Joined: Mar 31, 2009
Posts: 245
Location: New Jersey
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:37 am
leahs wrote:
Well . . . Pink, I've heard about an easy way to make money, but it involves street corners . . .
Ha ha...... I don't think that would be very easy:-)
indydebi Forum Matriarch
Joined: Jul 07, 2006
Posts: 22112
Location: Indianapolis IN
Birthday: Jan 19
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:38 am
Agree with all. No weekends and holidays is the big one. Remember, we're in the 'celebration' business and when everyone else is off of work and celebrating, that's when we have to work. My granddaughter was on a soccer team for the first time and I got to go to ONE of her games.
When my sister died a couple of years ago, you have no idea how tacky I felt when I told the sister who was doing the bulk of the arrangements, "This is SO tacky, but if we can do the funeral on Friday, that will SO help me because I have a wedding/catering on Saturday."
Geesh, I asked my family to arrange our sister's FUNERAL around my business/catering schedule!
Sell, sell, sell, constantly. I've seen threads where folks comment that they just hate talking to people and pushing/promoting themselves. Then get a job at a grocery store bakery where you can just decorate because selling is Job One. If you're not selling, you're not baking.
And double ditto on the book "EMyth". BIG eye opener for anyone contemplating starting or even those already in business. Go to Amazon NOW and get it. Yes, NOW.
Family and friends? They are the WORST to put in the "Customer" columns. Yeah, you WILL get lots of requests for cakes if you're free or cheap (shall we say, iin the spirit of leahs comments), if you're "cheap and easy!"
Is it worth it? Absoutely! Do I love it? More than you know! Would I make the same decisions and do it over again? You betcha! Is it way more work and harder than I thought? No question about it!
leah_s Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Jun 19, 2007
Posts: 5749
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:43 am
Ya'll have dirty minds. I was talking about selling flowers out of a cart on a street corner.
indydebi Forum Matriarch
Joined: Jul 07, 2006
Posts: 22112
Location: Indianapolis IN
Birthday: Jan 19
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:07 am
leahs wrote:
Ya'll have dirty minds. I was talking about selling flowers out of a cart on a street corner.
Can't stop laughing at this one!
Point and match to leahs!!!
littlecake Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Sep 18, 2006
Posts: 2251
Location: the fine line between genuis and insanity
Birthday: Nov 21
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:13 am
my flowers are too old and droopy to sell for very much.....the cart's pretty rickety too....
Brujalita Junior Member
Joined: May 08, 2007
Posts: 91
Location: Tucson, AZ
Birthday: Jun 22
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:18 am
littlecake wrote:
my flowers are too old and droopy to sell for very much.....the cart's pretty rickety too....
jimandmollie Frequent Member
Joined: Jun 25, 2008
Posts: 219
Location: Mountains of West Virginia
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:19 am
littlecake wrote:
my flowers are too old and droopy to sell for very much.....the cart's pretty rickety too....
My flowers are supersized! Can I charge extra for that?
littlecake Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Sep 18, 2006
Posts: 2251
Location: the fine line between genuis and insanity
Birthday: Nov 21
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:23 am
jimandmollie wrote:
littlecake wrote:
my flowers are too old and droopy to sell for very much.....the cart's pretty rickety too....
My flowers are supersized! Can I charge extra for that?
sure!...charge per serving!
Kay_NL Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 13, 2008
Posts: 510
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:36 am
leahs wrote:
Well . . . Pink, I've heard about an easy way to make money, but it involves street corners . . .
LMAO!!!
The reasons that everybody have stated are the reasons that cake decorating is only a side job for me, and I pick and choose my available dates carefully.
My children are only 3 and 5, I refuse to miss dance recitals, stay inside baking and decorating on sunny days, and missing them growing up. It is HARD to make money even with a stable client base. You have to charge a lot to make up for the prices you pay for supplies, ingredients, licensing, insurance, etc, and not to mention renting kitchen space if that applies.
My full time job has benefits including a pension plan, insurance for health, dental and life, 20 paid vacation days a year, sick leave, and are very accomodating to my busy and demanding schedule as a Mom. My cake business had none of these things and is not very nice to my time with children.
I've taken cakes to work but have never had a cake order from somebody at my workplace. I have donated cakes and gift certificates to our school but haven't got orders besides the freebies from the certificates. NO, it is not that simple.
I took exactly 4 cake orders for the months of June to August and limit my rest-of-the-year orders to a maximum of 2 every second weekend. I am enjoying my summer with my family and am not inside on my feet and up all hours while the summer slips away. If it is really really really something you want to do and want to do as a life career, then I would weigh all these things.
Some times I dream of pursuing this full time when I retire from from my real job and my kids will be (presumably) out on their own, but for now life is good the way it is.
That's my two cents worth!!
__Jamie__ Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Aug 16, 2008
Posts: 5016
Location: The less seriously you take me, the better off we'll all be!
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:44 am
FromScratch wrote:
No... it's not easy... not easy at all. It's hard work, late nights, listening to people say you are WAY too expensive for "just a cake", time spent away from your family, delivering a cake when you should be at a t-ball game, filing taxes, general accounting, keeping your license up to date, paying for insurance, marketing yourself, putting your game face on for tastings and shows, your heart sinking when things don't go 100% to plan... the list goes on and on (and on and on and on and on).
It's not as simple as bringing a cake to work and word of mouth... not if you want to actually make money. You have to be relentless at tooting your own horn and putting your name out there... all things you can't really do unless you are legal so if you wanted to do this under the radar, this will be a serious hurdle (not saying you are wanting to fly under the radar, but just for the sake of putting it out there). Co-workers and friends are not going to be your money making clients.
Is it do-able?? Oh most certainly yes, but not without a sound business plan and a business mind-set. Rose colored glasses have no place in any business.
TOOOOOOT Away! Yep....I'm pretty tooty. You have to make sure people know why you are different from so and so down the street. If you are.
__Jamie__ Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Aug 16, 2008
Posts: 5016
Location: The less seriously you take me, the better off we'll all be!
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:47 am
Wait...I disagree. There is easy money. When you don't market to the masses, and you stick to your prices. Which means fewer cakes, but all high paying ones when you do book an order.
And the money in the pocket is certainly after considerable expenses. Pans, ovens, tools, etc.
JaimeAnn Forum Addict
Joined: Jan 29, 2009
Posts: 620
Birthday: Nov 25
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:15 am
Motta wrote:
My question is this: It seems like once word of mouth gets around, there's no lack of requests. Is it really that easy to get started? Just tell people? Take a cake to work?
Until you give them a price! Then those people would rather go to the grocery store and pick up a $20 cake. Unless you are only charging $20 and if you are you aren't making any money! And as Leahs pointed out you can't do it legally from your home. A lot of people think , "whatever I won't get caught" but what if someone gets sick even if it is from something else they ate , You are the easy target to blame it on! Not worth the chance for the little bit of money you are gonna get. People definitely will not pay big bucks for cake that someone is illegally doing from home , the reason people go to illegal home bakers is because they think they can get CHEAP cake...
PinkLisa Frequent Member
Joined: Mar 31, 2009
Posts: 245
Location: New Jersey
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 2:34 pm
I completely hear all the downsides of making cakes as a profession but there are lots of upsides also. I am considering a career shift after being laid off after a 20 year career on Wall Street -- where the money is good (okay great) but the hours stink -- 18 hour days six days a week for those who move ahead the fastest. I slowed down from this pace after I had kids but you cannot excel on Wall Street unless you are willing to be a slave to the company. You miss a lot of things with your kids when you have other types of careers also. I love the difference of designing cakes and have my eyes wide open to the difficulties. My sister has built a sucessful wedding cake design business during the past 20 years I was pursuing finance so I have a wonderful mentor. No one is sucessful at a profession unless they work hard. I agree with pricing the product right though. Who wants to slave away for next to no money. Not me!
costumeczar Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Oct 18, 2007
Posts: 2559
Location: Henrico VA
Posted:
Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:49 pm
[quote="indydebi"]Agree with all. No weekends and holidays is the big one. Remember, we're in the 'celebration' business and when everyone else is off of work and celebrating, that's when we have to work. My granddaughter was on a soccer team for the first time and I got to go to ONE of her games.
When my sister died a couple of years ago, you have no idea how tacky I felt when I told the sister who was doing the bulk of the arrangements, "This is SO tacky, but if we can do the funeral on Friday, that will SO help me because I have a wedding/catering on Saturday."
Geesh, I asked my family to arrange our sister's FUNERAL around my business/catering schedule!
