After week one, back on June 14, I wasn't really sure how I was going to manage keeping up with the pace. I did really well that first week, selling about 150 packs of various cookies, muffins, brownies, apple happyjacks, and a few pies. I worked so hard that weekend, and it took forever to bake everything. Eight hour days at least both Saturday and Sunday, plus I had done some baking the Thursday before. It was exhausting. I was a little fearful of what I had gotten myself into.
The next week came, and I made the same amount of stuff, except this time, I only sold about half. Ok, lesson learned. Week one sales are going to be super high, so plan subsequent weeks accordingly. So now, after quite a few weeks of experience, I think I've finally narrowed my margin between what I take to the market and how much I sell. I'm usually only off by a few packs of cookies. That's not too bad.
The really good thing, though, is that this pace is very manageable for me. I usually bake on Thursdays or Friday evenings, and then Saturday and Sunday mornings. I don't mind this at all, and in fact, the time passes very quickly. I think that's a sign of something... that I love what I do, perhaps. But you already know that if you read last week's post. :)
Anyway, I'm just having a blast! My customers were great again today. I had a woman mention that she had read my blog last night, and after trying some cookies last week, had to come back to support me. So thank you for that! It made my day that you took time out of your life to read what I've been up to. Margot and Tony were back, as were the Fiore's, along with some friends from church, Kelly and Kim. A friend of my mom's stopped by and bought an apple pie—thanks Dee! Not to mention the brother and two sisters that stop by my table every week... this week they bought some brownies, a pie, and some snickerdoodle blondies. My best sale of the day went to a woman who bought 8 packs of cookies! And Bill, who's following me on Twitter, stopped by and bought a few packs of cookies again, but this time had a friend with him that took a few photos at my table. Wonder what that was for?
I will be grateful once this heat dissipates. Every Monday has been super hot; so hot that some of my treats get a bit melty. I keep the ones that are susceptible to melting in a cooler, but I need to leave a few out to entice customers, but even those get melty. They still taste fantastic, but they look gooey and sticky. So I'm looking forward to some September days where it won't be so hot. I'm not sure I'll be so lucky, but maybe the weatherman will do me a favor.
On an unrelated note, I had a few more people ask me today when I'm going to open a store front. I wish I knew the answer to this. It's already clear that some of my customers would still support me in the off season in some way, perhaps with Christmas cookie orders and such (although I might need to get a big freezer if I decide to do that). But now is the time to start to figure it all out. It will be October before you know it, and I'll be going through farmer's market withdrawal. I promise by September, I will have a plan.
Well, it's late, and I'm tired. It's been a long day. I arrived at work at 7:30 am today, then went straight to the market at 2:00 pm, and didn't get home from there until 7:30 pm. And I've been non-stop at home, too. There's just too much to do, always, and too little time to do it in. But I will persevere. I always do. Nothing worth having in life comes easy.
Until next week...
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