March's DOCE Madness - Sweeten your Experience

Goal: The Ultimate Experience

Without customers, DOCE bakery is nothing. So I took some time to really think about the ultimate customer experience. In a service related industry, it is best to put yourself in their shoes. In today's busy, fast paced lives, how could I create a smooth, convenient way to provide a beautiful, great tasting cake on the table as easy as possible.

The Cost of a Dollar

One big obstacle I find we hit all the time is pricing. In an industry with over 500 competitors, people are smarter (finally!). They are shopping around getting the best bang for their buck. Our prices are carefully calculated with parts and labor however, I will need to investigate and research our market value further so that our prices are better suited for the frugalistic mom or dad celebrating little Timmy's big day. At the same time I must ensure that we are being fairly compensated for all the hard work and passion we put into our cakes and into our business.

Social media

We have such fantastic opportunities right under our noses with all the social media out there. They are basically outlets of more creativeness to reach the new and older generations! Currently we connect with fans via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and even Pinterest @docebakery. There is no higher compliment then having a fan re-pin one of your cakes to their creative vision boards. Here, I will need to fully review what we have posted and carefully select those that best represent our company. With the little time people have in their busy lives, I wouldn't want them getting a finger cramp scrolling through all of 2010 until now! I'd also like to categorize our albums so that you can click and see inspirations of exactly what you would be interested in. 

Haute Cake

I will need to consistently follow up on the trends to keep our designs modern chic and up to date in the latest trends. With Buddy Valastro's lead in today's cake innovation, our industry has turned into the haute couture of tasty delights. In fact the famous Cake Boss has already created a collection of cake resembling one of Issac Mizrahi's collection down the runway!

Where DOCE Shines

Sure there is some tough competition out there. What I do take most pride in is our taste. With hearing comments like "heavenly" or "to die for", I know that for that single moment, that person put their troubles on the back burner and tasted "heaven". As fully invested owners of DOCE we have always embodied the idea of celebration. It's always been the little celebrations that help push through the tough times. If we don't reward ourselves for the little victories in life, then what's the point of it all? What better way to celebrate than decadent chocolate or a dance with strawberries and cream to soothe our troubles.  

6 Steps to Create a Memorable Customer Experience:

ATTENTIVENESS – Discover and make note of the tiniest details about your customer. Whether or not it pertains to your business with them.

RECOGNITION – Greet them by name with a warm smile. Nothing flatters me more than when someone looks genuinely happy to see me.

PERSONALIZATION – Tailor your service to the needs and wants of your customer. She likes pink! Give her PINK!

CONSIDERATION – Do you walk your customer to the car? I always serve cake tastings in a bride’s home. It seems to unwind them since it requires ZERO preparation.

APPRECIATION – A thank you card or a short and sweet email goes a long way. Remember they chose you! Gratitude is in order!

FEEL GOOD TIME – This could be a joke, a gift or anything that makes someone “feel good”. Isn’t the last person that made you smile in your good books? Try to get in theirs! 

Are you looking to step up your client experience in your business? Looking to evolve in the business you work in? Think of what you can do to make your experience enjoyable to the public.

You’d be surprised at what some creative imaging and some appreciative smiles can do for you and the common goal.

March's DOCE Madness - Love Where You Work

At the age of 16, working at Amy's Bakery was suppose to be my after school part time job. The first time I had laid my eyes on Ricardo, he was asking me for a fresh Mil Folha pastry. Not knowing a lick of Portuguese, I stared. He then pointed at it totally embarrassing me. I boxed the flaky goodness and muttered a broken "obrigado" one of the few words I knew. Our memories at the bakery were some of the happiest times in our lives together. Ricardo had shown me the ups and downs of the industry. He made me appreciate the loaf of bread on the table and it is very much a part of our past together. So it's only natural that I dedicate this month to the one goal closest to our heart. To open a DOCE bakery location.

Mil Folha - A vanilla slice, custard slice, also known as the Napoleon, is a French pastry of which the exact origin is unknown. Its modern form was influenced by improvements of Marie-Antoine Carême. 

Goal: To love where we work

My memory goes back to my hair styling days where I would put in a good 8 hour day at the salon and come home to see my monthly blonde client sitting in my chair waiting to retouch those dark brown roots. I remember uncomfortably squeezing myself between the chair and my mom's basement fridge. Trying to hurry as quick as I can for the chance to take a long hot shower and still be in bed before midnight!! You want to love where you work. You want the space, the luxury of storage, and of course decent hours to coincide with your 007 life.

I then think about my most inspirational places:

-ScotiaPlaza's gold branding and bright red details thinking "I am unstoppable". 

-A fresh cut wooden table at the Culinary Kitchen at George Brown College thinking "What I can create is endless"

-Smelling the books at the George Brown College Library thinking "I can never stop learning"

- Walking the Portugal cobblestone steps by the local bakery with the smell of fresh bread in the air thinking "I can give this delicious scent to strangers on the street"

This is what I want to incorporate into DOCE Bakery. To establish a timeless brand to the public and to consistently offer classic baked goods to the public. To never stop creating and keep up with all new tricks of the trade. To provide the most cutting edge cakes to my clients and for them to walk into our bakery and have that smell just consume them. Giving them that "ahh" feeling that puts away all troubles and worries to indulge in that fresh eclair with a great smile on their face.

I will have to focus on bringing this inspo to our workspace at home. Somewhere where I can look forward to working and making the best cakes we could ever create. 

-Make it neat and tidy with a DOCE bakery logo on the wall

-A cork board of inspirational cake photos. 

-Stock up our cleaning products for washing dishes to make life easier. 

-Organize Ricardo's recipes all into one little accessible bible.

-Organize our office to utilize it most efficiently in my administrative tasks.

For some phenomenal tips and tricks on organizing your home/workspace into a dream, please check out Alejandra Costello's YouTube channel!

www.youtube.com/user/HomeOrganizing

Do you have a specific place that gives the jolts to do more in this short life of yours? Maybe it's even a person who shares their wisdom! Go there or find that person. Visit, call, Skype or even Google them! These are the sources that will bring out the maximum potential in you. AKA the happier you! Bring your muse into your workspace and watch what you create!!

February's Love Tune-Up - Results are in...

BE PRESENT 4 out of 5 Stars

Once I had identified the one thing I can do to make Ricardo feel noticed and appreciated, I found myself tuning out the distractions of electronics and it was just easier to listen. For those few times I just couldn't drop what I was doing, I found there was a little voice inside me telling me that it was important to listen. I also found that in being in the moment, I learned a lot about him and he really did surprise me with some of the things he had to say. It was super gratifying to hear that he appreciated me lending an ear once in a while.

Never stop courting 4 out of 5 Stars

Although I could have done more to be the perfect Gentlewoman, I actually LIKED doing the little things for Ricardo. When you are with someone for so long, you know when they are truly happy, and I noticed the little smirks here and there. I did like surprising him with getting his coffee instead of the usual "get it yourself" lecture. It was truly relieving to let go of all the expectations of having a perfect rom-com movie man and to like him just as he is.The obstacle will be to continue this without my ego convincing me that he is taking advantage. This is when appreciation becomes imperative.

BE SILLY 5 out of 5 Stars

With this goal, I definitely shined. Once I started bringing out the humour in our day to day life, it was easy to let go of the stress and laugh! I actually discovered that me and Ricardo basically have a very similar sense of humour. We just weren't enjoying it as much as we should. This also made phone calls much more interesting than the typical "What's for dinner?" conversation.

 ALWAYS SEE THE BEST  3 out of 5 Stars

Since we just started this I can't give myself a 5. I can't even begin to explain how effective this goal is for our relationship. I found that once I got creative with showing my appreciation for the little things he does, suddenly he was reciprocating all his appreciation back to me. Positive energy feeding more positive energy. Then BAM! Friday's date night felt like we were two kids crazy in love again.

Marriage is not easy, and don’t interpret this as Marriage sucks. All that is truly amazing in this world is hard work. A young 20’s something with a six pack isn’t exactly that hard, but you take a 60 year old woman with an incredible body, #trulyamazing !! This person is going to be your life team mate, your personal life coach and your business partner. Wouldn’t it make sense to put a little time and effort into the relationship? I refer to our home as the DeOliveira business. Our business plan includes both persons hopes and dreams (bucket list), financial plan, strategies and goals and a whole lotta communication.

I do feel like in this day and age marriage is looked at totally different than it did 20 or 30 years ago. Freedom was very limited for our parent and grandparents. They simply got married to free themselves from their parent’s authority to live on their own. This day and age we have so much choice with the freedom as to whom or when we get married or if we want to marry at all. I admit I have succumbed myself to the tradition this society has programmed into us. I also admit that I was in the position to do everything in my power to make sure that Ricardo and I were to spend our lives together (if he would have me of course).

Now that I taken all my + Energy from January and combined it with my jumpstart  connection with Ricardo, I do feel a change in the energy field at home. I won't say I have a permanent smile on my face, but it is definitely much easier to identify when I am feeling negative and positive. One key ingredient is to realize that angry is just a feeling and we need to deal with it without letting it hurt what we have been working towards. I feel quick to let go of the bad and very open to the good. What surprised me the most was how all of this is projecting onto Ricardo. I won't say he is making any major changes in his life, however his comments have changed tremendously. Nothing inspires me more than him looking straight in my eye telling me to enjoy my life. Onto my next chapter I go...

Happy Vid of The Month

http://youtu.be/d-diB65scQU

"Don't Worry, Be Happy" is a song by musician Bobby McFerrin. Released in September 1988, it became the first a cappella song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a position it held for two weeks. The song's title is taken from a famous quote by Meher Baba.

February's Love Tune-Up - Sweet Thanks

 I have chosen to focus on my Marriage in February. Naturally just around St Valentine's Day! I spend a lot of my time with Ricardo (approximately 96 hours a week). So naturally a huge chunk of my happiness would come from being with him and what kind of energy we feed off each other. "20 Marriage Tips Everyone Needs to Know" an article written by a recently divorced gentleman (link below). Which I found to be incredibly profound with so much #truth.

http://www.viralnova.com/20-marriage-tips

Goal: ALWAYS SEE THE BEST in her. Focus only on what you love. What you focus on will expand. If you focus on what bugs you, all you will see is reasons to be bugged. If you focus on what you love, you can’t help but be consumed by love. Focus to the point where you can no longer see anything but love, and you know without a doubt that you are the luckiest man on earth to be have this woman as your wife.

Thank you for the laughs...

for working so hard for the life we have...

Heart Vision

The Secret, by author Rhonda Byrne (no I have not joined a cult) claims that the law of attraction is based on our thoughts and visions. We see it, we believe it, and it will come to be. I will bring this forward to my love life. I will envision us through our years as happy, laughing and loving. This will be hard since society paints an ugly picture of relationships being hard work. You know with lines like "the ol'ball and chain" and "enjoy the honeymoon phase!" Who comes with this stuff anyways??

for never giving up on our dreams...

for making me breakfast on YOUR days off...

Fight Right

In any conflict, do you suddenly feel yourself regurgitating the ghost of Christmas past? This is also known as the Crockpot. When all the bad things someone does gets thrown into the Crockpot without a peep. Then it stirs and simmers, sometimes months at a time and then finally the big blowup..you are then both sitting there looking at each other angrily with absolutely ZERO solutions to whatever you were fighting for in the first place! In order to get my happy vision with Ricardo in gear I will need to bring up one difficult topic at a time. The big challenge is, I will have to do this without putting him down and without blowing up. Easier said than done friends!

for giving me my dream home...

for all the adventure...

4 Goods = 1 Bad?

I believe that as negative absorbers unconsciously we tend to hold on to the bad. Even with so much good we just can't seem to let the bad go. So I think how many good times could erase one bad time with Ricardo? Probably a lot. So it would be a good idea to pick and choose my battles. When to be heavy and when to be light. I really want him to look back at our life together as one long nostalgic song going through his head with various scenes of us happy and in love. You know, like in the movies!

for listening when I say "I haven't had popcorn in soo long!"...

for being so generous to my family...

Show Love

The things we do for each other and for the love of our family gets unnoticed. It's part of our daily routine and it just becomes so wired into our brains that it begins to lack purpose. Why are we always taking the garbage outside while the other one has got their butt parked on the couch? We need to revive the purpose in the things that we do for each other. A simple "Thank you for taking out the garbage" is nice and it is one of the courtesies that me and Ricardo have always had to thank each other for things. But sometimes it's not enough, giving us little to no motivation to pick it up and do it again for each other with some guilty comments on the side. Find out which way of showing gratitude works for you. It could be a cute sticky note showing love for the replenished milk in the fridge or even an email/text with a sweet thank you message for the coffee brewed in the morning. Anything that shows them "hi, I really do notice your existence and you did something super nice for me and I totally got your back!"

and for my morning kisses.

February's Love Tune-Up - Silly Priscilly

I have chosen to focus on my Marriage in February. Naturally just around St Valentine's Day! I spend a lot of my time with Ricardo (approximately 96 hours a week). So naturally a huge chunk of my happiness would come from being with him and what kind of energy we feed off each other. "20 Marriage Tips Everyone Needs to Know" an article written by a recently divorced gentleman (link below). Which I found to be incredibly profound with so much #truth.

http://www.viralnova.com/20-marriage-tips

 Goal: BE SILLY… don’t take yourself so damn seriously. Laugh. And make her laugh. Laughter makes everything else easier.

 Silly Priscilla

Being silly is what defined me as a kid. I would have done anything for a laugh, even if it got me into some serious trouble! The principal’s office was definitely my residence in elementary school. Although my mom never found any of this funny, I had made a good group of friends with my shenanigans. They never judged me even with the most hideous faces I made to get a chuckle.

 THEN adulthood happened. Here’s the math:

1 FT JOB + GAZILLION BILLS + 1 GIANT MTG = STRESS + 0 SILLINESS

All the stresses and pressures of growing up and taking on responsibility has the ability to take all the fun and excitement from your life…if you allow it to.

Add Silliness

 Sure you can’t go and blow your cash on a lavish night in Niagara with Champagne showers and a party bus with Vinny from the Jersey Shore. But there is so much joy and pleasure in the little things that the average eye cannot see. BE SILLY!! Laugh at yourself! Sing along, make funny faces, do cartwheels and somersaults and indulge in a little candy once in a while. We need to bring out the kid in us out for the world to see. ITS INFECTIOUS! Watch as your guy/girl catches it and starts bringing their kid out! Let the play dates begin!!

Minus Ego

As we grow older we tend to care about what others think. This puts us in a tight package of unoriginality. We don’t express what we feel, we don’t share our ideas all because we are afraid of how others perceive us. I teach Ricardo again and again to always put yourself out there, especially with his english. Ask questions, try new words and phrases. Why wouldn’t I take my own advice? CAUTION: You may receive feedback that you might not like to hear. Listen to what they have to say, and take what you’d like from it. Just don’t let it upset you, it’s just not worth throwing away the happiness we’ve been working for.

 Benefits of Laughing

-Lower blood pressure

-Increases vascular blood flow and oxygenation of the blood

-Gives a workout to the abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles

-Reduces certain stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline

-Increases the response of tumor- and disease-killing cells 

-Defends against respiratory infections even reducing the frequency of colds

-Increases memory and learning

-Improves alertness, creativity, and memory

Funny is Sexy

Tina Fey is named as one of the 50 TOP sexiest women of all time. She's not only a beauty, but she has the ability to find the funny in any given situation. This doesn’t mean you should get out your clown gear ladies. Just let loose and laugh at life when you can.

Har-dee-har-har!

So what makes your darlin’ laugh? Do they like Adam Sandler? Plan a movie marathon! Is there a certain phrase that they find hilarious? Say it often. Maybe in a funny voice! Make their day, especially when they’re singing the blues.

Check out my favourite giggly scene from Mary Poppins...

http://youtu.be/BvAGNSJ7Wrc

"To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it!"
- Charlie Chapman

February's Love Tune-Up - The Perfect Gentlewoman

 I have chosen to focus on my Marriage in February. Naturally just around St Valentine's Day! I spend a lot of my time with Ricardo (approximately 96 hours a week). So naturally a huge chunk of my happiness would come from being with him and what kind of energy we feed off each other. "20 Marriage Tips Everyone Needs to Know" an article written by a recently divorced gentleman (link below). Which I found to be incredibly profound with so much #truth. So I have chosen 4 really important points he brings up that I find I could really brush up on.

http://www.viralnova.com/20-marriage-tips

Goal: Never stop courting. Never stop dating. NEVER EVER take that woman for granted. When you asked her to marry you, you promised to be that man that would OWN HER HEART and to fiercely protect it. This is the most important and sacred treasure you will ever be entrusted with. SHE CHOSE YOU. Never forget that, and NEVER GET LAZY in your love.

Sure we are in 2014. The days where women make most decisions in a fam. We change our tires and master the barbecue. We paint our walls and shovel our snow. It’s hard to believe that once upon a time there existed courtship. Where men would open our doors, pulled out our seat, offered flowers, noticed our beauty, held their farts in, and did not speak of T&A. I’m not saying gentlemen aren’t out there anymore it is quite a rare breed, but I did get the wrong impression of how real relationships work from the Rom Coms of the 90’s.

Gent·le·man

ˈjentlmən/ - a chivalrous, courteous, or honorable man.

I choose to focus on the good! Ricardo has this amazing capability of caring for others. Once you are in his circle of loved ones, you my friend will have him at your beck and call when you need a friend and he will worry about you while you’re out until you arrive home safely. This is one thing I truly admire about him. He knows how to be really silly and won’t ever judge me when I wanna do jumping jacks together or sing out loud. I like to think he actually like this immature side of me, I may be wrong about this!

So instead of waiting for him to help me with my jacket, I will help him with his. I will treat him with Tim Hortons after a long night of cake and I will help him Band-Aid any cuts he has. My  fellow Canadians! We know that there is nothing like being offered a thoughtful warm toasty cup of Tim Hortons without asking eh? It is something that costs less than $5.00 and gives the effect of a million! I have brought Tim Hortons to those that I care most for and their faces are always priceless. For Ricardo, I will be the perfect gentleperson that I long for. I will not get lazy with my marriage and I will try to wow him at every opportunity I have. Being in business we tend to treat our clients like royalty, give them everything they want and how they want it. Why in God’s Green Earth would I not give that kind of treatment to the person I have promised to spend my whole life with!

Some great ideas for the #thriftyvalentiner ! 

 http://www.viralnova.com/say-i-love-you/

"Whatever happened to chivalry? Does it only exist in 80's movies? I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me. Just once I want my life to be like an 80's movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason." – Olive Pendergast, Easy A