All Hail the Queen of Cupcakes - Vikki Brown

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 0:10

Hey, welcome to another episode of In the Black. This is Your Boy Dex. And, I've always had kind of a sweet tooth when it comes to a lot of things. Well, just basically sweet tooth in general. Always had kind of a weird childhood and I never realized until I got older and I didn't realize that kids got to have cupcakes on their birthday. And so I'm just kind, kind of give a shout out to my mom. Who never gave me cupcakes on my birthday, and I'm still dealing with therapy with it. But that takes me to our guest. If you find yourself with a sweet tooth in the Chicago land area, I want you to see this guest in particular, she is known as the Queen of Cupcakes. She is. Cup the cupcake later. The owner of Queens, of Queen Cupcakes, she specializes in baked goods, cocktails, and I hear she also knows how to throw down in the kitchen. And if anybody says otherwise, they can come see me on Twitter regardless. Here she is, the kitchen guru herself. Miss Vicky Brown. How you doing?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 1:15

All right, Dex. Thank you. That was awesome. But dude, no cupcakes.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 1:20

Man, you don't understand. She, like, I, here's what happened. My, my sister had asked my mom for cupcakes, you know, for her birthday. I didn't know that was something that she was willing to do. And so, um, you know, I, uh, so later on I was, I was, you know, recalling this, this story with this girl I was dating at the time. And she went out of her way for my birthday and she made me like 30 cupcakes to take into. I didn't take them into work. I ate 30 cupcakes, you know, in the span of a few days. But,

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 1:50

had some years to make up

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 1:52

bra, I've been trying to make up for that for all those missed years, almost every day of my life. So, So, just so you know, you know, I was gonna tell you at the end, but this is just a long con to get free cupcakes anytime I come up to Chicago. So

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 2:05

Yes,

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 2:06

that's, that's all this is. You know what I mean,

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 2:08

I got you.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 2:09

bro. You don't understand my sweet tooth is real. Okay,

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 2:13

That's awesome.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 2:14

So, let's get down to business by telling me about your business.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 2:20

Well, I am a home based baker in the, suburbs of Chicago. I also travel, sometimes I bake in Atlanta as well. And. You know, I do cupcakes. Um, I just recently started my bartending, mobile bartending business earlier this year. About a month or so ago, I went ahead and added catering to my resume as well. So basically anything that's kitchen related, I can basically master it or learn how to master it, I should say. Not to sound cocky, just I really, really, that's, that's my niche right there. That's, that's where I'm supposed to be in, realize I'm less clumsy in life when I'm the.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 3:02

Man, I am with ya sister. Every morning I wake up and I make breakfast for my wife and kids. And, it's, that's like my space, you know what I mean? I just woke up, I make my coffee. I am with you. I am definitely with you. I, but I gotta

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 3:16

it's a great,

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 3:17

you had me at cupcakes. You really had me at cocktails though. So you, you really had me.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 3:24

cocktails that taste like cupcakes, you know?

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 3:27

Oh, bro.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 3:30

blown.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 3:30

Yeah, my therapist is gonna have a field day after this conversation. I'm just, you know, That is, that is too awesome. So how did you, how did you get to this point? I mean, what did you do before? I mean, I'm sure you've been cooking for quite some time, but what, what did you do before you started the cupcake?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 3:55

I was always a person, one of the friends that would, cook for everybody, even in like high school and everything like that. It kind of started like my father, he was like sick, when I was in high school for diabetes and everything. And so I kind of took over the role of cooking cause my mom had to work more. So, my daddy had a funny way of asking for stuff he wouldn't ask. He'll just walk in and say, Hey, you said you was gonna cook some pork chops today. You know, so now you already know if you had any plans, scratch 'em until those pork chops are done. But yeah, I always, had a thing for the kitchen, but like, uh, in 2015, I actually seen a post on Facebook funny of these red velvet stuffed cupcakes. So, I had a friend, Jasmine, shout out to Jasmine, who was moving out of town, and she gave me this cupcake pan Now, um, , I seen the recipe, I tried it out, and then I posted. It was like, Oh my God, these are amazing. And, um, I actually had a lady, Karsheena Brown. I would never forget her. She was my first order and she ordered them and it, it went from there. So I went ahead and be, you know, went to school for business, graduated for that. I took a break cuz I wasn't full time back in 2015. It was just the on and off thing. You know, just kind of bring in extra income. But then, I started going into HR. So I was in HR and I was doing payroll administration before I actually then medical claims as well, before I actually, decided to say, let me just step off into the kitchen. So that's what I used to do before. I just used to, do office work, HR, payroll, medical claims, and. It just, I just, you know, it's just sometimes the universe speaks to you and it's like, you know, this is not for me. It's great experience to have. It was good to know that the student loans that piled up could go to something

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 5:55

Yeah. . Yeah.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 5:58

Um, but yeah, I was like, you know, let me just kitchen, let me go in the kitchen,

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 6:05

That is what's up. Yeah. I'm all about that, so, So yes. Let's thank Ms. Brown for that first order. You know

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 6:13

Yes. . Yes. Shout out to you. Karsheena. did it,

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 6:17

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And your friend, Jazz that got you. That pan too. So

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 6:21

Oh, yes, Yes. Shout out to you. Jasmine Reid. Shout out to her as well.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 6:25

I. Absolutely. I'm gonna interject one thing though. This, this little bit right here said, has said a lot about who you are as a person, that you remember your very first customer.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 6:39

Oh yeah.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 6:40

you know, I, I gotta, I gotta speak that out there because I, I, I don't know if I could remember everybody, you know what I mean? So I don't know if, I'm trying to remember everybody either though, you know, so I dunno if that is more about

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 6:53

one.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 6:54

Yeah. Okay. Appreciate you But, um, but you, you said you do, other than cake desserts. You do, I mean, it sounded like liquid desserts to me, but talk about how you, you went from the baking to the mixer.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 7:12

Oh, Huh. You know what? I have stories

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 7:16

oh. I got podcasts, so that works out.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 7:20

Yes. There we go. So the drinks, I don't even know if I tell you. Okay, so the drinks, I started off actually mixing drinks when I was 14. Um, my best friend, yes. Yeah, I know my best friend Kelan, his auntie used to always throw what she still do, throw parties in the summer. And, you know, she, she was also a bartender, and she would. Teach me how to mix the drinks up and let me get the tips from the people so she wouldn't have to worry about mixing everybody's drink. And she was able to enjoy her party. So, you know, not to promote, do not try this at home. Kids, not to promote anything, but, you know, kind of young and was like, eh, you know, you think we wrong? Let's try alcohol. You know,

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 8:07

Yeah. Yeah,

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 8:08

she was ? Yeah. So she was like, uh, mix these drinks up. You can get the tips. So that's where I. Started from, and I got to the point where I started mixing my own stuff up and now I'm above age. And my mom was like, Hey, you should bottle these up and sell these, you know, people would buy this, like my jungle juices or my, uh, knock you out punch. And I'm like, you know what? So recently my guy, you know, he was always my motivator, so he was like, You need to bring the drinks in. You need to bring your drinks in. People love your drinks. I also used to bartend and waitress at a couple of clubs and I loved it. It was fun. I got a chance to, Mix up a couple of drinks and every time we go on vacation I'm always making a bartender mix something crazy up and

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 8:59

What?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 9:00

they will actually wind up liking it and stuff like that. So a couple of places I went. My drinks is on a menu

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 9:08

Yeah.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 9:08

so that's awesome. So, yeah, I was like, You know what, I'm gonna go ahead and do it. So, you know, January I went, I got license, um, to get my liquor license, my basket license in Illinois, and took the classes that I had to take. And January 1st I was ready to go. I went ahead and lodge my liquor. So I do popup shops at places. I do private parties. I've worked with venues, I do mocktails as well. So, you know, a lot of, uh, sweet 16 parties are starting to become those sweet 16 parties that we used to look at the celebrities have for their kids on MTV back in the

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 9:45

Yeah, I

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 9:46

Those are actually starting to be everybody's sweet, sweet 16 parties now,

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 9:50

Yeah. Yeah.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 9:52

Um, yeah, I was like, Wow, I still have ball walls in my hair at 16, but you know, we're not going to go into that. me not show my age on this podcast right now, But, um, yeah, so I do mocktails and everything like that as well. And, you know, probably one of the best decisions I did to help expand my business from just doing, um, cupcakes, cakes and desserts,

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 10:14

That is, that is amazing. I mean, let's be honest, the fun don't start till you get there, so

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 10:20

Right, exactly.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 10:22

know, nobody's waiting on the dj. They're working, they're waiting on their cups. All right.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 10:28

Right. And the best thing about it is anytime I bartend at any events, when I leave out, when it's done, everybody's having fun, they're dancing. It's just like a whole vibe. And that's the type of vibe that I try to bring. When I hand somebody a drink, I wanna hand them good energy, even though I'm handing them alcohol But I. I want them to be a happy person, you know, with the alcohol. So that's the type of energy I try to give out to them when they actually get a drink from me. So my actual bartender name is Lady Bartender cuz I'm like very fun. I'm such a fun bartender. I'm a dance with you. We're gonna take shots together. It's just we're, it's all about having a good time and I feel like. It's more than just bartending. I feel like it's, You need to entertain as well. You know? Nobody wants a dry bartender, you know,

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 11:23

Nah, nah, They can go to the, the Marriott or something for that, but,

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 11:28

you know? Right.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 11:29

So how many cha cha slides you seen?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 11:32

Oh, you, I'm in. You know what I do the cha cha slides too. Okay. I do every slide that comes up, but I, many of them, and when I say, when the slide music starts going out and everybody starts getting on a dance floor, I know that I have done my job. Once they get on there and they do that Casper slide

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 11:51

that's what's up. Yeah. The wobble. Yeah.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 11:54

Oh yes. And the wobble. Oh my goodness. And

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 11:58

The original Big Girl song. Yeah, I know about

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 12:01

Yeah.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 12:02

I know about it.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 12:03

Yes.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 12:05

is man, bro. Now I feel like in the middle of the day, just getting up and, nah, I don't

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 12:10

Hey, big girl.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 12:11

I don't need that on YouTube. Nobody needs that so.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 12:15

No, I think we need to see it now. I think the world wants to see D through the wall.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 12:20

Yeah, that part's gonna get edited out. Nobody's gonna see me Nobody's gonna see me doing that. We don't, we don't want that. Nope. No. Apparently she's been, uh, hitting her own sauce here. People. She's getting high on her own supply. She's talking crazy. Is she talking crazy?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 12:39

I mean, you have to try for, you give it to other people. I,

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 12:43

You know? Yeah. You know, you wanna put out quality, you know, before you start putting out quantity. Yeah.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 12:49

There you go.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 12:51

So tell me about that, that moment that you realized this is something you could do full time. What was, was it like right after a party, You know, people are trying to sober up, you know, get a Uber, was it, you know, a kindergarten, cupcake festival or something? Where was the moment where you're like, Okay, I can, I can do this.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 13:15

I can actually tell you it was October of 2020. My son was about seven months at this time, and I had a very difficult pregnancy that, um, you know, we're, we're lucky and we're, we're blessed to, you know, be here. So it kind of made me think, you know, what would my story be? You know, I worked with a lot of companies. I work, well, not a lot of companies, but I work with companies doing hr, payroll, and, you know, Not everybody believes in happy employees, and that's just, you know, not my motto. And I was like, you know what? If I can sit here and work somebody else's dream, cause somebody had this dream before it became their company. Like even if it, even if you, you know, gained it from inheritance or anything, it was still somebody's dream that they made happen. Why can't I do the same for myself? You know, so that's what made me be like, I'm going to do it. You know, I talked to my guys, say, Hey, you know, if I, if I leave right now, if I leave, you know, would you, you gonna back me up? Or you know, it be good. I already always had customers, actually, my customers always brought me back. Anytime I stepped away from my baking business, I was blessed enough to have clientele that waited on me to come back. There are some that wouldn't even order from other people until I came back, so they always brought me back cuz they were always tag me in old memories or something. Be like, Oh, I missed this, or when you're coming back. So, you know, I was like, All right, I'm going to come back. And. I started, um, researching to become a little better, uh, to make more custom items, but it was October of 2020. I was like, You know what? You never know until you try. Worse outcome, you fail. But with failure comes lessons. So do you truly even fail? You know?

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 15:22

I need you to say that again for somebody out there that may not have heard and somebody in, in the. Classroom was not listening, so I need you to say that.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 15:32

Um, so what I said was, um, I realized that you never know until you try. And the worst outcome is I fail, but every failure comes with lessons. So do you even truly fail? You know, you just take it, you fail if you give up. But if you take that lesson and you learn from it and you grow from. You didn't fail. Sometimes you need that little bit of failure to actually excel, you know? So I was like, I'm gonna try it. Worst case scenario, I fail and I will be October 16th of next month. I will be two years going strong. And I have expanded my business to not just desserts, but also drinks and catering.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 16:18

That is it right there.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 16:20

Yeah.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 16:21

that is it right there.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 16:23

Yeah.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 16:23

everybody say these pandemic babies or something else. I'm gonna go shout out them. Pandemic moms also, so

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 16:30

Yes. And these pandemic babies are something

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 16:33

they are doing taxes and stuff, pushups.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 16:38

hilarious. It's so funny. My son, I actually have a cooking show for him on TikTok. Um, Yeah, he's two. And it's called Cooking with Chef boy Ariel, cuz his name is Kil. And I, I always try to throw seasons out there cause they're like, Girl, you just going live. It's not a season. But I say seasons because I do think that my son's gonna get his own cooking show at some point. He loves cooking. So, um,

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 17:03

yeah.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 17:04

well, I'm gonna play on all his interests. So, Yeah. You know, that's so funny because he actually, the way he be flipping the burgers and stuff on there, them people be like, This boy been here before, so don't surprised. Taxes next year. That's all I'm,

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 17:19

Hey, h and r block. Ain't got nothing on my man here. They got nothing on them. So, but, yeah. Let's, let's get back to this, this business. I know I joke a lot in this podcast, so. , but,

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 17:31

all right. I like it. Cause I, I, I'm actually a fan of your podcast. I listen to 'em and I'd be laughing. I said, Okay, I can. I like this

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 17:39

Cool makes this even easier, you know? I appreciate you. So, you mentioned that you have, people that. That come to you, they'll wait for you to, start doing your thing again. But where, where do you find most of your customers and or clients?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 17:59

Word of mouth. You know, social media does help out businesses a lot. It's a a real different from having to be so Organic back in the day, but really word of mouth. And what I wanna say about that is word of mouth and getting organic orders are going to be, should be your main priority, which I understand social media is so easy to promote and market, but if social media goes down today, how much of your revenue drops?

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 18:31

Yeah,

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 18:32

You know, you need to have that or that organic word of mouth. Organic customers, majority of my customers are organic in word of mouth. You know, I definitely do the reels and stuff like that too, but you have to have those organic ones just in case. Even if your computer should, if, if Facebook restricts you for 30 days, is that going to hurt your revenue over 30%. So you need to think of that, when having to, you know, dealing with food or treats or something that's more, that you're serving more to the public than eCommerce, you know.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 19:07

Yeah, I, you know, I, I explain that to a lot of my clients when it comes to email marketing. You know, you can, they'll always have emails and you can always reach them, and I'm, I'm always telling people like, if, if they have a birthday or a special moment or, a Christmas party or something like that, you can still reach people because people check their emails like every day. And if, you know, if you already have a relationship with them, you're just cultivating that relationship. You're reaching out to. You know, that's, that's the other thing about social media is, you know, if you post at the right time, you can get, you can get people. But if you post at the wrong time, I don't, I don't know if everybody's gonna scroll all the way down to see your post. You know what I mean? You know, So if everybody's reading their stuff at three o'clock and you post it like 2 58, but everybody else is posting at 2 58, you know how, I mean, what guarantees they're gonna see it. So, you know, I'm not against social media, don't get me wrong. I'm a bigger fan of email marketing because just like you said with Facebook, if they decide to ban you for 30 days or whatever, it's, it's not just that 30 days on how it affects you. It's, I mean, people may not come back in 30 days or people who may have been interested in you before it suddenly can't get ahold of you, you know? So, yeah, you wanna control your own destiny, which is really what this show is about. It's about people controlling, you know, putting their hands on the wheel and turning it the way they, they need to go. So, So there's

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 20:38

Take control of your life. You know,

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 20:40

Yeah, absolutely. So you've been doing this for two years, What?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 20:46

Yes. I've been full time for two years. Yes.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 20:49

for two years. Okay. So what were some of your obstacles? That that you had before you went full time, that you know people, if they wanted to start this business, what would they expect? What obstacles should they expect?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 21:02

I did not realize how much money it takes to start a business and you know, you can always start a business and not spend that much, but if you're really trying to be legit, um, it. Definitely takes a lot of money. And then I've, not only that, I've been funding out of pocket for two years, so, you know, I did not expect the amount of money that it takes to run a business. I do wish I would've did a little more research on that aspect before actually just jumping out on the limb. Either way it goes, I don't regret what I did at all. But I would say with baking and stuff like that and everything that comes with it and helps department inspections, especially if you're in Home Baker, having to have permits just to sell to the public and pop up shops and everything like that, all of that comes into account. Um, and it's expensive, you know, you don't wanna stay in the red. For more than two years, you wanna make sure that you plan and make sure you have a business plan. One thing I didn't have when I first started, I have a business objective. But I didn't have a business plan, which I do now. I have a five year plan. And starting the beginning of next year, I will be offering classes on how to start your five year business plan, or if you want to do consultations with me to, get your five year business plan in motion. I have a system, for that, that I can help you. Because it's very, very important that you have a map, A roadmap to success is basically what I call a business plan. It's a roadmap to success that you can follow and that you can change and update, um, as much as possible. Now, if you're baking and you're starting to be a beginner, another obstacle is being bashed on social media. You have to have tough skin and you have to right your wrongs. Okay, Bakers listen to. Right your wrongs. Don't be a person that likes a temporary dollar. Make sure that you won't have a, developer relationship with your customers to where they come back to where if you, some things happen. We're not perfect. Things can happen. But yeah, there was definitely a time where I got bashed hard on social media, um, in the beginning, uh, when I wasn't as skilled as I am now with my custom cakes. I was just starting off and growing. But yeah, you know, that's another obstacle. And that can mentally it can get to you. I know we see a lot of celebrities, they get bashed every day and stuff, but, you know, it was that, that one time and I was in my house pacing like, whew, you know? But. Handle it. You know, if, if you know somebody feels some type of way about something, even if you talked and made it right behind closed doors, they feel like they have the right to bash you. It's their right to bash you, believe it or not, because they are their own person and you don't have the right to, you know, argue with it, especially if you didn't live up to the expectation of what they. So you have to have touch skin cuz it's possible. Not saying it's gonna happen, but it's a possibility and you have to be ready for that. You have to be ready for everything.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 24:24

Yeah, that is, man, that is so underrated. You know, that level of humility, it's, it takes a lot. It, I mean, you really do have to put your emotions, to a side, and. Just look at the substance of what people tell you. I mean there, if you think about it, they're giving you free advice on how to improve your business.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 24:46

Yes. Now, the way they did it, they sometimes is not what you say, but it's the way you say it. So that also applies. But, you know, even to this day, the way I handled it, I, you know, I didn't get upset. I didn't bash them, I didn't say anything back. Um, the way I handled it to this day, I still get people that inbox me and tell me that they, you know, about my customer service and how I handle certain situations, you know, and stuff like that, that they seen, because, you know, Eyes are always watching. I know it seems like you only you two at the time, but there is other hundreds of people watching what you do. And just from the way I responded, I got multiple orders

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 25:29

Yes.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 25:29

the way I responded

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 25:31

I tell my clients the exact same thing. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead. I tell you got me excited. I tell my clients the exact same thing. Like even if somebody, you know, gives you one bad review, which is, if you think about it, it's actually great. It, it's actually great. And I'm gonna tell you why, because what it does is it says, okay, they cared enough to tell you, all right. If they didn't like, um, if they didn't like that shrimp boil that you made or whatever, and oh, you put too much old bay or something like, Then you can, you can say, Hey, you know what? I'm sorry you didn't like it. Why don't you come back and we'll, we'll get you what you want. And it shows, you know, to the audience, you know, whoever reads it, whoever sees it, whoever you know, experiences it. It says, Hey, I, I didn't make this right that first time. Come back, I got you. I got you. I'll make it. Right. And that says more, you know, you could have. 10, five star reviews, but that's, that's not as good as like having a 4.8 in, in your reviews and having 200 reviews. I mean, it's just, I mean, people know you make mistakes, you know? So yeah,

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 26:34

And that's also something I had to learn, like a better way of right my wrong, Definitely something I also had to learn, you know? Cause the customer was say, Hey, you know, you did this, then you should, you should refund this or you should do this. Like, hey, that would be the noble thing to do. And then when you sit back and think about it, yeah, they're right as well. So, you know, definitely that lady definitely had a reason to be mad, you know, going back and, and looking at it now from where I am now and how much I've grown. Yeah, definitely had a reason to be mad. I'm not saying that I didn't deserve it, but I'm saying the way you handle it is the thing. Cause they expect us to be mad anyways.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 27:14

Yeah, they're emotional, so they want you to be emotional. Yeah.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 27:17

Exactly. You know, And then when you mad as people see that they uhuh, See, this is why I don't support black business already, Uhuh. I will not, I, I promise I will not be that stereotyped. That's what I promise my customers and I, and customer service, I take it very, very seriously. I realize, I think a lot of business owners that, you know, they start to get a little sales, they start to get some revenue. I think they forget. That without your customers, you have no business.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 27:46

Yeah.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 27:46

If every customer stopped coming to you right now, what would you be selling and who would you be selling to? What's your target market? Now you have to start all over, and by then word of mouth has spread it just as well as it spread. It spreads good with positivity, but it spreads like wildfire when it's.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 28:09

Yeah.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 28:10

you just have to, um, have to know how to talk to people, treat people, take classes on it. If you have to breathe before you respond, if you have to take a while, don't respond to tomorrow. If you're going to respond horribly and hurt yourself tomorrow, just take a breath, think about it. Think about what you can say, talk to somebody else, vent. Be um, but. Just be careful with how you run your business, what you say, especially on social media.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 28:41

Yeah, definitely. Um, but that, that kind of gets me to my next question. You talked about your, your business plan.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 28:54

Mm.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 28:55

And I know what business plans and with businesses in general, you know, and I talk about this, a lot of systems. What sort of systems did you put in place for, you know, making a cake or setting up, uh, an event? You know, staying in communications with people, uh, making sure everything was right, you know, for you to go from point A, the customer takes an order from you, or, uh, gives an order to you or to. Point Z you delivered and it's time for the invoice. What? What is that bridge from A to Z?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 29:28

Time management is so important because you think if you're doing an event, you probably still have regular cake orders and everything put in place for that day. Communication with your customer is key. If you know that you need to take time to work on the event, plan the event. Don't try to do everything in one day or the day before because you're exhausting yourself. Once you get to that event or you have to go to deliver. You're not your, you're not yourself, You're not your. Image that you can be. You look tired. People can even, you could have your hair done and everything, and you can still look tired. Your energy is going to be off. Give them the same energy that you gave them when you was talking to them. You did the consultation, or you was texting them however you did it. Energy transform through words just like it transforms physically. So try to plan your day out if you know that you have. A lot of decor that you have to make on a cake. Start doing that decor early, bake your cakes ahead of time. Don't try to cram everything at one time. So, That's the best, that's the best thing to do. Plan everything out. I have a notebook or a scheduler and you know, I put my days in there and I say everything I need to do, What should I do within these days until the day it gets to the event? Cause by the time the event comes, I want my stuff to be done early that day. So where I even have time to get myself together days and everything like that. Because you don't wanna run out your house sweaty either, so, So make sure that you plan like time management when it comes to baking with food and events and everything like that, planning down to the tea. I mean, even if you have to get one of those big soccer mom boards and with all the sticky notes and everything from 10 to two, I need to do this, or from 10 to 10 30, I have to do this. Do what you have to do to make sure that you execute. And you do everything that's not rushed. You have enough time so you can perfect it or fix anything. You have to add time for mistakes. It can be a time where maybe your cake layer didn't come out the way that you wanted to do. Maybe you gotta rebake that cake layer. You need to have time for that cake layer to cool down or bake extra cakes, just in case it does something does go on. You can go grab the other cake, the extra cake that you. Plan for anything that can happen. Cause I know if most bakers and cookers, um, and drink makers, sometimes I know y'all watch these cooking shows and bake shows and you see down to the wire that something goes wrong with their cakes. That happens in real life. That can happen with you. But if you plan accordingly, oh, you can fix it and it can be a breeze. But if you don't plan accordingly, then you run around like. Chicken with your head chopped off and you trying to figure it out and you're not giving them the best quality work that you can give them, which is something learn as well. I'm having to

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 32:39

Yeah. Yeah. Planning accordingly. I don't know where that advice was when I was, uh, in the fifth grade. I'm talking about you. Whichever guidance counselor that was. I don't even

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 32:49

Wow.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 32:50

I'm pretty sure I wasn't listening anyway, so, but, um, we talked about, um, You mentioned stereotypes of black business owners and everything. Let's, let's, let's touch into the culture a little bit. This is a question that I probably should be asking all of my interviewees. What asset, what asset, uh, do you wish to be for your culture? How do you wish to lead? How do you wish to give?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 33:22

I am huge on giving. Like, that is like one of my things. Like even next month I'm going to be giving away two free cakes. I don't want anybody to spend a dollar on them just to show my appreciation to my, uh, town and everybody that's been rocking with me and keeping me in business. Without them, I'm nothing, so I always give back. But what I would love to be, I would love to be like a leader to where I can pay for, you know, kids that's like straight outta high school to go through college, who parents can't afford it, who don't want to have those student loans on their background and have, and spend their whole degree paying back. You know, Sally May or Great Lakes, you know. Um, . I wanna be able to be the type of person where I can, you know, send food to families of some families every month who may need it, you know, help a mom take something off the plate, pay for daycare for someone so they can. Go to school because they can't work, pay for daycare and try to do school even though some are making it happen. I want to be the type of asset to where I can help my community grow. I wanna, I know I'm only one person, but I just wanna be able to grow and have enough money to where I can have a team and we can help people in multiple places, multiple states, multiple areas. And I agree with helping everyone around the world. But I do wanna start in where I am and branch. To, um, you know, other countries and everything like that. I just wished, wish I had like Elon Musk money so I could really like, you know, start a couple of people with like their LLCs if they're serious about their business. You know, I want to have some people underneath me so they can learn how to run a business. And I just, I just wanna be a great asset to my community because like I said, without my community, I'm nothing and I'm big on that. You know, I tell myself, It's so easy to get big.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 35:20

it

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 35:21

But I always have to humble myself back down and I really like, I really appreciate when some people tell me, and you're very humble, cuz I really, really try to be, um, humble as, as humble as possible. Um, because I'm not trying to be bigger than anybody. I want us to all be on the same level. Now, I do realize you can help every. But if I could and put it in my power too, I have the funds to, I would definitely try to help the people that want to be helped and who want to help themselves. So that's the type of asset that I, I'm working to be. I'm not gonna say I wanna be, I will be, I will get there. Yes.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 35:59

I, uh, I'm gonna segue to that question a little bit later because you did mention, you know, being in the black community and everything, and I, I know. Representation really is everything. And I often tell people each one, reach one. You don't even have to teach somebody something, but you just gotta reach out and let 'em know that they're, they're kind of not alone in everything that they do and every in who they are. Um, I, I need you to talk about, I need you to answer this in two parts. Who, who was, that representation for you and who you, who are you gonna represent for? I know you mentioned some of this earlier, so you can go over the same stuff again if you want.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 36:42

Yes. So, um, for why am I, God, you know, I, I love him. He is my biggest supporter. Um, he definitely, uh, helps me humble myself. Uh, , uh, definitely, uh, he's definitely my speaker boss when I need to vent

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 37:01

Yeah.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 37:02

um, he is definitely like, he, he's, uh, he plays a major role in how I represent myself also. Um, My mentor person, I follow Jerome, uh, Jeremy Jones. He's also known as the Cake King. I mean, the, the guidance that he gives the Cake community and what he does is amazing. It helped me grow to where I am now, taking his classes, following his lead, just watching his live stories and being a part of his, Cake University has just, you know what it is. I, I probably wouldn't be as good as I am now if it was for his classes and everything. So I definitely, have to give a shout out to him. Uh, but those two, those are my biggest, uh, influencers and help me with being able to be the person that I am to represent to anybody else now who I want to represent. My whole community. I want to, I want people to look at me and be like, You can do it. I want people to, uh, look at me and be like, you know, let me try to be the best business person that I can be. Um, definitely wanna, uh, rep for upcoming bakers. So, people that's in high school are younger cause you can start real young, uh, with baking and stuff like that. It's, it is a very fun thing. You can start at a young age. I wanna be able to represent for them. I wanna be their Cake King, or I should say Cake Queen in that case. Um, like the way he was for me. And I want to be a very noble and honorable, um, representation. Just like what my guy is to me. You didn't shout out to you, Dre

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 38:45

That's awesome. All right, so I need you just to speak to the future Bakers. They're on, they're on their very first day. They got their paint can in front of them. They got the recipes. They know what they're doing. Before they get started, what is the one piece of advice from you that they need to.

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 39:05

Let's see. Take a deep breath First. It's okay to make a mistake. Don't try to be perfect. Just try to perfect your craft, if that makes sense. But don't try to be perfect. Learn. Every experience is a learning experience, and sometimes it gets so hard that it can make you think twice about what you're doing. Don't think twice. Okay? So when you put that batter in that pan, when you grease that pan, That's you getting ready. That's you sitting right there with the cake pan. You're ready? Once you mix up that batter and those ingredients, and you pour it in, you want to rise just like that cake is gonna rise, rise, just like the cake is gonna rise because it's important that you grow. Don't stay in one. Grow, take classes. Do what you have to do. Stay humbled though. Don't get too bigheaded. Don't let your pan overflow That's gonna mess up the whole foundation of your cake. But take a deep breath and don't try to be perfect. It's okay to make mistakes. It is okay. Like I said earlier, it's not about the mistake you made, it's about how you handle it after you made it. People know that you're not perfect. Even though they expect perfection or they expect what they expect from you, rather from a cake or in life, at the end of the day, deep down inside, they know that you're not perfect. Don't try to be, just stay humble and grow.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 40:46

That is what's up. That is what's up. So, let's say, three to five years from now and, um, you know, they've, they've gotten it together and they're trying to get to your level. What level do they need to expect themselves at, at three to five years? As in, where are you gonna be at in three to five?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 41:05

Three to five years. I, I'm definitely going to have a couple of bakeries out. I definitely will have a couple of bakeries within three to five years, um, in three to five years. You can see me on tv. I'm speaking it. I'm speaking it. You will see me on tv, but no, for real, in three to five years, I definitely wanna have like a nice community. I wanna have like classes going. I want people to grow. I want to be able to give back as much as I can to my community. In three to five years, I actually want to go into high schools and teach business ethics. Not just teach it, but maybe do like assemblies. Um, make it fun to where maybe I could do a class at a time and they can come in, we can, you know, decorate some cupcakes, but they can learn business structure, they can learn credit, you know, how to build their credit, credit repair. I wanna teach other kids that's coming out into the world. I don't want them to come out and have to learn the way I had to learn. Or anything like that. I kind of wanna take that step of struggle away from them. So three to five years you will see me knees, hands deep, getting my hands dirty for my community and helping as many people grow as I can in three to five years. I hope to have a lot of people right next to me,, on my level because they followed my lead

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 42:30

That is what's up? That is what's up. Well seen as though, you know, I don't know if I have the patience for three to five years. I know you're gonna be. I don't know if, if any of my listeners got the patience for that, but if they're looking for you now, where can they find you?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 42:46

You can find me. I'm more Facebook person, but you can find me on Facebook if you type in Vicky Brown. That's V I K K I. Brown Cupcake lady. And you will see me pop up. I'll be holding a cake and you will see, Hi, I'm Cupcake lady, right after my name. Or you can follow me on Instagram at cupcake underscore lady 89. That's cupcake underscore lady 89. And then, you know, check me out. Follow me. And if you're in the Chicago land area, all you have to do is Google Queen cupcakes and place those orders through the website. I have an inquiry form and I do travel, so Atlanta, you can also reach out to me. I travel there as well. I actually have a wedding there next year that I'm super excited to do. Um, so that's how you can find me. I hope to see. Soon. And if you're in the Chicagoland area and you listen to this podcast, make sure that you follow me and you follow in the Black Pod. And when you do let me know and I will give you 10% off on your order.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 43:54

you heard it here first 10% off on the order, y'all. I am. I'm going to put all of that information in the show notes and I, I want to, I wanna leave you guys with two things. One, who's ever having that wedding next year? You know, I, I don't. I don't want y'all to be surprised or, um, calling security on me when I show up, I'm gonna just have like one or two cakes and leave. All right? Just don't call nobody. We don't need them people. The other thing is to my amazing guest, I, I want to, I wanna give you this business idea that I'll never, ever do, but I think it's right up your alley. Um, it's called Bits Bites Baker. So everything is a little small, you know, like little cookies and little quiches and little croissants, and then you sell everything by the weight. And then that way I don't, I don't feel guilty for eating a pound of cookies. You see what I'm saying?

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 44:52

Because they was bite size.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 44:53

was, But there was little, there was, I just wanted one

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 44:58

You know what next just for you? I'm make it happen. I'm look into it. I'm make it happen.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 45:03

If you do it, if you do it, you, I, I'll be your first customer. I guarantee it, man. I will. I'll be doing donuts coming around there, around that corner. You will hear me before you see me. I just wanna let you know I got the ill

Nikki Brown - Queen Cupcakes: 45:18

so ready.

Dex - Queen Cupcakes: 45:19

definitely. Definitely. Well, um, you know, for my amazing, amazing guest, I cannot believe she put up with me for this. Miss Cupcake lady herself, Queen Cupcakes, Vicky Brown, I appreciate you. I love your energy and I appreciate everything that you've given to us all today and I really hope somebody gets a lot of information out of that. Um, if not, just rewind it, you know? Yeah, definitely. Just rewind it. If you, if you wanna support her, you know, I, I'm gonna have all that information in the show notes. If you wanna support me, go ahead and share all this information with a friend. Um, the other way to support is I have a link for both Patreon and one for, buy me a coffee. So, you know, if you feel like if you didn't got no friends, you can go ahead and buy me a coffee. I'll be your first friend. But, So for Ms. Vicky Brown herself, I'm your boy Dex. This is in the black where we try and each reach. and by teaching one and we can all, you know, get there. But, uh, thanks again. We love you guys. And you guys have yourselves a great day. Bye.