I took this week off because of the holiday. We had a lot of family things going on and I needed the extra time to get things done for those events.

I donated a dozen cookies to a friend for her niece though. It’s time to give back.

A… very… slow… week…

But I’ve had a lot of inquiries from previous customers. They wanted to know if I’m still selling stuff.

My fault for not advertising as much. I’ve been spending the extra time on my “Big Idea.”

This week I found my funding. Or maybe I should say, I funded my project.

We were given a limit to the amount of start-up funds we could use for the $100 Challenge. The limit was $20. Can you start a business for $20? I’m going to. $20 was enough to cover the purchases of what I didn’t already have to make my first cheesecake. The order came in and the cheesecake will be made and delivered next weekend.

I also posted on Facebook what I’m trying to accomplish and already have three orders for a dozen chocolate chip cookies (each), and orders for 4 pudding cakes, both with toppings. All of the cookie and pudding cake orders were received within an hour of posting the project online.

I’ve already learned a couple of things about getting started on stuff like this.

1. Post the flavors you have available, including toppings. I forgot to post the available flavors for the chocolate chip cookies so we’ll just be using vanilla.
2. I didn’t think about the batch size when I posted that the pudding cakes were available. Instead of selling them individually, I should have sold them by the dozen. I’ve sold 4 individual cakes but a normal batch makes 12. What am I going to do with the other 8 cakes?
3. Hardly anybody knows what the pudding cakes are and I didn’t have a good picture to go with them. I think the price point shows that they’re small, but my husband pointed out that nobody really knows what they’re buying. I had to find a picture to post and post an update to the original letting everyone know what to expect.
4. I knew the cheesecakes were going to be the slow sellers. They also have the smallest margin on them and the highest price. But they’re good. I’m hoping to get a good review from my first sale to help increase sales going forward.

Week 1 was last week – I’m a little behind.

Week 1 of Binny Lane was the week I finalized the business name and what I’m going to do. Social Media is going to become my new best friend.

I will be selling homemade baked goods in North County (San Diego). We will offer cheesecake, chocolate chip cookies and pudding cakes.

I chose to do this for a few reasons.

• I’m known among my friends for making the best cheesecakes
• My husband has the best recipe for making chocolate chip cookies – they even have a secret ingredient
• Every time I’ve made the pudding cakes, I’ve gotten such good reviews – how could I not add them?

I’m actually excited to get started on it to see how well it will do!

It’s good to have a dream. It’s good to go after your dream. It’s even better when you’re willing to work hard and push yourself to attain your dream.

But don’t be a little fish with big britches.

That little fish might really want to taste the big fish. He thinks he can catch him, take a bite, fill himself and then swim away.

IF he’s successful, and that’s a BIG IF, what then? The ideas get bigger and before long he’s sunk his teeth into a Great White and can’t get them back out again. Or he does get them back out but all he really did was make the shark mad. He’ll die for sure.

Instead, that little fish should be thinking like a little fish. “Swim away!” That little fish is so focused on what’s in front of him and of getting a hold of that big fish, that he fails to see what’s coming up behind him.

If, when we’re creating our own small business (even if we have dreams of becoming a large one), we don’t think like a small business, we can really do some heavy damage.

It’s good to have dreams. All successful people have them. We need to be able to be realistic and take those dreams on, one step at a time. Someday we can be the big fish, but to think like a big fish when we’re so little will only hinder our efforts and blind us to other opportunities.