I'm currently (and have been for over a month now) drowning in paperwork.
Maybe I'm being too thorough, if there's such a thing in this business, but I like to think I'm being super organised despite my dining table looking like a paper factory exploded on it. Maybe I was a little naive, I didn't expect there to be so much paperwork.
The way I see it my business paperwork has 3 stages.
First stage - the preliminary paperwork; price list, flavours, portion guides. This is the foundation, these are the things I need to know like the back of my hand and these are things I have sent out to every person who has enquired so far. It's been difficult. As mentioned in
previous post there are so many variations on portion guides and everyone's prices vary. I think its taken me about 4 months to get mine figured out and there are still times I go back over it and Im not sure its 100% right. Truth is I could probably waste another 4 months of reviewing my prices and portions and still not be 100% that what I'm charging is correct. But for now it works. I know why I charge the prices I do and I know how I get to that final total figure I'm quoting, I'm not plucking it out of thin air, Im comfortable with where I sit amongst the local competition and that's important. I also have my own personal price and portion guide for every single configuration of cake I can think of then I have a simplified price guide which I send out to customers. Ive recently decided to have 2 seperate price guides. One for celebration cakes and one for wedding cakes rather than having them all on one.
Second stage - the ordering paperwork. Im still finalising these. As with everything, I think I have it then an enquiry comes in, I fill out my consultation form and "oh no, there no box for people who want to order cupcakes" and "oh dear, I have no box at the bottom that factors in delivery charge". So the consultation forms need work.
Every time an enquiry becomes a potential order, I fill out a consultation form with the customers requirements. As soon as we're agreed on a design and a price I move on to order forms. I have spent soooooooo much time reworking my order forms. There are so many variables with cakes. But what Ive recently decided is that Im just going to use my consultation form as an order form. All the information is already there. I also send out a copy of my Terms and Conditions which need to be read and fully understood before any money changes hands.
As soon as my customer is happy with everything on the order form, the details are all correct, the price is as agreed its time to send out the all important invoice. Again, Ive reworked my invoices soooooo many times. Remember I'm not trained in business or have any previous experience of running a business, I'm learning on the fly. Sure, Ive received plenty of invoices but they're usually for 1 item or a service, my invoices serve as a breakdown of costs. I signed up to paypal business. I figured it would be so easy to just send out a paypal invoice and have a record of it for when tax return day comes around. It was a good idea but not everyone wants to pay via paypal and they take a cut of all transactions so that was going out of my pocket. But it was good to see how their invoices look and Ive based mine on how theirs look.
Ive also been using googledocs. This way I can keep a record of my orders (split into monthly folders with customer subfolders) and share them with my customers and it means that most of my paperwork will be stored online rather than cluttering up my desk.
This has turned into a longer post than expected. I hope I'm not rambling and some of this is useful to someone somewhere. But heres the last bit.
Paperwork doesn't stop once that invoice has been paid. That isn't the end for me. My paperwork stops once the cake is delivered or set up. How much more paperwork could there be between the invoice being paid and the cake being delivered? Not much but these are the important bits.
Stage 3 - Delivery paperwork. I fill out an ingredients list as I make the cake. This includes all the ingredients, when they were bought and where, their batch number (if applicable) and their best before date and the date the cake and fillings were made.
On delivering the cake or if its being collected I have 2 copies of a cake information sheet. One copy for my records and another copy for the venue or the customer to keep. This basically details any inedible decorations, interior supports and boards, anything that needs returning to me, any set up instructions if someone decides to set it up themselves, cutting, shelf life and storage instructions and the all important signature to say its been received undamaged. This is mostly for wedding cakes but its good practise to do this for all cakes so I can get into the routine of doing it. It may seem silly, every cake Ive done in the past for friends and family have simply been collected or handed over, no paperwork involved but in the long run I'd rather have my butt covered that not in the event that someone damages the cake as they're transporting it or setting it up themselves.
So that's how I'm spending my bank holiday weekend.....fleshing out the skeletons of all my paperwork. You can never be too prepared right? Now all I need to do is try to stay organised and keep on top of it. I can totally see why people employ someone to handle all their paperwork. Its all a big learning process though and Ive been assured that at some point ill get into a flow and a rhythm to the point where its all second nature.
