Starting A New Business In Maine Is As Easy As Cake! | Arts & Culture

Emily Adams of “Dirt on a Cake” Utilizes Non-profit, Government and Community Resources To Launch New Maine Business
 
Maine may be listed by Forbes Magazine as the worst state in the nation for business, but don’t tell that to Emily Woodman Adams who recently launched Dirt on a Cake. Emily credits the successful launch of her business to the support that she has received from various private and public organizations, including the Maine Department of Economic and Community (DECD), the Maine Women’s Fund, and The Prep Kitchen.
 
“I have not met one person that has not supported this project. There have been roadblocks, but the community – including competitors – have helped me every step of the way,” says Emily.
 
When Emily, 33, left her 50-hour-a-week job to spend more time with her two young children, she never imagined that she would start a business making gourmet ice cream cakes. Emily worked for Susan Collins in Washington, DC, then at Martin’s Point Health Care after returning to her homestate of  Maine to start a family with her husband Paul Adams.
 
“I  just wanted to have a more balanced life and be able to do things like pick up my daughter from the school bus,” says Emily.
 
While working with a life coach she had met through Martin’s Point Health Care, Emily took a month off to figure out what she would do. Her idea for her business came during her daughter’s birthday party which featured Emily’s hand-made ice cream cake. The dessert was such a success some guests gave her orders on the spot and “Dirt on a Cake” began.
 
Because Dirt on a Cake is a private Maine company, self-funded by money she and her husband Paul have saved over the past few years, building a commercial kitchen was a major barrier to starting the business. But the Maine DECD informed her of the Shared Use Kitchen program, which led her to Wendy Wren of The Prep Kitchen in Freeport.
 
The Prep Kitchen rented Emily the space she needed to prepare the ice cream cakes, and Wendy Wren taught Emily how to use the equipment and what she needed to know to get licensed by the Maine Department of Agriculture. (Wendy Wren of The Prep Kitchen had learned about the opportunity to make her commercial kitchen available for shared use through the Maine Department of Agriculture’s “Threshold to Maine” program.)
 
“I walked Emily through the process of making sure she contacted the right people and knew the food safety questions so that the inspection would go smoothly, “ said Wendy Wren. “As a fellow entrepreneur, I really loved her product and wanted to support Emily any way I could – it’s the way Maine works!”
 
Emily then tried selling her ice cream cakes one rainy October Sunday at the New Gloucester farmer’s market. Emily explains, “The other vendors were so nice. They tried my product and bought it – yeah, they liked it, but ice cream cake on a rainy day? They were just trying to support me and even gave me advice on how to have an attractive table at the farmer’s market.” Emily then knew she needed to have a formal business strategy and marketing plan.
 
So when Emily needed help with her business strategy, she applied and was accepted to “Women Standing Together,” a Maine Women’s Fund program to support women entrepreneurs. Through this program she received advice from a group of leading Maine business women and received one-on-one mentoring from Jodie Lapchick, a cause-branding consultant in Portland.
 
“Emily was a joy to mentor,” says Jodie Lapchick. Her enthusiasm and professional business sense got me to take her under my wing and help her get her business off the ground.”
 
In January, Emily launched an updated website and began selling her products online and is already being sold by a few high-profile retail locations including The Good Life Market in Raymond and The Prep Kitchen in Freeport.
 
“There were so many times that I’d hit a wall and I thought that starting this business was impossible,” says Emily. “Yes, you have to eat, live and breathe it. It’s a lot of work, but asking for and using help is the biggest thing.”
www.DirtOnACake.com