She Makes $2,000 in One Hour From Her Front Porch - Ep. #335

Recently, I've been doing about $2,000 to $2,100 in sales on a Saturday.

How long does the line get? We're talking like 100 people?

I would say so, yeah. I've been selling out by 9, which is amazing.

How old are you?

I'm 20.

20. What if you could make $2,000 in 1 hour every Saturday morning from your parents' front porch? Well, today I'm at Little Bit Bakery, which is her parents' front porch. Angela, 20 years old, making $2,000 in 1 hour every Saturday morning with a micro bakery. She started 7 months ago.

She wasn't a content creator.

creator or an influencer. She just published what she did to the internet and people showed up in droves on her doorstep. So today I wanna ask her, how can we copy you? How can we make bread, cookies, cakes, sourdough from our kitchen and sell it on our doorstep and make thousands of dollars a week? Let's dive in. All right, Angela.

Hi.

Good to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.

Tell me about Little Bit.

Yeah, so I have a home bakery that I run outta my house. I just started it this past September and every single Saturday I roll out this cart and I stock it full of goodies and people just come and purchase.

Okay. And how old are you?

I'm 20.

20?

20, yes.

So is this your parents' house or your house?

It's my parents', yeah. So I still live at home right now.

Well, that's amazing.

Yeah, thank you.

And so you bake everything in your kitchen and on Saturday morning people are expecting it, waiting for it.

Mm-hmm.

And you load it up. Do you man the booth or woman the booth or do you just leave it out?

Yeah, usually I'm here. I'm usually running back and forth restocking.

Okay.

'Cause I bake everything and I stock as much as I can, But I bake so much that I have a line of backstock right behind my front door.

Yeah.

And so usually I'm running back and forth the entire time, and I also have pre-orders right behind the cart.

Okay.

And so people will walk up, I help them find their bags and stuff like that. So I'm here.

Okay.

But it's fairly honor system based still because I trust them to add up the pricing and all that stuff. Yeah.

Have you had any theft issues that you know of?

I only had one where a person took a pre-order when they didn't pre-order. It was partly my fault because I have like a QR code that I can check. I just took their word for it.

Yeah.

And so they took it. But that's the only issue I have had. Other than that, everyone's been really honest and sometimes I make more than what I should 'cause people give tips and it's been really awesome from the community.

Was that preorder theft? Was that purposeful?

I think so. I can't say with 100% certainty, but I think it was.

Yeah. Reminds me of Chipotle. I joke that the, the shelf at Chipotle is the free shelf.

Yeah.

My kids thought it was for a while. Like, that's the free shelf. I'm like, guys, no, that's theft.

Yeah, don't do that. Yeah.

So pre-orders for like the mega fans that have probably tried it before and they want to be sure that their thing is there?

I would say so. I have a lot of the same people who pre-order every single week. Right now I have the issue of I have so many people trying to pre-order at once that it can be hard to get it through. It's a good problem to have. Yeah. And so usually I've had people message me like as soon as it opens, because I think I have about 800 people waiting to pre-order at once, which is a lot. And so I'm trying to find the balance now of how many pre-orders I should do and how much I should have for walk-up purchase.

Yeah.

Because whenever I originally wanted to do this, I wanted the experience of people walking up and buying, but people also like pre-orders.

Yeah.

And so I'm trying to find a good balance between that. But a lot of the same people do pre-order every single week.

Okay. Do you have any data on your pre-orders on how far they're coming from of those 800 people?

I would say the furthest that I've had is from Rockwall. I would say most of them are—

Okay. 30, 40 minutes?

Yeah. I would say most of them are probably with, in 15 to 20 minutes.

Yeah.

But I think the furthest has been Rockwall.

I'd be interested to see if you were to require a zip code for preorders. You know, when you go to like a store and they're like, what's your zip code? And you're like, none of your business, but here it is.

Yeah.

Do you know why they do that?

Honestly, no, I don't.

They're doing that because they're trying to get data on where they should open their next location.

Oh.

And so if they're seeing a cluster of people shopping there that live 20 minutes away, they're like, we're going to open our next store 20 minutes away.

Right. That's smart. Yeah.

So you could do the same thing. Not that you're looking to like scale and, you know, like take over the world.

Right.

But if you saw for whatever reason, 70% of my pre-orders come from 20 minutes away, this neighborhood, like maybe it'd be worth trying to add another location to that neighborhood.

Yeah. Well, I've thought about doing maybe like a pop-up market. And so if I knew where my pre-orders are, then I can always do a pop-up market in that area. So that's a good idea.

Was Hobby Lobby involved here?

Oh my goodness. All my display stuff. It was 50% off. So that's whenever I went.

Oh, every—

That's how I got a deal.

Every time my wife goes there, like, yeah, I spent $400, but it was all 80% off. Okay. So you got a cash box?

Yes. Yeah, so I have my cash box. That's just one method of payment that I take. I also do Venmo and Zelle, so they're good to scan the QR code. If they pre-ordered, they check out on the site, so it's already paid for.

What do you use for payment processing on the site?

It's a site called Hotplate, and so they're able to just put their card in, and then I can just directly transfer it to me. It's a really good site for— a lot of bakers use it.

Okay.

And so they can scan the QR code, and usually they'll step to the side as they pay so the next person can come up. Okay.

What's the most popular way of payment in person?

I've seen that Venmo is probably the most popular, then Zelle, and then cash.

Yeah.

In order, so.

Well, that's good 'cause there's no payment processing fees with that, right?

I think if you want it instantly there is, but if you like 1 to 3 days, there's none, which that's what I usually do, so I don't have any fees.

Okay. What do you think that you're best at making? Like, not what's your best seller, but what do you think you're very best at?

Probably the cinnamon rolls, I would say is, I would say is my best seller too, but also one that I'm like, I take pride in my cinnamon rolls.

They gotta be moist then.

Oh yes.

Right? Like, I just can't do dry cinnamon rolls.

No, not at all. Are you the type that like pours cream all I do, yes.

Oh, it's like 8,000 calories.

I know, because I tested it too, and it makes such a good difference.

I'm sure.

A good cinnamon roll, I don't think needs it, but I'm like, it just makes it so much better.

I'm sure.

So it's really good.

Yeah. To me, it's like, it's kind of a bummer that you're, you're really good at sourdough and cinnamon rolls, because those are like the hardest 2 to make, isn't it? Cinnamon rolls and sourdough?

I would say sourdough definitely, because once you get it down, you have it down, but it's just a whole rabbit hole of its own. And so it's a lot of, I think, learning. And so if someone were to do this, definitely test your sourdough, get it down and get the routine down before Stretch and fold, stretch and fold. Oh, yes. And so I would say definitely get that down first before selling it. But once you get it down, it's really nice.

Yeah.

So.

How do you cut your cinnamon rolls? Do you use like, my wife uses dental floss. She's like—

I've tried that. It just takes so much time for me. Like, I just, and so I've found that I just, I just cut them with a knife. Okay.

And you don't like bend 'em all up or whatever?

No. Yeah. Of course not. Of course not.

What do you sell your sourdough loaves for?

Usually my classic loaf, I'll do $12. And then my specialty ones, it ranges from $13 to $14.

Okay. And, people don't flinch at that?

No, I actually started at 11 for my classic one and then I recently went up to 12 and I didn't have any problems. And so, I made them a little bit bigger, so that's why I went up to 12, but no one said anything.

Do you do the lava rocks with water method or the Dutch oven method?

I started out because everything I did whenever I first started, I did in my home oven. And so, for sourdough, I do 2 loaf pans. But now, recently, I invested in a bread oven.

How much was that?

It was about $10,000.

Whoo. Yeah.

So, it was very—

Does it Does it spin them and everything?

It doesn't spin them, but it cooks evenly.

Yeah.

And so, and then it has this steam thing. So I pour water in and it like releases steam. It's very cool.

I need another one. So you don't have to pull it out and like it saves you time too.

Oh yeah. And it cuts down the time in half too. 'Cause in my home oven it would take about an hour. This takes about 35 minutes.

Wow. And how many loaves can you fit in there?

12, which is great. I would do 6 before and then it would take an hour.

Yeah.

So this is 12 in about 35 minutes.

Okay. So someone's starting from zero. What's the game plan?

I would say the first thing I want them to know is they don't necessarily need a cart and they don't need a ton of expensive supplies. Like if you love to bake and you have a good product, that's the first thing that you need to start with. In the video that my sister sent me that inspired me to do this, she just had like, you know, a plastic table, one little mat. She swept off the area and she just set up stuff for pickup. So you don't need a cart, you don't need all this. Just get down your recipes first and love your product that you're gonna sell and start there. I know I use Nextdoor. That was like my first really hit that I did with social media, just because Nextdoor focuses a lot on the locals and people directly in your neighborhood. So I would start with that and just word of mouth with family and friends and start there, see if they like your product and see how that workflow is, and then just advertise on social media. But if you have a good product, that's what you need.

Yeah.

And people will come back for that.

If someone had to choose, if they were forced between really just perfecting one item, Cinnamon rolls, sourdough, whatever, and starting with 4 items, like 4 popular items.

Right.

What would you recommend they do?

I would say definitely sourdough, cinnamon rolls. I've— and I think cinnamon rolls are a very trendy thing right now. Who doesn't love a good cinnamon roll?

Sure.

So sourdough, cinnamon rolls. I would definitely go the bread route if possible. So even English muffins or bagels, just because those are things that people come back and need every single week.

Yeah, yeah.

So whenever I did custom cakes, it was more of a special occasion.

Yeah.

And so it was harder to get like, you know, consistency, but people come weekly for bread, and that's kind of a staple to have in your pantry.

But in your experience, is it more important to really nail one recipe or to give people a little variety if they had to choose?

I would say nail it, nail down one recipe, because I know I follow a lot of people, they just do sourdough and they just do a lot of it because again, everyone wants that and it's kind of a need for them. So I would nail down one thing first and then just slowly grow from there if you want to.

Okay, so what are you seeing trending right now? Sourdough's still trending.

Yes.

Been trending since COVID Cinnamon rolls are kind of newish on the way up.

Yeah.

What else? English muffins, Bagels? Are those—

I've seen bagels. I've seen giant cookies, which I'll do cookies on the cart too. That's more of like a fun thing I'll do, and I'll rotate the, the flavor for that every single week. I would say that's the main thing, at least from my—

Giant cookies?

Giant cookies.

Like bigger than crumble?

Maybe. I, I don't know if mine are like as heavy as crumble, but I make them like really thick. So I like those type of cookies.

Me too. A little undercooked in the middle but crispy on the outside.

Yes. Yeah.

Okay. What do you do about weather?

I've had that happen a couple of times in the past. I've been able to move it to Sunday because usually I kind of watch it during the beginning of the week, and if it's 90% chance, like, I'll just go ahead and change that and push it to Sunday. What's nice is because I started doing preorders that even if it does rain, they can still pick up their preorder and I have those sales set.

Okay.

So I'll usually have them inside. If they come, I'll hand them to them so everything stays dry. But that's why I always recommend people doing some type of preorder, because again, it's a consistency that you get every single week. And if it does rain, you already have those sales.

Yeah.

And so you can worry about them, keep theirs dry inside. I have had rain before. and I had the cart and it was a light sprinkle, people still lined up, which was so incredibly amazing from them. So they had their umbrellas and they had their little chairs out.

And so—

That's cool. Yeah, it's, it's been awesome. But I think that's where preorders really helps because you have those sales set.

How long does the line get? Are we talking like 100 people?

I would say so.

Over 100?

Maybe 80 to 100. Yeah.

That's crazy.

It's— yeah.

Do you have any bearing on how many of them are from this neighborhood?

I would say most of them maybe aren't from this neighborhood. I have a few that are on the street that'll come in line. I would say a lot of them are from neighboring neighborhoods.

Okay.

Yeah, I don't know exactly how many like from this one though, to be honest.

Okay. What do you charge for all of your, like your big items? So $12 for sourdough. Cinnamon rolls?

I usually do, so I'll do some singles, which I'll do $5 for a single and then $15 for a 3-pack.

Okay. Muffins?

Muffins, I do $8 for a 2-pack. And then I have cake slices, which that one I started at $7, I upped to $8 because butter is so expensive.

Yeah.

And cookies, They're a quarter of a pound, so I'll do 5 for those.

$5 for a cookie?

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

And then I'm trying to think of what else I'll do. Bagels, I do 4-pack for $9.

That's pretty good.

English muffins, I'll do 4-pack for $8.

And do you like boil the bagels and everything?

I do, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

Do you like making bagels or are those kind of difficult?

Honestly, it's not my favorite process just because it takes a long time to shape them and it's just a process of its own to do that. And so I don't like it, but that's a favorite for my pre-orders too specifically. And so I do them to help them.

Is there an item that you used to make that you phased out and why?

I don't want to say I completely phased out of bagels, but I have started to alternate them with English muffins. I was getting a little tired of doing them every week. English muffins are a little bit easier, so I've started to alternate that just to go not do them as much. But there isn't really anything that I have that I've completely stopped yet. Okay.

And what are your profit margins like on all these?

Recently I've been doing about $2,000 to $2,100 in sales on a Saturday, and that includes pre-orders and walk-ups.

Okay.

And then usually my ingredients is about $300 per week. Packaging is about $100. I would say about $500 for that. And then I pay myself about $800 per week. Okay.

So call it on a Saturday morning, $2,000 revenue. Mm-hmm. $500 of that in hard costs, packaging and ingredients.

Mm-hmm.

And then you pay yourself and you still have money left over to grow the business. Mm-hmm. How many hours on a Saturday morning does the fulfillment of all this, not the, the making of it, Yeah. But how many hours do people spend picking up their pre-orders and standing in line?

Usually, for the walk-ups, I've been selling out by 9, which is amazing. I don't know—

When do you start?

8.

Oh, wow.

Okay. Yeah. So, which I don't know if it'll always be like that. I think social media is at its height too, which is a big factor. But right now it's been at 9 for walk-ups. And then after that, I usually go inside and I take a huge nap because I'm up so early.

When do you get up?

Usually 2:30 to 3.

Oh, man.

So it's in between that. Yeah. So it's, I always look forward to that nap. And so I'll go inside, I'll take a nap, And then I'll have my pre-orders set out, of course, if the weather's good, and they can come pick up.

While you're napping?

While I'm napping.

Okay.

And so I know for walk-up purchases, I need to be present a little bit because this is specifically for Texas, but you can't have a farm stand and leave it completely unattended.

And so I, I need to be out here at least just to be here. Yeah, you're refreshing items.

But at least for pre-orders, because the transaction's already made, I can go inside and they can just come pick up. Okay.

So do you make everything that morning or do you make other stuff beforehand?

I would say most of the stuff I do Friday. So sourdough, cookies, muffins. Friday's my primary bake day. And then some things are just best in the morning. So cinnamon rolls. Yeah. And then scones specifically, I'll always do in the morning.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

So if you have a $1,500 profit morning, mm-hmm, right? Just hard costs are $500. How many hours would you say you have to spend in total to make everything and fulfill everything to make that $1,500 in profit?

I'd say 60. Like, it's a lot because usually my workday, it starts after my nap because usually I, I need to put my menu up and I have to get my pre-order site set. I usually have to do like my online ingredient stock all after on Saturday.

Yeah.

And so then Sunday—

That's when it all starts over.

Yes. And so it's, it's a lot because then Sunday I'll go get the ingredients and I'll start labeling. And I think that's one thing that can be very underestimated on how much time that can take is packaging and labeling. And so, and then just the prep work involved. I like to pre-measure everything I can. So I would say about 60 hours a week is what I usually put myself as.

Does that include time spent growing your business, like posting?

And you know, after you say that, maybe a little bit more than that.

It's hard to account for that, right? Because it's like scroll time is just like—

Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. Maybe a little bit more if that, but at least like in the kitchen time Honestly, maybe six and shopping and stuff. Yeah, yeah.

It's hard work.

It is. It's great that it's something I love to do. You know, it can be tiring, but usually after on Saturday, it's such a good feeling, like talking to everyone, and it's such a good experience. I'm like, okay, I'm ready to do it again. So I'm usually tired, but it's such a good feeling overall.

Like you really enjoy what I do very much.

It's hard finding a balance between how much to make and not burning yourself out because you never want to do that.

Yeah.

So I'm trying to watch myself there because I love to bake, but I gotta limit myself at some point. But It's a blessing. It really is to be able to do this.

I mean, it's all worth it once you see their reactions, right? Like, if that didn't exist in this business, probably wouldn't be worth it. But like knowing that you're having such like a visceral effect on people and what they love to eat feels really good.

Yeah. And I think one of my favorite parts is because usually I'll start stocking up the stand maybe around 7:30, and there's usually a line that's already there starting to form. And people will be talking and like, oh, like, where'd you come from? Like, where'd you see her from? And that's my favorite part is like hearing people talk.

You're facilitating that. Yeah.

people leave and they're like, oh, it's nice to meet you, good talking to you. And so that's my favorite part is I'm getting to meet people, but people are also being able to meet people too, which is fun.

That's awesome. So what other opportunities exist in this space? Have you thought of selling drinks or pre-packaged stuff?

So at least for food, there are some restrictions. So I work under the Texas Cottage Food Law, so for me everything has to be pre-packaged. And Texas is a little bit more lax, like there's a good variety that you can make. I've seen people do— it can't be raw milk, but I've seen people do like pre-bottled coffees. Some bakers had them like in addition to their baked goods. So you can do that as long as it's prepackaged, labeling is all good, and it'll vary per state, just the rules. So people can always look that up, see what they can do. But I've seen coffees, I've seen non-food things. I know there's a girl, it was really cute. She was doing flower bouquets. Oh cool. From her front porch? Yeah. So she had a garden in her backyard and she put things together. She had pre-orders going. I wish I knew her name and her business, but But she put those out, people would come pick up. I've seen people do little libraries in a way.

Oh, cool.

I don't know exactly like how they sold and like what that looked like as far as sales, but they would do little library setups and stuff. And so I think if you create just a fun environment, I think that's half of the battle is getting a really fun niche. And I don't wanna say aesthetic, but just a good experience people can come to. I think that's half the battle. And of course, just having a product that people want and would come back for.

Yeah. So you've been doing this for like 7 months? From your front porch. Mm-hmm. And how many social media followers did you have when you started this?

When I started maybe Instagram, I think I had about 3,000.

Okay.

Because again, I did custom cakes, so I had a little bit of a customer, like a small one from that. And then TikTok.

But that's still like a different audience, right?

It is completely different.

Like someone that needed a cake for a wedding, they're probably not lining up to get a bagel.

Right. Yeah, completely different. And then TikTok, maybe 1,000. And then Facebook, I don't even, honestly, I, I don't really keep track of my Facebook.

So effectively you didn't have an audience, like, yeah, it was very minimal. You have one now 'cause you You, you just published what you've done 'cause it's awesome. But people don't have to start with an audience to be successful here. Yeah.

And I think like once you have it built, and I always encourage to film like the building process of it, like invite people on that process because it makes them feel a part of it.

Yeah.

I think, you know, it brings them into the story. It makes it more personal. So film everything as you're building it and just start posting. Like one video for me is what just turned everything around. So you don't have to start with anything big.

What was that one video?

It was on TikTok. It literally took me 20 seconds to do. I didn't put much effort into it. I thought nothing I just, I think I was down the road and I was walking towards the porch bakery cart and I think it was just POV, you found a porch bakery in Frisco.

Yeah.

I didn't think of anything. I just posted it overnight. It did really well.

And so—

Like millions? Maybe 100,000.

But you didn't have any followers. But it was all local. Yeah.

Yeah, it was all local.

That's like the most targeted 100,000 you could get. Right.

And it's funny because that day, I think that was my second week I was open and it was, I think I had like 3 people come that entire day. So I was very discouraged.

Yeah.

I was frustrated. This was after you got all those views? I was open and then 3 people that entire day. I posted it. I reopened on Sunday because I had so much stuff left over and I didn't realize the video did so well. And so then people started coming. I'm like, why are they coming? And I didn't realize the video did well.

Because you're used to just posting and like they just didn't do well.

Right.

And this one just did.

Yeah. And I didn't know that because I had my phone off. And so like, I didn't realize this video did so well and people were like, oh, I saw you on TikTok. I'm like, okay, that's kind of weird.

Yeah.

And then eventually I'm like, oh wow, that, that video did well.

Do you sell out every week? Like no matter what.

Mm-hmm.

How long has that been the case?

Probably since October. The time I sell out varies. Like now it's really, really fast. I think in October, November, it may have been around 11 or 12. I'm very blessed to say I've been able to sell out every single week.

If you could wave a magic wand and make everything, like scale was not a problem, but you stayed here at this location, maybe you're hiring people or whatnot. If $2,000 is your base, how much more could you make if you never sold out?

Yeah, I don't know. That's hard to say. Maybe $3,000 and, you know, see where that goes.

But you need to hire someone.

But I need to hire someone.

Have you thought of doing that?

I mean, I don't want to deal with payroll taxes, and so that's one thing. But there's some mornings where I'll ask my mom to help because I have so many cinnamon rolls and I have to package them by 8. And so I'll hire her for like 30 minutes. And so I track that, you know, because I'll pay her. Sometimes my friend will help me roll bagels, and so I'll pay them whenever they help. They don't expect me to, but from a business standpoint, I want to see what that looks like. Yeah, just Just expenses-wise, but they do help a little bit, which is awesome.

So when it comes to payroll taxes, if you use companies like Gusto, there's like nothing to do. You sign up for Gusto and you don't worry about anything. You pay 'em like $12 a month per employee.

Oh, okay.

So if that's like kind of your hesitation, yeah, it shouldn't be like it used to be, but there are tech companies now that just manage all that headache.

Yeah. Okay.

So if someone wants to start this business, what are the 5 steps to doing so?

I would say first, look at just your state's laws on cottage food. Know what you need to have because that's— you don't want to mess with any of those things. So find all the regulations regarding that. Second, nail down your product. So just do your recipe research. Have a good product that you love and that you know other people are going to love. You want your product to be good.

Where did you get your recipes?

I kind of pull from different people, like highly rated bloggers.

And then you kind of make it your own?

And then I kind of make it my own because I've been doing baking for quite a while, so there's there's some things I know, like, okay, I like this instead of that.

Yeah.

And so I'll just kind of take it and put it together. So yeah, find your recipes, nail down your product. I would say start especially word of mouth. Give stuff to family and friends, have them taste test it, get feedback, and just have them start sharing it. Like, I think family and friend people just sharing about it, that can spread a lot, a lot more than people think. And then just have some type of setup. Again, it doesn't have to be a cart. Get a table, start setting things up, create your schedule, create a routine. And then behind all of this, I post everything on— behind the scenes, creating the recipes, setting up the cart.

And that can be— it's not hard, but it can be annoying to like kind of switch up your flow. But you're proof that it's definitely worth it.

Yes. Social media has changed the game. Like, it's, it's very crazy how local it can get too.

Yeah.

Because again, that one post, it, it attracted so many people within my own town. So through every single step of the process, start posting about it just to make it more personal to people and so they can know.

What about ingredients? Where do you get those?

I usually get mine from Sam's in bulk. The bulk is always going to be cheaper.

You don't need to go to like a restaurant supply company or—

No, I'm probably going to have to start doing that for my flour because I use so much of it and I can get bigger bags in Sam's, but you can just get it from Sam's.

What type of flour do you use for your sourdough?

Usually bread flour.

What like protein percentage do you know?

Actually, no, I don't know that off the top of my head.

Okay. Do you think it matters how old your starter is or do people overblow that?

No.

It's like, I have a 1,000-year-old starter. It tastes the same. Chill out.

It looks active. It's, it's okay. Yeah.

Have you ever thought about selling your starter?

I have. I do sell some of my starter. I'll have like a little table.

Okay.

And I sell it with an instructions card.

That's free money.

Oh yeah.

You just— that's, it's literally free.

Like—

Yes.

So I just put that up for $5 with an instructions card.

Oh wow. In like a little Mason jar or?

I think it's like a 5-ounce plastic bottle.

Okay.

Or not bottle, cup. So that's just an easy thing that you can do.

Yeah.

Especially if they know that you make so much sourdough and like you kind of have some consistency behind it.

Yeah.

They're like, okay, I think I want that starter.

I think I think someone needs to sell a starter, like an ultra-premium starter. Very expensive. Like, like Yeti. Like, who would pay $500 for a cooler when they're $50? Like a $50 starter. But that has— it's the highest quality, like the most organic filtered water. And that's— no part of the starter has ever touched plastic. So like no microplastics.

Yeah.

Because it heats up and like that's where microplastics break down is in when it heats up. So I think people would buy that.

Yeah. Oh yeah, that would be cool.

That's random. So get compliant, step 1. Step 2, start testing recipes, see what you like, don't like. Step 3, give it away for free to your friends and family or charge your friends and family.

Usually I would give them away, especially if you're testing. I would just start giving away so you can get feedback.

Yep. Once you're confident in your product, then don't be afraid to sell to your friends and family and to ask them to share it, right? And then this isn't really a step. This is all along the way. Like even when you're researching the compliance stuff, Like document, don't create necessarily, but document what you're doing even if it seems boring.

Right.

Okay, so after friends and family, 6-foot folding table on the front.

Yeah.

Posting on Nextdoor, Facebook group, local Facebook groups.

Right, just some type of setup. That's all you need.

Okay, and then at a certain point you can scale up. You can throw that together in your garage.

Yeah, and once you get a customer base, I would start doing pre-orders as soon as you can.

Okay.

Just because that's going to make it easier on you on how much to make. It's not as much guesswork. And so you can have just that consistent preorder base. So as soon as you start getting people who you see coming back, start preorders and that's gonna help you a lot.

How much money do you think you'll make this year from this business?

I don't even know. Honestly, I don't know.

I mean, $2,000 on Saturday morning. Are you selling anything throughout the week at all?

I still do a few custom cakes. I'm starting to leave that aspect of my business, but I had cakes booked like last year.

Yeah.

Through June. And so I'm finishing those up. So there's like a little bit of money coming in from the side there, but other than that, It's mainly my Saturdays.

I mean, $2,000 to $3,000 a week, 52 weeks, you could gross over $100,000 this year.

Yeah, which is—

As a 20-year-old.

Yes, it's crazy.

From home.

Yeah.

Doing something you love.

Yeah.

Posting about it on social media. No paid marketing.

Right.

You've probably never spent a dime on marketing.

I think the only time I did was when I was doing custom cakes on Facebook. 'Cause I just, I wasn't getting many people.

Yeah.

And so I needed it. But now—

But for this, you don't pay for marketing.

Mm-hmm.

So tell me about licensing.

Yeah, that's probably the most common question I get. And it's not as much as people would think. So I operate under the Texas Cottage Food Law. Each state's going to have a set of cottage food laws that you're going to have to follow.

It's not just a Texas thing.

Not just a Texas thing, yeah. The— it'll vary per state, but Texas is— you have to have the correct labeling. There's a few restrictions on what you can sell. You have to have like a food handler's or food manager's, either one of those will work. And then for Texas specifically, you can't just leave it unattended. I think most other states, if you want to set up a stand and leave, you're perfectly fine to do so, which is really nice. So you can go inside, take a nap, Continue to bake more if you want.

It's interesting because Texas is so business-friendly, but it feels like most states have more friendly kind of cottage food laws.

Yeah, the one about the farm stand, that, that really caught me off guard because I was expecting them to like not have that. But I know for us, some states require inspections and some other things. Texas doesn't, but it's all different. So just do your research first and you'll be fine.

Do you need a food handler's permit?

Yeah, so I have a food manager's. One of those will work too. They both work. But yeah, I got mine in 2020 and then renewed it.

How hard was that?

It's honestly not bad. I had to do it again for like the coffee shop and those jobs. So I, I, I'm kind of used to like all those regulations or questions that they'll ask, but it's not hard at all. I think it costs maybe $20 to do one.

So. And then you just take a little test?

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Yeah. I think it lasts like 3 years.

Okay.

So.

Okay. I think it's relevant to note that there's like 250 homes in your neighborhood, right? That's like 1,000 people.

Right.

It's crazy to me. You don't need to live on a big busy road. You don't need to live in like a mega neighborhood.

Right.

Like this is enough to have a really good business.

It is. And like, again, I would say a lot of them come from like 15 minutes away. And so it doesn't need to be everyone within your neighborhood. You know, like you said, you don't have to have a big one. So people will drive, you know, if you know your product is good. But if you just set the scene, have something that people will come back for, you don't need anything crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you ever get people just driving by seeing this, seeing a line and just saying, man, let's get in line?

Actually, I don't know. You wouldn't really know, right? I'm not sure. I know whenever I first started, it would be just a lot of passersby at the very beginning. Now I'm not too sure. It stinks though, because I think if they see the line, sometimes I sell out like before then. So that's kind of hard. But I think at the beginning it was a lot of passersby because my granny actually lives along the street. And so I put a sign on— she let me put a sign on her front yard because there was a lot of traffic there. So I just pointed it to my house.

Yeah. I mean, there's like a psychological phenomenon that happens when people see a line. You'd think that they would be like, who likes a line? But what they think is like, that must be really good.

Yeah.

I need to get in that line.

Right.

I used to live in this neighborhood in Houston that had 6,000 homes. So this one has 250, 6,000. In Houston, that's like every neighborhood. So there's like 20,000 people in the one tight-knit neighborhood. And I just remember thinking when I lived there, I got like really into barbecue. And I thought like, I just did the math. I'm like, all right, if I got 5% of the homes in this neighborhood to buy barbecue from me once a month, that's a 6-figure business.

Right.

Right. And it's like, people don't really think like that.

Yeah.

Just selling to your neighbors like we did hundreds of years ago.

Yeah.

Like, you could have a big business there.

You can. And I think there's so much that you can do from your home that, like, a lot of people don't realize. And I know for food there's the guidelines. So again, it's going to vary per state. So just look at that. But there's so much that you can do from your home. And it's really amazing because you don't have the overhead costs and you don't have to deal with all of that. And I think it's fun having it within a neighborhood, you know, with your neighbors where, you know, you're providing for them and just making it a fun, different thing that not every neighborhood has. And so I think I think there's so much that people can do from a safe house. Yeah.

I mean, I've talked to people that do sell pizzas from, right? Or barbecue or like prepackaged meals.

Right.

Or like woodworking stuff, cedar planters for gardens or garage shelves or a handyman that just serves that neighborhood. Like there's a direct correlation between the proximity of people to the business owner and their loyalty and their willingness not just to spend money, but to spend more money than market rate.

Right.

Right? Because if someone goes to a farmer's market a half hour away and they see sourdough for $12, they probably But because of the fact that they, they live near you and they have an affinity to you and they're following you on social media, like they'd probably pay $15.

Right.

You know, like there is a correlation there.

Yeah.

Have you seen any other kind of neighborhood front porch businesses that are successful that you can think of?

I've seen a lot of like bakeries. I would say I've seen some coffee carts that people are doing. I think that's kind of popular right now is doing coffee carts. I think that Flora One is doing good. I haven't seen too many other ideas besides that, but I do think, you know, once people get it going, the neighborhood, it's a successful— and because it makes it very personal, like, and especially social media, if you see them doing all the behind-the-scenes work and baking and you kind of know who's making your product. And I think that's a special thing. I want people to know like who I am and that like I care about their products and I'm putting a lot of effort into it.

Well, there's a lot of data that shows that, you know, since 2007 when social media came out, we've been content just in our homes to ourselves scrolling on our phones. But now like we're done with that. The pendulum is swinging back towards local community.

So I think you have that trend on your side.

So speaking of coffee cart, did I hear you're still working a shift at a coffee shop?

I am, yeah.

How do you have time for that?

I— well, my last shift is actually this— is this month.

Okay.

And so I'll be ending soon. But originally when I started, I was doing like 4 shifts a week before I started the Porch Bakery specifically. And I was also doing a coaching job. So it was just a lot of little things.

What kind of coaching?

Oh, volleyball.

Okay.

Yeah, club volleyball. But ever since the Porch Bakery, I, I just had to cut back. And so I went to 3 shifts a week, then 2, and then now it's just one 3-hour one, mainly because I need to get Out of the kitchen and see my friends. Yeah, and so I was like, I just need time away to go make coffee, and it's fun. But now even that three-hour time because it's on a pretty important day, Wednesday, and that's I have to prep for dough day. So even that it can be pushing it. So I'm stepping aside from that. But it was fun just to get out of the kitchen because now I need time away from get out of your kitchen into a different one. Yes, doing more dishes there. Yeah.

I mean, barista is one of most common job titles in the world. Is this a good business for baristas?

Oh yeah, I would say so. And especially because like whenever I came into this, I wasn't expecting it to be a full-time thing. And so if you're looking for something on the side where you can continue to do something else, make extra money on the side, then it's a great thing to do. Yeah.

Did you learn skills over there that you were able to apply here?

Not a crazy ton. I would say maybe—

Some without even realizing it, just like customer service or—

Customer service, even like organizational things, like seeing how a business business, organizes things in a kitchen, labels things. Maybe that. I'm just seeing a different way of how people do things. But baking specifically, maybe not, but maybe behind the scenes.

Yeah. Have you ever done a farmer's market?

I have. I did one about a couple years ago, and it was good. I know for me, it's going to vary person to person. So for some people, a farmer's market may be good for them. I know for me, the fee was pretty high, and just the location of where I was in the market.

Which market did you do?

It was here in Frisco. Yeah. What was the For me, it was about $180.

Oh, wow.

And that's for one day.

That's a lot of sourdough.

Yeah. And before then, I couldn't do sourdough either because they already had some sourdough people there. And so they kind of have to spread it out. So I could only do like cakes and cookies.

Okay. Do you remember what you made that day?

My highest selling one was $550.

Oh, geez. So you're scraping out $100, maybe $200.

Maybe. Yeah. It wasn't much at all.

And you're loading up the car and you're driving.

Yeah.

Setting up the tent and the chairs and you're waiting. And here you're just, you're here. Yeah.

And a lot of people think I could probably have more product at a farmer's market. I don't think so because again, I can line things up right inside my front door.

Yeah.

So I don't know if I could fit all that in my car.

Yeah, yeah.

Going to a farmer's market. So I think I'm able to sell more and I don't have the fee.

Yeah.

And I just can get stuff right from my kitchen and walk out.

Well, here's the thing, like plenty of people do really well with your goods at farmer's markets. It's not like there's one way to do it.

Right.

That's why I love that it wasn't the right thing for you. Yeah. There's a zillion ways to win.

Yeah, right. Yeah.

What about HOAs? Do you have an HOA here?

I do. I haven't had any issues, thankfully.

They've never reached out?

I only do it on Saturdays.

Okay.

And I do it early just so I'm like out, you know, of the way. And I've made— I've talked with my neighbors multiple times. They're the most supportive, encouraging people of all this. And so if someone didn't want this, like, I wouldn't want to do it. Yeah, they had a problem. But they're all so amazing and they've said they're proud of me, which is really sweet. And so I make sure with them and I do just try and make sure I stay out of the way. Like a lot of people think that I do this every single day. One, I couldn't do that. I would burn out so quick. And it is a line and I wouldn't want that every single day in the neighborhood. Yeah.

They might feel differently if it were there every day.

Yeah. Right. So I try and get out early if I can.

Yeah. I mean, I've lived in HOAs where if my garbage can is out for an extra hour, I get a letter. Some of them are crazy.

Yes. So I'm very thankful about that. Yeah.

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