My independent project is definitely harder than what I had entailed it to be. I see my business going down such different paths that it’s difficult for me to go down one path without getting driven into another. It’s difficult for me to create structure from a project that had such little structure to begin with, but it's not impossible. And the best way to learn is to challenge yourself, to push yourself to do things are difficult and at times, frustrating.
Today, I started the day off by receiving a mail from a small café called Casa Gourmet. I had contacted them yesterday to see if they were willing to sell my cupcakes in their store. They answered back saying that they produced all of their products themselves and weren’t interested at the moment.
To be honest, when I received their mail, I felt like I was an author receiving a rejection letter from an editor, and I got to understand, that for a while, rejection was going to become my best friend. I am most likely going to receive 10, 20, 30—who knows how many rejections—before finding that 1 store willing to sell my cupcakes. But like an author, I can’t give up after the first or the thirtieth rejection.
So what did I do after receiving the letter from Casa Gourmet? I began looking for other café’s/restaurants I admired: La Folie, la Bonbonierre, Los Tres Chanchitos, etc. I began by contacting Los Tres Chanchitos and was told that if I wanted to present my idea to the owner, I had to go to the store myself and speak with him. So as usual, my impulsiveness took over and I wanted to go immediately, but Mr. Topf held me back, and trust me, I’m glad he did.
He explained to me the importance of presenting an idea professionally if I wanted people, especially storeowners, to take a 16-year-old girl seriously. To do this, he suggested making a business plan before contacting the stores, so that’s exactly what I did. Or at least began to do before I drifted off to my next idea, once again.
After thirty minutes of having begun the business plan, I asked myself: why am I contacting stores that are going to expect me to consistently produce at large quantities when I don’t even have a force of supply that can sustain my force of demand?
What I should be doing right now is training an employee to bake the cupcakes for me, not trying to expand a product that can't even handle the expansion at the moment.
So I finished the day off by getting everything prepared for Wednesday’s session of teaching Francisca how to bake. This meant finalizing the price I was going to pay her, determining the best days to have her work for me, making a list of the tasks she will be expected to do, and basically finding the best way to present the idea to her!
Although my brain jumped from place to place today, I’ve finally prioritized what I need to do and I have a plan of how I’m going to do it. I'm not going to lie, today was definitely frustrating, but as Mr. Topf told me, “if I’m doing something I deeply believe in, then every step along the way is an exciting challenge, not a frustrating obstacle. I have a great product, a compelling story, and care for my customers.” Now, it’s just a matter of taking those aspects and using them to shape my business into a successful one.
Today, I started the day off by receiving a mail from a small café called Casa Gourmet. I had contacted them yesterday to see if they were willing to sell my cupcakes in their store. They answered back saying that they produced all of their products themselves and weren’t interested at the moment.
To be honest, when I received their mail, I felt like I was an author receiving a rejection letter from an editor, and I got to understand, that for a while, rejection was going to become my best friend. I am most likely going to receive 10, 20, 30—who knows how many rejections—before finding that 1 store willing to sell my cupcakes. But like an author, I can’t give up after the first or the thirtieth rejection.
So what did I do after receiving the letter from Casa Gourmet? I began looking for other café’s/restaurants I admired: La Folie, la Bonbonierre, Los Tres Chanchitos, etc. I began by contacting Los Tres Chanchitos and was told that if I wanted to present my idea to the owner, I had to go to the store myself and speak with him. So as usual, my impulsiveness took over and I wanted to go immediately, but Mr. Topf held me back, and trust me, I’m glad he did.
He explained to me the importance of presenting an idea professionally if I wanted people, especially storeowners, to take a 16-year-old girl seriously. To do this, he suggested making a business plan before contacting the stores, so that’s exactly what I did. Or at least began to do before I drifted off to my next idea, once again.
After thirty minutes of having begun the business plan, I asked myself: why am I contacting stores that are going to expect me to consistently produce at large quantities when I don’t even have a force of supply that can sustain my force of demand?
What I should be doing right now is training an employee to bake the cupcakes for me, not trying to expand a product that can't even handle the expansion at the moment.
So I finished the day off by getting everything prepared for Wednesday’s session of teaching Francisca how to bake. This meant finalizing the price I was going to pay her, determining the best days to have her work for me, making a list of the tasks she will be expected to do, and basically finding the best way to present the idea to her!
Although my brain jumped from place to place today, I’ve finally prioritized what I need to do and I have a plan of how I’m going to do it. I'm not going to lie, today was definitely frustrating, but as Mr. Topf told me, “if I’m doing something I deeply believe in, then every step along the way is an exciting challenge, not a frustrating obstacle. I have a great product, a compelling story, and care for my customers.” Now, it’s just a matter of taking those aspects and using them to shape my business into a successful one.