[00:01] Justin McCullough – What do you do when it's your turn to lead? Well, that's a great question. The Vision, Values and Velocity podcast is all about a better way of thinking.

[00:09] Justin McCullough – And how to get you where you.

[00:10] Justin McCullough – Are now to where you want to be as quickly, confidently and intentionally as possible so you can make an impact at work, home and life. Hey. Oh, this is Justin McCullough and this is my show. Thanks for being here. You know, it's my goal to give you the encouragement, clarity and confidence that you need to tackle whatever your next big thing is, whether that's leading a team or running a business, or maybe taking on a big new project, you know, or maybe it's something else. But something cool is happening. I can feel it. And, you know, I'm certain stories like this are going to help along the way. So let's jump in there and take a look at the leadership traits of Olivia O'Neill, owner of Sugar Mama's Bake Shop. So take notes, listen in, and I'll see you on the other side.

[00:59] Justin McCullough – Hi, this is Justin McCullough and we are here at the Small Business Festival and I have Olivia with me.

[01:04] Olivia O’neal – Nice to meet you. Thanks for having me. I own Sugar Mama's Bake Shop. We are a Americana style bakery. We have home style desserts, cupcakes, pies, cookies, brownies, everything sweet. We have two locations in Austin, one on the south side and one on the east side. And we're heading towards our nine year anniversary of having a storefront ten years in business.

[01:22] Justin McCullough – Wow, that's fantastic.

[01:23] Justin McCullough – And it sounds delicious.

[01:24] Olivia O’neal – Thank you.

[01:25] Justin McCullough – So you have two locations in just about 10 years. Why don't you tell us a little bit about the first place? Where did you start? What was the idea? How did you get off the ground?

[01:33] Olivia O’neal – Sure. So I come from a background in commercial real estate, but my dad was an entrepreneur and he has his own business which he's retiring from this year. And so I always had that burning desire to work for myself. I love the freedom that comes with it. I love that you can be really innovative and have your own ideas. So throughout my professional career working in corporate America, I knew that my trajectory was to own a small business. I originally really wanted to open a dog bakery and I did some recipe testing and it wasn't nearly as fun as human foods. So that's how I ended up with Sugar Mama's Bakeshop.

[02:03] Justin McCullough – I see.

[02:04] Justin McCullough – So a passion. Passion was already there. And so you shifted from dog to human, which great move.

[02:09] Justin McCullough – Right.

[02:10] Justin McCullough – And you've got some successes from that Right. You've been very well acknowledged for what.

[02:13] Justin McCullough – You do with your recipes.

[02:14] Olivia O’neal – Yeah, it's been a great ride. When we opened the first day, we sold out twice. We had to shut down and rebake. We had a line around the block, and were turning a profit in about three or four months. And it was during the downturn in 2008. And so we were very fortunate that all of our hard work really paid off. Yeah.

[02:32] Justin McCullough – Yeah. So from my experience, having an actual physical location in that first store with that first concept is expensive and it's hard, and it takes a lot of time. So how did you navigate some of the financial parts and the resource management with your time and work-life balance.

[02:46] Olivia O’neal – So most entrepreneurs know that when you start a business, banks don't want to give you money. It's like the first line in every book of how to start your own business is, start saving your pennies. We really did. We did the max out your credit card. We took out a home equity line of credit. We used all of our savings. We put everything into it, and we just had a really strict budget. I had a great contractor, and I did a lot of thrift store shopping. I had a vision, and it really all worked out well.

[03:09] Justin McCullough – That's great.

[03:10] Justin McCullough – So whenever you think about your business and as you've expanded into two locations, you mentioned you had a vision. How does that vision translate over time? You have 10 years now, and now two stores.

[03:20] Justin McCullough – What is the vision?

[03:21] Olivia O’neal – Well, Sugar Mama's focus. Since the beginning, my personal mantra has always been community. Food is community. And so I've taken that food is community first into how can we stay invested, involved, and supportive of the community. From when we first opened, it was making decisions like non-chlorinated recycled bakery boxes. We were one of the very first restaurants in Austin to compost. And so we've really approached it from, we're not here just to make a profit. We're here to make a difference. And so that has really carried through how we've really made all of our big business decisions. And so keeping that food as community and invested in the community has really returned that and been receptive to it. And so it's been a great contribution on both sides, not just from our guests, but from us.

[04:00] Olivia O’neal – And I feel like it's really a collaborative effort to get where we are today.

[04:03] Justin McCullough – Yeah. So talk to us a little bit about that collaboration. What would that look like? I guess, in an entrepreneurial sense, obviously, you want to do what your customer wants.

[04:13] Olivia O’neal – How do you apply that? So in the beginning, before I opened the business, I had a lot of free time, and so I did a lot of volunteer work. But when I opened my doors, I could no longer spend all that time volunteering because I do have a family. And so it was honestly giving little gift cards. It was a $5 donation to every single PTA that asked us for something. It was two cupcakes. It was making sure that we looked at different organizations and nonprofits in the community with the greatest need. We really focus on animal, children, and women. And so we do canned food drives. We've had one every year since we've opened that we've donated to Safe Place in Austin.

[04:48] Olivia O’neal – And so it's doing things that really give back, that it's like my little passion projects that I really love and am invested in. And as a result, those type of people who are also invested in that and want to make the community grow, you know, patronize us and spread the word about us, and so it works out really well.

[05:06] Justin McCullough – That's great. So, you know, I'm picking up on community volunteering, giving back, right? You're very clear on who you want to serve and how you want to do that. What would you recommend to entrepreneurs who are listening in as they're trying to craft that balance between a buying audience and following their passion and what they're excited about while also giving back? Because isn't it hard to give back whenever you're growing a startup business?

[05:28] Olivia O’neal – It is, because you're putting everything into your business so you're tapped emotionally, financially, at all different avenues. There's a difficult work-life balance between people who have families. Sometimes marriages don't survive small business ownership. I've heard of a lot of that happening, and I've seen a lot of it happening. And so I really think when you're in it, in the weeds, keeping your cup filled is really very, very important. And that doesn't always mean going and putting that physical time in. It means doing the canned food drives. It means giving those donations. Maybe you're spending an hour or two a week coaching somebody, because as much as you put out, you're going to keep getting your cup filled, and that's what really helps you survive.

[06:08] Justin McCullough – That's great. So the cup being filled is like the love tank, right? It's the rest and the restoration of yourself.

[06:15] Justin McCullough – Right.

[06:16] Justin McCullough – And that's important. So as we wrap up, why don't you talk to the folks who are. Watch how they would do that. How would they actually maintain that balance in their life and take care of that filling of the cup.

[06:26] Olivia O’neal – Well, I think it's really important to focus on what you love to do. That should be where you're putting your eggs in that basket. So if you're opening a business that you love, how does that translate into keeping your cup filled? If you have a restaurant, maybe it's doing food donations to food shelter. If you have a technology firm, maybe it's sharing that technology with a nonprofit in the community that really could desperately use it. So I think that in anything you're doing, as long as you can think about how you can put that out into the world and how you can give a little bit back, you're going to continue to feel that rewarding feeling.

[07:01] Justin McCullough – Yeah. So what I'm seeing there is always have a mind for giving so that.

[07:05] Justin McCullough – You can receive it. Right.

[07:06] Justin McCullough – That's great. So where can people find out more about you and your business?

[07:09] Olivia O’neal – So we are at www.sugarmamasbakeshop.com, Sugar Mamas Bakeshop on Facebook and Sugar Mama's Bakeshop ATX on Instagram.

[07:20] Justin McCullough – Well, there you go. So Olivia just really throwing down some great knowledge bombs around what it is to build a small business in the midst of a community and to do that in a way that's really others-oriented and focused on relationship in the community that you're in. And I really love where she's coming from with the point of view around keeping your cup full. And I just got to ask, what are you doing to slow down and keep your cup full? You know, she really anchored back to how her business could do that with giving cupcakes and giving gift cards and then also doing some volunteer work.

[07:56] Justin McCullough – And I think one of the big things really the takeaway in this is, you know, when we're trying so hard to get what we want for that project or for that business or whatever it is that we're working on, we often get into sort of a little silo of thought where it's how can I get more for me, what do I need to do next to get more of what's on my plate? And you know, that's kind of a little bit limiting and perhaps a little bit fear based or I like to think of it as not coming from a place of abundance. And I think Olivia really just nailed how important it is to continue to give as a part of actually restoring yourself. And so I want to encourage you right there—that's an excellent value to be self-sacrificial in the midst of community and to be serving others so in fact you can restore yourself and feel good about what's going on around you in the midst of all the hard work that you're doing.

[08:36] Justin McCullough – So, Olivia, thanks a ton for that wisdom and for sharing that. And also I want to thank Matthew Pollard for letting me use this interview from his festival, the Small Business Festival. And you know, I want to remind you that this show is really here to help you when it's your turn to lead. And I just think that vision, values and velocity is the best way to get where you want to go. And so just as a quick reminder, you know, vision has got to be attainable, sustainable and compelling. And your values really are just guardrails for decision making.

[09:18] Justin McCullough – You know, they're going to help you stay on track and fostering the right kind of ideas with a consistent framework around your values. And then of course, velocity is the direction you want to go and how you want to get there with speed and acceleration. And I'm confident that you'll just continue to get more and more speed as you go when you clarify your vision and live with your values. So thanks a ton for being here. Thanks to Brakemaster Cylinder for the cool theme music and catch me on the next one. If you want to partner with me and visit and hang out and all that good stuff, you can go to visionvaluesvelocity.com, you can also connect with me on Twitter MCC Justin on Twitter and go to my website, justinmccullough.com. Thanks a ton and I will see you later.