Citron & Cerise

This a.m. I sat at Cafe Momus in Old Montreal and enjoyed one of the best cupcakes of my life. It was creamy and chocolaty and just the right texture and consistency.  Across the table from me was Nadine Spicer, the woman responsible.  She owns Les Cupcakes du Chaperon Rouge  (Little Red Riding Hood Cupcakes) .  Her cupcakes are made with fresh ingredients, precision, creativity and love.

Immediately I liked this woman. Her cupcake business, which she started 1.5 years ago, was inspired by her grandmother with whom she used to bake. Her grandmother died three years ago and the cupcake business idea was born after. 

Nadine’s story shares many parallels with Michael Gerber’s fictional character Sarah who runs a pie shop.  In his famous book The E Myth Revisited (E is for Entrepreneur), Michael encounters Sarah when her business where she is up to her eyeballs baking pies because she hasn’t yet designed the business to be a “mature business” in which she doesn’t have to be the chief pie maker, entrepreneur and manager all at the same time.   At the moment, Nadine is the chief cupcake maker, marketer and business manager.

Nadine has grown incredibly as a person during her first years in business. She has become a skilled networker who can speak proudly of her business and her product. She’s had success securing corporate clients who love her cupcakes for events and she has become a regular host of a cupcake workshops at Ateliers et Saveurs, a cooking school in Old Montreal.  I note that while her next workshop is already sold out, there were 5 spaces left for September 27th when I looked! She also does cupcake parties for kids and adults.

Her biggest flop and her biggest lessons came from baking 30 dozen cupcakes to sell at a sampling event and selling only two dozen.  She felt devasted at the time but learned a great deal.

I learned that people don’t buy a dozen premium cupcakes for dinner that night just because they had a bite.   Tasting can lead to orders but it’s not necessarily immediate as premium cupcakes are for special occasions.  Anytime I do sampling going forward, it will strictly be sampling and I will take orders.

What keeps her up at night is cash flow and how to wow her clients (all her cupcakes are original designs and she often creates special recipes and decorations depending on client need).  And what’s been harder than she ever imagined is how much time everything takes to accomplish.

When I asked her what she feels she needs most she said that beyond money she feels she needs an advisor or coach to help her put everything together.  She knows her product inside out and she knows what her clients want.  Now she just needs to take it to the next level. 

My recipe for Nadine is straightforward:

• Get really clear on her vision going forward
• Put everything she knows about her business on paper in the form of a business plan that will take her to the next level;
• Focus on one niche (and at most two) to build Les Cupcakes du Chaperon Rouge;
• Take time every week to strategize, initially perhaps with the help of a coach or business advisor; she could consider group coaching if her budget doesn’t allow for one-on-one coaching right now
• Find more help with baking and decorating to free up her time to work “on the business” instead of “in the business” to the extent that she does
• Continue to create cupcake masterpieces and become known as “the” cupcake woman to ensure that many more people get to enjoy the delight I had this morning

Au chocolat

I end with Les Cupcakes’ tagline: Grand-maman les aurait adorés, si le loup ne l’avait pas mangée (Translation: Grandmother would have loved them if the wolf hadn’t eaten them!!).  May the Little Red Riding Hood of Cupcakes ride on!

This article was written by Peggy Grall, executive coach and author of Just Change It.  The article was shared with me by Corry Robertson, a performance leadership coach who is participating in our upcoming Coach Buffet on Oct 15th in Montreal and November 17th in Toronto.

Choosing a coach is a lot like shopping for shoes, and can be almost as frustrating. You start out with an idea of what you want; pick a few stores, and the hunt begins. It’s relatively easy to tell the ones you don’t want, that becomes apparent as soon as you slip them on. But finding the perfect fit is important. 

 So, with the legions of coaches out there, how do you choose the right one for you? Most coaches offer 15 – 30 minute complementary sessions to help you both decide if it is a fit. Here are some factors to consider:

Chemistry: Coaching is like dating, there has to be chemistry. Oh, not the breathless variety, but the coach and coachee have to like, respect, value and be energized by each other. Chemistry also speaks to personal style. Some coaches hail from the ‘kick-butt’ school of coaching, while others have a more relaxed, ‘Zen’ quality about them.

Part of your initial conversation is about getting to know each other’s approach and style; look at the pace in the conversation, do you feel ‘heard’ and does this coach having something to offer you?

Credentials:  Not everyone who calls himself or herself a coach, is a coach.  Coaching has gained popularity as a tool for achieving stretch goals, both personally and professionally, and the need for coaches to be well-trained is taking centre stage.

Find out the training and background of your prospective coach. Ask if the coach is certified through the International Coaching Federation and find out what other academic qualifications the person brings to the coaching.

Clarity:  Find out if the coach has coached other clients like you.  Ask about their experiences with former clients.  You can also ask for references or testimonials; items which a professional coach should happily supply.

A coach is not a counselor or a consultant. This is an important distinction. Knowing the type of support you can expect will eliminate confusion and/or disappointment down the road for both of you.

Charges: Of course, no professional engagement is complete until the money question has been settled.  Coaches offer their services in all sorts of creative ways; you can hire a coach by the hour or session, the week or month or even by the project.

For example, you could sign up for  ‘just in time’ coaching services; that’s when a retainer is paid and you call the coach for brief, laser-like, mini-sessions.

Contract: Be prepared to sign a contract with your coach in which you will determine what your goals are, what you want to achieve through the collaboration and what success will look like to you.

How do you make the best use of their services once you find a coach?  Be clear on what you want to achieve and use the time together strategically. Throughout the sessions together, you will determine the agenda and when you have reached a goal or are satisfied with your progress, you can call the shots and take a breather.

Having a great coach in your corner is the best insurance for success I can think of, and there are coaches with a variety of backgrounds and experiences.  If you’re in the market for a coach, take your time, ask questions and then give it all you’ve got!

On Friday I met two very special people—Melanie and Julie Cherrier—sisters and partners in Trois Crayons , a Montreal company specializing in custom greeting cards. Three years ago, Melanie, Creative Director and original founder, bought out her two partners.  Julie stepped in as a stop gap measure to help her older sister through the transition. It worked so well that Julie is now a full partner and Director of Business Development.

Their product is striking—beautiful designs by Melanie and flawless embossed printing. What is more striking though is their relationship. They truly love working together and it shows in the way they finish each other’s sentences and laugh together.

Melanie is most proud of the quality of their product and the way they treat their clients,

Every card is perfect. Those with even the slightest imperfection are not used. And for our clients, we show up as ourselves, the same we are in life.  In this way, our business doesn’t ever feel like work.

Trois Crayons’ biggest failure came this year when they lost a major corporate banking client who traditionally relied on them for all their printed cards (i.e. Christmas, condolence, birthday etc.).  Melanie and Julie agree,

We know this decision isn’t about our designs or our service.  The financial crisis drove the bank to centralize everything with their advertising agency. We had come to count on this business so we were taken off guard.  Happily though, this wakeup call has opened an opportunity to refocus on retail which is something that really excites us. We might have missed this if we hadn’t lost the bank.

Their biggest challenge is sales.  Both Melanie and Julie have some fear of sales and this is a stumbling block to growth. Fortunately, they are open to developing their sales skills . It is the strong business owner who recognizes what she needs to work “on her business” and sets out to find it.  To create their vision of selling in the European market, having a retail operation in Quebec, and expanding offerings to include gift wrap and stationary, sales skills will certainly be needed.

The Cherrier sisters and I share a love of beautiful stationary and the art of letter writing. Melanie does a funny imitation of a an electronic greeting card and then asks me,

Do you want to send a 5 second email greeting that gets deleted or a beautiful, quality lasting gesture?

They feel very strongly that their corporate clients protect their image by sending quality and consistent messaging.  I couldn’t agree more. I just had a batch of note cards designed and printed for my own coaching business as I truly believe that nothing says thank you more effectively in business than a sincere hand written note on a beautiful card. 

I left the interview at Trois Crayons with a smile on my face and a bag full of beautiful cards.  I have already given one of them to someone important.   It was received with a big smile and a hug. That never happens when I send emails!

A portion of Trois Crayons Christmas sales proceeds are given to The Marie-Vincent Foundation in support of children who are maltreated or sexually abused.  The Foundation focuses on prevention, education and support to those who have been mistreated and their families.