Turning Passion Into Profit

One look at the desserts in this quaint Riverside bakery, and you’d think Nathalie Mocker’s been in the bakery business for decades. Not so.

Nathalie opened Bakery Moderne on Christmas Eve of 2009 and has been working nearly non-stop ever since.

“Right now it’s about 14 and 15 hours a day… It’s the hardest I’ve ever worked and been happy, so I must be doing the right thing,” says Mockler.

Five years ago, Nathalie was pursuing a much different career.

“I used to be an architect for about 10 years,” says Mockler. On the side she was baking cakes, including elaborate wedding cakes, for friends.

When her desire to bake—and design—pastries overshadowed her desire to design buildings, she quit her day job and went to culinary school to master baking. But to achieve her dream of entrepreneurship, Nathalie knew she still needed to learn how to run a small business.
“I already had a degree; I just really need the information,” explains Mockler.

Nathalie enrolled in Florida State College’s Accelerated Small Business Specialist Program. It’s fast-tracked and jam-packed with content critical to launching and sustaining a business: advertising, customer service, applied accounting and small business management.

“We have faculty who are small business owners. We have an advisory board made up of individuals that work for large, small and medium sized companies,” says Sheri Litt, Kent Campus Associate Dean of Workforce Development.

“We have worked collaboratively to make sure we prepare them with the best information so they can be as successful as possible,” says Litt.

John Bryan with the Jacksonville and the Beaches Regional Chamber of Commerce says it’s this education all aspiring small business owners need before getting started.

“When you’re thinking about the business, it’s just a gleam in your eye,” says Bryan. “There are so many possibilities, so many decisions you have to make.” And if you make the wrong ones… they may come back and haunt you in six months. But Bryan says that the education, including advice from experienced mentors, gets students on the right path, speeding along the process of starting the business.

“At the end, we took all of the pieces from each of the classes and we ended up with a business plan,” says Mockler.

It’s that business plan she took to the bank to secure a loan. Nathalie says she won’t let herself stress about how much of the bank’s, and her own personal money, she’s invested during these tough economic times. Instead, she considers the success of others, who in similar times bravely faced the odds.

“You look back, and they tell you all these great companies started during recessions and look where they are today. We hope that we’re one of those companies that make it out.” Nathalie adds, “It’s the American dream, be your own boss, and put out your flag, and have people come in. I think that’s the best thing for America.”

That’s in part because small business is a huge economic driver – locally and nationally.

“99.7 percent of employers across the country are small businesses,” says Bryan.

The U.S. Small Business Association figures these businesses employ just over half of the country’s private sector workforce. Small businesses also generated 64-percent of net new jobs over the past 15 years.

Nathalie can afford to pay a staff of three, but hopes that will grow if her business grows. If recent reviews are any indication, Bakery Moderne is on the path to sweet success.

“One of these days, I’ll have the chance to stop and enjoy where we are, but we’re still not there yet. So we keep putting our heads down and barreling through,” says Nathalie.

For more information on the Small Business Specialist program, call Sheri Litt at (904) 381-3704.