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💩 A forced a play on words from "no one likes a party pooper" - but in this case, we're focusing on 🧠 "ideas guy" who love to plan and fail to launch. These folks talk up "the next great thing," and yet the idea never exits the ol' cranium to make it to market.

🗺️ Having a plan is good - but too much of a good thing, and you've got either a perfectionist or a serial starter, but you definitely 🚫 don't have a viable product. ⚔️ And that's why planning is a double-edged sword. You have to have a plan, but some bakers turn "making a plan" into a never ending excuse as to why they've not launched [that cookie class] or [that new bakery item] or [the vendor event that's now since come and gone] or [that cookie cart]. You get the point. 🚧 They turn planning into roadblocks.

💭 They spend their whole baking lives in the dream stage so that they never have to take the risk to launch and possibly fail. But our challenge is to accept failure and fail forward. Here's some ways to ensure you're not a party pooper... I mean, planner.

💡 1. Determine your mvp

MVP = minimum viable product. 🤏 That's the "least amount I need to do to be able to take this concept to market for a v1 release." In simpler terms, what's the simplest thing you can produce from your idea and use to test if your marketing would bite?

This "MVP" concept forces the forever-planner's hand by making them launch as soon as something is good enough. They can't wait until it's perfect because it's no longer the minimum viable product. Take Stupid Car Tray (podcast sponsor - use code SUGAR to save 15%). They're on their v3 tray. What if they'd only launched when they felt their product was super refined? 🤑 They would have missed years of sales. Same with you, ya party planner. Stop planning, start pushing out product. See if they bite. If they do, then improve. 🚀 Launch and learn.

💡 2. Two types of "party planners"

Okay, maybe "party planner" wasn't my best play on words, but there are two types of "ideas guys" - which camp do you tend to find yourself in?

• 🏢 The Perfectionist - The perfectionist builds the perfect skyscraper. It's got the best finishes, the best appliances, the most amenities, but they never list the condos for sale. They're in a perpetual state of trying to make everything good, better, best. They never fail because they never open.
• 🏚️🏚️🏚️🏚️ The Serial Starter - The type of person who lays the foundation for many ideas, but never builds a single house. This planner loves an idea, runs out to source materials, then panics at the thought that they weren't naturally talented at the thing and jumps on the next bandwagon, leaving a trail of partial starts (and budget buster) in their wake (and basement storage closet).
• 🏡 We need to be the single home builder who lays the foundation, constructs a modest home (aka MVP), sells it, then gets hired to add on to the home later. At all stages, this planner is generating income while improving their craft.

💡 3. Plan = yes | Overplan = hard pass

Planning is a business necessity. 🗺️ Venture out without a map and you're bound to get lost. 🧭 But business (and life) exist in the gray areas. Same with planning. ❌ Spending no time planning is just as bad as spending all your time planning. 👎 Plan enough, then take that first step out there. Remember - you can always tweak. ⏳ But you can't time travel, meaning we can't go back and launch when we "coulda - shoulda - woulda." Take the leap of faith, push out the MVP, see what happens, cap'n.

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In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 206 - Expound then Expand, Corrie wanted to come to the altar with her confession of packaging purchases. Yeah - we're talkin' to the "overconsumption cookier" this week, 👣💥 and it'll step on some toesies (starting with Twin2's... er... TwinToes?).

It's easy to get ✨shiny object✨ syndrome when you check out the Best Bakes threads in the Sugar Cookie Marketing Group thinking, "Well, if that sold well for them, it might sell well for me! Let me buy these supplies."

Here's the thing - that's not a guarantee, and it can actually be a distraction, not a sound business decision. And guaranteed it's going to impact your financials. Even worse is if you do get the supplies and never get around to selling that adorable Easter Egg PYO carton - 🥚🥚🥚🥚 you're now stuck with colorful cartons for an entire year - and that's bad for business and your bottom line.

💰 1. Start with 1 versatile backdrop

White matte finish (use code SUGARCOOKIE on thebackersco.com to save 25% - they're one of the podcast sponsors that keeps this content f-r-e-e for y'all) is the most used backdrop Corrie has, citing that it's the one she reaches for 85% of the time. 📸 Know what that means? That's likely the only backer you'll need to get started. Yes, in time, snag a few more options, but when you're just getting started, "one and done" it until you've maxed out your photography skills on that backdrop. Then expand.

💰 2. Learn from the Target trays

If you were in the SCM groups around 2021 - 2022, you lived through the fun (funky) Target trays - 🪵 a wooden tray Target sold in its dollar spot that took the craft world by storm. Specifically, cookiers gravitated to this tray since it made for a high-quality package for about 20 cookies for Christmas - 🎄 talk about a best seller! But such is panic buying, some stocked up on these trays and were left with an unfoldable storage nightmare when they didn't sell out.

The lesson? Find out if your audience wants the product first - then purchase. ️🎯 Overbuying for your clients who never wanted the product in the first place is a bad investment. What's the value of 50 wooden trays if no one will buy them? Hint: it's a negative number.

💰 3. Purchase plain packaging to start

🎀 Cute packaging is a great way to up your customer benefits packaging and set you apart from the competition, but not if it sets you apart from your profitability. There's a sweet spot between really high-end custom packaging unique for every holiday and packaging that's on the plain side but works for any occasion.

🏳️ I'm not saying "cheap white Amazon boxes or bust," but I am saying if you're getting started or you're in "packaging purchasing purgatory" rehab, go back to the basics. Add in fancy when necessary (and buy an appropriate amount - so like, not 50 units when you likely only have time to bake 10), but have the cheaper fallback as your go-to.

💰 4. Cut out overbuying cutters

Have your steel-toe boots ready, but here it comes. Overbuying cutters can cut your profit margins down to nothing. 🔲⚫ Plaques to get started and basic shapes are likely fine in a lot of cases. Client wants something super custom? Offer to bill them that cost or source a cutter you already have in your stash that's super close to their design and can save them a few bucks. Likely, your clients won't care, and you'll be able to stay away from cutter overconsumption.

(🖨 And you 3D printer folks can learn a lesson here too - cutter takes up storage, and just because it was cheaper to print doesn't mean it doesn't have