Jessica Redford initially considered taking a part-time job at a nearby bakery. Instead, she turned cake pops into a small business that now sells out each week. The venture gives her room to homeschool her three children, but rising demand has also forced her to rethink how much work she takes on to protect family time.
A flexible alternative to a bakery job
Last September, a shopping centre opened near Redford’s home, including a grocery store with a bakery. She thought a job there might be a good fit. Redford had homeschooled her children for years; they are now 14, 11 and 8. As they grew more independent, she wanted a creative project of her own.
Before having children, she had taken cake-making classes and learned the basics. But set working hours could disrupt the family’s flexibility to go camping or take short trips. Around the same time, videos of people making and decorating cake pops caught her attention. They seemed more manageable than large, elaborate cakes and suited the kind of work she wanted to try.
Social media and local events build demand
After several practice runs, Redford made cake pops for a Halloween party. Guests responded well, giving her the confidence to try selling them. She began posting on Instagram, taking a small number of orders and attending local vendor events.
After one event in November, she had cake pops left over. She and her children set up at a street corner in their neighbourhood to sell them to passers-by. She gave the remaining few to her chiropractor, who shared them on social media. Orders then picked up, and demand surged over Thanksgiving and Christmas, turning her kitchen into a near-round-the-clock workspace.
The rush was exciting, but it also showed her how quickly the workload could exceed expectations. In January, Redford decided to pause for a month and rethink the business, looking for a way to keep it from taking over family life. She also says her faith helped her persevere through difficult periods.
Farm sales give way to weekly home pickup
When she resumed, Redford began selling at a local family farm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, bringing her children along. She changed the designs each week, giving visiting families new options. The farm stand helped her build a reputation among local mothers and become better known in the community.
After taking a break in July, she tried selling from outside her home using a portable cake cart she had bought online. She now limits the number of orders she accepts each week, prepares the products and has customers collect them from her doorstep on Fridays. Since adopting the arrangement in the summer, she says her products have sold out every week. No order volumes, revenue or profit figures were disclosed, so the sales reports do not establish the business’s financial performance.
Setting limits alongside baking
Redford describes the past year as an emotional one: she has felt proud of the business’s progress, but at times overwhelmed by the workload. She is learning to turn down some requests and set boundaries for herself, her children and family life. Managing the pace of orders, she says, is as important to sustaining the side business as finding customers.
Her children help bake and decorate, and serve as taste testers. They also hope for the occasional batch that does not turn out well so they can eat it. Redford wants them to see that their mother can build and run a business from scratch, while giving them a chance to learn about entrepreneurship. She says there were times she considered giving up, but chose to continue and see how far she could take it.