Throughout the last 18 months (the whole time I’ve been in IB so far) I have been persevering through my small baking business. I started this business when I was 13 years old as a way to express my creativity while doing something I love, improving my skills and making money in the process. I became known in my community for creating baked goods, and many people quickly became repeat customers. I love creating desserts for people, however, when I started IB, my school work picked up drastically. I became very busy with school work, extracurricular activities, friends, family, and my business on top of all of it. This led to me feel burnout and stress overload. I started to hate something I had loved, and it became more of a chore than a delight. I was no longer enjoying what had once been the way I expressed myself, so I decided to take a small step back. I started putting up boundaries for myself, not only with cake orders, but with social commitments and the expectations I put on myself as well. Balance has always been a trait that I have strived to incorporate into my life, and while it's been difficult, this experience has helped me learn how to do that. I continue to take cake orders when I can, and when I WANT to; the biggest lesson I learned through this experience is that I should only be doing a job that I enjoy, setting me up for future success with whatever my career will be. Reflecting back, my business has taught me invaluable lessons from business skills, communication, organization, and most importantly perseverance and commitment! I absolutely love to bake cakes and desserts, and turning it into a job taught me perseverance through a long period of ups and downs.
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