The Holiday Rush of an Entrepreneur

Every year, since I started this business, I end up working more and more but with more company. It's not only the wife and I anymore, but a team of people both within my company and with my clients. We are all running around trying to make deadlines, readjusting our work plan with last minute adjustments that mostly seem to happen on a whim. Basically, we are tired and we are looking forward to the end of the holiday season.

One of the benefits of having this business is that I get approached by other entrepreneurs. There are people out there with ideas and they want to run them by someone that has gone through what they are currently going through. Being an entrepreneur is a lonely endeavor. No one really understands what you go through unless they have gone through it themselves, not even your closest friends and family.

I have seen all kinds of ideas and they have all been great.

I don't have too many opportunities to take a break until Christmas Eve, especially this year when this week we got flooded again at Sugar & Spice as well as in my home. I had to race home to help clean out the water and to calm my 5 year old down. She was a bit scared seeing all the water inside her house.

After I helped the maid clean out the water I rushed back to work to send out more orders and luckily the water receded there as well, but I did manage to sit down a couple of times and enjoy some gifts that some fellow entrepreneurs gave to me.

I also managed to enjoy a nap on Sunday. One thing to keep in mind is that if you ever take a nap around two little girls who are bored they are bound to do something to you. In my case I was lucky enough to have woken up before they got to the make-up part of their plan. They had quite a few giggles from what they did manage to do as you can see from this picture.


I am glad I got to be a dad even while sleeping on this one. I just have to keep one eye open from now on. There is no telling what they will come up with the next time around.



This morning I enjoyed a Santa Clause Cupcake from Palermo Cupcakery. My daughter thought that it would be a great idea for Gina to make Christmas themed cupcakes and she wanted me to share that idea with Gina. Gina thought it was a great idea as well ;-)

The girls loved them! (so did I)

During the week I did not get much time to even break for lunch. Luckily for me the girls from El Bagelazo showed up with a bag full of warm, freshly made bagels and a stollen! I just had to share them with some of my employees who had never tasted a bagel before. Again, they loved them and so did I.

I was lucky enough to catch a break one day this week and I promptly sat down to enjoy a home made beer. This is one of those yet to be created ventures. After I poured the beer, it looked so nice that I had to take a picture of it.

In this case, it was an IPA that was a little softer on the bitter end of the scale to make it more palatable to local tastes. Having said that, I must clarify that it is still satisfyingly bitter, just like a good IPA should be.

I think it is a great beer. It was hoppy, bitter and I had it refreshingly cold enough to combat the hot muggy day. It was perfect and I am looking forward to this project getting off the ground. I am sure that once he opens up for business he will let me know and I can post about it here.

Currently I am wrapping up the Christmas rush at our store. Meanwhile, I managed to send cookie samples to the USA, Chile and Spain as well as a shipment to France; I managed with the store flooding as well as my home and staying with our delivery schedule in spite of those set backs. It has been a very interesting week.

We have some Pan Dulces left so I am sure that next week we will put what is left over on sale. They are bound to go pretty quickly as usuall.

I was lucky enough to receive a visit from another expat entrepreneur Jed Rothenberg from The Landing Pad. He was telling me about his company's plans for expansion into the rest of the country. I wish him all the luck and success possible. I am glad I got to wish him a merry Christmas in person.

For the rest of you that I do not get to see in person I can only exchange greetings from a distance. I wish all of you happy holidays and a prosperous and safe new year.

Feliz Navidad y prospero año nuevo!

Hey, Don't Forget About Cookies in Argentina!

Sure, cupcakes in Dubai, Beirut and Amman get into the New York Times. What about American style goodies in Argentina?

Ian and Taos, you guys gotta get on the ball here. Come to think of it, Ian actually did write about most of us recently. Okay Taos, let's see what you can do.

Fadi Jader opened up a cupcake store and called it Sugar Daddy's and ironically enough his clientele is 95% women.

My hat is off to you Mr. Jader. Congratulations on the New York Times article.

Meanwhile, in Argentina it looks like the cupcake business is starting to boom. Apart from Gina's Palermo Cupcakery, I have started to see more and more cupcake bakers.

There is also a Bagel option called El Bagelazo that will deliver their freshly made bagels to your home.

And who can overlook The California Burrito Company bringing the burritos way down south of the border. They are so popular that they have three locations now.

If you like something a little lighter there is Pura Vida bringing you the freshest yummiest smoothies around. Others have tried doing their version of smoothies, but these guys got it right.

And of course, yours truly with home made chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, pound cakes, brownies, etc.

Just a small clarification. We don't actually have "pudding". That is a typo from our web site designer. The local name for pound cake is "budin".