Hello to all!
First and foremost, Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful festive season and are all feeling recharged and ready for the year ahead. There is something truly special about the fresh start of a new year—the goals, aspirations, and dreams that come with it. I truly wish you all reach the goals you've set for yourselves.
I am very much looking forward to what the next 12 months will bring for Kacie Jae’s. Now being two months young, we have a lot of work ahead! The last month has been busy as always with markets and lots of baking. I feel privileged to be back in the kitchen baking at such a frequent rate, so early on in this journey.
My focus of late has been planning what the coming months look like in regards to markets, online campaigns, baking, and my full-time job. There will be minimal downtime this year, but I will do my best to have small rests along the way. Honestly, I enjoy working on the business so much that, at this point, I don't feel I need or want to rest.
This year, I aim to be attending as many Sunday markets as possible. As I am currently baking on Sundays and my current bakery arrangement has specific availability, I have decided that the best step forward is to find a bakery space that allows me to bake every second Monday, on my allocated rostered day off from my full-time work. This will allow me to plan ahead for Sunday markets and have scheduled bake days that won't conflict, avoiding the financial loss from cancelled market site bookings.
Until I have my own commercial space and am moving enough volume to justify it, I will make whatever current arrangements work for as long as needed. That's the reality! In the last couple of days, I have viewed a bakery space that is suitable for my requirements, so the ball is already rolling in this regard.
I've also been working on potential business collaborations, which is something I’d like to do a couple of times throughout the year. From my experience so far, it can take some time to lock in a collaboration concept that is suitable for both parties, as well as the organising of the collaboration itself. I will continue forward with my search and hope to have some meaningful and aligned collaborations unfold throughout the year.
With a large vision, I must always remind myself to get back to the daily high-priority tasks that move the needle forward most. It is incredibly easy to be swept up in dreams and daily life, which is why I am always needing to be mindful of this and continue to improve my prioritisation and execution of tasks.
A big focus for me this year is to put my head down and do the work. Keep to a routine. Bounce back from hurdles and bumpy roads as quickly as possible. Being the "everything" for my start-up business, it does not move anywhere without me pushing it, and any bottlenecks of my own flow through and impact the business. I have worked very hard to create the momentum I have currently and feel that my trajectory is very positive. However, I am mindful that it's the daily decisions we make that keep us moving on this path or veering off course.
Creating the best possible launch pad for Kacie Jae’s first year operating means absolutely everything to me. So, I do my best to do my best in all aspects: discipline with training and diet, regular mentorship, mindset work and meditation, and surrounding myself with people who hold similar values in life.
As always, thank you for following along on my journey. I hope that you all have a prosperous year and move through any challenges that arise with resilience and faith.
Warmly,
Kacie