So irritated right now! (rant)

Okay, let me start by saying yes, I AM a legal baker. I rent a kitchen, I am licensed by the health department, I have insurance.... In my state, in most towns home baking is legal under a "homestead" license, but last year when I was starting my business I learned that my town is one of the few who are "self-inspected" and don't allow home food business... But because it's okay in most towns there aren't a lot of rental kitchens around... I have to drive 40 minutes to get to the kitchen I rent. I took the time to do my research, paid all the fees (instead of a $50 homestead license, I had to pay a $300 fee to get licensed as a caterer!) pay for insurance, blah blah blah....

The reason I'm so irritated is because even though I've taken the time and spent the money to operate illegally, I still had my town's code enforcement officer stop by today! Why? Because a neighbor claimed that I'm running a prolific cupcake business from my home?! I'm pretty sure I know what neighbor is was- I live in a 3 family home, I'm on the 2nd of 3 floors... the complaint was that I bake SO much it heats their house causing them to have to run an AC in the summer That leads me to believe it is my upstairs neighbor... (do you not realize that you're on the 3rd flipping floor and it's naturally hot in the summer?) I'm so irritated by this blatant attack on my business! Luckily I have all the paperwork necessary to prove I'm a legal business and the code enforcement officer was more than satisfied.

But I am boiling with anger right now because if this person had come to talk to me I would have gladly shown them my business documents, I worked hard to do this legally... to have someone try to smear my name is so aggravating. I'm just a little business, I'm not even that busy because I'm also a stay at home mom and until my son is in school he is my priority and it's a pain to have to drive 40 minutes to bake.... But I'm trying to build a good reputation for myself, I got legal to build a portfolio without having to shell out all the money to do free cakes for friends and family (MOST of the cakes I have done are freebies, or dummies), so that when I can dedicate myself to my business full time I have something to show people. I don't advertise much (I'm listed on most of the free sites and I have a Google Adwords ad that I have a very small limit on the daily budget)...

I wouldn't even be this angry if it had been a competitor who tried to stir up trouble, it's the fact that this was very much a personal attack by someone who I can only imagine is jealous.

Sorry for the long rant... I guess the moral is let this be a warning, even when you do everything right, you STILL have people try to cause trouble for you... if I wasn't a legal baker I'd be in trouble right now....

Off to bake some cupcakes for my family to enjoy today!

Thanks for the support! It's just so annoying, I can't wait until we can move!

I did bake up some cupcakes and when the icing is ready I'm going to have my daughter invite a bunch of friends over so they can sit outside on this beautiful day and enjoy a treat

Yeah, it's just crazy, I never have customers over- I have consultations and meetings at Starbucks and deliver any orders. I mostly do cakes and not cupcakes, I make cupcakes mostly for family functions or to test recipes because they are easier. That statement is what really makes me think it's this person in particular, last summer I was making cupcakes for friends of ours (free of charge, I wasn't even a business then) and we chatted about it.

The whole thing boggles my mind, we've had other problems with this neighbor before, but never thought she'd attack us like this. We called our landlord to see if he got a complaint and he hadn't... so it's not just a matter of the neighbor's apartment being hot, they went to the town with the hopes that I was illegal and they'd get my business shut down.

Sorry, I keep venting, lol... just so, so irritated and offended right now. I'm a nice person, we try to be respectful of our neighbors, it just blows my mind when I encounter people who are just down right mean...

Thanks everyone, I'm not feeling so angry anymore!

spc1127: I really respect you and your advice, so thank you. It's hard to look at things so objectively when you are so close to the situation.

I wasn't angry that the health department was checking up on me, or even that someone had "reported" me. I haven't done anything wrong and was easily able to show my papers and get everything straightened out- it took all of 10 minutes to clear everything up. My initial reaction was to be angry because of who I had assumed (turned out I was right- kind of) had called. It's a neighbor who we'd had friction with before but things had been pleasant between us lately. Last weekend I was testing vanilla cake recipes in my home, but other than that I don't feel like I do copious amounts of baking in my home, maybe a little more than the average person but nothing too abnormal. My own utilities have not gone up any noticeable amount. And I would have hoped that if she had a problem with us she would have spoken to us or at least the landlord before taking such extreme measures.

They approached my husband as he was coming home last night to see what was going on because they noticed someone had come to the door. When he told them at first they acted shocked, but later she sent her boyfriend down because she had been too embarrassed. I'm not going to mention all of their business, but she had mentioned to a utility company that the lady below her baked a lot. And it was the utility company who was following up and contacted the HD. So, I feel much better now because it was not someone close to me attacking me. I have no hard feelings and appreciate what it must have taken to apologize to us. It was just a misunderstanding. Like scp1127 said, anyone has a right to check up on licensing and the fact that someone did was never really my issue...

*The kitchen I rent is in another town/county so my license if filed there, but the gentleman I spoke with yesterday was very understanding and he said he'd keep copies on file with my town in case anyone ever had a question about it again.

sheilaaellis44: thank you for your advice as well! I admit that marketing myself is something I struggle with. I am a shy person by nature and not very boastful, so it takes a lot for me to approach people.... but I'm not ignoring my business entirely... I run a Google Ad with a budget that is covered by the orders it generates. I list on all of the free sites... I just don't want to pay too much for marketing yet because I would not be capable of taking on a larger work load. I have done my networking and was lucky enough to pair up with an event planner and a photographer, we did a small bridal show together. They are even planning a photo shoot they want to try and publish and have asked me to make the display cake. So while I'm not really pushing my marketing, I've got several good lead generators.

Thank you again, everyone... for all of the advice and encouragement!