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In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 171 - Say It - Don't, Spray It, we wanted to cover a topic to help us help you help us. Because it's how you ask questions in Facebook groups that dictate the kind of answers you'll get.

Depending on how you asked it, 🤩 you're either going to get really solid advice that moves your business forward, 🚮 or you'll end up with bottom-of-the-barrel, trash comments that do nothing other than get you even more worked up. 😡

🔑 You hold the keys to your own post - 🔓 whether your post gets locked or not is really up to you - the OP (original poster). And when you post in a way that garners good advice, it makes the group a better place.

👿 And when you post spun content that makes your client look like the devil's stunt double, you give the mod team more work - 🔒 because your thread will get locked by the mod team. It's our job to keep this space a resource for folks, not an echo chamber of the worthless comment, "🏃‍♂ RUN."

🤔 Ask yourself: "What am I looking for with this post - advice or validation?" If you're looking for validation, reconsider posting altogether. 💥 We aren't here to clean up a crime scene. If you want advice, we're your people. 🚔 We can help prevent the cookie car accident altogether with the right strategy.

If you find somethin' in here that looks like what you've asked in the past - no hard feelings. Your thread is a learning lesson to everyone, and for that, I am thankful (now stop posting threads that get locked, mkaaaay).

🙊 Example 1 - Unhappy Client Help

Let's start off with unhappy client help. It's a guarantee in business (and life) that you won't be able to please everyone. As such, dealing with upset clients is a business-ownership guarantee. How you handle that separates the proverbial "men from the boys" or should I say, "the business bakers from the business boo-ers."

😡 Spun Bad Question:

• "I took a last minute order, it was rushed, I fit her in - she begged! My icing wasn't perfect, but now she's upset about how they turned out. I wasn't even going to take the order and I let her know that it wouldn't be perfect, but she's saying the icing isn't the right color. I tell them in my terms that icing won't match, so she knew that going into it. I don't have time to rebake, and I will not refund her. What should I do? Any help?"

🤔 Alternate Healthy Question:

• "I took a last-minute order and in hindsight, I shouldn't have. I broke my own boundaries, and I acknowledge I have a hard time telling people no. The cookies that include piped names have bumpy icing - not my best work by far. What should I do in this situation? The client is unhappy with those cookies."

🙊 Example 2 - Pricing Wheelin' 'n Dealin'

Example 2 - a client who pushes back on price. It's a bummer when the client doesn't just pay the asking price but thinks there's room for bargain hunting. While likely there isn't much wiggle room, we can still play ball - in fact, that's likely what they expected you to do (remember - there are people who operate off the premise, "the answer to every unasked question is no, so ask").

😡 Spun Bad Question:

• "I secured a corporate recurring order and now they want to know if I can lower the price! They waited until after we nailed everything down and frankly, I don't want to work with them anymore anyway, but I want her to know I won't do business like that. How can I tell them they're being unfair?"

🤔 Alternate Healthy Question:

• "I secured a corporate order - and it would be a ni