On The Cake Top

I came across Nicole W. Clark's Instagram as I was looking through the Search section of Instagram. You HAVE to check it out. Her cake toppers are the CUTEST, most social media things I have EVER seen.

Anyway, this conversation was one I particularly enjoyed it because Nicole's passions mirror my own: weddings and business. In addition to sharing her journey of how she found her GOOD idea making custom cake toppers, she also offers some encouraging words for prospective entrepreneurs who are debating on whether or not to start their own business. (Spoiler alert: She emphatically recommends going for it)

As we weave back and forth between the aforementioned topics, we both shared how we got to where we are, and what I loved about this episode is Nicole engaged ME with questions :). You'll also get to learn her favorite cake and not-so-favorite non-cake dessert as well as what her motivation was behind finding the business that she has been working at for FOURTEEN years!

This Highlight Weddings & Events Podcast was edited and produced by DropHouse Voiceover Production Studio and Tony Tee Neto, Voiceover Artist & Audio Producer. For more info on branding elements, editing, and post-production services, visit http://drophouse.com.

The intro and outro used for this episode is Crush by https://audiohub.comLicense: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Transcript

DJ Josh: This is Episode 9 of Make Your Wedding a Highlight. My name is DJ Josh from Highlight Weddings and Events. My guest today is Nicole W. Clark, owner and designer at minicouple.com.

Tony Tee Neto, from Drophouse: If you’re getting ready or are already in the process of planning your wedding, you’ve come to the right place. DJ Josh, owner of Highlight Weddings and Events, interviews other local-30A wedding pros to offer insight about how to make your wedding a highlight.

Josh: Well, hello, everyone. Thanks for checking out the podcast again. I have a very special guest today. Her name is Nicole Clark, and I actually found her on Instagram of all places in the world. She’s actually not from the US. She hails from Canada. So, Nicole. Who is Nicole Clark? 

Nicole W. Clark: Well, thank you for having me on your show, Josh. My name is Nicole. And I am Canadian. My parents are actually from Hong Kong, and I was born in Canada. When they had me, they wanted a, this is very stereotypical, they wanted me to be a doctor, an engineer, or a lawyer. Those were the three acceptable choices. And what they got was an artsy cake top maker. 

Josh: Very nice. My wife is Filipino and the expectation was that she was going to go in the nursing field. And she did not do that. She was in the Air Force and now she’s actually a trainer. She works for a gym that does Bootcamp-style workouts. So it’s cool that you’ve kind of forged your own path and found your own way, so.

Nicole: When you come from an Asian background, you’ll find that, well not all Asians but a lot of Asian families, they definitely have a path that they’ve chosen for you and they see everything laid out for you. And, when you tell them you want to go into art that is like the bottom of the barrel for them.

Josh: Really?

Nicole: Yeah.

Josh: Well, the cool thing about Rhoda’s parents is they’re very supportive of her pretty much in whatever she does. More of the expectation came from her extended family or the people that live in the Philippines. Anyway, so how did you come across your business?

Nicole: It took a very long time. After I graduated from art school. Let’s just say there’s not lots of people hiring art students with big paychecks. So I actually got to, I got to work at an art gallery. I worked for a magazine. I worked for a museum. I worked in retail. I had a lot of jobs before I found a business that I could. And I had a lot of false business starts before I found what I’m doing now. And, I came across making cake toppers when I was getting married. And I was looking. This was about 14 years ago when I got married.

There wasn’t a lot of things to choose from on the market. Etsy definitely was not big. I don’t know if it existed but it was not big. So most of the items were mass-produced and I wanted to make something that was unique. I made a prototype and then that’s how I got my business started.

Josh: Ok. So what’s your favorite part about your business? Is it the designing the custom cake toppers for the different couples?

Nicole: My favorite part, to be honest, is working with my hands. And, it doesn’t really even have. I think it’s just somebody who’s a craftsperson and as long as I’m working with my hands, I’m happy. I can just spend hours and hours just sitting in my studio, not talking to anybody, and not having any communication and just sculpting away. I really enjoy that.

Josh: Before I became a wedding DJ, I was a screen printer for a T-shirt shop. I spent about 8 hours a day and the only people I talked to was the owner and maybe somebody else that did the embroidering. So, I would just kind of have the music on and just do my thing and I’d be perfectly fine with it. I’ve become more social because my experience has kind of drifted more toward sales and interacting with people. But I’m still ok with being by myself all day and not really talking to anybody.

Nicole: There’s nothing like that feeling where like you’re in the zone and you’re just tuning out everything and you just concentrate on what’s in front of you. But when you’re saying you have to talk to clients and I really feel like you’re very introverted and you’re very social. I’m the complete opposite. I’m very introverted and I’m very not social.

So, I knew very early on that I wanted my own business and I wanted to have a job where I didn’t have a lot of interaction with people and I wanted to not be in my house and be in a muumuu all day while I worked. The muumuu is very important.

Josh: Nothing wrong with that! If you’re comfortable you tend to work better and be more productive, so

Nicole: Yeah.

Josh: Since you have a lot of business experience, and I realize this isn’t necessarily a business podcast, but what would be some advice you’d have for someone considering starting their own business.

Nicole: I would say that you just need to get started. Because I get that a lot. Lots of people tell me that they are not happy in their jobs and that they wish they had their own business. And, it’s hard but it’s really not impossible and it is something that is attainable. And I think that you don’t need to quit your job.

When I was starting my businesses, I worked during the day and then I would come home and work on my project and I just kept doing it until I found something that worked. So, you don’t need to quit your day job. You don’t need a huge amount of capital. You just need to spend some time working toward the goal every single day.

And, you also don’t need a big, flashy idea. I think that you just need to find something in the market that you feel like you can improve on, that you can excel on, and just latch onto that and just go with it. I think the hardest part is just getting started.

Josh: Yeah, it’s the inertia of breaking out of your normal routine. You kind of have how things have always been set. If you are still with your day job and you’re considering branching out on your own, it’s a good indicator of whether or not you really want to do it. Because if you have to take care of your responsibilities like your day job and everything throughout the day and then you’re like “Oh, yeah. I still need to do that.” If you realize that you’re not being as committed to it as I should, that might be an indication that it may be a good idea but it may not be YOUR good idea.

Nicole: Yeah. How did you transition out of the screenprinting job into having your own business because that’s a very big jump from being somebody doing screenprinting on their own quietly to being an MC which is I would say the opposite end of the spectrum.

Josh: The funny thing is my career trajectory has been very eclectic. I joined the Air Force when I was 20. Separated from the air force and was like “Oh, I’m going to be a mechanical engineer.” Realized that I did NOT like calculus even though I’m fairly good at math, so then I did retail for 3-4 years. And then I worked as a host for the Sandestin resort, which is a local resort in the area. I was a host at a restaurant there. But it was only a summer job. And, then I became a barista at Sandestin. At this point, I meant my wife. 

Nicole: You didn’t meet her in the Air Force?
Josh: I didn’t meet her in the Air Force. We never were stationed together. She actually got stationed where I grew up and then came back to.

Nicole: That’s funny that you both have the same background but you guys didn’t actually meet there! I just assumed that when you said that. I was like “Oh, that must be where they met.”

Josh: A lot of people think that. When I first started dating her, I decided to get my real estate license, so I became a realtor. And that’s where my sales background started to take shape. But, I’m more an introvert than an extravert.

Nicole: I can’t tell.

Josh: I can extravert but if I do it for too long by the end of the day I’m just like “Ugh. I need to be by myself. I need to be alone.”

Nicole: I understand. Cause I can pass off being extraverted for maybe an hour or two tops and then after that I rest back into my shell. And then after that, I’m like “We’re done.”

Josh: As I was a realtor, one of my friends approached me and was like “Hey! I work for this event company as a wedding DJ. I think you would be really good.” Because I also have a spoken word background, so I’m used to performing. He was like “Yeah, you should try it out.” And that’s how I got into being a wedding DJ/MC.

Nicole: And you’ve been doing it for 4 years?

Josh: I’ve been doing it for almost 6 years now.

Nicole: Wow.

Josh: Yeah. It’ll be six years in October, I think.

Nicole: Wow.

Josh: So, I was with a company, and then for a year my wife and I served as missionaries in Budapest.

Nicole: Wow! I did not see that one coming! I thought I had a very mixed bag of “jobs”. But I think you’ve definitely blew me out of the water.

Josh: Yeah.

Nicole: But I’ve been in retail. When you said retail. I think everyone who hasn’t figured out what they want to do with their life ends up in retail purgatory for a while until they latch onto their idea.

Josh: The sucky thing about retail and working in the restaurant industry is it’s kind of like a black hole. Because you’re always on your feet, so by the end of the day you’re so exhausted that you don’t want to do anything else other than not do anything.

Nicole: For me, it was the opposite. It was the motivator. I knew I had to get out so I knew the sooner I figured out what I wanted to do as a business the faster I’d be out of there.

Josh: I think for me it was I didn’t even know really what I wanted to do. The hard part was just like at that point in my life I was actually not entrepreneurial at all. What I’m doing now, is I have gone through a large transformation over time.

So, what has been the biggest surprise for you?

Nicole: I am really surprised by how much I’ve connected with a lot of my clients. I had mentioned that I’m very introverted and I don’t make a lot of connections but I am really surprised with over the years. I’ve been doing this for 14 years and I’ve grown with a lot of my clients.

A lot of my clients have ordered a cake topper from me when they got married and then 5 years later they will order an anniversary topper. And, now ten years later they will order a tenth-anniversary topper. And when the order comes in, they usually send me a long email about what their family has changed throughout the years and they actually give me an update of their life.

And, there’s been many couples where they’ve shared a lot of personal information that I wasn’t expecting and I also wasn’t expecting how something I made with my hands could be so cherished. They tell me that they constantly look at it and they think about their wedding day and about how their marriage affected their life and how happy they are after they’ve gotten married. Just so many intimate details about people that I would never have guessed or gotten a glimpse of otherwise.

Josh: I can see why they would feel comfortable sharing with you primarily because they’re likenesses of themselves. So it’s almost like you were able to recreate them in a way. Which is SUPER unique. I’ve actually never seen a cake topper like the ones you make at a wedding I’ve been at. Usually, they’re the plastic figurines or anything like that. I’ve never seen a custom design like that before. I think it’s so cool. It’s another way to make the couple’s wedding their wedding.

Nicole: I have noticed a trend over the years, because again I started 14 years ago, how personalization has become a very big thing. A lot of things can be personalized these days. That, obviously, works out very well for me. As an artist or craft maker it’s just so powerful to have an impact on someone’s life by something you made. Something I made with my hands that’s really important to someone else’s life.

When I started, I didn’t think that I would have an impact on somebody else’s life. I just thought I was making a little artwork that I enjoyed and I shipped off and that was the end of it. But I could start to see at the other end that somebody out there. I touched somebody’s life. And, to me that’s shocking.

Josh: That’s really, really cool. Let’s imagine a couple wants to reach out to you to make their cake topper. How can they make their experience with you a highlight? What are some things that they can do to really set you up for success and just allow them to leave really satisfied with everything? 

Nicole: To set me up for success, I would say like give me a lot of freedom. Send me what you’re wearing that day and what you look like. Give me your basic information, and let me run with it. And when that happens, 10/10 times the client is super, super happy.

As for ordering a cake topper and the highlight of the experience is, I’m very surprised. It seems like the highlight of the experience from my experience is that at the beginning, before the wedding, when they’re receiving the preliminary pictures that I send them. I get the information, I sculpt the figures, and then I send them the photos of what I’ve created. And then I usually get a lot of times I get letters or emails saying “I’m moved to tears,” “I can’t believe.” Yeah. So many people have cried. In a good way! But so many people have cried when they have received these pictures.

A lot of times they’re like, “I’ve been having the worst day or the worst week, and this photo you sent me has turned my week around.” And, I’m like “Wow. I did that.” So it’s before the wedding when they’re going through that process. And then, after the wedding when it’s some time after the date has passed and the excitement has died down. They walk past their mantle and they see the figures and they think about their wedding again. I get emails out of the blue, years after I’ve created their cake topper saying “I saw the cake topper and I was thinking about the day again and I just wanted to thank you.” And I’m just like “Wow! Thank you! Thank you for thanking me!”

Josh: That’s so cool. What are the cake toppers made out of?

NIcole: It’s made of a polymer clay. A non-toxic material that will last for years and years and years. That’s why I’m able to create additions to original cake toppers. So a lot of my couples, they get married, and then a few years later, they ask me to create a dog. They say “My family’s grown.” Three years later, they’re like “I’ve had a child. Can you add them?” Throughout the years, they keep adding figures to the original topper because it’s something that will last.

Josh: That’s so cool!

Nicole: And when I started I had no idea that all this was at the end of the line. I didn’t know that this business could be A) so rewarding that it could affect people. My goal was just I wanted to work on my own and be in a muumuu. That’s what I always tell people when they say that they want a business but they don’t think that they can make it happen. I’m like “No. Just go for it. If you don’t think you can jump in with feet, just start small and keep going.”

Josh: The saying goes, “You’re not ready until you’re ready.” You have to decide “Ok, this is what I’m going to do.” And whether it’s like starting a business or, this year, I started my business but I also committed to writing blogs and content regularly. And, I’ve been consistently every week other than last week because that was my birthday so I took the week off. I’ve consistently written at least one piece of content every week for the entire year. And it’s just about taking it one time week at a time and just be like “Ok, what am I going to do this week?”

Nicole: Consistency.

Josh: Yes! It’s about seeing what you need to do and just figuring out “Ok. What do I need to do next?” I’m sure even with yourself and your business there’s always things you can add on or improve and create so it’s not like you create your business and you’re like “Ok! I’m good. I’m set!”

Nicole: That does not happen, no. You just have to keep rolling that ball up the hill.

Josh: Yeah, there’s always different things you can do.

Nicole: Actually, I was going to ask you how and why did you decide to start a podcast? Because this is a brave thing for you to do. You’re really putting yourself out there.

Josh: I’ll give you kind of the political answer and the selfish one as well. The reason why I called my company Highlight Weddings and Events is because I realize that the wedding or private event is not about me. I am trying to highlight either the couple or their guests or whatever the point of the event is. So I’m adopting a similar philosophy by doing the podcast. Because it allows me to interview people like you and share your story with couples that might be interested in having a custom cake topper.

But the other personal, more selfish, reason is it allows me to create more blog content actually. Because it’s easier for me to write if we record the podcast, I transcribe it, and then I look at each conversation and I’m like “Ok. this is the direction that I think this interview should go.” So it’s obviously of the business owner and the wedding professional but it also does benefit me as well. 

Ultimately I get to share the story of the wedding professional not only in the podcast form but also in written form as well. That also benefits the couples that may not have known about it. Take for instance you. You’re not even from Florida. I’m sure that couples and even other wedding coordinators and other wedding professionals that live in Florida are now gonna be like “These things are so awesome! We should totally incorporate that in this couple’s wedding.”

Nicole: Are you surprised at how much camaraderie there is in the wedding business? I’ve made a lot of friends with bakers and people who own venues. I’m surprised like how much we support each other and tell each other about clients that might be a good fit or just things like when COVID hit, we all emailed each other saying “How are you doing on your end?” 

Or when things don’t go according to plan then there’s somebody out there that understands that’s in the same industry that understands like “Oh, I feel your pain” And when I started I didn’t know that there would be a nice system like that out there. Have you had the same experience and met a lot of people that are like “Wow. we’re kind of in this together. There’s a camaraderie there.”?

Josh: Oh, yeah. There’s definitely a camaraderie here. I think part of it is because the nature of weddings, everybody plays a role together. So you’re all working together for a common end. But one of the negatives about being a wedding professional is because a lot of the companies are single or a very small team, it’s very isolating. It can kind of be a little lonely. So, if you have someone that has a shared experience in the wedding industry, they become part of your almost support network.

I have two friends that are wedding DJs and we ended up, before COVID-19 happened, we would meet at Panera every other week. And it was kind of like a DJ’s anonymous support group. “Hey, how have you been? What are some things have you been dealing with? How can we help?” kind of thing. And because it’s a very service-oriented business anyway.

Nicole: And there’s a lot of drama. A lot of people’s emotions are heightened. This industry is a very specific type of industry and then when you find someone that’s in the same industry they completely understand. Because sometimes when I know when I tell to my friends that are not in the industry they’re like “Yeah. Yeah.” But I know you don’t understand. You’re just agreeing with me. But you don’t feel. Whereas when you talk to someone who is in the wedding industry, they’re usually like “Oh, yeah. You can stop there. I’ve been through this. I know what you mean.” It’s really nice.

Josh: Well, and it’s that shared experience. It’s similar to when I was in the Air Force. Unless you’ve been in that kind of space, you can’t really understand it. That’s a little bit of a more exaggerated example but it’s the same thing with for instance dealing with COVID. You can say, “I support the nurses and medical professionals,” but we do not understand what they’re going through completely.

Nicole: No

Josh: So, since we’ve talked about COVID-19, how has it impacted you both professionally and personally?

Nicole: Personally, it has not affected me too much because I’m a natural hermit just to start off with. I rarely left the house, to begin with. Actually most of my friends are like, “So this virus has pretty much not affected your day-to-day life.” That’s what they say to me. I’m like, “It’s true!”

But, professionally, I think it was really hard for me in the month of March. I think in the second week of March suddenly everything stopped. Not only was I not getting any orders. I wasn’t even getting any inquiries for orders like my inbox was just empty. And it stayed empty for a month. Nothing. I was like, “This is the internet. I know there’s a pandemic going on but is the internet broken?”

But the third week of April, suddenly it was like a switch turned on and then orders have really been coming in very strong since. I’ve gotten a number of orders from people who have had their wedding during COVID, so they’ve had their wedding canceled but they’ve decided to get the piece of paper anyways. And they felt that they wanted something to commemorate since the day went by in a very underwhelming fashion. So I’ve gotten a lot of orders from people who missed their weddings.

And, now that it seems that things are starting to turn a bit, people are starting to feel hopeful and starting to get excited about the idea of having their wedding so I’ve been getting a lot of orders for weddings for 2021. Things have really turned.

I know that that’s not true for a lot of other people, especially wedding venues. So, I feel really bad for people who have venues. I was also able to weather the lull because I don’t have very much overhead. It’s just me. I don’t have any employees. I don’t have to pay for maintaining a piece of property. I think I’ve gotten off very easily.

Josh: I’m in a similar position. I don’t have a lot of overhead other than just normal business type of software and stuff like that. And it’s just me right now. It’s just DJ Josh is the lone DJ for Highlight Weddings & Events. 

Nicole: It makes a difference not being responsible for somebody else and having to make sure that their livelihood is dependent on you. I’m thankful that I didn’t have that pressure during COVID. I’m like you know I can weather this. I didn’t have to think about oh, someone’s going to lose their home or someone’s going to not have food on the table because I wasn’t pulling in my weight.

Josh: Since we’ve talked about Nicole W. Clark in terms of COVID-19 and also her wedding business, do you mind if I ask you some personal questions? 

Nicole: Shoot! Go right on ahead!

Josh: What did you want to be when you grew up?

Nicole: I was brainwashed into thinking that I wanted to be a doctor. Then I was brainwashed, well, I mean, I thought I wanted to go into finance. So, all the way up until when I graduated from high school. I got a scholarship and it was great and then when I got my coursebook. I was looking through the classes and I thought “Oh my God. I’m going to spend 4 years? I don’t even want to go to these classes now and I’m at home. What is my life going to be like when I’m out there going to these classes every day?”

Then that’s when I made the 180-degree turn saying “Sorry, parents. I am going to art school.” And they’re like “But you’ve never even taken an art class!” I didn’t even take an art class when I was in high school. I wasn’t interested in it. I only took math classes. Basically, all the non-fun classes. I wasn’t interested in art. But out of nowhere, I said I’m not doing this for the next four years and I took a year off. I built a portfolio. I applied to the Ontario College of Art & Design. I got in. Then I went into art.

Josh: That’s so cool. Did you have a knack or were you talented with art when you were younger?

Nicole: I’m very good with my hands. So my dad, he was an excellent mathemetician. He was a computer programmer back in the day. So this is like the 1960s or 70s where nobody else is doing computers. He was one of the pioneers. He was originally from Hong Kong, and Canada wanted him because of his computer skills. So, even though he was really good at math he would come home and he would work with his hands.

He would go to the basement and build god knows what kind of contraptions. And that’s where I developed my affinity of working with my hands. So, I knew that that part was part of me. I just didn’t know what I could do with it. And that was the hard journey figuring out how I can make a livelihood using just working by myself on a craft.

Josh: Cool! What’s a secret talent you have?
Nicole: I’m terrible at karaoke. Like really, really bad. And the talent there is I go up on stage and I belt it out anyway. So I have courage.

Josh: That’s awesome! So since you design cake toppers, what is your favorite non-cake dessert?

Nicole: Hmmm. Non-cake dessert. Well, you’re asking somebody who’s Asian and Asians have lots of horrible, horrible non-cake desserts. You would not believe the amount of beans you can shove into an Asian dessert. Beans and dessert. Those two things should not mix.

Oh, I know what I like. It’s really disgusting. It’s an Asian dessert. And what they do is they find a pound of sesame and they boil the crap out of it until it turns into this really ugly looking black glue-like paste, like something you would serve in prison somewhere. So that’s what I like. The black gruel. They call it sesame pudding but there’s nothing pudding-like about it. But I’m definitely a black forest cake lover like you are.

Josh: Oh! I love black forest cake. Is that your favorite cake?

Nicole: It’s not my favorite of all time but it’s up there. And I was lucky enough to spend some time in Strausburg which is on the border of Germany and they have the most amazing Black Forest cake. And I would, like, eat it like every single day for a month. My friend would be like “What do you want for dessert?” And I’m like “You know what I want!”

Josh: So what IS your favorite cake?
Nicole: Tiramisu. Hands down. The mascarpone cheese. I just start licking. Mmmm. It’s lovely.

Josh: So, when you are not making cake toppers or you’re not working on your business, what do you like with your downtime?

Nicole: I watch bad 80s television.

Josh: Like what?

Nicole: Matlock, Magnum P.I., Hawaii 5-0 from back in the 60s. Anything that’s like 30 years or older. Detective shows that are 30 years or older, I’m all over it. 

Josh: There’s nothing wrong with a little guilty pleasure TV viewing.

Nicole: Oh, it’s guilty alright!

Josh: So, how can someone get a hold of you if they want to talk to you about possibly you creating their cake topper for their wedding?

Nicole: Come visit me on my website: www.minicouples.com. That would be the best way to get a hold of me.

Josh: What’s your Instagram? And I know I’m following you on Instagram already but just so they have it.

Nicole: Let me think about it. It is @onthecaketop.

Josh: Ah, that’s right.

Nicole: Yes. I only started my Instagramming game this January. And, I find that well I am not a social person, as I keep mentioning. Social media has definitely not my forte. So, if you want to start a business, and you think that you don’t have social media skills, don’t worry. You can manage a business without social media skills. I am a living, walking, talking example. Most of my orders come through word of mouth, so that’s why when I make a cake topper, I really make sure that I exceed expectations and just make the best product I could. Because when I do that, so many people see my work at a wedding and then that’s how I get my orders. Not through social media at all.

Josh: Your cake toppers are so social media friendly, though.

Nicole: I know! That’s what people say! But I, myself, am so not social media friendly. Yes. So I’ve been at it for 14 years, and only started doing Instagram for the last year. I’m really late to the game and I don’t think I’m really in the game anyway.

Josh: Trust me. You don’t need to be social to post those amazing pictures on Instagram. 

Nicole: Thank you.

Josh: Go to her Instagram and check it out, because her cake toppers are AMAZING.

Nicole: Thank you.

Josh: Well, Nicole, thanks for stopping by and chatting with me all the way in Canada. Thank you for sharing with couples how they can make their wedding a highlight. Here’s to those couples that are planning their wedding. And here’s to making your wedding a highlight.

Tony: Thanks for stopping by and checking out the podcast. If you like what you’ve heard, please subscribe and leave a review. It will help other couples just like you find it. For more resources, including our helpful blog, check highlightweddingsandevents.com. And make your wedding a highlight!