"What's going to happen when an unexpected problem occurs whenever your trying to create your business? One of two things: your either gonna push through or your going to stop and fail. And how you push through is easy. You have to know the why. You have to know why your doing it in the first place. How it benefits you will get you to a certain point, but how it benefits others is what will push you way past the obstacles and allow you to be successful."
In less than 3 minutes, the teacher of an online course I am taking--"Launch A No Fail Business Model"-- made me realize something I wasn't able to realize after a year and a half of owning a business: my true why of starting a cupcake business.
It was simple. He asked me: Why do you do it?
I do it because I want to bring a dessert to Lima that is different to what Peruvians are used to eating. A dessert that is moist, light, and fluffy, a dessert who's frosting is not the first thing you take off; an American style dessert.
On the other hand, I do it because I love watching people's reaction as they bite into my mom's famous pecan squares on Christmas Eve. I love that my friends love the desserts so much that they ask me to give it to them as a birthday present.
And as cheesy as it may sound, I love that people love what I bake.
I love the experience of being an entrepreneur.
I remember watching my dad start up his own restaurant and thinking to myself that one day I was going to do the same. As I grew older, this small dream developed into an idea. I decided to combine my love for baking and my desire to bring an American dessert to Lima to create my own cupcake business.
It was simple. He asked me: Why do you do it?
I do it because I want to bring a dessert to Lima that is different to what Peruvians are used to eating. A dessert that is moist, light, and fluffy, a dessert who's frosting is not the first thing you take off; an American style dessert.
On the other hand, I do it because I love watching people's reaction as they bite into my mom's famous pecan squares on Christmas Eve. I love that my friends love the desserts so much that they ask me to give it to them as a birthday present.
And as cheesy as it may sound, I love that people love what I bake.
I love the experience of being an entrepreneur.
I remember watching my dad start up his own restaurant and thinking to myself that one day I was going to do the same. As I grew older, this small dream developed into an idea. I decided to combine my love for baking and my desire to bring an American dessert to Lima to create my own cupcake business.
When I was done with day one of the online course, I moved on to the next task of my plan: finding the price of production for each recipe. But to do this, I had to go to Macro to find the price of each ingredient for each recipe. Everyone's always told me that buying at wholesale is the answer for business owners seeking to lower their cost of production.
I thought the same until today.
I thought the same until today.
As I was in Macro, I realized that for a small business like mine, ingredients that tend to be more expensive such as cream cheese, butter, and vegetable oil, are just as expensive in Macro as they are in Wong. The only products that buying at wholesale saves money on are ingredients such as flour, Oreos, and sugar. But even so, the difference is so minimal that the cost of transportation to and back from Macro ends up being larger than the amount of money saved on the ingredients. Plus, I don't currently count with enough of a demand to be buying ingredients at such large quantities. One of my business's strengths is the quality and freshness of my product, and I'm afraid that buying at wholesale may risk me loosing the freshness and quality. So you could argue that going to Macro was a complete waste of time. For me, however, it was a learning experience. Now I know that although buying at wholesale is convenient for large business's, for a small business like mine, buying at Wong is just as efficient. After getting the exact prices of each ingredient and stocking up on materials at Wong, I went home, cleaned out my cupcake cabinet, and organized it completely. I labeled each product, together with it's expiration date, and my oh my did it make a difference! |
BEFORE AFTER
Something that scares me about my independent projects is the fact that it is so independent. It is completely up to me to work, no one will be behind me telling me what to do or how to do it. If I decide to slack off, it won't be anyone's responsibility but my owns.
But if you think about it, this is exactly what the real world is like. Once one leaves high school and college, there is no one telling you what to do with your life. It is your job to figure out what to do and how to do it. So the fact that I am able to practice "figuring my life out" and learning how to manage myself to accomplish something that I so badly want to accomplish is of huge value to me.
But if you think about it, this is exactly what the real world is like. Once one leaves high school and college, there is no one telling you what to do with your life. It is your job to figure out what to do and how to do it. So the fact that I am able to practice "figuring my life out" and learning how to manage myself to accomplish something that I so badly want to accomplish is of huge value to me.