Hey Everyone, I've missed you! In this episode I'm telling you what has happened to the podcast, what's going to happen to it, and I introduce my latest project which I think you'll love. Thank you for your love, support, and listening in! 

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Welcome to the last episode of season 3, and 2019! In the final episode of last year, I spoke about all the lessons I learned during 2018. Looking back and reflecting on everything that’s happened to me this year, I decided that it would be a pretty good way to end this season’s podcast episodes as well because 2019 has been both the worst and the best year I can ever remember, and I’ve learned such a lot from all I’ve been through. Today, I share my lessons with you in the hope that you will learn something from them too, so listen in, to find out what I learned from 2019.

I love doing this podcast! It’s great fun and it’s always such a pleasure to get wonderful emails from people all over the world, telling me how much they enjoy listening to the podcast, and saying that I keep them company while they’re mixing buttercream, waiting to pick up their kids, or when they can’t sleep at night. I think it’s very cool that I get to be part of so many of your lives! Thank you for that! And a big thank you to all of you for being part of the podcast and part of my life too! Tune in now, to hear about all the lessons I learned this year.

Show highlights:

• This year, I had a pretty rough time with depression.
• My kids are growing up so fast!
• Our industry has changed a lot. In some ways for the better and, in others, for the worse.
• My word for this year is ‘phoenix’.
• Trust your instincts.
• I learned that people who tell you “this is your problem” don’t necessarily even know what your problem is.
• Tune in to your inner voice to figure out what’s really going on.
• Consistency will always trump one-hit-wonders.
• I’ve learned to walk every day and I found that consistently forcing myself outside has made a huge difference to my life.
• Getting out makes a huge difference in how you see the world and how you see your troubles.
• This year, I learned that our industry has leveled out a lot.
• Don’t allow other people’s judgment to force you to make changes you don’t want.
• People are more forgiving than you think so it’s okay if you drop the ball sometimes.
• Manifesting works.
• Giving feels good!
• The greatest gifts often come from the worst circumstances.
• We go through different seasons in our lives and some of them can be long and dark.
• The judgment of others should not dictate how you should live your life.

Links and Resources:

Christine Kane - www.christinekane.com

You can purchase all the different classes I’ve done from The Learning Store, on www.thebizofbaking.com

If you enjoyed the podcast this year, please leave a review either on Google Podcasts or on any other podcast listener device that you use.

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Today is an exciting day because I'm interviewing Tracy Vasquez, the owner Sugar Beez, a cookie company that mostly makes really beautiful royal icing cookies. Tracy hails from Wonder Lake, Illinois. She's the mom of five grown-up daughters, and she works full-time as a police dispatcher. She is a very interesting person and her experience has been quite different to that of most of the other home-bakers that I've spoken to on the podcast, so listen in today, to hear Tracy's story.

Last year, Tracy was approached by a national grocery chain. They asked her to supply their stores in Illinois with her cookies, and then that expanded to include Wisconsin as well. Tracy discovered that she had to obtain a GFSI certification from the Global Food Safety Initiative, to provide supermarkets with her cookies. So for the last year, she has been going through the challenging process necessary to become certified. In today's episode, she talks to us about this process. We also talk about marketing, working full-time, and raising a bunch of beautiful daughters. Tune in now, to find out what Tracy has to do to obtain her GFSI certificate from the Global Food Safety Initiative.

Show highlights:

• How this all started for Tracey.
• Why Tracy has never spent money on advertising.
• The benefits of SEO.
• Tracy discusses the conscious choice she made to follow the website and SEO path to make her name known.
• The bulk of Tracy's business comes from Google or Instagram.
• Tracy has accepted that she does her best work under pressure.
• Making cookies brings a good balance to Tracy's life.
• How the supermarket approached Tracy.
• Tracy talks about the arduous process of getting certified.
• Some of the crazy things you have to consider when applying for certification.
• Tracy hired a technical writer to help her understand what she could not understand before. This motivated her to keep moving forward.
• Although it has been pretty costly, Tracy has learned a lot, she's grown, and she's become empowered from doing this process.
• This process has helped Tracy become faster and more efficient, and her life has really improved as a result.
• Tracy makes custom cookie cutters for every order.
• Tracy offers her advice for going through the certification process as seamlessly as possible.
• All of Michelle's classes are now available online.

Links:

To find out about Michelle's classes, go to www.thebizofbaking.com

Sugar Beez's website: www.sugarbeez.com

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