Anna Galicinski loves decorating cakes.

And with nine younger siblings, there were a lot of opportunities to make birthday cakes growing up!

So when she graduated high school, she considered becoming a pastry chef.

But her primary dream was to become an author. And the prospect of finding time to write around a 40-hour work week didn’t sound very appealing.

So when she joined the Author Conservatory, our business coaches helped her launch her own cake decorating business so she could make money while enjoying the flexibility that comes with setting your own hours and running your own business.

She began by teaching cake decorating courses online…but despite all the time she’d invested in it, she wasn’t making any sales.

So our business coaches suggested she try teaching local cake decorating workshops instead.

Anna was a bit nervous about this prospect.

After all, she was a classic introverted writer.

The prospect of going up to people in real life and convincing them to sign up for her class or give her a space to teach?

That felt scary.

But she was willing to try, and we pushed her to create a list of local businesses that would be willing to host her workshops.

With our accountability, she created a long list, and was surprised to find businesses willing to give her space for free.

At her first local cake workshop? It was a nerve-wracking experience, but at the end, all of her students were so excited and enthusiastic about what it had been like.

And it was an enormous confidence-booster for how much she could accomplish as an introverted entrepreneur.

She kept teaching workshops and selling cakes. People loved the fact that she was a teen entrepreneur.

Sales continued to come in.

She had social media reels that reached 700,000 views.

And at the end of 2023, she made $1,500+ in sales at one single weekend event!

The income she’s made from her business so far has enabled her to buy a new writing laptop and attend multiple writing conferences.

At the last conference she attended, she received eleven book proposal/manuscript requests from literary agents and publishers.

And she’s currently working as a paid marketing intern for an established Christian author so she can practice selling books before her first book is published.

“I’ve been looking back through all the amazing things that happened in my Year 2 and I keep just thinking ‘Was that really only just this year?’”

We’re thrilled to see how Anna is laying a strong foundation for a future writing career.

You can learn more about Anna’s cake workshops by visiting her website.

And if you’d like to also begin making concrete steps toward a writing & entrepreneurial career, we’d love to consider working with you as a student.