Coming Out of The Closet

I have been chomping at the bit to let you in on this huge secret. If you have read all of my blog posts, followed me for some time, or know me personally, I have dropped many hints about it.

In all fairness I feel that I must come clean about the success I have experienced in my cookie business, and how I have pulled through the really hard times in my life (Like the past two years of illness that had me wondering when,  I would be able to come back). Hint: It’s not just hard work!

Sure, a business takes lots of work, but that does not guarantee success. Let’s be honest, most people work really hard their entire lives and they don’t get very far, but you know that, I’m sure you see it every day.

What about you? Are you working really hard, burning the midnight oil and just barely surviving? Are you undercharging for your work because you lack confidence? Do you feel fear when you get a big order, are you just scraping by, or maybe you just want to take your business to a new level ?

I have been though all of that and then some, only to rise like a phoenix from the ashes. I attribute everything I have accomplished to two things aside from all of my work.

1. Having a Mentor
2. Being a Soul/ Heart Centered Entrepreneur( Does that sound a bit New Age-y or Idealistic? Yup, that's me. My business must benefit people other than ME! That's my Credo in a nutshell..More about that later)

I’m only going to get into the first one today because this is WAY too much information to hit you with all at once.

Remember how I told you I had lost everything back in 2007 ?  So how did I recover from all of that?  I would be lying if I told you I did it on my own.

You probably know by now that I am a lifelong student of Human Potential and  Personal Development. Without growth you are not living, you are merely existing. That is my philosophy.

Right after my "Dark Night of my Soul" as I call it,  I attended a seminar in Austin, at which I happened to have the good fortune of sitting next to a lady at dinner, who happened to be a catalyst for a huge change in my life.

During the course of the evening, we spoke for a bit.  In spite of my circumstances ( Your current circumstances do not define you) she saw the greatness in me and did not hesitate to let me know.

She knew instantly, that I had the potential to not only come back, but come back stronger and better than ever. 

Being a Heart-Centered entrepreneur means I don't believe in keeping these kinds of secrets to myself , so I promise to introduce her to you tomorrow.

For now I will tell you that she was so genuine, giving and inspiring that she sparked something in me and I found a way to invest in myself and she in turn used her gifts to help me climb out of the dark hole I was in.

The truth is I’ve had many teachers over the years, however, some just stand out. I have always been a student of  Human Potential, that’s why I love helping people and that is why I am HERE, now sharing with you.

While I have been busy working behind the scenes preparing a really comprehensive and accurate pricing guide that you will only find here  ( more to come on that too) , my friend, and coach has put together a host of information that will help you jump start your business.

All the information needed to help you lay the ground work will be at your fingertips.  We want to make sure we help you remove any and  ALL of those pesky blocks that might keep you from succeeding no matter how hard you work.

So, over the next few days, I am going to share some REALLY valuable information with you that not everyone has access to. I truly mean this so PLEASE pay attention.

Some people just block their own success by turning away from new ideas, but I know you are a creative being, and you are in a creative business. What that means to me is that you are more open by nature.  

All you have to do is keep an open mind and an open heart. You have EVERYTHING to gain by just listening and paying attention. The best part is it’s FREE!

Look for an email from me tomorrow with all the details of how you can get your business started or how you can breathe new life into it!

By the way, for those of you reading this directly on the blog. In order to receive that information, you need to sign up in the box above as this information will exclusively be shared with those of you on my list for goodies and freebies and committed members of the Cookiepreneur community. 

In the meantime, if you have any questions at all , email me at Cookiepreneur@gmail.com . I love you and I want to see you succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

The greatest key to success is persistence, never give up, EVER!

XO Aymee aka Cookiepreneur. 

Three Basics of Pricing for Profit

Happy Sunday!

I can't begin to tell you how good it feels to be back after my long absence.  For those of you who don't know, due to health issues I was away for almost two years, but I am back and so happy to be here.

I wanted reach out to you today with a video, that I made just for you where I discuss the basics of pricing for profit.

Synopsis of the Video:

Three Basics of Pricing for Profit:

DON’T GUESS

There are a number of well-meaning folks out there sharing their own price charts of their baked goods. While these give you a general idea about pricing, they may be nowhere near where you need to be in order to make a profit or conversely, you may be losing money by using another person’s model.While it serves as a general indicator, it simply may not work for you and is no better than guessing.

1. That person may not be in your area. A cake in Miami, is much pricier than a cake in Dothan, Alabama.

2. Other people do not use the same ingredients as you are. How can you know for sure that you are paying the same price, or using the same raw materials? This is fundamental, and we discuss it a little more in detail later. You have to figure out your costs before you even think about what to charge.

3. Not selling to the same demographic- If you make $500 dollar cakes but the median income in your town is 40K per year, chances are people will not be able to afford your product but the person who provided you with their pricing schedule may have a completely different socio-economic demographic.

4. May not have the same skill-set as you- If you are a beginner, (We all have to start somewhere) it is more difficult to command a high price for cookies or cake that do not look polished and professional. Conversely, if you are making these beautiful elaborate cookies that are taking you a long time to finish because of the detail that goes into them, you cannot sell them for the same amount as another decorator.

INVEST IN A SOLID COSTING SPREADSHEET OR PROGRAM (OR CREATE ONE) 

The difference between a hobby baker and a pro is profit.  If you want to create a profitable business there is no way around this. You must know the cost of each and every one of your products in order to price them for profit, otherwise it’s sheer guesswork.

Figuring out how much your raw materials such as flour, sugar, eggs etc.  per recipe, on your own may be a pain if you purchase in bulk, and that’s why I recommend that you either create a spreadsheet that is going to help you to keep track of how much each product is going to cost you to make . That includes Direct and Indirect costs, which we will get into in another post but here is a great spreadsheet that I invested in myself that helps me keep track of all my costs.

http://www.smallfoodbiz.com/shop/food-product-cost-pricing-spreadsheet-us/

Please note that I receive no financial compensation if you elect to purchase this program whose link I have included above. This is simply a recommendation based upon my experience. There are other spreadsheets out on the market and the Cake Boss Program. You have a bunch to choose from. Just make sure you are using something to keep track of all of your costs. It’s not a luxury, it is a necessity and I cannot emphasize that strongly enough.   

Here is a link to an article I wrote for Chef Julia Usher's Cookie Connection in my former Dough to Dollars blog feature on Pricing. 

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER/DEMOGRAPHIC

In order to price your products accordingly, you need to know who your customer is, what they spend their money on, how much they earn, and how they think.

If you are creating beautiful cakes that are worth $500.00 and the people who live in your area can only afford to pay $100.00 your business will not go very far. Clearly, talent or quality is not the problem, people only have a certain amount of disposable income available and are willing to spend on a custom cake or cookies.  These are luxury items, we should not forget that.

The opposite is true as well. You may be starting out and have a limited skill set. Perhaps your cakes are somewhere beyond amateur but not quite at pro level yet. There is also a group of people who are willing to take a chance on you and pay a bit less for your cakes/ cookies even if you have not yet perfected your skill set.

This is a mutually beneficial situation as they may not know how to even bake a cake out of a box and you can make them look good by helping them out, and selling them a cake at cost. Which honestly makes you money in the long run, because someone is paying you to practice.

Sure, you are not earning a profit, you are breaking even however, the practice on that cake is an asset because it adds to your education and skill set. That is as good as money in the bank.

 Just be sure to be upfront with them, if this is the case so there are no disappointments if your baked goods did not turn out as well as you expected. This happens to all of us at the beginning.

The key to creating a profitable baking business is striking a balance between your costs, what the market is willing to pay, and your skill set.  We live in a free market economy and there is competition everywhere.

The best way to get ahead of the game is by offering a consistently great product, knowing how much it is costing you to make it ( to the last penny), knowing who is willing to buy it and how much they are willing to pay.

Wishing you all the best this week and always remember this.. No matter how hard it seems

Persistence is the key to success, never give up, ever!
Aymee aka Cookiepreneur™

p.s. Don't hesitate to drop us a line with any questions. And be sue to check out our What inspired you to become a Cookiepreneur? Contest.

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Cookiepreneurship 101- Are you a Baker or a Cookiepreneur?

I sold my first cupcake in the 6^th grade and loved the feeling of earning money for myself.

It’s funny because as I got older, instead of trying to build my own business at an early age, I tried to play by the rules of society and do what I thought my parents expected of me.

I got a regular job, went to college, heck I even wanted to become an Attorney at some point and work for a big law firm somewhere, but somehow, on some level all of that felt wrong to me.

For the longest time, I have to admit I felt like a loser in the corporate world.  I knew I was bright, I tried my best to work well with others, but somehow, I just was not a fit.  I would either wind up getting bored or feeling restless within a couple of weeks.  If not ,I would find myself wanting to change the system around as soon as I learned it, I always thought I could teach my boss a thing or two about how they could make the system more efficient, sound familiar? 

I was bored out of my mind if my position did not entail mutli-tasking or doing something that was not tedious. I often got in trouble for speaking up “too much”.  One time I even had a boss tell me that he did not pay me to “think” he paid me to do as I was told, that should have clued me in.  

As I recall, even as I was working a regular 9-5 I was always trying different ventures on the side.  I would go to real-Estate Seminars, MLM campaigns, sold jewelry on the side, set up a catering business with my best friend at the time, you name it , I did it, looking back, I was always trying to get my own thing going on the side.   

I felt like a loser most of my adult life when I tried to work for others and never understood why. Thanks to one of the most successful copywriters of all time , I finally understood that I was not a failure or a weirdo when I watched him speak at the Attract Wealth Seminar in Austin Texas some years back. 

Remember those infomercials with the Blu-blocker sunglasses? 

Joe Sugarman, a seasoned businessman, BILLIONAIRE , President of the Blu-blocker Corporation and one of the most successful copywriters in American history was the one that opened my eyes to the fact that most Entrepreneurs don’t really easily fit in . We are a special breed of person that has many of the following characteristics.

*Creative – Thinks outside the box.

*Risk Taker- We often take risks most people are not even willing to consider.

*Confident – In spite of our flaws, we have an underlying confidence in ourselves.

*Become easily bored- Restless ;)

*Restless- Never quite satisfied, unquenchable thirst for growth and knowledge

*Perfectionist- Can tend to be a bit of a perfectionist.

*Generous- Generous on some level ( likes to share , give back or pay it forward)

* BOSS- I hate to admit this, but we do NOT like to take orders from others. Clearly most people do not, but for us it’s particularly painful.     

*Resilient- Bounces back like a rubber ball after each failure. Turns lemons into lemon cookies.

*Optimistic- In spite of a grim outlook, we tend to remain optimistic.

*Visionary- See opportunity where others do not.

*Unrelenting drive to succeed- You do NOT know the meaning of the word Failure.

Okay, so by now you get the idea right? Can you relate to this on any level?   

I have a sneaking suspicion that most of you who are reading this, can in fact relate to most, if not all of the aforementioned characteristics.  If not you may be asking yourself, well what’s the big deal? Why do I need to be like this in order to run a cookie business? After all, all it takes is a bit of talent as a baker and cookie designer/decorator… WRONG! I say, and I will tell you why.

You may in fact, have an amazing set of hands and be Sylvia Weinstock of cookies, and you already have the creativity part down, but if you do not start to develop some of these characteristics, particularly, optimism, resilience, and an unrelenting drive to succeed it will be very difficult for you to navigate the business of cookies, or most any other business.

Some people believe that you are born with these, I believe that they can be learned !

In order to survive and succeed in this business, at times you will have to be one tough cookie (pun intended), in order not to throw in the towel.  Running a small business, particularly while managing a family/household and working a full or other part time job requires an unwavering drive and focus that not everyone possesses.

This business may be sweet, but it is not for wimps.  This may sound harsh but I have learned that in order succeed in business you need to have the right mindset, otherwise you will be ready to throw in the towel the first time you burn 200 cookies or one of your cakes falls apart in transit.  I am here to make sure that does not happen to you (Not the cake and cookies, that, I’m afraid is inevitable, I mean the quitting part)       

Okay, so suppose, you feel this is just not you, or you don’t want to deal with the business end of this. Hey that’s fine, in that case either capitalize on your skills and go work for someone who will pay you a generous salary (That will be a future post about learning to price your cookies properly) or have your spouse, partner, friend or whomever else run the business end  for you. You can bake, be creative and leave everything else up to them.

So ladies, in short I will admit it, I am an unapologetic champion for female entrepreneurs everywhere. We are the champions of society, we do it all, with love, compassion, dedication, drive and fearlessness so kudos to you, my fellow Jean D’arc’s of Cookies! I celebrate you for being the few, fearless females out there, changing the world one cookie at a time. 

See you next week when we will start to discuss a bit of the mechanics of what makes for an amazing cookie business that stands out among the rest.

Again, if you have any general questions please feel free to email me at cookiepreneur@gmail.com or leave your questions in the comment section. 

I would love to hear from you, Let me know when you first discovered that you were a Cookiepreneur?

Always remember, If you can see it, you can be it! Never give up, NEVER!

Aymee