Ok, My boss has asked me to do the cake for her daughters bridal shower. I have done cakes for the birthdays in the office and have also sold a few cakes to some of the girls too. My boss always tells me i should charge more then I do. I don't charge alot because I am still kinda new to all this and think of it as paid practice at this point. Anyway... we were talking today and she asked me if I wanted to give her a price for the cake, or if I trust her to pay me a fair price for my work. I told her that I trust her. She wants a wedding dress cake ( ala wilton yearbook 2007) and a 10" round with chocolate roses. I told my hubby about our conversation and he thinks i should have just told her a price I thought was fair ( he says $75-80) and not let her decide. I was sure I was doing the right thing when I was talking to her, now after speaking to him I not sure. She is my boss, and has always been pretty generous with me. Has anyone ever had a situation like this?

If she has encouraged you to charge more you may be happlily suprised at what she will pay. I think you will be fine.

Well since you say you think of it as "paid practice" and your boss is always telling you to charge more.....I would say Trust her on this one. You know she is not going to stiff you and it may not be the 75-80 dollars your hubby says....but then again...you never know.

I agree....if she encourages you to charge more, then she will probably do the right thing. If not, don't sweat it. She's you r boss, and you're doing her a favor.....that's priceless in my book.

I, too, think you are ok on this one. Good luck.

Man--she put you on the spot. It would have been awkward for you to imply that you didn't trust her to pay you a fair price since she's your boss. On the other hand, who says that anyway? She should have just asked the price and then added on some if she wanted.

Anyway, I'm sure she'll do the right thing...and in the future, I'd put together a price list that you're comfortable with and hand it out to customers.

Oh, wow--Adven68 really nailed that one!

Ditto on what she and the other ladies have said!

(I betcha she pays you a good price---you'll be pleasantly surprised!)

Good luck,
--Knox--

I started out decorating as a hobby too. I now own a small custom bakery. We do pies for local resturants and retail decorated cakes.
It was very difficult to set prices and acutally charge people at first.
I didn't charge enough, and I gave away alot. Looking back I'm not sorry. I figure it was training. It got easier to charge the right amount the more confident I got in my skills.
I finally set a price, made up a brochure and figured in a 10% discount for Friends and Family. I hand them a Brochure and they can see the price without me having to tell them. Keep at it. Remember what goes around comes around.

I agree, you'll probably be OK. Let us know how it works out though!

Thanks so much everyone ! I feel better already. You guys rock! I have to start charging real prices if i ever plan to go anywhere with this. My gut tells me I will be ok... gotta stop listening to hubby all the time. He doesn't know everything... like he says!

i agree with everyone too. i think you will be ok... let us know what happens.

dont be afraid to charge...this is your work also...cant give it away all the time.

I think that because of your boss' previous comments about you undercharging, she will surprise you in a good way with what she pays you. If it's a cake you've never done before, the upside is that no matter how much she pays, you can add it to your portfolio for future potential customers. So however it works out, you won't lose anything!! Good luck and I hope you wow her and everyone at the shower.