Making Sense of Your Business’s Financials: A Practical Rundown

When I first started Petite Treat Bakery, the financial side of the business was, without a doubt, the part that intimidated me the most. It felt overwhelming, and during my research, I discovered I wasn’t alone—this is a common struggle for many home bakers. Misunderstanding the numbers or feeling too overwhelmed to track them often leads people to pause their dreams or give up entirely. If that’s you, let me just say—you’re not alone, and you can absolutely figure this out.

I’ll be the first to admit that my brain is more wired for creativity than spreadsheets. I was lucky to have my husband, who works in finance, to guide me early on. But something I learned quickly is that even someone in finance couldn’t just walk into my business and instantly understand the numbers—especially the profitability of each baked good. It’s not that straightforward. Knowing the unit profitability of your products requires an intimate understanding of your recipes, production processes, and costs. Hiring someone to figure this out for you would take a lot of time and be very expensive.

That’s when I realized: understanding the unit profitability of my baked goods was one of the most important things I could focus on. If I could confidently know that every item I sold was profitable, everything else—bookkeeping, taxes, and the big-picture financials—would naturally fall into place. Those other tasks could even be outsourced later, because they don’t require the same hands-on understanding of my business that unit profitability does.

This is what inspired me to create tools like the digital Custom Order Calculator and the SmartBake Calculator. I started by manually tracking everything—how much each batch cost, how much I sold it for, and what I earned after factoring in time and expenses. It was very time-consuming but incredibly eye-opening. Eventually, I worked with my husband to build tools that made it easier and faster to get those insights.

The Custom Order Calculator was my first step—it’s a simple tool that helps you break down ingredient costs, packaging, labor, and desired profit margins to price your custom orders confidently. Later, we created the SmartBake Calculator, which takes things to a whole different level. It’s preloaded with my recipes, ingredient costs, and packaging details, so it can calculate exactly what each product costs to make and what you need to charge to be profitable. It even adjusts for your desired batch sizes, showing you how scaling up can affect your pricing and profit margins.

These tools have been invaluable for me, and I hope they can help other bakers, too. They’ve given me the clarity I needed to make smart decisions without feeling overwhelmed by the numbers.

As for the rest—bookkeeping, taxes, and staying on top of financials—we eventually switched to QuickBooks, which has been a lifesaver. While this isn’t sponsored, I recommend it because it connects directly to your business accounts and automatically categorizes sales and expenses. It saves so much time compared to manually tracking everything. We also hired an accountant at the end of the year to file our taxes. While my husband could technically do it, having a professional ensures we don’t miss out on any deductions or tax breaks. Plus, it frees up time for us to focus on growing the business, which we’ve learned is the best way to move forward.

Here’s one of the most important things I’ve learned: Every allocation of time is a tradeoff. Spending hours trying to figure out taxes or chasing receipts takes away from building relationships with customers or improving your craft. But, understanding your unit profitability? In my opinion, that’s where your time is best spent because it’s a crucial foundation of your business’s success.

You don’t need to be a finance expert or have someone in finance by your side to succeed. You just need the willingness to start, a focus on the essentials, and a few good tools to make it easier. You’ve got this, and I’m cheering for you every step of the way!

You can find the Digital Custom Order Calculator in my Rose Gold Membership, and the SmartBake Calculator is available exclusively in the Gold Membership. I also have a free version of the Custom Order Calculator formula and a detailed walkthrough on my blog—I’d love for you to check it out!