I live in KY, trying to get ideas on how much its going to cost to start a business

Cake-freak

I live in south central KY, close to BG.  KY does not have a cottage food law. So you will have to find a commercial kitchen to rent, create a storefront, or build your own building.  Everything that is sold has to be baked and decorated in a commercial kitchen.  We chose to build on our property.  Our county required that our building be separate from the house and I could only occupy more than 1/4 of that building-We could not just build a stand alone.  I know-didn't make sense to us either. 

Permits, building, septic/grease trap system, equipment all totaled a little more than thirty thousand.  I bought most of my equipment used from auctions, craig's list or ebay.  I bought my refrigerator and one of my freezers new.

I am not sure where you are, but the illegals here really are rampant.  So, do your homework before you spend a dime.  It might be better to work for someone else while you are deciding that this is how you want to spend your future.

I live in NKY, in the peak right between IN and OH. I, too have a commercial kitchen, but we HAD to have ours connected to our home, so counties differ. Counting cake pans and tile and tables and grease trap and licenses, it cost about $17,000. We just converted a garage. I am still buying a lot, 2 years later. Almost everything goes right back into the business. I already had a ton of things, since I had been decorating for 20 years before I started the business, but as a hobby. (I had 2 18"x4'x6' cabinets full of things) 

Do you have any current, recent pictures of your cakes? I just looked at your gallery, and I am concerned you may need more practice before starting a business under KY law, since it is a considerable investment. If this were a cottage food law state, I would say go for it. There will always be an opportunity, even if there are lots of bakeries that crop up. I would suggest going to business school, and learning the "other stuff" needed to run a successful business. A cake business is less than half cake, the other half is paperwork and taxes. 

I would highly recommend you get a job in a bakery decorating cakes.  You need alot more experience before you tackle opening your own business. Not only will you learn more skills, you will have the opportunity to see if this is really something you want to do for an extened period of time, learn what it takes to run a business, learn some do's and don'ts, and gain the speed and style you need to be a competitive business owner.  You are young and have  plenty of years ahead of you.  Take baby steps, learn from others, mature, save money, then take the big leap!  You not only need the money to open the doors, you need to have money saved up to support yourself because it takes some time to establish a business. Good luck!

Another option would be to take some culinary classes or attend a culinary school.  That might give you some more experience and professional grounding while you're building  your cake portfolio.