I Think I'm Taking A Break For A While
Decorating By TheCakeSmith Updated 24 Sep 2006 , 6:15am by JoanneK
I don't want to whine, but D@MN!
I had an order for a Semi truck cake (ended up doing 3D) for Thursday, then two cakes for Saturday and one for Sunday. The Semi went over wonderful. I had some trouble getting my icing to crust. It was raining like crazy for a day and a half, but that was it. The cake was soooo moist and I got rave reviews.
I baked the (white cake) layers for one of the sheet cakes for this weekend today. One of them burnt and one of them didn't rise. 
I had to leave for work and now I'm sitting here wondering what I am going to do. I'm going to be up ALLLLL night long since I have to rebake and then decorate. She's picking that up at 10:30 tomorrow. Hopefully the one for Sunday doesn't give me any greif.
But between my son and my job I don't have time to do four cakes in three days.
My husband will have to travel soon for his job and I will have to quit my part time job, so maybe I'll pick it up again then. I'm just waaay too overwhelmed.
How do ya'll do it? I see some of you making wedding cakes and several celebration cakes in a week. How do you find the time? I told my mom that I need about 30 hours in my day. 13 hours up with my son, 5 at my job, 3 to clean my house (it REALLY needs cleaned) and do laundry. The only room in my house that looks decent is my kitchen. 5 to do these cakes and then I think that leaves about 4 hours to sleep....
(all 4 hours of'em)
Don't be afraid to say "I'm sorry, but I'm booked for this (or that) week. Next time, call sooner" This does 2 things-keeps you from going insane and creates a sense of urgency about ordering from you, because you are so sought after! Try not to compare yourself to others..some are stay at home moms, some have double or convection ovens that shave the baking time. Bottom line is that you enjoy what you do and accept the right number of orders to make that happen!! 
Yes, You have to learn to say no. I can only handle 3 cakes a week without it affecting my time with my 3 yr and 5yr olds. If I get more than that, I ring Grandma for help and she takes the kids for an overnight holiday and I can do cakes fulltime rather than one a day. If I got more orders than that I would have to say no, I am fully booked. It will make them appreciate being organised next time. It is just the same as any other business, if people book late they could miss out. I have some wonderful customers who book their birthday cakes 2 months ahead.. I love them cos then I can plan my time! Just don't do more than you can handle or you'll start hating it and it is meant to be fun! 
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