I am getting ready to, hopefully!!!!!!! take the plunge and become legal next year. I have started doing my homework and am really hoping this works out. In PA it is legal to have a home business as long as you are only selling non-hazardous bakery items (no custards or spoilable pies, etc).

When you became legal and started putting your cards out at bridal shops and venues, etc... how long did it take you to get busy?

I am working a p/t catering job right now making about $200/week or so. Eventually I'd like to quit and just work from home.

How long do you think it would take me to be making this much profit from home? I'm thinking 1-2 large wedding cakes per week would do it, but I know I'm not guaranteed that much business.

I've been doing cakes by word of mouth for awhile now and have a website, but would really love to start getting aggressive with some advertising, which of course requires a legal business. I guess I am hoping that after I pay all the business fees and probably insurance as well, that I will be quickly paid back in business? What do you think? How long did it take you to get pretty busy?

bump, just became legal recently and would really like to know also. I need to start networking though once I fine tune my price list.

It took me over a year to get what I considered to be busy. I launched in July, too late to get in on the big wedding rush so I ended up struggling until the next spring when I was able to really start building my business. After that it took several more months to get my name out there and get people in on a regular basis. And after that it took me another year or so to be 100% profitable (and it's a huge struggle to stay that way!).

I do about 90% weddings and rent space in a commercial kitchen. If you're working from home and doing all-occasion cakes, your experience will likely differ from mine because of lower overhead and a larger client base. Good luck! This is the greatest job!

There is no set rule on this. There are many factors involved. Alot depends on your initial layout of funds, are you buying a bldg or renting, utilities, supplies, employees,. If you are doing this from home, then you will have to figure your actual costs based on your useage, space, insurance etc....inventory, utilities.. I would not go out and spend a ton on advertising, it will eat you up, and once you register as a business, every bodys aunt and uncle will bug you, from credit cardmachines, equipment, advertising and the such. You do not want to get swamped starting out, go slowly so you can work out the kinks. Do not expect profit from day one, sometimes it takes years to turn one, again depending on how much you have invested to start. If you keep things in line, and don't have a huge inventory, I guess you could maybe in a year see a profit, but the problem is you have to keep feeding the business with things that you need, and that eats up your money. Good Luck.