Happy Birthday

It is absolutely wild to me that this little business is turning ONE. As the one year birthday approaches, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on all the firsts.

Before we take a trip down memory lane, I want to explain that I had absolutely nothing for baking when I first started. I had a half box of basic food coloring, some random piping bags, off brand tips that I found on an auction site, cupcake liners from Amazon, and a mini cupcake pan that I found for free on Facebook. And that is it.

It began on July 3rd, 2022. And for my first time baking and decorating cupcakes, I would call it a success! Though my red was more pink and my frosting was melting on my cupcakes, I was incredibly proud of myself. I had baked a few dozen mini cupcakes and had them decorated all over our very small kitchen. But what to do with them? I didn’t want to throw them away as that seemed like a waste. So I posted on my local military small business page that I had cupcakes that needed homes. With it being July 4th weekend and the treats being red, white, and blue, I was able to get rid of them pretty quickly. Let’s not forget that people donated only a dollar per dozen–handed to them on a paper plate.

But then I started getting messages.

“Do you happen to have more?”
“Can I pay you to make some for next weekend?”
“These tasted great! I am having a gathering tomorrow…”
“Do you have other flavors?”
“I would have totally given you more!”
“Do you make custom orders?”

The sense of pride I felt as my phone started going off was intense. At this point in time, I had been a stay-at-home-mom for a year after being a music teacher. I hadn’t felt much of a “purpose”. I needed to be more than “just a mom”. And these comments sparked a fire.

Later that evening, I opened our family laptop and starting looking up cost for packaging. If I was going to make more, I wasn’t going to hand them to people on a paper plate. But then I went on a DEEP DIVE! Next thing I knew, it was late at night and I was secretly opening a Square account and creating a potential logo on Canva.

Within a few week, I spoke with my husband and my mom about opening a home business. They were both pretty surprised and they said “Are you sure?” I informed them that I was in the early stages. That I knew nothing about opening costs, setting up with the state, finding packaging, advertising, or running a business!

I explained that for the first time in a long time, I felt like my anxiety had drifted away. It was something about the process from start to finish of making those cupcakes that allowed my heart rate to slow, my breathing to steady, and my mind to rest.

Since that first conversation, our family has had two rules:
1) If it is no longer fun, stop.
2) It is not about the money.

I truly thought I would only make mini cupcakes, regular cupcakes, and three basic cookies. That’s it. But I was so wrong.

At the end of July, another small business owner reached out and asked if I could make her son’s birthday smash cake. I was so nervous but said I would try. The only cakes I had ever made stuck to the glass pan where you spread the can frosting all over and use the gel to write “Happy Birthday” on the top. In the coming days, my husband and I would spend hours at a time in our kitchen trying to figure out what I was doing. Thankfully, she was very kind and understanding to my not-so-perfect cake. Though I was embarrassed of the final product, the pictures turned out amazing!

But I never wanted to have that feeling again. If I was going to do this, I was going to go all in.

I did a lot more research, bought a few new tools, and decided that I would try to do THREE cakes for free for my community so I could practice. I told them I was brand new. I was very transparent with them that I had zero clue what I was doing but knew I needed the motivation to practice.

By the end of these three cakes, I was feeling more confident and took on my first paid cake. And let me tell you, that cake was less than perfect. She had matching cupcakes and pretzel rods to go with it. While I was delivering the cake, the purple from the cupcakes started to fade. Lesson learned: certain colors when exposed to direct sunlight fade.

Her daughter’s cake matched the treats perfectly but the cake board had grease stains all over it. Lesson learned: not all cake boards are created equal.

About two months in, I decided to do cake pops. How hard could they be??? I made some cake, crumbled it up, added some canned frosting, rolled, and dipped. Looking back, I wish I would have taken a picture before my husband and I both laughed and INSTANTLY threw everything into the trash can. Lesson learned: cake pops are much harder than people on the Internet make it look. But I kept researching, practicing, and the pride I felt when the first set survived was great.

Events were being planned in the community and people would come stop by because they had heard of my treats. I even met a mom at the park who told me she followed me on Facebook. Around this time, orders began taking off. Each order brought new challenges and lessons learned:

Weeks ebb and flow
Reviews matter
Time management is key
I do WAY more than “just bake”
Boundaries are hard
Complete strangers will often cheer the loudest
It is okay to say “no” to an order
The dishes will never end
Social media is exhausting

And then the business began to expand.

We purchased a fridge that sits in our tiny dining room. We turned our walk in panty and our hall closet into storage for supplies and packaging. I bought a Cricut to make toppers. We placed my logo on the back of our family van. We have a sign on our front door. I bought shirts, hoodies, and pens with my logo on them. I created a website. I made a Google Listing. And so many small but big milestones.

After about ten months, it started feeling like I was a real business owner.

Though the two rules still apply, we have started looking more towards the future and what this business could be in another five years.

Some days I sit on the kitchen floor and cry over a cake that won’t stop bubbling. Other days I get sad when cake pops leave my house because they are so pretty. Not every single day brings 100% happiness. With any job, some moments are better than others. But at the end of the day, I cannot see myself doing anything else in this season of life.

I say it all the time…I would be nowhere without a small handful of people who gave a girl a chance when she had only been baking for three weeks.

It is amazing how much can change in just a year.

Cheers to the dream.
The continued dreams.
And the dreams to come.

-Jenetta