I am new to the at home cake business, and find that I work very slow, I am very detailed and maybe too fussy with my work. So things seem to take a while. I was wondering what percentage profit do most people charge, since if I only think about hourly, I think I am not the fastest worker. I was thinking of charging 10$ an hour above cost, but it just took me 4.5 hours to make a dozen BB8 cupcakes (that was cupcakes with buttercream, covered in fondant, then made cake balls for the heads and covered those in fondant, then did piping, etc) That is 45$ just for the work, not including ingredients, and I can't imagine anyone paying that. What are your thoughts about percentage profit? Does anyone do that?

Rebecca

an idea on that is determine what would be a reasonable time to allow to get that done and not only charge for that but aim for that on the clock too --

then a thought about getting quicker is to repeatedly set a timer and gauge each ten minute segment and determine where you can tighten up --

another view of that is to give yourself mini deadlines -- for example -- it should take me 15 minutes or less to color, roll out, and cut out these fondant toppers -- so you can play 'beat the clock' and boost yourself to more profitability