I would like to start my own business one of these days.
I have only been doing cakes 6mo, but have been interested my whole life!
I understand I need more experience, but not sure how to get it.
Thought of working in a bakery, but they require..you guessed it "experience". How do you get experience if no one will hire you as a intern or something?

So my question for all the business owners is, how did you get started? What are somethings you have done in your career that you might have changed? whats your success story?

Anything will help!
Thanks!!!

Take classes
Watch videos
Buy books
Practice, practice, practice
And then, practice some more

I think the best way is to practice. make cakes for your family and friends as a gift. you can make cakes for your local schools and day cares. Yes I agree with btsktch watch videos (use you tube and buy videos as well). you can also use dummies to learn new techniques.

I started out making cakes for family and friends, make sure you take pictures of your work and put them together in a portfolio that way if you do interview with bakery you can take your pics with you to show what you can do. It should not matter if you were paid to make the cakes it's showing what you can do! But a word of advice doing cakes for family and friends can get very expensive, especially as your skills get better! HTH

A lot of places do not require much experience. Have you considered a grocery store bakery?

Even if you work there 6 months, you will get vast amounts of experience, lots of photos and you can move up from there.

I began at a Walmart with no experience. I knew what a tip was, but I couldn't even make a rose. They basically paid me to screw up until I got it right.

Absolutely invaluable experience I wouldn't trade for anything. It also makes me truly thankful for the work I get to do now!

That wasn't true in my case. The only thing I learned working in a store bakery was how to ice a cake lickety split. It was not worth the hell of working at that grocery store.

Even if you have never worked in a commercial bakery you can get a job if you can prove you can decorate. Start a portfolio of all the cakes you make. Most grocery store bakeries will hire you with little to none previous work experience. Some stores bring in a trainer to teach you how to ice cakes.

"you can make cakes for your local schools and day cares."

Honestly it's probably not feasible to do so. Too many kids have allergies today for schools and day cares to accept cakes made from unlicensed sources, it's just too much risk. Even if they do accept it, I would personally never do so in the event that something DOES happen. It makes you very vulnerable on a legal front.

On another note, I've made cakes here and there a few years now but always as a hobby. After thinking about going into business, to make sure it was something I really wanted to do, I took classes to learn a few extra skills. In town we have a community center that does them from time to time (and pretty inexpensive at that) so I signed up. It was a 6 week class and I had a lot of fun. That's the only 'real' experience I had prior to opening my business just over a week ago.

You will gain experience as you go.

I had a cake promo, I charged $25 for 3d cakes and mostly advertised at work and Facebook and within 3 months, I had a full portfolio, I pretty much had to work for free, but the whole thing didn't cost me a dime and I can charge lots more money for the cakes because I have proof of my work and testimonials of it. Some people don't like working for free and snub their noses at this method, but it worked like a charm for me and the photographs of my cakes were worth every free minutes of my time! Hope this helps!

Take classes....Michael's teach the Wilton's classes and some tech schools have adult class at night. If you have a bakery/cake decorating supply store nearby they should offer classes. Even bakers in the area might offer classes.
YouTube is a great source for instruction/advice.
There are several great videos on the market as well.

Oh what great advice! Thank you.
So I should still apply at the bakery/decorating jobs even if they say "experience is a must" or "Only experienced"?
I feel like that would be lying a little bit...?
I'm going to be doing the classes at Michaels, I hope next month. I'm in college, work full-time and a moma to 3 small kids. Not sure if I should put more on my plate until this submester is over with!
I will continue doing cakes for free to get more pictures for my portfolio and then maybe try appling for the bakery jobs!...If I can stand my current job until then!

Thanks for all the help!
I <3 this forum!!!

The most important thing to do if you want to start a business is to know how to run a business. If you've never done anything that gives you experience in that, look into your local S.C.O.R.E. group. They're retired business people who can give you coaching on what to do and what not to do.

Costumeczar is right! BUSINESS PLAN. You can be the most amazing decorator, but with out a business plan you are doomed to failure, or to go broke.
When my oldest daughter's best friend was getting married. I offered to make her cake as my gift. What a trial by fire! I had baked forever and done some decorating, but nothing like a wedding cake. I loved it though and set about writing a biz plan so I could jump in full time. So far, I'm loving this and my plan has been my guide.
Good luck!

You're in college? Take cake, cupcakes, cookies, etc... to class. Quite a few of your classmates will be getting married in a few years and hopefully all of them will have graduation parties. That's what I did. College kids LOVE free food!

Yes I'm in college, going for business managment (So I can learn how to run a business)
I will ask my professor if I can bring in some baked goods for the class, thats a great idea!
Thanks!