I'm very new to cake decorating. I started approx. 5 months ago...and at the age of 47 I think I've finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up lol!!! I've never enjoyed something so much!! I am absolutely loving cake decorating but I'm wandering if this is just the "Honeymoon Stage"? everyone and when I say everyone...I mean everyone keeps telling me that I need to start a business but I don't want to get burned out. Right now it's a hobby and I love it...however, it's an expensive hobby. I work full time but seriuosly...I have cakes on my mind 24 hours a day...designs running through my head that I want to try....I wake up in the morning and I start thinking about what I want to try next. I know that I have sooooo much more to learn but how much more before I even consider the idea of a business??? For those of you who started your businesses, how long did you give yourselves before you started up and how did you know you were ready?

I am so with you on the consuming thoughts. I see something so totally not related to cake decorating and think...that would be cute on a cake. It's a sickness. LOL I work full time as well and could never give up the benefits I have, but would love to. Hope it all works out well for you!

I had that for my first 6-7 months of decorating....but it wore off....I dreamt and thought of cake, colors, designs, textures, flavours and so on 24 h a day. Totally consumed by mu cake love.

Now I have a more normal relationship to my cakes I've made to many cakes over the last months and I sort of lost my passion for a bit. Now it's back but I'm not infatuated any longer. I enjoy most of thee cakes I make but I also choose to NOT do many cakes that I get asked to do. Mostly to be able to spend my free time with my family instead of mixing cakes, kneading fondant and inhaling to much powdered sugar

That will wear off quick when you have so many to do that you dont have time to dream about the next one!

I'm not sure how one "knows when their ready to start a business". There is WAY more to a "cake decorating business" than decorating cakes. I think it's something like only 10%-25% of your time is actually spent "decorating a cake". I do believe that most people hear from their friends and family "you should start a business" or "you should do this for a living" when we start decorating cakes.

I don't have "my own business" nor desire to. I work for a bakery that specializes in custom cakes. I do know that this business is a tough one and I make good money w/o having to worry about the "costs of operation". The lady that I work for has owned her bakery for over 25 years and is "very established" in our area. It works out great for me to work for her rather than to open my own business. I build my skills and get to do what I love without having to worry about any of the "business".

I don't know where you're located but I would suggest that you check into the "local" competition and see what they have to offer, their cost and how "skill wise" their cakes compare to yours, etc.

Believe me the "honeymoon stage" will be over when you have so many to do you don't have time to "dream about the next one"..like pattigunter said.

Give it at least another 6 months and see if you're still "dreaming about the next cake" or even as enthused as you have been this first 5 months.
What about getting a job with a local custom shop to "test the waters" of this business. Who knows one day I may have an interest in owning my own business but for now I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the business and I have a long way to go before I'll be ready.

You do have some pretty cakes in your photos

cakeglitz, that was me a year ago. Obsessed!!

I finally found a commerical kitchen so I could bake and sell legally. Got my licenses and I am working there on Saturdays. I still LOVE it. I am not really making any money yet but I am beginning to make enough to pay rent on the commercial kitchen.

Take baby steps. I would love to quit my permanent job, I hate it, but it pays my mortgage. So for now I bake and sell when I can. Word of mouth is starting to get out so June was a good month for me. Who knows what July will bring.

yes but will all those friends who tell you to open a cake business actually pay what you will have to charge to maintain the business? Just something else to think about

I've thought about this myself, and I'm a couple of months behind you. My answer is: Not now. I've still got a lot of practicing and planning to do. I want to build a portfolio to get a job in a bakery, no sooner than 1 year from now. I'll be able to keep building my skills and improving my portfolio in order to rent a kitchen and eventually get clients. Got a lot to learn, besides the cake decorating, including marketing and running a business, before I even think of my own shop.

You know you're ready to "go pro" when your detailed business plans tells you to. You'll research your competition, look into all the costs of licensing, and all the other biz stuff that hasn't even occurred to you yet. I've been pro 11 years and have finally come to the realization that a shop is in not in my future. Over the years I've written two business plans and talked myself INTO reality both times. Luckily, I can bake at home.

Thanks guys for all of your responses!! I always know I can always count on my CC friends for wonderful advice!! I have researched a little... and in my state you can have a licensed home bakery. It just has to have a seperate entrance and you have to have a certain type of sinks and a few other specifications....If I decided to open a business this is the way I would go. I've thought about it a lot lately and I'm just not sure if it would be worth the investment. I'm very much a perfectionist and so I am extremely slow right now and I know I would have to get much, much faster in order to make enough money to be able to break even....but I can tell you...I know that this is what I want to do...hopefully, I can continue doing it as a hobby and not go broke in the process.