How building your business is like baking a cake!

In this article, I’m going to share with you how building your business is like baking a cake.

The Victoria Sponge

So how is building your business like baking a cake?

Well, let’s think about a Victoria sponge.

A Victoria sponge is two pieces of sponge and the jam and cream in the middle. The top slice of the sponge is your family – you and your family and what you want to achieve in life. The bottom sponge, on which this is all built, is your business.

The Special Filling

But the bit in the middle, the really great bit – the jam and the cream – is you!

You, the business owner, and ultimately the ability to bring those two pieces of sponge together is dependent on the jam and the cream in the middle.

The importance of the jam and the cream – or the filling – is that it’s what brings the two pieces of sponge together. And in a business context, us as the business owner, us as the filling, the jam and the cream – bringing our families and businesses together – makes the Victoria Sponge.

Getting It Wrong

However, get it wrong and don’t bring those two pieces of sponge together effectively and the jam and the cream get squashed. And that’s what happens in life!

Bringing our business and family together, in a great way, makes a great Victoria sponge.

Disaster!

But getting it wrong causes a mess!

What does getting it wrong look like?

Disconnect!
A family that doesn’t see you!
A business owner who’s stuck in the business, trying to make the business work!
Stretched across from their family, unable to connect the two!

A mess, spread too thin, dripping over the sides and not connecting enough with the family.

When You Get It Right

And the opposite – what does good look like?

Have you seen what a great Victoria sponge looks like?

Perfection! Family and business, top slice and bottom slice, perfectly aligned.

The cream and the jam, perfectly mixed and just the right amount of balance between the two to give a great, sweet taste.

Life Is Sweet

As business owners, when we can bring our families and businesses together, life is sweet.

My top tip, it starts with us, as the business owner – the filling, the jam, the cream and how we apply the right amount of jam and cream to bring the two pieces of sponge together.