Make It and Sell It

Cory Heyman, Cottage Cupboard Cooperative

This podcast is about how to start a small-scale production business—a low-risk career option with low upfront costs but huge potential benefits—that can be done from home. Whether you are home because of the Coronavirus or family care responsibilities, limited mobility or transportation, or are just more of a homebody, you can still earn a living on your own time and at your own pace. And best of all, you can MAKE something to share with others. Whether you are a baker, a maker, a crafter, an artist, or even a mad scientist, you can turn your hobby into a living. This series will explore all aspects of this kind of business, sometimes called a “cottage industry,” from brainstorming new product ideas to perhaps one day making enough income to quit your day jobs. Episodes will include interviews with home-based entrepreneurs at different stages of their business development and from a broad diversity of fields. Who are they? Why do they do what they do? What have been the major challenges as well as the secrets of their success? What would they recommend to others?For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098

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Top 10 Make It and Sell It Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Make It and Sell It episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Make It and Sell It for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Make It and Sell It episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

019 Kits and Classes, with Wendy Klinke, Art Instructor

Make It and Sell It

03/16/21 • 33 min

In this episode, Wendy Klinke reflects on her start-up art instruction and art kit business this past year called Blue Cat Studio. Wendy’s love of art and teaching led her in a roundabout way to home-based production, as she created and sold canvas, paint, brush, and instruction kits to her students. Classes, both in-person and online, have created a growing residual business for new kits and supplies.

With a lifelong passion for painting and crafts, Wendy studied fine art and architecture in college. Her career veered in a different direction, but she has come back to painting time and again over the past 20 years. It was during the federal government shutdown, in December 2018, that she recommitted to art as a serious focus, promising herself that she would sketch or paint every day. Then, in the fall of 2019, a friend asked Wendy to teach an art class for a Junior League event. Wendy describes the event as a “hot mess” but also a great way to bring disparate people together for a fun activity. The wheels started turning to start a new art instruction business.

With infinite energy and creativity, Wendy only needed the business skills to get her new business off the ground. She started a master’s program in business, joined a Facebook group to help new art instructors market their paint parties, and launched Blue Cat Studio. With hard work and savvy advice,

Wendy was able to create a solid business in just a few months. A crucial part of this success—and the part in which home-based production comes in—was the creation of art kits that Wendy made and sold to her customers.

Find out in this episode why Wendy decided to make these art kits in the first place and how the combination of instruction and production has been so vital to her students’ enjoyment and her early business success.

You can learn more about Blue Cat Studio, check out Wendy’s online classes, and purchase art kits at https://www.facebook.com/bluecatstudioart/, https://www.instagram.com/bluecatstudioart/, https://www.facebook.com/groups/letspaintwithbluecat/.

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098; follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cotcup/, check out examples of our guests’ creations on Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/cotcup/boards/, and subscribe to our email list (https://cotcup.com/lp) and receive our living document, the Eightfold Path Plus One Guide to Success for Home-based Producers, and future updates.

017 Into the Fire(Sauce), with Vid Lynch and Ben Smith, Sauce Makers

Make It and Sell It

12/01/20 • 33 min

In this episode, Torchbearer Sauces founders Vid Lynch and Ben Smith discuss how they turned seven years of weekly parties into a thriving 15-year-old sauce business. As early innovators in the flavor-based hot sauce movement, they credit their success to decisions about reclaiming the production process and putting in the time to really get to know their products and customers.

As their seven-year run of weekly dinner parties of 15-30 guests each started to wind down, Vid, Ben, and Tim had to figure out what to do with the peppers that they had been growing in their garden. The answer, well, start a hot sauce business, of course! It was the end of the growing season, though, and they needed more habanero peppers to make their first batch of sultry sauce. So, the first decision they made was to rent a trailer for a 72-hour road trip to farmers’ markets in Texas, where they were able to find only half of the markets that they had researched (the other half were no longer in existence) but still return with 666 pounds of fresh peppers. And so it began...

Don’t let these cheerful and low-key gentlemen fool you, though. They put a lot of thought into their business before starting off on that fateful journey. Their seven years of experimenting had given them the knowledge to create their first product, and a year working with a small business association and a supportive dad helped with the establishment of the business. They even won three national awards for their first hot sauce, which was produced with the fruits of that first Texas trip (yes, habanero peppers are fruits, so pun intended!).

One of the many things that is so interesting about the Torchbearer Sauces story is that they started their business working with a co-packer. However, after that partner sold the business, and follow-up with the new management was a bust, the founders decided to start making the sauces themselves! They credit this decision as transformational in the growth of their business. It gave a chance to build efficiencies into the production process and experiment with smaller batches, thereby helping to grow offerings much faster over time.

Now, 15 years after their first product launch and working out of restaurant and fire hall kitchens, Vid, Ben, and their team are going strong with their own production facility in Lemoyne, Pennsylvania (sorry, I mistakenly referenced Mechanicsburg, PA in the episode, which is just down the road from Lemoyne), market penetration into local and regional stores, as well as a strong online presence with food and other merchandise, and longstanding relationship with companies such as Heatonist and Hot Ones to bring national visibility and acclaim. And, they still seem to be enjoying every minute of it!

You can find out more about Torchbearer Sauces and their incredible product lineup at https://www.torchbearersauces.com).

010 Mixing It Up, with Jill Donaldson, Baker and Mix Maker

Make It and Sell It

10/13/20 • 39 min

In this episode, Jill Donaldson, a formally trained baker and entrepreneur, describes her evolution from a home-based baker to a home-based creator of commercial baking packages. This change dramatically altered her business, daily routine, sales model, and success.

In growing up, Jill’s favorite memories were of baking with her Lebanese Sito (Grandmother) Lilly. She knew at an early age that she would own a food business and worked diligently toward it. She studied entrepreneurship in college, with an emphasis on the food industry, and worked in restaurants, bakeries, and catering companies. She also took a six-month patisserie course and began to develop a set of baked goods that would form the foundation of her future product line. Three years later, Jill established a state-certified cottage kitchen and launched her baking business from her home.

Although successful in growing her home business initially, Jill knew she could do more. She had worked previously in bakeries with large-scale production capabilities and felt as though she was working very hard at home but not yet reaching enough people or creating a sustainable work/life balance. With these yearnings, and some new personal needs to eat differently, Jill began to develop allergen-free baking kits—her LillyBean line of products, named for Sito Lilly—with dry ingredients and utensils for people to bake themselves.

Over the last three years, Jill’s LillyBean line of Pastry Base has become an even bigger success and has shifted Jill’s business model completely. Jill now works closely with local and national businesses, as well as co-packers that produce and package her kits in allergen-free facilities, to sell her products online, in local stores, and in national grocery chains such as Wegmans and Food Lion.

This episode delves into Jill’s personal story but also some new technical issues such as allergen-free food production, working with co-packers, and the benefits of tradeshows and entrepreneur networks. This episode is a bit longer than most but provides useful insight for aspirants, beginners, and veteran producers alike.

You can find out more about Jill’s background and baking kits at https://pastrybase.com as well as on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pastrybase) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/pastrybase/) .

020 Sharing Cultures with Community, with Loretta Beiler, Baker and Instructor

Make It and Sell It

03/23/21 • 31 min

In this episode, Loretta Beiler recounts her history of home-based bread and roasted coffee business, how a surprise trip to Italy inspired her to create sourdough bread classes in her home, and how these and her family’s coffee business complement each other in bringing healthy, clean products and services to the Lancaster, PA community. She also discusses how she organizes her business to ensure she can be at her best not only for her business but also for her family life.

Loretta and her husband, Sam, have always been entrepreneurial in their professional lives. They juggle a successful social media company as well as a variety of home-based products and services. The Beilers have roasted coffee, and Loretta has baked bread to sell locally long before so many of us started trying to make these and other delicacies at home. Loretta’s early motivation was to make a healthier bread for her family with wild yeast and less processed ingredients. She was frustrated by some failed attempts along the way until she perfected her craft and started making a limited number of loaves available locally each week. With huge opportunities for growth, it was important to Loretta to keep this business a reasonable size so she could continue to prioritize her family and friends. She has created what seems to be a clear mindset and healthy balance in her life.

It was then during a surprise trip to Italy four years ago that Loretta had a life-changing Airbnb cooking experience. It was an incredible way to learn about a new culture, share a meal with new friends, and take some new memories and skills home with her. In thinking about recreating that experience for others, she recalled her personal trials in perfecting sourdough, how she could have benefited from hands-on experience, and she decided to organize her own Airbnb experience around baking bread. The result has been a nice combination of complementary bread classes and sales. And while she has the potential to grow these business streams greatly, she is content in keeping her activities relatively small and local for the moment.

You can learn more about Loretta’s coffee, bread, classes at https://www.instagram.com/retbeiler/, https://www.facebook.com/loretta.beiler, and https://courses.retbakes.com/.

015 Deep Dive, Making It Real

Make It and Sell It

11/17/20 • 19 min

This episode is a further deep dive into one of the most frequent questions we hear about home-based production, “How can I get over the initial hump of starting a home-based production business?” The second of three episodes, this segment discusses the nuts and bolts of the start-up process. It includes preparing the space as well as sourcing equipment, supplies, and ingredients.

There are two ways to start a new venture. One is to jump right in—building the proverbial plane while flying it. The other is to plan and organize. This episode argues that organizing and planning ahead is a much better way to go. It gives you the headspace to experiment and improve the quality and efficiency of production.

This is the principle that podcast host, Cory Heyman, has used to prepare his own home for his new production business. He describes how he organized his limited space and the special issues he considered while preparing to make food and personal care products, especially decisions about separating personal and business items, food and chemicals, and food with allergens from food without allergens. Cory also discusses how he has sourced new items and the challenges of buying the right amount of supplies and ingredients to get good pricing but not have too much product on hand.

Next week’s discussion, the last of the mini-series, will focus on research and development, branding, ecommerce, and the big reveal about the launch of Cory’s first products!

011 Clarifying Commercial Kitchens, with Bev Martin and Nancy Rohrer, Food Producers

Make It and Sell It

10/20/20 • 36 min

In this episode, food entrepreneurs Bev Martin and Nancy Martin, talk about their ghee production business, including expanding into a commercial facility and marketing a lesser known product.

Bev Martin and Nancy Rohrer had worked together for years in marketing when they discovered ghee, what they describe as “a better butter.” Ghee appealed to each of them for different reasons, but they both became increasingly excited about sharing this remarkable product with the world. The marketing world had been changing, and they had been interested in collaborating on a product that was that was more tangible. Ghee was it.

Nancy and Bev experimented with flavored ghee recipes in their home kitchens but knew right away that they would need to produce the ghee in a commercial kitchen. It wasn’t easy to find a kitchen at the start, though, and at a rate they could afford. However, they persevered, taught themselves how to run the business, and now, seven years later, the Ghee Gals have a thriving business. They sell locally, distribute widely, and have a strong online following.

In this episode, Nancy and Bev talk about the evolution of their business, their experiences working in various commercial kitchens—including the challenge of producing during the age of Coronavirus—working with employees, and marketing a lesser known product.

In a bonus segment, the Ghee Gals also discuss one of their biggest mistakes and share advice so other small-scale producers can avoid similarly tempting but risky situations.

You can find out more about Nancy and Bev’s company, Simply Ghee, at https://simplyghee.com as well as on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/abetterbutter) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/simplygheellc/).

003 Sourdough for Tie Dyes, with Matt Asin, Early Stage Entrepreneur

Make It and Sell It

08/25/20 • 24 min

This episode explores the thinking of an early-stage entrepreneur who is deep in the process of fleshing out his longer-term plan.

Like many of us, Matt Asin spent the early days of the Coronavirus lockdown trying to keep busy at home. Matt is a professionally trained baker and restaurant professional, so he naturally spent some of his time in the kitchen. Although he had never thought much about making bread, his new time in the kitchen started to change his mind. He started to create beautiful sourdough loaves and developed a new passion and flair for this, making loaves for family and friends. But it was only after a friend offered to trade tie dye shirts (another love of Matt’s) for loaves that Matt began to think about the possibility of starting his own business.

Now, a few months later, Matt has been testing the water and learning that people are willing to travel miles for one of his creations. The supply of fresh sourdough bread is limited in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, yet Matt is finding that the demand for great bread is high. So, he has begun to dream about turning his new hobby into a full-time vocation. Ideally, he would like to be fully operational in the next year or so.

Hear about Matt’s early thinking as he describes his love of sourdough and how he is translating that love into a concrete business plan. This starts with inexpensive, pure raw ingredients, wild yeast cultures that he grows himself (as is the case for all sourdough bread), he can see a path to success. His marketing skills are strong, as demonstrated by the daily images of his baked loaves that he shares through social media, as is his ability to budget. Find out more about what is driving Matt forward, what else he feels that he needs to learn along the way, and his ideas for expanding his business over time.
To see Matt’s loaves and, perhaps, request a taste, visit https://www.facebook.com/matt.asin

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098

018 Seven Secrets for Small-Scale Success

Make It and Sell It

12/08/20 • 14 min

In this episode, the last of the season, we discuss seven of the most important lessons from the first season of this podcast about starting and growing a home-based production business.

Despite our best efforts, it was not possible to book guests for these last few weeks of the calendar year. It shouldn’t have been surprising, as December is the busiest for home-based production businesses. But we are still learning ourselves! Instead, we are using this opportunity to close out the year and season one of the podcast. We examine themes from our 14 guest interviews to see if there are any universals for new home-based producers to consider as they start their own businesses.

Of course, the answer is “no.” Everyone is different, and all entrepreneurs must approach their businesses with their own special circumstances in mind. Nevertheless, I did find a variety of common themes across interviews and discuss the top seven briefly. We call these the seven secrets for Small-Scale Business Success.

013 Fermenting Better Beer, with Tony Morrell, Brewer

Make It and Sell It

11/03/20 • 26 min

In this episode, Tony Morrell discusses one of his obsessions, home beer brewing, how his process has changed over the past eight to nine years to assure regular brewing awards, and how he is thinking about turning his past time into a commercial venture.

Tony Morrell received his first home-brewing beer kit eight to nine years ago. Excited to try it out, the results were pretty terrible. It could take a few weeks to taste one of his concoctions, and the results were often close to what brewers call “drain pour”—so bad that you have to throw it out. The learning curve was steep, and the ingredients that came in the initial kit were not the best quality. Tony was so discouraged that he stopped brewing for about a year. However, as Tony and his friends continued to test local options, he knew that he could do better. He also enjoyed drinking seasonal beers but have a wider window when these would be available. So, he studied up, bought new ingredients locally, and tried again.

One game-changer over time was access to a new yeast, from Norway, that speeded up the fermentation process. Tony no longer had to wait six weeks to test the results of his experimentation. Instead, he could try many of his beers after only four to five days, cutting the wait time by 50 to 70 percent. This miracle yeast also brought rich new flavors, called esters, that created exciting new flavor profiles. The new yeast and other procedural changes helped Tony create beers that have consistently won awards in local competitions. He is definitely on to something.

Tony enjoys brewing so much that he is contemplating opening one or more breweries. His latest two Brewers Choice awards will give him the opportunity to test his interest at scale, as he will have a chance to brew his Guava Strawberry Sour Ale in large quantities at the Pour Man’s Brewing Company. Tony will be able to use this experience and ongoing conversations with other brewers to see if he will enjoy turning his hobby into a career. He is already thinking about locations, combining a new brewery with another passion, outdoor living, as well as branding.

Tony discusses these issues as well as other thoughts about how he would set a new business up for success—some of which might seem in contrast to the advice of previous guests. Why, for example, might Tony think about starting larger brewery initially instead of a micro-brewery at a smaller scale?

You can find out more about Tony’s award-winning beers on his Instagram feed, at (https://www.instagram.com/tmorrell1/).

012 Proofer of Concept, with Armando Lacayo, Baker

Make It and Sell It

10/27/20 • 26 min

In this episode, Armando Lacayo explains how he transitioned from financial management to baking and the role of home-based production in opening what Bon Appetit magazine anointed the best new bakery in the country in 2016.

Three decades ago, Armando Lacayo moved to the U.S. from France to study math at American University. After starting on Wall Street and then earning an MBA, he worked for years in finance in Silicon Valley. In his spare time, Armando also dabbled in the kitchen. He had developed a love of good bread from his grandfather, who in turn had worked in his own father’s bakery (Armando’s great grandfather). Baking was a way to connect with home and his childhood traditions.

As a self-described picky Frenchman with a sweet tooth, Armando worked to perfect some of his favorite French baked goods. At the top of the list was croissants. He was fascinated that a treat that started with loose ingredients could come together with such a firm and tasty structure.

Armando started baking his croissants with guidance from a book but then honed his recipe for more than 20 years to come up with the perfect product. Approximately 10-12 years ago, two friends who did not know each other bought him the same book, How to Open a Financially Successful Bakery, within a short period. Perhaps it was a sign that he should start a new bakery. However, the book presented success somewhat deceptively as a fait acocompli. Anyone could do it by following the prescriptions in the book. Armando knew that it would not be so easy. Plus, in contrast to the book’s emphasis on broad, formulaic systems that would supposedly lead to success, Armando knew that the real secret was creating an outstanding product, made with love, and at a reasonable price.

This episode tracks Armando’s journey from corporate finance to small business ownership. He describes important intermediary steps, such as opening a small bakery space within a café and participating in a bread baking program; and the actual bakery opening itself, in which he had to conscript his young nephew, who was on spring break, to work with him at 3:00am and then sit with coffee and croissants at 7:00am to show passersby that the bakery was open for business. Armando also describes his business philosophy, rooted in an “OSD” (objective, systematic, and disciplined) approach, which translated well from corporate finance to small business entrepreneurship. Last, he discusses the importance of customer-oriented staff as an essential key to success.

Armando shares his story as well as recommendations for home-based producers who are at an earlier stage in their journeys.

You can find out more about Armando’s bakery, Arsicault Bakery, at https://arsicault-bakery.com as well as on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/arsicaultbakery)and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/arsicault_bakery/).

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FAQ

How many episodes does Make It and Sell It have?

Make It and Sell It currently has 20 episodes available.

What topics does Make It and Sell It cover?

The podcast is about Baking, Crafting, Entrepreneurship, Podcasts, Business and Careers.

What is the most popular episode on Make It and Sell It?

The episode title '020 Sharing Cultures with Community, with Loretta Beiler, Baker and Instructor' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Make It and Sell It?

The average episode length on Make It and Sell It is 29 minutes.

How often are episodes of Make It and Sell It released?

Episodes of Make It and Sell It are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Make It and Sell It?

The first episode of Make It and Sell It was released on Aug 24, 2020.

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Make It and Sell It

Cory Heyman, Cottage Cupboard Cooperative

Top 10 Make It and Sell It Episodes

FAQ

How many episodes does Make It and Sell It have?

What topics does Make It and Sell It cover?

What is the most popular episode on Make It and Sell It?

What is the average episode length on Make It and Sell It?

How often are episodes of Make It and Sell It released?

When was the first episode of Make It and Sell It?

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