Today we’d like to introduce you to Maddie Allison.
Hi Maddie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up with a mom who owned a home bakery, so I have been baking for as long as I can remember, for fun and then working for my mom’s bakery as my first job. I went to college received my degree in industrial engineering and currently work full time as an engineer, but I never stopped baking. It’s what I do for any friend’s or families birthday, it’s my go to when I am stressed or happy, the kitchen has always just been my happy place. I had always thought it would be amazing if I could own my own bakery and turn my creative outlet into a business. I had researched the laws and regulations, how to get a business license, I had done all the things to prepare but wasn’t sure if I could actually do it. In November last year I talked to my fiancé about it and he encouraged me to just try it and supported it all the way, so I got all set up and started Made by Maddie. My favorite thing to make is cookies, so bakery style cookies in fun flavors, and custom decorated sugar cookies have been my focus. I have a creative side, so the custom cookies are really fun for me to make and get to be a little bit of a cookie artist. I knew I had a good product but needed to reach customers and get the word out, so I started an instagram. My personal instagram has about 9 posts and I’ve had it for 10 years, so I am not typically an instagram or social media girl, but I have committed to posting something every day and getting outside my comfort zone. I have been able to grow through a really encouraging local community of small business owners I have met in Columbia and Lexington, through word of mouth and with the instagram account to where I am baking basically every day after my 9-5 and on weekends. I take custom orders as well as sell at a local store and love getting to bake every night at home.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I get so excited that customers want my product I have had a few times where I have over committed. I work a 9-5 and come home and bake after, and have pushed myself to where there is a 2 am cookie crisis, but I am also a perfectionist and want my customer to have the best product so I pushed through. I think finding a balance of personal life and my small business has been the biggest challenge for me as I am growing.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I consider baking under creative, especially the custom decorated sugar cookies, they can be little works of art. I bake, and while I take custom orders for all different kinds of baked desserts, the main focus of my business and thing I am known for is my cookies. I do 2 different styles of cookies. The first are decorated sugar cookies with royal icing, I do custom orders for birthdays, baby showers, corporate orders, and other events. The custom cookies are all unique and each cookie is baked from scratch with high quality ingredients, hand decorated with royal icing, and I have even done custom painting on cookies with edible paints. I think what sets my sugar cookies apart is that they are all highly decorated and uniform (perfectionist right here), but they also taste good and are a soft and chewy style sugar cookie. The other cookies I do are bakery style cookies, which I get to be creative with the flavors on those ones and am constantly experimenting and coming up with new things. Some of the top selling flavors are cookie butter, s’mores, caramel stuffed pretzel chocolate chip, lemon white chocolate, strawberries and cream, salted caramel mocha, and double chocolate. My bakery style cookies are extra large cookies (really they are sharing size…but you don’t want to share), they are all made small batch by hand with high quality ingredients.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success for me at this stage in my business is continuing to grow and make my customers happy with the best cookies I can make. I am Christian and I believe in God’s greater plan for my life being better than mine, so I want to work hard and see where this can go. If it’s in God’s plan for it to become my full time job, that would be amazing, if it’s something I get to continue to do as a side business that brings me joy, that’s amazing too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://madebymaddie.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madebymaddie_columbia
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DqmSExjCG/?mibextid=wwXIfr
