New Dilemmas Popping Up Now

Well, now that cake orders are coming in, I have a new dilemma, or dilemna if you will.  How to price?  I thought I had it all worked out but when a friend calls and says, "How much do you charge for X"? I find it hard to say my price.  Little thoughts like, well, I've known her for years, or maybe they will think my price is too high, etc.  The list goes on.  Has anyone else out there found this to be troubling in your small business?  To me, that is definitely the hardest part.  I simply choke on the words.  And yet, I know how much of my time goes into one of my cakes, I know full well the cost I've put into one; so why do I find it nearly impossible to quote a price?  I think this is another matter that I need to take to the Lord.  I can't work it out myself.  Should have gone to Him in the first place, huh?  I'm curious to see how He works out this problem of mine.  In the meantime, its great to be getting orders!

What is God Thinking?

 As you know, I make children's character cakes.  That's what I started doing and have continued to advertise just that.  Well, 2 days ago, it "came" to me to buy the Gum Paste supplies and instructions.  Mind you, these have no place on character cakes.  So, I did just that.  And spent a whole day reading instructions!  Boy, they are a lot of work!  Very beautiful, but loads of steps and very tedious work.  Anyway, last night I set out to make my first stems.  They needed to dry overnight.  This morning, I began "trying" to make the rose blossoms.  It was so frustrating!  So many steps and sequences...........do this first, no do that first.  Ohhhhh!  What have I gotten into.  I finally realized where I went wrong and lifted the whole kit and kaboodle of supplies and non-ability up to the Lord.  Well, 2 hours later, the below pic shows what He allowed me to do.  Who knows where this is leading.  Not me!  But I'm anxious to find out!

Oh, no! What did I do?

After receiving the comments and requests from the "Turtle Cake" yesterday and today, I decided to make a quick trip to Orlando in search of a 3 inch deep, 12 X 18 inch pan to accommodate the future sheet cake orders.  I called my husband to let him know I'd be making the 50 min. trip over.  Getting a late start at 2:30 I figured I'd be home by 5:00.  Browsing in that particular store, to me, is a bit of heaven.  I get so lost in all that they offer for cakes, parties, weddings............anything one could possibly want.  After searching through the myriad of pans they had displayed, I finally found two that suited what I need.  I got in the car and headed home at 5:00, the original ETA!  Well!!! Orlando...........5:00..............Friday????  They just don't mix!!!  I was moving forward at the rate of 1 car length per every 5 minutes.  This just wouldn't do.  In addition to this impossible traffic the temperature was 102 degrees!  When I thought I couldn't take it anymore, my cell phone rang and it was my 4 yr. old grandson........."Grammy, whatcha doin'?"  What a beautiful blessing that was.  We talked nearly all the way home plus I had my coveted pans.

Watching His Hand

On the first day of this blog, I promised to tell about the things that have happened these past few months, leading up to the start of Cakes 4 You.  Back in the early Spring, when my husband was sure he would lose his job at the Space Center, he took several different classes trying to enhance his chances of getting a new job, if needed.  One of these classes was an Entrepreneur Class - How to start your own small business.  The instructor informed the students that each of them HAD to have a business in mind to continue the class.  Peter thought and searched and found no business that suited him so he chose to use a cake business (simply because I had been making cakes for our grandsons)!  How unbelievable was that!  Because of all the wonderful information he learned about starting a cake business, he was able to help me with so very many aspects of starting up and running a small business!  We are very secure in the knowledge that this was Providential - back in the Spring.  He is All-Knowing and All-Wise.

First Day, First Cake - Seeing God's Hand

What a wonderful night's sleep last night.  A first in a long time for me, not much of a sleeper.  But God gave me that little gift so I could be in tip top shape for today.  Before I began my first cake, I went to the Lord in my morning prayer.  He gave me calm and His Peace.  As I moved along in the doing of the cake, I felt unusually clear-headed and before I knew it, voila, the cake was finished and all the elements worked as I'd hoped they would.  Sure hope the group who ordered it is satisfied with it.  They wanted to say good-bye to a co-worker naturalist at The Enchanted Forest, he is the "Turtle Man".  Thank you Lord for being by my side!