Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Before You Begin 4
And You Are …? 4
A Typical Small Cookie Company Story 7
Just One Little Cake Please 10
The Final Cake Design 12
Chapter 1 Getting Started In Business 15
Don't Run A Baking Business If You Don't Want To 16
Before You Open A Business 19
Ten Things You Need To Spend Real Money On In Order To Succeed In The Baking Business 22
You Make Awesome Cake. And. Now. What? 24
How To Name Your Cake Business 28
The Dog Ate My Figurine 31
Elephant Bites 34
The Right Time 37
What Is A Business Plan? 39
Writing A Business Plan Part 1 42
Writing A Business Plan Part 2 46
Chapter 2 Home Based Business 51
Work Versus Effort 52
Planning Your Home Based Cake Business 55
Setting Boundaries For Your Home Based Business 58
Chapter 3 Day To Day Running Of Your Business 61
Boring But Important 63
Confused in Cakeland - Your Telephone Number 67
Sign On The Dotted Line 69
Signing The Lease 72
Well Equipped 75
Confused In Cakeland - Buying Cake Tools 79
Like A Cake Boss 81
Make More Money, Spend Less Time 84
Friends With Benefits 91
Your Business. Your Rules 94
Delivery Etiquette 97
Hiring Versus Outsourcing 100
Dealing With The Cow Down The Road 103
Taming The Email Beast 106
I Have No Life. Only Cake 109
How To Make Friends 113
Chapter 4 Products 117
Why Be Standard When You Can Be Generous 118
Confused In Cakeland - Allergen Free Baking 121
Cakes And Copyright 123
Inspired by 126
I'm So Clever, I Bought It All By Myself 129
No Bake Cake 134
Confused In Cakeland - Choosing Ingredients 137
Chapter 5 Money 139
Working For Free 140
Being Charitable 146
Your Dirty Little Secret 149
Confused In Cakeland - Making A Living From Selling Cake 152
Chapter 6 Pricing 155
Charge What You're Worth 157
Educating Customers About Pricing 161
Getting More Sales 164
Pricing Cake Is Not Just About You 167
Let Me Tell You A Story About Pricing 170
The Promise Of Future Work 173
Confused in Cakeland - Pricing For Wholesale 177
Should I charge A Last Minute Order Fee? 179
Confused in Cakeland - Show Me The Money 182
Chapter 7 Customers 185
Finding The Right Customers 186
Buy. Repeat. Share 190
Promises, Promises 195
Confused In Cakeland - How To Deliver Cakes Via Plane 197
You Need it WHEN? 199
I'm Just Not That Creative 201
Ugly Cakes 204
Confused In Cakeland - Giving Out Samples 207
Confused In Cakeland - Sneaky Peeks 210
You Couldn't Pay Me Enough 212
You Couldn't Pay Me Enough Part 2 215
Close The Deal And Make The Sale 218
Hater's Gonna Hate, Cakers Gonna Eat (Oreos) 221
Chapter 8 Marketing 227
Marketing for Bakers 229
Confused In Cakeland - Best Marketing Idea Ever 231
Five Steps To Writing A Marketing Plan 234
The Table 238
Not The Bad Cake Lady 242
I Spy With My Little Eye 245
How Do I Find More Clients 248
Who Is My Ideal Client 250
Where Are My Customers Hiding? 254
How To Sell Without Feeling "Yucky" About It 258
MMM Business 262
First, Best, Only 268
Confused In Cakeland - Using Picture From The Internet 271
Eventful 273
Selling At Markets Successfully 277
Wedding Fair Vendors - How To Become An Awesome Vendor 281
Networking For Cakers 284
Chapter 9 Social Media 287
Social Media 101 For Bakers And Decorators 288
Confused in Cakeland - Is A Website Necessary? 292
Website Essentials 296
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do 298
Social Media Overwhelm - My Social Media Experiment 302
Marketing Your Business On Social Media 306
Confused In Cakeland - How Do I Deal With Trolls On My Facebook Page? 309
Social Media Etiquette 311
What NOT To Share On Social Media 314
Do I Need A Business Newsletter? 316
Starting Your Business Newsletter 319
Does My Cake Business Need A Blog? 322
Chapter 10 When You Really Need A Hug Of Understanding 327
When Life Happens 328
We're In This Together 331
I've Lost My Mojo. Now What? 334
Should I Quit My Business? 338
Unsupported 347
Confused In Cakeland - Parenting While In Business 349
Family Time 351
The Importance Of Self Care 353
Who Is Riding In Your Sag Wagon? 356
How To Avoid Making Mistakes In Your Business 359
Don't Waste Good Chocolate 366
Chapter 11 When You Need Some Tough Love 369
Five Thousand Macarons 370
Detours Not Roadblocks 373
Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway 377
Feeling Inadequate 381
In It For The Love AND Money 385
How To Be Stubborn 389
The Stories You Tell Yourself 392
You And Beyoncé 394
Timing Is Everything… Or Is It? 397
How To Lose Weight and Still Eat Chocolate 400
Stop Multitasking 403
Healthy, Wealthy and Wise Part 1 - Healthy 406
Healthy, Wealthy and Wise Part 2 - Wealthy 410
Healthy, Wealthy and Wise Part 3 - wise 413
Conclusion 415
