A friend of the family has heard a lot of good things about my cakes! Now she wants to fly me up from Fl to Maryland to make a cake and cupcakes for her 50th birthday party!! I have only been doing this (selling my cakes) for about a year, so im not really sure how or what to charge her for my travel/time....

She said she will pay for the flight....

should i or how do i charge her for my time (I will be gone for the four day weekend- to bake-decorate-and setup)

any help or advice will be greatly appreciated

Queata

AWhat is her budget? Where will you be making the cakes? What about your hotel, rental car, parking costs, and meals?

Aside from 100% reimbursement of all expenses I would charge your normal hourly wage for both travel time and the time you leave the hotel each day to when you get back, plus ingredients, your standard allocated overhead, and your markup.

This is very unusual; I wonder if something else is going on. You need to speak with her about the arrangement. She may not think of this as a business request and might think that buying your ticket will be enough compensation.

Wow, she must be quite wealthy!    Make sure she is not just paying for your airfare.  Have a spreadsheet on hand of all of your charges.  Don't show her your expenses, show her your charges.  That's an expensive cake.  Although, there are many bakers on this website worthy of flying in to bake a cake for those who can afford it.

Your cakes are beautiful.  I love the blue shoe.

Hi Everyone!

just to clarify a little, the client is my uncles boss....so i will be staying at my uncles house as well as baking/ decorating the cake there.

@Jason i have never charged an hourly rate, standard allocated overhead, or markup...but thanks to you and your blog i have learned a lot about the both of them. Like i said this is my first year selling cakes ( i have been making them for a few years for friends and family) so i still have a lot to learn :)

@MimiFix thanks... i will verify to make sure that we are both on the same page....

@Norasmom i will definitely be using a spreadsheet of some sort to show all of my charges:) i want to make sure that i am not forgetting anything... and thank you! i lov making heels!

thanks everyone :)

AI'm not sure this will legally work out unless your uncle has a licensed and inspected commercial kitchen at his home or runs his own licensed home-based bakery, your only option might be to do it as a gift.

And remember you will have to ship everything you need: mixers, pans, etc.  That will add quite a bit of expense.

Liz