I officially set up an LLC for Cookie Cazimi, my home bakery in Maryland, specializing in chunky New York cookies, in May 2024.
But, did you know that this is actually my second business? And spoiler alert: I closed the first company down because it wasn’t successful.
This time around, I’m a little more prepared. And while I know I’ll continue to make mistakes and run into roadblocks, I wanted to share with you the lessons I learned from my first business and what I’m doing differently the second time around.
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I simply was a first-time business owner, so my first business failed
It seems like kind of a lame answer to say that the reason why my first business failed was because I’m a first business owner, but it is what it is lol.
While the exact figure on how many first-time business owners succeed is unknown, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) states that entrepreneurs with prior business experience are more likely to succeed.
So, getting it right the first time is a rare feat.
In fact, the Chamber of Commerce postulates that roughly 20% of new businesses fail within the first year. And 50% fail by the fifth year. And, these figures include businesses owned by experienced entrepreneurs.
Business is hard! Period.
I also definitely spent way too much money as a result of my inexperience. Luckily, I had a job that could finance these risks without leaving my bills unpaid. Though it would be nice just to have that money again knowing that it didn’t work out 😭😭😭
But, that’s the cost of experience, I guess 🤷🏻♀️
This leads me to the second reason why my first business failed…
My first business failed because I started too big
I tried to launch a fancy cosmetics bag that could fit all my shower and beauty products without taking anything out on the counter. The travel bag was big, luxurious, and custom-made so expensive to both product and buy off the shelf.
This just stemmed from an idea I had and I just ran with it.
In hindsight, I think going off of my intuition and creativity was actually great for my personal growth, and that in itself is worthwhile, but it wasn’t great for just straight-up making money, haha.
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For Cookie Cazimi, I started with chunky New York-style cookies in different flavors. I simply became the cookie girl.
My farmers market stand just has a big ass “COOKIES” banner that can be read a mile away. I mean, what else do people really need to know??
Also, I’ve heard from other avid bakers that they had a hard time narrowing down what they should sell because they liked to bake everything. And I do, too!
I can fucking make anything and everything lol.
But, when it comes to running a business, having too many options is not only overwhelming for the customer, but also for you!
I can’t imagine trying to offer a variety of crumb cakes, muffins, loaf breads, and other approved cottage foods in different flavors on top of what I’m doing right now.
I just introduced brownies, but only as a part of a monthly special if I decide to put them in the lineup. Because you can’t be everything for everyone!
Be one thing to everyone and those who want that one thing are who it’s for 😉
For the most part anyway… since I also do brownies from time to time now.
The third reason why my first business failed?
I didn’t tell anybody about my business
Well, I told some people, but it was slowly over time. Having had no social media following, I felt cringy telling people outright what I was doing and posting.
When I did eventually tell my friends and acquaintances, they were really supportive!
Nevertheless, I didn’t get much financial support because I not only created a high ticket item, but also those in my social circle weren’t my target audience.
Which is why Cookie Cazimi is doing so much better! Cookies are for anyone who… likes cookies lol. And for $5 a pop, you can simply buy one on a whim.
This is the perfect segway to the fourth and most important reason why my first business failed:
I created a product I wanted
I know you’ve probably heard a lot of entrepreneur success stories about how “they were their own customer, so they knew the perfect product to create and it all worked out” trope.
Well, I did just that, thinking that it’ll lead to the same type of result. After all, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others, right?
So, wouldn’t that same wise man do what worked for others?
… Seeing that you’re reading this post titled “5 reasons why my first business failed,” this sentiment didn’t work for me LOL.
I started my cookie business off of a semi-flippant comment of “making it a thing” and I just did because I went through the hoops already of setting up a business legally.
Granted, I may have jumped the gun a liiitle bit, considering that I could have just run my home bakery as a sole proprietor.
In the end, however, it doesn’t matter much.
The only “penalty” is I have to pay some lame land tax of $300 to the state? So I’ve heard anyway as it is also likely that my tax lady could tell me that I don’t have to pay it 🤷🏻♀️
And lastly…
My first business failed because I invested in coaches
This one might be a bit controversial because I’m still friends with some of these said coaches lol
But, I should have just saved my money.
Coaches aren’t selling anything you can’t Google yourself. They save you time and put all the relevant information in one place.
And that’s great value! I’m not knocking it.
I just think it doesn’t matter as much when you’re starting out. Coaches are a luxury. And when you’re new in business, you can’t afford dessert. Cut the fat — No! LOL
With that said, I did learn a lot and I’m sure I’m implementing some of their teachings without realizing it. However, because my first business amounted to nothing but money spent, the business coaches weren’t worth it.
That’s why any resources I do share with you is money well-spent and something I would buy again if I had to. And that’s not too hard right now considering I literally just started this blog and posting short-form videos on the Internet, so no one’s giving me free stuff lol.
But, should that day ever come, I want you to know that I’ll even be skeptical of recommending things for free because spending money (or not) fundamentally changes the value of something.
If all the programs I did were free and only cost my time, I probably would say they were worth it. But, having put money on the table, I wouldn’t do most of them again.
Concluding what I learned from the failure of my first business
I never felt bad about my first business failing. I do miss the money I spent but I made it back in due time.
Which is a bit surprising because I’m someone who grew up feeling like a failure and constantly chasing success and validation. I’m surprised that I felt as good as I did when I closed my first business.
Because I didn’t believe that life was about the experience and lessons we learned along the way.
“Why couldn’t I do both like that person did?”
“Why couldn’t I struggle on my way to the top instead of just struggle?“
I did work on my first business during my Saturn return so maybe I just delulu’d my way past the roadblocks lol. Speaking of which, I recently back on an Excel file of notes for month-to-month predictions for 2024 by psychic and astrologer Evan Nathaniel Grim.
He said that in May, someone close to me would encourage me to start a business and that came true! And now, I’m making actually some money lol.
I’m still in the red overall as of this blog post but being out and about, trying new things, and receiving support is something I was able to easily jump into without overthinking because… well, of the astrology lol AND the fact that my first business failed.
Hopefully, you won’t make the same mistakes I did, and if you do, no big deal! Just move on… because you don’t have a choice lol.
If you’re also looking to start a business, I’ll have a business resource recommendation page for things that weren’t a waste of money soon 🙂