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How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was 18 months old. Growing up, I was restricted in my dessert options. We would try keto/carb-free desserts, but they were not tasty options available in the market. Soon, I started to make my own baked goods, fitting my dietary needs. I shared them with friends and family, and they were a hit. I realized I am not the only one with this problem, so I started to make vegan, keto, and gluten free cake and cupcake recipes. I started selling them at school and ran out every time. I pitched the idea to my dad, and that’s when I started Akki’s Cupcakery to share healthier baked goods that fit people's dietary needs in my community. I live by my family's core values of HUGPC (Health and Happiness, Upright, Gratitude, Pay Forward, and Continuous Learning). I know that when starting my business, I wanted to pursue the pay-forward aspect, and decided to share profits with 5 kids charities in my community.
What does the average day look like for you now as an entrepreneur?
When starting my entrepreneurship journey, it definitely took more time than I anticipated. I had to learn to prioritize what was important from my daily activities. Running an online bakery is more hands-on, including tasks such as keeping the website up to date, answering customer phone calls, and getting orders completed in a timely manner. I had to give up social media television, and socialization time to focus on areas to grow and improve the business. Everyday before pickup hours open, I take time to respond to emails, customer messages and questions, and plan the bakes out for the next few days. Throughout the day, I continue baking, answer phone calls and do school work. Towards the end of the day, after all the cakes are cooled and orders are picked up, I start to ice and decorate the next set of orders. By the end of the day, I finish school work and study for my classes. Before, I had more free time for meeting friends and gatherings. Now I have shifted my focus, and getting the balance has been the trickiest part.
What are some of the top things you have learned so far?
I have learned a lot while running my business. Here are the top three things being an entrepreneur has taught me.
First, do not over analyze everything. When I decided to start my bakery business.... I kept thinking there are so many bakers, I have no experience, I will fail, etc. My parents told me to try and start the process by baking and giving away to my friends at school, and asking them if they would pay for it next time. So I did and got positive feedback from them. Then they were willing to pay for it. So, next time I sold my cupcakes. And the journey began! So, all you wanna be entrepreneurs don't ever analyze, just jump into it as long as you see a gap and your target market is willing to pay for it. !
Second, under-promise and over deliver. I was always trying to exceed the expectations of our customers, and told them the exact timeline when their cake will be done. Sometimes things don't go as planned, and then one time a customer had to wait for us for 45 minutes as we had to fix their cake, and was upset. I finally delivered the cake to their house at no charge, and gave them some extra cupcakes. I realized that in pursuit of exceeding their expectations, I was not doing justice to my time and putting a lot of undue pressure on me and my sister for baking. So, after that incident, I decided to tell my customers that it will take a little longer than I actually planned to finish their cake, and then if I finish early, they will be happy! This way, I had room to fix my errors.
Third, running a business is more than being a good baker. There are many good bakers, and I still saw their businesses fail.....so isn't being a good baker the main reason for your success in business? Well, I found that being a good baker is essential and needs to be your passion, but business is much more like Strategy, Execution, Team-work, Goals, Finance, Customer Service, Reputation, website, Mobile App etc....last but not the least is DELEGATION… Letting go in your business is the hardest thing, even if it is to your own sister, but it has to be done if the business has to grow and it does drive me up the wall!
Who or what inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
Before starting my business and seeing what an impact it had on my community, I could never imagine being an entrepreneur, and baking was just a side hobby. When I started sharing my baked goods with my friends and family, and got positive feedback, I went to my dad to do farmers markets and sell cupcakes to the public. He said ‘“It looks good on paper, but show me the money.’” So I started selling at school. Within a week, I sold over 100 cupcakes for $2 each at my high school. After that, my dad told me to think bigger than farmers markets. He encouraged me to start an online bakery, gave me seed funding, and the rest is history. Without his little push of encouragement, my business wouldn't be where it is today.
What have been 1-2 of your proudest moments in creating your business?
There are many highs and lows to running a business. Here are a few of my peak moments of my entrepreneurial journey so far.
One was in our first year of being in business. We generated $51,000 in revenue while competing with 350 other bakers in San Antonio. And out of that, we were able to donate $3,000 to kids charities in our community. We helped kids with cancer, heart problems, diabetes, special needs, and foster care. After seeing the smiles and gratitude of the kids, we helped. Any doubt or hindrance I had about running a business all vanished. Till date, we have donated over $10,000 to charities in our community.
Two was I won second place in the Bizworld pitching competition. After being in business for a year and a half, I was ready to spread my cause and help more people. For that, I needed mentorship and funding. I joined Bizworld’s YES (young entrepreneurs for success) program. In this, I got the chance to work one-on-one with a mentor to grow my business and prepare for pitching to investors. After weeks of practicing in front of the mirror, with my family and my mentor, I was ready. I got $5,000 in funding and am expanding my business to Austin in the next year.
What’s the best advice you have received along your journey?
The best advice I have been given while growing my business was “don’t forget about yourself”. When I started, I was all about making the best products and giving as much as possible to the kids' charities. I met with one of my mentors while starting, and he said when managing my money, “don’t forget about yourself”. He taught me about the three way split. One split goes to the costs of running a business and any outside expenses. Second split goes to giving back to the community, which I did by sharing profits with the charities. Last split goes to me to reward myself as the fruits of my labor to motivate me to do better.
About The Author:
Akki Tejwani '26
Founder of Akki’s Cupcakery and Tea
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