After 10 years and 160,000+ cookies, Dani's finally telling the whole story — not the highlight reel. In this honest, funny, and deeply relatable episode, Dani is joined by her kitchen manager and lead baker, Mercedes, to walk through the real mistakes, mishaps, and near-disasters that have shaped Dani's Kitchen Shop. If you've ever felt like you were the only one scrambling, this one's for you.

In This Episode:

• Why Dani's ordering system is the root of most chaos — and how she's learned to own it
• The truth about color-matching custom cookies (RIP, every dusty rose order ever)
• Production disasters: from spelling mistakes on cookies to footless chickens to a 14-cookie "dozen"
• What it really looks like when the oven runs away with the temperature for six straight months
• The ant colony that hatched on a Monday morning — and why procrastination made it worse
• Smelly aprons, dishwasher bubble floods, and a printer that works about 50% of the time
• Why the mistakes don't define the business — and why Dani is still proud of what she's built

Guest Bio: Mercedes is the kitchen manager and lead baker at Dani's Kitchen Shop. She's the steady hand behind the scenes, the person who catches the miscounts, double-checks the text messages, and has witnessed more than her fair share of Dani's "it'll be fine" moments. She's also the one who graciously reminds Dani when they're out of milk.

Resources Mentioned:

• Dani's Kitchen Shop: https://www.daniskitchenshop.com/
• Follow along on Instagram & Facebook: @daniskitchenshop

Connect with Dani:

• Website: https://www.daniskitchenshop.com/
• Instagram: @daniskitchenshop

When You're Wired for Creativity but Running a Business: A Conversation with Joy Kaplan of Sweet Joyness Bakery

What happens when someone who spent years inside professional bakeries decides to go out on their own — and realizes that making beautiful things is only half the job? In this episode, Dani sits down with Joy Kaplan of Sweet Joyness Bakery in Beaverton, Oregon, for an honest, laugh-out-loud conversation about creativity, burnout, pricing, and the messy reality of building a business around how your brain actually works.

In This Episode:

• Joy's path from Wilton classes at Michael's to Cold Stone to pastry school to professional bakeries — and why she finally launched her own cottage bakery in 2020
• The difference between working in a bakery and running your own: wearing every hat, from decorating to ordering boxes to chasing invoices
• Why pricing correctly changed everything — Joy discovered she was charging $15–$20 less per dozen than other bakers and made a shift that changed her stress level overnight
• How comparison with large bakeries can quietly distort your pricing and your confidence as a small business owner
• The burnout cycle that so many cottage bakers fall into — and the systems that can interrupt it before you crash
• Why streamlining your order form and setting clear creative boundaries can protect both your time and your artistry
• The case for protecting your hobbies: why Joy doesn't sell her craft projects and Dani doesn't sell her dahlias
• How other creative outlets — embroidery, quilting, other crafts — can actually refuel your cookie creativity instead of replacing it
• Joy's advice for bakers just starting out: visit your local Small Business Development Center and start learning the business basics early

Guest Bio: Joy Kaplan is the owner of Sweet Joyness Bakery in Beaverton, Oregon, a cottage bakery specializing in decorated cakes and cookies with a delightfully quirky style. Joy brings a rare perspective to the cottage baking world — she spent most of her adult life working inside professional bakeries as a cake decorator, learning high-volume production, food safety, and efficiency before launching her own home business in 2020.

Resources Mentioned:

• Sweet Joyness Bakery (Joy's business) — find her on social media
• CookieCon — national conference for cookie decorators
• Sweet Nelson's Bakery — Ashley Nelson's efficiency class on order forms
• PCC Small Business Development Center — free initial seminar and business planning support
• Spark Program — business mentoring connected to the SBDC
• The Business of Baking: https://www.daniskitchenshop.com/business-of-baking
• Dani's Kitchen Shop: https://www.daniskitchenshop.com/
• Follow along on Instagram: @daniskitchenshop

Connect with Dani:

• Website: https://www.daniskitchenshop.com/
• Instagram: @daniskitchenshop

What does it really look like to build a business around motherhood?

In this episode of Mixing Up Success, Dani sits down with Hannah Luttrell, owner and cookier behind Luttrell’s Little Cookie Company in Wilsonville, Oregon. Hannah shares how cookie decorating began as a creative outlet in November 2022 and quickly grew into a home-based business built to support both her family and her desire to stay present in motherhood.

Together, Dani and Hannah talk honestly about the realities of running a custom cookie business from home, wearing all the hats, and learning that flexibility does not always mean ease. They dive into the challenges of balancing school schedules, bedtime work sessions, family life, and customer expectations while still protecting the reason the business was built in the first place.

This conversation also explores the importance of boundaries, the pressure social media creates around creative work, and the misconception that custom cookies come together quickly just because the internet makes them look that way. Hannah shares how learning to say no, limit orders, and create recovery periods has helped her build a more sustainable business.

You’ll also hear a thoughtful conversation around overbuying supplies, why you do not need all the tools and packaging to get started, and how community can become a turning point in both business growth and personal confidence. Hannah opens up about how joining a women’s networking group helped her step out of her shell, find support, and begin showing up more fully as herself.

If you are building a business while raising kids, learning how to protect your time, or trying to create something that fits your life instead of consumes it, this episode will resonate.

Connect with Hannah:
https://www.luttrellslittlecookiecompany.com/