This is how I approached to complete my first cupcake order.
This is my very first flower pipped for my first order...
How I started my baking journey....
I'm a mother of a toddler boy and a wife to my loving husband AJ. I recently graduated from the University of North Texas with an Applied Arts and Science major ( (Multi- Interdisciplinary). I graduated in such a challenging period not only for me, but for almost everyone due to the global pandemic.
The job hunt has been very rough so far and due to Covid-19 pandemic upended the job search process, along with so many other things such as safety precautions towards my family, and made finding a job even more daunting than usual. I had written many cover letters, faced unrelated interviews, changed keywords on my resumes. The rejection emails from the hiring manager made me even more stressful.
One day one of my old friends called me and asked "You make beautiful cake decorations, why not do it as a business" while applying for jobs?" I thought about this and talked to my husband. He also agreed that I'm a good cake artist and we can start a small business while staying home with the baby.
I used to make cakes for my family and friends for celebrations for years. My first serious cake was made for my son's 2nd birthday which was a Thomas train. I spent all night and morning over 12 hours to complete the cake. (I had to deal with fondant to cover the entire cake and I'm not a fondant lover).
My second most effortful artwork was a gingerbread house for last Christmas. My family and friends were so amazed at my work. At this point, I had so many utensils. I was inspired by most of the great cupcake artists all around the world, helping me to create stunning artwork on my cupcakes. I may have made so many cupcakes to practice my hand.
My husband plays a vital role in this business. Luckily he is keen on web designing and he created my website nicely. He did handle most of the social media including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Youtube.
In the beginning, Facebook and Instagram were my crucial applications to reach my customers. I'm planning to hire creative blog writers in the future and my sister resides in London and is willing to collaborate with my website as a blog writer/editor in the future. When concerning social media, I try to create at-least one post per day. This means I have to create different cupcakes at once to set up my post.
Reel application made an interesting role to create stunning videos on Instagram that I did share on Facebook and other applications. Since, I wanted to promote my cupcake locally I printed a few leaflets and put them on notice boards in mailboxes. I set my prices super low at the beginning to see how people react to my product. Pricing my cupcakes is the hardest part so far as all bakers do.
This is my DIY box with final product..
My First Order....
After I posted my leaflet by the postboxes, I got a text message, asking for 6 cupcakes boxes. I was surprised and excited at the same time. Because, I did not expect this leaflet would work but it did.
Anyway, I did prepare for this order and bought all my premium ingredients. Also, I wanted to mention If I change any ingredient other than what I normally use, I first serve my baby and husband as taste testers as a secret way of checking the taste.
I spent almost 6 hours completing my first 6 cupcake box orders. This order happened during the winter storm and my cupcake boxes did not arrive on time through Amazon. So, I had to come up with a box Idea. so I went to Walmart and bought 6 cupcake boxes, but they are not tall enough to fit my cupcakes so my husband used 3 boxes and created a nice single 6 cupcake box.
Finally, all the cupcakes are ready-made with little decorations and delivered to the customer's doorstep. This customer happened to be a next-door neighbor. She was very pleased with my cupcakes. I remember I charged only $8 for the entire order though I got a $2 tip. This was the starting point. I knew that I needed to adjust my prices. I did a lot of research and finally set up my prices which are fair for my customers as well as behalf of my hard work.
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