New To The Cake Decorating Business!

Business By shelley102664 Updated 13 Jul 2010 , 5:22pm by shelley102664

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shelley102664 Posted 3 Jul 2010 , 4:46am
post #1 of 13

Hello to my fellow cake decorating professionals! I am new to this business, and I need help from you seasoned professionals. Please give me as much advice as you can in regards to how you started your business, what training have you had,and what challenges have you faced when you were just starting out? I pose this question to those who work out of their homes, what procedures did you have to follow in order to do so? I am so excited to begin new venture in my life, and I just want to be a success! How do you promote your business, and some dos and don'ts in being successful. Thank you all in advance for your help, expertise, and knowledge. I wish you all much success, God Bless! icon_biggrin.gif

12 replies
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minicuppie Posted 3 Jul 2010 , 1:24pm
post #2 of 13

The best advice I can give you is to pick a topic and start reading. All of your questions have been answered many, many times.

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leily Posted 3 Jul 2010 , 3:06pm
post #3 of 13

The first thing you'll need to do is make sure that it is Legal to have a food business out of your home kitchen. From what I have seen on the boards it varies in the state of new york. Check with your local health department or dept. of Ag (depends on which state you're in on who you go through, not sure who it is in New York)

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LindaF144a Posted 3 Jul 2010 , 4:34pm
post #4 of 13

In Monroe County, way north of you, you can bake out of your home. You meed a Home Processing Permit and you can only bake to wholesale and farmer's markets ONLY. And NO advertising whatsoever. I don't even know if you can hang a business name sign at the farmer's market. The ones I see at mine don't.

And I totally agree with the poster who said start reading here. All the information you are asking about is on here. I spent weeks reading this board before I even posted. The wealth of information on here is astounding.

Good luck.

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indydebi Posted 3 Jul 2010 , 8:48pm
post #5 of 13

welcome to CC, the best resource for all things cake! The above advice is correct ..... start in the business forum and just start reading. Every thread, no matter how repetitive and no matter how old. It's a goldmine of info.

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minicuppie Posted 4 Jul 2010 , 11:53am
post #6 of 13

Thanks for the reinforcement, ID. Sometimes I feel mean telling new members to just read, but they will get more out of that than a million rambling posts.

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indydebi Posted 4 Jul 2010 , 12:08pm
post #7 of 13
Quote:
Originally Posted by minicuppie

Thanks for the reinforcement, ID. Sometimes I feel mean telling new members to just read, but they will get more out of that than a million rambling posts.



I spent my first 3 days on here just reading .... and reading ... and reading.

Even after I had been on here for awhile, I began branching out and even reading fondant threads ..... even tho' I had absolutely NO plans to ever touch fondant. So by the time I DID do my first fondant cake, I was able to do it pretty simply (with just one panic call to a CC friend!). I was amazed at how much I had learned just by reading all of the fondant threads! icon_surprised.gif

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Loucinda Posted 4 Jul 2010 , 2:51pm
post #8 of 13

Ditto to all the above! There is everything you would ever need or want to know on here! icon_smile.gif

The very first post in the sticky's has a lot of info on where to check to see if you can legally operate out of your home...start there! thumbs_up.gif

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mamawrobin Posted 4 Jul 2010 , 3:04pm
post #9 of 13
Quote:
Originally Posted by indydebi

welcome to CC, the best resource for all things cake! The above advice is correct ..... start in the business forum and just start reading. Every thread, no matter how repetitive and no matter how old. It's a goldmine of info.




I agree....READ...the first few weeks that I was on cc all I did was read...read...read! thumbs_up.gif

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Donnabugg Posted 4 Jul 2010 , 4:29pm
post #10 of 13

Welcome & Happy Caking!! thumbs_up.gif

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costumeczar Posted 5 Jul 2010 , 12:32pm
post #11 of 13

Don't just read here, call your local health department and go to small business seminars that are offered in your area. I read your post to my 14-yo-son, and his response was "I think that she needs a business consultant."

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elliespartycake Posted 6 Jul 2010 , 4:09pm
post #12 of 13

Before I started my business I read until my eyes nearly bled. No one can give you an easy peasy recipe for a successful business. But you can read here on CC and many other places about starting a home based business.

Ditto to contacting your health department and you absolutely need a business plan!!! It's a lot of work, but worth it if you want to succeed.

Good luck!

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shelley102664 Posted 13 Jul 2010 , 5:22pm
post #13 of 13

icon_biggrin.gif Thanks to all of you who replied. I am definitely going to take all of your advice and read, research, etc. Enjoy your summer. Will talk soon!

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