OK...I need to vent. Hubby and I were talking a little last night. I asked him how he really felt about me starting a cake business. He replies, "I'm afraid we will lose our _ _ _!" I said how's that I'm doing it from home. He replies, "Well...as far as the electric and the water goes, we'll have to keep an eye on the bill to see if increases with having to bake all those cakes and making icings." Do you believe this? I work full time ang give him my whole paycheck and use my cake money to buy supplies and things I need for the busiess. As far as the electric bill, we had 130.00 credit this month!!! I keep telling him that he will eventually see a profit. He also doesn't like it because when I am decortaing I used the whole kitchen and if he comes in with groceries there is no place to set anything, which I immediately stop what I am doing and put groceries away. The other night, I had to stop what I was doing and go look at the computer for him cause he couldn't get the backup to work and it had to be done right then!!! What's a girl to do????

I sympatize with you, but have no answer to this problem. I can't even get my husband to help me keep the kids (2,5,6) out of the kitchen when I am putting the final touches on a cake! Good luck and hang in there.

Men!

I think that men in general have trouble seeing "The Big Picture". I keep telling mine that we will see that profit soon, and although I know he supports what I do, I still catch him rolling an eye or two after I say that to him! Just hang in there, is all the advice that I have for you! It will either work or not.... You have no way of knowing how it will turn out, unless you try first!!!!! Good Luck!!!!!

my DH was totally not for my making this a complete income source for a year ago, a side job maybe to earn fun money ok, but a biz no way... then he saw that hey the money is good and was like ok... maybe you should start charting your ins and outs of what you spend and what your bring in.. have your power company send you a print out of your annual usage.... and show him the difference since you started cooking. Also I don't know if you have that option there but here we can do something called levelized billing where they base our bill off of the history of the previous 12 months and we pay the same thing or close to it every month all year long.... so I know that my bill won't go over say $260 no matter how much I bake..... not to mention now that I am legit, it can be a tax write off.... how I am doing that is, I am not levelizing my bill until next month, so I am keeping this months bill and then once next months bill shows up and is more than last months I will KNOW just how much my little kitchen in the detached garage is costing us..... so that might just be an option for you. This is one reason why I chose to keep my biz licensed and at home for now, because a. I wouldn't have a rental bill and b. i could tie my utilities together..... so it saves my family money in the long run. Instead of us renting a large building for a storefront bakery... we opted to buy a much larger home with a detached garage to start us out in and then work up once biz got better.... so see, work on him for a year or so and he might bend..... they usually do..... we up and moved 130 miles so something I did must have convinced him because we now survive off of his retired mil pay and my bakery he is taking care of the kids FOR NOW!!!!

I'm not sure if the date is wrong on my computer or if I'm a day behind, but on my calendar, it is Thursday, September 13.

Now, on to the point. I have a cake decorating business. My DH got tired of it taking up the whole kitchen, etc. and pushed me into a shop. I've been in the shop for 2 years now, have run out of money twice, haven't had a paycheck in 2 years, he's more irritable and unsupportive than ever, and I'm miserable. That said, I love decorating cakes, I love the look on a 3 year olds face when the cake is better than he dreamed and wants you to come to the birthday party, I love the groom when he thinks the groom's cake got more attention than the bride's cake. I love all of these things. If you can find a happy medium or balance of any kind, please, let me know.

I think sometimes our hubbies see this as a "little hobby". Sometimes they don't understand how serious and emotionally attached we are to this. Sometimes I get that from my DH. I have ideas and sometimes I feel brushed off or that I'm "thinking to big". He kind of shrugs his shoulders and I feel like he's just patting me on the head like I'm a child.

All this does is just drive me harder to prove to him how serious I am about this. I'm really thinking about the long term goal now and I feel full of ideas and inspiration and I'm not going to let anyone hold me down.

Hang in there.

Our electric is level billing so I really don't think hubby has a leg to stand on. Luckily he has to get up at 4:30 am to go to work so he's in bed by nine. I can usually use that quiet time to work. Keep praying for them I guess and good Lord willing it will work out.

Maybe he should turn off the computer and the TV when you are baking so the electric bill doesn't increase. This is a hot topic for me!!!! Does he not know where those groceries go? I'm assuming his arms and legs aren't broken so he's just as capable of putting them away as you are. There was a thread on this same subject just yesterday and it had some very good advice. I'll post the link if I can find it.

Here's the link to the thread I was referring to http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-512063.html

HI Ladies, I have to say my husband has been very supportive of my cake business, he even helps me bake when I have several cakes to make in a weekend, (he is home baking now while I am at work, he works second shift ) He knows the money I make goes into my checking account to pay for supplies and whatever I need. He is actually hoping that I can eventually make it my full time job. I am sorry that all your husband don't support you, sometimes they just don't understand that we like to do what makes us happy and if we are happy then he should be happy. Good luck Ladies!!!

HUGS Ladies.......one day maybe they will see the light. I am very blessed in having my dh who is behind me 1 million %. No, I am not rolling in the business YET , but he is willing to help me however. I am doing it from home...just going to take time and word of mouth. Just last night, he rolled and dipped 4 dozen different kinds of truffles for me so that I could include them in 2 orders today for new customers who have never eaten them! I am blessed......and hope that your dh's see the light too.....take care.

All of these problems people have with their partners makes me feel really lucky. My fiance is financially supporting us while I finish up Culinary school and is cosigning with me for a start-up loan for my own place to start a business (a confectionery), and is digging up info so that I can get discounted tuition while I complete my bachelor's in Business so I can run the business effectively.

I don't know exactly why my fiance takes me seriously but I have a few guesses. It could be that he has always had a dream of owning and running his own Pub/Sports Bar, so he sympathizes with my dreams that are similar. Maybe because I am in Culinary school he knows I'm dead serious, and then again he also is very good at looking at the big picture of this and likes that if things take off NOW, I can be a stay at home mom for the most part later while still bringing in a good income for us to have as supplement.

The big thing with us is that we're very good communicators- and we're not a "new" couple, I mean we haven't been together 10 years but we've been through some tough stuff and really learned how to be frank about things. I would never go into business without taking some business courses- my mother struggles with her business because she just knows her trade, not how to make a PROFIT off of her trade. Yeah it costs money to go to the local community college and take a couple classes, but they pay off because you learn how to really run things. So, FH and I agreed that I need to learn the BUSINESS aspect of just running and owning a business, and right now I'm hammering out the TRADE aspect. I think because I made a plan that appeals to him as a man, i.e. cause and effect, hard facts, this equals this, etc [or maybe just him as a computer/math geek haha] he's taken me very seriously.

So.. after all that long-winded stuff, I can only recommend sitting down and giving him some hard details/information to sway him. You could say, "You're either with me or against me" as some on this site have had to do, but that doesn't always work for everyone and only you know if it will or not- and I'd rather have a willing partner in business than one who's only semi-willing out of fear of being alone, or a feeling of moral/marital obligation. You'll be very productive if you can manage to get him on board rather than merely convince him to tag along. Hope that makes sense!