Oh for the love of Pete!

Heads up those east of Quebec...when you do a name search for your business from a group called NUANS (as per the instructions from Canada Business), the federal name search is unnecessary unless you plan to go national. So I cannot register my business name until I have a NUANS report for the Atlantic provinces, according to the business registry in Fredericton.

My question: why wouldn't a federal name search suffice since it includes the Atlantic provinces in the report...especially when it comes from the same source?

Redonculous.

I need a cup of tea and an episode of BBC's Not Going Out to cure the grumps...maybe two episodes. I'm pretty pipped.

Farmer's Market Glow and the Nag of Second Guessing

SUGAR made it's debut at the St. Stephen Farmer's Market on Friday and sold out (except a couple scones)! The market was heaving with people celebrating our little town's annual Chocolate Festival. The bread was a big hit, as were the chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon twists and galettes. The scones fared well and the cupcakes sold just seconds before they were a melted mess. It couldn't have been a better start to SUGAR's local exposure. I was beaming for most of the day.

But then the little nagging voice creeps in, the pebble-in-my-shoe voice that second guesses everything. What if they didn't like the bread? What if I can't pull this off? What if no one buys anything next week? I'd like that voice to"if-off" quite frankly. I'd like to say it doesn't affect me, but tonight was an off-night for baking. I burnt pastry, over-floured bread dough, planned to make things with ingredients I didn't have...most likely because of this pebble in my shoe throwing me off my game. A practical person would tell me to shake out my shoe, and really I should just do it. But I sometimes think this pebble is my friend, goading me on to strive to do better. Then again, would a friend give me blisters? (Have I carried this analogy too far?)

So tonight, at this very late hour I am shaking out my shoes. I simply have no room for pebbles right now. At least one person is coming for my bread on Friday and even if that's the only thing I sell I want to be sure it was baked with all the joy and delight I get from baking with an unfettered mind...and very comfortable shoes.

The Map

Herein lies the guide to starting a wee business in a small town in a part of Canada few people remember exists...

The Federal and provincial level: once you find that needle in the proverbial haystack it goes pretty quickly.

1. Call your nearest Canada Business office (in New Brunswick the number is 1.888.576.4444)
2. explain what you're trying to do
3. receive an email with links to .pdf files 
4. click on the link applicable to the type of business you are trying to be (for me it is sole proprietorship)
5. Get a name search done, but ask your Canada Business office representative if you need a federal name search done or a provincial one. It should say in the .pdf form they give you, but in case it doesn't, I would ask. (I ended up getting the wrong one - of course)
6. fill in form #5 (for sole proprietors) and take it to nearest Service New Brunswick office, with your NUANS name search report
7. dole out $112 to register the name and it's good for 5 years...and it seems by registering my name I will also be given a business number.
8. unless your business is going to bring in more than $30,000 you do not need a GST/HST #.

OR

Just visit your nearest Canada Business office and you can do it all in one go.

The Municipal level: a wink and a smile.

1. do not register your business with the town unless you are opening a store-front operation or a street vendor with a permanent cover or kiosk (a $500 fee).
2. a thriving local farmer's market benefits the community and there is no charge to benefit the community so bake on.
3. The rules for selling by special order from my home is murky at best...in a good way. The regulations are there, but their enforcement is weighted by necessity...i.e. murky for a reason. Perhaps one of the many advantages of starting a small business in a small, economically challenged town is there is grace for the little business that would be overcome by municipal regulations. I'm too small to burden with the fees and taxes that would otherwise be charged to a business bringing in the big bucks.

For now, I am a baking enthusiast with an official name, selling my wares at the local market and through special order and that is ok with my town. It's when I get too big for my little home bakery britches that I'll need to revisit the town regulations and then dot all my i's and cross all my t's...or is it their i's and t's? Either way, it would mean getting closer to that bakery dream.

Here we go 'round the mulberry bush...

Have you ever started out on a road trip without a map? Some people love that sort of spontaneity. I like spontaneity but I love having my bearings. Even if there is no specific destination planned I like knowing where I can go at any moment so I don't end up driving in circles and not really getting anywhere.

Since setting out on this path to having my own business I feel like I've had to be my own cartographer. There is no specific map for exactly what I'm trying to do. There are directions for bits of what I'm doing and they come from all levels of government and business associations. I've been on the phone, online, in person and I still do not have a complete map that takes me to my destination. Not even to phase one. But I have a ton of information to places I don't want to go. It's like asking for directions to a store across town and handed a world atlas.

I'd like for Garmin to come up with a GPS system specifically for business start-up. A tool where I can plot my course and a friendly voice (maybe Colin Firth) can lead me step by step until I've reached the first leg of my trip.

Since that likely won't happen in the next week or so, I am left to survey and document this seemingly uncharted path. This is doable. I have some tools. I have, after all, my atlas, which in the very least will keep me from ending up in China before I've found St. Stephen. If I could just find my bearings...

Name search - check!

You'll note the new name of my blog...I've had this name for my business floating around unofficially for a few years. I made a logo and made up cards while I was baking for local markets. Well, I did a name search and I win! No one in New Brunswick has a bakery business by that name, though there are many in Ontario and West with sugar in the title but none just titled Sugar.

I thought of a few alternatives, but Sugar is simple, it designs well and it's memorable. I was thinking of expanding it to Sugar n' Spice but there are over 50 sugar n' spice businesses in Canada...and some of them involve strippers. SO Sugar it is! 

hot diggety old dog and new tricks

I'm stretched half way between blogspot and wordpress...I can't seem to design my blog in either platform without being fluent in alien languages. You have to be Neo post Matrix epiphany (where he sees everything in 0s and 1s) to get exactly what you want out of blog design.

Since the dawning of the internet, well, at least since it's been accessible, I've been able to fudge sites...mold them to my will. But now, I am a walking cliche. Can this old-ish dog learn new tricks? While fielding the bazillion questions that spew from a 4 year-old every minute and placating a toddler with animal noises?

Starting a business is no piece of cake.

Congratulations Heidi Turner!

...for being my first follower. You, my dear, are entitled to any one of the following:

1. batch of scones (of your choice)
2. dozen cookies
3. half a dozen cinnamon twists
4. batch of vegan fruit and nut bars

Now, who wants to be the first to comment??

where to begin...

I may have approached this whole starting a baking-business-for-real out of order. I have a logo before I've registered the name. Before I even know if the name is available. Before I have even thought about a business plan. Probably not the best way to roll, but certainly indicative of my personality. Visuals are almost everything to me. I'm a sucker for packaging. If it meets my "pretty" criteria - sold! I forget that not everyone operates that way.

Backtrack.

1. Research the name.
2. Research the need and level of registration and what that means in terms of tax (income, GST, HST, PST - doesn't Revenue Canada every get exhausted with the number of ways they can tax us?)
3. Sort out the phases and/or stages of my business plan
4. find out what funding is available for start-up small businesses

What else? If you have any tips, I'd love to hear them!

Stalking Martha

A glorious girls trip to Bar Harbour turned into a little extended adventure to Seal Harbor where baking (cooking, organizing, crafting) maven Martha Stewart spends her summers. Of course we didn't see her...and I think I'd probably hide if I did...I'm sure she'd take one look at me and her all-knowingness would sense how disorganized my house is. But for every breathtaking view of the ocean between the lush forest canopies, it's no wonder she'd be inspired to be creative.

It has given me pause to think about what inspires me to be creative. Bring on the Pinterest! I love this online inspiration board site...some call it another waste of time - but I truly do garner inspiration from my boards. Living in as small a town as I do, there is little to feast the eyes on to fill up my creativity stores. Pinterest has come to my rescue when I am creatively parched.

You can peek at (or follow) my boards here: http://pinterest.com/krismuscookie/

What inspires you to be creative?

That's what this little girl is made of...

For most of my life I think my body was composed of 49% water and 51% sugar. Cupcakes, layer cakes, cookies, scones (with clotted cream, of course), puff pasty and if I could successfully make a pie crust I'm sure pies would have fared well in my hands...most any baked good would do...and fill in the gaps with candy.

Alas, almost 4 decades and two babies later, my body has had enough of the sweeties...at least, it is forcing me to very conscientious about the amount of sugary goodness I consume.

Bummer? Yes, at first. But don't we appreciate even more the things we can't always have? Don't we savor every morsel when we only get a taste? The less sugar I'm allowed to consume the more I want to bake. I am at a strange crossroads...Candyland on one side vegetable patch on the other. I think I've found a way to forge my own path right down the middle.

I love baking. It's is a thrill, a rush to create something that will bring delight to someone else. One way to express creativity through flavor combination and presentation. If I can't partake in the delight part very often, why not sell my baked goods so others can? I mean for real. Not just a few scones and vegan bars once a week...what if I really went for it? What could this look like? What could this turn in to? Am I brave enough? Would it kill my love of baking?

I guess the only way to know the answers to these questions is trying.
Path forging commences.