Hi All,

I'm thinking about becoming one to earn some extra income.
Any pros/cons that I should be aware of?
Do you also own your own bakery? Do they let you be a WMI w/ your own bakery? Do they let you offer classes elsewhere besides the craft stores?
I would like to try and offer classes at community centers and such.

That's all I can think of for now. Thanks!

Teaching at a community center would place you into the Community Education part of teaching.

To teach as a CE WMI you must have an account as well. This means you would have to be placed as a craft store (Hobby Lobby, AC Moore, Joanne's superstore or a Michael's.) or you have to teach at an independant location.

I have a certified home kitchen and am revamping the garage for certification and moving production out there so I can hold cake club, classes etc. outside and my home kitchen doesn't get in the way of my cake mess.

I will let you know right now that many store managers are not supportive of Wilton in their stores. Even though it brings in good money we get walked on a lot of the time at many locations.

Marketing, advertising etc. are all done at your expense. I have yet to hear of a store manager who's happy to see a WMI coming saying "I need 250 copies of this to put out around town!" I am at a Michael's and the spoken clearly rule for me is "you can advertise any way you want as long as it's not flyers on windshields (against policy and to me it's a nasty way to advertise) and as long as it doesn't cost the store a single penny.

If you get lucky and get a store that supports you it's great but those are a rarity these days.

It's a great side job but don't expect much income from it unless you hold many courses in a month. I make decent money but I hold up to 8 or 9 courses a month when I can on a slow month if I am lucky enough to have 2 courses it barely buys groceries.

For those that want a second job and look into it I say "it's more of a year around job for Christmas presents fund" then it being a "I need a second job to help pay bills." It's a fest or famine and you don't know month to month if you'll have classes.

For the up's:

Wilton discounts
Wilton gift certificates as incentives
Employee discount if you work at Michael's (not sure about the others)
Fun job


I'm sure there are many other pro's but my back is killing me and I need to go take a hot bath to relax it. I'll think about it and post more later.

It's one of the best ways to teach the uninitiated who wouldn't otherwise have taken a cake class.

Use the store printer, computer, and ink whether they like it or not. Talk to your Wilton supervisor and let them know you will be doing so. There is usually SOME manager at the store who doesn't care or sees the VALUE in your activities.

The discounts can't be beat.

I agree that at most, it pays for your own caking equipment, but not much else. If you're not careful....it can cost you. Make your store do their part!!!

I'm thinking about doing this also, so thanks for asking the question!

If you haven't already, do a forum search. There are alot of posts out there that list the pros and cons of the job.