Th ink you have what it takes to turn your baking hobby into a business? A career in cake decorating isn’t just sugar and spice, says Winifred Lua.
Th ink you have what it takes to turn your baking hobby into a business? A career in cake decorating isn’t just sugar and spice, says Winifred Lua.
Accidentally in love
“I kinda stumbled onto baking. After finishing Junior College in 2009, I couldn’t get into the university course that I wanted, so I was a bit bummed out. That was when my friend advised me to spend the time doing something I already liked. I didn’t exactly know what that was, but since I was young, I enjoyed drawing and sketching. I always thought I would go into interior design, but I ended up baking instead. Now, I’ve combined baking and design together.”
Be hungry for knowledge
“The more I baked, the more interested I got. I kept going online to search for new things. Then I stumbled upon this cake designer overseas [US-based Maggie Austin Cake] and I fell in love with her work. She taught online classes so I went ahead and bought all her classes to learn and practice at home.”
You don’t have to have a clear goal to pursue your dream…
“I did more research on Maggie Austin and found out that she was accepting interns. Initially, I was just enquiring and got a reply saying, ‘If you’d like to apply, please send along some images of your work,’ and so I just sent it. Later, they asked for a Skype interview, so that was when I knew it was seriously happening.”
… but familial support counts for a lot
“I think it’s very important to get family support. Once the application became serious, I talked to my parents about it because, initially, they weren’t entirely OK with a girl travelling overseas alone. I had to sit down with my mum to let her know that this is what I intend to do in my future and explain to her how it was going to help me. She listened, and was supportive as well, which I’m very thankful for.”
Self-started businesses run on (your) hard work
“You have to really, really love cakes to bake and decorate for a living, because that is what you do all day. You do not get to rest on weekends like your peers, and your public holidays are ‘burnt’ with events and cake orders. Welcome to the upside-down life. Entrepreneurs who work with passion, work a million times harder. Our job requires a lot more discipline than you can ever imagine, because we don’t do nine-to-fi ve or nine-to-six – we do 24/7.”
You can choose quality over quantity
“I like to keep things small, so that even as the team grows, we can control everything. That is why I only take one to two cake orders a week, so we have a lot of time to prep. I focus a lot on the details because I feel they say everything. That’s what I want my name to mean and what I want to show people.”
Keeping the faith is in the job description
“[Running a business] is all about constantly facing your fears and building mental strength. It wasn’t easy managing such a huge leap from being a fresh graduate to actually doing this as a career. Every career has its moments... but you do have to make sure the positives [outweigh] the negatives.”
