How to Overcome the Fear of Failure in your Home Bakery

If you feel that your current approach in your Home Bakery is “hoping for the best”, I invite you to check out the FREE Resource Library with helpful tips, tools and even a Home Bakery Business Plan Workbook. These resources will help you to start developing a clear strategy for your Home Bakery 😀

How to Overcome the Fear of Failure in your Home Bakery

Overcoming the Fear of Failure is one of the issues most of my readers & students have asked me to write about.

A number of unhealthy mindsets have plagued my Home Bakery, but anxiety and fear have challenged me most of my life, so believe me you are not alone.

SO many friends have told me: “Don’t worry about it! What’s the worst that can happen?”

I know they mean well, but that question does not bring a baker comfort! In fact, when they ask me this I have a super detailed scenario in my mind of the “worst that can happen”:

What if I invest all this time and love and resources in my baking business and then no one likes my stuff?? And instead of talking to me about it, they end up writing a horrible Facebook review on my page and then no one orders from me again!

OR what if I bake this cake and it slides apart or breaks apart on the way to the wedding venue?? Then the bride has no wedding cake, freaks out and everyone at the wedding stares at me and says in unison: “It’s all your fault.”

That is the worst that can happen.

What I’m trying to say is that I honestly know how you feel.

I’ve had countless sleepless nights. The nights before food markets, before massive orders, food expo’s, weddings, birthday parties… Sleepless nights over frosting not setting in time, things over-baking, cupcakes shrinking, cakes falling, cakes cracking and more…

Another popular favourite in my early days of Baking was that my clients would lose interest over time and I would need to return to my desk job…

And then the biggest fear is that a client won’t be happy with what I baked for them.

I know how you feel.

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BUT I also know now that I DO NOT have to live my life like this… AND NEITHER DO YOU.

I’ve learned how to understand fear & anxiety works, how to manage them and how to overcome them.

Please note that these are my personal experiences on what has worked for me. These tips might not necessarily work for you or appeal to you. But I’m 99% confident that they will bring SIGNIFICANT relief to the quality of your baking life and release a lot of chains from your Home Bakery.

I’m convinced that it’s nearly impossible to build up a sustainable, successful baking business without dealing with your fear & anxiety issues.

Your future success is on the table here, so I encourage you to be open while reading this post.

I would love to see you live a healthy, happy, peaceful and successful baking life.

I’ll start by explaining the most obvious causes of Fear & Anxiety and how to overcome them.

1. Uncertainty Breeds Fear

Have you ever watched The Great British Bake Off?

All the contestants are home bakers just like you and me. And gosh that tent is LADEN with fear!!

Place 12 insecure, unqualified home bakers with limited experience in a foreign environment with 2 famously perfectionistic judges… All broadcast on TV for the world to see!!

It’s so hectic when you think about it… And that’s precisely why I would never do it.

The whole set-up is built to encourage uncertainty. Uncertainty elevates emotions like excitement and fear which makes great television, because your mind will constantly come up with different scenarios of how this might all pan out.

I’m sure you’ve seen some of the bakers make obvious mistakes that could easily have been prevented if they had just researched the bake’s techniques a bit more.

If they understood the required techniques they would have an exact strategy they could DEPEND on! But very often they don’t and now you see them in an utter PANIC, just “HOPING for the best.”

HOPE is a wonderful thing, but not in baking and absolutely not in business either.

If a doctor based his decisions and courses of action on hope instead of scientific research, he would run out of business really soon and possibly lose a lot of lives in the process.

I know this is an extreme example, but I’m using it intentionally to get my point across.

“Hoping” that a bake will turn out great WILL result in heaps of fear because you have nothing to depend on – no science, no study, no research, no proof. You are swimming in uncertainty.

And this is amplified even further in a Baking Business!

Just baking amazing cakes and hoping or assuming people will come running for them is nothing more than “hoping for the best”.

“Hoping” does not guarantee a successful bake, and it absolutely does not guarantee a successful Home Bakery.

My heart breaks when I see the contestants on GBBO mess up their bakes and then say: “I’m just not good enough. Things are not working out for me today.” Kind of like the world is against them and the other bakers are just lucky.

But the truth is that their failed bake has NOTHING to do with their luck or talent.

They should have done their homework!! They should have RESEARCHED their bake into the last detail so that they can UNDERSTAND the science of it and develop a STRATEGY to use on the day.

Their insecurities, talent, lack of qualifications, lack of resources and “luck” are NOT the reason they are failing. It’s because they didn’t do enough research or develop a strategy.

Not having a strategy leads to “hoping for the best” which leads to total uncertainty and results in total fear of failure.

And very often actual failure as well to be honest.

By resorting to “hoping for the best”, you are giving your brain no strategy to rely on. This gives it no other option but to imagine a list of scary outcomes so that you can be prepared for the worst and not be shocked to death by it.

It’s your mind’s way of protecting you.

But if you do your homework, research baking AND business, learn from experts and adopt their strategies; then you are GIVING YOUR BRAIN A COURSE OF ACTION IT CAN FOCUS & RELY on.

It will no longer need to prepare you for the worst and turn on your fear alarms.

Please remember this line: STRATEGY CULTIVATES CERTAINTY.

When there is certainty, fear is not needed for your survival, so your brain won’t call on Mr Fear to protect you.

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2. Failure is just an Event, not an Identity

MOST home bakers are SEVERELY CRITICAL of themselves and their baking. And I am NO exception to that!!

I once received an email from one of my students about her fear of failure. The most heart-breaking line in her email was this: “It’s embarrassingly awkward to enter my online shop… I feel like I’ve failed, really. I have to do something about it or give up.“

I honestly have felt the exact same way in the past… Have you? The key to stepping out of that miserable overwhelm of fear of failure is a total change in perspective. And here is the perspective:

LEARNING does not equal FAILING.

They are NOT the same thing. Do not mistake learning for failing!!

I bet if you look back to where you started out you will see how much you have grown and how much you have learned. Learning what does not work is just as important as what does work.

As a business owner you will need to learn to have grace for yourself – you are a wonderful, hardworking student of baking. Be kind to yourself.

A business is not successful because the owner never made any mistakes or never failed.

A business is successful because the owner knew how to learn everything he could from his mistakes and failures.

Mistakes and failure are inevitable on this journey 🙂

“There is actually no such thing as failure. You either get the result you wanted or the lesson you needed.” – James Wedmore

There’s no need to fear failure, there’s only a need to LEARN FROM IT.

REMEMBER: FAILURE IS AN EVENT, NOT AN IDENTITY.

3. Perfect Love Drives Out Fear

This is a famous Bible passage that most Christians are very familiar with.

There was a time that this verse actually caused anxiety for me instead of removing it! And it’s because the verse right after it says: “The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

So my immediate reaction was “Oh no! I’m not made perfect in God’s love! What’s wrong with me?! I’m failing Him!”

But now that God has restored so much in my life – especially over the last 3 years – I have a much better understanding of this passage.

No matter who you are, who your parents are, what race you are, your financial situation, your talents and opportunities… NONE of it will save any of us from the fallen nature of humanity.

ALL of us experience pain in our lives and it is unavoidable.

And what happens when we experience pain?

Right in the heart of that pain, our being questions God’s heart and intentions. His character is questioned.

And then the enemy comes and plants a lie about our heavenly Father right in the centre of that pain.

That seed, that lie, grows into a strong tree and bears awful fruit that we will eat throughout our lives. The people close to us will also have to eat that fruit. Your relationships will absolutely be affected and even shaped by that fruit.

This awful fruit includes FEAR & ANXIETY.

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Your work life will eat that fruit too. Your relationships, business and entire life will end up being shaped by that tree – by that lie.

And there’s usually a whole lot more than just one lie.

And Father God is devoted to exposing those lies buried deep in your heart. But in order to get to them you will need to revisit and process that pain you’ve experienced at various points in your life.

This is extremely difficult and tearful, BUT right after the forgiveness and “letting go” happens, there’s LIBERTY like you’ve never known at the other end.

And most importantly, Father God will replace that LIE with His TRUTH.

This process is what “made perfect in love” LOOKS like.

And the main reason I’ve just explained this process is because one of the awful fruits that grow on “Lie Trees” is FEAR.

Because the lie has created UNCERTAINTY for us about the most basic strategy every human NEEDS more than air – My Dad has got me no matter what (aka Love).

God’s perfect love is a living, dynamic strategy that annihilates uncertainty.

You will now not just “know” that He loves you as an abstract thought…

You will believe with every fibre of your being that He is 100% devoted to your wellbeing and 100% trustworthy.

You know Him and His very nature INTIMATELY and you know you can build your life on that unshakable solidity.

Whenever finances are tight, or a relationship is struggling or you don’t know what to do in your business, you won’t experience fear anymore. Because you know that you can ask your loving Father God to show you where you should walk and that He’ll be thrilled to answer you!

4. Release the Expectation to be a Baking Prodigy

I can bake wedding cakes, but I hate making them because they consume me with fear.

So I don’t bake them anymore. Simple as that.

A successful Home Bakery is not built by trying to bake for EVERYONE. You don’t have to do this to yourself. Read my previous post’s section on Defining Your Niche!

If you’ve researched and practiced a specific bake but it still causes you anxiety, then do yourself a favour and remove it from your menu!

Certain bakes are just better suited with certain types of personalities.

Your reasons can even go beyond that. For example, I also don’t like baking wedding cakes because I find it too challenging to work with stressed brides.

Weddings are also typically on remote venues outside of town and that makes delivery an issue… Especially if there are dirt roads involved! I’ve once seen a wedding cake crack right in front of me due to all the shaking in the car. It was CRAZY scary!!

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All of these reasons combined just made me realize there’s way too much uncertainty, fear and frustration in the Wedding Cake scene, so I removed that service from my Home Bakery.

I’ve never looked back!

So look through your menu and list of services you offer. If they cause fear and anxiety in your life (even after you’ve researched effective strategies) then remove those items.

Your Home Bakery will be a lot more sustainable and successful once you remove them because all that fear will not be draining you every second of the day and night anymore!

Making bakes you are comfortable with and ENJOY baking will increase CERTAINTY in your home bakery. A niche enables you to produce higher quality bakes and eliminate buckets of anxiety in your baking life.

Do you have any more fear & anxiety challenges? Share your thoughts in the comments below because I would love to help 🙂

Chat soon

Aurelia

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Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

I help home bakers create a Home Bakery Business with consistent orders so they never have to worry about a stable income.

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

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What info are you looking for?

Do you dream of starting a home bakery, but then thoughts of self-doubt like these start flooding your mind… “People aren’t going to think my baking is worth it. All the other bakers are better than me. I’m not good enough.” Truth is pretty much ALL home bakers get these thoughts! You’re not alone! In this post you’ll learn how to beat self doubt so you can be free to pursue your baking business goals. Click through to get the tips now… #homebaking #selfdoubt #homebakery #bakingbusiness #baking

Got a question? Something to add? Let’s chat in the comments section down below! (I respond to every single comment)

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5 Mindset Shifts to Make Your Home Bakery More Successful

5 Mindset Shifts to Make Your Home Bakery More Successful

We all want our Home Baking Businesses to thrive and be our full-time job.

And over my last 6 years of full-time baking it’s become crystal clear that our baking talents or resources are not the key factors that determine our business’s success at all!

We keep thinking the reasons our Home Bakery is struggling are our recipes, abilities and lack of resources, but they are not to blame.

It’s not really everything outside you that’s holding your business back, but everything that’s going on in your MIND…

I never used to give much credit to my thought life and mindsets until I went to a psychiatrist (for the first time EVER!) 2 years ago. She told me something I will never ever forget:

“The quality of your thoughts will determine the quality of your life.” Powerful statement, right?

And she was right, because your thoughts influence your feelings >> your feelings influence your actions >> your actions determine your results.

That’s the power and authority your thoughts have in your life.

Over the last few months I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking over which specific mindsets I have struggled with as a Home Baker.

Understanding, recognizing and changing these mindsets have been absolutely KEY to my business’s success!

Let’s get to it! Here are 5 Mindsets that are Sabotaging your Home Bakery – right under your nose…

1. Scarcity Mindset to Abundance Mindset

This is a mindset I’ve struggled with since childhood because it stems from competition. All kids are raised in a competitive environment. School is one huge competition. Academics, sports even personality are all governed by competition.

We are taught that there can only be ONE winner.

If Suzie won the 100 meter dash and is the winner, that means I am the loser. BUT, my friend, business is NOT like sports. In fact, business is NOTHING like sports! Especially CREATIVE businesses – and Home Bakeries definitely fall in this category!

The scarcity mindset will let your thoughts play out like this:

“Oh no! There’s a new home bakery in my neighbourhood! This is a disaster!
I need to be better and do better than her…
How can I get to the clients first?
How can I stop her from stealing my clients?
This has just ruined everything! Oh no, her chocolate cake looks better than mine!! Couldn’t she just have picked another neighbourhood?? I was here first!”

The scarcity mind set has taught you that “this town is not big enough for the two of us”… I used to go through this tormenting thought cycle every other day during the first 3 years of my Home Bakery. But that scarcity mind set is a LIE. Plain and simple.

There is no winner or loser in baking!!!!

We are all on the same team here! There’s more than enough sunshine and business for all of us! We have a common goal: to bless the world with ridiculously delicious Home Baking.

Other Home Bakers are your friends, not your competition.

99% of home bakers are kind, generous and loving. They are your teammates. If they win – you win! If you win – they win!

Our goal is not to drive each other out of business, is it? NO!! Our goal is for people to experience the awesomeness of flavourful baking.

And most importantly, remember that there are 8 BILLION people on the planet. And all of them need to eat every day.

The problem is we home bakers just ASSUME we need EVERYONE in our town/city to order from us if our business is going to survive. This is simply FALSE.

Just because someone else is successful, doesn’t mean there’s less success for you. Thinking like this is a FALSE belief that I also had when I started out.

But as a full-time home baker of 6+ years I can now tell you with 100% certainty that you only need about 100-150 loyal clients to succeed. That’s ENOUGH to make a comfortable living as a baker.

You don’t need everyone to order from you. You don’t need thousands of clients to succeed. Just 100-150 loyal clients is ENOUGH. And it’s a very possible goal!

2. You DON’T Need to Please Everyone

I’ve come across hundreds of home bakers that say on all their platforms that they “bake anything for any occasion”.

They have a mindset that this is the only way they can get new clients and be successful. I used to say this too! But it is one of the biggest mistakes that’s sabotaging your baking business!!

Defining a niche is a MUST for any business.

The word “niche” means that you plan your menu and home bakery in such a way that it appeals to a small, specialized section of the population.

The word “small” may be a bit alarming, but let me explain the incredible advantages of defining your niche. I’ll use a metaphor to illustrate my point.

Let’s say you have a headache and go to the pharmacy to buy some tablets to fix your headache. On the pharmacy shelves you see 2 possible options to help you fix your headache.

On the left you see a box with the words “Quick, effective relief for headaches!”.

On the right you see a green bottle that says: “The tablet that does it all! Fixes hair loss, pimples, stomach cramps, headaches, nausea and dementia”.

Which medicine would you choose? You’d choose the box that specifically fixes headaches, right?

Because it’s purpose and focus is clear. You know that it understands your problem and that it will solve that problem for you. And the same principle applies in EVERY single type of business.

Defining a niche that you are passionate about and good at will grow your business because it will appeal to and thoroughly answer the needs of a very specific type of customer.

That’s why doctors specialize in specific areas of medicine. It’s why hardware stores, jewelry stores, book stores, butchers, carpenters (I could go on and on and on) still remain successful.

They’ve defined their target market and do what they are good at and passionate about. They’ve defined their niche and stuck to it.

They’re considered as experts in their niche and are famous for giving their clients the best service possible.

Imagine if a jewelry store also sold hardware?! American Swiss Jewelry & Hardware.

Your perceived value of their jewelry would decrease drastically, wouldn’t it??

Their reason may have been: “But then we will appeal to more clients! People who want jewelry AND people who want hardware! Our potential clients will increase by 62%!”

BUT by trying to please everyone, even their current jewelry clients will end up moving on to another store that caters specifically to their needs.

So remember, if you’re trying to please absolutely everyone with your selection of products, you will end up pleasing no one.

Lucky for you there’s a guide in the Free Resource Library called “How to Find the Perfect Niche for Your Home Bakery“. Join the Free Resource Library now to get the free guide.

3. Distinguishing a Personal Expense from a BUSINESS INVESTMENT

One of my TOP MISTAKES that held my Home Bakery for 3 YEARS is my inherent, championship grade frugal-ness. I absolutely LOOOOVE saving money. I’ve even written a post on 5 Tips to Save Money in your Home Bakery.

But I failed to understand and embrace the one thing that is BETTER than saving money… And that is making more PROFIT.

Buying something that will enable my business to generate more profit is not “spending”. Such a purchase an investment in the success of your business.

It’s not like you’re buying a dress that you just wear, enjoy and eventually throw out. If it’s a tool or resource that will empower your business to generate more profit, go for it.

The investment will pay itself off in a matter of weeks and you’ll be FAST-TRACKED TO SUCCESS!

In the name of “saving money” I held my business back for 3 long years and I seriously regret it. Investing in a few programs and tools earlier on would have gotten me to my goals 3 YEARS FASTER.

3 Years is a lot of time.

Time is something you can NEVER get back, but money is something you can MAKE back.

During those first 3 years I regularly placed myself in a position where I’d rather spend my time than spend my money. This mind set is exactly what kept be getting to burnout point over an over again…

Listen friend, YOUR TIME IS THE MOST VALUABLE RESOURCE YOU HAVE. Don’t treat it like it’s limitless – because it is absolutely not. It’s priceless.

Invest in time saving tools & resources wherever you can. This will get you to your goals FASTER.

Whether that’s investing in Home Bakery pricing & bookkeeping templates that help you to do your finances in just 10 minutes per week! Not to mention they take all the stress and anxiety out of managing your Home Bakery’s finances.

Or joining my free resource library and completing the Home Bakery Business Plan Template.

Or reading books about how to market your baked goods in a way that customers actually pay attention and place an order! Instead of constantly struggling to get new customers, just learn from the people who have gone before you 🙂 Get my book recommendations here.

4. Transitioning from a Freelancer to a Boss

I recently watched a video by online entrepreneur Courtney Chaal on this topic. All home bakers start out as freelancers meaning that someone asks for a certain bake for a certain day and we proceed to make it for them.

The client calls the shots. They determine what we make and when we make it. This means that our business strategy is to just REACT to our clients.

You might still be running your Home Bakery this way and be thinking “well, what other way is there??”…

There is another way my friend and that is to become a BOSS and start running your business like a boss.

A boss decides what services and products they do and do not offer. They call the shots and determine the course of their business.

A freelancer is just reacting to clients and their business will end up going wherever their clients end up taking them – which could be in circles and not forward.

There is a COLOSSAL difference between a freelancer and a boss!!

ALL Home Bakers do start out at freelancers, but if you desire success for your Baking Business, you will need to make the mindset shift into the boss world – sooner rather than later.

As soon as you have defined a niche you want to commit to, it’s time to put on your boss pants.

Your clients will no longer be deciding what you bake and when you bake it for. YOU will now be the one deciding how your business is going to operate.

Another amazing benefit of boss pants it that you get to decide who you want to work with or not.

I sometimes get emails from potential clients and their tone will be quite aggressive like they own me or something. Experienced that before?

In theory I know I could accommodate their order, but they don’t respect my batch quantity rule or collection times or expect me to reply to their email over a weekend. ALL of those are signs of someone I do not want to work with.

So then I say NO.

And the BEST perk of boss pants is that you will get to create your own signature products that you can sell over and over again without the need to customize every single bake for every single client.

This enables you to:

Deliver the best possible bakes for your clients,
charge more because the quality is so high,
bake what YOU enjoy and
save MASSES OF TIME!!

Are you ready to make that mind set shift into the boss world?

5. You DON’T Need to be Like Sally

Comparison can be the biggest stumbling block in your journey as a Home Baker. But I’ve learned that the authority of comparison is only as severe as I allow it to be.

You can walk out of it, free, at any time YOU CHOOSE. Think of it as the “V for Vendetta” prison cell scenario.

Believe me, I know first-hand how difficult it can be to make this mind set shift! We were all raised in a competitive environment as kids. We were graded on everything and every single activity, test, event, etc. was an opportunity for competition!

This has caused our brains to constantly compare our work to other people’s work. Sometimes people close to us will even accidentally say things like “why can’t you be more like that?”.

Any CREATIVE absolutely needs to overcome the obstacle of comparison in order to find their own voice because nothing stifles your own creativity (and confidence) like constant comparison.

Confidence and success will not magically come to you the day that everyone else’s work sucks. That’s impossible! Everyone around you has to keep growing and exploring.

We need to learn how to deal with the brilliance of others and be your own true, awesome self in the midst of that.

Being exposed to the baking talents of others needs to be a healthy, objective experience EVERY time. Remember that all home bakers are your friends – not your enemy or competition!! (read mind set #1 – Scarcity Mind Set)

If you keep comparing your baking to anyone else’s, you will never be able to gain the open ground you need to explore your OWN creativity and authenticity.

Your Home Bakery’s BEST CHANCE AT SUCCESS is completely embracing who you are meant to be – NOT who Sally is meant to be.

6. Overcoming the Fear of Failure

BONUS Mindset!! 😀 But, truth be told, I started writing about this crazy prevalent mind set that MOST Home Bakers struggle with and quickly realized that overcoming the Fear of Failure is a whole blog post on its own…

So I decided to discuss this topic with you NEXT POST. Click here to read “How to Overcome the Fear of Failure in Your Home Bakery”.

There are so many valuable perspectives about conquering fear – I can’t wait for you to read them!! They’ve transformed my life and my business.

Which mindset are you going to start shifting this week? Let me know in the comments below!

Aurelia 🙂

What info are you looking for?

Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

I help home bakers create a Home Bakery Business with consistent orders so they never have to worry about a stable income.

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

POPULAR BAKING BIZ TIPS

POPULAR BAKING TIPS

What info are you looking for?

POPULAR BAKING BIZ TIPS

Got a question? Something to add? Let’s chat in the comments section down below! (I respond to every single comment)

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5 Tips to Save Money in Your Home Bakery

5 Tips to Save Money in Your Home Bakery

Home Bakers aren’t exactly loaded, are we?

More often than not, we are resourceful people looking to make an extra income while we stay at home and take care of our families on a super tight budget.

When I started my home baking business back in 2012 I had almost nothing. I had a $10 hand mixer, 2 cheap plastic hand-me-down mixing bowls, 1 square tin and 1 muffin/cupcake tin (and a $5500 student loan to pay off, lol!). That’s it! That’s all you need.

I completely understand how daunting it can be to build up a home bakery on a super tight budget, so I’ve put together 5 tips to save money in your home bakery without compromising on the quality of your bakes.

Even though my business and finances are stable now, I still use all 5 of these money saving tips in my home bakery – because saving money is so much funnnn!

Saving money literally makes me giddy. My husband thinks that’s weird, but I’m having a great time 😂🥳

1. Create Recipes with Leftovers

“Waste not, want not” will ALWAYS be one of the most valuable phrases known to man.

When I watch cooking and baking shows I always cringe when they leave like 10% of the batter in the bowl… I don’t get why anyone would do that and it upsets me deeply.

Or sometimes people crack eggs into the bowl so fast that lots of the white never makes it into the bowl and gets flung into the trash! So painful for me to watch.

My close friends and family know me as “Miss Frugal”, but I seriously don’t mind because I have saved $100’s of dollars by being so fugal. So, boom!

When I started baking from home I mostly made cupcakes and brownies.

But cupcakes require frosting and now my frugal nature was faced with a massive problem…

I’m sure you know from experience that you always have to make more frosting than what you actually end up using, so you always end up with left over frosting.

Desperate to not waste the excess of my ultimate vanilla frosting, I always scooped the left overs into a bowl and put it in the freezer. After accumulating about a liter of this left over frozen frosting, the time had come to do something with it.

I had heard about Pumpkin & Cream cheese muffins and decided to try using my left over frozen frosting as the filling since it is about 60% cream cheese anyway.

The result was spectacular!! 5 years later I still sell 100 of these Pumpkin & Cream Cheese muffins every week – the customers call them “crack muffins”! And the best part is that all my left over frosting does not go to waste!

Sofra Bakery in Cambridge, Massachusetts has created “morning buns” from their left over croissants.

They cut up the croissants in cubes, bake them with custard (like bread pudding) and brush them with an orange blossom glaze. Genius!

Almost every breakfast joint has their version of French toast. We all LOVE French toast, but when you think about it, it is nothing more than a left over recipe! It was a way to use up stale bread and not wasting it.

Some of the best recipes are ones where people had to get creative and prevent waste. I’m confident that you can do the same 🙂 So, brainstorm some ideas of how you can use leftover ingredients, off-cuts, etc. to create new products for your Home Bakery.

Build your home bakery on a super tight budget with these 5 insider tips to save money in your home baking business - without compromising on the quality of your bakes! Even though my business and finances are stable now, I still use all 5 of these money saving tips in my home bakery - because saving money is so much funnnn! #homebakery #homebusiness #cakebusiness #bakingbusiness

2. DIY it Baby!

It’s quite shocking how much money you can save by making things yourself – especially when it comes to ingredients.

Shocking as it may seem, the last time I bought icing sugar was 3 years ago. Icing sugar is expensive. It costs 250% more than regular granulated sugar.

There had to be a way around buying this expensive ingredient that doesn’t exactly contribute to a “better flavour” or anything.

I decided to buy a Nutribullet (high speed food processor). Sure, it cost me $150, but I’ve already made up that difference AGES ago.

Making my own icing sugar (oat flour, almond flour, hummus, peanut butter, smoothies, and more) has saved me heaps of money.

Another way I love to save money is by making my own muffin & cupcake liners from baking parchment. Fluted cupcake liners are really inexpensive, but they make muffins look smaller and less rustic.

I was keen to buy muffin liners (they look more handmade, with 4 little “ears” on top), but they costed like $0,12 each – that adds up super fast!

Instead of spending that money, I rather figured out how to make my own muffin liners in mere minutes for just $0,01 each. I sell 100 muffins a week, so added up, that’s a $11 weekly saving. For me, that’s worth it.

And then one of my favourite money saving tips involves my Home Bakery’s Packaging.

Beautiful, expensive branding and packaging can be a very tempting expense. But if a wrapper is beautiful and the candy tastes bad, will you ever buy it again? No.

So, don’t spend hundreds of dollars on printing amazing packaging. Just go for simple packaging to start off with.

You can seriously get away with 50 cents per box. I like to splatter metallic gold paint on my boxes to add some flare! Here’s a video tutorial of how I jazz up my boxes.

And then you should also put your business’s details on the box. Just design a large sticker with your logo on Canva. Print out the stickers and stick one on each box. Easy, beautiful and cheap!

3. Buy Ingredients from the Right Suppliers

Source ingredients in bulk or from direct suppliers wherever you can. When you cut out middle men, you eliminate all those extra mark ups you pay for in the grocery store.

For example, I used to buy all my cocoa powder, chocolate, frozen berries (and so much more!!) in the grocery store, which was super expensive.

I eventually found a supplying company with super high quality products that sell ingredients even to small businesses like home bakeries.

Now I save like 40% in ingredient costs WITHOUT COMPROMISING ON THE QUALITY OF MY INGREDIENTS! So rad!

I also went directly to a local chocolaterie and buy 1 kg blocks of chocolate from them.

This way I get to support a local business, get higher quality chocolate AND pay less for it than in the grocery store because I buy it in bulk.

Such a win-win-win!

4. Invest in Tools that Increase your Productivity

The one thing that is just as important as saving money is saving TIME. If you can save time then you will have more time to bake things to sell for profit.

Learning to work faster is important, but you can also invest in tools that will make your baking process faster like stencils, cookie cutters, a food processor, etc.

And then there is a “tool” of sorts that is FREE… It is my favourite productivity booster! And it is simply to do things in bulk wherever it’s possible.

If I make 10 of my Pumpkin & Cream Cheese muffins at a time with all of their DIY components (liners, filling, crumble, dry ingredients, and more) from start to finish, it will take me 2 whole hours I reckon!

But by making 100’s of muffin liners at a time, making my filling a few litres at a time, sifting ALL my dry ingredients for the day and putting them in labelled baggies and more, I save SO MUCH time.

Doing things in bulk will streamline your productivity and business like crazy.

5 Amazing Tips to Save Money in your Home Bakery without compromising on the quality of your baked goods! Building a Home Bakery does not have to be expensive. Click through to learn how you can save money where it counts. #homebakery #cakebusiness #bakingbusiness #cupcakebusiness

5. Increase Your Profit

One of the biggest mistakes I made in my Home Bakery (for 3 long years) was being so set on saving money that I did not INVEST my money in making more profit in the future.

I know it feels great to save money – trust me, I am known as “Miss Frugal” among my friends and family! But honestly, making money is even better than saving money… NEVER forget this.

MAKING money is better than SAVING money.

Making INVESTMENTS in order to get more orders and baking done, is better than saving money.

Here’s an example from my own Home Bakery Journey:

In the name of “saving money”, I refused to employ someone to wash dishes and clean for me for the first 18 months of my Home Bakery.

Now, I feel so stupid for not doing it sooner! I always made the excuse that “there’s no way I can afford to employ someone to clean!”

What I didn’t realize is that employing someone to clean for me twice a week would free up more time and energy for me to do more of what actually makes money – BAKING.

Since I’ve made the investment of employing Jane to clean twice a week, I’ve been able to increase my baking profits by 30%!

It’s the BAKING that brings in profit, so free up your time so that you can spend more time BAKING.

I’ve also trained Jane to do prep work for me. This includes chopping chocolate, grating carrots, slicing apples, etc. These super exhausting and time consuming tasks can easily be taught to someone else. It’s wonderful!

Easy, delegate-able tasks include: all cleaning and prep work. Later on you can expand to deliveries, errands, etc.

And while we’re talking about this point of “MAKING money is better than SAVING money”…

Let’s talk about how you can make more money in your Home Bakery:

To get more orders, you need customers to pay attention to your business. You need to know how to attract customers to your business.

And the way you do that is with effective marketing. And I’m NOT talking about spending money on ads!

Effective marketing is all about the (free) words you use to help customers understand and believe that YOUR business is the perfect fit for them.

🌟 If you want to learn how attract more customers and orders with marketing, then this blog post is your next step >> The 4 Essentials of Home Bakery Marketing.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post!

Which money saving tip is your favourite?
Are there any other things you’ve done to save money in your Home Bakery Business?
Let me know in the comments below.

Chat soon

Aurelia 🙂

What info are you looking for?

Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

I help home bakers create a Home Bakery Business with consistent orders so they never have to worry about a stable income.

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

POPULAR BAKING BIZ TIPS

POPULAR BAKING TIPS

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4 Lies Home Bakers Believe about Opening a Storefront Bakery

4 LIES Home Bakers Believe about Opening a Storefront Bakery

**Guest content further down by Tina McJunkin from Cautiously Optimistic Kitchen**

This 2 PART SERIES I’m starting today is probably the most important one I have shared with you to date. It’s not a fun one, but it is ABSOLUTELY necessary.

The reason why it isn’t going to be fun for you to read is because it will address a BIG and sacred dream you probably have. I know you have this dream because I had this dream too for 5 long years.

For 5 years I used to pin beautiful images to a Pinterest board I named “If I had my own little bakery“.

MANY (in fact MOST) of my readers confirm for me every week that this is a home baker’s ultimate dream…

To own your very own storefront bakery.

This dream in itself CAN BE a good dream to work towards, but honestly we all have unrealistic pictures and expectations in our minds about what this kind of life looks like on a day to day basis.

Over my years as a full time home baker, I’ve been through a lot and the ideal of my own retail bakery started to lose its glossy veneer. I can honestly say that I absolutely LOVE being a full time HOME BAKER.

It feels like having your own retail bakery is the ultimate GOAL in baking. A heap of my clients, friends and family still ask me: “WHEN are you going to open your own Retail Bakery??”

My immediate, content answer is “No, thanks” 🙂

Because I am truly happy where I am as a full time HOME Baker.

And a lot of this perspective came from reading a post by Tina McJunkin from The Cautiously Optimistic Kitchen.

SO I ASK OF YOU TODAY TO BE OPEN AND LISTEN TO TINA’S STORY BECAUSE SHE HAS BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT!

Here’s what Tina has to say about her baking journey. She was a Home Baker, just like you and me, but for the whole 2 years she baked from home, she always dreamed of owning her very own retail bakery.

Here is Tina’s TRUE Story

Most every home baker dreams of having their own retail bakery. It’s something you start thinking about the very moment someone loves a cake you baked for them!

On television and online you see the financial industry, business card, credit card, and website designer commercials showing all of the smiling business owners talking about how great it is to have their own store.

You see the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube pages, videos and posts all touting how it’s the way to go and you won’t regret your decision if you go for it!

Want to have your own Retail Bakery? This is the side of the story that no one else is talking about. Most every home baker dreams of having their own retail bakery. Here is the TRUE story and the realities of owning your own retail bakery - because I want you to make INFORMED DECISIONS.

But is it really all it’s cracked up to be?

Well… that’s going to be for you to decide. But for me, the short answer was NO.

Today I’m going to share my experience with you. This is the side of the story that no one else is talking about.

I Decided I was Ready for My Own Retail Bakery.

After nearly two years of baking from home I was ready to open my very own retail bakery. I had built a pretty good clientele of loyal customers and felt my skill level was up to par (haha!).

All my days and nights I spent dreaming – obsessing about what I would name my shop, how I would decorate the front of house, what my logo would look like, and how customers would come strolling in one after the other from opening time until closing time.

Although, the biggest dreams I had were how much money I would make, how much room I would free up in my home, and all the extra time I would have to spend with my family! <sigh>

Boy was I wrong! About most of it anyway. There is so much more to having your own retail bakery than you realize.

**I want to say right now, this is the story of MY experience. So many others have opened their own retail bakery and loved it. In such cases it was the absolute right decision for them. My goal is NOT to bring you down and stomp on your dreams.**

I am only here to share the realities of owning your own retail bakery with you because I want you to make INFORMED DECISIONS.

It can be the greatest experience you’ve ever had, but it can also be heart-breaking. A Retail Bakery can be exhausting and it is absolutely challenging.

There are many people with a mind and spirit made for business. I unfortunately realized I was not cut out for this type of thing. I made a lot of mistakes and my biggest mistake was my IGNORANCE about HOW to actually operate a retail business.

So here’s my story. Please read it with an open mind.

I will share my story in light of 4 Misconceptions I had about owning my own retail Bakery.

1. I Believed a Retail Bakery Would Make More Money

The truth is I paid every penny out to others.

I did not profit a single cent even though we “made” six figures the first 9 months we were open. Yes, 6 figures. But NONE of it was in my pocket. It cost us several thousands to open the bakery plus the huge burden of overheard.

The electric bills alone were $500-800/month in the moderate size unit we were in. I also had to hire employees (please don’t think you can do this alone!). Paying sales taxes, unemployment taxes and insurance, and salaries (now the employment laws are getting even crazier), advertising, liability insurance, and credit card processing fees took huge chunks of money every month.

I needed to constantly add new items and run promotions to keep walk in business, as people are bored very easily, and it’s exhausting! ALL food businesses do it so don’t expect to be the exception.

Even if you opened a CAKE shop like I did, people will expect you to be a full service bakery.

It was the right thing for me to open my own retail bakery because I was obsessed with the thought. OBSESSED I tell you. I couldn’t think of anything else. I thought this was what I was meant to do and had total misconceptions of the "storefront bakery dream"... #homebakery #bakingbusiness #retailbakery #cakebusiness

With all the new orders I had to buy more ingredients/packaging to keep up which was more money out the door. You will probably need to add something to bring customers in if you aren’t a full service bakery, like an ice cream parlour, lunches, or even sell merchandise in your store.

There are busy seasons and slow seasons in the cake world.

I didn’t take into account that the summer and winter would be so slow!

I never had any issues before booking up in my home bakery during these times of year. But I also only needed a fraction of the business to operate.

When you have employees and overheard you need steady orders and walk in traffic ALL year long! Take advantage of busy times (Valentine’s Day, Graduation and Wedding seasons) and promote lots of specials.

It is an absolute MUST that you raise your prices drastically from what you are charging at home. Don’t be surprised when your loyal customers aren’t happy about that.

Not everyone realizes how much money it takes just to keep the lights on and they will not understand why you raised your “great” prices from back when you were the “cheap” cake lady!

2. I Thought Customers Would Be Kind

I have to be completely honest with you.

I didn’t want to deal with people EVER again after I closed my shop.

Even though there were many, many, many more satisfied customers I dealt with than unhappy customers, those very few unhappy ones made a huge impact on my view of the world. People change as soon as you have a store front.

People expect WAY more from you and are not afraid to tell all of social media about when they are not happy about anything.

They will even expect refunds for their own mistakes that they made while ordering. They become much pickier.

They become hateful and quick to judge without giving any thought to the fact that this is how you feed your family. It is just fact that not every single customer will be happy and love your work. I completely understand that. I am a consumer too!

But so many people forget that you are just a woman chasing her dreams and rather than speaking with you about any issues they will just run your name through the mud instead. That’s the reality of this digital world we live in today.

When I did have a customer approach me with an issue it was ALWAYS dealt with. You cannot ignore unsatisfied customers. You MUST take every measure you possibly can to turn the situation around. People remember the single negative review and will scroll right past the 1000 positive reviews you may have.

I was sure to be quick with a sincere apology (even if it wasn’t our fault) and I offered a refund as well as a replacement for the product. When customers came to me unhappy I can gladly say they left with a changed attitude and I nearly always saw them back in my shop as a repeat customer!

I unfortunately wasn’t always given the opportunity to make things right and that really got to me. It really hurt when people chose to be negative and stir up conflict without ever addressing the issue with me.

Not only was this difficult to deal with, but I lost the personal encounters with my customers.

They just became an order form that my employee filled out. And I had to hope they got all the info and wrote everything down correctly. I also had customers that refused to deal with any of my employees and only speak with me because they were long time clients.

The thing is, I didn’t have time to deal with customers personally because I was busy running the business end of things.

3. I Thought I Would Have Much More Free Time!

Except in my own retail bakery, I was now the boss. I was not only responsible for my own quality of work but I was also responsible for my employees quality of work and customer service.

Finding good, reliable employees can be extremely challenging! No one cares about your business like you do.

Even when you have a good staff you will still work

EVERY.

SINGLE.

DAY.

I worked 80+ hours a week and had no time for my children.

I kid you not, I missed an entire year of my children’s lives. I cleaned out some boxes awhile after we closed our shop and found so many school papers and order forms for school pictures I had never seen before!

I wasn’t able to take time off or go on vacation. I had to worry about bad weather and not being able to be open during winter. Winter and Summer are extremely slow times of the year for bakeries.

You also can’t just not take orders or not go to work because you are tired or don’t feel up to making cake that day – which is something you can always do in a home bakery setup!

4. I Thought I Had the Right Mind & SPIRIT for Business

Owning a business is so, SUPER stressful – especially a busy and successful business.

I was STRESSED OUT WHEN…

We were so busy that I didn’t go home on Friday nights because we had to get orders finished for Saturday morning.
We sold out of cupcakes in our case every day the first week we were open and had to disappoint customers.
Every time a customer picked up a cake because I was terrified their order may not be right or they may not like it. If they didn’t like it I was stressed that they would run straight to Facebook and let the masses know without ever telling me.
My other decorator needed to take off work frequently.
I couldn’t take even a Sunday off because I had to buy supplies for the following week from a local store.

I WAS STRESSED.

ALWAYS.

The bucket loads of STRESS eventually took a toll on not only my relationships but also my health.

Thank the great Lord above for giving me a truly amazing husband. Most relationships probably wouldn’t have made it through the effects of the stress we endured, but my husband not only hung in there, he carried me through. He is my rock and I learned to love him in a completely new and deeper way.

It took another year and a half after we closed up shop for my mind to begin to heal. My body on the other hand decided to blow its adrenals and damage not only my thyroid but it’s entire endocrine system. That is a battle I’m still fighting.

I clung to God like I had never done before.

My spirit was broken and I prayed NON STOP.

That’s not an exaggeration. If I was awake I was talking to Him. He pulled me out of the lowest place I had ever been and He brought me back to life. I got to know Him like I had never dreamed possible. I promise you, He is there for you. Don’t blame Him when you are in a bad place, turn and RUN to Him!

Realizing my mind, body and spirit couldn’t handle the stress any longer (I was truly on the verge of a nervous breakdown) and after operating a storefront for nearly 2 years, we closed up shop.

I wasn’t sure when we closed our doors if I ever wanted to bake another cake. The plan was for me to completely quit and I was going to return to the work force.

I was actually called and offered a job I hadn’t even known existed. After much prayer and lots of discussion we decided that I would decline the position and stay home. But that meant continuing my cake business. I realized in that moment I wasn’t finished.

With God’s help, I knew my mind would heal and I would be able to love my work again.

And I do.

There Was a Silver Lining Though

I can’t say that it was all bad.

I learned how to bake/ice/decorate a cake in less than a few hours as opposed to an entire day! I tweaked my recipes until they were just right. I learned how to bake a dozen cakes and only dirty a few dishes in my kitchen instead of messing my entire house!

I did gain new loyal customers.

Most importantly I learned that I would much rather work from home and pick and choose my customers.

I would much rather be home working all night instead of across town until 3:00am to only be back at 7:00am.

I learned that sometimes you already have all you need right where you’re at doing exactly what you’re doing.

So that was my experience.

Here’s My Advice

Do what God is leading you to do.

I know that it was the right thing for me to open my own retail bakery because I was obsessed with the thought. OBSESSED I tell you. I couldn’t think of anything else.

And the Lord knew that if I didn’t see all of these things on my own I would never stop thinking about it. That I would never learn the valuable lessons I learned and I’d always wonder if I could have or should have done it.

So He let me do what I thought I wanted and find out that I already had what I wanted. Let’s say, I had to learn things the hard way…

I hope that my story has helped you take a closer look at what it means to have your own retail bakery.

Tina

Thank you so much Tina for sharing your priceless story on Philosophy of Yum!

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO OPEN YOUR OWN RETAIL BAKERY?? In my next post you can discover the truth for yourself 😉

I hope Tina’s story has brought some clarity, perspective and shed a lot of light on your baking journey – as it has done for me!

If you have any questions, please comment below and either Tina or I will respond.

Chat soon

Aurelia 🙂

What info are you looking for?

Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

I help home bakers create a Home Bakery Business with consistent orders so they never have to worry about a stable income.

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

POPULAR BAKING TIPS

What info are you looking for?

POPULAR BAKING BIZ TIPS

Got a question? Something to add? Let’s chat in the comments section down below! (I respond to every single comment)

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6 Ways to Stay Inspired & Motivated in Your Home Bakery

6 Ways to Stay Inspired & Motivated in Your Home Bakery

Ever heard that quote by Confucius: “Choose a job you love, then you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”?

Well…

He was lying.

He may have been a deep genius, but he was still lying.

Truth is that no matter what work you do, there are some days when you just won’t feel like doing it.

My high school Math teacher had this hilarious line she pulled out of her archives whenever we complained about our schoolwork: “Ons is nie in die hemel nie, ons is in Afrika.” Which translates to: “We are not in heaven, we are in Africa.”

But whether you live in Africa or not, ANY work will inevitably be difficult on some days. And some days are worse than others.

There are always random days when the inspiration is low and your pillow is just SO FLUFFY.

Then there are other days where you have energy, but just feel a bit “meh” and baking doesn’t seem so great and before you know it it’s 3 hours later and you STILL haven’t started (because you just keep scrolllling and scrolllling on Instagram – like me)!

And those days a client asks you for something new and NOTHING comes to you.

If you’re like me, you may even have had weeks where you just keep steam rolling on, FORCING yourself to keep going… Please tell me I’m not alone?

So even if you work on a rose plantation, some days just aren’t that rosy.

Today’s post is all about sharing practical tips to help you on such days to get you out of Baker’s Block and restore your baking inspiration!

Warning: Some of these tips may be quite confrontational and intense (especially the first 2), but I’m sharing what has undeniably worked for me.

Freedom and Inspiration usually involves laying down our pride in one form or another.

More often than not, baking inspiration returns after applying tips number 1 & 2, but I’ve included 4 others as well for desperate times 😉

So here we go 🙂

1. Rest and W(h)ine

Because we are bakers and we overwork ourselves (more often than not), I simply HAVE to start with this tip.

When we are tired and worn out, we can’t push ourselves to keep going for too long. It’s so weird, but over time, society has started branding REST as “laziness” or “idleness”, but that is completely false.

I read this amazing article by The Guardian about rest and productivity.

Alex Soojan-Kim Pang wrote a book about the importance of rest and its power to actually BOOST productivity beyond belief! Here’s a quote from the interview that hit me straight between the eyes!

“’More hours equal more productivity.’ This is an assumption – a mistake – that we’ve been making for a very long time. And now there’s more than a century’s worth of research that OVERWORKING ourselves is bad for people, organisations and also BAD FOR PRODUCTIVITY. It’s something that can be sustained for periods of a few weeks but after that you start creating more problems than you solve.”

When we are overworked, there is zero inspiration.

Important note: Intentional rest is not watching Netflix or playing Xbox. Stay away from screens. Research has shown that physical hobbies help our minds to recover from exhaustion much faster.

Due to my physical reality, I am not able to do any exercise, but talking a leisurely walk in our neighbourhood does WONDERS for my mind and mood! Barefoot is even better!

When I take a walk, I also try to focus on what I SEE, rather than what I think.

I’ll focus on the delightfulness of the breeze, the beautiful singing of the birds, the movement of the trees in the wind, etc.

If I stay inside my head for the whole walk, I don’t feel any better by the time I get back to our apartment.

Other options can be reading a good novel, playing cards or a board game with friends/family (laughter is the best rest!), a picnic, a nap, playing with your cat/dog, drinking a glass of wine while listening to your favourite music, a walk in nature or even just in your neighbourhood…

If you have more ideas, please share in the comments below!

2. Processor (Mind) is Overloaded

I’m busy reading a psychology book called “I’m ok, you’re ok” which deals a lot with our thought patterns about ourselves and others. (I’m quite a nerd yes, but bear with me – I promise I have a point!)

Dr Harris likens our minds to computer processors. When there’s too much for our minds to process (conflict in relationships, harsh self-criticism, bitterness, unforgiveness, overwhelm of emotions) then we LITERALLY CANNOT BE CREATIVE. It is impossible, because there’s no processing power left at all.

In fact, we can actually only be efficiently creative and inspired when there’s nothing negative and overwhelming for our minds to process.

Tips to get your creative juices flowing again in your baking and restore your inspiration!

You may have noticed that I’ve been totally absent on my Instagram Account the last 2 weeks. It was not intentional at all. I just had some conflict going on with a friend.

This conflict was occupying my mind 24/7! Constant analysis – back and forth on repeat. As soon as it was sorted out, I had the ability to start experimenting with my baking again and resuming my writing and posts 🙂

Bottom line:

Sort things out with your loved ones. Forgive.
Have grace for yourself in every area of your life – let your thoughts about yourself be kind.
Journal, take a walk, talk to a friend or do whatever you need to do to PROCESS your emotions and not ignore them.
Our emotions don’t magically disappear, we need to deal with them in order to free up our minds’ processors for creative productivity.

3. Listen to Success Stories of Other Entrepreneurs

Before I dive into this tip here’s something CRUCIAL you need to know about your inspiration & motivation…

As business owners we no longer have the luxury of WAITING for inspiration to strike. It’s our responsibility to make sure we stay inspired and motivated.

In our business journeys we need to GIVE and CREATE a lot, which drains our inspiration very fast.

The longer you carry on with your Home Bakery, the more inspiration and motivation you’ll need. And if you wait for it to “come to you”, it’s like you’re waiting for a warm day in the middle of winter! It’s just NOT going to happen.

Don’t let yourself (and your business) be at the mercy of random inspiration and motivation.

Take responsibility to keep yourself inspired and motivated – EVERY WEEK!

And here’s one of the best ways:

Now, even though I’m personally not aiming to be a millionaire or have a GIANT business, there’s so much value to glean from the successful entrepreneurs who have gone before us.

The “How I Built This” Podcast has transformed my perspective of what’s POSSIBLE for unqualified entrepreneurs like you and me.

When we see what’s POSSIBLE, we start looking at our circumstances very differently.

I’ve made a habit of listening to one episode of the How I Built This podcast one specific night per week while I cook dinner. Podcasts are cool like that because you can listen to them on the go!

Even if I think “nah, I don’t need inspiration this week”, I STILL listen to an episode and afterwards I’m ALWAYS grateful I did.

So, whenever your inspiration/motivation meter is low, listen to an episode of this podcast.

Better yet, commit to listening to an episode on a specific day and time every week. This way you’ll STAY inspired and avoid hitting a “low”!

You’ll leave with gleaming eyes and a heart BURSTING with excitement and courage for your own business journey!

4. Go Eat your Favourite Dessert

Weird little fact… I hardly ever eat anything I bake. Sure, I taste the cake scraps (which is not much since I figured out how to bake perfectly level, flat, cake layers), or a bit of left over ultimate frosting. But I sell all my goods in batches so there are never extras.

And on top of that, things just taste better when someone ELSE makes them for you, am I right? 😉

When I’m in DESPERATE need of inspiration (because I’m super frugal and don’t like spending money when I can make something myself), it does wonders to go and eat one of my favourite desserts that remind me why I’m baking in the first place…

For people to experience the euphoria of sensational FLAVOUR & QUALITY.

Struggling to stay inspired and motivated in your Home Bakery Business? You're so not alone! It honestly happens to every Home Bakery owner. Here are 6 things you can do when your motivation meter is on empty... #homebakery #homebaking #bakingbusiness #cakebusiness #bakingtips

In general I’m more into simple bakes, done exceptionally well. Unless it’s a cinnamon doughnut… I’ll eat it ANY way I can get it. (Fresh and warm is obviously best, but fortunately I’m obsessed with them so even yesterday’s cold cinnamon doughnuts will still make me happy. I’m cheap like that and it’s fine by me!)

So my go-to favourites in Cape Town are Pasteis de Nata by Hoghouse Brewing Company (totally mentioning it first for a reason!!), Flourless Chocolate Cake by Fork Tapas & Pincho’s Bar, a fresh croissant by Woodstock Bakery or Rosetta Coffee Ice Cream by The Creamery.

Every once in a while we need to spoil ourselves with an amazing treat that makes us SMILE involuntarily. It tends to spark our inspiration back into flame!

5. Watch Unique Sweets

I’ve mentioned Unique Sweets a hundred times before and I’ll mention it another hundred times! You seriously cannot be an Artisan Baker without watching this show at least every 2 weeks.

There are few things that make me as excited about baking as Unique Sweets does.

Every episode inspires me so much! There are always such unique eateries on the show with the most amazing passion, ideas and creativity.

I always keep my notebook handy when I’m watching an episode because I know that I’ll be inspired with at least 10 new ideas – without a doubt!

Of course it’s also inspirational to watch bakers that are inspired themselves. It’s so contagious!

6. Go Buy Amazing Seasonal Ingredients

We all have our best-selling bakes. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, but baking the same things over and over and over again can definitely throw a wet towel on our inspiration.

I bake for 3 local coffee shops every week, so I play brownie-brownie quite a lot in my kitchen. Needless to say, it does become a bit monotonous at times.

The best antidote for this inspiration sucker is to go out and buy amazing, fresh, seasonal ingredients. Go to the grocery store; take a good look at all the seasonal fresh produce. Pick one type of vegetable/fruit and commit to baking something with it.

An even better idea is to go to a local farmer’s market (WAY more inspirational than a grocery store!) and chat with the vendor.

They’re SO passionate about their fresh produce! By the end of the conversation you’ll be excited off your rocker to bake something with the fresh blackberries you just purchased.

New, fresh ingredients bring back the wonder of baking in moments.

7. Bonus Tip! Stop & Smell the Cookies (Gratitude)

This is a tip I try to apply every single day – even when I’m not lacking inspiration.

It’s quite shocking how many days you can just carry on, on auto-pilot, without appreciating the incredible BEAUTY of BAKING. And when that happens, our joy and inspiration quickly flies out the window.

Fellow Home Bakers, let us never forget how profoundly blessed we are to be ABLE to bake.

Let’s not take it for granted; whether we bake full time, part time or just as a hobby. We are BLESSED to be able to enjoy the wonder of baking.

Whenever I forget this and start complaining about the long list of things I have to bake on a particular day, I try to intentionally focus on the beauty of baking.

Like that moment you pour the thick, gloopy, shiny brownie batter into the pan.

Or the moment that chocolate ganache comes together and you realize that there isn’t anything else this luscious on earth!!

Another favourite is the sound that baked goods make when they come out the oven.

And the aromas we get to inhale… All day… Come on… WE ARE SO BLESSED!!

Name another job that satisfies all of our 5 senses on a daily basis? We get satisfied on every level: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste.

Whenever I turn into a spoiled, ungrateful brat in my head, I just remind myself of these facts and focus on them throughout the day.

It doesn’t take long at all for the inspiration to return when I start paying attention and being grateful.

Those are my favourite tips for maintaining my Inspiration & Motivation in Home Bakery 🙂

Let me know in a comment if you have a favourite tip or any other tips that have helped to restore your baking inspiration!

Chat soon

Aurelia

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Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

I help home bakers create a Home Bakery Business with consistent orders so they never have to worry about a stable income.

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