It is the beginning of 2021 and I am really excited to announce that I have a new direction for Baked by Billie. This has been in the works for about a year. At the beginning of 2020 I realized I was burned out and needed to make changes to the business. I had some ideas of the direction I wanted to go, but was scared. In March of 2020, Jimmy and I went away on a hiking trip to Vegas and Boulder, it was life changing for me. As I climbed rocks and mountains on this trip, I realized I needed to get over my fear of heights and get to the top to see the view, which made me think of the fears I had about my business.

Yes I was scared of changing my business. Honestly it took some months to really work on pivoting my business and getting over my fears of failing. I had a pretty successful bakery, but the problem was I was burned out and wasn’t enjoying baking as much. I had to think about what I was happy doing and that was creating recipes and baking and cooking for fun. I truly love being in the kitchen. It brings back memories of baking and cooking with my mom. So I decided to take the leap and change the focus of my business to recipe creating and food photography. It took a few more months to really start downsizing the bakery side of my business and shifting my focus to what I realized I truly enjoy. It took longer than I hoped, but it has been a good learning experience for me. On our hike at Valley of Fire in March there was this rock I was afraid to climb, but in November I wasn’t afraid to climb it. After that I told Jimmy I was 100% ready to make the change and go after this new business. I came back from that hiking trip on a mission to ready to make the changes necessary. Do I know if I am gonna be as successful as my bakery? No I don’t! What I do know is that I love what I am doing. Every time I get a message saying thank you for sharing recipes and people thank me for being real, it makes my day.

With my business changing, I added Inspired by Rita to my logo. Why, because my mom inspired me so much and even though my mom isn’t here anymore, she still inspires me every day. My goal is to inspire you to get in the kitchen to cook and bake. I want to inspire you to find some balance in your life, will it always be easy? No it won’t, but we are here to help each other and encourage each other. Are there gonna be days when you want to order take out or go out dinner, yes.  Just remember there will always be days you want to make memories in the kitchen.

Follow along as I share recipes with you, travel experiences and some of my favorite things.

Happy Cooking and Baking!!