When I finally decided to “go for it” I took some classes, wrote a business plan, filled out the appropriate paperwork for the state and local officials, and headed to the bank. Now I recommend most of the above, except for the last one. I really  don’t recommend heading to the bank, but starting really small instead. Let your business finance itself, believe me, having a huge loan on your shoulders is a heavy burden to carry. It takes a lot of the fun out of business ownership.

Back to the ready to go for it part. The passage of Cottage Food Laws is making it easier for the start up of home based baking business. To get started, you need to find out what the laws of your state dictate. First you have to determine if you can bake at home. Then you need to see if you need a DBA which is a “Doing Business As” which basically assures that no one else is using the name you have chosen for your business. Next you want to consider the type of business you want to be, meaning are you going to be a sole proprietor, an LLC, an S Corp, or a C Corp. There is liability involved with most businesses, and you want to protect yourself. That said, don’t go overboard with this, because it is expensive and involved to set up a C Corp. Get good advice from a qualified professional.

Smart Businesses Protect Themselves

I know that in the beginning resources are limited, believe me, I understand. The thing is, ask questions like how much real risk are you taking with a small micro business, and can you change your legal structure as you grow? Can you cover yourself with an umbrella insurance policy and be okay? I don’t know the correct answers, because it depends on your situation, and the laws of your state. I will tell you that we went way overboard, and paid way too much.

You also have to find out what the rules about collecting sales tax are required by your state. You may need to get a tax id. I know it is a pain, but sales tax is a reality in many states. The good news is that a tax id allows you to purchase from vendors the general public does not have access to.

Set up a business checking account that only is used for the business. Give your business a start up loan to open the account. From that time forward, only use the business money to pay for the expenses, and don’t withdraw from that account for personal stuff. Then what is left in that account is profit after all the expenses are paid, and remember, your salary is an expense that has to be paid. That is the way business works.

Uncle Sam Wants His Share

Set aside a percentage for taxes from the beginning. (You might want a separate sales tax account to make sure that does not disappear, Uncle Sam does not look kindly at waiting for his money). You will have sales tax and income tax liability. As far as income tax, a rule of thumb is to set aside 25%. Check with your accountant to get accurate advice on that.

I know that just the mention of all the business set up is a hurtle for many of us. The reality of it is that if you truly want to be a business owner, you have to put on your business owner pants and get with the program. No one likes it, but it should not be significant enough to be a deal killer. If it is, then maybe it is a sign that business ownership is not a good fit.

I know, that all sounds really complicated, intimidating, and harsh. It is paperwork, you need to understand the basics to protect yourself, but search out good professionals who can help you/ Find a good entrepreneur class to walk you through the basics. You computer can find most of the information you need to get started, but don’t forget the power of asking questions for the departments you need to work with. Taxpayers pay the salaries of the various government departments, and they are willing to help you if you just ask.

Another great resource is SCORE

Those people have been in the trenches and know what they are doing. The best part is that it is free and can really help you get started on the right path. I can help you with day to day running your small baking business, but my advice is to get started on the right foot by setting your structure up correctly. As you walk this path, I am here to encourage you and help you in any way I can, so please leave comments and questions and we can have a conversation.

photo credit : fivequidexpert

I have to admit that I know what they are talking about. I am not quick to jump on the band wagon with many of them. I just don’t have the patience to sift through so much useless information in search of a needle in a haystack. I am not a fan of contests and coupons, you follow me and I’ll follow you offers, and tons of information about retweets that have been retweeted a bunch of times.

I am a mom who has worked from home for a lot of years, and when you are doing that, your time is at a premium. You have your family who needs your time and attention, but at the same time, you have a business that also needs your time and attention. For me, my in home licensed commercial kitchen was the perfect solution. I worked while my family slept and while the kids were at school, I made and delivered breakfast and lunch to corporations. By the time the kids were home from school, I was done for the day and available to my family.

It was hard work, but it was so worth it. You see, my primary focus was my family. I was not looking for professional accolades, or a generous paycheck. I worked to supplement my families income, and that is why I did not need to grow the business a lot. If I had done that, it would have demanded more of my time than I wanted to devote to it. As the kids grew, so did my business because I could afford to dedicate more time to the business, and our household expenses increased. My business was perfect for our family needs. When we needed more income, I worked more.

One of the temptations that stay at home moms struggle with, is determining what amount is enough for the time being. Getting caught up chasing money so you can buy more useless stuff seems attractive, but in the end, time with your family is like sand in the hourglass, and you don’t get a do-over when it comes to time with your family.

You can set the perimeters for what your family needs by working on a budget. I personally love Financial Peace University. Dave Ramsey is able to put using a budget in such a sensible and usable format. That way, you can determine what your financial needs are at the time, work hard to achieve those goals, and then enjoy the rest of the time with your family. Then when your needs change, you can readjust your budget.

Do WAHM groups help you?

I would love to hear your thoughts on the benefits of sites or groups that just focus on WAHM’s. I talk a lot about working at home, and I am a mom. I do hope however that everyone feels welcome here, because my primary objective here is to talk about some alternatives that people who would like to generate income from home have. I talk a lot about baking, because I have done that for a long time.

But as I have gone along, I have added to my repertoire. You can do that too. You are here reading my blog, well, I have worked hard to understand how managing the website works, and specifically  how to use WordPress. We can all learn to do new things, so what you decide to do at this time in your life does not have to be forever. That is not to say you should hop from opportunity to opportunity. Building a business is hard work and takes time. Work hard and persevere. In a few years you may transition into a different career and that is great, just don’t be seen as a business hopper, people won’t take your business seriously if you do that.You can determine what your specialty is, how much money your family needs, and then go for it.

You can read the article here.

You may be thinking that as a startup, you have no need for a site, but I would encourage you to think about it again. Today, everyone is online, and if you neglect to create your presence there, you will miss out on a lot of opportunities. Now if you are not a big fan of technology, you may cringe at the thought of having to have a website, afterall, learning HTML & CSS is a whole new language to learn, and for some of us, one language is plenty.

I have great news for all of you tech lovers and those of you who are brand new to the the world of technology. You don’t have to be able to use HTML to build a website, and it is so simple, you can do it yourself . For the newbies, you may need to use some tutorials, but there are plenty out there to watch. I have learned so much of what I know simply by searching for tutorials online. In additon, there are great courses you can pay a fee for to help you with a website buildout.

Build Your Website in a Day

That may sound impossible to you, but I promise you that you can do the basic website in a few hours. Heck, installing a site takes only a matter of minutes if you have the right web host. I have two that I use and like both of them. The first one is Bluehost and the second is MomWebs . Both of those hosts use what is called a Cpanel, and that makes installing your website really easy. I guess I am getting ahead of myself, because I did not mention that I recommend you use WordPress.org

WordPress is what I am using for this site, and the other sites that I own. I have to tell you that a couple of years ago, I could never have believed that I would be building and managing my own website, to  say nothing of several sites. I hope you will believe me when I tell you that installing WordPress is done with just a couple of clicks of your mouse.

Once you upload WordPress to your hosting company, you are up and running immediately . Here are the basic steps you follow when you want to create your site. The first thing you have to do is decide the name of your business. Then you purchase your hosting, it is usually sold by the year or multiple years. After you have purchased the hosting, I recommend that you purchase you domain form them. So first you buy your hosting, then your domain name.

The reason I am recommending that order is that if you purchase your domain name from your hosting company you can install WordPress immediately. If you purchase it elsewhere, it takes a couple of days for your website to become active. Domain names are competitively priced, so it really doesn’t matter much.

Once WordPress is installed, you will be given a user name and password along with the link to login. As soon as you do that, you are  visiting your site for the first time. Then you can get about the business of actually building it. I know that can be intimidating, if you feel your are technologically challenged. Because of that, I will offer a webinar that you are welcome to sign up for. In it I am going to walk you through how you can start to build your website.

If you have installed WordPress, you can follow my example and build your site right along with me. If you have not set up your site yet, you can just watch and see how simple it is to use WordPress. If you are not comfortable installing WordPress, no worries, I can help you with that. Just send me an email and I will help you so that you can participate in the website webinar.

I had a question about whether you can freeze bread dough? The second part of the question was if you can, how do you do that. If one person asked the question, I decided that there are others who would like to know about how to make frozen bread as well.

Make Bread the Easy Way

If you want freeze your bread dough you mix the dough as usual and then after a  short rest, form it into loaves, and pop it into the freezer covered with saran wrap just until it freezes hard. Then you take each loaf out of the pan and put it into a plastic freezer bag and keep up to four weeks.

When you are read to use it, put it in a greased bread pan, let it rise, it may take several hours to rise and thaw. Once it has risen, put it in a preheated oven  (350 degrees) and bake about a half an hour. When light brown, brush with melted butter and bake about another five minutes until it is golden brown. Remove from pan and cool on rack.

I want to let you know that not all recipes freeze well. I will post other freezer recipes for you to try. I would love to hear what you think. I also want to let you know that I welcome your questions and comments. If you have a favorite recipe you would like to share, please let me know that and I will share yours here too. Enjoy

Click on Image to Print

The intent of the law was to make it easier for solopreneurs to start a new business and supplement their income without having to make the huge investment in a licensed commercial kitchen or storefront.  Cottage food laws make it possible to test the market, generate income and make it possible to grow a budding baking business slowly .

Leaving room for regulators to write the rules is where the legislators made a mistake. For instance, now there are rules that the home bakers are finding really difficult. An example of one is the strict labeling rules they have put in place.  For a Cottage Food label in the state of Texas, the regulators have decreed it must:

have a list of ingredients in descending order of predominance by net weight, including a declaration of artificial color or flavor and chemical preservatives, an accurate declaration of the net quantity of contents including metric measurements and allergen labeling that complies with FDA regulations, a statement that the food was not inspected, suggesting a lack of fitness for consumption, and the usage of permanent ink, ruling out many home printers. The regulations are so riddled with technicalities that many home business owners might also incur legal fees just to ensure compliance and avoid harsh fines or future inspection by the government.

 

 

Now I don’t know about you, but that would be tough make a label that meets all the specifications they require. It seems to me that home bakers in Texas might be really frustrated. Since the FDA has set the precedence for non hazardous food production in home kitchens, making a label that suggests you might possibly be harmed by consuming that food seems pretty unfair. I believe that in the research I have done, not many people have gotten sick from the bake sale cookies they bought from their youth group. Therefore, suggesting there is a likelihood of danger is over the top.

Three cheers to the Jason Foscollo law firm for standing up for the home bakers rights. You can read the article he wrote in it’s entirety. He suggests contacting the state law makers to  revise the laws to limit what the regulators can require so that the law really does help the economy, access to local healthy food, and the growth of start up businesses.

It started with one woman who declared she was going to fight for her state to adopt Cottage Food Laws. She started with a Facebook Fan page and it went from there. Boy, they are giving each other a lot of support there. One of the posts that I found interesting and would like to make all of you aware of is that if you start your business, you need to make sure you protect yourself and your assets. Make sure you get the proper insurance. On the Facebook page they were talking about State Farm offering policies starting around $325 . My American Family agents writes the policy for my in home commercial kitchen.I would advise you to shop around so you can find the best policy in your state.

 Start a movement to get Cottage Food Laws

Colorado has those laws in place now because a hand full of people were passionate about wanting to be able to bake at home and make money. They started using social media to get the word out. News spread, people wrote numerous letters to their legislators, and they had a lot of conversations via social media.

I am sure it took some time on the part of the organizers, but they can pat themselves on the back. People all over the state should be grateful. There is a cap on their income potential, but hopefully sometime in the future, that will also change. So if you live in one of the eleven remaining states without Cottage Food laws, what are you waiting for?

I spend a lot of time keeping up with the baking world, I get emails all the time about it. I read everything I can find. Yesterday, a bakery in California was featured. It was struggling with the daily challenges of inventory control, and then unavoidable loss that limited shelf life presents. Faced with those losses, they decided to try out an entirely different business model. They closed their doors to the public, and went online.

Sure it was risky, but it paid off big time. They now take their orders online & get paid when the order is placed. No more limited shelf life losses because they always know what they need to bake, it is brilliant! So how did they do it? They learned all the ins and outs of social media. The head baker became the head tweeter, sending out tweets about things in the oven. I wonder if that is the equivalent of the subliminal messages about popcorn they used to say were embedded in movies.

It is happening worldwide. This morning I read an article about two sisters in India who opened a home-based bakery.Their orders for cupcakes have grown from two or three a week to over three hundred orders a week. They have built their business with social media as well. They are on their fan page talking with customers daily.

Setting up a Facebook Fan Page

First you have to have a personal Facebook account, but from there you can add a Fan page for your business. That is where the fun begins. You invite friends to like your page and it can grow from there. I have a friend with a barbeque restaurant called New Market Bar-B-Q. Libby (my friend) is a social media fanatic and has done a great job using it to grow her business. I encourage you to click on the link and look at her website, and then take a look at her use of Social Media. On a daily basis her fan base knows what the special of the day is going to be.

In addition to the specials, she tweets out coupon codes for discounts to the first however many customers. By doing that she is setting up the need to be within the first customers in line to get the discount. Every time I visit her Facebook page I get hungry. That is because she is using mouth watering pictures on her page.

The sisters in India are doing the same thing with their cupcakes. They have pictures of the different designs they create for customers that highlight their creative talents. The conversations they have with happy customers on their page are great testimonials. They said their repeat business is a huge factor in their success.

Connect all your social media accounts.

Each time I write a blog, it is linked to my FB and Twitter accounts. In addition to that, I have it connected to a group on 48days.net where I have a group talking about getting a baking business started. That 48days group has just recently started, so I need to grow it to get some good discussions going there.Please stop by and join, it is free and there is ton of great information there. It was started by Dan Miller, and there are great conversations happening there.

Pinterest is growing so rapidly that everyone is joining to see what it is all about. It certainly behooves everyone with products to put pictures and videos on their websites and encourage others to pin those to a board in Pinterest. I am just starting to learn how to use it, but I will let you know more as I learn about it.

There are ingredient and labor loss with each product left over. It is a constant challenge of owners to predict the amount of product they will need for their shop each day. If you have been keeping an eye on the bakery business, you may have noticed that some of them are struggling to keep the doors open.

Inventory Management for a Bakery

Because it is impossible to guess what product will be the choice of the fickle public on any given day, some bakeries are taking long look at a new business model. They are closing their storefront and transitioning to completely online selling. One such bakery in Sacramento is enjoying great success doing just that. They were struggling to make their bakery work, but it was a daily challenge – until they decided that they had to find a way to eliminate the uncertainty of what would sell.

They found the answer in deciding to work solely online. Who would have thought that had a chance of working? Well, it has been a huge success. They have formed a joint venture between their ovens and their computers. Both are equally important in this type of business. They have to produce great products and they have to have a way to reach a “hungry market”.

A well built website that combines well crafted content, enticing pictures, and strategic use of SEO makes it possible for their customers to order online to be delivered anywhere in the Continental US. How smart is that? They have the order and it is paid for before they ever even turn on their ovens. They now bake only what they have orders for.

They bake their products as always. When they are ready for the customer, they are frozen, put in a protective foam shell and then packed on dry ice for delivery. It is then shipped for next day delivery. If it is local, they deliver it promptly. They are still able to serve their previous customer, they just deliver it to them.

Another benefit to that business model is that they don’ t have to pay top dollar for a desirable location. In-home commercial kitchens could really make it big following this business model. You would just have to find the right shipping materials for frozen baked good. I found one place that has them called Thermosafe. Once packaged, you pack in dry ice and ship.

You can read the entire story about the bakery that reinvented itself by going online. Maybe it will spark some great ideas of how you can tweak an idea to make your business more profitable.

• Owner
• CEO,
• CFO,
• Sales Manager,
•  Director of Marketing,
• Head Baker,
• Webmaster,
• Head of Social Media Department,
• Customer Service Manger,
• Order taker,
• Supervisor of Maintenance
• Packager
• Administrative Assistant
•  Blogger
• Scheduler
• Shipping Department
• Etc.

Yeah, I realize that some of those titles are a bit over the top for an entrepreneur, but the point is that you will have to learn how to do a lot of things moderately well. In addition to that, time management is something many work at home businesses struggle with. Distractions abound when you work at home, so having the discipline to stay on task is a battle we all have to face. So, what do you focus on first?

Obviously you have the product you would like to start with in mind. We really don’t have to review the baking procedures, recipes or any of the baking how to’s. I am assuming at this point you have all that down. Running a business with baked goods as your product is most likely what you struggle with.

Running a Home Baking Business Requires More Than Baking Skills

The point is that there is a lot more than just doing the baking that is involved in business management. If you want to be successful, from day one you have to be in the mindset of operating like a true business. If  you are a homebased business, you will operate differently than a brick &; mortar store.

You are going to have some challenges that the retailers don’t have. For one thing, your zoning may prohibit your customers from coming to your location. You will have to set up some form of delivery. That can also be a benefit. It eliminates the importance of location, location, location. Getting the word out about your business is critical. Since you are home based, customers won’t know you are in business merely by driving past your store. Zoning again may prohibit you from even putting out a sign with the name of your business. You are going to have to have and execute a plan to advertise that you are open for business.

One of the mistakes a lot of people make is thinking you can simply buy an ad and that takes care of the problem. Years ago, when we first opened our business, we purchased a very pricey ad in one of the yellow telephone books. It ran for a year, and we got one or two calls total. What we found out in hindsight was our business was generated from the networking we did, and the reputation we built. Referrals were the lifeblood of our business. Once we had that in place, the business grew steadily.

It is really getting easier all the time to make money doing something you already love to do. There is a growing demand for homemade food that is not available in retail stores. That means that by simply getting the word out to family, friends, and neighbors, you could start raising the dough.

What could you do with that extra money? Get out of debt, build up an emergency fund. Dave Ramsey fans all over the country are looking for a way to make that happen. That is one of the things I did. Well to be perfectly honest, first I made the huge mistake of borrowing a ton of money to open a retail coffee shop. That was a really bad idea, but I recovered by working hard baking to pay off that huge bill.  It worked for me, and I know it can work for you too. Once your finances are in good shape, think of all the fun things you will be able to do. I’m heading for a vacation home in the mountains!

Cake Trumps Pie as Far as Google is Concerned

Cake wins in the keyword research. Does that mean dooms day for pie bakers? Well, considering that last month there were almost twenty five million searches for the word pie, I think there is enough business to go around. As a matter of fact, when I checked the trends for  baking, the numbers have been steadily raising for the past few years. The food network has made a big impact on that. Mouths are watering as channels are surfed. It is inspiring to think of eating all those mouth watering recipes, but then reality sets in and the next best thing to making it yourself is finding someone else to make it for you.

That is great news for bakers. There is a “hungry market” (literally) for what you have to offer. Every product in the world dreams of that type of market.  You just have to go after your piece of the pie so to speak. You probably don’t need me to teach you how to make a pie, but if you do, I have a recipe for one of my favorite pie crusts in the recipe section.I will assume you know what fruit pie you are going to sell, so you have that covered.

The next thing you have to do is package it attractively. You are producing a premium product. I have talked a lot about the fact that you are not trying to compete with the big box stores on price. You know the quality of the ingredients and the time you spent rolling out the crust. You have made a premium product, now present it as such. You need to find a distinctive box that sets it apart from the average ho hum same old grocery store pie.

One of the things I spend a fare amount of time on when I did the gift basket part of my business was sourcing unique and decorative packaging. I did the same with the catering end of the business. I did a little searching for you too. It is a lot easier than it used to be. Check this out: Southern Champion 0873 Pink Bakery Boxes, 10" x 10" x 4" (0873SOC) Category: Bakery Boxes

You can buy your boxes in bulk. That sure saves a lot of time and gets the job done.

Next time I’ll talk about how to get the word out about your new business. In the meantime, pull out Mom’s and Grandma’s recipes, and get to work.