This month I have been in business 10 years. Its hard to believe.
When I started I had the idea of incorporating my art with cakes for dogs. There were and are many companies selling cakes but I had a few basic ideas for my dog cakes.
They had to be made fresh from scratch and sugar free,
and with no money to open a dog bakery, I had to ship them through the mail.
I started my research on dog friendly recipes and wanted to know who my competition was. It took a few months....I also needed to learn how to bake...that took a little longer ;P
If I can do this right and make enough to pay my bills I can quit my server job and make dog cakes for the rest of my life!! That would be awesome.
So I went every Sunday for about 6 weeks to a flea market in the city. I rented a table for $3 and a chair for $1 and sat there with my 3 dog cake dummy samples, some business cards and waited for the crowd to bombard me with questions and pre orders!
THAT. DID. NOT. HAPPEN.
What happen was almost nothing until one day...a woman asked a few questions, and like a kid emptying the contents of his pockets, there were different denominations of wrinkled paper money and coins. It added up to $28.00. She said, can you deliver Monday, its my dogs birthday? I live one block over? OF COURSE!
Not sure how, but I packed up fast and starting working on my first dog cake order. it was exciting. I never forgot my first order.
These are two of the dog cake dummy samples I brought to the flea market. I never shared these before for obvious reasons. lol
Life is about experience and these cakes took me to where I am today...10 years later.
The first year I made $700....thank God I was still waiting on tables :) I love the process, challenge and reward of making someone's day because they wanted to celebrate their dogs birthday. Happy Birthday Doggies! WOOF!