Do you remember what you wanted to be when you were a kid? Do you remember that first spark of excitement when you stumbled upon something you loved?

For Kelly her love for baking started when she was a little girl baking with her mom and grandma during the holidays.

Her interest in baking continued to grow when she got her first Easy Bake Oven.

By the time she was in high school she was watching cake decorating shows and beginning to appreciate how cake decorating was an artistic expression.

While her love for baking was always there, young Kelly didn’t know she would one day own her own bakery, design custom cakes, teach baking classes, wholesale her own baked goods, and get to do this all while working with her mom.  

In November it’ll be 5 years since Kelly opened Sprinkles of Joy Bakery in charming downtown Newberg, Oregon.

Continue reading to discover how Kelly went from Easy Bake Oven to bakery business owner.

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Kelly’s love of baking started with her family when she was just a kid even before she got her Easy Bake Oven.

“It was always such a fun memory to bake with family and family recipes. Dessert has always been like a family gathering thing for us. We’d always have a whole table of desserts for anything. It’s not a celebration without something sweet,” Kelly shared with a smile.

While Kelly loved baking for her friends and family, she wasn’t sure if it was going to be her career.

Kelly enjoyed working with kids since her first job out of high school was at a daycare. Initially, she decided to go to school to be a teacher.

She enrolled in the local community college, but baking was still in the back of her mind.

After two years of community college, Kelly realized baking was what she wanted her career to be. She enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu culinary school and earned her degree in Baking and Patisserie in 2016.

Even though she decided baking was her career path, she didn’t have plans of opening her own bakery when she graduated.

Instead, she worked for a few other bakeries before coming to the conclusion that maybe owning her own business was in her future.

“It was like, nope, I actually kind of would want to be my own boss and be able to see where I’ll go.”

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However, Kelly didn’t jump right into opening a storefront. She started with a homebased cottage food business in 2017.

She sold her baked goods at farmer’s markets and made custom cakes on the side while still working at another bakery.

Kelly was actually working a farmer’s market with her mom, Karen, when she saw the for-lease sign on the building that would become the home for Sprinkles of Joy.

“During that market I was like hold on a second and walked over and it was like, oh this would be a great spot,” Kelly explained with a laugh.

And now she’s had her storefront for almost 5 years!

 “It’s fun to see that progression. It’s funny to take a step back and see it. Sometimes I’m like oh I wish we could be further and do more. And it’s like hey, it’s only been this long and we’re doing okay, we’re doing good.”

Kelly started preparing to open her own bakery business by doing a ton of research.

“I did a lot of research and visiting other bakeries and taking down notes before opening.”

She also started stockpiling supplies and storing them in a storage unit before she had her own kitchen to work out of.

“That’s the route I went. I bought an oven, I bought tables and then once I was ready to open a storefront, I already had a lot, so we didn’t have to buy everything at once. You have to store it, but there’s smart ways to do it rather than paying a lot of money upfront.”

With the perfect location for her storefront, stockpiled bakery equipment, research, and her mom, Kelly was ready to open Sprinkles of Joy.

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Owning a bakery has been more than just the baking for Kelly. She’s also been able to build her confidence.

Growing up Kelly was a shy kid, but through her business her confidence in talking to people has grown.

Being able to more confidently connect with people has helped Kelly expand her business. She’s been able to network with other local businesses which has helped her start wholesaling her baked goods.

Not only does Kelly connect with other businesses, but she also connects with her customers.

By paying attention to her customers, she was able to add more value to her business. She created a kids’ corner in the bakery, and they’ve started to serve various coffee drinks as well. Both of these additions give her customers the chance to spend more time at Sprinkles of Joy.

Community and family are a huge part of Sprinkles of Joy’s success.

“We have a lot of family that help out. We treat our employees like family. We just love them. We just like connecting with people.”

Working with her mom has been one of the main joys of running Sprinkles of Joy.

“We get along and we’re able to talk through things. We love coming up with different ideas and sometimes it’s like we have too many ideas. We just want to do it all!

The last few years we’ve really gotten into a groove. She does the ordering and office work, and I do more of the production and prep and custom orders.”

Kelly also attributes their success to consistency, but Karen and Kelly still find ways to keep it fun and fresh for themselves and their customers.

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They enjoy coming up with weekly themes and creating a weekly menu from that whether it’s tropical, camping, or inspired by Oregon.

“Once we have an outline, then we can kind of go a little crazy with ideas.”

Even though Kelly loves her bakery she still hasn’t forgotten her other passion, teaching.

Kelly’s first job was at a daycare where she came up with the idea of teaching baking to the kids. Even as a business owner, she still wanted to be able to work with kids in some capacity. Now, twice a month she combines her two passions by teaching baking and cake decorating classes.

If you haven’t guessed it already, Kelly is one busy woman. Between creating custom cakes, running a bakery, teaching classes, and now wholesaling, Kelly has learned having a good system in place is crucial.

“It’s a lot to keep track of, there’s a lot of spreadsheets,” Kelly laughed.

They have a binder full of their orders for the day and week as well as Google calendar with all their upcoming events on it.

Even with all of this going on already, Kelly has even more plans for the future!

She also wants to start a local business owners’ group where entrepreneurs could meet to pick each other’s brains and learn more about the behind the scenes of different businesses.

Kelly understands that for a lot of business owners it can be a solitary endeavor and having more support is never a bad thing.

“You feel like you’re in it alone and that’s why I like to work with my mom because then we share the load of the highs and lows. But the community support is there. There’s more support than you think is out there.”

Read More: Kelly’s Motivating Story on Starting Not One Business, but Two

Often times this can lead you to developing a deeper passion and fulfilling career. Kelly loved baking as a kid, and even though she wasn’t sure at first, she did decide that baking was the right career for her.

Kelly started college thinking she would be a teacher, but she finished with a degree in Baking and Patisserie from a culinary school.

Kelly didn’t think she wanted to own her bakery at first. But now she’s owned Sprinkles of Joy for nearly 5 years and is still growing her business.  

Kelly’s confidence in baking has not only increased but so has her confidence in talking to other people.

Kelly and her mom, Karen, work well together and share the load of owning a business. Kelly also has other great family members and employees to help her.  

By connecting not only with her customers, but also with other local businesses, Kelly has been able to expand her business.

Kelly started with a cottage food business and making custom cakes. She also stockpiled equipment and did her research instead of just jumping in. She took her time and gradually grew into her bakery.

Even something you love can become monotonous so find ways to keep it fresh for yourself. Kelly and Karen come up with weekly menu themes which allows them to have unlimited fun with their creativity.

Many of us can get stuck on how we wish we were further in life, but like Kelly said it’s good to take a step back and look at your progress.

Kelly loves baking, but she loves teaching and working with kids. Instead of just completely ignoring one of her passions to focus on the other, she found a way to incorporate them both.

Whether you like using planners or spreadsheets, find the system that works for you to keep everything in order like Kelly and Karen do.

Kelly is truly living and pursuing her dream. She’s a great reminder that it’s possible to chase and achieve your dreams!

If you’re ever in the Willamette Valley, make sure you stop into Sprinkles of Joy to say to hi to Kelly and Karen and try one of their delicious treats!

If you’re struggling to find something you’re interested in and want to pursue, check out this post on 5 easy ways to discover your passion and 33 journal prompts for finding your passion.