Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪

101. Baking it Down - Cookie Classes - 101

• Heather and Corrie Miracle • Season 6 • Episode 1

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🏫 Cookie Class 101 🍪


School's in sesh - and we ain't gatekeeping anything. Here's how we run a cookie class 

(note - we're lazy - so understand that whatever we tell ya is preceded by the question 🤔 "how can we accomplish the most with the least amount of effort and still create a fantastic time for our audience?")

 1️⃣ Marketing a Cookie Class

Apps we use:

  • Eventbrite - to list the cookie class
  • Facebook - to crosspost the class listing
  • Flodesk - to email about the class
  • Feedhive / FB Planner - to schedule posts to social media about the class
  • Gmail - to email class attendees 

So - we use Eventbrite - it has fees. Why do we use it? It does a lot of the heavy lifting for even management for us, and it drives some traffic to our event as well. Could you use your own website? Sure! You'll be able to pocket more money in exchange for the additional management work on your end - a great trade. 

🤔 "But how can you post a picture of your sets so early?" 

We don't - I just use a placeholder image with the caption, "Class set photos coming soon!" To date, no one - like as in zero humans - has ever cared. Get the classes posted now - optimize them later! We like ending every class with a CTA (call-to-action) to sign up for a Christmas class even six months out. Since those classes sell out due to the nature of the seasonality of cookies at Christmas, our attendees like to feel that they snagged a class ahead of time. 

2️⃣ Class Prep

Corrie comes up with the class set and steps - which is awesome because it means it'll easy enough for beginners (and heeeyo - those steps are included in our new membership - Cookie Class Kits - if you don't wanna do the hard part yaself). 

The Bake-down:

  • Six Cookies - 3.5 inches
  • 4 Icing Colors - 2.5 oz - 3 oz
  • Sprinkles - Condiment Cup

Goin' in with a "too advanced" set is going to get your audience frustrated. You may be an expert cookier, but these folks are likely just looking for a good time and not to enter the next Food Network Cookie Challenge, so go easy on 'em.

We bake one to two days before class. We may bring an extra set just incase things go south and a bag bursts or someone drops a cookie - but I like to keep that a hidden secret, and if all goes well, Corrie will package it into a kit a sell it later.

Supplies we bring to class:

  • ➡️ Parchment paper (three sizes) - for cleanup
  • ➡️ Baking tins (two sizes) - for designated spaces
  • ➡️ 32'' TV - for the PowerPoint
  • ➡️ Laptop with HDMI cable - for the PowerPoint
  • ➡️ Sign-in Sheet
  • ➡️ DLSR Camera - professional quality photos
  • ➡️ Scribes (cheap ones from Amazon)
  • ➡️ Piping Practice sheets (laminated at Fedex Kinkos)
  • ➡️  To-Go Boxes (Amazon has cheap ones)
  • ➡️  Ziploc Baggies - for them to take icing home

If you want the exact supplies we use - I link to those in each Cookie Class Kits course - but legit, this stuff is easy to find on Amazon.

3️⃣ Class Schedule

Here's our schedule on the day of class:

  • 10:00 AM - get to the location
  • 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM - Setup
  • 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM - Take photos / make Reels / post to Stories
  • 11:00 AM - Class Starts
  • 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM - Introductions
  • 11:15 AM - 11:20 AM - Cookie Decorating Basics (ya know - like how to use a scribe)
  • 11:20 AM - 11:30 AM - Piping Practice
  • 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM - Decorating 
Speaker 1:

And it is

Speaker 2:

1 0 0 1. What Podcast? 1 0 1.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I thought you meant like DC 1 0 1,

Speaker 2:

DC 1 0 1. Dreams. Dreams

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. Did you listen to the podcast? Do you hear my new jazz

Speaker 2:

Music? I did. I liked, it's

Speaker 1:

Like elevator music and I'm about it. So

Speaker 2:

I like jazz music. Give me some Kenny G.

Speaker 1:

It wasn't Kenny G, it was more like, like it was trope

Speaker 2:

Elevator. It was,

Speaker 1:

It was. And we're gonna hear it in 3 2 1 1 0 1<laugh>. So Corey, I got a quick podcast poll.

Speaker 2:

Podcast poem.

Speaker 1:

Podcast poll. I posted this. What?

Speaker 2:

Hold on. Get that cat out of this room. Well, I'm carrying the podcast. I did a podcast pull on Instagram stories of what people listen to the most. You could only get the cat outta my ear<laugh>. You could only have four choices. And most people tune into a podcast, which is probably what you're doing right now. And the next was, uh, their favorite playlist. Another was a movie from their past or just a movie in general. Someone did message in and say audio books. I did my own Poy Bill Boo<laugh>.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

Are you done? Yeah.<laugh>.

Speaker 1:

I got banned from Facebook this week. She did? I did. This is

Speaker 2:

Interesting. I've seen it before.

Speaker 1:

Ai.

Speaker 2:

It's ai,

Speaker 1:

AI for Markon Zuckerberg the third, I don't wanna say his name. Here's what happened. Yeah. And this is interesting, and I thought was worth posting in the Sugar Cookie marketing group, just like Twitter has now offered subscription check

Speaker 2:

Marks. Yeah. Verified badges. Verified. Used to be, you'd just be verified by proving you're something famous.

Speaker 1:

Right. Now you can purchase them and then guess who turns around does the same thing Meta announced on Saturday. So I immediately screenshot Zuckerberg's post that ended up in my feed and I go to repost it immediately deletes the post and bans me for what I assume is about 48 hours with an, yeah, like a weird window would accidentally let me through. Uhhuh<affirmative>. Uhhuh<affirmative>. So what KO and I have determined is that when you screenshot Zuckerberg's post the AI season, and for some reason not long ago, I

Speaker 2:

Got banned. Don't test the of the, and it was a, it was a picture of Mark Zuckerberg. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well I think he has one profile picture. It's the same one you got banned for. It was a profile picture in the, and

Speaker 2:

We'll say they did take his eyeballs out and made like Facebook eyeballs.

Speaker 1:

Ah, so don't

Speaker 2:

Screenshot Dr. Bark. Yeah. But that subscription thing is quite weird. And why is it more expensive for iOS<laugh>?

Speaker 1:

It's 14. Do you know why For

Speaker 2:

IOS, because what they

Speaker 1:

Can't drive, iOS has a 30% fee to purchase anything through Apple. So, you know, cuz the 14.5 update, which I think we've talked about when of the podcasts really decimated Meta Facebook's ad platform. Yeah. Which is almost 90% of the money that Facebook makes is through ads. Yeah. To kind of break this down in layman's terms, for every dollar you used to spend in advertising on Facebook, you made back four. Wow. That's a, a great investment. Yeah. Now with the 14.5 iOS update that allowed people to turn off tracking, for every dollar you spend on advertising on Facebook, you make back a dollar. What is that signal? Go find someplace. Advertise else. Yeah. Because otherwise, what's the point if you make a dollar

Speaker 2:

Recognition? Okay,

Speaker 1:

Well they've been fulling that one. So then here comes Elon Musk, which Twitter is a net. Has a zero profitable year company since it's inception introduces this verified badge. And Meta says, well nobody's joining the Metaverse. Do you know that there is a Metaverse? Not by Meta. There's one of those virtual reality verse Worlds Works. Do you know who runs it? I'm

Speaker 2:

Gonna say Mark, Roblox. Roblox.

Speaker 1:

Roblox. And it's worth so many millions of dollars. Huge. Uh, but Metaverse can't make theirs work. Roblox the difference between the two verses is that Meta requires the headset and Roblox is on a computer.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, guys, if you are glossing it over like I am, you're kids, Rob Gloss over together. He knows what you're saying. And

Speaker 1:

It's fueled by Rob Bucks because you can

Speaker 2:

Purchase, which is fueled by me.

Speaker 1:

<laugh>, Corys raw, that Violet. So anyways, I was talking to Gams about it. The, the danger of, here's the thing when, and I think you can maybe get some traction for this for about six months. Yeah. We are used to blue verified checks, meaning somebody's famous. It's,

Speaker 2:

It adds a credibility.

Speaker 1:

Right. So now you can purchase essentially famous brand recognition without the fame. Yeah. And I tried. No, I did. You can apply to get the Instagram blue check Yeah. Turned away. And it does like a manual check to see if you're famous. And it was like, you too are not<laugh>.

Speaker 2:

You can actually pay black market seven grand to get the stuck, the credentials to

Speaker 1:

Get

Speaker 2:

<laugh>

Speaker 1:

The blue check mark. But now you can just buy it 15 bucks.

Speaker 2:

So 15 bucks a month for iOS and it was 10 bucks a month for everything else.

Speaker 1:

Let's do it for us. So people think Yes. Before they realize that you just

Speaker 2:

Paid something. Yeah. And it's monthly.

Speaker 1:

It's, it's an Australian so my sis go. Yes. It was two countries. Was it New Zealand or,

Speaker 2:

I think so.

Speaker 1:

I think so. Anyways, I got banned for repo.

Speaker 2:

Yes. You don't do that. Do not do that. Rero it in your own words.

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. Yeah. Because then just glad proposed a screen. I, she posted a, a link that was to like CNN talking about it. Here's my podcast poll for today. A hundred votes. In a typical week on average, how many dozen customs do you decorate?

Speaker 2:

So this will be all over the place cuz we have hobby bakers, we have part-time bakers, we have midnight bakers, and we have full-time bakers. Right. And we have Baker Reef.

Speaker 1:

I was like, what's a baker re<laugh>? Uh, 35% of the respondents said one to two dozen a week. Which is great in understanding when somebody says I'm booked. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> how relative books Amen. Can be. Amen. Uh, there's no wrong answers here. 21% of people say three to four dozen. Then

Speaker 2:

We get real,

Speaker 1:

Real close in the ties. 11%. Five to six dozen, 10%. I don't even offer customs. 9%. Seven to eight dozen, 6%. Nine to 12 dozen. Oddly 5% 17 dozen or more. And the lowest is 13 to 16 dozen at 3%. Relative.

Speaker 2:

Relative is

Speaker 1:

Key. That is true. And

Speaker 2:

Relatives are key to a good family structure.

Speaker 1:

<laugh> very nice. Come back. That's a podcast for day guys.

Speaker 2:

Thank you<laugh>.

Speaker 1:

So Corey and I figured that, uh, you know, we, we dropped cookie class kids and Corey hates the name, uh, in the cookie college. And a lot of people have been teaching classes and their biggest feedback is, wow, I'd only wish I'd done it sooner. Uh, instead of gatekeeping, nobody likes a gatekeeper. Uh, we are going to walk you through verbally<laugh> a cookie class that we teach. I think we've taught so many of them now. At least over 200 or 300 people have walked through a cookie

Speaker 2:

Class door.

Speaker 1:

And I think we've got a good sample size to be able to walk everyone. I mean,

Speaker 2:

We do the same thing quietly every time. Now down to the joke,

Speaker 1:

Right?<laugh>, I can even tell you the ones that aren't gonna hit and the ones that are, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So every class that we teach corna maybe like spend five minutes eating the cookie should decorated and saying like, yeah, it scrap that. Or maybe we should have done this differently. And then now you got a pretty like y you know, it's basically the Marie calendar of classes. You can stick it in, press 15 minutes and you're gonna get back. Right.

Speaker 2:

Whatever we, so our class is at what hour and a half? Yeah. But we only spend one hour decorating. Yep. And it, it, it will always stick to that one hour. I think last class we went over 15 minutes, but it was just a single class.

Speaker 1:

What was in the details on that one? It

Speaker 2:

Was, we had some, we had some festival

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. So let's kind of walk you through kind of everything we've experienced. We've been doing this for a co couple years now, so mm-hmm.<affirmative> you can, is going teach each class now. If you want help on the curriculum, you can always sign up@thecreekcollege.com. Corey has created and, and it's coming. The Easter one. It's gonna be cute. It's cute is going to be cute. Corey also uploaded to TikTok with the caption Precious cargo<laugh>. And I can tell you're thro throbbing at the mouth.

Speaker 2:

<laugh>, you gotta check that out. Uh, sugar

Speaker 1:

Cookie marketing underscore on Instagram. And it's pretty funny. I first am the actor in the clip.

Speaker 2:

Yes. And it took me about five minutes to make. First up is prep days. We, it's so fun to talk about the fun of classes. Yeah. But there is an overshadowing well

Speaker 1:

Let's go back a little farther. Sure. Where do we list it?

Speaker 2:

We listed

Speaker 1:

Corey and I had this great idea. So we used to finish a class then post a next, uh, we used Eventbrite.

Speaker 2:

That's because we were not organized. We were not. And we we're not, or organized<laugh> we're not. And we thought that we had to decorate each set to use in a photo. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Because if we,

Speaker 2:

If we didn't use that set, no one was gonna sign up. Right.

Speaker 1:

So instead of actually coming up with the set before we post class, we tested this last year, we said let's post our entire year up front. Um, and then Corey was like, but we don't have the finished photos. And I said, let's just see what happens. It turned out to be great. Yeah. I wish we had done this earlier. So Heather

Speaker 2:

Had done broad names.

Speaker 1:

Broad names. I mean, no, it turns out nobody really

Speaker 2:

Cared. Fun in the sun.

Speaker 1:

<laugh> Spring has Brown

Speaker 2:

<laugh>

Speaker 1:

Get some and I, we skipped January classes just to regroup. Yeah. Because Christmas is usually kind of hellish. And then we posted the February through December classes, uh, and, and it

Speaker 2:

Worked. And what it did was it cut down on our marketing expense and marketing time because they filled up by themselves. So I did not have to run a Facebook ad. Mm-hmm. We did not have to post in a billion, a zillion groups. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> people found it. And I will say what we use to list is Eventbrite. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And it has its own search engine within the platform.

Speaker 1:

So a couple you're gonna say, well, you know, Eventbrite has fees. It does. You can either absorb yourself, which we do or pass'em onto this consumer. I think for every, our tickets are$75. I think it eats about$6. Not chum change. No. However, I'm lazy Corey Lazy Eventbrite does a lot of the email reminding for us. Yeah. Now if you say, well if I don't wanna use Eventbrite, what can I use? You can use Facebook. That one I think does have fees now. And then you can also just use your own website. But you're gonna do a lot of the emailing and maintaining and record keeping yourself. All our options. Corey and I are just talking about what we do. And that is Eventbrite. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And we do absorb the fees. We raise our ticket price by$5 to account for them.

Speaker 2:

So question for you, since you're an Eventbrite consumer kind

Speaker 1:

Of, will it

Speaker 2:

Always cost money to the list? Uh, class there,

Speaker 1:

If you are charging, you will always pay a fee or you will pass that fee onto the consumer. If it's a free, if it, if the event is free, it's no cost to use quick.

Speaker 2:

Okay. Okay. But it does have its own a lot of people

Speaker 1:

Serve. I know somebody who heard that right now just said, I have a great idea. I'm going to charge for the class, but I'm not gonna have the ticket. Yeah. Price on Eventbrite. I'm gonna have Eventbrite for free and then I'm gonna get them to pay. You will be chasing payment there and is a risky click. You're gonna have a lot of people promise you to sign up. They're not gonna pay you, you're gonna fill on your Eventbrite. It's gonna be a headache. So I would encourage you not to use a Eventbrite as a free tool to later charge

Speaker 2:

For Yeah, I would agree with that. Um, so we like a Eventbrite because it makes, it keeps us being lazy but it covers a lot of bases. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> a Eventbrite also

Speaker 1:

Has a, like

Speaker 2:

Say if someone didn't choke up to class and they canceled within a certain window, um, you can give them

Speaker 1:

A, Corey and I came up with our own policy. So if you cancel seven days before class, uh, you get a credit. Yes. If you cancel eight days, you get a full refund. Uh, the reason being you have to draw that line the sand somewhere at seven days, I probably will have a little bit of a rougher time filling your seat. It could do it, but it may have to be a BOGO 50% offer on an ad. Yeah. At eight days and beyond. If you cancel two months out, great. I can, I can fill your seat. So what Eventbrite does is it handles credits. So when you refund somebody a credit, the money actually belongs to you now or in the future and credits have the option to expire. You have never expire one year, two years, three years.

Speaker 2:

And we do what?

Speaker 1:

One year? One year. I don't wanna be on the hook for a class ticket for the rest of time.<laugh> here's a crazy thing. When some Eventbrite constantly reminds these people who get these credits that they need to use and buy x, a lot of people will let it expire. When a credit expires, you get paid the full amount less the Eventbrite fees for rendering zero services.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Which is fantastic. And you don't get, we've never had someone be like, oh no, my thing expired. No, they've never come back because Eventbrite is covering our bases. Mm-hmm<affirmative>. Um, the other thing is having policies in place. Like I don't like when someone cancels the day before.

Speaker 1:

Corey, if you think CO's a happy go

Speaker 2:

Lucky, it really will just change my mood. Right. But it is something that happens. So having it in place that hey, I might not have their$75 today but I'll have it one day is going to cover me. Because what you're gonna do if you think, oh I don't have policies but I've never had to use them, you're going to, and if someone comes and says, oh me and my husband don't feel well, I think we might have covid, we're gonna get tested tomorrow, but I won't, I don't think I'll make the class. Can I have a refund? You're gonna be like, oh man, I wish I had a policy in

Speaker 1:

Place. Especially if you already baked the cookies. Um, my, our one caveat is you can get a credit, uh, if you don't show up to class. So not only do you not get a credit, cuz obviously the class is already started, you don't get a refund either. So I've had people saying like, Hey, I'm not gonna make it to class. And I said, okay great. Your kit, like the things we bake for you are ready to go when you're ready to pick'em up. And then a lot of times they do show up for that kit. Yeah. Not ideal things happen. I get it. But that's kind of what we deal with. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

But to also have to keep in mind, you're like, oh, I wouldn't mind if, you know, if someone canceled the week of, you have to think some people come in pack of four

Speaker 1:

In five. Yeah. They would,

Speaker 2:

Half of the class got course dropped out. You have got to have some sort of policy in place, whether it be like, if I can resell your ticket in the next three days, then I'll refund you. Or I'm sorry a week out. I cannot fill those seats. Um, so when they sign up, they know what they're signing up for. You don't hit that weirdness like when you need to be marketing the fill seat

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. Which brings up another great question. Our Eventbrite listing description, the copy is way long. There is absolutely zero questions you could have after reading it. I know a lot of people aren't reading it, but if they did, it includes the policies and FAQ section, how credits work, covid policy, masking policy, things like this. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, just so that you know, one of the biggest offenders I see of filling class seats is the two sentence description. If you're not excited about the class, nobody's gonna be excited to sign up. Yeah. Uh, that's the one thing I included in the cookie class kits is my event copy. Because we need to get

Speaker 2:

Excited. We need to be excited, but we also need to give some information. What you don't want people is people emailing you incessantly asking for information that you could have given them when they signed up.

Speaker 1:

Females are always an indicator that you're missing something on the thing. And so yeah, I think we're looking at over 750 words in our event by description. Maybe 500. It's a lot. Yeah. Uh, but there is no question. And it includes my policies so that nobody is left holding the bag. What you don't want is someone to ask you a question that's including your policies, but they never had a chance to read those policies. And then you're like, well in my policies and they're like, I I I didn't see, well it's in the photo of my website, you should click<laugh>. I'm never gonna click. Right. So the copy And so here's the imagery. In a perfect world, we're not perfect. No. In a perfect world you'd have the event listing completely built out to reflect the class curriculum. And in my head, that's a person I wanna be. Yes. It is not who I am today. No. Uh, so<laugh>, when I did, I'll just go to her mixing bowl cookie company. Right click save ads. And some sets she did, I'll put it as a banner photo. If it's an Easter class, it'll be something she did for Easter. It's way too complicated. Be a bunny<laugh>. And at the very top it says new set coming soon pictures, you know, to be updated. Yeah. Uhhuh<affirmative>. Uh, to date we've had zero people say this is in the picture, in the photo cuz they've read that. And

Speaker 2:

I know some of you guys get hung up. I didn't make my sample. I can't post my class. I can't sell. Guess what? Nobody Cars<laugh>, nobody

Speaker 1:

Cares. Har from the cookie caskets you created those sample photos I have created, which Corey and I, which I've been using<laugh> to sell our own classes.<laugh>. So it's been a whole new world for us. Uh, but yeah, so Corey and I, I I didn't get around to building out the rest of the year, but we have classes set up till September and we've already started selling June classes, um, tickets. So Yeah. Which is fantastic. Do we have the idea what we're doing? I think it's gonna be, it's gotta be fun flowers.<laugh>. That's what I, so even the class name that it came up with doesn't truly reflect what it may be. And I'll update it as we go along. And again, uh, if people wanna refund in the eight days out. Absolutely. So yeah, it's not a hot situation. What you're gonna find, what cookies are thinking is that your audience is like, this isn't the technique I wanted to learn today. What's your audience is actually thinking is this will be so fun to do with my mom on a Saturday. I don't care what I just wanna have a good time. Yeah, that's,

Speaker 2:

That is 99% of people who come in Yeah. Are just looking to have fun. Or there's someone who's like, you know, I'm, I'm a cake baker and I went to see if I could even attempt to

Speaker 1:

Do these cookies.

Speaker 2:

No one has that. Oh my goodness. You decorated this bunny with tie dye ears. Where is it? Here

Speaker 1:

In the class set? No

Speaker 2:

One has ever said that. Not

Speaker 1:

Yet. A lot of the photos that we use an Eventbrite. So every chunky paragraph I like to break up with an image so it's not just a wall of text, it'll be pictures from past classes. Uh, it'll be pictures from the first class we ever taught and we're not even teaching in the same space anymore. Right. People have yet to wonder, they've

Speaker 2:

Never been like, where's that weird table

Speaker 1:

The first photo<laugh>? Why is it gray here? But that one looks like a good journal.<laugh>. So that's how we kind of list them. I really like the listing it all up front approach and just, and then, hey, here's one big thing if you don't sell out. I used to have this thought for Georgia Line I think. Okay. Yeah. I think the first 15 songs they produced made platinum. But I believe it. Right. But what I wonder if it made them anxious that eventually one song's not going to Yeah. And then you're like I'm a failure but no, no, no. You made 15 platinum. Nobody would

Speaker 2:

Do you.

Speaker 1:

You're clearly better than the world combined but you live in the back. My like what if this one doesn't and one is inevitably not going to. So you saw somebody ask what happens when the cookie classes isn't sell out? I feel like I'm gonna be a failure. Do I just hit the right timing? No. And when you post your calendar of events way ahead of schedule, you can kind of tell when they're not gonna sell out. Uh, Corey and I have had classes not sell out what I do. Uh, if it's eight days out, I tell<inaudible> I'm think this one's gonna do it. Yeah. And I'll tell the people, Hey, I'd be happy to roll you into our next class or offer you a full refund. We're not failures. We just picked probably an inopportune time. Corey and I tried to do an Independence Day set. No<laugh>. Yeah. It was,

Speaker 2:

People

Speaker 1:

Are like, I am not now a lot of people are traveling.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. But, and then before you call it a failure,

Speaker 1:

Also

Speaker 2:

Try to remarket to the people who signed up, Hey, this class has four people, we need six people to make this class rule. Is there a bestie, a bro assist that you people can snag and bring it to class and we can continue on. Another

Speaker 1:

Great thing Yes. To send emails to past class attendees that Yeah, probably in every class we have one to two people who've taken a prior class. Sometimes they're coming from a year later, you know, kind of just need to get my cookie on one time a year. And we're like, hey, so, and sometimes it'll be somebody who bought five class tickets in a row. Yeah. And we'll just see them five different

Speaker 2:

Times. So question, do you also make a Facebook event for these?

Speaker 1:

I push

Speaker 2:

It out through

Speaker 1:

Eventbrite, which is, it is rough. And if you ever try that, you're gonna say like, it doesn't seem like it's working the steps to find the loophole. I even had to teach a class on it in the cookie college. It's so confusing. However, yes I would because you can manually make a Facebook event and connect the ticket portal to Eventbrite. That's a whole nother search engine. A lot of people do find things to do on the weekend through Facebook. Why wouldn't you not? You can also make events on Google My Business. Right.

Speaker 2:

So that's now three places that you can separately get new people.

Speaker 1:

You can also make events on LinkedIn,

Speaker 2:

Take them back four places.<laugh> the thing with Facebook and we understand Eventbrite pushing the event can on next

Speaker 1:

Door. Huh? You can make events on Nextdoor.

Speaker 2:

Okay. There's no excuse<laugh>. Uh, Eventbrite pushing its uh, events to Facebook. We know that Facebook is trying to take Eventbrite out of the market. So they wanna keep the money for

Speaker 1:

Themselves. Facebook's hemorrhaging money so they're taking everybody else's business

Speaker 2:

Model. Yeah. So they don't make it easy. So let's say you make your event on Eventbrite and then you go and make another event on Facebook. I'm gonna tell you why it's important to make your events on Facebook. One, if I go post in a community group, I can tag the name of that event. Yeah. And you can click to the event and you can get all that description.

Speaker 1:

And Facebook has been adding a lot of features. If you look at the sugar cookie marketing group's lives, there's now a built in FAQ section I can add with expanding question and answers. Really nice. You have a discussion section, which is a whole nother way to land in somebody's feed. Yes.

Speaker 2:

It's actually a way to land also into their notifications. Gotcha. So when I have a class that's not selling out, I'll go post it in a few classes back because if anyone replies that they're going or interested, they'll get the notification unless they've turned it off in their settings

Speaker 1:

Somehow. Yeah, I agree. Very. So what Corey's also saying is that Facebook is a search engine. If there's a search bar on the website, it is a search engine. Now Facebook actually has more than one search engine. It has an event search engine built within its general search engine. Yeah. Uh, so when people look

Speaker 2:

You, if you rep, if you say you're going to an event, I'll get a notification that says Heather's Heather replied going to events local to

Speaker 1:

You. And that's great. And then sometimes on the weekends it'll be like, here's events going on near you. Yeah. And then there's a whole events tab that some people search through to find things to do. Yeah. So if you're saying, well I don't think I'm selling out there is listen, if we can sell out, you can sell out. So that means there's just a little bit part of your marketing that you're missing right there. Just go find out. Just do a personal audit. Things I love to do. Get a grandma. Get a mom. Yeah. Ask'em to try to find it. I will say

Speaker 2:

If you're like, I I've attempted classes I haven't sold out. Change your action button at the top of your Facebook page to sign up and link that to wherever you are going to do. Change your About section and add that you teach classes.

Speaker 1:

And in every post about the class, uh, add a link. There is some strategy about where you add the link, but I also wanna see it in the comment section as well. Yeah. And to any comments. So if somebody's like, this seems fun, Sarah, be like, you two would love to have you. If you guys have any questions, let me know. And here's

Speaker 2:

A link we have, we have four seats left. We'd love to call two of'em. Yours. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So this past class we had somebody cancel the night of the night before they had Covid, it was

Speaker 2:

Her and her husband. So

Speaker 1:

That took out two of a class of 10. So we tried to do BOGO pricing. Turned out to be a bit of an nightmare, but we still got buns and seats and the two people who showed up said, I really am excited. I think I'll be coming back. Yeah. So Cookie. So okay. That's, that's promotion. Corey and I, uh, we, we've been doing this for so long now people kind of look for it so we don't have to mark it as hard. However, do as I say, not as I do. I'd have an email list. I'd have a Facebook ad going. I would have something constantly trying to get into front of new eyes. And then we do kind of the group posting, which is what Corey did when we tried to fill those two seats. Yeah. And, and that filled those sheets seats

Speaker 2:

Was these cry faces is said, oh, but what was me, two people dropped outta my class tomorrow and I had so much people just being nosy cuz of the crying faces.

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. Yeah. Well<laugh>

Speaker 2:

Come, someone's like, I'll drop my kids off.<laugh>.

Speaker 1:

So seven days out I start a manual drift campaign. I also include those in the cookie class kits, but it's nothing scientific. It says, Hey guys, just a quick recap on policies, what to expect, what to bring. And my own little thing I like to add is a Google overview. Like a Google Maps screenshot of the parking.

Speaker 2:

A lot of people do get anxious when it comes to parking. Yep. And what we wanna do is take all the anxiety out. This is, we want this to be a

Speaker 1:

Move. Objections.

Speaker 2:

Yes. We want this to be such a fun time that when they think about, oh sugar cookie classes, that was a blast. It wasn't like, oh, it's really hard to find. Right. And that's why

Speaker 1:

That anxiety of being late to class, um, a lot of people have the policies, if you're late, the door's locked. Like no, no, no, you can show up late. Um, but kind of helping them navigate infant, you're like, well Heather, like the signs right there still include that. It's just a little thing for people who have parking anxiety now

Speaker 2:

Past the parking lot. I have made a chalkboard sign that says, welcome to sugar cookie classes. I want you to be like looking at the building and be like, oh, that's where I need

Speaker 1:

Go. Because a lot of us are renting spaces. Uh, so we don't necessarily have the signage. Now if you have a bakery, awesome. Yeah. But that's a, a light shining people for the rest of us who are maybe renting a uh, AR workshop or a kitchen modeling showroom or something in your area, a lot of cafes will let you do

Speaker 2:

A lot of brewer breweries. Breweries jinx go personal<laugh>. Uh,

Speaker 1:

That having that signage does help direct traffic. I even, you know, the more you can make people understand where they're headed, the more relaxed they are going to be giving you their money. So let's say seven days up, I send the first reminder and then I include that the policy now has, you know, rolled over into a credit policy. So if you can't make it, just let me know. But please let me know before Class A cause we can't give you, so I make sure that's communicated right. Yeah. But you maybe like, maybe you're giving them an idea. Very rarely do people say why I wanna credit, they really do wanna take a Yeah,

Speaker 2:

They do.<laugh>.<laugh>. Aha.<laugh>. Now I have a million credits. Uh,

Speaker 1:

So then, then I create a spreadsheet that does kind of the baking math for Corey. Cause she's doing

Speaker 2:

The dough. Isn't that something that you've included in

Speaker 1:

That? I did. Yeah. So it just kind of says like, here's how many people, here's another thing that Corey and I ha, I have added on to tickets that have created us more revenue and it's a take home DIY kit that reflects the cookie class curriculum. So what we find is that parents who, you know, these class, these tickets are not cheap, sunny for dollars. I couldn't imagine bringing kids at that price. And it is more technical, you know, it's not just having fun.

Speaker 2:

We're kit chatting for a while.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So what we say to the parents is, Hey, throw in a kit and take it home. I'll send you the PowerPoint and you can go through it with your kids if you want

Speaker 2:

To. Yeah. So you get to learn how to do it in person with us and then take it home to your kids and look like a total

Speaker 1:

Rockstar. I'm gonna say most people buy them to just redo the class at home. Yeah. After they've had a drive around Uhhuh. Yeah. That's what and that's great. So we have two different audiences. Market those two parents with kids and people who just wanna practice again. Yeah. So that's a lot of fun. And we price those at$35 a kit. And that

Speaker 2:

Is only six cookies and four icing. That is a replication of

Speaker 1:

The class. It's nothing new. It's, it's what they just did and people still wanna do it again. Yeah, they do. So we don't have to wow'em with even more

Speaker 2:

<laugh> packaging. Ain stellar.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. They just wanna redo the class. So great. That's the second thing. Uh, in those drift campaigns I kind of include that They can go back and add another kid if they're getting side. I don't know, just wanna make sure that everything is there that they have. And people do add

Speaker 2:

'em. They even last time she's like, can I sneak one in?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. So,

Speaker 1:

Um, that's great. Then I'll send another reminder. The day before at 10:00 AM uh, the class starts at 11 and then Corey and I typically bake. So now we've gotten into prep. She has my spreadsheet. Uh, typically we do six cookies, four icings. Um, and then I'll, the spreadsheet has, you know, just some formulas in it that just tell us how many of each cookie we need to bring, how many take home boxes we need to bring, how many kits we need to bake. And then Corey and I will meet typically on Thursday, but most likely on Friday to do a baking day.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I've been doing baking by myself recently. So I can listen to

Speaker 1:

Podcast icing

Speaker 2:

Though.<laugh>. So for the icing day, the prep day, I would say icings the worst.

Speaker 1:

<laugh> paint it hate it,

Speaker 2:

Hate helicoptering. But

Speaker 1:

You can really

Speaker 2:

Get into a rhythm. Um, it's really, really smart to have a scale. Yes. A digital scale. It's going

Speaker 1:

Save you and a little cup pack with the

Speaker 2:

Cup with us. Yeah. It's gonna save you time and money to have a scale because you're not ever gonna overfill. You're not gonna underfill. Um, if you really wanted to get the math right, I always say decorate the step before you go teach it. Just so you know. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. But you could wear your icing before and then weigh it after.

Speaker 1:

I wanna say Corey and I typically have 2.5 ounces, two 3.5 ounces and never ever, ever. And the history of classes has someone run out. Oh it's

Speaker 2:

Gotten close. It

Speaker 1:

<laugh> but no one's run out. So if anything what we do you might say well you know, ideally you probably give them the perfect amount. But in cor maybe a little bit of anxiety there. Oh them uh, we let'em take that icing home and makes their Togo boxes feel real heavy. Makes'em feel like they got one over on us. Yeah.<laugh>. They're actually cleaning<laugh>. Yeah. They don't know it. So we include a zippo bag and every class of course this stuff is like dripping out. The tips are cut. They do not care. They do not care. No they

Speaker 2:

Do not. I'll be surprised if I see someone leave their icing behind.

Speaker 1:

Rarely doesn't happen. Sprinkle tubs all the time. Oh

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Sprinkle wheels everywhere.

Speaker 1:

Yes. Yes. Sprinkles on the floor every

Speaker 2:

Time. So what I like to do, custom boxes for classes don't necessarily make sense. So what I do is I go get foam stickers from, you can find'em at Hobby Lobby. You can find'em at Michael's. You can find'em online. Just a, just

Speaker 1:

A theme out these boxes. It really does make a difference because

Speaker 2:

It's cute cause when they're taking pictures cuz they're so weird that they're gonna break, they're taking pictures of cute boxes, you know. Yeah. So when they tag us it looks just a tinge book here.

Speaker 1:

It's cute. And a lot of these people are doing this to post to Instagram. So keep that in mind. Okay. So one thing that we do include in the cookie class kits, but we actually don't use is piping practice sheets. KO and I bought a piping practice sheet I think from Gardis Goodies years ago. I made some modifications to it and then we laminated about 50 of them. That's about 45. Too many<laugh>. Yeah. We only need about 10. But we did, it

Speaker 2:

Was

Speaker 1:

Cuz we did Christmas

Speaker 2:

Classes and we were like nightmare. We can't wash'em. They're

Speaker 1:

Not laptop. You remember in the middle of the night I had to go to the FedEx and pick'em up.<laugh>. So we have these laminated things. Um, we just make'em do half of it. Not even maybe a third of it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Because one, I don't wanna waste icing in so much time on there. It's really So I can just come around Correct you on a few things before you start decorating the cookies so the students don't get frustrated.

Speaker 1:

It does eat a lot of class time and it makes them feel, it really helps with the logic of understanding. Yeah. How the icing flows. I've yet to see, see somebody not like the, they hate piping practice but they like that they hate it. Yes. Cause it really gets them a chance to, and then Cory come around and I narrate this. Nobody's paying attention to me. I'm just, I could say like the sky is green and people would be like, okay. Yeah. But it's a really great and I think that takes about 10 minutes.

Speaker 2:

I would say 10 or 15th. Some people do ignore Heather

Speaker 1:

Most me people,

Speaker 2:

Um, and go off and just do a bunch of stuff. But Heather, what she does now is like, Hey, you can do whatever you want on this paper, but when you run out of icing on your cookies later, don't come looking at me. And it really brings'em back in like, okay there is consequences to my actions.

Speaker 1:

<laugh>, I think people have this question, do you bring extras? Uh, not all the, the time we don't<laugh> we, it feels nice to have maybe one extra of everything. However, I never tell people that we do that. And if nobody needs it, if everything goes according to playing, Corey will actually take that and make it a kit and sell it. Yeah. Um, on our little page order my little page. When you're little thing that you play, dress up and pretend.<laugh>. The

Speaker 2:

Thing about our classes, and it's really nice because me and Heather teach'em together is we start immediately on time. But

Speaker 1:

No judgment if you're like

Speaker 2:

No. No judgment. So what I'll do is if someone's running behind, I'll be like, Hey guys, this is a class of 10, nine of you are here. If you don't mind if someone walks in, I'm just gonna step out. Just bring'em into the class. Yeah. Just to set that expectation. So there's no weird lull. Like where did the teacher go?

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. Yeah. Granted now there is two people that are teaching this class together. So, and Corey and I are 50 50. I'm not just apprentice. So it's not like you can hire a teen and then have them manage it. Although the teen could get somebody into class that said, let's kind of walk through. Corey and I get there at 9 45 cause we have nothing to do with our lives. Yeah. But we could get there at 10 and set up until 10 30. The earliest I've seen people rarely is 30 minutes early. Most of them come in 10 minutes early. Right. Sometimes we'll have people come in five minutes late and I'll wonder if I accidentally send. Yeah. I'll be like wrong day<laugh>. Uh, but yeah, so Corey and I get there immediately, just give everything a clean wipe down, start fresh and new on a fresh surface. Mm-hmm<affirmative> and then each little station they, it looks like stations and it really helps people understand where the seating is. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, we have it on a very large island. In a perfect world individual desk would've been, it would've been nice. That's not what we have to work with. The price of the room is very what we wanna keep. So what we do is got these pans. You can get them on Webtron.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. That's where we got those pans.

Speaker 1:

Uh, they're expensive in the C class kits I found in Amazon alternative. And then people go to Dollar Tree and do like, you know those plastic things you do

Speaker 2:

Plastic, plastic

Speaker 1:

Things. Yeah. When you go to like old school McDonald's. Yes. And they give you the

Speaker 2:

Plastic tray. Yeah, they're plastic tray. The reason why we like the metal ones is because one it's lasted years upon years. Um, and what are, they're not pretty cuz Heather did wash'em and it kind of like Yeah, but here's I think the little ones don't

Speaker 1:

Care to be washed. Yeah. The big guys must be made of something else and they're like, we will shrivel up. So

Speaker 2:

What we do is we have three different parchment paper sizes but

Speaker 1:

Don't sleep on the parchment paper, all of that. We just get on Amazon. I measure out the space. So we have one real large one. One like uh, a four and bio size one and

Speaker 2:

Then, and then one half sheet

Speaker 1:

Size. Yeah. And that way it actually makes cleaning up a breeze. We just crumple it all up and throw it away and then vacuum. Cuz sprinkles are

Speaker 2:

Everywhere because you have to think if we're having the pan and the icing is on those pan and it's leaking out cuz we're talking too much or they've squeezed it. That's a lot of cleaning

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. Yeah. And icing crusted is iss just a Yeah,

Speaker 2:

It's, it's like glue

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. So Corey and I get there at 10, we spend about 30 minutes setting up kind of sit and chill and then Corey will take photos, I'll take photos with a professional camera. These are all the photos that we end up uploading to Facebook post the Instagram stories really kind of generate content. Yeah. Because content today will sell a class next month. Yeah. So I

Speaker 2:

Love to do like show out in our Instagram stories. I love to be like, here's what we're going over today. Look this is gonna turn it into a a snowman and this is this.

Speaker 1:

And then we can use this content to promote furniture classes. So Corey will use her iPhone. I'll use this camera. We even have a DJ pocket which is just a stabilized mini camera again producing content. Yes.

Speaker 2:

And one we don't know if the stuff is gonna turn out sometimes, but

Speaker 1:

You don't. At least we have it. If you click record you can always assess it. It turned out later

Speaker 2:

What it's, but Heather and I actually use a 32 inch Samsung TV that I've had for an ungodly cheap

Speaker 1:

Long time. Nice

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. No, but what it does is that's where we show our step-by-step through. If you've ever decorated in front of somebody, it's really people are getting outta their seats to kind of come and hover over you. Yeah. Um, and when Covid came around, we kind of didn't do the decorating in person, we just did it on the tv. Now if someone doesn't show<laugh>, I'll just decorate their set.

Speaker 1:

So. So typically Corey actually doesn't decorate live. Now I know a lot of you guys like that. Here's a camera. People ask honestly, if you wanna save a lot of money, you can use your iPhone. Um, as a webcam. Just, I think there's a couple steps you gotta do. Samsung requires a few more steps. Develop remote. So yeah, raise your butt. However,

Speaker 2:

When

Speaker 1:

We went to Cookie Con, they had a document camera that teachers are using to teach remotely. It works great for these types of video. It's I Pvo is a company and they have three different options. One that has a, that needs to be plugged in and one that has a battery and one that has a battery with wifi capabil capability.

Speaker 2:

Which one do we have

Speaker 1:

The most expensive that we never use?

Speaker 2:

Why do we use it?

Speaker 1:

Because you don't. Because we use the TV to do the PowerPoint.

Speaker 2:

Could we switch back and forth?

Speaker 1:

You could, yes.

Speaker 2:

Let's try it one day. Really? Okay. Yeah. I mean so what we have noticed and the reason why we out the PowerPoint from the top of the mountains is because it really dictates the speed of the class. When you give someone the sheets of paper, the PowerPoint printed out, they will go rogue and you're gonna have people that are finishing the class before the time is

Speaker 1:

Fine. Fine. And a great option if you don't have a tv.

Speaker 2:

We did have someone in the cookie college who was like, yeah they, they went crazy. They started going off on their own then their class ended early while everyone else was still decorating and they almost didn't like the class because they didn't follow the rules and they finished it

Speaker 1:

Fast. Yeah. So we're gate keeping the next step.

Speaker 2:

We are because they need us and I need them to follow along. So the class is exactly an hour and a half

Speaker 1:

Now. Okay, let's say we get the class started. What we always do to kind of break the ice one, you got people coming from all demographics, especially here in Northern Virginia. Some people are chatty Kathy's and some people are just wallflowers. Yeah. So what we wanna do is, you know, while Corey's kind of doing set up, I'll still ask everybody the same stupid questions when they walk in to kind of just let them find their spot. Now I would love to have name tags, however the way people sign up make it sit very confusing cuz some people will sign up three friends. Yeah. Or some people will have all three friends. So you don't have like

Speaker 2:

Four Sarahs. But really they all have like Judy and Mar Marsha. Yes.

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. And so I dunno who to sit together or anything. I've even had some groups choose not to sit by each other. Yeah. Which is wild, but okay,

Speaker 2:

Great. When it's, when it's a very segmented class, like we have big groups, Heather will dictate where they sit. Yeah. Um, because a lot of times they wanna be nearest to each other. Or if you have single people, I want them closer to me so I can get, make sure they have a fun time because the, yeah. The friends will laugh and giggle and I need them in the back of the class.

Speaker 1:

Right. So if I could have the perfect thing, if you have a large group, you'll be in the back of class farthest from the teacher. If you're coming by yourself or you are a young kid, which we don't have very often, uh, sit you closer to the front. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Mm-hmm<affirmative>. A lot of parents will bring their kids. That is our policy. Just every once in a while someone'll be like, can I please

Speaker 2:

Just

Speaker 1:

Leave

Speaker 2:

My one

Speaker 1:

Kid at the best? And they turn out to be very nice kids. The best. But again, even if the parent with the child, I would bring them to the front as all the kids will be very quiet. I don't think we've ever had a kid just disrupt.

Speaker 2:

We have we they for some odd reason we've gotten so lucky with kids.

Speaker 1:

It's an expensive class. You know the parents are like, you better your mouth and

Speaker 2:

The kids are begging to be

Speaker 1:

There.<laugh>. Yeah. Uh, okay, so we get there exactly at 11 is when class starts again. It'll run to 1230. At 11 Corey and I will boot up that PowerPoint and we'll say hey and we'll do quick intros. So Corey will talk about herself. I'll be honest, I don't bake but I do logistics. Every email you thought was from Corey is from me. L o l o l.

Speaker 2:

And then we'll

Speaker 1:

Actually go around the room and say I want you to answer these three questions. Where'd you roll outta bed from? Uh, what was the other question? What's your name? And then what is your experience with cookies? Lol. Cause if you're really good, we

Speaker 2:

Don't want you here.

Speaker 1:

Huh? And then everyone laughs. Yeah. But what it allows us to do, that third question really tells you what people's motivations are sitting in class. Which Corey and I like because if you're trying to be really good, uh, you may be frustrated and if you're just trying to have a good time, you may be chatty. Yeah. And that is fine. And

Speaker 2:

If someone has not like I ignore people with experience, but if you have experience with cookies, it's not for your your first rodeo. You don't want me hovering over your shoulder. Yeah. If this is your first time ever holding a pipe, in fact you do want me hovering over your shoulder. But I always make sure to not impress onto someone. Do you want me to do that for you? I always say, can I help you with that? And if they say no, I like it.

Speaker 1:

All right. I like it too. This is what is like this is her talent class. She goes around Can I say something real quick?<laugh>, can I show you something real quick? Oh

Speaker 2:

<laugh>, you messed up

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. Uh, so why So we'll do that intro. Have we talked about this whole thing on a podcast before? I'm having like Yeah, I think so. Dejavu. Yeah. Okay. Well you guys can sit through it again. You can sit through it again.<laugh>. So, and then we'll go through kind of the technical. So what I like to do is like here's the three ways to fix icing problems and kind of go through the shaking and the

Speaker 2:

Scr. And I will say people blur over during this period. They don't realize how important it is when we get to the piping practice

Speaker 1:

Sheet. Right. And then piping practice, they'll kinda be like what were the time again? Yeah.<laugh>. So as soon as we go through kind of the tech, we actually don't cover icing, consistencies or dough here. We do that at the end if we have class for and over, which never knows. Yeah. Like class end too early. Yeah. So then we get into the piping practice sheet. The seat's about 10 minutes. I don't let them do the whole sheet. Um, unlike the cookie class kits where the piping practice sheet matches their set, Uhhuh<affirmative>, this doesn't<laugh>. It does not. We are cheap and I don't wanna get those real laminated. What

Speaker 2:

We always do though is whatever color is used, at least in class is what we use for the piping practice sheet.

Speaker 1:

So we'll still probably fill with three ounces. Um, and then they'll use that one since they're not using it a lot on cookies. Yeah. My one pro tip, don't make'em use white. It will be hard for them to, they

Speaker 2:

Will say I can't see it. Yeah. Another pro tip and this is annoying and I hate doing it. If I cut the tip like they would need it in class. They just blob that it's, it's not fine. It's too

Speaker 1:

Has a mental dilemma every time she has a mental battle going on cuz they'll be like, it's not coming out fast enough. But what they needed it to do is not come out fast enough. They just don't realize it. They don't

Speaker 2:

Realize. So what I do is cut it very fine. So,

Speaker 1:

So that's another thing we cut the tips for'em. I know some people will go out and buy scissors and let people,

Speaker 2:

What

Speaker 1:

We didn't wanna risk is people cutting too much and then running outta that icing again. Cause we didn't wanna make anymore

Speaker 2:

And we didn't bring back off.

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. We do talk about cutting the tip for anybody who purchased a DIY kit. Uhhuh<affirmative>. So they do know what we did, why we did it. Um, but we do cut the tip. So I know you're wondering is it blurbing out why they're waiting for them to show up? Yeah. Yep. It is. It

Speaker 2:

It will blurb out with a bubble and then it'll cross.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So we actually don't cut them in class. It would take too long. We do it during class setup. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

But that one color they use for piping practice, it will be smaller than the other tips. And then I say, Hey, you're gonna notice that this tip is cut smaller than the other tips. If you need me to come around and cut a little bit more for you would love to got it in my little handy apron.

Speaker 1:

Yep. And Corey goes around and cuts all the tips. Inevitably she will have forgotten to cut somebody's and they'll be like, I don't think anything's coming on

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. Oh let me cut that again

Speaker 1:

For you. Also included. Definitely have a paper towel. We do a half sheet. Those ones that tear and a half. Yeah. They're by the end of class. Absolutely Filthy of icing crust. Which is great. I want them to put it there.

Speaker 2:

Also have them handy because you can tell who's messy. Yeah. And they will need a refresher<laugh>. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Uh, but okay so then as we're working through class, um, we finish up piping practice. Corey comes around or I go around and gather them all. We just stack'em. Yeah. They're absolutely sticking to each other but because they're laminated I can just put them under hot water after class and clean'em off. People who use paper great. You don't, you can just throw'em away. Yes. But I don't know why we decided to laminate it.

Speaker 2:

We said that it would save us money in the long run. Yeah. And save us headache of having to those little binder covers. I will say flimsy, hard to clean.

Speaker 1:

Right. And then just a paper. I don't know, maybe that laminating looks a little more professional. I'm not sure.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it looked a

Speaker 1:

Little, I dunno whatever it was, it was to laminate. 20 of those things was like 50 bucks it. But we use them. I've used them. So many they paid for them tanks.

Speaker 2:

See little papers. Yeah. I do like the

Speaker 1:

Little tanks. I did it through FedEx. If you, I know Jen self laminate so that might be a great,

Speaker 2:

You can self laminate but I didn't wanna hold onto a lamination machine. Mm-hmm<affirmative> after that. Mm-hmm<affirmative>. So we paid FedEx.

Speaker 1:

So we come through, get all the piping practice sheets, throw'em in a sink.<laugh>. Yeah. Don't worry about the blinder. And then we say Okay guys, let's go through things. So now the PowerPoint will go through each cookie kind of just telling'em which the shape is and the first slide is getting started.

Speaker 2:

It's getting started.

Speaker 1:

They're horrified at this point. At this point they like are scared cuz I think you're scared them<laugh> and then they kind of get started. So I think Corey kind of sets up the curriculum. The first step is pretty easy and I think it kind of makes'em feel more relaxed. I wouldn't wanna set them up with something complicated. Yeah. Again, a lot I'll say every class we have, 90% of the people are just here for a good time. Not for a long time. Uhhuh<affirmative>, maybe one person wants us to be a like side hustle or maybe their next retirement career. But we don't wanna impress them with really complicated sets. What happens when they say is overcomplicated is they get really frustrated.

Speaker 2:

Get really frustrated. You're making too many different consistencies of

Speaker 1:

Icing. Yeah. It's eating into your prophets and it's eating into their morale.

Speaker 2:

<laugh>.

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. So

Speaker 2:

Acoria is like

Speaker 1:

This is said, seem stupid Easy. Yeah. Good. Yes. We don't want it to be extremely complex cuz a lot of these people just wanted to have a good time and look like they learn something. All

Speaker 2:

We want is extremely cute and extremely happy people. Cute

Speaker 1:

Cookies, happy people. I'll say our cookies maybe are on the overly large sides. I think you're looking at three and a half inches. I

Speaker 2:

Always do three and a half inches in my mind. That's what I want. If I were coming to

Speaker 1:

Class. Yes. I think a smaller cookie would actually be easier for people cuz you're not working against the time of drying. Right. However, and I say that in every class, these

Speaker 2:

Look easy cuz they're big and

Speaker 1:

You feel like you got elbow room. Uh, however, I think the size makes'em feel like they got more bang for the buck. If we did a class of minis I think people are like, this is all I get. Yeah, I know.<laugh>. So you got that battle of value versus what is too challenging? Um, they seem to really like the large cookies. I think people feel like it's like a coloring book with very few lines. Like it's

Speaker 2:

Easier. Yeah. And I feel like they, they get, they feel like they're getting more bang for the buck. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>

Speaker 1:

True. So three and a half inch cookies. Everyone's in a very blue moon. If some cookies overly complicated, we may do a smaller one to kind of offset the complexity. Yeah. Cuz again, we only have an hour of decorating time. Uh, and I'll tell'em, hour seems this class seems like it's really long. An hour and a half it at the end when I tell you there's 10 minutes left, you will all gasp.

Speaker 2:

You will, you'll like, no, don't tell. Right. One thing, as class goes on, they get more and more focused and the room gets more and more quiet.

Speaker 1:

Big thing. Get a speaker, a Bluetooth speaker, pipe it through that tv. Corey. We use Corey's laptop that has spot Spotify on it and pipe it through the TV speakers. Uh, relaxing piano covers. I'm gonna say just find that Spotify playlist. Let it play. It is pop music only in piano. Um, we find that. Anything else if you look spot, it's too weird. It does if you do just pop music. A lot of people don't like pop music. We want something that nobody

Speaker 2:

Kind of hears. Yeah. And we want something relaxing because at the end of the day they're like, wow, this was really relaxing.

Speaker 1:

I know you may like the Grateful Dead. Not for the cookie class<laugh>. I know Josh Groban would love him. No. Yeah.<laugh> Corey will make us switch up the playlist around Christmas time kind of adds to the vibe, but that, I think it has like a Carnation. The Spotify playlist color does.

Speaker 2:

It's like, find that one like a rose or

Speaker 1:

Something.<laugh>. Find that one. Let it play. I promise you people respond well to it cuz it's pop music. So you know the song you do. I think one's like, like Hercules. Love it.

Speaker 2:

It is number two.

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. I love it. I even let it play here. Yeah, I too. Uh, but yeah, if I could encourage you to find that playlist and just let it go mm-hmm.<affirmative> and um, kind of I'll even throughout class cuz they get quieter and quieter. Yeah. I'll turn it up a little bit so that it doesn't feel so empty. Well we don't want is that complete silence? It's, it's a little darn. It is a little as a speaker, you know. Yeah. Uh, so great. So we got the music play. The music plays from the minute they get in there and it will play until the end of class. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, I do, you know, change the volume as we're talking and as a focus. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>,

Speaker 2:

You're gonna have people that are speeding through and you're gonna have people that are perfectionists and taking their time. Which what we always do is make eye contact with the people that are finishing fast and be like, I see you. We're gonna wait till a few more people get done. Yeah. And then we're gonna go to the next step. So you're,

Speaker 1:

You're giving Also compliment'em. Watch'em. They'll just it

Speaker 2:

Up. Heather does. Heather will be like, Kathy is on a roll. Kathy

Speaker 1:

Kathy's halfway out to her car guys.

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. And they, they like being recognized cuz I know we went to a class, only class that we ever went to and we were finishing our steps fast, but other people were finishing it. So, and it was this

Speaker 1:

Correction. You were sitting, I had a new buddy, me and my buddy, we were, we were doing pretty qui and I will find somebody who's probably just slightly above average and pace the class to them. You'll know who they are. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> you were like, oh that looks pretty good. Uh, and just match them. Don't match the soest person. It will go over and don't match the fastest person. Everyone will get frustrated<laugh>. So yeah, find your, find your pace car and keep pace<laugh> and let them kind of dictate when that person looks up, it's time to move the class forward. A

Speaker 2:

Lot of you I know don't wanna push people forward until everyone's at the next step. Listen ma'am, you cannot. Your class will go over it and that will eat into your prophets. Eat into your time.

Speaker 1:

Something I like to do when I know somebody's gonna take, we have some perfectionists love'em to death. Yeah. They come back and, and I'll say, Hey, I'm gonna move the class forward. Hey, let me know when you want me. I can show you the slide before if you

Speaker 2:

Need reference. Yes. And this is why we control the slides. No one's finishing the class too fast. And those that are finishing a little slow, we're gonna bump you along. Come on, let's go. Nothing's too complicated in here that they can't speed up. You just have people that are a little bit

Speaker 1:

Perfectionist. You know, I saw somebody in the cookie college do this. I thought this was pretty slick. They took, you know, like those restaurant cards where it's like your number, your table three. Yes. She replaced that with that little, it's the exact same thing you'd get in a restaurant. Whatever those things are that tell you you're at table three. Yeah. And she has the finished set photo there. So just even though because we, it is kind of hard to see the PowerPoint for some people who sit in front of it, it's not an idea Perfect setup, but we make it work. I almost wonder if seeing the completed set what at least tell you like, oh this is where the color goes. Well

Speaker 2:

What we did this past time is I actually made the set into their freebie cookies. That

Speaker 1:

Was a

Speaker 2:

Great one. So they could see exactly what they needed to do next

Speaker 1:

With the cookie class kids membership. You know, we're producing everything and all you have to do is kind of add dough, but it is encouraged to run through one time yourself. Yeah. Just to know what you're dealing with and then use that set bag'em tag'em'em, freeze them and give them to the people when they show up. Yeah. They're really enjoy seeing what the end product looks

Speaker 2:

Like. Like we're use it as your examples in class and you can bring'em around to

Speaker 1:

I would almost like that better. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I decorated in this path class and Heather was just able to bring it around the cookie. Yeah. And ruin my flood.

Speaker 1:

I'm really trying not<laugh> my little nails got in here. Uh, okay so after we start, now we go start going through the slides. I was telling people in who have the cookie class kits membership that typically for each, we have six cookies in one hour. That's 10 minutes per cookie. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So, but we have a bunch of steps. Your steps at the beginning are going to be the heavy lifting steps. Yes. Typically flooding most of the cookie. Then towards the end of the class, you're gonna get to the very small details that kind of wrap the cookie up. So if we only have 10 minutes of cookie, think the first step would be four minutes. The next step, two minutes, the next step, one minute. And, and you break that up as you get to this cookie through the slides. If you want the mental like how long do we spend

Speaker 2:

On this? Yeah. What I do in the cookie class kits is I have decorate by the time you are seeing the cookie class kit promo, I have decorated the set five times. What I have it listed in the PowerPoint is a step-by-step to get'em all done with just enough time. So you're not giving too much time for one. And then it's not crusted when the next detail comes for

Speaker 1:

It. Yeah. I mean we've done this so many years now that you know Yeah. They're all crusted and people are pretty happy with it. I'd say one time we made a lettuce cookie and that guy was not ready to go. I was like, oh no

Speaker 2:

Ice separate. Right.

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. So yeah, that's kind of how we approach the steps. Again, find your pacemaker person, pacemaker your pace car and get your pacemaker. You're going and then kind of to a class. So what I'll do is, you know, like, Hey guys, uh, I see people finishing up here. Let's move on to the next step. You're not ready. No sweat. Keep doing what you're doing. You can catch up when you can. Yeah. And then we'll kind of progress it. Now Corey and I do work in a two person system. So I will narrate class. Um, I do if somebody doesn't show up or we have this extra cookies. I love Corey demonstrating a more complex step like wet and wet kind of people get lost on. Yeah. To

Speaker 2:

Saying it out loud doesn't necessarily always make sense

Speaker 1:

To folks. Right. So what I try to do is maybe tell them, especially in a more complex cookie, I'll walk'em through just pointing at the PowerPoint with my finger and then I'll, if Corey has a set, I'll be like, and let's look at Corey do it at the point that you feel comfortable that you got this jump on in. Yeah. Because if you, if Corey decorates every cookie and then they go, we'll run over

Speaker 2:

The class by my, the like one like three fourth point in the class. No one's looking at me and Heather anymore. No. They're looking at the PowerPoint down at their cookies. We're being north. I don't walk around the class anymore at that point because they have already got their system. They're

Speaker 1:

The only thing. Can you cut my bag more? Yeah,

Speaker 2:

That's, that's it. No one's

Speaker 1:

Really asking me to go away. Turn out the music. I'm done with you<laugh>. Uh, so then we're just chugging along through class at the 15 minute mark Algon and give Corey and I if I feel like the class is kind of doing well, I'll say, Hey guys, we got 15 minutes left. I know. Didn't that fly by? You guys are doing great. We will finish on time. Alright. Then I can say 10 minutes guys. And then Corey and I, this is twin speak. I'll look up and I'll do this little eye twitch. That means I'm cutting off some end slides. And that is why

Speaker 2:

Another reason we do the PowerPoint<laugh>. Because if class is going over and say we had another class after we ca we only, we've only given ourselves a buffer of 30 minutes. Corey

Speaker 1:

Wish it, it would be an hour. But I hate, I hate it.<laugh>.

Speaker 2:

So what we'll do is skip one maybe minor detail.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Because remember the last few slides are the details like adding a hard or adding a little texture things a dot. Yeah. So sometimes I'll just, and here's the thing you may say, but people know what the anset looks like yet to

Speaker 2:

Date they have yet

Speaker 1:

To ask for that

Speaker 2:

Step. There's that little dot there. I think we missed it.

Speaker 1:

I will skip the step when nobody's looking at that PowerPoint. See if they get wind they will say, did you skip something?

Speaker 2:

Don't maybe.

Speaker 1:

Uh, so then, okay, here's the thing. The last two slides in the deck, the last four slides are is in consistency in do prep. We don't get there is in consistency. We kind of talk about through the whole class. Uhhuh<affirmative>. But what we include is a simple, simple recipe that they can do that they get emailed on the conclusion of class that they can redo this. And if they have any questions they can ask. Yeah. We

Speaker 2:

Also do the icing

Speaker 1:

Recipe on the back of the business card

Speaker 2:

And it forces them

Speaker 1:

To, that was not my idea. That was some glorious person in sugar hooey marketing. And we said that is genius. And we did it on our next round of printing cards and everybody has kept the business card since. Yeah. Before they were like spitting on it. They were like using it as a scraper.

Speaker 2:

They were using it as a scraper. And I was like, oh great

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. Because I mean frankly would you save a business card for a

Speaker 2:

Cookie class? But would I use an on food safe thing to scrape off the entire nicely their ego. What are you shuffling my foot? Can

Speaker 1:

You, I'm taking your foot and

Speaker 2:

Off my shoe<laugh> my on clap<laugh>. Off my off. So

Speaker 1:

That wraps up class. So now in the last five minutes of class there will be some people who want to squeak out another 10 minutes.

Speaker 2:

They do. They they do. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I'll come around and I'll set the Togo boxes again. They're already built out. They come flat so we can transport them. Yeah. We'll build them out when we get, there's tuck in that Ziploc bag and we'll tell everyone okay this is a say the same line. It's no, it's no real cooking show. If you didn't have the transporting to go,

Speaker 2:

As soon as you get your cookies in the box, I'm gonna come around and take a photo of you.

Speaker 1:

I used to, I've repurposed how I approached the photo thing. Some people don't like their photos taken when you give'em the option. Okay. If someone ever says, I don't really want my photo taken. Absolutely no sweat at all. But what I do is, at the beginning when we first started doing this, let me take a photo of your cookies and they just show me their cookies. No, no I wanted to, I'm sorry. I wanted a photo of your smiling face and your cookies. So I'll say things like, hold that box up and let me get a photo of your pride and dreams is kind of like, I clearly want your face involved. Yeah. Maybe in when we started like the covid time, there's no smiles cuz its on

Speaker 2:

Mask. It was, it was true<laugh>.

Speaker 1:

Uh, so I do like So why do you do those? Because when I send that final email, which is scheduled, so it goes out at one on the same day corner and I are definitely out at lunch at this point. Yeah. It'll say check to our back to our Facebook page tomorrow and snag your photo. Yeah. And a lot of people will come from class and

Speaker 2:

Say, oh that's such someone did ask what's everyone's photo release? We've never had to do that. If someone's like, I don't like my photo being taken. Which has only happened maybe twice in all the years.

Speaker 1:

We just don't take that.

Speaker 2:

We just don't take their photo. Uh, which is no love lost<laugh>. Right. I

Speaker 1:

Do take photos while the decorating it. Of course. It's just the tops of heads. I've had no one. I do say, Hey guys, while you're working, this is a point where they're no longer acknowledging that Corey and I are in the room. Uh, nobody has said really anything. It's just kind of action photos, I guess they get kind of boring to look at after

Speaker 2:

A while. By putting the boxes next to each person, it signals to them like, we're wrapping up. So you need to be wrapping up.

Speaker 1:

Nothing wraps up more. Corey starts crinkling those parchments and throwing'em away. I

Speaker 2:

Start stacking some metal.

Speaker 1:

Inevitably somebody will say, can I show you my wife's kids' child's cousin's, dog's, parents' first cake photo. And that's a time suck. So Corey and I, again, maybe twins speak, I don't know. But you can tag team like, Hey guys, I, that's so exciting. I'd love to see it. While you do that, I'm gonna pack up, I'm gonna pack up some stuff. Let me know because as soon as this is done, this room turns back into a showroom and this room turns back into,

Speaker 2:

Or we have another classroom after this.

Speaker 1:

Right. Use something as the fog guy at some point some people just talk so much it's turn out the lights.<laugh>.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Well what we do is that where you're looking at them and you're, you're throwing things away. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, uh,

Speaker 1:

Why? Because it does sound rude, but at the end of the day, your time is money and the longer your classes run over, maybe you'll have that awkward thing. We actually have to pay an extra hour. Yeah. Of room rental. Not ideal. Wanna respect the, the place that we're using and I wanna respect ourselves and I wanna go eat. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> Really?

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm<affirmative> a little something we don't do cuz we're not that organized mostly on me is a lot of people will bring cookies to class that are decorated to heat sealed and sell them to people in the class. That

Speaker 1:

Would be cool. That's a nice upsell. I like the idea. Cor or not organized. I

Speaker 2:

Would, it would be juggling a lot together.

Speaker 1:

Something didn't include here in the, when you walk in still. I kind of liked all the covid precautions even though our state doesn't acknowledge'em anymore. So we left the, we left sanitizer

Speaker 2:

Mask. If you want

Speaker 1:

To, if you want a mask, hand sanitizer, gloves. Nobody's used'em yet. I use'em. Only cord<laugh>. Uh, but I kind of liked oh the um, Lysol wipes. We

Speaker 2:

Did

Speaker 1:

Still haven't seen people use'em like the vibe that

Speaker 2:

Did there. Yeah. Just in case. Just we're trying to think of something that you could potentially want if you came to class.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So that is basically it,

Speaker 2:

Right? That

Speaker 1:

Is it, isn't it? So at one an hour or two later anybody's list,

Speaker 2:

I will say this is something you have stopped doing. But what you wanna do is at the end of the class, your last slide to have it, your future class

Speaker 1:

Is it's on there. We just never Yeah. They're no longer looking at. But I make it for every class.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So then what you say, Hey, I couldn't really like this class. Here's our other classes we

Speaker 1:

Have and that's why it's so nice to have your classes set up ahead of time. I do include it in that email. They get afterwards that it has actually created an Amazon storefront. You gotta keep up with those things. Sometimes the products just go out. You do? Uh, and it has their scribe. Cause we don't include the scribe in class. I don't feel like we're buying those, but I get those cheapy highlighters. Are you getting like a

Speaker 2:

Commission off

Speaker 1:

Of that stuff? I have no idea how the Amazon storefront works. I don't think so.

Speaker 2:

I have a storefront. I

Speaker 1:

Get commission off. Well then we're not getting any money from it I guess. I don't

Speaker 2:

Know. Are you sharing the Amazon link? Are you doing copy

Speaker 1:

Associated link? I have no idea. Okay. We'll get, you can go take over the storefront if you want. Anyways. It includes everything we use in class. Uh, and then I'll, I just copy and place the template every week. So I'll be like things we talked about. It's not always the things we talked about, but it's useful. Yeah. I like to talk about the Eddie, the edible printer. Sometimes I like to talk about Cookie con. I like to talk about printing cookie cutters in the intro. Yeah. So I'll link to the Ender three Pro just so that if they

Speaker 2:

Wanted

Speaker 1:

To and it saves them having to ask me for that information.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. They never ask. They never ask.

Speaker 1:

So, and then that wraps up and then we get ready for the next class. Now how often you wanna do classes is up to you. I find if I can tell you what the cookie college is doing is like people are frothing at the bit. The economy ain't slowing. It is not. Was it? The Powell guy was like, yeah, they're still spending, they're still treating themselves<laugh>. Uh, so right now is a great time. However, I wanna set everyone's expectations. At least our expectations Is that Easter classes, Valentine's Day classes, um, what comes after Easter?

Speaker 2:

It's like we did a Mother's Day class. Oh

Speaker 1:

Great. Um, but, but everybody in our area travels out of town in the summer. Those classes fill up at a rate that's probably half of February. You know, the how we fill up a Valentine's Day class and probably a quarter of how fast Christmas classes fill

Speaker 2:

Up. Yeah. So if you wanted to, I wanted to do this episode before Easter comes cuz that's what's coming up next. And that is something that will fill up if you post it.

Speaker 1:

Right. And then you're going to think your failure when your July classes got two people

Speaker 2:

July's not the time to launch

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. Right. Or maybe, maybe this summer is a great time to get your toe wet. Maybe four people is a great number to really see how these classes work.

Speaker 2:

I do wanna say, you're like, wow. Yeah, this sounds so fun. The twins made it sound so fun. I'm gonna post it. I'm gonna sell out. This's gonna be amazing. Just like any new menu item. Your audience does not know about classes yet. It is your job to teach them about classes to create a desire for classes. A need and a want for classes. So if you post and it does not sell one ticket, uh, is not,

Speaker 1:

It's a signal of post not

Speaker 2:

Failure. Right. What you need to do is create, uh, I would go live about the classes. Like here's what you can expect

Speaker 1:

About it. Why's a whole nother algorithm and a whole nother way to get in people's notification.

Speaker 2:

It really can. And then that can live on your page. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Another is you cannot post too much about a class. People who have not been to a class do not know there is what they're going to experience there. Yeah. So you need a post about a class. You need to tag your Facebook event when you're posting about the class.

Speaker 1:

Always tag your venue. See if we can get them to share. Yeah. If

Speaker 2:

They share it. Oh my goodness. Smart. They

Speaker 1:

Love doing<laugh>. Um, here's another thing I wanted to point out. If somebody's teaching, teaching cookie classes in your area, that just means that your area's interested in taking cookie classes. Not that it's oversaturated. Um, if it was Corey and I would not be teaching cookie classes. You say,

Speaker 2:

Oh, I wanted to sign up for cookie class kids, but another baker in my town has signed up and they're posting it. Guess what? My competition, which I love. Christina taught the same Valentine's Day class. Guess what? Where are both sold out? We both sold out

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. I know that. Agree. I if, uh, Corona, I don't do private in-home classes. I don't know, you're just probably lazy if anything. But I really don't like the vibe. Just, you know, whatever. But I'll send that to the couple of the cookie college kids in the area and it's just great to say, Hey people, I'm not telling you No, I'm telling you. Yes. But ask them

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. Yeah. And you know what? It's never something taken off our plate. Our next class will sell out and if we can give them, you know, if they wanna go teach in someone's house, go teach in someone's house.

Speaker 1:

I'm gonna say according to the next class, we'll sell out. I actually enjoy him a little bit when they don't because it gives us a little bit of elbow room with when a will sell 10 seat to sell. Corey gets crazy. Oh, he gets absolutely crazy. I'm like, oh look we have only eight. And she'll be like,

Speaker 2:

We right back. I'll post it to my a

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. But even underselling a class, if you know your numbers, it's still profitable. Class margins

Speaker 2:

Are so great. Plus you get marketing materials from that class. Take photos. Ah,

Speaker 1:

Take pictures

Speaker 2:

With people. I know someone did and we'll, we'll never do this because we, I cherish my time away from classes too much. They do like a setup, like a stage photo setup where you can bring your cookies and take photos Like stage.

Speaker 1:

Yes. They'll have like the AE core backer and they'll have the props. Yeah. And they'll let you take your own photos and post'em and say Tag you. Smart, smart, smart. Corey and I. Not smart, lazy. Yes. But be smart, not lazy. And then you'll see more. That's it. Don't be afraid to cancel a class. Don't be afraid to teach a class if somebody's also teaching a class. And if you have a cookie class kits membership, don't be put off by somebody else doing a Corona iron are literally doing it ourselves. Yeah. And it's still working. The<laugh> sugar cookies definitely had a rebirth with Covid o If you look at the search trend history for that keyword, people just got more interested in it. I dunno if it was TikTok, I dunno if it's Instagram reels, but it really helped the industry. Yeah. And a lot of people come to class will be like, oh it came cause I saw it on Instagram. I thought it was cool.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. And I've really been growing our Instagram enough where I've been telling, sharing this sewing lady stuff on our Instagram. It, it, I lose nothing by sharing her stuff but guessing just offered us

Speaker 1:

A play. So many, so many. Another thing I know people love to hate on charitable giving and influencer marketing. Don't sleep on it. It is the future of marketing For sure. So braced ourselves. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. But Corey, uh, got some long story. Ended up we ended up donating a cookie class ticket two A fundraiser. Yes. I think it was like a pta. It

Speaker 2:

Was the Ukrainian.

Speaker 1:

Right. Anyways, we donated a class ticket and turns out the lady who won has not only come back multiple times, ordered a custom dozen from Corey. She's brought people mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So if you, if somebody says, Hey, do you have have anything to donate to our PTA or to our cause consider a cookie class ticket. One high margin. So it feels great. Seven, you know, we are selling these for$75.$75. Corey and I are two people that, and we live in a high cost of living area.$45.$55. Find your sweet spot there and, and don't think you're a failure cuz we are doing$75. To

Speaker 2:

Me, I would much rather give away a yes a seat than a custom Doesn't<laugh>. But it's also a great way

Speaker 1:

To get your name out there. It is that you're teaching classes at no cost to you. And then when one person takes up a seat, really that's a lot less work for you. Then a custom doesn't uhhuh<affirmative>. So I think it is a perfect bridge between, I wanna be involved, I wanna get charitable marketing, strategic marketing or whatever they call it mm-hmm.<affirmative> out there. But I also don't wanna do a custom dozen and be on the hook for that. A cookie class ticket. Have that expiration on there for one year. Yeah. So you're not having to be in the thread of teaching this for the rest of your life.<laugh>, uh, and have that go out there. And that's a great way to kind of let your audience know, Hey, teach cookie class.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I think it is. They are fun to do. The classes are fun. We meet so many people. Um, I have people that come to class who order cookies for me, which is fantastic. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. We have people who come to class who become cookie decorators, which we also think is fantastic.

Speaker 1:

We hear that. Uh, thing we left out on a lot. And I love you guys and I would love to take your cookie class. A lot of people do these swag bags. That's that's pretty expensive. I love the vibe cor trying to keep that money in her pocket. So what we do coil go buy metal cutters are discounted.

Speaker 2:

I'll buy'em one year in advance.

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. Right. So a lot of metal cutters and then she'll kind of just tie it to a cookie sometimes have nothing to do with each other. Yeah. People are so stoked to one, see what they could learn to be and to have a cookie cutter to do. Cause remember we're giving them the recipe. Yeah. Uh, and they have this cookie cutter cutter into practice with I don't Yeah. And

Speaker 2:

Sometimes you might be like co your dick or anything. 12 different cookies for'em. No, sometimes they're Eddie printed ones

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. Oh, people really

Speaker 2:

Like, yeah. They'll be like,

Speaker 1:

Learn this. You already know how control p uh, so yeah. I, I find that that's a great way to tell people like, hey, if you have a business, I can also print

Speaker 2:

These like Yeah. And Oh true. And then if you really think ahead and you know what your next class is, I would decorate that set. And that be what you leave behind. Like they'll be like, oh my goodness, the caterpillar is so cute. Oh good. That's our March class. If you wanna come back.

Speaker 1:

I would say, um, our December class is Philip, your December classes will fill up every December class will fill up. Yeah.<laugh>. If you could have that published now. A lot of people we don't see consecutively, if they come back we'll see'em every six months. So you can tell somebody in a February class, Hey, if you really like this, you're gonna love the December class. But it will sell out so early. Yeah. So go sign it now. Go sign up now snag that ticket and then you can kind of, that's how you're gonna be able to fill these classes without working at our Yeah.

Speaker 2:

We've that's definitely been a money move. Posting them now versus

Speaker 1:

Waiting for in advanced had we know. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I was like stressed about it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well

Speaker 1:

That's

Speaker 2:

It.<laugh>. That's it.<laugh>

Speaker 1:

I'd say like if you could just teach one. I've, I've rarely, I don't think I've ever seen someone said I taught a class and I'm never doing it again. That was a terrible experience.

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. I think a lot of people learn a lot in their first class, but they all, they're addicted to it once they've done it. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

In the cookie college. Corey and I did record a class that we taught just so you can kind of see like, I'm not gonna say it's gonna blow your mind.<laugh>. I'm gonna say though, it kind of shows you how we structure the class, how we move through class Yes. And stuff like that. Um, but yeah, if you, if you wanted to take kind of the complexity out of the class curriculum, you can sign up at, you know, the cookie college.com and get the class kits membership or just grab the bigger membership, the cookie college. See how we teach a class, get all the other 90 courses that we teach. Mm-hmm<affirmative> on marketing and sales for Bakers. And then get those cookie class kits included as well. Yeah. Um, but the Easter class should be dropping in the next week and a half. It will. It will be cute. It will be Bunny Bunny. My familys asked me the other day for some reason Corey's nickname growing up is Corban Corban. You like bunnies And I dunno why Corban became, but dad still calls it sometimes he

Speaker 2:

Does. Corban. Corban

Speaker 1:

<laugh>. Not Corbin.

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. You sound like weird people.<laugh> uh, let's go to spots man. Okay. I had gotten an email from a COR backers and if it is what I think it is coming to my door,

Speaker 1:

I will that freak. What

Speaker 2:

Is it? I can't. I don't because I don't wanna say it. Do I not know what it's, no you don't really. But if it is what I think it is, we are all gonna be in for a trade.

Speaker 1:

I am

Speaker 2:

Interesting. Aeco Mac is what I used to take all my food photos on Co wine. Do you use a eor? Macers? It's because it's actually a food safe backdrop. So if you're taking pictures of clients' cookies on things, you wanna make sure that you are clients. Not

Speaker 1:

Clients', cookies on

Speaker 2:

Things, clients' cookies on things. Okay. That aren't food safe. You wanna make sure that you are not putting yourself at risk. The last thing you want is a customer be like, I think I have Coli. And you're like, oh yeah I did take that on a weird chalkboard I had in my basement. You wanna make sure that you're using something food safe and it keeps you safe and keeps your customers safe. And they have so many different designs. The one I use the most is polar white. It is bright white. It is easy to edit. Absolutely love it. But then she has all these matte colors that are really bright. So matte lemon,

Speaker 1:

Those guys

Speaker 2:

I know the line aca. Yeah. They're so peach. It's mighty. It's so, they're so pretty. Orange is bright so you can really have fun with it. I know we did green for the Super

Speaker 1:

Bowl. Can you make the cookie class kits Easter class? Can you make it look like it's coming out of a basket but not so like get the grass that looks like it goes in Easter basket and put it on a polar white and kind of like vibing out. I can look like we held eggs or something. I can't. Don't worry

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. Anyways, you can save 20% off of your AE core backers by using code sugar cookie at checkout. Uh, I love my AE core backers. Absolutely love'em. They're rigid. I get the 23 by 23. They do come in larger sizes for you. Cake folk. Um, they do have the L brackets which connect them. So you can actually make,

Speaker 1:

How often do you use L brackets?

Speaker 2:

I don't use'em a lot. Right. But I do stack two of'em

Speaker 1:

Together. It would be nice to have one set of L brackets if you have for sure. Two AE cores just in case they'll back. Yeah. Ik take a people would have to really? Oh

Speaker 2:

They would have to. Yeah. You wouldn't need one. Right.

Speaker 1:

Uh, next up I talked about Eddie earlier. Eddie is prime's direct to food printer. I can't begin to stress you. How cool this little contraption is. You can literally, uh, you know there's an Eddie Facebook group where you can find free clip art and free like pexels.com and stuff. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> and then print that on a cookie. It can vibe up a set. It can shorten your production time if you don't have to stencil a brush. Oh yeah. Stencils in a brush, right? Yes. Yeah. If that is annoying. Just think of the pattern for St. Patrick's Day. That green grid. Like what would you call that pattern?

Speaker 2:

Green grid

Speaker 1:

Gingham. No, somebody's screaming at the podcast mic right now.

Speaker 2:

I don't even know what you're talking

Speaker 1:

About. Like, you know, like if I, okay, think of Catholic school girl. That pattern. It's not checkered though. It's got those big lines and little lines

Speaker 2:

Make

Speaker 1:

It green. That's kind of like a weird

Speaker 2:

Black and white

Speaker 1:

Thing.<laugh>, I don't know, whatever it is. Scream at your speaker and tell us what that texture is. But imagine printing that on a forley clover versus having airbrush the 50 steps of that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Imagine getting out different colors of airbrush. I don't know if I'm doing it wrong, but are we not supposed to spray out till it sprays clear and then add our next color in?

Speaker 1:

You know, people are like, I know you're supposed to but I'm cutting corners.<laugh>,

Speaker 2:

I don't know how you guys are doing it.<laugh>. And then you have to, when your airbrush gets, or when your stencil gets too saturated, you had to take it over the sink. You gotta wash it, you gotta dry it off because you can't put water back on the cookies.

Speaker 1:

I wanna talk about in the cookie college, very proud of these people. But I wanted to see in February if we could talk about money, which is one of the most fickle subjects. However we just

Speaker 2:

Taking

Speaker 1:

Off of Yeah. No, I priced out an Eddie if we wanted to pay for it in cash money. So I just wanna say, I just wanna read what that would be. Eddie Eddie's not cheap. He knows his worth. Uh, but if we bought an Eddie in cash, here's what we would look like. So this was a savings scenario. Yeah. If we didn't wanna finance Eddie mm-hmm.<affirmative> his, his financing is ends up costing us more in the long run. So he's 2,998. I know. Grab a seat. Take a, take a deep breath. Uh, but if you saved for just one month again, you'd have to save that. But if you saved that the amount needed to buy'em over six months, you'd only have to save$500 a month if you saved up for 12 months. So let's say you say February, 2024. I can't believe I just said that. Yeah. 2024. You would only need to save$250 a month for 12 months now. And am I saving scenario? I said what if we paid for what if we got that$250 to cookie classes? Mm. Let's pretend our class ticket is uh,$50. Okay. So I wanted to find a middle of the road. Uh, if you needed, if you wanted to buy him this month, he'd teach six classes if they sack 10. Yeah. If you wanted to buy him in two months, you'd only have to teach three classes. If you wanted to buy him in five months, you'd only have to teach a class and a half at$50 for 10. And if you wanted to buy him in six months, just one class a month. Wow. For six months you could get yourself Wow. And Eddie and you wouldn't have to finance it. Which means his price out the door to 2,998. Now I saw somebody in the Eddie group said, how long did it take for Eddie to pay himself back? People were saying like one month, two weeks, eight weeks. Like it

Speaker 2:

Really does, you really need to determine what your goal is with Eddie. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Um, if you're like, I don't really know, I just want'em. Cuz someone down the street has'em.

Speaker 1:

You're gonna end up selling'em about a year.<laugh>. So in that primary group, go check it out.$2,998 is for a brand new one. But you can actually buy a used one by finding them in that group

Speaker 2:

Or a refurbished one. One through

Speaker 1:

Primera and Prime Amazing company said if you buy a used Eddie from somebody, not even a refurbished one from Primera, a used Eddie, they will honor that the warranty goes with the printer, not the person. Nice. And they will reintroduce that one hour of training you get with prime support. It's so nice. So that's an even cheaper way to kind of buy this machine. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, as we always say, work from your goals. Is Eddie something you're gonna incorporate? Are you going to market him effectively to make that money back? You don't wanna just buy something that expensive and have it sitting on a mm-hmm.<affirmative> dust gathering shelf. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

<affirmative>. Mm.<affirmative>

Speaker 1:

Looking at you. Cricket,

Speaker 2:

Dust gathering shelf is what you just said.

Speaker 1:

Dust gathering.

Speaker 2:

You don't wanna have on a shelf gathering dust. But

Speaker 1:

You said dust. No, I meant like a desk. Ga No, that's one I

Speaker 2:

Attend Desk gathering

Speaker 1:

Shelf. Yeah. Like that shelfs up there is a desk gathering shelf. Anything that gets on that shelf foul on the plane. No<laugh>.

Speaker 2:

No that foul on the plane.<laugh>

Speaker 1:

Wells defeat was foul. This is not Hey, desk gathering shelf. Please into the podcast next week if you think that was spoken on. Never

Speaker 2:

When, but not least is the best meringue powder on the market. So baby I know. I really like it.<laugh> Royal Match is a meringue powder made by a company called Bakey Bake. She is and was a cook here and said, you know what, I think we can do this just a tinge bit better. So what she did was include food coloring. So it's already bright white when you make it up. Corn syrup and vanilla extract is already in the mix and all you have to do is add water and powdered sugar and you get to have the best meringue powder too. I actually follow the directions on the bag, which is like a third, a third and a third. Um, but you can do whatever you want. You can just sub out your current mark powder for this boring powder. I love it. It's silky smooth. It has a great finish and it taste yummy. Heather knows I made cookies for Saturday. Oh there ate

Speaker 1:

Them dinosaurs. Do you wanna go through our ha save? Oh

Speaker 2:

No, that's boring. No, no. Like

Speaker 1:

It boring. It's my podcast too.

Speaker 2:

<laugh>, you can save 10% by using code twins and gra

Speaker 1:

Fat gown. And you didn't wish anybody Fat Tuesday. Somebody said, um, fat Mardi Gras always on Fat Tuesday and it's always on Tuesday. You'll never guess. Happy Mardi Gras. Happy Mardi

Speaker 2:

Gras. You wanna gonna earn these little per

Speaker 1:

<laugh>? No, we're never

Speaker 2:

You<laugh>

Speaker 1:

St. Patrick's Day in 24

Speaker 2:

Days on the phone. Done. You

Speaker 1:

Doing anything for that? Didn't you draw some DIY kit? I have

Speaker 2:

DIY kit and P Ys in those lucky charms that are really cute.

Speaker 1:

Wait, that is so cute. The Lucky Charms. That is my favorite cookie When you guys do

Speaker 2:

Ip

Speaker 1:

Yeah, course. Like I'm gonna steal this ip Na<laugh> copyright infringing with the sun<laugh>. When those Lucky Charms cookies are so cute. And

Speaker 2:

This cookie packaging has the cutest bag that you can bag those bad boys and sell'em like that.

Speaker 1:

That's great. One. I don't think St. Patrick say is a huge seller for us in are very transient area. But if you had a heavy Irish population or influence, I think that's gonna be a big problem. I

Speaker 2:

Will say for our area, it's very last minute. People will be like, oh, I

Speaker 1:

Forgot about it. It's kind of like,

Speaker 2:

Oh,

Speaker 1:

Is pink s day drinking day? What everybody doing? Amazing. Then I'll say that the Irish pubs in the area, you can't Oh

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Uh, Easter is 47 days away. That one's gonna be a big cookie class. One platters, one customs one yard egging. You guys remember that? I think it's gonna be a big seller. It was a fun vibe. Yeah. Now as, as Covid precautions have kind of lifted, I think you'll see like a, a downturn a little bit. It was kind of like the my kids haven't left the house in five months. Yeah. Can we have something fun going on? But I will say

Speaker 2:

As a parent who does not want

Speaker 1:

To go, it's so fun. I did

Speaker 2:

See at Targe Taj they had the set and had one golden egg in there. What if you egg yarded somebody and had the one golden egg and then you had a special cookie for whoever

Speaker 1:

Found that. That would be so cute. Um, teacher appreciation is a, is like a week long. Um,

Speaker 2:

It is. I I do love with teacher appreciation, but it's also on a cookie con.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So teacher appreciation is the same day that Corey and I will be actually at Cookie Con Ohio and have a happy hour. If you want a, if you wanna meet your heroes<laugh>, if you wanna drink, if you wanna blur out your heroes, uh, yeah. We're just gonna do a happy hour at one of the restaurants there at the Sin uh, Khar in Sandusky High. Yes. Um, you can find details on that in the events listing of the

Speaker 2:

Group.

Speaker 1:

Um, nurse appreciation. That's

Speaker 2:

A big one. That's a big one. Some

Speaker 1:

People could get, like if you got, didn't you have that hospital asking you to do

Speaker 2:

Loans? I did. How'd

Speaker 1:

That go?

Speaker 2:

She's like, I need 10 dozen. I said, that's a latest list

Speaker 1:

Mention in the last podcast.

Speaker 2:

And then I said five dozen. And she said she has to get approval for the finance.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Makes sense. Uh, that might be one where Eddie could come and save the day for some of y'all Mother's

Speaker 2:

Day. Big one,

Speaker 1:

Big 82 days away. So you got, you got roughly two and a half months to get your cutters in, get your plans going.

Speaker 2:

I would say you wanna start marketing Mother's Day Attention but early because we really want to see if we can get these cookies. Two mothers, you know, can

Speaker 1:

Kim today looks springy too. So you can kinda, you

Speaker 2:

Can. I love the Mason jar sets

Speaker 1:

Corey Mason jar of stackable flowers. That's cute. We taught it as a class. Can't say that it's sold out the first time. Last, last year when we did. It did remember.

Speaker 2:

Yeah,

Speaker 1:

The little, that

Speaker 2:

Was very, I I think it included two extra cookies to make that messenger

Speaker 1:

Said. Oh yeah. It was definitely a profit loss. It was<laugh> uh, graduation is this moving target. And someone made a great point. It is hard to find the graduation dates because they are not easily fine. They're different. Someone said the snow will affect graduation. Yeah. Because you

Speaker 2:

Get the days off at

Speaker 1:

The end or you have to add more. So that's gonna be rough. But I'm gonna shot in the dark. The average I could find is 91 days away. So we're obviously very out there, but that seems to be the biggest heavy hitters that we see in the industry for the next quarter. Quarter two. Can you believe it is? No. The end of February. No. Isn't it next week?

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

The okay, so, oh, because it's only 28 days. Next Tuesday's. The last day of February.

Speaker 2:

Wow. Heyday guys. Owen in March. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Speaker 1:

Oh the, um, daffodils

Speaker 2:

Here. Bloom. You even said Daffodil didn't get dear. That word outta my Oh really? Brain that's

Speaker 1:

A, your name

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. Dylan<laugh>. Daffodil<laugh>. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

It's like, it's gonna be 80 degrees today and we're gonna have a summer storm later. It's

Speaker 2:

80 degree degrees

Speaker 1:

Today. It'll be 80 degrees on Thursday and then go kind of cold and possible chance of snow on Friday and Saturday. But are you kidding me? It's a wild ride here in the northern

Speaker 2:

Virginia. Chills.

Speaker 1:

This is weather at Heather on the ice<laugh>. Uh, but yeah, I mean we are chugging through this year before we know it's be, it'll be dead a summer and then we'll be deto winner. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Cha it'll be dead. What's your interest?

Speaker 1:

Oh,

Speaker 2:

What's your twin interest? I have one. I was popcorn priced so hard. Ford so hard. If I go to the flagship car wash twice in one month, it is$46. If I sign up for a monthly membership, it's$31 and night can go every day. We have now gone twice.

Speaker 1:

So Corey says to herself, she'll go, she okay. The car wash she signed up for is actually far from her house, but it's next to her favorite fast food restaurant. She takes her son on Sundays. She plans to get her car washed on

Speaker 2:

Sunday at least four times. But there's also a lesser version. Like do they do a good job? No. Do they do it? Oh

Speaker 1:

It's like, not the tire shine one. It's not the tire shine. I have have taco

Speaker 2:

One so I can go to that one during the week.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's closer to your house? It's closer to my house. Wait, if you guys don't know, I'm not sure what llc what, what like the overturn in the car wash industry. But every carwash here, uh, has been bought by a company called Flagship. Yeah. I don't know what's going on. I dunno. You can buy this membership and go to all of them. All of them. However, people love to complain about they're the crumble cookie of the area. They,

Speaker 2:

It's great. But I said, you know what, complain I get him not washing my car at home, but I love a clean car. Yeah. So why am I not driving through this five minutes? Who car

Speaker 1:

Don't ruin the paint. My friend, the birds already did that.

Speaker 2:

The little pebbles from the salt drugs have just gone and done it. But I've already paid for it in my first two days. And now that I

Speaker 1:

Already paid for itself,

Speaker 2:

I had to, I had to Google it. Yeah. Yeah. I did pay for it. I had to Google it. They, they recycle their water. So now I don't even feel, feel guilty<laugh>. I'll go there every day

Speaker 1:

And they give you a little

Speaker 2:

Microphone. I can, I cut the line with my little thing. Cut the line. Cut, cut. Oh, I get to cut. There's a members only

Speaker 1:

Line. Oh really? It's like the Disney Parks. P Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I said, sir, how hard is it to cancel this? He's like, click of a button. I said Sign. See

Speaker 1:

You see. And you know what? They make it so easy. That's good.

Speaker 2:

That's good. Yeah. And why I was popcorn

Speaker 1:

Priced

Speaker 2:

Is because it, it made so much sense to opt into their monthly because they're expecting me not to go every day. Little do they know

Speaker 1:

You

Speaker 2:

Got there, I'll be there.<laugh>. It's like the gym membership

Speaker 1:

Mentality.

Speaker 2:

It's the mentality that you sign up for gym membership. You don't go. But it's not cost judging me.<laugh>. What? Stop judging me. I'm judging you.<laugh>

Speaker 1:

I bought. Okay, so you know the carwash I go to is the one we went to when we were five Five. And we used to be like, mom, the, oh, I don't love that one here City. I don't have to get out. It's lasted the carwash. You don't do you have to get out? Not

Speaker 2:

In flagship. You don't. No man. You driving all the west.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Fair City.

Speaker 1:

Uh, but Fair City. The, they were like, if you buy five, it's$80. So you save 20, you get one of the car washes free.

Speaker 2:

Hey does yes. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I, I'm, I like look at the weather. I do my anti rainin dance and then I say, okay, we're gonna get a car. Gosh see

Speaker 2:

I would get a car wash and it would rain the next day. Now I don't care.

Speaker 1:

I'm driving you literally a car wash day and now it's gonna storm and

Speaker 2:

I'm okay

Speaker 1:

With it. There's a wind by.

Speaker 2:

I'm excited to go back to the car wash.

Speaker 1:

I was wondering why you're in such a good mood when I read the weather.

Speaker 2:

I know I said Oh yeah. Cause usually you're usually I'm like car<laugh>.

Speaker 1:

Uh, my twins is actually this client that we're buttering up to work with. Great. I think it'll be a great client's mechanic shop. I wanna tell you about their great customer service. So you know what's kind of awkward when you're trying to sell to somebody and then you need to buy from them? Yeah. It really is, uh, awkward. But I need it. The, my car, bless him. The white stallion 10 years old. So it's definitely put in work and I drive a lot cuz I like the feeling of driving. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> feels like freedom. How

Speaker 2:

Many miles gone on that bad

Speaker 1:

Boy? 1 76. 1 76. I know. And the guy's a tank. Except for this vibration. A vibration. I hate so much, uh, that I no longer give people rights. Cause I hate, hate

Speaker 2:

Explaining it. When you hit 60.

Speaker 1:

No, when I accelerate from 50 to 60 or from depending on the grade of the road. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

It is

Speaker 1:

Violent.

Speaker 2:

Honestly. That is your speedometer holding you back so you don't get enough speed. Oh,

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. When in the car stop are shaken, you start a breaking<laugh>

Speaker 2:

<laugh>

Speaker 1:

Ohia. Anyway, so we take it to this Tuby client and I'm like, Hey, this is so awkward. Um, don't pay me. I need to pay you. And I said, Hey wait, here's my issue. This man and his, I gotta say in the world of mechanic shop, it is very clean, which is always a great sign to me. The dude really cares. He's a family man and stuff. He's like, I'm going to, he comes back and he is like, I'm not, I don't, I don't think it's, it's gonna be cheap, but I'm gonna work a course putting in extra ever. I'm gonna work from the cheapest solution up. If it doesn't fix it, then we mainly on the most expensive solution. But let's, let's fight away. And, uh, we go to the, we end up at the most expensive solution, which is replacing the axles. But this man has, I, I have abandoned my old mechanic shop that I've been going to

Speaker 2:

For

Speaker 1:

Years. He calls me, he says, got bad news, got good news. Definitely the most expensive. I've tried everything. It is the most you need your axles. However, I've called Acura Corp and the National Highway Safety Board. And you have a recall for this exact part? Yeah. Here's what to say to Acura. I've already scheduled, I go in on Monday and Caesar and Acura is like, oh yeah, absolutely. You have a recall on these and we can replace them as soon

Speaker 2:

As you get. So you gonna get a rental?

Speaker 1:

He said no. He said, actually we can do these. Why is it wow. Do need for breakfast? Do you wanna go? I was gonna walk to wagons on my feet. Where

Speaker 2:

Is

Speaker 1:

This place at? Karen Bradley Acura.

Speaker 2:

Where were you gonna walk

Speaker 1:

To Wagman's

Speaker 2:

To eat breakfast?

Speaker 1:

It's, I had to go there at seven 30 in the morning in

Speaker 2:

The

Speaker 1:

Caesar's. Like, I can get you in quickly if you wanna. I said Caesar, I haven't seen seven 30 in a while. But for you, well,

Speaker 2:

I dropped March off during that time, but we can go after to Bob Evans. Bobs ihop.

Speaker 1:

Ihop ihop. I like, um, don't sleep here. A little, little hack. Go to IHOP and get a salad for breakfast. I know, I know. Get it. Corey didn't believe me. I didn't. Now we're like, and then get you your eggs or whatever. Yeah, a salad and

Speaker 2:

Eggs. A little ranchy. Little ranchy, little little

Speaker 1:

Green. And I, I know you may say try it, try

Speaker 2:

It, try it. It's just a little, so just a

Speaker 1:

Little side salad. And then your pancakes or your eggs. I prefer the breakfast sampler. You know, you know it's a lot<laugh>.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I

Speaker 1:

Don't, I try to get rid of the pancakes. I'm not a pancake or myself. Yeah. Love pancakes. But it's too much. It's a lot. It's too long. Heavy.

Speaker 2:

The syrup. It's very sweet.

Speaker 1:

Very impressed by the, uh, the mechanic shop. Corey had found them and taken her home. I know.

Speaker 2:

I said do not ruin because Heather had sworn her mechanic shop was the best.

Speaker 1:

They were not

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. And then I tested two mechanic shops where I live and landed on this one. And I said, do not ruin my mechanic shop.

Speaker 1:

Akin to like that's my tattoo artist. Yes. Is like, that's my mechanic shop. Yes. So anyways, of course the nicest people in the world, he's like, I don't want you guys to not buy from me cuz you're trying to sell to me. Yeah. So I'm gonna give you guys 15% of it. I said, no, I I didn't want a discount. I I just have social anxiety and doesn't charge me for that. Doesn't charge. So I send them an edible arrangement and Pete called and Pete called Pete called, what'd he say? You know what? I hate voicemails. I accidentally pressed leap button before you started talking. So I never Well, no stop. It's probably like you left your charging cable here. Yeah. Apologize.

Speaker 2:

I think I have your battery, Mike.

Speaker 1:

So that wraps up. We have some Facebook Lives I'll be adding, uh, soon. We have the food conference, the, it's such a long name. The wo of food conference is how it's listed in my, but, uh, Lisa will, they've written books on this. They've taught classes and they, they host this, uh, virtual food conference. We're actually speaking at it. But Lisa, one of the classes includes the world Girl Girl power the word girl Power the World Girl

Speaker 2:

Power. I like that.

Speaker 1:

Uh, but yeah, I'll add those. And then Andrea, Andrea signed up for QuickBooks.

Speaker 2:

I saw that. That'll

Speaker 1:

Be great. And then

Speaker 2:

We'll

Speaker 1:

Have the sift live coming up in March as well. And I think we got a few things in the works. Again, all these classes I just mentioned will be free to take

Speaker 2:

Yeah. In the main group

Speaker 1:

And I'll be in the main group. Anything else in closing?

Speaker 2:

Anything else in closing? I know I feel like I could talk for another five years to go honest with you. Just chit and chan

Speaker 1:

and Chan

Speaker 2:

Um, my gold series. Still going on. Still going strong. We've probably have, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Did you, I thought we

Speaker 2:

Were wrapping it up. No, it got taught 10 or 12 more. I had to make all

Speaker 1:

Those 12. How many

Speaker 2:

More goat are fighting? There's probably 22 golds.

Speaker 1:

Because as you're doing it, people are recommending other

Speaker 2:

Golds. Somebody will be like, Hey, this one performs really well.

Speaker 1:

I don't have that right now. Who's winning the

Speaker 2:

Geni cakes? Gen ray cakes is winning.

Speaker 1:

Uh, Emma Arnold in the main group said, I wanna give two geni cake. Golds away. Yes. Ended up picking four. She said, I

Speaker 2:

Can't believe guys, first off, uh, the price of those is gold<laugh>. Oh really? So I mean they're, they, they only are made in Canada. So just the shipping alone was expensive, but it's well worth it cuz it's f FDA

Speaker 1:

Approved ingredient. How much? And I know we're taking the L for this so you can test these. How much have you spent on gold? Listen,

Speaker 2:

Well over a hundred.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I figured it'd even be more than that

Speaker 2:

Probably. Okay. Le I lost track. I'm just trying to find all these F D A

Speaker 1:

Approved. Yeah, it's hard Courtney. And we're talking like you can't gate keep stuff cuz it gets too expensive to do it. And why gate keep when you know people pay us to be in the cookie college, we can turn around and turn that into a testing the best golds for people to buy so they don't have to waste their own money.

Speaker 2:

I know. So I made, uh, when do they make 20 more circle cookies to test? So now I just have to film and go

Speaker 1:

What's next? Do you know which one's next?

Speaker 2:

There's one that looks really similar to

Speaker 1:

One. You posted one and it looked like an eyeliner. Uh, you look, you called a mascara, but I think you meant eyeliner.

Speaker 2:

It was like a tube. Uh, it, when it was in there, it was a chef Master one and I just found it. It's a chef master tube but gold. But

Speaker 1:

People said they liked it for details. It did not do good on your flat. No,

Speaker 2:

But I don't think it was ever made for that cuz it's such a tiny brush. Oh, smart.

Speaker 1:

But it was cute for gold. Oh, I would use for

Speaker 2:

Details. Would, I would absolutely use that for

Speaker 1:

Gold. So how can people follow with the gold off the gold rush?

Speaker 2:

The Gold Rush rally is only on Instagram currently. Some of'em are trickling over to TikTok, but you really wanna get on Instagram for it. Um, but I've taken a photo so it'll have a photo and then you can see a video of me actually using it. I was gonna do more on Sunday, but it was so rainy. So I said, you know what? I'm gonna only give it the best opportunity and film when

Speaker 1:

A

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I didn't wanna after

Speaker 1:

The go. Well sugar cookie marketing. Why can't I say that? Sugar cookie marketing underscore is the Instagram handle. Don't ask me why we have an underscore. It's a long toxic

Speaker 2:

Story.

Speaker 1:

It's not somebody parked it and never answered that. My bribe

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. They should not.

Speaker 1:

But uh, after you wrap up the gold, where are we going to next? I kinda like

Speaker 2:

This. Asked for silver. Uh, you said piping bags.

Speaker 1:

I think piping bags.

Speaker 2:

How would I test a piping bag? The like squish it until it pops and it'll be like, that was a good seven seconder.

Speaker 1:

Well, can we talk about the fl? I don't know. I hate, I hate, I don't hate the harder piping bags are harder to work with. They're, the flimsy ones are great, but they, they

Speaker 2:

Pop. So I don't know. I have so many different types of bags because every time I try a new one, it's my new favorite.

Speaker 1:

Can you do an airbrush

Speaker 2:

Off? You could do an airbrush

Speaker 1:

Off. You hate airbrush. Think a great would greatest one to test them. I

Speaker 2:

Could do a color off. Like, you know you have Amer color, you have powders

Speaker 1:

And stuff. Ooh, that's a good idea. I think people are curious. A lot of people say I'm never gonna switch because you just don't wanna risk it. And it's hard to switch what you're used to because you maybe you gotta have that learning curve and it gets expensive and it gets

Speaker 2:

Risky. Yeah. Someone asked to try silvers.

Speaker 1:

Okay, but that's kind of on the same brand.

Speaker 2:

It's still on par and Gen ray makes a silver. So we already know that's gonna work.

Speaker 1:

Okay.<laugh> Gen ray done swept

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. Um, someone did, I can't remember. Someone did. Oh markers. Edible markers.

Speaker 1:

Oh that's a great one. That's a good one. Uh, that's a one that a lot of people are having to burn through to see like again, just to save money. Yeah. Uh, so you know, Corey can test. You don't have to.

Speaker 2:

All right where we go? Alright, I'm chat now.

Speaker 1:

Really? He said five years and we went down to my

Speaker 2:

Phone. I know. And then I ran on

Speaker 1:

Of board. You don't have any more twins? I feel like you've been in a spending mood.

Speaker 2:

I have been in his. Okay. Oh, if we're just bringing

Speaker 1:

Everything. Yeah. I dunno. Why not? Okay.

Speaker 2:

Oh,

Speaker 1:

While I came out with a cup with a handle. I'm looking for one. My mom found two today. We're fighting those. Yeah. I feel bad. I'm not gonna ask for one. Okay, then I'll get it. Okay.

Speaker 2:

Uh, I like my old duana. I feel like

Speaker 1:

Old

Speaker 2:

Wall<laugh>. My old wall<laugh>. Um, when I have no, I have so much skin care. It looks like a Sephora in my bathroom. Right. But the one thing that I have used that I have visually and textually felt a difference is Paula's choice. 20%

Speaker 1:

AIC

Speaker 2:

Acid. Niacinamide.

Speaker 1:

Niacinamide. Sorry.<laugh>. Why were we talking about AIC

Speaker 2:

Acid? Because I started a xic acid. Cause my face is red. Oh,

Speaker 1:

Oh, oh, oh. So niacinamide is great for texture, for texture.

Speaker 2:

It minimizes the look of pores. I usually have very textured skin. Not necessarily acne, but like weird bumps.

Speaker 1:

Amen. Better me too. Weird

Speaker 2:

Bumps bra right here with this nide from Paula's Choice. It's a dropper so you can drop it. You're not wasting anything.

Speaker 1:

Don't go. Don't go to Sephora and buy Paula's choice. It is sold there. But get it online. They're running a 20% discount at all times. All times. If you pay without a 20% discount for Paula's choice, you overpaid.

Speaker 2:

I

Speaker 1:

Overpaid. Don't sign up for their Teo. They'll never not text you. Uh, texture.<laugh><laugh>. But that's a good one. Okay, so your face is red. It is is red. Here's the thing. I like the skincare subreddit. I think it's called skincare addiction. And then their's skincare over 30, which is us. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Uh,

Speaker 1:

But they recommend for redness mepa. Now it looks like a ripoff on Amazon. So what's

Speaker 2:

The difference between AIC acid, andan,<laugh>?

Speaker 1:

There it is. AIC acids.

Speaker 2:

Just a more concentrated, it's

Speaker 1:

20%. Okay. Again, you know, know what I'm in actives bay. If it doesn't have an active, I don't think it works. I know the mental placebo thing. Yes. However, 20% could be aggressive. However, it's not irritating. It actually reduce reduces.

Speaker 2:

I the one that I got, I got it from the or the ordinary

Speaker 1:

Has a 10% as like I love the ordinary. However, it's the mental hurdle of it being cheap.<laugh>. See

Speaker 2:

I do too cheap. Yeah. What are you scared

Speaker 1:

Now? Uhhuh.<affirmative>. I don't know. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, I don't know. Yeah. Snail mucin from corr. I use that work. Dunno.

Speaker 2:

I did order a bottle of glycolic acid serum. Why

Speaker 1:

Did you choose that acid? They

Speaker 2:

Said the properties in there are so much more moisturizing than, oh,

Speaker 1:

They're like a bha.

Speaker 2:

Yes. I'm

Speaker 1:

A big, um, topical chemical peel type person. Not the aggressive ones. A little BHA kind of dissolves the cell connections on the top layer. Yeah. And just gives you a little refresher. See

Speaker 2:

I, I, I went crazy and bought uh, retinol.

Speaker 1:

Re retinol is the one you get over the counter.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. That was from dermatological. Oh. That made my face peel. Which is the point of it. Right. So then I said whoa, this is too much. Cuz then I was planning around like, where do I have to go? So I went to Murad. Also

Speaker 1:

Expensive. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I got a lesser. And you need that at Seora. You can't seri. Mm-hmm<affirmative>.

Speaker 1:

Here's my thing. And skin. It's called slugging. You may have seen it on TikTok. It's been on the skincare sub it forever. Let's say you put in all your skincare uhhuh<affirmative>. You only do this before you go to bed. Otherwise it's living up to the name slugging. You look like a snail slugged all over sticking to the bed.<laugh>. Yeah. You get baling? No in the tub. I just that big old weird tub. Oh, you got

Speaker 2:

It. I did.

Speaker 1:

Oh, don't wanna see you thing. Okay. Yeah. This is goes, this is the antithesis of my teens where I thought a dry face was a healing one. No, we wanna a wet face. We want a moisturized face. So what happens is you put all this moisturizer in your face, then you go to bed and then it's constantly being leached out and kind of a dry environment. Yeah. We wanna lock that in. You have

Speaker 2:

Eight hours that you can just let skincare care for you. And

Speaker 1:

We don't want the air to get the skin care. It is not the correct air. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. But what a Vaseline does or an aqui four, these kind of tub like very, very slimy textured thing is they considered an occlusive, which whatever is underneath it gets locked in. Yeah. So you put all your skincare on, all your moisturizer try to lock in cuz you know a moisturized skin really kind of lets the actives work. Uhhuh<affirmative> and then you coat yourself in Vaseline. It is the weirdest feeling. You go to bed, you're sticking to your pillow. It's kind of miserable. But when I wake up in the morning, it's like the eight hours. The skincare did work. Yeah. You're the cells turned over

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. They turned it<laugh>. And you may

Speaker 1:

Be saying right now, Heather, I don't believe you. Hey listen man, I grew up where I thought moisturized, you know, in our teens are like Yes. Oh, a dry simple

Speaker 2:

One that's dead. Oh this flake. Awesome.<laugh>.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. But now kind of, you see this research coming out that how's skin is this moisturized And then, uh, you don't want to feel burning when you put a Yeah. A topical on.

Speaker 2:

And what one TikTok person he was, he's like, like a skincare dude and a um, facial. No, it's the other guy that got his nose

Speaker 1:

Done. Oh. He's like a plastic surgeon. I

Speaker 2:

Like him. He

Speaker 1:

Said,

Speaker 2:

You're, you think your skin sensitive. It's not, yeah. And I swear I thought my skin was sensitive. It's not, we're

Speaker 1:

Just not using your product today. I'm

Speaker 2:

Just not. I'm scared of using stuff that could work. So

Speaker 1:

What I um, I, I can't remember the creator's name again. Corey and I, my family Influenceable. Uh, but she calls it the glazed donut method. Yeah. Anything that makes your face look like a glazed donut, like crispy cream style. She's like that is moisturizing and it's a lot of serums and I really have used it. And to me it has really mm-hmm.<affirmative> really helped with the formation of new acne. Kind of keeps it at bay. Yeah. And then now locking it in with Vaseline, which is the weirdest vibe. I'd say One, two punch. I really like it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I got the Coe serum.

Speaker 1:

That's expensive. Not

Speaker 2:

Maybe we got No, we got tester unfortunately. And I like it.

Speaker 1:

You say wee butt. I didn't get that

Speaker 2:

Gift. You did not. No,

Speaker 1:

I got something else. What'd

Speaker 2:

You get? I

Speaker 1:

Got this like kit of things, but one of them include Ilia mascara. Really? Like it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I had given that summer Took it. She took it. Yeah. Remember when I got it from my, I really

Speaker 1:

Like it. If you could go take it back.

Speaker 2:

Oh, weird. I should. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It did come with a mini mascara but it didn't look like something I would love.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. The Ilia big one. It's the brush. It really makes a difference. Also,

Speaker 2:

I got the makeup by Mario Foundation.

Speaker 1:

Corey's going on a Rich Lady skincare. And I I'm out. Yeah, I'm out. She's what you gonna say? Skin suits

Speaker 2:

Next. Me and Heather are so fluorescent, it's so hard to find a foundation that matches this weird skin tone. A little bit of red<laugh>. Very white<laugh>. Yeah. A lot of them have like very yellow undertones. We're

Speaker 1:

Too white. I

Speaker 2:

Need to we're it's like got this cast. Yeah.<laugh>. So I found the makeup by Mario White and I tried it on the back of my hand and I said Wow. It is, I can't,

Speaker 1:

I think I'll, I

Speaker 2:

Think I'll splurge. I'll

Speaker 1:

Tell me what the color is and I'll go get it.

Speaker 2:

Go to go to the far ride.<laugh> really

Speaker 1:

The highest one?

Speaker 2:

No. Uh uh I think it's one C. If I had to be in there. If you gotta

Speaker 1:

Take a blend, make sure I wanna see it on the bottle. Okay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Uh, really like it. Okay. Really like it.

Speaker 1:

Okay. Vibey. And then if you're wondering, since now we're just wasting your time.<laugh>, I've gotten into Botox. Uh, it's not cheap at all, but I have this forehead wrinkle that could like here,

Speaker 2:

This forehead scrunch here. It's,

Speaker 1:

It should be right there across it now. Yeah. But like you're, oh, these eyebrows

Speaker 2:

Are a fight. It's less than this side as far

Speaker 1:

As your wrinkles. My eyebrows will, they will figure out a way however, cuz I was, I moved, I I was supposed to go this week.

Speaker 2:

Are

Speaker 1:

You going? No, I moved it so I didn't look wrinkly for cookie con and I also don't wanna spend a lot of money.<laugh>,

Speaker 2:

How much is it?

Speaker 1:

It was 500.

Speaker 2:

So you would probably go twice a year. Technically every six months.

Speaker 1:

She said the first time she's like, we're not sure how strong them little face muscles are. So she put me at every three months. She said, I'm gonna put you at three months but just log back in and switch it. So I scooched it out to four months. Uh, since the last one went for three months. I was like, well$2,000 my eyebrows are high because you just did that price<laugh>. But if you could go twice a year again at the end of the day for fighting wrinkles, that wrinkle Mc bread is not maintenance. Yeah. This is not prevented. It was already here because we should have been doing it in our twenties. Are you gonna go? You don't have the wrinkle that I have. Go up hair Russ go up. Look. You see those four? Yeah, but they're little. She would knock those bad boys off. Yeah. And then I have a little furrow. There's a line right there. Oh cause you get rid of it. Come here next time. Thank. You're not gonna go. You never have. I've offered a, I'm going to cuz I can't beat the old twin. I went to spend$50. Ah, can maybe, I mean like, you know now you kind of see people saying they wish they didn't do Botox. It does change the way your face works and it changes the way the Why would you wish work? I don't wanna express because be your putting in a toxin in your face. Put it in my face bot line. I've been using uh, deodorant for years. I'm sure I'm gonna cro from the do cause I've been using no<laugh> used Dove. Uns not looking after me.<laugh>, I've been whining my teeth. How do you think they look? Way? I know better than last week. I How about the yours? Always look white. Smile your biggest. I think she could make your lip the Botox lady. Make your lips even out. Cause look now I can't, mine even yours are because she put one time, she didn't even do it the second time. I've only went twice.

Speaker 3:

<laugh> afford.

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Corrie Miracle

Host
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Heather Miracle

Host