Today I got a phone call from a good friend from church, I taught her kids piano until their schedule got too busy. She was at the Seniors Party last night and saw the cake I did. Tasted it too. She said her kids aren't cake people, but they went back for seconds. She is throwing a party for her daughter with family and friends at the end of the month and she said, "Why throw away money on a commissary cake my family won't even eat?" So she asked if I would do a cake for her. Awesome! Personalized grad on the cake, funfetti border... sounds like fun! I told her it would be about $20 for a 9x13. It's a pretty basic cake, but I need to get comfortable charging what I am worth. Supplies will be about $8, so $12 for my time? It'll take about 1 1/2 hours to whip it out. A little cheap perhaps, but more than I have charged before. I know, I know, I should charge more. But this is a basic cake, a little writing, a basic picture drawn out with a little detail: eye color, hair style, a diploma. Easy stuff for me.
What I should do it add up the supplies and see what they run, then settle on an hourly wage for my time and approximate how long it will take. But do I charge for the time it takes to do all the prep work? Like preparing the cake board, the frosting, making colors, filling bags. I don't know. Any advice would be appreciated. I need the guts to charge what I'm worth, but how to figure out what that is? I don't know.
4 comments:
I don't really have any great ideas or suggestions for you, as I don't know much about the cake decorating business. Maybe you could look up other cake decorators online to see what they charge for their cakes. I bet they charge much more - you would feel better about raising your prices if necessary, while knowing you still charge less than other decorators out there. And know that I think you do a great job and are absolutely worth it!
I would definitely check into some other prices of businesses, and maybe charge just under them since you ARE on your own...
How exciting for another order!! Sounds like the heavenly frosting might have done the trick!! :)
Congrats on the job! That's exciting. I agree with Stephanie and Rachel. And if you do it the way you talked about, I would DEFINITELY charge for prep time as well. It is time consuming and you still have cleanup after the fact. Good luck.
I've got nothing really to add, but I'm glad you're stepping it up and getting what you're worth...or even just more than you were. And I'm glad you're getting into it, really, again!
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