I'm trying to talk my husband into buying a commercial property with an upstairs to live in so I can open a cake decorating business... I lost my job in March and have been doing cakes since. We just had our first baby in July and I'm nursing... he will not take a bottle so I'd like to be able to work sort of from home. There is a property about 5 blocks away from where we live right now but it's a little more than what we can afford. Does anyone know how business loans work? Like is it a higher percentage rate or any other things I should know about. Also for a name, I was thinking "Kakes by Kristy"... would that work or is the whole Kake thing kinda dumb? Also, as for what you NEED To have for a business, how much do you think it costs approx.? I'm not sure on a good oven or mixer or anything so any help is appreciated. I only work with my small KA right now Thanks to everyone for the help!

congrats on the baby! I'll give you a bump for your questions though since I'm in a church kitchen I can't help you out there. I do like the name though it's to the point but a little unique because of the K

bump on the buisness loan but congrats on the baby

I LOVE the name. It's easy to remember and it tells the customer what you sell!

Business Loan. Well, be careful! Try to use current profits to put aside for your purchases until you build up. That way, you don't get in over your head. Also, talk with a tax advisor and see what kind of tax breaks you can get from that type of home business. Do you claim your cake income now? If not, you'll have to factor that in when deciding what your net profits are.

Congrats on baby!!
First you need to just hop on over to the bank and find a teller.. let them know what you have in mind.. that's the only way to know for sure.. Just get out there and do it!! My husband and I are in the same situation.. Were both 34 yrs. old.. Where we live, well it isnt Beverly Hills.. But it's home.. we have been here in this home for 14 yrs.. We have 4 children and have a 3 bedroom.. VERYTIGHT!!!
The landlord is a 75 yr old woman.. we owe 19 grand on the principle alone.. OR 16 more yrs.. Bless her heart, she dont have 16yrs. SO as lucky as we are.. we have been saving to offer a bid on the house.. Well we had 15 grand last year.. Hard times came and now were down to 10 grand.. OMG she is gonna take the 10 grand as a final pay off on the house next yr.. We are debating on selling and moving.. or staying adding on and getting a loan to purchase a banquet hall.. It's something my hubbys always wanted.. And yes I can bake from there!! So it will be a opportunity for he and I both.. And my kiddos can work for us! We have such high hopes.. We just need to sit and think of the REAL stuff..The MONEY!! How fast can we make money and how fast can we pay off loan, THEN sell house and get a newer one.. who knows.. Good luck to you! Follow your heart!

thanks! i'll definetely make an appointment at the bank! the place we're looking at buying is right next to a floral shop so it's PERFECT location but it's only a 3 bedroom upstairs and 2 bathroom... which would be okay but we have a 4 bedroom right now and this house is tight! We're going to make an appointment to get a tour of the place next week sometime. It's also a bit higher than what we can probably afford right now. We've lived in our current house only 2 1/2 years but we've done some improvements on it like adding a dishwasher, fence and painting it all with new carpeting that I'm hoping we could get more than what we paid (84,000) and the new place is asking for 123,900 so we'll see. I have a ton of cake pans and materials that I'll need so that's not a factor but it's just buying the oven and bigger mixer and stuff... the place that we want to buy used to be a beauty salon so at least they'll have water hookups there... well, we'll see, I hope it can work! I just had to turn down 4 wedding cakes for next year because the venues won't accept cakes by nonlegal cake decorators... ugh! I know I could make the money back because I charge cheaper than any other bakery in town... well, thanks!

I am in the process of opening up my own bakery cafe, and cake decorating is going to be one of the things we focus on. Business loans can vary, depending on the financial institution you go to. There are numerous websites that you can find that discuss starting up a small business and where to go for guidance. The Small Business Administration is helpful (www.sba.gov) and I would imagine each state has it's own small business assistance department. You've just got to search around. As for the name of your business, try to choose something easy for people to remember and nothing that is too kitsch. I searched on the internet all over the country to see what other bakeries were named in various states. That helped quite a bit. I saw names like Just Desserts, Piece 'A Cake, and a bunch of others that I can't recall now.

I'm about a month away from opening my bakery. If you want to email me for more specifics, please do. I have learned a lot in my journey to open up my own little business. My dream started about 18 months ago and is finally coming true. Maybe I can help you a bit. Email me at [email protected] - my name is Karen.

Mommabuda,

I'm not sure if the laws are similiar over there or not but you should probably double check with your city council or whoever looks after that sort of thing that you can change a beauty shop to a food business (some - like ours are really picky on change of function particularly when it relates to non-food to food)

The other thing is to make sure you do not overcommit financially as there will always be more hidden costs to starting up a business than you think. When we bought our restaurant we borrowed more than we needed for the purchase price and I'm glad that we did because when you start it feels like money is going out all the time, insurance, gas, electricity, stock, repairs govt red tape etc etc.

Think about buying some of the big stuff second hand (but make sure you check that it works ok) You can pick up some things like big ovens, mixers, counters etc from auctions of businesses (bakeries, restaurants) that have gone bust as they tend to be no reserve and the more desperate they are usually the better the price you can get. You kind of feel a bit guilty at first gaining out of someone else's misfortune but the money you save tends to help with that. Also only buy what you need to start with you can always add to it later when the money starts flowing in and don't spend too much on the decor etc you can make it nice (coat of paint etc) without spending a fortune we updated ours bit by bit as we could afford it.

Good luck hope it all works out for you

my place used to be a beauty shop...so we were able to use the old hook ups.

you're gonna need a much bigger mixer....i have a 30 qt.

i was looking on ebay, they have some nice looking 20 qts at a reasonable price...one was going for 400.00...but the shipping will be 250.00

i got a nice new convection oven...i love it...it does 6 full sheets at a time...but it really sucks for cheesecake.

18 months ago i bought a very distressed comm. property with a guest house behind it....

so i'm kinda into doing what you're thinking of.

you need to check with your health dept and building inspector to see what the codes are...they were both very helpful and nice....the health dept. helped with the layout.

i needed triple sinks a mop sink handwashing sink...and a small greasetrap.

oh yeah when you get a big mixer....there is this electric deal called phase 1 and i think phase 2....you want the phase1...its more easily adaptable.

i got my mixer used for 1800.00.

oh and STARVING ARTIST...love that name!