Dear everybody, 

i really need to get something off my chest, i wonder if some of y'all experience the same thing.

if you start reading this i think at first you will think... what has this to do with cakes LOL ... but please hear me out

 just got a job at a local restaurand.  it's not a job that i love with al my heart. I tried to get a job at cake shops first but no cake shop in my erea is hiring for a job. 

here's my big worry:

I'm 20 years old and live with my dear parents. next to my parents house there is another house wich stands on my parents ground, There used to live a old couple there who rented the home from my parends but they went to a nursing home.

now my parends offered my to live there. they say they don't want me to pay a rent but i said of course i will give them a montly amound of money. and i will pay my own electricity and gas and all. i'ts a very nice home and of course i want to do it. but before this mayor change in my life i never really was in a big hurry to get my life on track. i just made cakes for friends and family, some orderes here and there and wedding cakes  orders from church and friends. but now i have to get a job, which is totally normal. but i really feel like  when i start working fulltime in this restaurand to save up for my furniture and all that i will forget about making cakes. it sounds stupid but i really feel like i will stop growing with my cake making. in the end i want to start a cake buisiness out off the house but i worry i won't be able to do it after not making cakes for such a long time. 

so end conclusion: do any of y'all have a full time job which does not involve cakes in any way??

I worked in the legal field for many years before I started baking full time.  If you worked full time for someone else doing cakes, you  might hate that as well.  When I was making cakes for someone else, there was no room for creativity - it was all plastic kits and such and we had quotas.  We were required to get the cakes out as fast as possible. 

So if you want to build your skills and have fun - just keep doing them on the side.  If you want to increase your speed and learn to streamline, then keep looking for that bakery job - but jobs like that can often take the fun out of caking. 

I agree with BrandisBaked. My day job is artisan bread baking. I enjoy it, and I do my cakes and fun baking on the weekends and days off. I've worked in other bakeries where speed is key (I wasn't a decorator) and I don't think I'd like it as much. I need space to be creative, and I've always wanted to be self-employed anyway. Plus I already make more at my current job than most cake decorators make, and I'm not that fast. So if you want to do cakes it's definitely something you can do on the side until you have enough to start a proper business. Good luck!

My day job is accounting, accounts receivable for an almost nation wide aluminum supplier. My caking and candy making are hobby/side and helps to give me creative release and add balance to the rigidity and of accounting.

It is said that if you find a job you love, then you'll never work a day in your life. Don't quit trying to own your own bakery, if that is what you want. Right now, you need a steady income. Just getting a job, doesn't mean you stop doing what you love to do, decorating cakes. If you have the passion to pursue what you want to do, you will not let anything stand in your way. I still have the dream of owning my own bakery. Almost daily, my brother tells me to give up my bakery dreams, that it's just a hobby. I will not let him be negative and try to squash my dream. If it doesn't happen, it won't be the world for me. It will be depressing, but I have bills to pay and cannot pay them without a steady paycheck. I did work at a local grocery store decorating cakes and pastries and like the others that have replied to you, all they want is quantity over quality. There is rarely creativity. It's all production to sell.  I work at medical billing from home for now. This affords me time to fulfill an order after working hours. I work on the weekend, but it's working for now. Good luck and keep practicing!!

I work full time in a design studio and do all my cakes in the evening. Its about timings and balance but it works =]

Well said Masterbaker.  I could have written the exact same thing, almost word for word. Over the years I've done cakes for venues and caterers, and even special occasion cakes for my work cafeteria for a former employer because none of their staff had the decorating skills, all after my full time job which pays the rent and gives me the benefits.

I'd say that you're in a pretty good spot right now to be honest.

You've just landed a job in a restaurant. You've not said what the job is in the restaurant. Is there any scope to get involved with the dessert side of things at some point down the road? You're still in the food and service industry which is going to give you great experience. Perhaps if you stick with this job and can display your talent for cakes then you'll be given an opportunity/training to further develop - pastry chef training or something similar, which you can then use at a later point with your own cake business.

And your parents are happy to let you live rent free in a house which can (at some point) be turned into your own cake studio? That's pretty lucky! 

So perhaps you're not at the point where you can make a living from your cakes just yet but you are in a great position to learn and gain useful experience which you can put towards your dream.

I currently work full-time for a law firm and pretty much full-time running my own cake business. I give myself Monday nights off cake work at the moment just to have some recharge time.

If you want it, you'll make it happen.

I have a full time job as an engineer :) and I'm a mom and I cake on the side.

Cake/cupcakes/cookies for me are the creative release and allow me to keep my sanity. It's what I enjoy but I have bills and stuff so I manage my time to do it all. It's possible!