The Light at the End of the Tunnel

It's been another busy week. We've worked hard on filing our necessary paperwork, approving our final logo design (and it's super amazing, we promise!) and business cards, setting up a phone system that meets our needs, and -- oh yes -- taking orders for cake!

We're thrilled that we have already had dates booked and we're just about ready to transition from starting up a new cake business, to actually running a new cake business. We're seeing that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. One of our friends joked about there being a train at the end of that tunnel.We certainly hope not...or if so, it's the train to the fast track of success (sorry...couldn't resist!).

This is a BIG week for Plum Crazy Cake Company. We have several projects, including our petit fours for Events Divine's Open House on Thursday (our first official event); prep and delivery of our first cake order on the weekend; and our first set of cake classes on Saturday. Whew...I got tired just typing that.

Although both of us have set some pretty major guidelines to keep our family life as the priority in this venture, we realize we have a tendency to want to go bigger and better. One of our running jokes as a creative team has been that if we can make something even more awesome, thereby increasing the level of complexity and time commitment, we'll do it! 

While this satisfies that desire to push ourselves to be our creative best, it's not always the most conducive to family life. So, we're going into this business with plenty of checks and balances and have given our spouses and families the permission to rein us in if we get to crazy. Honestly, it's probably more of a when, rather than an if.

We're also starting to see how each other's past job and creative experiences are contributing nicely to the business. Launa's interest in art and design has provided a great skill set for sketching cake designs for clients and even sharing our vision for our logo with our graphic designer. As a former marketing associate at a business incubator, Heather brings some start-up business knowledge to the table. She's seen a lot of "bootstrap" techniques to get a fledgling business off of the ground.

Overall, we're feeling supercharged and ready to hit the ground running tomorrow! It's feels great to be busy doing work, rather than doing "busy work."

We'll let you know if we feel the same after the week is over....

Dreaming Big Pays Forward

So, living the dream paid forward for co-owner, Launa's husband, Jeff, this last week. He now gets to drive around the PT Cruiser he's always dreamed of owning, and Plum Crazy Cake Co. now has a color-appropriate official delivery vehicle.

Hmm...now the other co-owner, Heather, is starting to worry about what dream her husband will want fulfilled that will "benefit the business." She wouldn't be surprised if it were some sort of computer or electronic piece of equipment. A shiny purple MacBook perhaps? Oh wait...that was her dream.

Speaking of dreaming and dreaming big, it's been great to hear about how our venture is inspiring some of you to think about starting that thing you've always wanted to do. We are pretty amazed at how many of our friends' fledgling businesses actually will dovetail with ours.

There's some really great synergy going on in Fresno. As we walked around in downtown a few days ago trying to get paperwork filed and our business accounts set up, it felt like a lot of good things are happening or starting to happen. We even drove past the storefront of our new friends from Events Divine on Fulton. 

We are excited to support them in their Open House on August 5th. We'll  be bringing some fabulous petit fours to tantalize the taste buds of their supporters. This will be our very first "official" event as Plum Crazy Cake Co. and we're pretty thrilled about it!

If you're not already a "fan" of Events Divine, head over and "like" their page on Facebook.

Adventures in Cake

So here we are...only days into our new venture, Plum Crazy Cake Co., and we're going a little (ironically) plum crazy!


It took us a good two weeks to decide on our business name. And now that we've done that, there is a vast array of paperwork that must be filled out, filed and even published in a local newspaper (and who even reads those things anymore?) There's even more mind-numbing things to consider, such as seller's permits, state and federal taxes, health codes and more. But, we're determined to do this business up right from the start.

A professional logo design is on the way. Contracts and intake forms are being created. Hair is being pulled out. Coffee is being consumed late at night and early in the morning (and mostly both). But a dream is becoming a reality...and that's exciting.

Even more exciting is that we have booked our first cake decorating class and have orders enough to keep us busy in August and September.

Pretty good for a fledgling business, if we do say so ourselves!

Stay tuned as the great cake adventure continues...