Fears and anxieties about the future…

Happy Friday lovelies!

It’s been a long minute since I did a blog. Life has been crazy and I’ve not had time to pick my nose let along sit and write a blog post!

I’m sure most of you are well aware by now but since June I have been working a few night shifts a week at the Homeless Charity I worked at before lockdown. There are a few reasons why I decided to go back and do these shifts, I’ll give a quick run down of them for you:

💕 Loneliness - I absolutely love being my own boss, working from home, managing my own schedule but Jesus it can be a very lonely place to work if the only person you see each week is the Postie! I’m a social being and as much as I don’t suffer fools and people can get on my tits, I love chatting, I love meeting new people and I love a good old gossip like the next girl bur unfortunately when you are a sole trader working on your own in your home kitchen, life can get really lonely.

💕 Extra dosh - there are plans that I had for the business that required a significant amount of extra cash and I have never had a loan for this business and I am trying really hard to not have to get a loan to develop it so I thought that the extra income would be a good way to start saving.

💕 Quiet periods - when I first decided to go back and do these shifts, the business was struggling. I was struggling. Orders had slowed down, I wasn’t earning what I needed and I was trying to decide what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be in life and I thought that this would help me to make that decision.

Fast forward four months or so and business is booming the night shifts are coming to an end and I’m absolutely loving the direction the cakes are going but…

…we’ve just had our new fuel bill and it is extortionate. As in so extortionate it’s almost unaffordable.

Prior to this new information my plan was to go on holiday in October and on our return drop down to one or two night shifts a week and up the baking to four or five days a week as opposed to the two that I have been doing currently. However, this new fuel bill is based on my ovens being on for 1.5 days a week so when I increase this to 5 days a week our bill is going to more than double and I just don’t know how I am going to be able to earn enough money to cover this cost. Even if I increased the prices of my bakes I just don’t think it is going to be possible to make enough money to cover it plus earn a living.

So I have had to think long and hard about my next steps. I am utterly torn and exhausted and still don’t really know what I am going to do but I have got a few options and I’d love to know your thoughts because as always, I’m an open book and love to share everything with you lot as it is you guys that I do all this for.

💕 Option 1:

Increase the baking to 5 days a week and increase my prices by about 85p an item.

Pros: I’m still self employed, I love baking, I’m home all day

Cons: fuel price increase means my profits are still down, loneliness, possibility of losing customers due to price increase

💕 Option 2:

Find another night shift role and work 2 nights a week and do three days of baking and increase my prices by about 85p an item

Pros: I’m still self employed, I love baking, I’m home all day, additional income from night shifts levels out the money lost from fuel increase

Cons: exhaustion from working nights and baking 12hr days, possibility of losing customers due to price increase

💕 Option 3:

Quit the cakes completely and get a full time job meaning I have regular guaranteed income

Pros: regular money coming in, fuel bill will drop, more time to myself as will be working less hours

Cons: no longer self employed, not baking, will have lost everything I have worked for

💕 Option 4:

I get a part time job working 4 days and baking 1 day a week. I will be able to do collections or Deliveroo on a Friday evening after work and the occasional Pop-up or market on a weekend.

Pros: still baking, regular money coming in, fuel bill will drop, more time for myself

Cons: not able to bake as many items as I currently do, no longer self employed, will have to get a dog walker, might lose customers due to less availability

My brain is totally and utterly fried from running through all of the above options all day and all night for the last three weeks. I have swung from quitting completely and going to work in Tesco, to baking five days and week and hoping for the best. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I’d made a final decision to only break down and change my mind totally ten minutes later.

I am so scared for the future, not only the future of Sass Bakes but the future for everyone. I knew this price rise was coming but (perhaps naively) I didn’t think it was going to be as bad as it is. I just thought it would be something we would be able to ride out but now I know that’s not going to be the case and I need to make a decision and soon.

I’d love to hear your thoughts lovelies. Please help me to make my mind up. Any and all comments are welcome and I’d love to hear from any other small businesses that are going through the same thought processes.

Love you all!

Sass 💕