Blarg....
So, I don't post here much anymore. It seems that much of my posts here tend to be of the "shit sucks" nature... but oh well. It's what I do when I feel like things just aren't going my way. When I feel discouraged it just seems easier to write about stuff than it does to do anything else. Plus, I'm sure everyone around me doesn't want to deal with my "trying to stay strong" crap attitude. At least here readers have a choice to read or not. Eh...
So anyway...
Am I the only one that feels like I keep taking two steps forward and one step back? Got an email a few weeks back from an old classmate of mine. She liked my diaper cake business page, The Pretty Little Pixie, on Facebook and messaged me wanting me to do a diaper cake for one of her friend's baby showers. I told her it wouldn't be a problem and to just get me the info when she had it so I could give her a quote. She messaged me again later saying that they were looking to do a "mustache bash" themed cake. Seeing as how that is a pretty specific theme I knew I could charge slightly more than my basic cakes. She agrees to the price and we have things in motion. Then, very soon after that, I get an email from someone else inquiring about an Air Jordan Diaper Cake I created a while back for a friend of mine. This person wanted me to create one just like it for her. Again, this cake was a very specific theme and the authentic Nike Jordan baby items for the cake are not exactly cheap to get. So I priced the cake accordingly. She seemed all good and ready to finalize the order but then never responded to my email to confirm. So I sent her another email to finalize the order so I could send her an invoice and get a response back saying it was WAY out of her price range and that she would not like to move forward with the order.
I was getting all excited about the prospect of starting the new year with some good orders in place and ready to start on a positive note. And then shit like this happens and it just makes me feel so discouraged. I know crap like this is bound to happen sometimes. But every damn order?! Every custom order is done on the spot. Unless it's a basic boy/girl theme or something I know it generic enough to sell, I make every cake custom to order. It's not cheap to make and I price every cake very reasonably compared to comparable cakes on the market. I don't understand why it's so hard to see that. I answer all emails and messages in a very timely manner and give all potential clients all the information up front so there are no surprises. I just don't get it. I really thought that this business would be so much further along by now than it is.
I don't want to be a debbie downer or anything but it just gets to be too much. When do you just throw your hands up and say, "I tried. It didn't work out. Time to move on"? I don't want to move on. I put my heart into this business. I stepped out of my comforte zone with the intent of growing as a person and contributing to my family. I did this with a sincere hope to make this a flourishing small business. Every step I've taken has fallen short. Don't know what else to do. Feeling rather blargy and generally blah about it all.