Usually October is the busiest month for me, and this month I only have two cakes booked. I had a girl I was working with all summer, for her wedding next summer. She called and said that they decided to make their own cake to save money this year. I have also had two customers call today for weddings in the upcoming months, and both wanted cupcakes for their wedding to save cost. What is going on?? My husband said that it's because I took the summer off, and I sort of brushed off my customers for upcoming months. My dad unexpectedly passed away after a knee replacement surgery in March. I have been in the dumps a lot and almost quit my business, because I was not feeling creative. I have come to realize that my dad was very proud of what I do, and would be so angry at me if I quit. He used to have me email him all of my cake pics. Anyway, I didn't mean to turn this into theraputic time. Has anyone else been having a slow time?

Hi Michele, I'm so sorry about your Dad, it's so hard to lose a parent. My Dad died a year ago January, and I miss him so much, so I know how you feel.

You're right, your Dad would want you to continue doing your cakes.

I think that people are really worried about spending right now in this country, with the economic crisis being in the news constantly. Unemployment is at it's highest in years as you know and we're all watching our stock portfolios go into the toilet, to put it bluntly. It's not going to be as easy for people to get the big loans and the big credit card limits. So this will ultimately effect ALL business not just cakes.

Hopefully, after this bailout plan and after the election is over, we'll see things get better. I think we just need to be patient, there will still be those customers out there that will buy the big Wedding Cakes.

Maybe you can contact some reception venues and ask if you could drop off some business cards.........same thing with Wedding planning companies.

Don't give up just yet

July was my worst month of the year. October will be my second largest month in sales. I've talked to others ... cakers, caterers, restaurants .... and they all tell me that July was bad for them, too.

My sales are up significantly over last year. Usually April is my zero-sales month, but I just booked an $8000 wedding for next April .... and the bride traveled over an hour (from their small town) to come to my shop and book me, based on word of mouth and referral.

We work in a feast-or-famine industry. It's rarely nice and steady with a normal predictable income. My sales graph looks like an earthquake graph ... lots of ups and downs!! If you took some time off, I'd agree with your husband that this does have an impact. You just lose a little of momentum. As you begin working it again, I'm sure you'll see a change.

The economy doesn't scare me. I refuse to let naysayers .. those who practically get paid to forecast gloom and doom .... kill the dream that I've worked my entire life toward. Goodness, if you listened to any of these so-called 'experts' and made decisions based on the news media, we'd all be in our fall out shelters, cowering under lead lined blankets.

As my dear friend KansasLaura says, "Yeah, I heard there was a recession going on ... but I refuse to participate!"

I'm actually working on creating a 3rd company that will focus on high end products/services and have extremely high pricing.

Well it could be a lot of things, but I think your hubby is right. You have to market constantly because what you do today will affect what happens 6 months from now. It is tough though dealing with a loss, so don't be too hard on yourself. It's better to take the time you need to get your mental house back in order rather than having a terrible upset later on. His passing is still really fresh so of course you won't be on top of everything.

That bride who is doing everything herself will be in for a shock when she ends up spending more purchasing all of the supplies, pans, dowels, ingredients and time making practice cakes. As for cupcakes....I charge the same, if not more, for those as I do wedding cakes because they take a lot of time to decorate and then set up on a tower.

Thank you guys so much for your input, and support. You all are great.