Today was bittersweet, I waved goodbye to my Caterpod after the tough decision to sell my business.
I had a good go at running a business in what I love to do as my hobby- baking. My dream was to have my catering trailer and go to festivals and events and sell tea and gluten free cakes to the public. I had the wonderful support of God, my family and my friends backing me – without them I wouldn’t have even got this far! I had customers and the beginning of a good reputation behind me, my business was starting to go in the right direction.
In august last year though, my circumstances changed a bit; my car that I bought to tow my trailer blew up after just 7 months of owning it and my Dad got critically ill, he was in hospital for 2 weeks and needed full on care after being discharged. I decided to close my business to help my Mum- Jacqueline Waring care for him and had to get a stop gap car to get around.
Family is very important to me and I do not regret my decision at all doing this, I just wanted to see him get well again and give mum the support she needed to look after him too. But doing this meant that I missed the years events and festivals and made no money for that year really, apart from selling wholesale cakes to the wonderful cafes that where very loyal to me in ordering them.
Christmas came and went, then we where busy wedding planning which kind of took over (as a lot of you married people will know what it’s like!). I decided to wait until after our wedding and honeymoon to start back up properly with the business. We had an amazing wedding and I am so fortunate that I got to marry my wonderful husband Richard, who has stood by me and supported my decisions through this entirely. 
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It was then time to renew my business insurance, and I was shocked…. quoted over £1000 to do business insurance and car insurance to pull the trailer! (My age didn’t help!) Having not made any money over the year since I started the business, this was quite impossible.
I then had to think hard about the financial outlay and the fact that I probably wasn’t going to make a profit within the next year to be able to afford the pitches at events or even following years insurance. Also I am now married, and running this type of business means that my weekends would be swallowed up by my work and events and we wouldn’t get to spend quality time together as Richard works all week. Lots to consider.
I gave it some time, I prayed a lot and asked God what I should do- should I try and pay the insurance and give it more time, knowing the financial risk and forfeiting time with my husband? or should I sell my dream and then try and find something else to do?
I eventually felt it was right to sell it and I had peace about that decision. So we come to now, my trailer has sold, I feel a mixture of sadness and relief. But I hope the people that have bought it will treasure it and it be a great business for them! It would be nice to see it again one day up and running as it should be!
I am now ready and waiting for the next opportunity that God gives me on the next stage of my journey.
One thing is for certain though: I AM NOT GOING TO STOP BAKING!!!!!
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So welcome to my new blog, where I will be blogging about life, baking, food and pretty much everything else, I might even share my top secret gluten-free cake recipes… if you are lucky!
