Sweet World of Joan

Business was brisk last valentine, almost all my products were sold out and my customers were very happy. They looked for me after valentines and said his wife was very happy about the chocolate bouquet that he gave her. An organization that I supplied chocolates said that they earned a lot that valentine. I actually had doubts that I will have a successful season this valentine. Everything was quite a week before heart’s day, no one was buying, and even my “sukis” were not yet contacting me. Then, two days before valentine everything heated up, inquiries and order came flooding in. And deliveries were made from sun up till 10pm at night. I barely slept that week, averaging only 2 hours of sleep a day, I still attended my classes, which was amazing since I also have a valentine booth at Informatics Cainta. Informatics Cainta celebrated their college week then that is why I had the opportunity to participate. In reflection, for an entrepreneur like me having a successful valentine seaso...

I had my hobby turned business since 2000, over the years I expanded my product line and have busy seasons (Christmas and Valentines) and loyal customers. Having a child in 2003 did not change that; I just gained a little assistant. I had Lorenzo with me while making my orders, when he was still small he was in the kitchen with me in his crib(he even manages to get a bite or two of chocolates when I was not looking). There was a time that I had to let him sleep first before I can work for he insists on tasting every product I am making. I never intentionally “taught” or “trained” him to do what I do. Maybe it was the environment he grown up in. Ever since I can remember he would always want to help me. That is why I named my online store after him: http://www.mylittlebaker.com . My family is amazed on how adept he is in handling my equipments and he is familiar with the ingredients that I use. Last Christmas he volunteered to prepare the fruitcake boxes that I use for packaging. This V...

I read an article from a business section of one of the leading broadsheets a few days ago and one night my husband and I got to talk about it. It was about creating an awareness or buzz about your product/brand and in doing so you can create a demand for your product. We talked about how do we apply that to my current business considering also the changes I plan to make for my business. There were many things I am considering right now, making my made-to-order business to include catering. The article gave examples about some companies in the country getting services of PR agency to create the “buzz” about their products. It tells the story how a PR agency transforms a juice drink to be synonymous to a certain brand. It also shared some tips that PR Agency in the Philippines do to make sure their client’s Ads a success. Lessons I learned from this article are; Ads need not be expensive to guarantee success of the product, Ads must be noticed by the right consumer that are willing to ...

This year is a challenging year for me; I have big responsibilities to shoulder and crucial decisions to make. I got a little depressed when 2008 started there are so many things I want to achieve this year but I realized that I have to sacrifice some things to achieve them. So for these past two weeks I started soul searching and prayed to the Lord to always guide me My mother is retiring this year and as a loving daughter I am taking full responsibility in taking good care of them. Actually one of the reasons why I ventured into business is to have an opportunity have a business partnership with my mother, she is a great cook. Working after retirement will be beneficial financially and physically. My mother is a workaholic; she even goes to the office even when she’s on leave. That is why I am considering on having a physical store wherein she can supervise during the day at her own pace. I even have a line up of would be salespersons on standby. I am also planning to move to a new h...

The Christmas season is the peak season for my home based business and it keeps me "very- busy-that-there-is-not-much-sleeping-anymore" kind of busy but what I realized is that in making your business grow, you have to grow with it too. I started with just making chocolate lollipops seven years ago to having a whole product line that can hardly fit a short bond paper. Things can get complicated really quickly especially when you have deliveries scheduled. With all of this happening I have to develop business management skills fast. Supplier sourcing alone takes a lot of time and money. Looking for low price cost on my supplies like nuts, baking supplies and chocolates is done in October. Encountering out-of-stock supplies at this stage is nerve racking. Even remembering where to buy flour that cost the lowest can sometimes be a dilemma specially if that information is not readily available or I can’t remember where I bought it. I have three stores where I buy my supplies and ...

Just got a letter from the credit card company today, it said “Being a valued credit card holder we have increased your total credit line by Php 50,000.00”. I said to myself “Wow! As if I’ll use my credit card to spend that big an amount. I’m not that suicidal” When my husband came home from work, I greeted him with “Love, we can readily buy a car now”. He asked “How’s that?” I replied with, “We can use our credit cards for all three on them now has 6-digits limits.” Hahaha. I told him that as a joke, for it amuses me how much these credit card companies tries to please you so you can spend more. Having credit cards today is common and at times necessary. I know many may say you can live without credit cards and your life is richer. I know that maybe I can have much more money saved if I don’t have them but as a consumer I availed them because of it gives me convenience and at times security. First of all my husband occasionally goes abroad and before we had credit cards it was hard fo...

I have been teaching in college for nine years now, these past few weeks I am faced with one of the hardest decisions I have ever made, to stop teaching so I can dedicate my time to my growing hobby turned business and at the same time be at home more for my son. It’s really been a soul searching journey for me; I laid down all my cards at the table so to speak and analyze every reason why I want to teach and why I want to work from home. My motivations when I chose a career in the academe are the flexible hours and I wanted to take up my master’s degree then. Another reason is that I am a people person, I love to interact with people and the great way to do that is by teaching. I was a programmer before but after a few months with only a few people to talk to and mostly the computer as a companion I became really depressed, it was a really demanding job and I realized I crave for people interaction. Those were my reasons nine years ago, and at present it seems I have accomplished wha...

One of our dreams is to have our own house, and were on the planning stages on when, where and what do we need to have one. Owning a house or pursuing a business is on my mind nowadays, I have to decide which one would have to be first, for if we acquire a house first most of our financial resources would be pooled there and it would take years to pay off a housing loan and there might not be enough money left to start a business. While if we put our financial resources to support/put up a business, that business might grow and then we can have enough savings to buy the house we really wanted someday. It might take a few years but at least I would have an inspiration to really make the business a success. As of today we don’t really have the money to purchase a house in full and can only pay the down payment, and that’s for a house that is not even our dream house for houses on sale today are really so expensive. I am also checking very carefully on mortgage loans and mortgage loan pro...

Having a business seems one of those things that seems I can’t live without in my life, since I was in elementary I usually find myself selling something, on school days I sell sandwiches to my classmates because they seem to love the sandwiches prepared by my mother, I even sell them made-to-order. I always have these 20 to 30 sandwiches to sell at school. On summer breaks I put a table in front of our gate and sell chicharon with vinegar to my neighbors or anything that they might buy. I did not do it for the money but for the joy of selling something. It did not even came to my mind to pursue a course on business in college because I fell in love with computers in high school but after graduating a degree in computer engineering and pursuing a career as a programmer, the business bug came again and came in the form of an IT consulting venture which did not succeed maybe because we were all young and having big money coming in, we were unprepared on how to handle it. The good thing t...

As many of you know I have turned my chocolates and baking hobby into an online business. I started small, selling my existing products and just limiting serving customers the traditional way, like transacting thru COD (cash on delivery). My business is a seasonal business but since going online I discovered that I can develop products that can sell the whole year round. I am currently developing them. As for the business side of mylittlebaker.com, I am currently researching elements that I think my business needs especially now that I plan to have a wide range of products this coming Christmas plus considering offering it nationwide. I have identified those key elements to make my online business succeed. They are: a great website, a marketing strategy, an electronic payment facility and logistics or delivery facility Making great website starts with what do you want your customers to know about you, your company and your products. It must answer the questions on how your customer can...