I am a stay at home mom and now opperate under the texas cottage food law. I have made cakes mostly for family and friends and have been working on making a home business out of it. BUT with this cottage food law I cant really advertise much at all.
I had been advertising on craigslist. and once i put the bee cupcakes i made on my add im all of a sudden having my ads flagged and removed ( im assuming from one or more of the other home bakers there are atleast 10 of them that post on there in the area.) since im getting flagged for the reason im un sure of, and none of the other ones are being removed my website views have gone down to 10-30 a day from over a 100 a day. I have no orders coming in.
friends order cakes from me but they dont need cakes every week.
I cant go and give away product to local businesses, I have been told from people on here that I cant do the fire fighter donation that I was going to do. I have a doctor office that wants samples to possibly do a contract deal for 300 cupcakes and cookies a week. but i cant take it cause the cottage food law says the products must be picked up at my house. they have to have them delivered daily.

All the people on craigslist have a 6 inch cake at $25-$30 and a 8 inch at $30-35 I cant compete with that. I use high quality chocolates and other ingredients. People love my cakes when they taste them but I cant get people to order to taste them and not being able to give to dr offices since they have to be transfered from my home under the law is just making things so hard.

I dont know what else to do. I need to be able to make a profit.
But between paying for my website, buy business cards, paying for insurance when i get it. I wouldnt have profit but maybe $5 a week from what i calculated. I cant charge more than I do now I am already over priced for the area though im making $5 on a 2 tier 6 and 8 inch fondant covered and decorated cake. I cant take on wedding cakes now with two kids so i cant do the wedding cakes for big money

also i couldnt do weddings if i even wanted to now since by the law I cant do wedding events that have all the people offering services. cause I cant hand out items if they are not from my home.

im so irritated. I need an income even 300 a month would make a huge help but i cant get customers. I dont have friends and family to help get business. my husbands employees love my cupcakes but they can no way afford them.

any advice? I cant afford ads in papers that would get out to people.
\\my only other thought is putting my info on the back window of my van with the vinal letters so people driving by and while im at stores people see it.

I think the issue is that OP can't afford to pay for advertising and is running her business on basically a nonexistent budget.

It does take a good amount of upfront money to build a successful and profitable business, even in CFL states. Anyone can give their work away for slave labor prices on Craigslist, but if you really want to make money you need to put together a marketing strategy that targets a different audience than the CL bakers, preferably in a more affluent area. This will involve spending money on hiring someone to help you with the strategy if you don't already have the business expertise, not to mention spending money on the advertising itself.

If you don't have the money to invest at this point you may be better off working for someone else until you have a nest egg for the business.

I have no knowledge of the TX Cottage food law but it must be ALOT different then Florida's Cottage food Law. They won't let you advertise? or deliver? Here we can advertise (have a website, FB page, etc) but we can not sell on the internet. I'm just wondering if maybe TX is the same but you are not fully understanding all the rules. Hopefully that is the case! Best of luck!

From all your posts, I really think you need to postpone this idea for a while.

Some of your posts ask flat out for every recipe under the sun, and you don't have any money to develop recipes. You really should have some idea of recipes before selling the products of them.

You don't have any money or a plan to advertise, or any idea really, that businesses rarely make any money for a year or two. You need money before you start a business, it doesn't make you money immediately.

It actually seems from many of your posts that you haven't read any of this forum at all, which would answer a lot of your questions.

And then every so often, you throw one of these, 'woe is me, I think I'll have to quit' posts. Well, lots of us don't have businesses because we can't afford them, or don't want the hassles of recipe development, or don't want to deal with the legalitiies. Some of us have very expensive hobbies instead. It seems to me that you might be better off finding a job that pays $300/month, and putting a bit more thought a research into the whole cake idea before giving it another try.

I make cakes for friends, & co workers. I get business though word of mouth. I have a facebook page that has pictures of my cakes.

there's also the option of NOT using high quality ingredients. it sounds like you are in the position where you have a choice between tasting good and making profit, and you can't have both. once you build up clientele and/or find a way to reduce your product costs, you can then work back up to higher end ingredients.

I have seen a lot of your posts. I don't like to see or hear anyone fail, but so many people think that making and selling cake is easy and profitable. Well, all I can say is you really, really really need to start doing your own research and actually reading the answers people have given to you, and you especially need to read the law in your state. Stop relying on forum posts of CC. Read the links kindly provided to you on the State of Texas' website given to you by Kelleym. At a certain point you need to figure this out for yourself.

I honestly think you need to take a break from this and find another way to earn your income, while working out a business plan, learning how to run a business, perfecting your recipes and practicing decorating. Frankly, if you NEED to start turning a $300 profit RIGHT NOW making cake at the pricepoints you are talking about, (and you don't have any money of your own to invest), it ain't gonna happen. It's a fact that very few businesses turn profits in the first year, and the businesses that DO turn immediate profits are businesses selling something unique and are ran by people that know what they are doing and how to run a business right out of the gates. You have been relying on a bunch of strangers on an internet forum to give you product to sell (making it NOT unique), tell you how to run your business (laws, pricing etc.), and how to turn an immediate profit because you need the money now. Your situation has all kinds of fail written all over it.

Sorry

I live in Canada, but I was curious so I looked up Texas Cottage Food Law. It says right there on the website that you can advertise.

And just so you know there are PLENTY of stay at home moms with multiple small children at home who make their business work. They may be working until 4 in the morning, but it works. All business is hard work and sacrifice.

ok i think i get the point. Im done doing cakes for now. I will just make my car payment money selling all my pans and tools. its easier. ill work on cakes once the kids are in school. I obviously dont have a clue and people sending me emails are making things very confusing telling me that I can have a website and i can NOT give donation cupcakes to fire fighters and such. so I am not going to put my familys current income at risk for being sued. Good luck to you all that have made it work.

It won't be confusing if you IGNORE all the email from people who don't know what they're talking about (in regards to your specific situation) and go straight to the horse's mouth. If are you are this easily frustrated and dissuaded, maybe business isn't the right road for you.

Krista, and everyone else.... This is not where you are supposed to get definitive answers on law, taxes, food safety, and any other similar information. Go to the HD, official websites, and legal/tax/accounting experts.

On a forum, you will get ideas, correct information, and incorrect information. Ultimately, it is up to the individual to verify public information.

Krista, I don't think you should give up so easily. Maybe slow it down a bit but don't just throw your dream away. Take all the advice here, and apply yourself to getting the knowledge you need to succeed. If possible, take a break from CC and use that time to read the Texas Cottage Food law website. Get familiar with Google, dig and search for information. The points here on CC can guide you toward making a decision, but they can only guide; definitive answers will have to come from you putting in the work to get information at the true sources.

You will be amazed at how many free resources are available if you apply yourself intelligently. I recently found out that the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts actually has a 1-800 number where you can get clarification on business taxes FREE! Their website spells out info on Sales tax for the home baker.

There is an organization called SCORE that provides FREE business advice and guidance to small business owners. You may not have that in your area but an example of applying yourself would be to dig up their information online, call and find out if they have sister organizations in your area.

If you're going to succeed, you must start by believing that you have what it takes to succeed, and then live your life in light of that. Yes some days can be hard, and that's why you have CC for encouragement and a kick in the backside if necessary.

Good luck.

I think you really need to do your own research. Anyone on here could be wrong. I could say that the sky is yellow. You can take my advice and be convinced that the sky is yellow, or you can go outside and see for yourself that it is blue. If you don't know for a fact that what someone here says is true, you need to go and find the answer for yourself. Don't trust other people to do the research for you or to know the right answers off the top of your head.

Now I'm not saying that no one is right, or that everyone is wrong, I'm just saying double check and make sure you know the facts for yourself before taking someone elses word for it.

Please don't give up if this is your dream.

Kudos to all of you who offer good thoughts and had the "cake balls" to tell it like it is. Not everyone has the skills to run a business, even a small one. It is really hard to offer brutally honest, but true advice.

My sister, an MD, is going bankrupt a third time, at age 58 because she INSISTS she needs a "private practice" (her OWN business). She sucks at bookkeeping, hiring, managing, etc. If she worked for someone else, collected a paycheck, and let someone else do all the business stuff.. she would be MUCH better off...

A stay at home mom, that gets inspected for daycare, cares for ONE additional baby along with her own, may find $300 a month with little more aggravation than her life already has.... rather than a whole new business venture.

Not everyone can/ should run a business.