 Warm up to Cold outreach

100% of Susan's emails are sent to a cold audience - people she's never worked with before. But she lures them in with promises of things that interest her audience - not the other way around. Susan appeals to her cold audience and we can too. By contacting cafes where we'd love to host cookie classes, reaching out to vendor events, and asking the HOA if a pop-up is A-okay, we're taking a lesson from Susan and doing "cold outreach." By appealing to our cold contact's wants and needs (just like Susan dangles that big check in front of us bakers), we can get a yes even from a stranger.

4. 💙 More than one form of payment

Now here's a lesson we can learn on what not to do a la Susan. Because her whole scam can only operate from checks, she limits her audience. We can get more market share by opening up our payment options. Yeah - that may mean processing fees, but if accepting credit cards gets you more money overall, it's a net win - and somethin' Sue can take notes on.

5. 💙 There are niches in the riches

Susan niched down to SUGAR COOKIE bakers - she doesn't care about cakes, she doesn't want chocolates - the woman wants her hearts, and she wants them blue. Because Susan niched down, she appeals to a smaller audience, but that audience is far more receptive that way. You can too - instead of being a baker of all trades, master of none - focus on being known for one or two products. You'll find that you'll become people's go-to source for that one thing you're really good at (the same goes for how many products you sell within your niche).

6. 💙 If it's too good to be true...

Bonus - if it's too good to be true, it's probably not for you! Very rare are the times in my life when I came out ahead on something that sounded too good to be true. Clients who promise you the world if you make this one exception, class attendees who push your boundaries but promise repeat business, and DIY kit pick-ups who promise they'll be early - if you do XYZ - these can lead you holdin' the bag (and that's not a bag of money). If it sounds too good to be true, do your r

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🎥 Reels Really Explained for Real

Instagram Reels must stand for "reel-y confusing," but rest easy, you're not alone. Instagram Reels are new, and are shifting the decade-old photo-centric platform by a lot - which is making things feel a bit all over the place - so we (ahem - Corrie) wanted to cover the "who, what, where, when, and what the heck" of Instagram's newest push - Reels. 

To understand why Reels are a thing, it's important to understand how Meta (Facebook) was losing users to competing app, TikTok. Unlike the photo-focused platform of Instagram with beautifully curated feeds and follower/following metrics that guaranteed limited reach, TikTok opened the floodgates to creating seemingly overnight sensations. In the world of marketing, we call this "opportunity," and so did millions of users (graph below from 2018 - and that's pre-pandemic).

Why did people prefer TikTok over social media behemoth, Instagram? According to Instagram, 😍 it's TikTok's relaxed algorithms and verticle video content that kept users comin' back again and again to hear the next trending song about corn. 

👀 Instagram wasn't one to be above copycatting what was working for its competition and snuck Reels into its platform in 2020 limiting the videos to 60 seconds (two-thirds shorter than TikTok's 3-minute limit - TikTok is now at 10-minute limits for some creators). 

With a loosening of the unforgiving Instagram algo and the new ability to possibly go viral on a platform we've come to know and (debatably) love, users flocked back to Instagram torn between now two very similar apps. 

💰 But Instagram wasn't stoppin' at completely copying the Bytedance-owned company - to counter TikTok's Creator Fund - the payment paid towards creators who merit a certain number of views - Instagram launched the Reels Play Bonus Program (weirdly long name, but I digress).

How to sign up? 🤔 Well - here's the thing - you can't. You've gotta be "chosen" and to be chosen? You've gotta be producing content - Reels content - on Instagram. Once offered access to the program, a window opens up for 30-days with a payment threshold essentially saying, "If you can get X views, we'll pay you Y - but you have to do it before the door closes by Z." Once the door closes, you're booted from the Bonus Play Program until the offer randomly appears again and the entire process repeats.

To get into the "pay-to-play" platform, your Reels must follow these rules: 

• 📸  Your reel cannot be claimed by another rights holder. 
• 📸  You can't have received 3 strikes for reels violations 
• 📸  Your reel can't contain branded content. 
• 📸 Your reel can't be watermarked.
• 📸 No bad words! 
• 📸 No fake / bought views. 

Once you sign up, though - 🤑 the cold hard cash spends well. Corrie got a payout of $500 before she reached the cap (Facebook / Meta require your tax details for reporting - so none of that "under the table" stuff). 

So - should you be creating Reels? 

The answer? It depends. Like I always say - it comes down to a math problem. If you want to get more followers - Reels would be your best bet. If you want to get more local sales? I think your time would be better spent hosting a pop-up or teaching a cookie class. If you're selling to other bakers? Reels may be a quick ticket to them - but then again, it may be a quick ticket to going viral for all the wrong saran-wrapped reasons. 

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🔢It's all a Numbers Game🔢

Let's paint a picture - you need a new roof. Cool, people buy new roofs like, what - once or twice in their entire lifetimes? You have little experience in good roofing companies, so you start your online research. Let's progress through the workflow.

1️⃣ You google, "roofing companies near me." Solid start to your shingle-themed research project - wouldn't want to accidentally hire a company three states away, right? You're met with the search results (SERPs - search engine results page). Whew - about 3 roofers in the ads section, 4 in the maps pack, and another 10 in the organic results followed by another 2 in the ads at the bottom, and then the option for 10+ more pages of roofers. 

2️⃣ You click on the companies listed on the maps section. Cool - they're close by, plus you can easily see their reviews. 24 5-star ratings, 13 ratings with a 4.5-star average, 34 reviews and a solid 4-star average. These are all looking good. 

3️⃣ You got to their individual website and Facebook pages. Let's see if their website makes me feel comfy enough to call - or better yet, submit a form, who likes calling?! You swing over to their Facebook pages. Recent posts, good engagement, but... wait... what's this?!

One of these local companies has 98,000 page followers. 

That's uh - impressive? Also - slightly disconcerting. Why? Because it doesn't match with your expectation of how roofing companies and their social media presence should appear online. It's out of sync with the other companies you've researched - 

• 🤔 and frankly, who follows roofers other than people who need roofs? 
• 🤔 Are there really 98,000 neighbors of yours hiring this roofing company? 
• 🤔 If so - are all 98,000 happy?! 
• 🤔 and if they're not clients, who are these 98,000 roofing-obsessed people?! 

You see what's happening - this HUGE following is doing counter-productive marketing. It's introducing doubt.

Recently asked in the group - it brings up a good question: how many followers is enough?  

"Is it worth it to try to gain non-local followers just to increase the follower number on your business page, even if you only offer your products locally?"

The answer is as simple as it is complex - but it relies on who your target is. Let's break it down:

• ️🎯 Roofing Company -  Local homeowners within X miles of the home office
• ️️🎯 Government Office - Residents of the local with which the office represents
• 🎯 Cookie Cutter Seller - Bakers within their shippable target area
• 🎯 The Cookie College - National / international bakers with internet access
• 🎯 A Local Baker - residents within their service area
• 🎯 Baker Influencer - National / international bakers with social media access 

You see - target audiences are not a one-size-fits-all metric - it depends on what products you're selling. An influencer would want to go viral - their product is views. Whereas a local baker may want to keep their audience targeting tight to their service area - that way they're not spending time turning down leads from 3 states away.

There is no wrong answer - what your target audience is may differ from the baker next door filming ASMR flooding videos who gets paid from the Creator Fund. The only wrong answer is not building an audience that you've targeted.

So - build a following of non-bakers to build a local audience? No - focus on building a local audience to build a local audience. The 3x3x3 challenge is a great way to do that. 

Keep your target in focus and you'll hit the bulls-eye every time.