A Journey for Cake

Since I already have my own site and everything, I felt like I had this week in the bag. What I didn't realize was that I should have done research before diving into everything. Last year, when I was getting the ball rolling, I went with GoDaddy as a host because that was the only one that I knew about. It's been fine for me, but after studying this week I've learned about other hosting sites and that maybe I could have gotten a better deal. I built my site through Wix and I didn't even know that I could use Wix as a host. After researching and exploring these different hosts and builders this week I learned that I could transfer my domain to Wix so everything was in one place. It's so much easier now! I also didn't realize just how many different website builders there are out there. After looking through Weebly and others, I'm still happy with my choice of Wix. To me, it's the most streamlined and works best for my business.

This week was about drop shipping and affiliate marketing. Neither of these topics pertains to the field I am going in to, but I guess that it is good information to know. Drop shipping is basically outsourcing for your products and affiliate marketing is saying "hey guys, click this link on my webpage that takes you to a different webpage to buy that thing that you were looking for!" I can see the benefits of both marketing options. With drop shipping, you have the advantage of not having to keep products on hand and being able to order small quantities. With affiliate marketing, the work is basically done for you through the other companies. There is much more flexibility as far as how you want to market the products. For example, if you wanted to sell small kitchen appliances, you could have a website that gives video reviews, a food blog, a recipe database, or something else entirely. You would just need to promote the products and give links on where the consumer can go ...

This week was all about AdWords and competition and such. I have already used Google Ads for my own business so I’m already familiar with it, but it was good for me to learn some of the features like the forecasting tool. This will definitely help me in my campaigning. I’ve realized that I started up my business without a real business model plan. I just charged headfirst into the fray and hoped for the best. It has worked out well for me, so far, but I think I need to take stock of what I need to do to get things together. I have an online webstore and also a brick-and-mortar bakery. It’s possible that I could use advertising on my website, but I generally don’t like the look of a site that it junked up by ads. They tend to take over and I think it just looks messy. I’ll have to do some pondering about how I want to run my business according to these business model rules.

This week it has become apparent to me that I need to better manage my time. With the cake business taking off like a bullet train, work becoming more demanding, and single-momming it, I am STRESSED. And tired. It's hard for me to find the motivation to do school work. As for what I've learned this week, I found the interview assignment to be quite intriguing. It really got me thinking about what goes into creating a business. With mine, I just kind of...started. Without really planning anything. As I was coming up with questions to ask Chris in our interview, I realized that there is a lot that I don't know about starting and running a business. I hope that I will be able to gain a lot of good insights from him on how to be successful in keeping this shop afloat.

What really stuck with me this week was Elder Tanner's talk on self-mastery. I like to think that I am pretty in control of myself but after reading that talk I have realized that I have a lot to work on. My favorite part of the talk was when he said " The heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night." Hard work and patience are two of the most important keys to success. Success isn't built overnight, I need to keep fighting the fight and working towards my goals. I cannot afford to relax and let my guard down. As he said, "character is determined by the extent to which we can master ourselves toward good ends." If I am to be successful I have to work on my willpower to keep working hard. I have a bad habit of getting lazy and thinking things are too hard. And when it gets too hard, I fall off the wagon. I hope that through this course and the rest of my co...

While I was watching the Hero's Journey video, so many thoughts went running through my brain. The main thing that kept coming back to me was the phrase "it's not about you." At the very end, he said that it's not about us and we should be so grateful to Him who gave us our talents and blessings. I was born with so many natural talents. Honestly, sometimes I'm overwhelmed by it. I have a gift for the arts. Music, particularly, but recently I've discovered artistic talents as well such as calligraphy and my cakes. How these will change the world, I have no idea. Sanderfer said that we need to find what brings us great joy. I've found the thing that brings me great joy. As he was talking about finding that thing that you get lost in and lose track of time, I thought about my cakes. I spend hours on them without even realizing it. And seeing the finished product sparks a joy in me that nothing else does. I feel proud of the work I've accomplished. Eve...