How many of you are making enough cash flow for this to be your MAIN source of income? - Page 2  

I do okay, which for around here, and the plethora of cheap bakers, is quite amazing. Could my entire family depend on it? Heck no. It's a dual income household.

Yeah, hob/small business here too :)

No way I could ever make even close to what my real job brings in. I only became legal so when my coworker's/friend's/cousin's/BFF wants a cake I can charge them (and use the money to buy more fun cake tools!).

In all seriousness, I agree with others. I don't logistically see how one person running their own cake business out of their home could make enough to live on. But I would love to hear if others have! Just crunching the numbers though, that's a lot of cake to be putting out each week (plus deliveries, set ups, making cake boards, ordering supplies, planning designs, meeting with clients, keeping the books, etc.) I think for the # of cakes you'd have to make there just wouldn't be enough time. And of course, that's assuming you get enough orders to meet that quota. For your $2k goal I'm assuming you mean net, not gross. Which would vary depending on your costs, but let's assume you net 60% (being generous here - I actually think for a start up it will be less). And that's not counting taxes, so you really need to gross over $5k a month. I don't know what you're planning to charge, but say $3.50/serving (that seems fairly middle-of-the-road). So that's over 350 servings a week. I think as one person you'd a) have a very difficult time securing that volume of orders consistently week over week and b) have a heck of a time filling those orders and keeping up with the business side of things.

I'm not trying to be a debbie downer, I just think it's a big undertaking. Do you already have a client base? Established recipes, processes, suppliers? It might be better to get a part-time job and cake on the side for a while until you see if it can work. G/L :)

p.s. Just saw your last post - many of the repeat posters here on CC are very talented, very successful cakers. Don't assume b/c you're not getting the advice you want to hear that it's because all of the millionaire cakers too busy to answer you. The sad truth is it's a supremely difficult industry to make a profit, much less a living in. It's great that you're passionate, but you should have a realistic idea of what you're getting into.

this is a toughie. I'm a beginner myself and was starting to wonder the same thing. If you really love what you do, you could work at a bakery (F4L, Costco, mom & pop around the corner ) and still do a business on the side. I don't know if anyone has done this before but that's what I planned on doing since I love baking so much  has anyone else done this?

Didn't you just post the other day that you were unhappy with a cake you made (wrestling belt) and that you were going to take a break?  What encouraged you to do a complete 180? I took a short break and am only finding my motivation now and I will only do one cake a week (working full time).

I wasn't criticizing you. I was just wondering where your motivation came from as I have had a difficult time getting my own motivation back in full swing. I'm sorry that you took it the wrong way.

I net about 3x minimum wage in my state, which makes it enough for this to be my full time job.

I was very careful what sort of business I set up, I supply multiple coffee shops and cafes with cupcakes Monday - Friday, I don't take small orders, and I don't work for a low wage.

The first year I lost money, the second year I made maybe 3 grand, by year 3 I had finally figured out my pricing system, advertising and a good schedule structure.

There some very successful cakers on CC, finding the time to post online just means good time management :)

Don't forget about health care.  You would have to pay to insure yourself, it's not cheap.