Not trying to sound ungrateful at all. Not complaining either. 

I have been doing cakes, from my kitchen, for about 3 years.  Had busy spurts where I wanted to just run away to find some sanity and then it would always die down. Winter months, almost nothing. Fine by me.

But now, this year, I'm getting so many inquiries and people calling my house, cell, (obviously some folks out there sharing my personal cell number) showing up to my home unannounced to "See where you live" and FB-ing me 10-12 at a time, I'm getting overwhelmed and having to turn down, well this week so far, 8 or 9 people. It's Tuesday 1am. 

I understand perfectly the number of people might quintuple if there was a shop. That would be welcome if I had employees etc.   Need to be able to shut off lights and walk away... without having it follow me into the bathroom etc..(sarc)

I have no real money to open a shop, No idea, and no one here to help me figure this out. I would appreciate some serious advice for first steps beyond licensing, inspection, those are requirements I can figure out. It's everything else I am not sure of.

How much space to start? Equipment? Is it possible to have a store front but bake at home?  

How did you psyche yourself out to take the plunge? Is it even worth it?

There have been 2 established cake businesses to close in my town in the last 6 months. (approx. 55,000 population) Retirements. Not for lack of business. So it's wide open basically except for the grocery stores.   

Thanks folks! I appreciate any and all considerations 

The best thing you could do would be to call those two retired business owners and ask if you could take them out to lunch and pick their brains. They know your local market, they can tell you the good and the bad, and you'll get advice that's specific to your area.

First, get a handle on all the inquiries by funneling them through an online form - prospective customers must do this to hear back from you.  That will eliminate the time drag and the stress from the constant inquiries.  You can do the bidding on your schedule, instead of on demand.

Second, raise your prices.  If you are overwhelmed, you probably aren't charging enough.  This will let you work less, for more money.

Good luck!

Liz

AYou will most likely lose any scheduling flexibilty that you may now enjoy by doing it at home....

Just mentioned that because you said you didn't mind the lull in the winter. Do you think you will get burned out if you are doing it year round? Would you take on employees?

And, yes, raise your prices...if you are THAT much in demand, either you are TOTALLY AWESOME or cheaper than you need to be. I am guessing it's a bit of both!

But you go....sounds like you've got a GREAT customer base! Those that truly value you will follow you even after you raise your prices!

Good luck and keep us updated!

AMy friend Mandie just opened a shop that from what I can tell, is open for a few hours daily for sales of slices of cake and other small items, and custom cake appointments are held while the shop is "closed", if that makes sense. Not sure if that's helpful or not to you, but might want to poke around her site and Facebook page, make friends with her and see how she does it. Her business name is Got What it Cakes...easy to find on Facebook, and she's in North Carolina, in case you find more than one result with that name.

A

I like that....it would allow you to keep some flexibility.

Send them to me!!! I'm trying to start a cake business, and having real trouble getting traction!!

Kidding! Best of luck to you, you must be very good to grow so much!!
Nancy

Thanks everyone. I do the very best I can at all times, that's what I want to be known for. But I believe it's primarily just sheer lack of cake designers/bakers in this area.  There are a few cake ladies, but no cake shops aside from Wal Mart and two other groceries.

A

I agree, I use jotform, its free and you can quickly add a new form to a page on your website.

You can also remove the ability for people to personal message you on FB and put a note in your header picture to say "for all enquiries pleases visit our contact page here....." I can PM you my contact form if you'd like to use it for inspiration?

I don't like people coming to the house so I do delivery only, you could try that? If you have online location details just leave out the 1st two lines and google maps will then just list you in the middle of the post-town so people can't just turn up checking out where you are - that'll lose you some business but sounds like that won't be a problem!

You couls also put up a 'cakes from $' minimum order price, I found that killed so many non productive enquiries!

best of luck, really glad it's going well for you :-)

ACrazy-Gray THANKS for mentioning jotform....put one on my website last night. Put down a few points to consider before contacting me such as MIN ORDER (have it on another part of my site, but you know how people just LOVE to read...not), don't do sheet cakes, etc.

A:(

Oh wow I'm really glad it helped you too! I love it :-) it takes out so much faff making sure you know what size cake they want, what flavour, date, time....