On Friday, March 13, 2020, my business plan was approved to open what was going to be the destination bakery in the south. I'm talking Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium meets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but inside a bakery! The Cookie Emporium was going to be THE place.
I did everything right. I spent months working with ACE, SCORE, lawyers, and spiritual advisors to get it all on paper so the bank would loan me the money. I'll never forget walking out of that office at 10:15am that Friday morning with a YES!
The next day, we went into what should have been a 2-week lockdown that lasted for 2 years.
I'm not sure if I ever fully recovered from not seeing that dream come to life. If I'm honest, over the past 5+ years, not only did I learn the art of the pivot, but I also became an expert at pivoting.
This weekend I'm leaping...
One of the things that was written into my business plan was having products (cake and cookie mixes to start, other things down the line), and another major thing was building out a baking academy.
When Covid hit, I pivoted and started working on the cookie mix first. I did all this research to figure out how to take a product to market. I worked with a co-packer in Ga and things just fell off. I launched a cookie decorating kit. Again, nothing. I launched an online baking academy—individual classes sold better. I've pivoted time and time again. Going into 2026, I made a decision to get back into alignment because parts of that original dream never died.
I'm currently in San Diego, at the Winter Fancy Food Show. I'm a member of their fourth cohort of culinary entrepreneurs ready to create a product and take it to market.
In today's session I realized a couple of things:
- The vision has expanded.
- I'm not behind; I'm in the season where I'm mature enough to handle the weight of this opportunity.
- There are too many entrepreneurs chasing a dollar amount and not enough aligning with their purpose.
Beyond the Vision boards, the virtual edition is on Monday, January 19, 2026. I want to invite you to join me. If you're an entrepreneur and you know you have goals and dreams but you have yet to hit that goal and you're tired of the rat race of chasing people down, this experience is for you.
Originally I wanted all 1k+ entrepreneurs on this email list to sign up, but let me be real clear. I'm talking to those driven ones. The ones that know there's better out there for them. The legacy builders. The people not afraid to go big, the ones who dare to dream. That's who this experience will be for.
Join me, or share this email with an entrepreneur in your life that you believe is ready to stop playing small.
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With Gratitude,
Kimberly
