“To my barking dogs!”
A TOAST TO MY DOGS
“To my barking dogs! Basil, Cynnamon, Ginger, Poppy, and Cayenne, I toast these pupcakes to you. Thank you for holding down my pupcakery while my paw was healing. I couldn’t have done it without y’all.”
After two weeks of healing and another four weeks of physical therapy, I finally felt like I was getting into my rhythm again. Do you know how hard it was for me to stay still for those few weeks? Plus, I had to cancel our investment club meeting. So, I just settled on the thought that dropping that bag of flour on my paw was to force me to “sit my tail down somewhere.”
For the first time in months, I had no choice but to be completely still. Ok. Maybe not completely. I still checked my emails and walked Vanilla through how to fix those Blueberry Oatmeal Muffin Pupcakes she burned over the phone. I also walked Cayenne how to rest the register. But the time off helped me realize one thing.
I was barking tired.
TIME FOR A SHORT-TERM PIVOT
One thing about dog adulting, these bills always come on time. So, I decided to keep my job and work enough hours to cover my health benefits and take care of my living expenses. The steady income also helped me fund those startup costs for Pupcake Sugar.
I knew when I decided to do this that it wasn’t going to be easy. I basically signed myself up to be barking tired. At least for the short-term. But my own pupcakery was my dream and I was determined to make it work.
Don’t get me wrong. I love what I do. I spent nights praying for this pupcakery and days working out this shift at my kitchen table. It was paying off too. Pupcake Sugar was starting to build some buzz. But I needed to barking pivot or I was going to burn myself out.
So, as crazy as it sounds, I decided to extend my pupcakery hours.
YAPPING IT OVER
“You’ve gotta be kidding.” Ginger barked. “How are you going to extend your hours for Pupcake Sugar? You’re already working so much now.”
And you know what? Ginger was right. However, if I was going to turn my pupcakery into my full-time career, I was going to have to start planning for the long-term. It was going to also mean figuring out how to keep myself from burning myself out. I’m not trying to drop another bag of flour on my paw again.
So, I spent another week sitting at my kitchen table mapping out a plan. I figured tonight’s investment club meeting was a great chance to get some feedback. Especially since my dogs helped me run the pupcakery while I was out.
BUT…I’VE GOTTA PLAN
“You’re right!” I barked to Ginger. But the real tea is that I was going to pilot a new schedule for Pupcake Sugar. After I looked at the data, I realized that Fridays were my slowest days at the pupcakery. Dogs that worked in the office buildings during the week, usually worked from home on Friday. So, heading to her pupcakery for Yappy Hour wasn’t always top of mind.
I also noticed that my biggest day for business was Tuesday. Most of the offices stayed open later. So, dogs would come to get a snack and go back to work. Or they would grab pupcakes for their team while working late.
One of the offices also requested to host a few lunch meetings in my pupcakery. I declined because I wasn’t open at that time. Which caused me to miss out on several opportunities for my business.
“So, I’ll open for a full day on Tuesday.” I barked. I also worked it out with my job so that I could work a full day on Fridays and close the pupcakery. Since I wasn’t getting a lot of business anyway, it gave me a chance to make the hours at work and still work on growing my pupcakery.
“Well?” I barked. “What do y’all think?” Basil, Ginger, Cynnamon, Cayenne, and Poppy just looked at each other. Cayenne leaned in to grab another Carrot Cake Pupcake off the table. “As long as it means you don’t drop another bag of flour on your paw.” She barked. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
