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8 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • April 2017 PUBLISHER Leigh Anne Van Doren Tabitha & Jamie Nelle's mom EDITOR Chris Jones Quincy, Hayden & Olive's dad BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING Heidi DiEugenio, President, HD Solutions Duke & Dane's mom MEDIA & ADVERTISING DIRECTORS Julie Brosnan, twins Chris & Finn's mom Megan Walsh, Mia, Noelle, and Adelaide's mom DESIGN & PRODUCTION Cheryl Carter, President, Carter Creations Alex, Kate & Jackie's mom WEBMASTER Karen Charney Joshua & Spencer's mom SOCIAL MEDIA Brenda Sapanghila Archer, Maddox & Oliver's mom CALENDAR & COOL THINGS TO DO ELETTER Leigha Pecher Jake and Luke's mom EDUCATION ELETTER & EVENTS Debra Caffrey Aidan's mom FACEBOOK COMMUNITY Pamela Quinones Corinn, Michael, Isabella & Dalton's mom parent fredericksburg & family Entrepreneur of the Year PROUD FOUNDING MEMBER ADVERTISING PHONE 540-429-3572 EMAIL leighanne@fredericksburgparent.net CALENDAR & SOCIAL MEDIA E-MAIL socialmedia@fredericksburgparent.net EDITORIAL PHONE 540-429-3572 E-MAIL fredparenteditor@gmail.com SNAIL MAIL P.O. Box 7884, Fred'bg, VA 22404 www.fredericksburgparent.net The publishers reserve the right to reject any advertisement, editorial or listing that does not meet the publication's standards. No part of this magazine may be reproduced with out permission. Listing and advertising rates are available upon request. Every effort has been made to assure the accuracy of the information con- tained herein, however, the publisher cannot guarantee such accuracy. Listings and advertisements are subject to typographical errors, ommissions and/or change without notice. For terms and conditions please visit our website at www.fredericksburgparent.net © Copyright 2016 Nurture, Inc. All rights reserved. WRITTEN BY CHERYL CARTER LIKE facebook.com/ FredericksburgParent SIGN UP www.FredParent.net TWEET facebook.com/ FredericksburgParent PIN www.pinterest.com/ fredparent FOLLOW @fredparentmagazine Sweet Sisters Bakery started as a way to teach my three girls to bake from scratch. A dear family friend, "Ms. Gayle" to my girls, was a retired elemen- tary school teacher who had sworn off all contact with children the day she retired from the public school system. Somehow my eldest endeared herself to Gayle to the point of convincing her to teach Alex to read as a preschooler. From there, Gayle was hooked. She "adopted" my kids as her very own "cat- alog grandchildren." Gayle had a family bread recipe that she had revised, tested and adapted to make heart-healthy, low sugar muffins. Gayle decid- ed my girls needed to know how to bake her muffins. The girls learned to bake, and as demand for the muffins grew beyond family, friends, and church events, we saw the need to establish a busi- ness and accept orders in a formal manner. My girls were included in all aspects of Sweet Sisters Bakery including calculating how much each muffin cost to make and how to determine the price to charge for each muffin. They helped strategize how to increase business and when orders began to outgrow us, we included them in the discussion of leasing a commercial kitchen to fill our orders. We used old-school methods running numbers on the dry-erase board as we gathered in the kitchen. We kept big accounts and at our most profitable, we shipped more than 18 dozen muffins nation- wide each month. Ultimately my kids outgrew the desire to bake muffins every weekend. As the cost of groceries increased, we determined the profit margin was too narrow for us to continue our little business, and we dissolved our accounts. Nevertheless, Sweet Sisters Bakery brought us great memories and life-long lessons. As a result of running the business, my girls learned the importance of hard work, marketing and customer service. They are more responsible with money and realize what it takes to make a dollar. My Three Kidpreneurs letter to the readers