Reply by amyscakes

Knowing what atrea of cake decorating you love (cupcakes, weddings, fondant, cake pops etc) and focusing your efforts in that area before you start will help you keep from running in circles and allow you to ficus any advertising efforts to the right audience. Be patient it takes time to build a business and a reputation. I did cakes “on the side” for years before stepping away from the corporate world and the only way to keep you sanity is to make sure the orders you take are worth it. To do this:
1. price your cakes so you are paying yourself
2. block out times where you will not take orders so you get some free time
3. set a minimum dollar amount you will take (otherwise you will be killing youtrself for $20 amd $30 orders)
4. set a maximum number of cakes you will take on in a week.
5. worlk out a baking & decoratinf schedule and try to stick with it (have at least 2 days a week “off”- mine are Sun & Mon) It took me a few years to figure this out but once I did things went smoother and I was able to avoid burn out. I still stick with theese priciples (except the min $) now that this is my “regular” job.

-- Amy, http://www.amyscakesncandies.com