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Help Please. Skill level or Price?

post #1 of 17
4/15/12 at 7:46am
Thread Starter 
Hello All,

I am a new home baker (Texas Cottage Law) and I recently started selling cakes for sell a little over a month ago. March I was steady and had to turn down a few orders. This month I have only received 4 orders. 2 of which have already been filled.

I have a FB page and a website, although it is not fully optimized, and I have been using a free credit from Google Ads which has been generating at least 6 hits per day. I also just added some car decals to the sides of my car.

My question is do you think that it might be my skill level that is not bringing in any customers or are my prices too expensive?

I have several cakes in my gallery and my basic buttercream cakes start at $3.00 and fondant at $4.00.

I have a full time job but I love making beautiful and tasty cakes and was hoping to one day have storefront. But, lately I have been second guessing if that will ever be.

Please share whatever insight you have.

TIA
Lakeisha
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post #2 of 17
4/15/12 at 8:10am
I think that your prices are fine. As a new baker it will take some time to build up the client base and to get your name out there. You have some nice cakes in your gallery. Keep practicing and learn as much as you can. You will get even better as time goes on. Don't get discouraged. Some months you will have more orders and other months not as many.
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post #3 of 17
4/15/12 at 8:17am
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Thank you Renee!
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post #4 of 17
4/15/12 at 8:19am
I think that your prices are fine. As a new baker it will take some time to build up the client base and to get your name out there. You have some nice cakes in your gallery. Keep practicing and learn as much as you can. You will get even better as time goes on. Don't get discouraged. Some months you will have more orders and other months not as many.
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post #5 of 17
4/15/12 at 9:20am
I agree with Renee, give it some time! I think the amount of jobs you have gotten so far is actually really good for such a new business. Just keep doing what you're doing, the business will come and grow. The great thing about word of mouth is that it has the potential to exponentially grow your business! Your prices are fine, and you have some nice work in your gallery. Good luck!
Before you ask- I'm licensed, inspected, insured, and all that jazz.
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post #6 of 17
4/15/12 at 10:15am
Wow, not sure how I got a duplicate post. They are even 9 minutes apart.

Like Lovesmesomecake said just keep doing what your doing and it will grow.
Good luck and happy decorating.
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post #7 of 17
4/15/12 at 11:10am
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Thanks again for the feedback. It is appreciated!
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post #8 of 17
4/15/12 at 11:34am
I am a newbie as well. Nice cakes! I would suggest photographing your cakes with a solid background. I'm not expert, but am laying a white tablecloth with a piece of white foam core board behind it. That way, my kitchen, decor, plug-ins, view out the window, etc... does not detract from the cake.

FWIW,
Kimm
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post #9 of 17
4/15/12 at 1:06pm
Thread Starter 
Kim,

That makes sense.

Thanks!
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post #10 of 17
4/16/12 at 1:13pm
I'm a relatively newbie as well icon_smile.gif I also try to photograph cakes with a solid background. I've used white and am now using black which I LOVE!

Also, when we can (like if we have extra batter) we'll make extra cupcakes...sometimes minis and give them away around the community. Or give to friends to take to work with a few business cards. Or sometimes do a "giveaway" on your facebook page. We do that especially for the person who is our "300th" like or something like that icon_smile.gif It's REALLY helped our business. We are getting to the point that we have to turn people away often because we just can't handle 8 cakes in one weekend in our house! icon_smile.gif

Good luck!
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post #11 of 17
4/16/12 at 1:59pm
lcressel~~Since this was posted in the Business forum, I'll respond with a business answer. I don't think it is your skill level (the cakes in your photos look very professional), or your prices. I think it may be your lack of a specific, targeted plan to identify how to market your cakes to potential customers who WILL pay the prices you ask for your products.

Have you prepared a business plan?
http://articles.bplans.com/writing-a-business-plan

If you have not done your due diligence and treated this AS A BUSINESS, then you will have hobby results. Look up the statistics for small business start-ups. You will find that most of them fail to generate ANY revenue for one to two years.
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post #12 of 17
4/16/12 at 2:19pm
hummm.... price n skill both are good in ur case... the best n easy way to get costomer is by impressing the kids.... also have bake sale for raising funds as much as u can, I bet this can pull the customers more easily , n find more other ways to impress people personally than ad.
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post #13 of 17
4/16/12 at 5:00pm
Thread Starter 
I have taken notes to all of your replies both here and those that I recieved privately. You all have been very helpful!
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post #14 of 17
4/16/12 at 5:35pm
Here's what I use for photos of my cakes, tri-fold poster boards. They are only a couple of bucks each at a craft store. I lay one on the table and put one up behind. I've been using white, but think I'll try black now that it has been mentioned!

These are example at this link to show how it looks when you take cake photos.
http://christinascakes.shutterfly.com/pictures/316

With a gold tablecloth draped over the tri-fold boards:
http://christinascakes.shutterfly.com/pictures/371
LL
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post #15 of 17
4/16/12 at 6:10pm
Thread Starter 
Apti, thanks for the exampleicon_smile.gif I purchased some fabric yesterday but didn't know about using the cardboard as well for the photos.
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