The Cake Business Club

How many things have you decided are “just the way it is” in your cake business?

This comes up ALL the time when I'm coaching cake makers. Someone will tell me they can't charge more because of where they live, that their customers won't pay more than a certain amount, or that something simply wouldn't work for their business.

And one of my favourite questions to ask is: Who says?

Not because I think you can charge whatever you fancy, sell anything to anyone or that every idea is guaranteed to work. Sometimes there are very real reasons why something isn't right for your business.

But I want to know what we're basing that belief on.

Have you actually tried it? Do you have evidence that it won't work? Or have you assumed it won't, perhaps because of what other cake makers are doing, something somebody once told you, or simply because you've been telling yourself the same story for so long that it now feels like a fact?

Because those two things are VERY different.

I've worked with hundreds of cake designers over the years, and I will never tell you there's only one way to build a successful cake business. I've seen far too much evidence to the contrary.

But I do think we can put limits on our businesses without even realising we're doing it.

Sometimes the question isn't "Can I do this?”

It's "Who says I can't?”

So I'm curious... what's something you've decided you 'can't' do in your cake business? 👇🏻 And is it based on truth or assumption? 🤔

When something isn't working in our business, our instinct is often to ADD something.

Post more.

Learn more.

Create more.

Sell more.

Try something new.

But I've worked with hundreds of cake makers over the years, and one thing I've learnt is that two businesses can look like they have exactly the same problem and actually need completely different things.

Not getting enough enquiries?

It could be that you're not visible enough. But it could also be your messaging, your positioning, your portfolio, your website, or that you're simply not talking to the right people.

Working all the hours but not making enough money?

More orders might actually make the problem WORSE if your pricing isn't profitable in the first place.

Feeling completely overwhelmed?

Another shiny new system or app isn't necessarily the answer if your processes are the problem.

And this is where so many cake makers get stuck.

They know something isn't working, but they don't really know WHAT.

So they keep trying things.

Spending money.

Putting in more hours.

And wondering why nothing seems to change.

Before you decide you need MORE, take a proper look at the business you've already got.

Because sometimes you don't need to do more.

You need to work out what actually needs your attention.

So tell me...

👇🏻 If you could magically fix ONE thing in your cake business right now, what would it be? 🪄✨

How many times have you told yourself, “I’ll do it when…”? 👀

When I have more orders. When I’m quieter. When my portfolio is better. When I feel more confident. When I have more followers. When I have more time.

And sometimes there IS a perfectly good reason to wait.

But sometimes “not yet” is just a much more comfortable answer than doing something that feels a little bit scary.

Because what if you put your prices up and someone says no? What if you send the email and they don’t reply? What if you put yourself forward for the opportunity and you don’t get it?

But also…

What if you do?

What if they pay the new price? What if they reply and say YES? What if you get the opportunity? What if that one slightly uncomfortable decision opens the door to something you really want?

You don’t always need to wait until you feel ready.

Sometimes you need to ask yourself, "What is ACTUALLY stopping me from doing this right now?”

And if there’s a genuine reason, work out what needs to happen first.

But if the answer is basically… nothing?

Just do the bloody thing! 😂

And if you KNOW you have a habit of getting in your own way, putting things off or talking yourself out of the things you really want, you don’t have to figure it all out on your own.

That’s a huge part of what we do inside The Club. We work out what you actually want from your cake business, what needs to happen to get you there, and then I’m right there giving you the support, accountability and occasional gentle shove to help you actually DO it. 🫶🏻

The doors to The Club, my signature business coaching community for cake makers, open again later this month.

Comment CLUB and I’ll send you the link to join the waitlist. 👇🏻 Or you can add yourself to it from the link in my bio.

What if the business you’re working SO hard to build isn’t actually the business you want? 🤔

I think it’s very easy to absorb other people’s definitions of success without even realising we’re doing it.

A fully booked diary. £1,000+ cakes. £5k months. More followers. More enquiries. More, more, MORE.

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting any of those things. There’s nothing wrong with wanting more. But there’s also nothing wrong with NOT wanting more.

Maybe success for you is making fewer cakes and earning the same amount. Maybe it’s being able to say no to the orders you don’t want. Maybe it’s finishing work in time to pick your kids up from school, taking a week off without checking your emails, or simply earning enough from your cake business to give you the life you want.

There isn’t a right answer.

My mantra has always been that I work to live. I don’t live to work.

I want my business to give me freedom, flexibility and the ability to spend my time doing the things I want to do when I want to do them.

That’s MY version of success. And yours doesn’t have to look anything like mine.

So, strip away what other people tell you success looks like, what other cake makers are doing and what business coaches might tell you that you should want. (P.S. And as a coach, I will NEVER tell you what your version of success should look like. I’ll just help you build a business that gets you there.)

If nobody else could see what was happening inside your business, what would YOU actually want from it?

I’d genuinely love to hear your answer in the comments👇🏻.
Or DM me if you’d rather share it privately. 💌

Plot twist… this Reel might actually get labelled as AI because I’ve used some AI-generated images in it. 😂

But that kind of proves the point.

There’s a HUGE difference between using AI to create an image of a cake that never existed and using AI tools to edit, tidy up or remove the background from a photo of a cake you genuinely made.

But how do customers distinguish between that when the same AI label could potentially apply to both?

And I think this is where the conversation gets really interesting for cake businesses.

Because our customers need to be able to trust that what we show them is a genuine representation of what we can actually create.

For me, the question isn’t necessarily whether AI has been used.

It’s whether AI has changed the TRUTH of what the customer is seeing.

Removing a plug socket from the background?
Replacing the background completely?
Fixing a dent in your buttercream?
Adding flowers that weren’t there?
Making the cake taller?
Creating the whole cake with AI?
Where do YOU draw the line?

Because AI isn’t going anywhere, and personally I don’t think the answer is necessarily to stop using it.

But I do think we need to talk about how we use it responsibly, particularly in an industry where the cake images we share online are effectively our portfolio.

So, tell me in the comments…
When does AI become misleading for you? 👇🏻