Ep 12: Baked-in Brilliance with Aisling Tuck

Speaker A: Welcome to Sales Leader Secrets. Get inside the minds of the most successful sales leaders so that you can apply their secrets to your business and inspire your team to grow their sales. I'm Amanda from uspire and I coach and train commercial leaders to support them to be the best they can be for themselves, their teams and, um, most importantly, for their customers, because that's how you grow sales. Right? So sit back, enjoy, and hear some words of wisdom from some of the best in the business.

Speaker B: So today on Sales Leader Secrets, I have a business owner with me who started at the age of 21 in her mum's house in Dublin and has now runs the largest vegan cookie supplier in Ireland. She spoke at our recent you Spire Live conference and I was so impressed that I was really keen to, uh, bring her story to wider audience. So I'm absolutely delighted to introduce to you all the way from Dublin, Aisling Tuck. Welcome, Aisling.

Speaker C: Thank you so much for having me, Amanda. It's great to be here.

Speaker B: Fantastic. Listen, um, Aisling, I, um, I'm hoping that our listeners already are interested to hear a bit more about your story. So tell us, yeah, what's, how did it start and what got you to where you are now?

Speaker C: Yeah, so my business is called Naked Bakes and it is a vegan bakery based in Dublin. I suppose I started because I grew up baking, um, every weekend with my mom and my granny. And when I went vegan when I was around 18, I was met with a lot of opposition from said mother, which that kind of led me down a path of recipe testing and trying to prove to her that I could make delicious things that happened to be vegan. So I started coming up with all my own methods, different ingredients, all of that, and I was creating treats and benchmarking them against the things that I grew up baking online and on a blog. Um, and I started to grow a following there and after a couple of years I decided I want to monetize this, uh, following that I have. So then the business was born.

Speaker B: So you start. Actually started on Instagram and with a blog?

Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. Actually, haven't. I don't think I've ever really talked about the blog side of things, but I used to share all my recipes and, um, secrets online. Um, yeah.

Speaker B: Excellent, excellent. I don't think I've ever met anybody who started like that on Instagram. Fantastic. So you started there and then, um, what happened then?

Speaker C: So I think the first couple of years was very much a side hustle. Um, it was very much a one woman show. Running it in my mum's house. And then during lockdown it really started to take off and we had moved into a little local sports club, uh, kitchen. And I hired like a delivery driver and another baker. And it really just started to grow quite organically and kind of slowly. I think lockdown was a really key time for us because I don't know what it was like in the uk, but the only thing you could do in Ireland was go for a coffee and a treat and a walk outside. So loads of coffee shops started opening up where, um, you know, hairdressers were suddenly selling coffee. And the industry was really booming at the time, so we got a lot of wholesale business. And then we also started to get, um, a lot of traction on our shopify, on our, on our D2C because people wanted to send treats to their loved ones who weren't in there. 5k radius that we had in Dublin that you could only visit people who lived within your area. So.

Speaker B: Of course, of course. And, uh, so you got. Got a little bit bigger during COVID during lockdown. And where are you now? So that's what, five years ago?

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: What's happened since then?

Speaker C: Um, I suppose during lockdown I noticed that there was, um, a home baking trend. You know, everyone was baking their banana breads and that online and I developed a home baking product. Ah, a cookie dough ready to bake. Because that was, you know, really taking off at the time. And we managed to get into a retailer in Ireland, um, and do a lot of independent retailers as well. And then. So that's kind of been one of the main, uh, focuses for the past few years. Um, we're now in Stockton, Lidl, all over the country, which has been, uh, really big for the business. That's become a really big part of our, um, part of our sales. So, yeah, that's kind of where we are. I've been growing the team a lot. I have a great sales manager, great marketing manager. I'm kind of all over ops and finance. And then I have the rest of my production team as well.

Speaker B: Amazing. So a cookie dough product that's in, um, a lot of retailers now, I think in Ireland. Yeah, yeah. Fantastic. So you mentioned that you've gradually grown your team, um, organically as you've needed. Tell me, what's it been like going from, uh, from baking in your mum's, in your mum's house through to running a team. How many, how many have you got?

Speaker C: I have, I think nine at the moment. But you know what, it's so, like, funny, because I never once had even a direct report before I started the business. Like, I'd only ever been, you know, the lowest paid person on the team. And then suddenly, um, When I was 25, I think I had like 10 or 12 people working for me. Um, so that was a really steep learning curve. I didn't really have any training in management or leadership. Uh, I don't think I'd really given it much of a conscious thought even. So I think I definitely made a lot of mistakes, which has helped me to learn and grow and become the leader that I am today. Uh, I feel like I get like, in my head because I'm obviously trying to say, you know, these are all the great things that I'm doing and stuff, but, like, we're all human. Like, no one's perfect. So these are like principles and ways that I'm trying to live. But we don't always do it 100% all the time, you know.

Speaker B: Absolutely. And in terms of you, you saying that you, you know, you came into. Yeah, you come in, you, you are a founding director. You are a really typical founding director who's come straight through finding a brilliant product, a brilliant brand, Naked Bakes and, um, then a team. So, yeah, what, what's it been like?

Speaker C: I think I didn't really understand enough about like, hiring and like, that being like the first step to like, see is someone actually a good fit or is someone suitable? Um, I think I probably hired too quick at the start because we had all this demand and I was kind of stressed and how are we going to do this order and that order? And I need someone in the business to do this and I need someone in the business to do that when actually I wish I'd gone a little bit slower and taken my time a little bit more. Is something that I will say, I think. Do you know what I didn't realize was, like, how much of an effect I have on everybody around me. And, um, I create the energy, set the tone, create the behaviors that becomes a culture. So I think that's definitely a mistake I made that I didn't realize that my stress would affect everyone else on the team. Even if I was like, trying to keep a lid on it and trying to keep it internal. Like it actually does really still. People pick up on your body language and your tone of voice and all of those things. I think that's something I'm really conscious of at the moment. And as I said, I'm not always perfect at it, but. Well, yeah, nobody Is. But I think they're not like my own. Like, I'm really into yoga and stuff like that and gym and kind of my lifestyle outside of work. I try to, like, create some calm energy, um, because startups are chaotic at the best of times.

Speaker B: Yeah. And I guess, you know, you're in a factory in a. In a baking, bakery environment, which is, uh, pretty, pretty busy.

Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. The past couple of weeks have been a lot because one of my. One of my team who's been like, she's. She's amazing. Um, she was on holiday and so we kind of had to do her job between the rest of us, and that included some cakes that had been ordered. Now she's the cake decorator extraordinaire. So, yeah, we were. We were kind of between ourselves. Will we cancel that order? Will we, you know, let them down? Or will we just, you know, do it and try our best? And me and one of the guys on the team really challenged ourselves to get it done and it actually turned out really well. So I was. I was saying to him, I'm really proud of us for, you know, just stepping up and getting out of our comfort zone and trying to learn a new skill and stuff.

Speaker B: Oh, what. What's that lady's name?

Speaker C: Eva. She's French.

Speaker B: Eva, you've been missed.

Speaker C: Yes, I know. I'm dying for her to get back on Monday.

Speaker B: Fantastic. So will she be checking your work?

Speaker C: I think she'll be giving me some feedback, yeah.

Speaker B: Fantastic. Well, that, uh, you know what, there's a real leadership learning, actually, that, you know, ask for feedback and get feedback from everybody, you possibly. So, yes, we're waiting for some feedback on the cakes. So tell me, what is it that you, now that you've come. Come from where you were to where you are now, what is it that you absolutely love about what you do, Ashley?

Speaker C: I think it's the people in all sense of that. I think working with my team, I just really, really like them. I think they're all amazing people. And, like, it's nice that I get to go in and work with people like that that I've chosen to. To be there and that are choosing to be with me as well. Um, and that, like, also believe in my vision and, like, they're all trying to, like, help further the business. Like, that's really. Everyone's kind of attitude, which is really nice. But also, like, the customer is, like, getting messages from customers saying, like, we got a message recently that I think this woman, um, had just had a newborn and she was breastfeeding and her newborn was allergic to milk, so she had to cut out milk. But she had found our treats and she was so delighted because she really needed that, like, something tasty together through those, like, early newborn stages. So just seeing that, like, we're making a little difference on, like, people's lives. Even though it's, it's just cookies, but, like, you know, that does fit into people's day. Or, you know, that that cake was like a really special celebration for someone. I really like that. I like making a little impact on the world, however big or small it is.

Speaker B: Make a little difference. And when you, when you are vegan, um, and in that sort of kind of stressful situation, like, you know, feeding a newborn baby actually, it must be so like, oh, my goodness, I found something.

Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

Speaker B: And challenges. What would you say is challenging you the most right now, Ashley?

Speaker C: I think finance and also my time. My time is very precious and valuable. And I feel like I'm always being pulled in a million directions like any business owner, and it's really hard to find, to prioritize, you know, what needs to be done. And sometimes, like, you can have so much on your plate that you, uh, get nothing done or you kind of accomplish less, if that makes sense. And I think, like, I'm always like, oh, I wish I had another day in the week, but actually, like, I need to have my weekends because that. Yeah, as I was saying about the stress thing and like, keeping a lid on that and keeping myself in a better headspace for work, like, I need the time, the downtime. Um, I think it's really easy to, like, get home in the evening at, uh, like 6:00, like 6:00 after like a full day and be like, oh, I could be doing this or that, but like, you, you need to switch off. But yeah, I think so. I think, like, my time being limited and then the finances, I think, like, when I started the business, I really had no financial knowledge whatsoever. Didn't know what a profit and loss was, didn't know what margins were, and I was really winging it. And I've really had to learn a lot over the past few years, and I think I'm pretty good with the numbers now. I think, like, that would probably be one of my stronger areas, like understanding what's going on. It's really hard to stay on top of the. I would say another thing I think that I met another mistake I made was, you know, oh, I have an accountant now. That's that box ticked when actually you can't just say, oh, my accountant does everything like, because they don't first of all. And second of all, if you don't understand the numbers that they're giving you, like that's a big problem. Do you know, like you need to be able to understand, okay, this is the information they've given me. What does this actually mean? You have to be able to interpret it, you know.

Speaker B: Yeah. And that happened exactly to me when I became really first became, um, had my own business and I don't have direct reports, I don't have many people on the payroll. Um, when you've got a good number on the payroll then it becomes critical.

Speaker C: Right, critical. Like everyone has to get paid on time and they always do. But do you know what I mean? It's a cash flow balancing everything.

Speaker B: Yeah, it is, absolutely. So in terms of, in case anybody's listening, in terms of what your, where you would like the business to go next, what are you looking for next? What's your next big great step for the business?

Speaker C: I think we'd love to start exporting actually. Yeah, I think we'd love to start exporting our retail uh, products because they've got a decent shelf life. I'm not sure which markets yet, to be honest. I want to do more research. We actually dipped our toe in the UK market in 2023 and we had a food service or sorry, like a kind of an independent distributor who did all the sort of indie shops and farm shops around London. And it just wasn't the right time. Like I think I kind of rushed into it because I had the opportunity. Like someone came to me and was like, oh, you should do this. And I was just like, oh yeah, sure, great. But it wasn't the right time. I didn't have enough money in the bank to back it up and take a hit on, you know, profitability to get it off the ground or you know, there was a lot of moving parts that weren't in place. So yeah, I'd like to look into what other European markets, maybe uk. I know it's very competitive and very price driven, so we'll see. And then I want to keep launching new products in our direct to consumer and wholesale business. Um, our wholesale, our supplying to coffee shops around Ireland is our bread and butter. It's the majority of the business and I love it because it means I get to work with other small business owners and like B2B customers. You know, it's, it's really nice business to do and we want to bring out some new Products. And we've been working on, uh, vegan croissants and pastries. Okay. We had a cafe last year, which we actually closed, but they were one of the best sellers and they're really, really good. Um, again, shout out to Eva for developing, uh, our vegan croissants. Um, because that's a challenge, you know. But yeah, so we, we'd really like to launch them as well. I think we're thinking around like veganuary, um, time. January, New Year.

Speaker B: Yeah, this January coming.

Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: Wow. Yeah, soon.

Speaker C: Yeah. They were, they were kind of ready to go in like October. And then we said, you know what, like we've got Halloween products, we've got Christmas products. Let's just. It's too much. I think that was, that's another mistake. I feel like I'm just telling you all the mistakes I've made. Um, but one of the main, one, another mistake that I made was launching way too many products and doing way too many products and then you're kind of not selling that much of any of them and your uh, productivity and profitability is down. So keeping things neat and streamlined as

Speaker B: much as possible, that's the case for really big businesses. I remember when I worked in the biscuit market, you know, every now and then you absolutely had to, we used to call it cull the tail. You got to cut it off at uh, the tail so that you can make sure that there are enough of other product of the right products on the shelves. Right, yeah. So that tail, I like call it tail and tail analysis.

Speaker C: Tail analysis. I'm going to bring that back to my team now. They won't know what I'm talking about. We've got to cut our tails off, guys.

Speaker B: Um, so Ashleigh, you are a female entrepreneur, you are a female business owner. Um, principles and values. How do you. What sorts of principles and values do you run your business? Bye.

Speaker C: So the business is a vegan business and that's always going to be the way. But with that, I think taste being number one and quality and my team are all over that, that like any product that we send out or any new recipe that we develop, it has to taste just really amazing. And uh, not just like, oh, that's a good vegan brownie, where that's good for a vegan cookie. We have actually two years in a row won a gold award in our, um, in the Irish Food Awards, the Blossom of Heron Awards, Um, and our non vegan competitors came second. So I think that kind of validated everything I'd been trying to do for five years, which was to make vegan that tastes just as good, if not better than, uh, non vegan counterparts.

Speaker B: Yeah. So make amazing cookies that happen to be vegan.

Speaker C: Exactly.

Speaker B: Amazing.

Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. And then I think secondly, I have this saying, like, never leave anyone on a sinking ship. Well, that wasn't my original saying, but um, I think it kind of came from early on in the business. I had this one day where we had. It was Valentine's 2021 and it was crazy amount of sales from lockdown, uh, and just Valentine's in general in the bakery industry that you probably know is insane. And I had, I got to work at like 7am and I had two girls working for me and they started at 9 or whatever and there was so many orders that like at six o' clock there was still like a mountain of work to do. And they both left. I think one girl might have stayed an hour later than she was supposed to. But yeah, I was then in the bakery overnight and didn't leave until 11am the next day. And so I was there 28 hours like baking. Like I will never forget it. And I just decided that day, like, I'm never gonna do that to anyone. I'm never gonna let anyone be on a sinking ship in my business. Like if something has to be done, like they're not on their own. Do you know what I mean?

Speaker B: Yes, yeah, I do, absolutely do. And uh, yeah, it's a brilliant principle to live by actually. Don't leave anybody in the lurch just because it doesn't happen to be your job at that moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that. Uh, I get that. Uh, so where would you say your biggest influence has been in terms of your own development as a business owner? M. Well, so what shaped you?

Speaker C: I think we were talking about this, um, at Ah, uh, UCFire live, that, you know, my role models were never celebrities or celebrity chefs or anything like that. It was just my mom and my granny. Um, you know, my granny, I think made me fall in love with baking because every time I went to her house, like it smelled like fresh lemon cake or coffee cake or whatever she had made. And she always said to me, oh, you deserve one of these in each hand. Like she would give me two little treats, um, which I just think was one of my fondest memories, uh, as a child. But my mom, she was the breadwinner, super resilient woman. And she taught me one of the first things she taught me was treat others how you want to Be treated, which is just a classic, but words to live by. Um, and then when I started the business from home, I was very young. Well, I was 21, so not that young. But I used to be going out and having all sorts of fun while also trying to be this new entrepreneur. And, um, there was quite a few times where, you know, I just wanted to cancel an order or be late or delay an order because I was sick or hungover or tired or lazy.

Speaker B: Understandable. That age. Yeah.

Speaker C: She, you know, always taught me, like, if you have an order, like, if you have a customer who's relying on you or who's giving you money, you have to deliver that on time and in full. And that consistency and that reliability really, I think, built my reputation and that built my brand. So I think that's something that I really live by. Um, now still, I. I love that.

Speaker B: So that. That kind of, like, if you said you'll do it, you got to do it. Yeah. It's kind of the. The definition of integrity. That is. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. What's your mum's name?

Speaker C: Mary.

Speaker B: Hi, Mary. I hope you heard that. Amazing testimonial to your motherhood. So one of the things we do on our, um, leadership secrets, sales leader secrets, uh, sessions is ask people what their best advice would be to other entrepreneurs or to other leaders or to anybody who might be thinking of doing what you're doing or what you have done. And, uh, then we ask you what your top one would be. What's your top sales leader secret? So what would you say? Yeah, uh, what's your best advice to people in business?

Speaker C: I wish that I had a co founder. You know, I wish I'd started this with somebody else. I know it has its, its challenges, but I think that, uh, if I had another me, I would be somewhere else completely entirely.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: Yeah. Um, probably do more research. Do as much research as you can on the market, on the customer, on the competitors. I think if. If it's a food business, I think focusing on taste, um, making the best tasting product that you can, or any business, I suppose, making the best quality product that you can. And probably my top one actually would be networking is, uh, such a key to unlocking your growth, I think. Yeah, I think I really only started to do it post lockdown and I've met so many amazing people who have opened doors or shared suppliers or contacts or just been, like, someone to talk to after a long day or to bounce a problem around. I think it can be a really lonely place being a business Owner. Uh, because there's some conversations you can't really have at your team, you know, and I think having a network around you is really, like, essential.

Speaker B: Yeah. To be able to bring the outside in and to be able to, as you say, just knock something around that you wouldn't want to burden, um, actually your team with because they're watching you. Right, yeah, totally getting that. So I'm going to ask you what your top sales leader secret is.

Speaker C: So I think my top, uh, sales leadership tip is just to be empathetic to the people around you. And I have a really big heart, so I think it does come naturally to me, but I think I could even be better at it, that, like, you really need to understand where people are coming from and their point of view. I think with your team, but also with your customer, with your consumer. Yeah, I think more empathy in the workplace.

Speaker B: Yeah, more empathy. Absolutely, absolutely. Um, and also that consistency so that people know that they're going to see that empathy from you, um, every time, every time you show up.

Speaker C: Yeah. I think I was listening to a, ah, podcast with Brene Brown. Do you know her?

Speaker B: Absolutely. Love Brene Brown.

Speaker C: Yeah. And she was just saying about, like, building trust. And that trust is not built by you saying, like, trust me, um, we're gonna do this and it's gonna do this. It's like, built in those little moments in the day of, like, remembering someone's birthday or remembering, um, that someone, you know, had a hard week or whatever and, you know, building those little micro moments.

Speaker B: Yeah, that's lovely. That's a lovely top tip to finish with. Aisling, thank you. Um, listen, thank you very much for making time in your very, very busy baking day. Uh, it's really, really appreciated.

Speaker A: Thank you.

Speaker C: Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker A: Thank you for listening to sales leader Secrets and giving us your time today. If you found any of the secrets useful, please do subscribe and follow us. And if you'd like to hear more about how we work with sales leaders, then go to www.theyuspiregroup.com and get in touch. We'd love to hear from you. Bye.

Speaker C: Bye.