A Little History
If you’ve had a chance to read the About Us section of our site, you can probably tell, we are more than just three business partners – we are best friends, through and through. We are different in our own ways and we often joke about each of us having more ‘issues’ than the other – but bottom line is, just like most people, the three of us have our share of issues – but it’s the respect, admiration and love we have for each other that keeps our bond strong.
When we were deciding to launch our new website we agreed this time we should include a blog. Our adventures together as the JBT (Just Because Treats) Chix, are stories our friends often comment on and laugh at the most. We thought our customers and readers might like a closer look into our background, baking, shenanigans and adventures. So let’s get started…..
Where to start….hmmmm. Well how about when we decided to relaunch our website? Yes, we say relaunch because this isn’t our first rodeo with our website. When we first opened the business in 2010 we had a website, but we didn’t do a very good job keeping it updated and decided it just wasn’t what we needed at the time – so we disabled it. Our business was going well because of our efforts at farmer’s markets, word of mouth and repeat customers so we felt like hitting the pause button on the website was okay. Over the next several years, our cake business was steady and we were content with it, because even though we love baking cakes, we all were busy with our full time “day” jobs.
Fast forward to 2020 when so much has changed, Jill retired from her day job a few years ago and Tracey was recently laid off from her job after being there for 31 years. While Tracey was fortunate enough to be able to take some time to figure out her new career path, it also gave us the perfect opportunity to work on our cake business so we could really take it to the next level. We were so pumped and energized by the thought of growing our business. We immediately started strategizing and setting a plan of action. Just as we were ready to start putting the steps into place, COVID-19 happened. It was ironic, because as many people know, this pandemic was a time when many businesses were struggling and unemployment was rising. During this time, not many people would have considered it the right time to invest and grow their business. But we were so optimistic that even in times of a pandemic and world chaos, we decided to move forward – our cakes are so good that even a COVID-19 can’t stop our growth.
We knew in the world of networking and marketing, that having a website, along with consistent and frequent social media interactions, was going to be critical. We were fortunate enough to have our friend, Suzanne, whose business wisdom and connections are inspiring, recommend her trusted friend and website designer, Shantell (ThreeEightsDesigns.com) and we were off and running.
Duck Eggs and Fist Pumps
It was early on in the COVD-19 pandemic, before stay-at-home orders were in place, that we first met Shantell. Armed with some mini rum cakes (in our signature pink and black box, of course), we met Shantell in her office lobby with a couple of fist pumps – because that’s what we do now since the outbreak.
As she got to know us and the JBT business, we knew almost immediately, she was the right pick. She was down to earth, professional, inquisitive and funny. And we must have won her over too – because she sent us off with duck eggs…yes, I said duck eggs – how cool is that! As we were wrapping up our meeting, she asked if we ever use duck eggs? We replied, no. We were a little puzzled why she asked us this question. But when she graciously offered us some eggs, we were really shocked. Who just happens to have duck eggs with her (because unless you’re a chef or farmer, why would you casually have duck eggs at your office?). As we were leaving, she handed us a dozen of huge duck eggs and shared with us about the ducks she’d had for several years. We left excited knowing that we’d found the right website designer AND bonus….a dozen duck eggs to try out!
