Hey guys, welcome to my channel. It's your girl Chitalia here and today I will be talking about how I grew my business so fast and things that I wish I knew before. I started my tree business. I am using my old phone so if I'm looking down, that's why.
First I'm going to talk about my business. So I started my business about a year ago. I sell chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered Oreos. I do party packages.
I do candy grapes, candy apples, cheesecake cones. I do a little bit of everything in the tree section. So I will put some of my work on the screen and things that I have done.
We're gonna get into the chocolate that I use. So when I first started off I used Ghirardelli. I really don't know how to pronounce it but I will put it on the screen.
I used that chocolate and it was okay. It's okay for a beginner. Like it's not the best. I mean like I wouldn't use it now that I've moved on. But um and it was very expensive.
It was about five dollars a bag. And that's kind of expensive for chocolate if you're just now starting off. That was my first chocolate. It actually was pretty good, but the problem that I had was that I really didn't know anything about chocolate when I started.
I knew nothing. I had no help. I didn't look at YouTube. I didn't do anything. I had no help.
So I just started without any knowledge or anything. So my problem was that I was using normal food coloring that you would use to like bake cakes or change the color of cakes and stuff in that sort. And normal food coloring that's used for that is water-based. And the food coloring that you need to use for chocolate is oil-based.
Always use oil-based food coloring when you're trying to get a specific color. I will put the oil-based food coloring that I use. I get mine off Amazon. I also get this from Michael's or Walmart.
But yeah, so I use oil-based food coloring because if you're using normal food coloring, it'll be like adding water into chocolate. And that's just something you never would do. Another thing I would say about chocolate is the way I melt my chocolate is I use defrost and then I do 30 seconds until it's fully the way that I want it to be. The consistency is very, very, very smooth.
The type of berries I use is Driscoll's. I get all my berries from Snooks. I don't go anywhere else.
I'll put that on the screen too. I use Driscoll's. That's the only type of berries I will use.
I won't use anything else. I feel like that's the best. what I use and what I think works best for me.
Now some things that work for me might not work for you. This is just my preference and how I've grown in the past year. Now how I started to grow and make a lot of money for my treats is that I made content and I started taking pictures of every single last one of my orders, all my work.
I would record me packaging, I would record me doing it. All that helps in the long run. Another thing that will really help is constantly posting your work.
Even... Even say if you get two orders a day, post both of those orders. Like, you want to stay consistent, at least post two times a week.
Like, make sure you have a platform for your business. Make sure you have a goal set. Consistently post every single day.
Like, because you're a small business owner, nobody really knows your name yet. Nobody knows you, especially if you're young. It's very hard to get your name out there. So you have to consistently post a day, consistently know that.
You are trying to get your brand out there in your business practice makes perfect I literally can put my first order on the screen. I kid you not it was so bad It was so bad it's not gonna be the best the first time around it's not gonna be best the second time with a 10th Time around you have to keep practicing you have to learn the chocolate that you're gonna use you have to stay consistent You just have to keep going. It's not gonna be perfect All of the chocolate that I do use now is called almond bark. I will put that on the screen. It's about three dollars I a bag at schnooks um or i will use candy melts if i went pre-dyed you can get those at walmart or michael's money so this is something that i'm still struggling with myself this is something that like i've still been trying to learn how to manage and stuff like that but one some tips that i can say that i know is really learning how to budget learning how to take at least 25 percent of what you're making and putting it back into your business so that you can get better chocolate, better material, better, better.
Really just learning, like mostly for young people, the hardest thing is that they don't really have any responsibility. So it's hard for them to stay, to put back up money. They like me in specific, everything I see, I want. So my problem is that when I get an order, I don't put most of it back. I spend most of it on myself.
So really just learning how to manage your money bank account can really, really, really help you. Um, so that you don't just have money in your face to spend. So another thing that can help you out is that like if you don't have a real order yet still please still still still practice still make your treats still bake and still post so they can see what you're worth and see your worth adding on to your business okay the biggest thing i can say for adding on to your business is that like i just said putting back putting money back into your business so you can get better equipment so i literally started with like melting my chocolate in the microwave that we use on an everyday basis And then I upgraded to a actual chocolate melter that I bought.
I can put the one that I use on the screen too. So I would say just investing back into your business. Once you feel like you're at a point of saving that you know that you'll have enough to still get your material and you'll still have extra money. That means it's time for you to upgrade. Upgrade on your chocolate.
Upgrade on your material. Upgrade on everything you use. another thing that i would say that will really help when you're first adding on and starting on to like evolve will be that like everything's not going to happen the way it won't like you want it to happen you're not going to be famous overnight you're not going to blow up overnight you're not going to get 10 million orders overnight it takes time when it's your time to grow you will grow another thing is setting rules for your business anyone ever tries to tell you you're charging too much or charging too less Know your worth, know your work, know how good you are.
Do not let anybody tell you that you're overpricing or underpricing because there's so many people on this earth who makes treats. People think since it's food and since it's something so little that you cannot grow and you cannot go far with a treat business. But it is possible if you stay focused, if you have a plan, and if you have the time.
you will be successful you will grow from just making treats there's not always going to be somebody there to support you like there's not always going to be someone patting your back every time you do a good order you just have to know you just have to know yourself that you're doing but you have to pat yourself on the back because there's not always going to be somebody there to tell you good job on this order or that's so cute or keep going there's not always going to be somebody there like that a lot of my ideas from from my orders are tiktok and pinterest um you Now what I can say is that you never want to copy anyone specific. You never want to take their order or their treat and do the same exact thing. You probably don't want to do that. Always add your own type of thing.
The thing that will make you stand out from other bakers and treat makers, since there's so many in the world, so many people who make the same exact thing, the thing that will make you stand out is adding your own touch, like adding your own spice, adding your own different thing. into your orders. Another thing I would like to say is never ever ever put a time on your orders.
I had this bad when I first started. You never wanna put a time, you never wanna say like, I'll be done at 5.30. You never wanna do that. I always personally tell my customers, I'll send you a message when I'm finished or I can send you a text when I'm almost done, five minutes done so you can be on your way. Like I never ever ever put a time because then you'll find yourself being stressed out because when you're working with chocolate and when you're working with baking, Everything does not always work the right way.
Something might overheat, something might, you might need some extra, something has to go to the store. Nothing never is perfect. So with that being said, never ever ever put a time on your work. Some places that I really get all my products from is Amazon. I can put some of my party packages on the screen that I've done.
And when you're working with party packages, the biggest thing I would say is get, please get molds. Please, please, please get molds because it's going to be so much easier it's going to be so much more convenient like when people make chocolate cover oreos they just don't dip them in to chocolate there's actual molds made for that there's also actual molds for making like the letters so like i can put some of my breakable hearts that i've done on the screen i don't make those with my hands there's actual molds that i buy off amazon which i can link those to there's most that i buy that you just put the chocolate in i use a plastic baggie squeeze the chocolate in and That's really it. It's not much to it. If you just put your mind and time into it, you'll be fine. Constantly learn.
Make sure you're paying attention to every last detail so that you're learning. Places that I really shop is Amazon, Walmart, Snooks, and Michaels. And I'm sure all of these are really local.
Get off Amazon for my business are my boxes. So when I first started I was using like pans. Like not real pans, but like the aluminum foil pans. That's not something you want to do. It's not pretty.
It doesn't look presentable. I personally was making money off of it, but at that time, I was just locally. I wasn't expanding, and now I'm at a point in my business where I'm expanding and moving on into bigger things.
So, like, really, I feel like, please, please don't use those. Just order the white boxes off Amazon. They're so much cleaner, so much easier, so much everything. Get boxes and molds from Amazon. From Schnucks, I get my grapes, my berries, all my fruit.
Walmart I get some of my chocolate not all of it but I get some of my chocolate like almond bark and the candy nuts that are pre-dyed. From Michaels you literally can get anything I get my sprinkles from there I get my molds from there if they don't have them on Amazon if I need them like next day I get my cake pins from there I get everything like Michaels is where I get most of my things. Overall I was just saying just being consistent knowing your plan knowing like this is what you really want to do you'll be fine I feel like If you just take your time and your effort and really pay attention to the details, put your love into when you're making something new, you'll be fine.
Okay, that will be it for this video. I hope that I answered so many questions. If you have any more questions, please comment down below. Thank you so much for watching.
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