I received an email this morning letting me know that Cakestyle, a personal stylist service, has closed down after nearly 2 years in business. That’s not long at all! This is why starting a business scares the crap out of me. I can’t wrap my mind around failure.
Cakestyle delivered hand-selected outfits from a personal stylist to your doorstep. The package included clothing, accessories, a price list, and a letter with a video link to your stylist giving you an overview of each of the different outfits. The service, shipping & handling, and returns were all free. You only had to pay for the items you decided to keep. I mainly just kept earrings and necklaces because the clothing was so expensive.
I wrote about my experience with Cakestyle in 2 previous posts.
https://catherinegacad.com/2012/06/08/fashion-friday-personal-stylist/
https://catherinegacad.com/2012/06/22/fashion-friday-cakestyle/
Anywho, cool concept, but sadly it didn’t take off. Honestly, I’m not surprised.
Have you ever started your own business?
Would you like to start your own business?
What business did you used to love, but has now shutdown?
I briefly had a business doing singing telegrams. I did some in person but mostly over the phone. I was mostly busy during Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. I loved it, but it was hard getting payment sometimes from people, and I would sing first, then get people to send money, and it took awhile some times. It took the joy out of doing it, so I stopped . I did it last Mother’s Day for free for my friends, but that was it.
Lynne, that is so awesome! That is the coolest job ever. It would be great if people could pay upfront through Paypal, then maybe you would consider doing it again?
Such a sad thing indeed and trust me even though I run it online, I worry that someday my business will fail and would have to shut down, too. So, I feel bad reading this and hearing that they couldn’t make a go of it in the end.
Their costs were way too high. No charge for the service, but only what you paid for. So they were footing the bill for the packaging, shipping and handling, etc. Your costs are not high! Your business is doing great š
That does make sense and thank you for saying that Catherine. I love what I am doing, but my intention is not to take overcharge anyone excessively, but just to charge fair and reasonable prices. š
My husband is a small business owner and he has been in business 20 years. It’s a lot of hard work and dedication. Networking is super important too. I had my own part time business for years with photo management services and now I offer social media marketing (I know, strange mix) but it works. Networking is super important.
Your husband is a rockstar! I am in awe of small business owners who have longevity. And I completely agree that networking is critical.
That sounds like a cool business. One small business that I almost CRIED about when it closed was a small bakery called the Pie Safe. They had the best pies I’d ever had. Even my totally picky southern MIL agreed they were the best. And with the traditional favorites they’d always have weird new (but sinfully delicious) flavors and things you’d never think of. They were the best. It hurt when they closed. š –Lisa
I hear you. That is so painful when a tasty place closes, because it’s not like you can recreate that! Personal style, you can kind of recreate by looking at fashion mags, etc. Yummy food goodness, now that can be hard to replicate!
years ago I had a business targeted to vacation rental property management companies. I supplied custom welcome packages that the cleaning crew would leave on the counter of the vacation home to surprise guests upon arrival. It included all that the guest might need for the first day until they had a chance to get to the grocery store (coffee and filter for one full pot, some tea bags, cream and sugar packets, biscotti, bar soap, shampoo, one load packet of Tide, packet of dishwasher powder, little bottle of dish soap, etc.). I had customers all over the country and actually made a profit pretty quickly after starting. Then September 11th happened and the bottom fell out of tourism industry. An “extra” like this was the first thing to be cut from my customer’s budget. I closed the company but not without great memories and pride that I had come up with a successful idea.
Mo, that is such a great idea! Have you thought about doing this again, as a side gig? Sounds like so much fun, too, to come up with the welcome kits.
It was lots of fun but I learned that while I am great with ideas, I don’t enjoy (and am not very good at) selling. I think to be a long term, successful business owner you have to really have that drive to go out and passionately promote your product. Although I knew I had a great product, I just didn’t have the right personality to be a salesperson.
Mo, you and I are the same because I hate selling! I’m definitely not good at it. I’m a total introvert so the thought of making a living out of selling makes me ill.
@Mo, What an awesome idea! You may not have been a salesperson but at least you had the guts to try and put yourself out there. I had to stay at a hotel recently and during the turn down service they left a box of what I though were chocolates on my pillow. The box was super cute and in side was two salted caramels. Underneath was the local business name and contact info to order more. What a clever idea!
Seriously, we need to resurrect Mo’s business concept. Mo, what do you say?
Hahaha!! Go for it!
I haven’t heard of Cakestyle but I’ve been seeing Stitch Fix mentioned here lately. Same concept of Cakestyle it seems. I think you have to pay $20 for the shipment and that goes towards your bill if you decide to keep something.
Melissa, I need to check Cakestyle out!
Wow, that’s crazy. I actually saw a few CakeStyle reps at an event earlier this year and thought they were doing well…
Too bad I never got to try their service. I am currently using CoutureSqd, another clothing service that fits my (unfortunately) small budget. Hope they don’t shut down too!
i know, i thought cakestyle was doing well too! even though i didn’t buy a lot of their merchandise, i loved their personalized service. i will have to check out couturesqd. it’s good there are options!