A year later, we decided to revisit the idea of a look back, and to see what funny stories, lessons, and growing we did in 2013. So, with no further ado...
13 Things We Learned in 2013
- Cell phone calendars are the best invention in the world. Seriously, it's amazing having your entire life organized in your hand wherever you go. We've been blessed this year to have more and more business, and the only way to keep track of all the delivery dates and orders is with out cell phone. No matter where we are, we can keep track of our business through our phone, not only with our phone planner, but with constant email contact and website communications. How did bakeries exist before cell phones?
- Wine makes even the longest days better. Seriously, it does. We work a full-time job and bake on the side. Sometimes we're up until midnight, 1am baking, and while we love it, it does sometimes wear on us. That's where a good glass of wine, a Netflix marathon, and a spatula fit together perfectly. The combination has gotten us through many a long night of baking when all we want to do is curl up in bed and sleep.
- Gluten-free is actually really tasty. At least our gluten-free products are (not to brag or anything). If you missed our post earlier this year, we're not ones to really jump on the gf fad, but we feel we've really perfected the art of making gf cupcakes. And it's not just us...we had 6 people (friends and strangers) who have gluten allergies test out an assortment of our gf products. The results were resoundingly positive. For once, our tinkering in the kitchens paid off big time!
- Cookie cakes were quite the fad this year. Quite the fad. We made a TON of cookie cakes this year, from simple birthday wishes to complex Minecraft ones. Cookie cakes are fun and easy for us to make, so we had no problem whipping up a dozen or so. We were just surprised that so many orders for them came in throughout the year.
- Business cards end up in amazing places. We had an email earlier this year from a customer we'd never met looking to order some baked goods from us. They had received one of our business from a friend who had been at a party that we had baked for. Sometimes we feel like we could wallpaper our home with the business cards we have stashed around, but in one case, it worked out for the best.
- Having a good baking playlist is essential. We have awful tastes in music (we've been told this by many a soul who has been trapped in the car with us) We like 90s pop, Bruce Springsteen, and Ke$ha. That's not a typo...that's the music we listen to. Judge if you want, but we can't help it. we love us some Spice Girls and Hanson and Third Eye Blind. It regularly plays in our kitchen. Sing-a-longs are not mandatory, but definitely encouraged. And if you know all the dance moves to Nsync's Bye Bye Bye, well...you get to enter our coveted Hall of Fame.
- Creative baking is our favorite kind of baking. We love baking in general...but we really come alive when we are given the opportunity to make some creative cakes and cupcakes. Take a look at some of these creations we've made in the past year:
We can't say they've been easy, but the joy we get when they're complete...and the joy our customers get when the products are in their hands, well...that's what we live for. We hope that 2014 gives us just as many opportunities to be creative.
- Baking has its ups and downs. Sometimes we have so much business we don't know how we have time to sleep. Sometimes we are so bored we start re-watching Lost (bad choice). It's frustrating during those times when we don't have business, but as we've learned this year it comes in waves. We have to be thankful for the business when we have it, and thankful for the down time when we don't. After all, Lost is better the second time around...right...??
- Cheesecakes are fun! We are always looking to expand our baking repertoire, and this year we delved into the cheesecake business. Our first cheesecake was quite the doozy: a bacon toffee cheesecake for a friend's 40th birthday. It's a lot of prep work, and a lot of stars aligning quite perfectly, but what can we say, they're pretty fun to make. Oh, and they taste amazing! :-)
- What is better than creative decorating? Creative flavoring. We made a bunch of fun flavors this year, and we love experimenting with tastes until they turn out quite right. Our favorite creation this year had to be a chocolate whisky cupcake we made for a birthday celebration. I mean, chocolate and whisky....is there anything better than those two things in this life? Plus, when all was said and done we were happy with how they looked too for delivery.
- Taking time to recharge is essential. In August we went on what we call a North East World Tour. In the course of 3 weeks we visited Ohio, Philadelphia, and New Jersey for vacations, family catch ups, and birthday celebrations. We didn't think about baking for 3 weeks, and it was a wonderful time to recharge. If you do something you love, eventually even that will burn you out. Closing down shop for a few weeks was a breath of fresh air, and it let us return to the kitchen rejuvenated and excited to start up again.
- Taste testers are everywhere. It's a hard lesson for us to learn...we love to bake, and we love to share, but at the end of the day if we're not making money we're not operating a business. Sometimes it's hard to turn people away when they're asking for donations. But it's a lesson we had stick to this year, and our bank account is very thankful for it.
- Blogging helps you get to know us. Of all the things we did this year, we've received more positive feedback from these silly blog posts than just about anything else. Apparently you guys like to read about our ridiculous baking world. And we like to tell you about it. It's a great give-and-take. Honestly, this year if we learned anything from this business, it's that you guys like to hear about how it's run from the inside. Thousands of you checked out our blog for updates, and got to see the fun side of starting your own business.
As another year ends, we are thankful for every one of you who has supported our business through the year, through business, support, advice, or free supplies (we always take free supplies). As business continues to grow, we could not imagine being where we are today without any or all of you.
From our kitchen to yours, happy New Year! May your 2014 be as bright as ours is shaping up to be!
