What Are The Pros & Cons of Being Self-Employed?

Theme  Tune
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Talking Hospitality!

Timothy R Andrews
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In this episode, we talk to Tracey Rashid about what it's like to be an entrepreneur, the highs and lows and her life changing experience on TV.

Tracey Rashid
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Hello, everybody.

Timothy R Andrews
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Welcome to the show.

With over 200,000 small business owners in the UK hospitality industry and over 43% of the hospitality workforce coming from black, Asian or minority ethnic people and over 57% of the industry being women, we wanted to take a break from how to recruit and attract people into hospitality's employees, but rather speak to an entrepreneur who's, instead of looking for a job, has made the leap into doing it for herself. We welcome the fantastic Tracey Rashid, founder of Essence of Cake. Hello, Tracey.

Tracey Rashid
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Hi, Tim. I'm so happy to be here today. Thanks for having me.

Timothy R Andrews
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So pleased to have you here as well. What's going down?

Tracey Rashid
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Just working as usual, trying to make sure that there's that work, life balance.

I'm at that stage with my family where they're just growing so quickly, so I have to make sure that I make time for them because that's the whole reason why I started my own business, is because I want to make time for myself, my family, my interests, just doing what I need to do and trying to make that leap into, to bigger and better things.

Timothy R Andrews
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We're going to come back to that very shortly because our listeners may be thinking there's a voice missing in today's show. Yes, sadly, Sarah is unwell today, but she sends her best regards and she looks forward to being back on the show very shortly. Sarah, get well soon.

Tracey Rashid
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Yes, please do.

Timothy R Andrews
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And if you're new to the show, my name is Timothy R Andrews and the show is Talking hospitality and I'm here with my wonderful guest, Tracey Rashid. So, Tracy, wonderful to hear from you.

So you have set up your own business, you've actually made the leap, haven't you, from working for other people and then going it alone, as it were? Would you like to tell us a bit about that?

Tracey Rashid
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Yeah, of course. So, yeah, it definitely is a leap.

I would definitely say this would be a good word to describe it because you're leaving your comfort zone, really and going into something that is very unknown, even if you are, you know, a master or technician in the role that you're going to be doing.

My background's in learning and development, so I've worked for a lot of companies like BMW, Aon, Transport for London and have had the luxury of developing people for over 20 years.

So I love training, I love teaching, I love sharing the Information I have and knowledge I have, and the beauty in seeing people change, develop and grow, not just in their roles, but in themselves, in their lives, is absolutely amazing. And I was responsible for developing and training apprentices, graduates, all the way up to the leadership team.

So I had to obviously play things safe certain times, depending on who I was working with, but really making sure that I showed my passion for learning and the need to always grow and develop, I think it just never goes. And I think it's something that I always instill in people that I work with. So I loved what I did and I still do.

I still love training, I still love developing people. But what happened, as I mentioned earlier, I had children. And it's true what they say, they change everything. They really do.

And I just remember looking at my daughter, she's my second child, and I was like, I just want to be around. I just want the opportunity to do the school run.

Although most I complain about that now, but I wanted the opportunity to do the school run and just be around. My thought process was, what can I do that doesn't require retraining? Can I do. That's a business that I can just start, really.

And I've been baking forever, like, absolutely ever, with my grandmothers in the kitchen on a Sunday or after school. So I've been baking and thought, yeah, cake, I can do that. I've been doing it as a hobby. So let's just transition.

And it literally was an overnight decision, really. Let's go? Yeah, it really was. It wasn't something that was a burning desire for years and years. It was just the opposite.

Opportunity presented itself and I thought, let's go for it. Let's do it. Let's transition into my passion, into my business.

Timothy R Andrews
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So did something trigger it? Did something lead you to go, right, now I'm just gonna switch?

Tracey Rashid
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I think there was a grab. It was gradual, but it was a big switch as well. So the gradual was.

Although, again, loved what I did at Transport for London, but I realized there was a cap in regards to what I was doing. What I'd cleverly done was I'd carved a lovely position for myself that doesn't exist anywhere else.

So when I was looking for other jobs, it's, hey, this. My role is not out there, so I'd have to be something different if I wanted to continue. I was looking after people, capability and development.

So working with hr, but in the IT department, to really bridge the skill gap and make sure that people had the skills for the future as well.

Not Just for right now, I thought there's only so far I can go with this and if I want to move to the next step, it's more being a senior manager and that sort of thing. And that's not really what I wanted to do.

And also seeing the stresses that the other senior managers had just for money, it just wasn't where I wanted to go. So the clogs were ticking but I didn't know what the direction was going to be.

It wasn't, oh, I need to work for myself, it was just what's going to be next. And then the kids ready hurried that process up.

Timothy R Andrews
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So like with Essence of Cake, some of your products, cakes you make are just beautiful. These are not skills that are you just happen to have. How have you managed to get those skills?

Tracey Rashid
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I think it's in the blood a little bit. My dad is an amazing artist. Like he, he like drew a landscape or painted landscape as a picture for my mum for their engagement present.

He used to draw. I made him draw me constantly as a child, like always.

His brother had learning difficulties and one of the way ways they used to connect was through drawing. So it's always been there, I've always seen it. And at school, at college, I loved cdt, if anyone knows what that means these days.

I think it's exactly craft design technology. For all you young people out there, I think you call it DT now.

Timothy R Andrews
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And for our American listeners.

Tracey Rashid
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Oh yes, indeed. So I, you know, I was, I love doing all that stuff and being creative and just learning how to work with different materials and understand them.

And then I was like, I want to be a graphic designer, that's what I want to do. So I went to college that had a great graphics department, did that for two years, did design technology, did life drawing as well.

And coincidentally I did business studies because I knew at some point I'd work for myself. I didn't know when that would be, but I was like, let's learn about business and working for yourself. So the creative has always been there.

And then I realized how long I'd have to be at university for and decided I didn't want to be a graphic designer anymore. It's contradictory because I love learning, but I was done with that academic way of learning and I decided to get a job.

Nothing to do with what I'm doing now, but that's what I decided I wanted to do. I wanted to get into the world, start learning business. And so the creative has always been there. The training, development.

You are designing posters, you're designing training materials, you're being creative, you've got different listeners, different learners, different people in a classroom that all have a different, different way of receiving information. So you have to be creative with how you present it. So I've always been in that field, I guess, just in very different ways.

Timothy R Andrews
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Sense of cake, how did you get the name?

Tracey Rashid
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I love this name.

So when I was working, or when I was working and running my cake stuff as a kind of side hustle, I called it Cakes to a T. So I love the phrase everything done to a T because everyone knows that. So that's where that came from. So. So I was selling cakes through work and did a Facebook page, did a little website, things like that.

But when I decided to do it as a job, not a hobby, I felt that didn't really encompass what I did. So I had a brand consultant, had a half day session with him and we just brainstormed, like, what, what does. What's important to you.

And what kind of came out of that session was always that cake is at the heart of what I do, it's at the center. It's like my soul and essence. That's what that means. It really does mean those words. So we thought cake needs to be in there somewhere.

So essence of Cake is what we came up with. And it was literally just a few hours. I knew what I wanted. It made it easier for that name to come out. And I love it, I absolutely love it.

Timothy R Andrews
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If someone's listening here and they're thinking, oh, I've had, I've been working for somebody else, but there's a little spark inside them, saying, actually, I want to try this. What would you say are some of the pros and cons of being an entrepreneur?

Tracey Rashid
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I would say I'll start with pros. I think, not having lots of red tape.

We've all worked in organisations where to get anything done, you need 20 million signatures on something just to sign off a post it note and it gets a bit onerous, it really does. So trust me, I've been there.

So I think having that autonomy to make changes, to adapt, to respond to what's going on in the world, I mean, the pandemic, you know, I know you did covered a lot in your series on that.

Timothy R Andrews
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Yeah.

Tracey Rashid
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If I was working for someone else, I think it would have been harder to make the changes that I made and I could respond literally overnight to what was going on. So I love the fact that I have the ability to do that and to be creative and to test things and if it fails, it's just part of my steps to success.

It's not the end of the world having that ability to say, I will try this and I will see if it works for me and works for my customers. I absolutely love that side of it.

And yes, you do tend to work slightly harder at the beginning and longer hours than you would working for someone else, but when it's for you, it doesn't matter. My mum lives with me, so there's sometimes I'm working and she has to say to me, go to bed, it's late. And I'm like, I don't want to.

I'm almost finding things to do because I love what I do. I was always afraid that turning my hobby into my, my, my business would ruin my hobby, but actually it's just enlightened.

It's made it grow and spread to dimensions I wouldn't have done as a hobby, but I'm able to do as a business. So that freedom, the time, the fact I can do a sneaky cinema trip during the day.

Timothy R Andrews
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Yeah.

Tracey Rashid
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On my own, because I like doing that, you know, that you can't say to your boss, I'm just going to go to the cinema for a couple of hours, I'll be back later. So, again, being able to carve the time out that I want when I need it, it's absolutely fantastic.

Timothy R Andrews
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It's the trade off, isn't it? It is the trade off.

Tracey Rashid
00:10:45.630 - 00:12:06.440
It is, it is, definitely.

And just the people I get to meet, the situations I get to put myself in, it's just so encouraging and inspiring and just makes me want to keep going. Cons. Working on your own is not always the easiest thing, especially if you're not particularly comfortable with your own space and your own self.

So that can be a con, definitely. But I think there's always ways to mitigate that. There's networking groups, doing a podcast.

There's lots of things you can do to get out there and be around other people. Even like the workspaces that you can. The shared workspaces. So I think any con that you come across, you can mitigate it. Making decisions.

Sometimes you don't realize how much you bounce off other people to make decisions and grow your ideas and develop them. So when you're sat there on your own, you. It's harder, it's harder to come up with that solution.

So I do bore friends and family constantly with stuff that I'm thinking about, but it's great because they're in different industries, they do different things. They've got different backgrounds, so they do give me inspiration that I wouldn't have thought of on my own.

Don't just sit there and do things on your own because you think it's my business and I have to get out there and still speak to people as you would if you were working for someone else. And, yeah, thank you.

Timothy R Andrews
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We touched on. I think it's important to raise. It's about. You talked about giving back, getting out there, but also your background in training and development.

And one of the things that you're very active in at the moment is getting involved with teaching or educating young people at schools about our industry. And I know you're very proactive about it. Would you like to talk a little bit about that?

Tracey Rashid
00:12:28.520 - 00:14:53.710
I would, yeah. I think you have to be proactive, whatever industry you're in.

And my main pickup from what you just said was our industry, which is obviously hospitality. Now, when I started this crazy world of cake, I didn't think of myself in hospitality. I.

It was, I'm a cake maker, is how I looked at it and my transition. And I'm so glad I did. It was thinking about myself and how I present myself.

Now, a lot of people would say, I'm a baker, and there's nothing wrong with that. But when I think baker, I think bread is what I've been thinking about. And I don't really do bread.

I do some enriched doughs, but not bread as a whole. So I thought, what do I call myself?

Because cake maker, again, doesn't really sell it, because it could just be a Victoria sponge that's not decorated, for example. So I came up with cake artists, and I felt that really brilliant. It just. Oh, it just sung to me, because I do. It is an art.

Yes, it is an art, and it does. I don't know, it just makes you think differently.

So when I'm at the schools, I talk to them about this progress and change that I've had, and I ask them the questions, what do you think when you think baker? What do you think when you hear cake maker and what do you think? We say cake artist. And the words they come up with is so much different.

It's like, you know, you're using colors and textures and what you think of with an artist maybe writing or drawing on canvas or any other medium. So. So that's what I liked with that transition. And then I saw it was Marco Pierre White said an amazing quote.

And, you know, when you just think, oh, this just sums everything up. So he Said, if you work with your hands, you're a laborer. If you work with your hands and your head, then you're a craftsman.

And if you work with your hands, your head, your heart, you're an artist. Fantastic. And I need to hit. And that just made me think, okay, I've made the right decision. That really is perfect for me.

When I made that decision is when, I don't know, hospitality kind of came into my head. And that has really opened so many doors now for me and the biggest one has been working with schools.

And the next generation is important to instill certain things. And again, when I ask, what do you think of hospitality or roles in hospitality? It's chef, it's waiter, waitress.

So I love going in and saying, I'm in hospitality and I'm a cake artist.

And it just blows their mind that, oh, there's other things to do and there's other things that are available that they may not have thought of that coexist in that industry.

Timothy R Andrews
00:14:54.110 - 00:15:03.630
Fantastic. You're a little bit famous, you, aren't you? You're hiding your light under the bush a little bit. But somebody has been on TV recently, haven't they?

Tracey Rashid
00:15:03.630 - 00:15:06.710
Yes. It was you, Timothy, wasn't it? Because I don't think that was me.

Timothy R Andrews
00:15:06.710 - 00:15:17.870
But we're talking about. However, tell me about your time on tv because it was quite life changing for you, wasn't it? It was quite an immense experience.

Would you like to tell us about it?

Tracey Rashid
00:15:18.200 - 00:19:47.080
I would love to tell you because it was. I still have to pinch myself because I still can't believe I went through this experience.

So in December, I got a phone call early December, and Ann Marie Gishon makes a compass cake. So look that up because it's amazing piece of cake artistry.

And the person on the phone was asking me, okay, I need to make this cake, can you give me some recommendations and advice as to how I make the compass stamp and blah, blah, blah. So I gave him loads of advice and I do that. I'm happy to advise him.

He wasn't buying anything off me, but to me, I just love to share, I love to give and he appreciated that. So whilst we're on the phone, he looked at my website, said, oh, okay, liking what you do, how are your pastry chef skills?

Now I forget that I am a qualified pastry chef. I genuinely do. I said, yeah, I've done it, I can do it, I can make pastries, it's fine.

And so he said to me that he had been invited to attend the European Gelato cup in Italy in January the following year. So a month away and the chef that he had, the pastry chef that he'd selected, may not be able to attend. So would I be interested now?

I just said yes because I do say yes. I say yes. And I think about how I deal with it afterwards because I think if you say no, you can miss out on so much. So I said yes.

He said, fine, I'll send the details over to you. Chances are it will be you, but I'll let you know. I remember putting the phone down and thinking, I don't have a passport. It's been locked down.

I didn't renew my passport, so I had to renew my passport. Luckily, it took three weeks. I can't even believe it was so quick. And before I knew it, we're practicing.

What didn't occur to me was I was going to have to make this compass cake because he'd already submitted what he was making. Now, anyone who's quickly Googling this during this podcast, it's not an easy thing to do.

And the hardest thing is this lovely sugar dome on top that's made from sugar. And so I had to practice that and learn it and know that I had to repeat it four times during this competition.

The burns, the blisters, the hot sugar is no joke, people. It hurts. It really hurts. And on my Instagram, I had posted some of my injuries, my war wounds, as I'd called them, because there was.

There were so many. So, yeah, off to Rimini. There was three of us. Taseer is the number one gelato maker in the UK and he was asked to head up the team.

And I ended up learning so much about gelato, it was just. It's an amazing world. I have to say, how I ended up in this team, I don't know, it's just, it's still a whirlwind.

But it was such an amazing experience. It was three days of competition, 12 hour days. Like a hotel was opened just to host the competitors and the team behind it.

They shipped us to the exhibition center every day. Like hospitality was paid for and they really did look after us because you just had to focus on working.

And yeah, it just, it was televised, it was live, it was streaming, it was an exhibition center of lots of stuff, bakery, chocolate, etc. So there's people walking around, watching what we're doing, being interviewed halfway through what you're doing.

But the craziest thing for me was we had to practice the walkout and practice where we had to Stand and waving at the camera and saying who we are and who we're representing. And we did represent the uk and that really struck home when they were like, here's your flag, big flag.

So when you hear your national anthem, start walking. It was like, what? I'm walking out of my. I'm competing for the uk. Really. Really just sunk in at that moment. You can. I'm smiling.

I'm sure you can hear that I'm smiling because it was absolutely amazing. The third part of our team was Seb. So he has a number of gelato shops. And I know that's not the way to say it, but gelato shops is what I'm saying.

Sorry, sorry. I can never remember the way to say it, but he has a series of shops in Brighton and to see. Has one in East Dulwich. And we just clicked.

We just clicked and we were so excited. We actually came fifth. So we just missed going into the world, which will be January 24th. But the experience was. It was just enough.

Timothy R Andrews
00:19:47.320 - 00:19:54.360
So if people listening to this, where can they find you? If they want to find a battery cakes, where do they go? And of course, we will be providing links.

Tracey Rashid
00:19:54.680 - 00:20:09.170
Perfect. It's essenceofcake.com social media, essenceofcake uk. Yeah. We're on LinkedIn, Facebook, website, insta.

So we try and cover all of the different mediums out there that people respond to.

Timothy R Andrews
00:20:12.530 - 00:20:15.010
Oh, what's that? Tracey, what was that sound?

Tracey Rashid
00:20:15.170 - 00:20:16.530
I don't know. You're scaring me.

Timothy R Andrews
00:20:16.610 - 00:20:23.970
That sound sounds like the end of the interviews. But time for. Oh, quick fire question round.

Tracey Rashid
00:20:23.970 - 00:20:28.900
Oh, gosh, I've heard about these. Put the cuppa down. Question time.

Timothy R Andrews
00:20:30.980 - 00:20:36.820
It's a simple game. All we have to do is we ask you a question. You've got to give one word answer.

Tracey Rashid
00:20:37.140 - 00:20:38.900
Okay, that's gonna be hard.

Timothy R Andrews
00:20:40.020 - 00:20:41.380
Are you ready, Tracy?

Tracey Rashid
00:20:42.260 - 00:20:51.780
I'm ready. I'm ready.

Timothy R Andrews
00:20:52.180 - 00:20:54.260
What is your favorite city in the world?

Tracey Rashid
00:20:55.310 - 00:20:55.790
London.

Timothy R Andrews
00:20:56.430 - 00:20:59.070
What is the best restaurant you have ever been to?

Tracey Rashid
00:20:59.310 - 00:21:00.110
Meat and wine.

Timothy R Andrews
00:21:00.510 - 00:21:02.910
Finish the phrase, the way to my.

Tracey Rashid
00:21:02.910 - 00:21:04.670
Heart is with food.

Timothy R Andrews
00:21:06.030 - 00:21:09.230
What is the best ever board game you've played?

Tracey Rashid
00:21:09.790 - 00:21:10.590
Monopoly.

Timothy R Andrews
00:21:11.310 - 00:21:13.390
Who is your favorite type of customer?

Tracey Rashid
00:21:13.470 - 00:21:14.670
A focused customer.

Timothy R Andrews
00:21:14.750 - 00:21:16.190
Pint or cocktail?

Tracey Rashid
00:21:16.590 - 00:21:17.310
Cocktail.

Timothy R Andrews
00:21:17.790 - 00:21:19.310
What is your Hogwarts house?

Tracey Rashid
00:21:19.790 - 00:21:21.650
Ooh, Gryffindor.

Timothy R Andrews
00:21:22.210 - 00:21:25.970
What is most likely to distract you when you work from home?

Tracey Rashid
00:21:26.370 - 00:21:27.010
The Sun.

Timothy R Andrews
00:21:28.930 - 00:21:31.970
What was or what is the last book you read?

Tracey Rashid
00:21:32.450 - 00:21:36.410
Oh, gosh, this is really bad. I can't remember the name of it. What?

Timothy R Andrews
00:21:36.410 - 00:21:37.249
Was it any good?

Tracey Rashid
00:21:37.650 - 00:21:38.370
I was great.

Timothy R Andrews
00:21:41.650 - 00:21:51.330
Who's your hero? Who is your hero? Oh, my Mum, what is the best non curse. One word? Insult.

Tracey Rashid
00:21:52.290 - 00:21:52.690
Really?

Timothy R Andrews
00:21:55.490 - 00:21:58.130
Name your favourite onomatopoeia.

Tracey Rashid
00:21:59.170 - 00:21:59.970
Sizzle.

Timothy R Andrews
00:22:00.690 - 00:22:03.490
What is a good spy codename for you?

Tracey Rashid
00:22:04.370 - 00:22:07.410
I was going to say cake lady, but it wouldn't be obvious it's me. Wouldn't it?

Timothy R Andrews
00:22:08.050 - 00:22:15.090
I don't think you've passed the MI5 interview. What song would you want played at your funeral?

Tracey Rashid
00:22:15.330 - 00:22:16.290
Who Runs the World?

Timothy R Andrews
00:22:17.320 - 00:22:19.320
What's your favourite Sunday activity?

Tracey Rashid
00:22:19.720 - 00:22:21.240
Sitting on the sofa with my family.

Timothy R Andrews
00:22:22.120 - 00:22:27.960
Do you prefer foreign food or do you prefer English food? Like a Chinese or an Indian?

Tracey Rashid
00:22:34.760 - 00:22:35.720
Let's go foreign.

Timothy R Andrews
00:22:36.040 - 00:22:43.980
Oxford street is the perfect place for shopping, but Quality street has no shops whatsoever. Who's to blame?

Tracey Rashid
00:22:46.460 - 00:22:47.740
The chocolate lovers?

Timothy R Andrews
00:22:50.300 - 00:22:55.660
Sadly, that is all we have time for. You are off the hook. Luckily for you.

Tracey Rashid
00:22:55.660 - 00:23:00.140
Tracy, that was intense. It's scary, isn't it, people? It is.

Timothy R Andrews
00:23:01.020 - 00:23:06.900
Oh, it's not scary. Don't scare them, Tim. It's terrifying because your brain just switches right off.

Tracey Rashid
00:23:06.900 - 00:23:08.620
You've affected my whole day now.

Timothy R Andrews
00:23:08.860 - 00:23:12.460
I know that cake is just gonna be a cake full of tears.

Tracey Rashid
00:23:12.620 - 00:23:15.500
It is. Yeah, absolutely. I'll still sell it, though. No, not really.

Timothy R Andrews
00:23:17.420 - 00:23:27.900
Thank you so much for joining us today, Tracy. It's been hugely inspirational.

I hope that people listening, maybe if you're they're thinking about setting their own business up, we'll actually make the leap.

Tracey Rashid
00:23:28.140 - 00:23:34.060
Yeah, it's worth it, people. It's definitely worth it. Yeah, it's been good. Thank you. See you later. Bye.

Timothy R Andrews
00:23:34.830 - 00:23:49.230
Sadly, that's all of this episode of Talking Hospitality. But tune in next week where we will have another fabulous guest and we will be talking hospitality.

Don't forget to like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Have a great week and stay awesome.

Tracey Rashid
00:23:49.230 - 00:24:28.200
[Theme Tune]. I saw it was Marco Pierre White said an amazing quote and you just think, oh, this just sums everything up.

And he said, if you work with your hands, you're a blooper. Real. I've said this so many times. I can't believe that just went out of my head.