We take on many different pursuits in life-careers, projects, hobbies, etc., and some of these overlap at times. A hobby can lead to projects we make for ourselves and our families, then friends who recommend our work to others and before we know it, we have the potential for a side hustle which could then grow into a full-fledged business.
Will a seven-figure business fall into your lap overnight? I can hear you laughing, you with the flour in your hair, and I am assuming your answer is no. So how do you take the hobby with potential to the next level? Get your mock-shocked face ready, the answer was in the title-practice.
Family Cookie Cutters has blogs on decorating tools, a recipe for sugar cookies, icing consistency and color as well as several articles about balancing family and work. We have tips for beginners as well as ideas for specific themes like the following:
So, we have lots of links, tutorials, hints, tips and tricks to help you along the way to grow and expand your skill set.
From the outset, you knew this adventure would take effort on your part, and it will. First, you will have to practice the foundational skills. You might have to make several batches of dough before you have just the right temperature for workabililty as well as thickness to get the right cut and design impression. If your dough is too warm or too wet, your cookies may spread instead of holding a firm shape
amongst many other fails like too much flour, overworking, etc. Keep at it until you have it just right.
Since your royal icing has to be two consistencies for outline and flood, mixing and experimenting will be essential. Sonja's Cookie Jar says, "If I'm ever piping and it seems too thick, I'll dump it back into the bowl and thin it out a little...If it seems too thin, I'll dump it back into the bowl and add some more base icing and colour if needed. I never add icing sugar to thicken, as I found that changes the structure of the icing and it is more prone to flake/ break off." Trial and error will be your friend for awhile.
Practice your designs. Edible art is much different than an 8" x 10" canvas, for example, and will require diverse techniques. Achieving thickness of lines is much different with an icing bag than a brush or pencil. Mixing food coloring is not the same as paints, markers or pencils, and making it white first then adding hue might take some getting used to.
Form habits when it comes to drying times. If you fill in an outline too soon, everything will run together. Before you receive a really big order, space your drying time for working with wet-on-wet designs (very little) to puffier designs that are layered or compartmentalized.
From a business aspect, start slowly. This way, you can form a pace of taking orders, keeping track of materials, design, your time, receiving payment and a pickup schedule. These will all be routine but plunging into them all at once could be quite overwhelming.
You may have some natural artistic talent or you wouldn't be pondering taking it further. You will still need to practice the basics on an ongoing basis, because even though some aspects will come naturally like using all the sparkly food glitter; others will feel awkward at first like that first customer who doesn't pay on time, and you have to make that uncomfortable call. By honing your skills, you will learn how you can stretch yourself, how rewarding working for yourself can be and how much you're going to be able give to others through the work of your hands. Will practice make you perfect? Maybe not, but it will help you be better.