Today we’d like to introduce you to Jill Baethge.
Jill, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
After spending 20 years at a Fortune 500 company, I felt like I knew how my story would be written if I stayed there. So I decided to rewrite my story by resigning from the company and staying home with my two young children.
In the process of doing so, I was looking to create something unique for my son’s birthday and happened upon an instructional video of how to make a candy piñata. I always loved to cook and create and this seemed like the perfect combination. Also, I thought it looked simple enough for me to do, but after spending nearly the entire night on it, I realized the level of difficulty. However, when my son’s eyes lit up to discover the treasure trove of candy inside, it was well worth the loss of sleep.
Additionally, there was such a positive reaction from my family and friends when he smashed it open – I had never received that sort of amazement for anything I had created in the past! From there, I began creating chocolate and candy piñata cakes for more family and friends and really started to hone my craft. After researching and discovering that no one in the area, and hardly anyone in the U.S., was creating custom candy piñatas, I knew that I had stumbled upon something special. Kaboom Chocolaka was created to bring joy to everyone – how many times do you receive a treat for breaking something?!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being self-employed and starting your own business is always daunting and I don’t know of anyone that has had a smooth road. The anxiety can be overwhelming at times. I was diving into something completely unrelated to my prior career as an accountant. In addition, I’m completely self-taught. This can be an asset because I’m not tied down to what I’ve been told to do – I will experiment and sometimes create happy accidents. Marketing has probably been my biggest struggle. From learning the nuances of social media to the intimidating task of putting myself out there, it is all challenging to certain degrees.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Kaboom Chocolaka story. Tell us more about the business.
Kaboom Chocolaka creates all-edible chocolate and candy piñatas for big occasions, or for anyone just wanting something to smash that comes with a treat. The customer chooses the candies, dried fruit, nuts, toys, etc. that they want in the inside. The piñatas are then smashed open to reveal the goodies.
I’m always working with new designs and welcome ideas from my clients. I have only found a handful of people in the country, and none in this area, that create custom designs like I do. Among my best sellers is a chocolate house that many local realtors use as a closing gift. My large heart and jumbo cupcake have been very popular as well and can be used for just about any occasion. I’m also working on a risqué line of piñatas…
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I do consider myself a lucky person. I used to win radio contests all the time and even won a car once! However, I don’t feel that luck has been significant in my business. Hard work may make it seem like you’re lucky and being ill-prepared may make it seem like you’re unlucky, but it just boils down to what you put into it, you get out of it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.KaboomChocolaka.com
- Phone: 9727422664
- Email: kaboomchocolaka@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaboomchocolaka/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KaboomChocolaka/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaboomChocolaka
Image Credit:
Joshua Baethge
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