...........are many jobs out there to be had that do not require a license. People can get jobs that pay what a small scale decorator would get............

There were several points I thought I'd comment on but THIS ONE really got to me!
There are????????? Could you PLEASE give me one of them?????? I have looked for 2 years now - put in 100s of apps and have had only 2 interviews that did not result in a job offer.
I know many 1000s of others in the same position that I am in
Yeah, I know, this is off topic.

Just a hobby baker here (I do it for stress relief from critical care nursing). Agree with the legal kitchen issues. But being one who had a dispute with a neighbor 6 months after moving into a neighborhood is not fun. 15 years, one court win, and daily dirty looks and finger gestures (not us, them) later, its still not fun. Luckily the entire neighborhood was behind us. If she has lived there a long time and is friends with all the neighbors, it could make for a miserable time for you. Hope everything works out for you. How exciting for you starting your own business!!

Thank you all for your insights, advice, and experiences. I will tread lightly on this as i do not want my new neighborhood to become a battle zone. I will continue my construction. Just last night I hauled 40+ buckets of broken concrete up a flight of stairs, thru the house, down the patio, and to the end of the drive-way - oh yeah, I'm in this full speed ahead!

Last year I heard about cake pops and decided to make some, everyone that had one at my daughters birthday said "you should sell them". The VERY FIRST thing I did was research to see if it would be legal to sell them from my home. It's not, so I don't. (That law should change soon though, I'm in FL )

It baffles me to think people don't realize they are doing something illegal.....BUT I do think there ARE people out there and the thought doesn't even cross their mind.

Maybe the OP should bump into her neighbor and say something like "I can't wait until my kitchen is done so I can be legal" then see what she has to say...if she is illegal that may just be enough to scare her into doing the proper thing.

I know some have this "I'll turn everyone in" attitude...and that's fine... BUT this is your neighbor, I say... be careful.

My point is that licensing is public information. No one gets in trouble for an inquiry unles they are in violation.

Kakeladi, sorry for your situation. I live in an area that is almost 10% unemployment. My 24 year old daughter quit high school her senior year. She is now going to a local college to get her diploma and she just started beauty school. She is a licensed personal trainer at Gold's Gym, she cleans our house, our medical office, and townhouses when someone moves.

She has assisted people in daily activities and has many begging for her services. She works as a receptionist in a salon and has just been offered a similar job that pays more and works around her schooling. She gave up the asistance job and cut back to appointments only at Gold's. We joke that unemployment is so high in our area because my daughter has all of the jobs.

I have been self-employed all of my life. I always had a backup plan if the sky fell. No one wants to hear this, but we pay $400.00 to have our lawn cut. We pay $15.00/hr to clean the office and house. If I lost my businesses, and my three girls (raised single) were still at home, I would start a business where I went door to door handwashing luxury cars. You could even hire it out and never get your hands wet.

There is a huge business sweeping the country... cat litter box cleaning... look it up. Again, hire the employees. Businesses are hiring skilled people to handle their social media. There is money to be made filing small claims for businesses and collecting on the cases for a percentage. Making house calls to collect past due bills for local businesses on a percentage would be a business that is necessary in this economy. Everyone is calling on the phone.

When I scaled back my construction company after a bad fall, I turned it into a (licensed) custom painting and wallpaper company. Eventually my husband wanted me to stay at home, so I closed it with plenty of business. My husband didn't want me to hurt myself again. I hated doing nothing so I saved for the bakery.

My point here is that there are plenty of jobs. I have created four companies in my life to fill a need and I have lived well doing it. Even this bakery is outside the box to where I have no other bakery directly competing with me. I found a need in this recession and filled it by taking the money from another unrelated industry.

Not every job is glamorous, but with three girls and being self employed, I dreamed up many a job that I could start the next day. I never had to use them, but the plan was there. I always lived below my means and one of these jobs would have paid my bills. I am well educated, but have never desired to work for anyone, so I dreamed up all of these backup plans.

If I didn't have a dime tomorrow and lost the bakery, I could have this business up and running again within a week or two with no startup money ...legally. I am never without a plan. My childen have followed my example. They are 26, 24, and 16... all with various marketable skills to fall back on.

My oldest daughter, at 14, had a business where she collected advertising from neighborhood businesses and she delivered them door to door. She had one employee. This was 1999 and she made $7.00/hr that summer. I could go on and on. Hopefully this post will prove that there is always the opportunity for a business.

My father had race horses. He saw that there was no commercial feed for athletic horses. You fed race horses and grazing horses the same feed. He spent one year studying the nutrition of top human athletes and applied the knowledge to horses, creating a feed, analized by Va Tech, and then mixed by a local mill. He made more money than I could ever hope to make.

If you can't find a job, make one. But do it legally.

When I started decorating 1 1/2 years ago, I didn't know about licensing requirements. Fortunately I was just learning and practicing and didn't sell anything. Later I made the choice not to get licensed... which to me means that I will NEVER sell a cake. The risks are just too high for me and I'm not willing to make the investment in a licensed kitchen because I've chosen not to turn my decorating into a 'real' job.

I enjoy eating at my friend's homes, but I would never eat at an unlicensed restaurant. When I go to a catered social event, I trust that the caterer is licensed. I can't imagine selling someone a cake that I couldn't back up with a licensed facility and and liability insurance.

I believe in karma - or doing the right thing - or whatever you want to call it. I also believe in protecting the public - which is why we have licensing laws in our states. To protect the buyer AND the seller.

I wouldn't hesitate to tell the inspector that I SUSPECT that there is an unlicensed baker next door to me. The alternative is to directly or indirectly make it known to buyers that she is unlicensed - which would alienate buyers and to whom is hard to tell.

In my opinion, the fair thing to do is to work with the inspector. It is then up to your neighbor to decide what she wants to do about licensing and/or selling at all. You haven't changed the situation. The rules for her are the same as before you showed up. She just can't plead ignorance anymore. The choices are still hers.

Wow ycknits, looking at your pictures, you've made an impressive amount of 'free' cakes.

Brevity, I hope you weren't implying that ycknits was not being truthful. She is baking for charity... mostly children.

Scp, I hope you're not implying that charity events don't have as many, if not more rules regarding the health department.

scp, your kids remind me of a story of my own kid: my youngest was running a candy store out of her middle school locker when the school shut her down. I was ticked because I felt they should be encouraging entrepreneurship! (Sp?) She even figured out that since Twix is a cookie, there is no sales tax on it but Milky Way is a candy bar so there IS sales tax on that .... so she could make more money selling a Twix. She had other kids doing the selling for her .... She was pretty much teh warehouse manager! And she was only around 12 or so.

I haven't had the opportunity to read many of the business postings on CC. However, from past experience, I knew that if I wanted to sell cakes I had to contact my HD. Mine told me that if I did it out of my home, I could not solicit and I have to make sure that people are aware that I am not a kitchen that is inspected by the county. My accountant submits a separate schedule C for me. I felt that I have done everything to be "legal" in my area.

However, after reading some of these posts, I feel a bit "dirty" because I don't have a separate kitchen and wouldn't be considered "legal" in many eyes. Am I wrong in feeling this way? I do this strictly as a hobby. (I have a job that I work 10 hours + a day) It is mainly friends and family but they don't expect me to do it for free. They pay for the materials and sometimes my time (and sometimes neither one!)

I report every penny. I live in a town that doesn't even have a grocery store. There is no place to get a great cake unless a frozen wal-mart cake is considered great and it is 30 minutes away. Now, I feel like I am not doing enough. Any thoughts??????? I am now confused!!!!!

ycknits, sorry you got knocked around by the newbie. Keep up the good work. Your cakes are beautiful and I am sure the recipients are AMAZED!!!

Debi, aren't we glad our kids didn't choose to sell drugs? But I'll bet you were a mom like me. I made them figure those things out. My dad made me work in his feed store from the time I was 9. His rule was, "I'll give you everything if you work, and nothing if you don't". My choice, and he meant it. When this generation decided to put work ethic on the back burner, no one told me. All of my children worked for me from a young age. They turned out well.

Thanks, Jason.

Thanks jason-kraft. According to the HD he said that it was just implemented a few years ago. I didn't think about getting it in writing from him though. He just told me over the phone. I'm glad that you mentioned that. I have liability insurance for my other business, but I never thought about getting it for this. Thanks again for the heads up!

No one said finding a job would be easy, but just as you need to reevaluate what the market demands if your products aren't selling, you also need to look at which skills employers are demanding and do everything you can to acquire those skills. Going into business for yourself and creating your own job is one way to go, but it is far from the only way.

At my day job (in IT) we are having a lot of trouble finding qualified candidates to fill out openings in our team -- there is a shortage of candidates who have both the necessary technical skills and the communication skills to back it up. Other jobs like personal training, nursing, and lab technicians are also in high demand.

Hot fields for hiring in 2011:
http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-2457-Job-Info-and-Trends-Hot-Fields-for-Hiring-in-2011/

This is a thread about what to do about an unlicensed baker who is next door to the OP's new house. When you click on this thread, there will be two sides. I'm not offended by the opposing side.

Sorry, but there are many jobs out there. I could spend a whole page naming more. q2wheels, I am sorry about your disability and I would not put your situation in the same category as the masses. But in th US, we can be thankful that the food we consume is regulated. From hot dog stands to county fairs. There is a reason. My point is that if you need a job, get one in a field that is not licensed. I'll bet we all feel strongly about licensed vs. unlicensed babysitters. Same thing. Public safety.

My husband's office is wheelchair accessable and he has a lab job he would love to fill. He also has a job available as his new weight loss program coordinator. Please don't take this as I'm meaning you... but this is frustratingly true in our area. The people he interviews don't really want to actually work eight hours a day. They actually admit it. He is tired of hearing it. I interviewed a baker (a relative), to work as an independent contractor. She actually told her parents she didn't want the job because she wouldn't get paid unless she actually worked. I am referring to WV and the problems with labor in our area. And we have construction workers that won't show up too. That is a big problem around here.

If you cannot find a job, make one. There are needs in every area. The WV part of my area is at 9% unemployment. But I have named twenty jobs that need to be filled right here. You just have to figure it out and fill in the gap.

My oldest daughter was going to start a business making graphic displays for attorneys to use in court. She is a paralegal. She had clients lined up because they had seen the work she did for her attorney. She changed her mind when she got pregnant. She went back to school and will get a degree while her kids are little. But that business was needed. You won't find those jobs in the help wanted ads.

Debi, I can't wait to hear about your shoplifting job.

I have to say, not all states have safe lic. rules for childcare. I know. One lic. requirement in my state caused my child to choke and another to hurt herself badly. Both situations came out okay in the end, but in both they could have been worse. Broken bones or even death. Sometimes I wish the people who dream up these rules would actually have to spend time "testing" them on themselves to see if they are safe. Sometimes I think "those who rule" don't even have children.

and then there are the jobs that are being filled by the oh so, how should I phrase this...lazy, spoiled kids...... I'm in the process of training one right now. First week, she showed up in jeans on Friday, against company policy. She smoothers herself in perfume. The assistant to the CEO told her in the elevator it's against company policy. She kept on wearing it. He sent a memo to my manager. And finally, she has taken her cell phone to all training classes and texted thru everyone one instead of taking notes. Some nerve. She's been here three weeks. Doesn't look good.

Absolutely no offense taken on my part... all is well I DO bake a lot of cakes and love every minute of it. I have six kids, their spouses/partners, 4 grandchildren and lots of friends. I retired two years ago and knew that I wanted to volunteer doing something... maybe Habitat for Humanity? Then I took some Wilton classes, connected with an awesome organization called Birthday Cakes 4 Free - which connected me with a recovery program that provides subsidized housing and recovery support to families with one or more parents in recovery. It's an incredible non-profit that gets no state, federal, or county money - with a strong emphasis on the children involved. To them, I'm "The Cake Lady," who shows up with two cakes each month for the family birthday celebration. I always tell people that it's the best hour of my month. And I get to practice making all kinds of cakes. So my charity baking is eaten and never gets resold. When someone insists on paying me something, I ask them to make a donation to Birthday Cakes 4 Free instead - which allows even more cakes to be provided to people.
I truly believe that celebration cakes are magical, especially in the eyes of a child. And I treasure CakeCentral.com and all of you wonderful people who have taught me so much!
As Winston Churchill said: We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. I have never felt more blessed

The post above is a wonderful one!! Good for you! I am sorry that someone was rude enough to try to tell you were dishonest with out even asking you. That was uncalled for. As for other comments I have seen all over CC I do want to mention that in some states licenses and all the other crazy money costing things don't apply.

In AZ its about to become law that you don't have to get anything but a food handlers permit and be on the registry and labels for everything. Luckily the county is not going to change it and I know this because I talked to them today.

So just know that some people can be 100 percent legal with only spending about 100 bucks (that is with out insurance which is my next hoop). Seemed like some people didn't realize this.

I feel bad for people in other states having to spend all that money but applaud them for doing it right. OP I am sorry that would be totally frustrating!!!

ycknits, thanks for the story. It was so obvious what your passion was as soon as I read your descriptions. I think it should remind us all to remember those in need. I have my favorite charities, but I could do much more.