As fall turns into winter, the last red leaves disappear from trees, the weather gets colder and festive lights illuminate neighborhoods. The air fills with the scent of rain and home cooked meals. Lauren Golafshan (11) mimics this change by updating the seasonal menu for her baking business, Love, Lolo, from pumpkin spice themed to peppermint. 

“I post during the seasons and have seasonal baked goods to make people want to buy things more,” Golafshan said. “It’s a fun way to keep the business going.” 

Golafshan started Love, Lolo (@lovelolobakingco) as a way to make money. She was drawn to the idea of a baking business because of her deep love for the craft. 

“[I’ve been baking] ever since I can remember, being in the kitchen with my Mom…[she] really inspired me,” Golafshan said. “My love language is giving other people food — I love making people happy by giving them food.” 

Kiva Saitowitz (10) also started her baking business, Kiva’s Cookies, this year. She sells chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and is considering expanding to snickerdoodles as well. 

“This business started probably about two months ago,” Saitowitz said. “I just wanted to find a way to make money but also do something I like.” 

Like Golafshan, Saitowitz’s love for baking came from her family. 

“My great-grandma used to bake a lot, so ever since I was little I baked with her, and then I just found a love for it,” Saitowitz said.

To add to the familial aspect of Saitowitz’s passion for baking, the  chocolate chip oatmeal cookies she sells are made from her grandmother’s recipe. 

“I love seeing my friends’ faces light up when they try the cookie and they love it,” Saitowitz said. “I feel like I’m honoring my grandma’s recipe and making her proud.” 

Although Saitowitz and Golafshan enjoy the baking aspect of their job, starting and running a business can pose some challenges. 

“It’s not necessarily an easy thing to do; there’s a lot of systems that are not in place that you have to design and create,” Jake Ashby, who teaches Intro to Business and Internship + Work Experience, said. “You have to be willing and able to be flexible and work outside of the traditional norms.”

Saitowitz had to alter her system as she gained experience. 

“My original plan was just to bake it as I got orders,” Saitowitz said. “Then I started to find a routine where I got the orders during the week, and then I’d bake the cookies on Sunday and bring them to my customers on Monday.” 

Golafshan also established her own system. 

“It’s run through Instagram,” Golafshan said. “I post what I’m selling and people DM me or text me if they want to make an order and they pick it up from my house. I do drop sales, so I have a specific window for people to make orders.” 

Their businesses also take up a lot of their time. It takes Saitowitz around two and a half hours each week and Golafshan three to four hours each week to bake and package their goods, depending on how many orders they receive. 

Both Saitowitz and Golafshan had Ashby for Intro to Business. When she first started out, Golafshan brought him her concerns surrounding this time commitment. 

“She was trying to decide whether or not she wanted to continue down the rabbit hole of creating a small business, whether it was worth her time,” Ashby said. “We’re all so busy with school and other things that she had to decide, ‘Do I want to continue this business or do I just let it go?’” 

Golafshan was ultimately able to find a way to balance her other responsibilities with her baking business. 

“I try to be really productive while I’m at school and with my free time,” Golafshan said. “I’ll try and do homework instead of scrolling on TikTok. I have my priorities, and I make sure those get done first.”

Saitowitz also had issues with time and had to suspend her business due to her busy schedule. However, she is planning to bring it back in the upcoming weeks. 

These struggles are precisely what bring growth, according to Ashby. 

“You gain an understanding of how businesses operate, you have a deeper appreciation for what your parents might do, how the US economy as a whole functions,” Ashby said. “By running your own business, you’re gaining real world experience. There’s a huge portion of businesses that fail, and just by trying they start to see what works and they can apply it to their next one.” 

Beyond the business expertise that is gained, the genuine passion for baking is what ultimately shines through. It drives Golafshan to spend extra time and energy crafting seasonal menus. Recently, she sold fall themed treats including chewy pumpkin cookies, chocolate pumpkin muffins and halloween-themed sugar cookies. 

“If you’re passionate about any idea, or any project, or any stance on anything, you should be willing to take the leap and really share your passions with the world because that’s where we get a lot of great things from,” Ashby said. “Whether it’s creating a business, starting a dance studio — doing whatever it is that you are authentically passionate about and really sharing that with the world makes it a better place.”

This story was originally published on The Falconer on November 20, 2024.