It's the beginning of November and it's the month most of us think of Thanksgiving. Yes, we think of the turkey, pumpkin pies, and football but we also reflect over the past year of family, health, and opportunities that have come our way.
Today, I am reflecting on the year at Lil' Baby Cakes and though I have many wonderful experiences this year I'm struggling for giving "thanks" to certain events.
I'm having a hard time being thankful for individuals who copy my diaper cake designs from our website and actually post them on their site. Since I only design diaper cakes for my site, I can't believe people would create a site using my pictures. For these copycats I am not thankful. However, I am thankful for the honest people who notify me when they see my items elsewhere so I can take action.
This year, I have found someone who copied testimonials from our site and published them on their own site. They didn't even change the name of my diaper cakes mentioned in the testimonial-only my customer's name. For this situation, I am not thankful. On the other hand, I am thankful for the wonderful customers of Lil' Baby Cakes who spend the time to write me about their experience with our service and product.
This year I designed 25 new diaper cake selections to bring to the market. I spend hours looking through manufacturer ribbon samples and naming my cakes. Regretfully, I found another business that likes to take my ribbon selections and then make a diaper cake using the same ribbon in another color. I also, enjoy creating names for my cakes to bring personality to the designs. Well guess what? I have found if I name a diaper cake XY someone is going to call their design YX. Though neither one of these issues breaks the law, I am not thankful for this situation.
It has gotten so crazy that if I choose a background for my cake pictures that gets copied also. Many of you may remember our diaper cakes were pictured with a black background now they are featured with a green hue. For those people who prefer to copy my backgrounds or website layout, I am not thankful. Should I be thankful that they think so highly of me to copycat?
Though the items I mentioned may be trivial to you, it tends to tug on my view of hardworking and ethical people. What are the qualities that I want to use to live my life and run my business? I want to be a good and guiding parent, a loving and supportive spouse, and an honorable business owner with high standards of creativity, offering quality products and services.
I wish all of you a month of reflection about your life and experiences. I strive to use each and every day as an opportunity to offer the world the best I can be. Finally, I am thankful that God took the time to make each of us unique and not a copy of something he saw elsewhere.
