Tell Me About How You Got Started!
Business By treys_girl04 Updated 25 Jul 2007 , 8:09pm by tdybear1978
im a hobbyist(sp?) and although i have a good day job, i still think about opening a cake shop one day. some questions i have, and answer any that you want 
how did you fund getting started?
did you go part time first, or full on full time?
is it hard to turn a profit?
do you hire help?
how many cakes *approx* do you do a week?
do you have any formal training in cake decorating or business management?
was it totally scary?..lol
feel free to offer any other advice/warnings that you have, everyone here is always so full of wisdom
how did you fund getting started? Iwork Three part time jobs around this.
did you go part time first, or full on full time? Part time hoping for full time by september
Is it hard to turn a profit? Yes
do you hire help? Yes, for Catering events only.
How many cakes *approx* do you do a week? 3 to 5
do you have any formal training in cake decorating or business management? Yes.
was it totally scary?Still is
how did you fund getting started?
I'm building slowly. Right now, I rent a commercial kitchen by the hour. So each cake pays for itself plus some (if that makes sense).
Eventually once business picks up (a couple of years), I will leave my day job and do this full time.
did you go part time first, or full on full time?
Part Time. I have a full time day job that pays the bills. I hope to do this full time some day.
is it hard to turn a profit?
For me, no. I make sure I don't buy more than I need. Plus the place I rent from is really giving me a deal. I won't have a place of my own until I have saved the money up for it.
do you hire help?
Lol...does my husband count? He helps me with various things such as dishes, coloring fondant, making icing, making the easier fondant items, etc. I don't technically pay him. I will buy him a gift here and there.
how many cakes *approx* do you do a week?
Right now 1-2 with some weeks of none.
do you have any formal training in cake decorating or business management?
Other than the Wilton courses no. I worked at a bakery for a short period of time. That really opened my eyes to a lot.
was it totally scary?
Everytime I do a cake I'm like, "What am I doing?!", "What if I mess it up?!", "What if they don't like it?!", "What if someone gets sick?!", etc, etc, etc....YES IT'S SCARY but it's worth it.
I have read that a lot of you rent out a place. Can you not do them in your kitchen. I have thought of selling some of my cakes but I bake them out of my kitchen and would continue to if that was the case.
It depends on the state you live in. Some do and it seems like a lot don't. My state does (NH). Call your state DHHS and ask.. or look it up on line.
how did you fund getting started? --- I started very slow and small and just bought a little at a time as I could afford it. Every birthday, Christmas, etc., I asked for things like Kitchenaid, pan sets, etc. I have always tried to only put money back into the business without taking any away from my family or charging it.
did you go part time first, or full on full time? -- part time. In theory, it is still part time; however, it is more than 40 hours a week for me usually. I also own a medical transcription company, which I still operate, so I am very flexible.
is it hard to turn a profit? --- No.
do you hire help? --- In addition to cakes, I do dessert catering. In those cases I do sometimes hire help. I have several people I can call on. When doing favors, my sister, mom, or DH usually help.
how many cakes *approx* do you do a week? --- I typically do 10 to 15 cakes per week including wedding cakes. I also do chocolates and desserts, which take a lot of my time.
do you have any formal training in cake decorating or business management? --- I also have only had the Wilton classes. I had several business classes in college, but at that time never would have imagined I would be doing this!
was it totally scary?..lol --- Like someone said above, I am sometimes still terrified when I do something new, but it is so rewarding!!
I have been doing this for almost 5 years and opened up my shop about 9 months ago - my funding was to come from a family member (big mistake) but at the last minute and I do mean the last minute he backed out on me and I wanted this so bad (plus I had about $10,000 worth of equipment in my garage) that my husband and I decided to get a second mortgage on our house (not my first choice but only option).
I am full time here and also have a part-time job (not really by necessity but more by choice, I have been there for 11 years and hard to let it go) I would love to get some help in here but not quite financially ready to pay someone steadily. I do however get help on my catering jobs.
It was hard to turn a profit for the first few months but then it picked up like wildfire (I also opened around the holidays so that helped a lot)
I tend to do anywhere between 10 - 20 cakes per week and at least 1 wedding cake (so far this week I have 8 party cakes and 3 wedding cakes going out)
I do not have any formal training in this - I just started it as a hobby and it just took on a life of its own.
YESSSSS! it is terrifying but also exciting. I don't regret doing any of it. hope this helps in some way good luck to you
I started with my father when I was nine years old so I still had some of the old equipment (house fire destroyed some that worked better than some of the new. I have had my kitchen aid mixer since 1977-works fine-got extra bowls for that.
I am able to do this at home because I am agricultural zoned-farm county.
I was able to go to culinary school and also have my business administration degree. You can never learn too much.
The most cakes I have done in one week is 56-these were sheet cakes and rounds and three wedding cakes. This is when I learned about baking and freezing cakes ahead of time.
I will be building a barn to house the cake business with a three bay sink and ovens to be able to bake more and teach classes.
When I make wedding cakes, I set aside a certain amount of cash to save for my ovens and sink.
If you have A1 credit apply for a business loan-go to seminars for women entrepeuners, check with small business administration, and SCORE. Check with state universities in there small business department and see what they have to offer. Also, check with your county extension office and chamber of commerce.
Happy baking and decorating,
Chef Angie
i got started by making cakes for family, and then for my kids once they arrived on the scene!
how did you fund getting started? i haven't bought much of my equipment... like southerncake, i get a lot for birthday gifts and for christmas. i do buy the smaller stuff though, tips, decorating bags, all the perishable stuff....
did you go part time first, or full on full time? i guess i'm just part-time (if that) my full time job is being a mom.
is it hard to turn a profit? nope
do you hire help? nope... hubby does help me make frosting when it's 11:00pm and i'm exhausted from baking all day and need more!
how many cakes *approx* do you do a week? it varies. one week i'll have 5 and then the next, nothing. between now and the end of september i have 9, 2 of which are my entries for the county fair.
do you have any formal training in cake decorating or business management? not a lick!
was it totally scary?..i don't think so... although i'm sure i'll be terrified once i get my first wedding cake order! 
how did you get started?
a friend needed 600 cookies for a fund raiser she was putting on, so i said...how hard could it be?!?!? that was good though, because now most orders are small in comparison.
then, i decided to take a couple classes just to learn the "professional" way to do cake decorating. next thing you know...i graduated with my pastry certificate.
full or part time?
in the meantime, i got a job at a local high end bakery for the experience before trying to open my own place.
profit?
it's not too hard to make a profit because my markup is so high. i don't get paid a ton an hour though.
hired help?
i don't hire anybody yet, because my mom, my husband and my 5 kids help out at some point.
cakes are 1 to 2 a week with cookie orders between 2 and 5 per week. graduation time is crazy.
i would love to take more business classes or seminars for business women. trying to find time now.
i'm still out of my home. i'm very scared to take the next step. what if i'm not good enough? what if no one comes? what if i can't make the rent or pay my employees??????
okay..how do you turn out more than one wedding cake per week? i bake the weekend before, then start decorating on thursday, and it feels like a total rush trying to do a wedding and a grooms by sat. what kind of timeline do you folks use that do more than one wedding per week? party cakes dont scare me, i can do one of those in an evening, decorating-wise.
I stay pretty rushed most of the time - I have 3 wedding cakes going out on this saturday and I will start baking them today (I do not like to freeze) in fact I will do the majority of my baking today (I have 3 3-tierd wedding cakes and about 13 party cakes so far) and then I will make my icing over the course of the next 2 days, I have a 30 quart mixer so it should only take a couple of batches to get what I need. And then I do nothing but decorate ALLLL day Friday, and since I have a wedding to actually attend (nice change) friday evening I will probably have to come back and continue decorating into the weee hours of the night
When I was 18 I thought it would be "cool" to do something like this for a living. I couldn't make a rose to save my life and quit the class.
Off and on I have played with decorating on a small level.
Skip ahead about 13 or 14 years and I still was pretty envious of those who could do this. I had just had my first child in 2001. No one wanted to hire me due to having a brand new baby because they could hire someone younger with out family obligations.
I was working at Michael's crafts part time in the evenings to bring in some money and took course 1 of Wilton's class they offer. Bad teacher and I still couldn't make a rose to save my life but I was determined to do this.
I have played with what I leared from that course and here I am 6 years later. I am mid-course 2, and going to take course 3.
My course 2/3 instructor has been doing cakes for 16 years and is helping me get things going business wise.
What has inspired me this time was going back to work full time. Daycare for an infant and 6 year old is $1,200 a month which was factor # 1.
Factor # 2 was returning to a supervisor that is the biggest butt head that God put on this earth. He was very unethical and illegal with my return from maternity leave. He would not give me my position back or even an equal one. He ignored me for my entire 3 weeks I was back at work. I pretty much sat and surfed the net and bought pans, tips and supplies I'd need to get started on my own business.
In the mean time I went back to work part time (Michael's crafts again LOL) and am going to continue working at Michael's until my business is in full swing.
The upside to working at Michael's.... I get an employee discount so I can get something each payday towards my business at a discount AND it's a write off for me. 
We have a few last details to work out before I apply for the licenses in Oregon.
Until then I am doing practice cakes for everyone I know who needs a cake made.
yeah, i stay pretty much exhausted all the time and all 13 of these cakes go out between friday and saturday whewwww
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