When I left my full-time job (and full-time salary), my hope was that I could develop a more consistent salary from my small business. Up to that point, I had been selling my custom cake sprinkles and my custom cakes and I had been doing well but both had been not what I would call consistent. It was anyone’s guess as to how many orders would occur each week and, even worse, I wasn’t gaining much knowledge regarding how to market my business or what caused customers to purchase or order from me. I was still pretty clueless and what I wanted was to know with some certainty that a week from today I could count on putting X amount of money into my bank account. 

Right around this time, one of my daughters told me she thought I should take my cake to a pop-up event that was being held locally. This was definitely not my cup of tea or something I would typically do but after some discussion I decided to go for it. For that first event, I took 36 cake slices and a whole lot of samples and before long I had sold out. Let me tell you…selling out at your first event and having multiple people come up to you to tell you how good your baked item tasted is a real confidence booster! That was all it took for me to get the bug and begin attending my local farmer’s market. 

This is also when I began to earn a consistent weekly salary, a salary I could actually depend on. Taking an assertive approach to my baking business (i.e. attending a market) versus the passive approach (i.e. waiting for orders) I’d been taking was a game changer. Finally I was at a point where not only could I predict the revenue I could expect but I could even take a shot at increasing that revenue if I wanted by increasing the quantity or variety of the baked goods I was bringing. 

Don’t get me wrong…attending a weekly market is a lot of work, especially if you are attending twice per week like I was but the benefits extended even beyond money. It was like taking a crash course in marketing and consumer psychology. I was able to test out different products. I was forced to refine my time management processes. I was forced to sit down and calculate all of my costs of ingredients as well as my overhead costs and my hourly wage. Believe me…when you are preparing for a market twice per week, you aren’t about to continue taking something that is not profitable unless you have a very strong rationale. 

So if you are a baker (or a maker/creator of any type) and you need a consistent weekly salary, I highly encourage you to attend a market or pop-up. And I will continue to share all of my “work smarter, not harder” tips right here on my website to help make those market days a lot more manageable. I can guarantee you that the benefits will last long lasting and well worth the time invested.