Possibilty of Becoming Licensed!!! Need Opinions!!! LONG - Page 2

pinkbunny, I say go for it. If it keeps you home with your son, your husband is on board, and it is something you really want to do, then do it. Like you said, you can always use the building for something else if you decide baking isn't for you or you want to try something else down the road.
Hhmmm, I've been telling my husband we need a storage shed for all his junk, maybe I should change that to all my junk and a kitchen. lol
Good Luck!

The "no customers" thing is really a protection for the neighbors. As long as the traffic is limited, (and customers don't park in your neighbors driveway) there is rarely any complaints. The zoning people want to avoid the extra traffic, but a scheduled appointment with a customer would be unnoticed. And unless they get complaints, the powers that be won't care. Unlike the health department who will fine you if you are caught illegally selling home baked foods to the public.

Working from home, with a license, is a dream. Just remember, it always cost at least as much as you budget, and always takes longer than you think!

JoAnn

Okay dokay...here go the figures..

If you're going to put an out building on your property and it's going to cost you about..25000.00 and you're planning to stay there for about 10 years..here is your breakdown...

25000.00 divided by 10 (years)=2500.00 divide by 12 (months) =208.88 a month...divide this by ...25.00 and it's 8 cakes a month JUST to break even on the building.

Doable? I think so...

So, if you go into your building making 10-15 cakes a month and just ONE wedding cake a month...you could be breaking even.

That's how I figure on what I need for storefront....I add up ALL my expenses...power, light, lease, phone, water, phone, trade associations ( Joining the Chamber of Comerce is a MUST!)..etc, etc, etc....whatever I need to run my business for a month..( or the year)...I look at that figure and freak myself out..lol

noooo..what I do is then, divide it by the cheapest cake I make...so I know that to pay my bill and to keep myself in business that is the MINIMUM of cakes I need to book per month.

Anything else I book is profit...( ha..right!!!!)

This is a VERY simple and quick way of guestimating how much work you need to produce to keep your "doors" open..to be more accurate you do the figures to the penny.

Some business proposals will allow you to "guestimate" others want everything up front down to the penny.

well anywy...you all get the idea!

for those of you doing this at home....you MUST know the square footage of your home...then subtract the square footage that you use for your "home based" business....you figure out how much mortgage (or rent) you pay for your square footage....

for example...I had a house...1200 square feet...let's say I paid 601.00 for my house, and I used 450 square feet for my home based business...so, I'm figuring about...1.99 a sq. ft? a little less than 450 dollars a month to have that area pay for itself? Get the idea??

My math may be all off, I'm a cake decorator not a math major...so PLEASE feel free to correct me..lol