Hi CC Family, I have had my home bakery for about a year and me and my husband have decided to have another baby, we have started trying but will not know anything till next week for this month (keep your fingers crossed for me ) I only have cakes booked out till November but have started getting calls about early next year. I would like to put the cake business on hold after about my 6th month only because I also work a full time job and would like to give my 9 year old some quality time before the baby gets here. But my question is how should I handle those calls when I don't even know how long it will take me to get pregnant. Should I go ahead and take the orders then cancel and refund when I find out which could be taken as bad business, or should I just tell them I am not available and risk losing alot of business.
Thanks!!!!
PS. I ordered my agbay today

I think I would tell people that you are only booking 6 months out right now and that you have not finalized your calendar beyond that. Give them the option of penciling in a date with the understanding that you will let them know 6 months out if that date is available.

I'm just a home baker but I'd be happy to be penciled in w/a decorator if I knew I'd have 6 months to find someone else.

I will for sure be keeping my fingers crossed for you and good luck!!

I'm not quite up to the business aspect of baking yet *I've just started working on it, I guess you could say its my baby, lol"*

I would say that I think explaining to them that after 6 months your schedule is unpredictable and unknown and then telling them that you can pencil them in is the way to go. I would also let them know that if you pencil them in that you will let them know by a certain date if you will be able to accomedate them or not. This way they will know if they need to start looking for another baker or if they can finalize everything with you. If you know any other homebakers in your area and are not able to fulfill their order maybe you could suggest that other baker. I know sending business to another baker may be hard but it could come in handy another day if you ever need a favor!

Let us know about the little one!

I agree this is the way to go. You don;t need to go into personal info with them and we all know that life is unpredictable so it may be month 1 or it may not be but at least your clients have something tentative, give them a date of when you will get back to them to confirm and they have plenty of time to get another cake, win-win for both parties.

BTW- good luck. fingers crossed!!