My name is Taylor and Im a stay at home mom. I never graduated High School and Im wanting to do SOMETHING for a living! I want to get a Associates Degree to be an RN Nurse, but right now I got a 2 month old and I don't want to juggle getting a High School Diploma, taking college classes and taking care of my son. I love to bake and I love to do things for everyone! I'm thinking about doing my own at-home cupcake buisness. I was told I will need to be state certified and insured to have my own buisness. I don't know if I was told right or if theres anything else that needs to be done and how I should do it? Please help :)

First you should call the health department in the city you live to find out if your state has a cottage food law which allows you to bake and sell from your home.  If they do then they will give you the rules you must follow, to be able to do so.  If not then you would have to find a licensed kitchen you can rent, and do your baking, decorating there.  Your best bet is to check with the health department for information, if they are not the right place in your city, they can tell you who you can talk to about this.

1. City

2. County

3. State

Those are the hurdles you'll need to pass to start. You may not need a license to bake and sell certain things but it differs not only state-to-state but county-to-county and city-to-city. I started with the city, since it was the smallest entity. They gave me a lot of great contact information for the county and state and they were VERY willing to answer my 700 questions (OK, not that many but you get the idea).  It can seem overwhelming when you first start out, but hang in there, take one step at a time and you'll get there. While you're waiting for information, start thinking about pricing and a business contract including pick-up policy, payment and if/when you might issue a refund. Those are a couple time-consuming things that you should have down before your first order. 

You can do it!