Hello, fellow cake decorators. Hope you are all doing well. I am applying for a program that will support me for a year while I get my own business started. So with the encouragement of my friends and family I have decided to go for it and apply to start my own cake decorating business. So in order for me to complete my application I need to do some research about this area of work, so I thought maybe some of you could help me. So here's a few question I would love if someone could take the time to answer for me.
1) What is your background?
2) How did you get started?
3)What kind of training do you have?
4) What qualities or personal characteristics do you have for this business?
5) What are the advantages, positive aspects of this type of work?
6) What is the wage range for this type of business?
7) What advice do you have for someone going into this type of business?
Is there anything else you could tell me about this type business that you feel I should know?
So I know some of these question are what you personally make it, but anything you could tell me would be great. I appreciate any advice you could offer. Thanks so much and happy cake decortating.
Amycat~ what is the program? Can you tell me anything about it? I'm def interested. Thanks Michelle
I would answer some of your questions except I don't have my own answers yet.....LOL
Amy, are you trying to write a business plan?
If you are asking about the advantages and positive aspects, then you would also need to know the disadvantages and negative aspects (no sleep, cramping hands, foot problems from standing all day, feast-or-famine seasonallity of the industry).
Wage range: I don't have a "wage" that I pay myself. I either make a profit or I don't, I either meet monthly expenses or I don't, all of which is entirely dependent on my sales capability. You could make a "decent living" of $20-30K or you could make $100K or more. How much are you willing to put into it will tell you how much you are getting out of it.
Research into any area of work usually requires some demographic information .... does your application for this program request that?
If this is a business plan you are working on, I just want to share that it took me 9 months, a lawyer, a CPA and an organization who specializes in business plans to get my 40+ page plan done. I share that because I recently met someone who thought he could "slap one together" over dinner! 
The info I could give you is probably too long to put in a thread, but I'll be happy to PM with you and share any info I have.
Congrats on finding this opportunity!
I agree with indydebi, there is a lot more to opening a business than it seems.
Unless you strictly limit your business hours, you will have essentially no personal life. The busier you are, the less time you have for pretty much anything else.
This venture has to be a PASSION for you. It can be wonderful or a nightmare. You have to be prepared for extremely difficult customers, high expenses, and little return.
If you do start a business, keep taking classes. These turn out to be working vacations. Classes for flowers are a lot of fun, are considered a business expense, and gets you out of your kitchen.
Do anything you can to upgrade your skills. This includes entering competitions. Competitions force you to push yourself, allows you to see what others are doing, where you can improve, and (most importantly) lets you meet some really terrific people. These people can become great friends and advisers. When you do well at competitions you can display your awards and this shows your customers what professionals think of your work and then your prices can starting climbing, slowly of course.
Prioritize your work. If you plan to do multiple weddings in a weekend, then be sure you have time for the work involved in ALL of them. Some cakes are a breeze while others are much more complicated. Don't take on more than you can handle. This is a very quick way to loose customers.
I don't think I answered your basic questions, but I hope I shed some light on being in the business. I loved it when I had a shop, but it is a tremendous amount of work.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Michele
Hey Everyone, thanks for all the input. The program is through the government its a program for people who are umeployment looking to get back into the work force.
Once I get into the course we will be writing a business plan. Write now I am just doing research on a cake decorating business. This info will all go into my applications where it is assessed and determined whether I am a good candidate for starting my own business.
So again thanks for all the info and if anyone else can answer some of the questions I posted earlier I would really apprecaite it. I have to have my app in by mid March and the program will start in April.
Wish me luck and I will keep you posted.
Have a great week.
Amycat
Hello, fellow cake decorators. Hope you are all doing well. I am applying for a program that will support me for a year while I get my own business started. So with the encouragement of my friends and family I have decided to go for it and apply to start my own cake decorating business. So in order for me to complete my application I need to do some research about this area of work, so I thought maybe some of you could help me. So here's a few question I would love if someone could take the time to answer for me.
1) What is your background?
2) How did you get started?
3)What kind of training do you have?
4) What qualities or personal characteristics do you have for this business?
5) What are the advantages, positive aspects of this type of work?
6) What is the wage range for this type of business?
7) What advice do you have for someone going into this type of business?
Is there anything else you could tell me about this type business that you feel I should know?So I know some of these question are what you personally make it, but anything you could tell me would be great. I appreciate any advice you could offer. Thanks so much and happy cake decortating.
1. I am a nurse
2. I decided I didn't want to take care of sick whiney people anymore! I was taking cheesecakes to the potlucks at work and everyone kept raving about how good they were and how I should start a business.
3. Besides nursing school I do not have any formal training in the kitchen or at the decorating stool. I took the first Wilton class...geeze...what a waste of time! So I bought some books, found cake central, and have learned through trial & error.
4. The only type of person that will succeed in this business is one that has commitment, sales abilitiy, and can multi-task
5. I like being my own boss, creating my own hours, walking into my shop and turning on the lights. I am happier than I have ever been and more stressed out than I have ever been! I love to cook for people who love good food.
6. Owner's don't generally make a "wage"
7. If you can't take the critizism, deal with the lunatics, put in the hours, follow the law of your state, or run a budget then you shouldn't be trying to run a food business
8. You CAN make money but it takes a while and it really is a lot of hard work!
I feel like I am posting a resume! I hope my answers help you. No offense but I wouldn't even consider opening a business unless my finances were in order and I had enough money saved to pay personal and business bill for alteast 6 months. I know that sounds insane but in a new business you are constantly buying new equipment, replacing things that break, upgrading products, coming up with new ideas....I will be starting my third year April 1st and I've paid myself about $1k over the entire time. And mind you, my shop brings in about twice what I need to cover the "bills" in a month. You can make ANYTHING work out in your head, but what it actually comes out to is a different story!
Hello, fellow cake decorators. Hope you are all doing well. I am applying for a program that will support me for a year while I get my own business started. So with the encouragement of my friends and family I have decided to go for it and apply to start my own cake decorating business. So in order for me to complete my application I need to do some research about this area of work, so I thought maybe some of you could help me. So here's a few question I would love if someone could take the time to answer for me.
1) What is your background?
2) How did you get started?
3)What kind of training do you have?
4) What qualities or personal characteristics do you have for this business?
5) What are the advantages, positive aspects of this type of work?
6) What is the wage range for this type of business?
7) What advice do you have for someone going into this type of business?
Is there anything else you could tell me about this type business that you feel I should know?So I know some of these question are what you personally make it, but anything you could tell me would be great. I appreciate any advice you could offer. Thanks so much and happy cake decortating.
1. I am a nurse
2. I decided I didn't want to take care of sick whiney people anymore! I was taking cheesecakes to the potlucks at work and everyone kept raving about how good they were and how I should start a business.
3. Besides nursing school I do not have any formal training in the kitchen or at the decorating stool. I took the first Wilton class...geeze...what a waste of time! So I bought some books, found cake central, and have learned through trial & error.
4. The only type of person that will succeed in this business is one that has commitment, sales abilitiy, and can multi-task
5. I like being my own boss, creating my own hours, walking into my shop and turning on the lights. I am happier than I have ever been and more stressed out than I have ever been! I love to cook for people who love good food.
6. Owner's don't generally make a "wage"
7. If you can't take the critizism, deal with the lunatics, put in the hours, follow the law of your state, or run a budget then you shouldn't be trying to run a food business
8. You CAN make money but it takes a while and it really is a lot of hard work!
I feel like I am posting a resume! I hope my answers help you. No offense but I wouldn't even consider opening a business unless my finances were in order and I had enough money saved to pay personal and business bill for alteast 6 months. I know that sounds insane but in a new business you are constantly buying new equipment, replacing things that break, upgrading products, coming up with new ideas....I will be starting my third year April 1st and I've paid myself about $1k over the entire time. And mind you, my shop brings in about twice what I need to cover the "bills" in a month. You can make ANYTHING work out in your head, but what it actually comes out to is a different story!
Thanks SweetConfectionsChef,
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. This will help a lot and if you don't mind I would like to use some of this in my applications. I may potentially put a copy of you message in my application to show that I have done some research and got some info from someone who does it. Thanks again
a key factor is that being a cake decorator is vERY different from RUNNING a cake decorating business. As a decorator working for someone else, you basically decorate cakes. As someone running a business, you decorate cakes, do the books, buy the equipment, fix stuff or find someone else who can, pay all the bills, sweep the floors, clean everything, make sure the sidewalks are shovelled when it snows, do payroll, pay taxes, deal with customers, deal with customers who don't pay, deal with ANNOYING customers, and basically everything else you haven't thought about that neds to be done but someone else didn't do their job so YOU have to do it.
I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but from the original post, and then your response to SweetConfectionsChef, you were looking for someone to answer the questions for you. I don't think it's right that you use her responses in your application. Attach it, yes, as research material, but don't use her replies.
The reason they want you to fill this out is to see if you have researched by asking around in your area about pricing, demand, etc, and how much experience YOU already have in decorating and making cakes.
What is your decorating background? Why do you want to start this business? THAT is what they need from you, not a compilation of answers people give you on this forum.
Be true to yourself, and answer from your heart, that is all I am saying.
Thanks for the input and I had planned on doing everything you suggested. I have asked around in my area I just thought this might be a good place to get a little input from people who actually do this for a living.
I am taking this seriously its something I really want to do. I hadn't planned on just using her answers in my application it was going to be an attachment. I do have a mind of my own. I think I may have taken your message the wrong way. I have a passion for this and I plan on doing whatever it takes to reach my goal. I really don't feel like I need to justify this to you. So I guess I will just stop writing now. Anyway no hard feelings.
Amycat
Amycat, when I replied to your post I had a feeling you were going to compile answers and use them in your paperwork. I am perfectly fine with that. I will help you in any way that I can. Hopefully some others will pop in and answer the questions you asked. I always feel compelled to help someone who is trying to do this legally! 
I am sorry for it looking like I was coming down hard on you, I just wanted to make sure you'd really looked into everything that you could, from their perspective. They really scrutinized my sis' application, and she had 10 yrs grooming and AHT experience, as well as the university and college education.
FYI, it can be a long wait time from when you send in the app, to when you receive any kind of answer. Be prepared. If you've got everything in there that you need, they shouldn't turn you down. However, the subsidy isn't likely going to be what you need. They give you enough to get by, everything else has to usually come out of money you've already got. This is what my sis found out. Thankfully, she already had most of what she needed. All she had to do was advertise in the paper to let people know where they could now find her.
Anyway, I did not intend my first reply in a mean way, and I DO wish you all the best. Good luck!
This topic should be moved to the Cake Decorating Business forum. It may get more attention and help others looking for the same topic. 
Just wanted to let everyone know that I submitted my application and had an interview and it went really well. The man I had the interview said that he would highly recommend me for the program. I should know by the end of March and start in April. Fingers crossed and I will post the outcome once I know. Thanks again for everyones input.
Amycat
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