Vanilla Grace & Grain

09/03/2026

Posting felt like a chore.🫣

My posting was inconsistent in the beginning. I had no idea what I was trying to do. Sometimes I didn't know what to post, sometimes I was busy, and honestly, sometimes I felt like nobody cared anyway.

I learned pretty quickly that posting the same day as a market without posting anything throughout the week made for some slow days. I already had enough to do without trying to come up with something creative at the last minute, let alone hoping it even made sense for that week.

I had to find a way to be more consistent.

I knew where I was going to be every Thursday. There was no reason I couldn't plan ahead and tell people about it.

Once I started posting more consistently, I started getting more followers, more questions from new customers, and more people actually interacting with what I was putting out there. Even larger orders for a few businesses! 🙌

Putting yourself out there can feel very awkward. I did it anyway.

You don't have to post every day. Just find a schedule that works best for you and stick with it!

09/01/2026

I loved to bake, and in 2023 I started making my own vanilla extracts.

People would eat things I made and tell me they were good and that I should sell them.

Meanwhile, I was managing a farmers market...but I wasn't actually selling anything at it. People would ask me where my stuff is. 😂

Eventually I thought, why not? I'll give it a try.
That's really how Vanilla Grace & Grain started.

There wasn't some huge business plan. I didn't have everything figured out. I liked baking, I was making vanilla, people kept encouraging me to sell what I made, and eventually I did.
And that's part of my story.

Your story is part of your business too. People don't just want to see what you sell all the time. They want to know how you got there, why you started and what changed along the way.

Vanilla Grace & Grain started with homemade vanilla extract and encouragement from friends and family. 🥹

09/01/2026

08/28/2026

Customer feedback is important. But that doesn’t mean every suggestion needs to become a new product.

I’ve had people ask me for all kinds of things. If I tried to make everything that got sent to my inbox, I’d have way too much on my menu! And some of it probably wouldn’t sell.

But if I kept hearing the same thing over and over? I should probably start paying attention to that.

Sourdough bread was one of those things for me. I was only bringing a few until more people kept requesting it week after week. Same with my lemon blueberry scones.

When different customers keep asking for the same product, it tells you there may actually be a demand for it.

Repeated requests are worth paying attention to. But you still need to decide if it makes sense for your business.

08/24/2026

I Was Paying Myself $20–$40...

And putting pretty much everything else right back into my business.
Ingredients. Packaging. Supplies. Equipment. Whatever I thought the business needed next.

I thought I was doing the responsible thing. The business was growing, so of course I needed to keep investing in it.

What I wasn't thinking enough about was my own time.
And your time isn't just how long something spends in the oven.
It's shopping, prepping, baking, cleaning, packaging, answering messages, planning, and getting ready for markets.

Even what looked like “just packaging” could mean finding supplies, assembling boxes, measuring and cutting paper because I couldn't find the size I needed, and then packing everything.

All of that was my time.

And after all of that, sometimes I was taking $20–$40 for myself. 🤯
A friend recommended Profit First to me, and it helped me look differently at where the money was actually going. I had gotten so used to thinking the business needed the money that I wasn't paying enough attention to paying the person doing all the work.

Putting money back into your business is important.

But you shouldn't be working for free to make that happen!