I'm wondering if anyone else gets that sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach when they turn down an order, even if you know it was the right thing to do. I just got a last minute request, for a trademarked image, that I turned down on both counts, but now I feel sick for turning away business when I work so hard to get inquiries. Does anyone else feel this way?

No is such a hard word to say sometimes! Customers will have to understand that you aren't always available and will learn to order in advance and not wait until the last minute!

I too feel that in my stomach however, I do try to work with them and see if I can;t persuade them to allow me to a set up for the licensed character, if possible. As for last minute, if there is not way to fit it in my schedule I apologize and ask them to give me a try at a later date.
evelyn

I sometimes feel bad when we have to turn away orders (for many of our customers we are the only bakery they can safely order from) but I wouldn't say I feel sick about it. As a business you have to set expectations for your customers and stick to them, otherwise you will burn yourself out -- I always post our availability on the front page of our web site so people know when we are booked.

We've started making a few small cakes in advance and freezing them to accommodate last-minute orders (24 hour notice is still required) so that helps to an extent.

Thanks everyone! I'm glad I'm not the only one.

If the order hadn't been last minute, I would definitely have worked with them to see if we could get around the copyright issue. They wanted the cake for Monday, however, and there was no way I could fit it in this weekend, so I didn't even start the discussion of how we could design a themed cake without violating the copyright laws.

I started my business with a very firm rule about how much I could do in a week and I believe this is best for both me and my customers. I'm sure I did the right thing. It's just hard to do the right thing sometimes!

Honey I have had to turn away about $15000 worth of business since January because I lost the use of the comm kitchen I was using, and my license expired at the end of January, no kitchen, no license. Totally sucks especially when there are a ton of cakers in my area who will do it illegally from home, I just won't do it. I can't take that gamble. Keep hitting brick walls with getting my shop open. Believe me I so understand the sick to stomach feeling. I feel it every day as I have to tell each caller "Sorry, currently not accepting orders".

When we temporarily stopped taking orders due to maternity leave, we just had all calls to the business phone number (a Google Voice virtual number) sent directly to voice mail explaining that we were temporarily closed. It saved a lot of time versus saying the same thing over and over.

I always feel bad- but it's usually a case of the bride calling two months ahead of time when I've been totally booked for nine to twelve months. Yesterday I turned away two July wedding jobs- July! Those no's are easy. I wish I could do everything, but I can't, and if I did, I wouldn't want to do it at all anymore