We were taught in culinary school to always ask your client's budget, so you will know what suggestions to make.

I was just thinking out loud and of self.. DH think I should take ANY cake at ANY price.... to just "tone down" my design.... I tell him that I wish I knew how to tone down my design but then I wouldn't be true to myself.. I know the kind of cakes I want to produce and I know that I don't want to do a simple 8 in round with a shell border and call it a day.... it's just not in me... he think that's foolish....

then I stat thinking about the money situation these days and then something pops in my head.... now a cake you get for a special occasion.... maybe 1 to 3 at the most cakes you might get in a year.... and I'm thinking well... I understand they are on a budget and need to keep that in mind... but on the other hand.... they don't have a problem (including me in the bunch!!!) when it comes to going to get my roots done and my hair trimmed every 4-5 weeks at $175+ a pop.... and I know that's not even counting the people that have tips on (fake nails) that fork over 40+ every other week....
so things are tight for certain things for not for others.... and DH needs to understand that more than I do....
I know times are tough and that if I lowered my prices I would get a lot more orders than I do now... but I refuse to compromise the standard that I have set as far a my work is concern.... just so I can make more cakes at less money which equals me spending more time on the kitchen and not really doing the cakes that I enjoy doing...
I already give a very steep discount to every order I get from my church.... and I get a lot of those... but I don't mind because I truly wanted to do something for everyone in my church (which I consider my family) and I put in those cakes as much effort as any other cake I do...
This is for sure a tricky one... with me it's because like Debi said... I feel like I am NOT treating this as a true business... and I must do so in order to succeed or I will end up having to stop doing this and go back to corporate america... which as some of us know... it's great money (we cakesters do cakes because we love the art.... cause you don't go into this for the $$$$ that's for sure.... there is a lot of work that goes into a cake... and I hope that as more and more TV shows keep exposing this to the regular viewer, they will understand why we charge what we charge)

this is just me venting.... thanks for the thread... will print it for DH to see when he gets home from work....

Don't lower your prices to get jobs. You get a few things from doing that: 1. Lots of low-paying work that you resent, 2. A reputation for being a cheap baker who is desperate for work, 3. Clients who don't value your work and who will balk when you try to raise your prices to where they should be, and 4. Exhausted and miserable.

Better to be considered a little on the high end and more exclusive than dirt-cheap and the Walmart of cakes.

Thanks everybody for your input. Budget is now a requirement on my form now. I'm not sure if its the holiday weekend or if people just got scared, but so far no inquires since the change. I also changed it so that they should be sending me inquires using the general contact page. I need people to follow directions.