Generally the people who think I'm mean are the ones who feel like I'm calling them out by highlighting what they're up to...But I write about trends that i see, not a specific person. If you see yourself in something I wrote then the burden is on you to decide whether you like it or not and change your ways! ;)

@shockolata~~Sorry to hear that you've had to deal with a disability that has affected your working life.  I've been there, so I can definitely be understanding and empathetic.

Since many of us on CakeCentral are based in the USA, it is always helpful to have an idea of where someone is located if they are in another country.  Since I/we don't know your location, I suggested you look over the USA site for SCORE.org, get an idea of what they do, then try to find a comparable organization in your city/country.

Small business practices, for both part- and full-time business start-ups, are virtually the same in many countries, regardless of the product or service that may be offered by the business owner.  What I was suggesting is not that you find local custom bakers to offer business advice, but rather to locate an organization that helps small business (not cake decorators).  Whether the "business/product" is recycled cardboard, birdhouses, used tires, custom cakes, or becoming a tour guide, all of them need to employ basic business principles.

If you read the information on the SCORE.org site, you'll see these basic small business principles over and over.  An example is the article:  How to Turn Your Hobby Into a Business

https://www.score.org/resources/how-turn-your-hobby-business                           

Many new bakers on CC may think they want a part-time business, when the reality is that they just want some extra money making fun cakes. Again, I wish you well in whichever route you decide to choose.

My friends & family are actually the complete opposite haha. We enjoy giving our family and friends free cakes (nobody really asks for them that often anyways), but they ALWAYS insist on giving us money. 

@Apti  Thank you. I live just outside London, UK. I had drawn out a business plan a couple of years ago and looked into licensing etc. but my then partner clipped my wings. He told me it was OK to have a "little hobby" to occupy myself with but that was all it should ever be. 

I was thinking about how you keep giving away free cakes in the hopes of getting referrals.  I think that, to some degree, you are doing them a favor and hoping that it will bear fruit.  It reminded me of something my boss said years ago.  "A favor becomes a habit, and a habit becomes a demand."

The others here have given you some good suggestions.   Don't worry, it will come!

I know this thread is a few months old but figured I'd share a little funny. We just opened and I've never not one time baked for my family events no birthdays no special occasions nothing they got the leftovers from our practice cakes (not kidding) I've never offered to bake for them and now I know why. My grandma (71 yrs old) asked how the orders were going and I said good we booked a pretty big one and she said oh how much and I told her $275 and she oh a wedding cake huh and I said no it's a 1st birthday cake. So my instincts were right to never bake for free for them as they would probably never ever pay my prices now.

My friends never ever had me do anything for free and they pay my prices now. It was always understood that I was going into business and they wanted to support that. Some of my best returning customers are the ones who I baked for cost for. I have a friend who can't order often ( she has lost weight and wants to maintain her weight loss) anyway I get customers who she has referred almost weekly two last week in fact. So my advice is never bake for free if you plan to go into business. I'm not saying solicit sales or operate as a business but explain you won't bake for cost forever your prices will go up.   But in some cases it may be too late to have friends as customers  

@angelsmom89  your boss's saying is wise.

Baking a cake for the lady who works for me (for her daughter's birthday).

Me: need to know what she likes so I can plan ahead

She: we've got plenty of time, relax!

Me: I know myself, please ask her what she wants and let me know.

[time is passing... no further info]

Me: OK how about I make something and we surprise her?

She: Like what?

Me [showing her pics I had gathered of cakes I wanted to make one day which I thought were worthwhile and appropriate]

She: Nah... don't think she would like that.

Me: show her please

[few days later]

She: I showed my daughter and she thought they were lame.

Me: [fuming inside at the tactless response]

Me: OK what does she want that is not going to be 'lame'?

She: [showing me a photo of a cat cartoon which is used as an emoticon. The cat is ugly and makes no sense.]

Me: [trying to find out more] So she likes cats.

She: just make something simple, you know? There are more cats online, like this, or this. 

Me: OK will research it. What size?

She: oh 2-tier! She always wanted a 2-tier cake.

Me: What will you do with so much cake? Thought you said she didn't want to have a party and your fridge is small. Shall I make a dummy layer with a proper cake on top?

She: oh no, not a dummy. Just make something simple and quick.

Me: OK, how about a buttercream cake with some nice piping?

She: oh no, it has to have fondant!

[more days later]

She: her father definitely does not want me to invite people over, she does not want it either, I don't know what to do.

Me: don't invite anyone, just family, it's best this way.

She: yes, I think it is.

Me: so I will make you a simple cake about 6 inches diameter like the pan you showed me with a cat on top. [Was thinking Aristocats, but she did not want a childish cat... yet the emoticon one was even worse, IMO.]

[Day of baking... Cake batter is cooking in the oven and I am modelling the cat which has to be black, even though I can't see details in black. Cake comes out of the oven and is cooling on the rack. She stares at it.]

She: Do you know, can't you make it a bit bigger because I have invited several people? [only last night she had confirmed it would just be them.]

Me: And NOW you are telling me? What was wrong with telling me BEFORE I had baked the cake? How do you expect me to make this cake bigger? There is no way I am baking another cake now, I have done the effort, done the expense and I still have loads to finish before tomorrow. You should have thought about it beforehand when it would have been possible to change things.

[By now I have had it with her demands and behaviour and am not willing to go any further to please a person who does not know her mind. She potters around me and at one point moves the base where the model is perched on carelessly nearly giving me a heart attack when it starts swaying. The tail breaks.]

She: Eh, what are you reacting like this for? It's only a tail! I am sure you can fix it!

In the end the cake was done, I put some extras on it and used the girl's favourite colour as accents. I snuck a red bow on the cat and a red collar with silver studs. People liked the cake, both appearance-wise (they took lots of photos) and taste-wise. But I felt miserable. That cake had not given me pleasure and did not make me feel proud. It felt like forced labour throughout the process and I felt my creativity was being stifled by a person who has never baked in her life. I regretted offering to make that cake.

So this is it. No more offers to anyone. I don't care who they are, whether they will have people coming over or not. Anyone wants something, they pay for it. Or they just get what they are given should I be in the mood to bake for them, full stop. 

Well, hello again.  Couldn't tell from your missive if you offered to make a cake for free OR if your employee asked you to bake a cake.  Also couldn't tell if there was a charge for the cake or if it was free.    Based on the last paragraph, "No more offers to anyone. ... Anyone wants something, they pay for it. ..." , it sounds like you offered to make the cake for free.

Sounds like you are letting your desire to make cakes push common sense (and all the suggestions/advice earlier in this thread) into the background. 

On page 1 of this thread you said:  "I will try to be firm in the future and not even suggest to make any cakes for friends unless they ask me directly, in which case I will do the costing and add a reasonable profit and present them with a quotation. "

@Webake2gether  --would you mind sharing a pic of that 1st bday cake? And where you live? My family continually tells me that I WAY under charge for my work. So I'm curious what you did for that cake. Thank you..

@Rhonda Gossett I sent you a pm :)

@Shockolata  Sounds like a lesson learned the hard way. I really hate that kind of lesson :(. But if you have cakes you want to try, then see if there is something you can donate it to, a school raffle, hospital, etc. You get to make a fancy cake and give it to someone who cares, a win-win! :D

@Apti  I couldn't charge her when she is barely making a living but she did offer to buy some of the ingredients that I did not have in the house. So she bought the fondant icing and the cream cheese. She was meant to buy the base and box but did not. I had offered to make the girl a cake a long time before I put this post on, so I could not go back on my word. 

@craftybanana2  Good idea. But I think I will ease off cakes for a while. Anyway, Christmas is approaching fast and I have lots to bake to keep the tradition alive. 

I am just curious. You say your family has never offered to pay for the cakes you bake. Do they ask you to bake them or do you just do it? If they ask for them and then never offer to help with the costs, then shame on them. If they don't ask, then (in their minds) why should they offer to pay for something you volunteered to make? The mentality is that food is food and they don't differentiate the time and expense that goes into cakes. No one offers to pay Aunt Ethel for her famous baked beans she brings to the family potlucks, after all. I only hobby bake so I figure any money anyone offers me is just a bonus so thankfully that will never be a bone of contention for me. My one sad point it that my step daughter won't let me make the cakes for my grandsons. Her mother (my husband's ex) gets jealous. It is actually kind of funny. My husband insists that I make them cakes anyway and even my husband's ex's fiancée runs for that cake, not the store bought one. I suppose it is rude to bring a cake unasked for, when I know there is already a cake, but people at the party ask the second they see me if I brought cake. I wouldn't be upset if she was getting a nice bakery cake or even making a box mixed cake herself, but she gets a cheap grocery store cake with generic edible ink decorations. Mine aren't perfect, but at least they taste good and are made with love. Last year she and her mother both nearly blew a gasket when the birthday boy looked at her and said "I don't want that cake (the store bought one) I want the one Diana made". She refused to cut the one I made and made him eat the store  bought one at the party. Of course they took the leftover cake home and had no problems eating it then. Family. Gotta love 'em!

"Last year she and her mother both nearly blew a gasket when the birthday boy looked at her and said "I don't want that cake (the store bought one) I want the one Diana made". She refused to cut the one I made and made him eat the store  bought one at the party. Of course they took the leftover cake home and had no problems eating it then. Family. Gotta love 'em!"

Whoa, I can't even picture this.  Way to celebrate your birthday by being force fed cake you don't want and way to make a scene mom, good grief!