I was wondering how long it took y'all out there to get business booming.
Here's what I'm wondering exactly:
How long in months or years did it take to get to the the amount of clients you wanted?
What amount did you want (per month or week)?
How did you acheive it (word of mouth, samples, etc.)?
Were you working another job then and are you now?
Do you work from home or rent a place?
What do you specialize in (cakes, cookies, weddings, birthdays, etc.)?
This is really out of curiousity b/c I know what happens for one person doesn't always happen for all. I'm just recently became legal and I've had some business. It seems to come in spurts. I've only been at it legally for about 2 months (I've been doing ones for friends and friends of friends for about a year).
Thanks for sharing! 
There are so many factors. "Start a business" meaning opening a shop? Just operating legal? Making a little money on the side?
I've done this "as a business" for years and years but most of those were out of my home kitchen. Do you consider that "a business" in your poll?
When I tell you it took me 25 years to get a shop in a strip mall, you might be discouraged, but there are SO many factors involved in that! Money is the biggest, timing (all my kids are grown now), I'm in a different market (big city of Indpls instead of small home town of 35,000). 25 years ago, the internet didn't exist so I didn't have the easy exposure I do now. No way my biz would have grown the way it has w/o the internet access. Opening a shop 25 years ago would have been suicide for me. Opening a shop now .... well, I left my full time job last November and it hasn't affected us at all.
This industry is almost screwy in how we have to go about it. A bank won't give a loan to start a bakery business unless you have experience and a client base to run such a business (RUN it .... not just working part time in one), but you can't run a business like this out of your home so you have to have a $50-100,000 kitchen, which you can't get until you get a loan, which you can't get until you have experience running the biz, which you can't get w/o a full kitchen .....
aaauuuggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Lol...
Yes, I'm well aware of that "fun" issue.
What I am asking (and you answered) is legally or illegally how long did it take for you to get booming or get a steady flow of business. I'm legal but I rent from another baker. I'm wondering how long I should wait until I go...hmm...maybe I should try a different approach. Not that I'm having that problem yet b/c I just started....just curious.
I never thought about the way the internet has affected our business. Let alone the fact that I would not have Cakecentral.com... I would die!
THe internet ..... oh my gosh, if you are not old enough to remember when it didn't exist, let me tell ya, girlfriend.....!
I typed each letter to a bride out on a typewriter and had to MAIL it to them, so it could be days before I got a response, as compared to almost instant responses now via email. I made my brochures on a typewriter and using the rub-off letters (you probably have no idea what those are, but they were pretty cool to use!)
How did I get their name? My primary method was to cut out the engagements in the newspaper, look them up in the phone book (hopefully they were listed) and mail them an intro letter.
How did they find me? By the biz cards I left with various businesses and the periodic advertising I put in a local free, weekly paper. (Geesh, I wasn't legal and had no CC friends to warn me of advertising a non-legal business back then! How scary to think about that now!). By the biz cards I handed to cashiers in the grocery store who were wearing engagement rings.
We had NO information on new and current trends except for Brides Magazine, which seemed to only focus on weddings in New York that were held at the Waldorf Astoria. No ideas that would work for little 'ole us in the midwest who didn't have Waldorf Astoria money! So the only way brides got ideas for what to do in their wedding came from whatever Cousin Sally Sue did at HER wedding!
I get inquiries today from brides all over the country (military, away at school, etc., who are planning on coming "Back Home .... to Indiana" for the wedding) due to my ads on The Knot and the internet. THese brides had NO WAY of finding me back then. It was business I never had a chance of getting.
When I re-opened this biz in Sept '04, I never DREAMED that 2 years later I'd be putting numbers together to open a shop. Totally unattainable without the internet.
Lol...I remember when it didn't exist...but it didn't affect me... is was young then...
All I have to say is WOW! Typing letters to the engagement ads...wow!
That's a lot more foot work than now! It's so interesting to hear how the business used to be. I wonder what the next big thing is going to be that I revolutionize the way we do things?!
Thanks for sharing that... it really puts a perspective on things!
Indydebi...What a wonderful idea. Mailing introduction letters to engaged couples. That is a personal touch that most people don't get to experience in today's fast and furious way of life. I would like to incorportate that with my business. I am in the process of opening up my business now. I have been working for the past year, but I chose to do it as I got the money. It is a tea room/cake shop/art gallery. The art gallery belongs to the owner of the building. We are renovating it and doing most of the work ourselves, so it's taking a while. I don't want to have to borrow money to make it happen, so I used some money I had saved to get it going. It's definitely time that I did this for myself. My full time job is burning me out!! UGH!!! Can't wait until i'm my own boss!!
Hope this helps...
Patrice
Well, I kind of jumped in with both feet. I bought out a local supply shop that was going out of business and added a legal kitchen. I quit my full time job one week after buying the other business which left me a little broke for a while. I had a very good relationship with my banker and he was willing to loan me some money to expand and add the kitchen which took about 3 months to complete. After that process, it took about 3 or 4 years before I really had a steady stream of regular clients. Meaning I knew I was going to be able to cover all my expenses every month. I do wedding cakes, all occasion cakes, cookies and I have a small fresh case that I fill every day. I have also kept the supplies and added a lot more than what the other store used to carry, so that helps to supplement when orders are slower. Now I average 25-30 occasion cakes a week, plus fresh goods every day and 2-3 wedding cakes a weekend. I have one full time employee that works the counter all day, does most of the clean up for me, and had learned to make icing and bake brownies and stuff for the case. As far as actual amounts go, that it going to vary too much from city to city and state to state to give you much of an idea for yourself. Sorry so long! Lori
I Bought a sub sandwich shop almost two years ago and I incorporated my bakery in it. Before then I did cakes from my home. Now that I have a store front my bakery is picking up but I still am not where I want to be as far as business. I do have alot more orders every week but I want more!! !!!! I know it will take time to get the word out and I know that it is being spread....my husband always tells me that word of mouth is your best advertisement and I know it is.....sometimes I just want to take a cake to every store in town so it will get out faster!
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