Hey there home baker! Welcome to this video where
we are talking about how to start your home bakery business and how to turn your passion for home
baking into a legit business that actually can become your part-time or even full-time job where
it completely replaces your job that you have right now. Now, in a home bakery business there
are three phases to becoming full-time. There's the "start out" phase where you're just starting
with a side hustle. Then there's "part time" and then there's "full time". I'm not going to get
into phase two and three right now because then you're just going to be overwhelmed okay and
that's not what we want. We want you to start your business as soon as possible and I'm going
to simplify things for you as much as possible so that you feel the confidence and feel more
comfortable to get started. Since 2018 I've been helping home bakers just like you to start their
Home Bakery businesses with a consistent flow of orders and a stable income and I often see home
bakers make the same mistakes over and over again when they start their businesses. So, I'm going
to speak about how to start your business from that point of view; what not to do and what you
should be doing instead. Mistake number one that home bakers make when they start their business
is to quit their day job. Please don't do that because when you do that you are putting so much
pressure on your business to succeed immediately. Realistically speaking, in all other industries,
it takes about two years for a business to start making profit. Now in a Home Bakery it doesn't
take that long at all! You can start making profit very early on, but it's not going to be
a full salary immediately - especially if you want to do this so it has sustainable success
and not just one huge successful month and then everything just crashes, right? We want to
build a sustainably successful business. So, don't quit your day job just yet. It provides so
much security and stability for your family to have that recurring income every month from your
day job. How it typically works in a Home Bakery, is you start small. You keep your day job and you
bake for just one day per week. Start baking for Fridays. You can start very small with just one
dozen items and then you can grow that over time. Eventually you'll be baking two dozen items for
every Friday and then three dozen and then four dozen. Then you'll start baking for Saturdays
as well and when you get to a point where your weekends are fully booked, THEN you can start
looking into decreasing your hours at your day job and going part-time so that you then have more
time available to devote to your baking business (to push into your baking business to invest in
it) so that you can start getting more clients, maybe looking to getting wholesale clients,
and things like that. But this process does not take a month. You can think more about like
six months or so okay for it to start replacing a part-time income for you. And another mistake
that I see home bakers make in this area is to have the complete opposite perspective where they
think "I need to build up a full-time Home Bakery while I still have a full-time day job." That's
not the solution either! TWO full-time jobs require TWO people and you are just ONE person.
You're going to burn yourself out completely, your relationships in your life are going to start
falling apart - it's so not worth it, so don't do that to yourself. You can do a side hustle where
you're baking for weekends - you can do that to your max capacity while still having a day job
a full-time day job but then when your weekends are fully booked, then it's time to start letting
go of your current reality (which is your current day job) and then start investing that time into
your baking business. So, instead of trying to create a full-time home bakery business while
still working at a full-time day job know when it is time to start reducing your hours at work so
that you have more time available to work on your baking business and still have a life and not burn
out. Mistake number two in starting a business is thinking that you need all kinds of fancy catering
and baking equipment or a very large kitchen and loads of space before you can start a home bakery
business. We think this because we see bakers on Instagram, right? And they have like three kitchen
aids and we think we need the same stuff - we need those 30 spatulas and we need all that space
and two giant ovens before we can start a baking business. So NOT the case at all! I started in
a three square meter kitchen (that's nine square feet). Very, very small. I baked full time out of
that for a year and a half. Where there's a will, there's a way. You can make this work. Be
resourceful with what you have and if you don't have it then ask a friend if you can borrow
it from them. During the first year in my business I actually drove to my husband (then he was
just my boyfriend) but I drove to his student house every Thursday night after work and I baked
everything there because I didn't have a reliable oven in the student house where I was staying.
So I would drive to his house, bake everything there and then drive home and decorate everything
at my own student house. I borrowed a hand mixer from a friend. I borrowed two mixing bowls from
someone else. You can MAKE this work. Use what you have. Resourcefulness matters so much more than
resources. If you're wondering what you really really need, like what's essential in terms of
tools and so forth, to start a baking business - I've written a blog post for you. The link is
in the description below this video where I list out all the things that you actually really need
to start a home bakery business. You'll see that it's not much at all. Go check that out. Mistake
number three is to buy heaps of ingredients in bulk and to buy packaging in advance. Don't make
this mistake. Please don't. In the beginning your business doesn't have a lot of cash flow, right?
You don't have a lot of money, there isn't a lot of profit coming in yet, so you need to be very
wise and very frugal with where and how you spend your money. You don't need heaps of packaging. Buy
that kind of stuff on a week to week basis. Same with ingredients - buy them as you need them. Down
the line there's definitely room to buy things in bulk. I've got a video as well about that. The
the link is in the description about how to source cheaper ingredients for your Home Bakery, but this
is not what you need to worry about in the first month when you start your business. That comes
later down the line where it becomes worth it and you know you're going to get heaps of orders and
you will definitely use all of those ingredients that you buy. The danger with buying ingredients
in bulk right at the beginning is that you can't guarantee that you are going to have orders that
use those specific ingredients and then they will just end up going to waste. So, don't do that to
yourself - don't spend your money on those kinds of things. Buy packaging and ingredients on a week
to week basis. Your packaging also really doesn't have to cost a fortune. There are ways that you
can DIY your packaging - I've been doing that for years and it saves me loads of money. Because if
you print custom boxes you probably need to print at least a couple of thousand. In my place where
I live (in Cape Town) you have to print at least 3 000 boxes and where are you gonna find space
for something like that? And it's a huge, HUGE expense right at the beginning of your
business. So, I buy boxes as I need them and then I just splatter them with gold paint. I've
got a video tutorial about that as well. You can DIY your packaging to make it look more special.
Mistake number four when starting a business is to wing it with your pricing. And by that I mean that
you look at what everyone else is charging and then you think "that's what I should be charging".
Or you ask your family and friends what is a fair price to charge. Or you go on your own feelings
and think "well, I feel that this is about as much as I would be willing to pay for something." Don't
do this, please don't do this. Your pricing is not an afterthought. Your pricing is essential for the
success of your business because that is where the money is made. If you don't price correctly you
will end up working yourself to death for peanuts, and burn out completely along the way, and you
will eventually need to close your business if you don't price properly. So please don't make
light of this. You have to price properly. Your pricing needs to be based on proper proper
math, but it's not complicated to do that. I've got a free pricing calculator to help you and make
your life easier - the link to that is below this video. You can get the free pricing calculator in
my free resource library for home bakers. There's loads of resources there to help you out. And the
free pricing calculator is amazing! You just type in your information, the cost of your ingredients,
the time that you spend, and so forth and then it pops out the recommended selling price for you.
It does all the complicated math FOR you. It's so essential in your business to price correctly,
okay? So go download that free pricing calculator. Mistake number five is to base your Home Bakery
menu on what seems popular to you in your local community and on social media. This is one of the
biggest mistakes you can make. If you base your entire business on what other people are making
then your business will completely disappear in the crowd. And you don't want that, right? You
want your business to stand out. If you want your business to stand out and attract customers,
you need to find a NICHE for your Home Bakery right from the very start. And when I say "niche"
I don't mean restriction. They are two completely different things. Restriction/specialization
is about "I just bake cupcakes" or "I just bake brownies". That is not proper niching. Niching is
about SOLVING A PROBLEM for customers related to baked goods that other bakers in your area aren't
solving for them yet. You need to basically look for the gaps in the market that other home
bakers aren't fulfilling yet. And another important thing: don't JUST look at the problems
that are in your area related to baked goods, but you also need to consider what YOU actually love
to bake. You need to bake things that are in line with who you are and what you're passionate about
because you're going to be baking hundreds (in fact thousands) of those things! So, you better
be picking things to bake that you actually LOVE making and feel confident in. I've got a free
guide to help you find the perfect niche for your home bakery business so that you will stand
out and attract customers. Once again the link to join the free resource library is below this video
and you will find that guide that free guide on how to find the perfect niche for your business
in the library. Mistake number six (and this is a personal one so it's going to sting a bit, but I
have to be honest with you because I want you to succeed okay? So, here's some tough love). Mistake
number six is naming your business after yourself. Now, I did the same thing, so I'm not judging
okay, but if you want your business to attract your ideal customers and to stand out among all
your other competition out there, then you need to NOT name your business after yourself but actually
name it according to your niche. Remember in the previous step you needed to define your niche
and to base your whole Home Bakery: your menu, your business name, all of that stuff needs to
be based on your niche so that it attracts your ideal customer. I've made a video about how to
create the perfect business name and what mistakes to avoid - the link to that is below this video.
Once you've watched that video about how to create the perfect business name for your home bakery
business, then you can very easily create your logo and your business cards on Canva. Canva is a
free online program that is super user friendly, very easy to use, and you can in no time at all
create beautiful, professional looking graphics. You don't need to pay thousands for a graphic
designer to create this "super professional logo" - it's not necessary. You can very easily
create something on Canva. And they've got amazing templates as well for things like business
cards, etc. So, that will save you a lot of time and a lot of money. Mistake number seven
is more of a mental issue, but it's regarding the whole licensing process of your Home Bakery.
Often, home bakers get so freaked out by this idea that they just procrastinate and procrastinate
starting their businesses because they are so scared that they'll mess up the licensing process,
or that they won't get approved, and they won't be able then to legally bake from home. But I really
want to put you at ease here. It's not such a big deal! It's a very rational process. They won't
look at you and say "well, I don't like you so you're not getting your license." They look
for specific criteria. I've written a blog post about that as well - what they typically look out
for. But note that it is a bit different in every country so you will need to do your research.
Just go to your local authorities and ask them, you know, this is what you want to do. You want
to start a Home Bakery business. What can you do? Can you schedule at an appointment for the health
inspector to come inspect your home? And so forth, you know. Set up that meeting, get things going.
You won't know unless you go ask and find out. But yes, there's a blog post that I've written
about the process - that link is below this video as well. Now, sometimes it might happen that a
home bakery business or a cottage food business is against the law in your country, or in your
state, or in your city. Those three have their own different rules often. It's not just one rule
for the whole country, or one rule for the whole state. So you will need to go and just ask them
if it is legal. Be specific in how you explain to them. Often they will think if you say "Cottage
Food Business" that you are planning to work with meat and all kinds of things like that - which is
not the case with a Home Bakery at all okay. So, be clear in how you explain to them this is a
BAKING business - there is no meat involved of any kind - so that they know "okay, there's less risk
of contamination, or infection, or food poisoning, etc. And if you live in the USA, I have very good
news for you because there's this institute called "The Institute for Justice" where they are super
passionate about helping Cottage food businesses (home-based food businesses) to be legal. They are
busy changing the laws of every state and every city. They basically have a whole team of lawyers
that advocate for change in this area because no one ever got sick from a homemade cookie or donut,
right? It's ridiculous that there are so many restrictions on home bakers. So, if you live in
the USA and you want to see the cottage food laws changed in your state or in your city, go check
out the interview I did with Katie. The link is below this video. She managed managed to change
the laws in her state and in her city with the help of The Institute for Justice. That story will
be incredibly inspiring to you and you will get so many helpful tips on what to do next so that
home-based food businesses are legalized in your city and in your state. Mistake number eight that
home bakers make when starting their businesses is to wait to FEEL ready, or to feel like they
have enough knowledge or enough experience, or to feel more confident. Often they will go
through the process of finding their niche, figuring out a business name, making
their logo and their business cards, and all of those practical things but then they
don't actually START their business because they just don't FEEL ready - they don't feel qualified
enough or experienced enough to charge people for their baking. Often they will feel scared and
think that because they feel scared it's this "sign" that they are not supposed to start a home
bakery business but this is so not the case at all! I promise you every single business owner
who has started a business feels scared. Even after they start their business they still feel
scared! Every time I bake for clients I still feel scared - even after like 10 plus years of baking
for people! Fear is not a sign that you're not supposed to do this. Fear is just a sign that you
are HUMAN. it's actually a really good thing to be scared - it just means that your brain is doing
its job of trying to protect you from things are unknown and unsure. You will always be afraid of
things that are unknown and unsure in your future, but that doesn't mean you're not supposed to do
them. Think about the most meaningful and valuable things in your life. For example, having kids or
marrying someone or putting yourself out there and applying for a job. Often the most valuable
and meaningful things in your life are things that you did even though you felt scared, right?
Something that's really helped me in overcoming my fear when starting a business or doing
something new is to think of what I actually want. I remember this is one of the most amazing things
that ever happened to me in my life before I started my baking business. I had a conversation
with a dear friend and she told me "Aurelia, for a moment forget what everyone expects you to
do. Forget what you feel you are "supposed to do". What do you actually want? What do you want to do?
What do you want?" and it was the first time in my life that someone ever asked me that. I was always
just so concerned about what other people kind of told me I'm supposed to do or what I I thought
and assumed I was supposed to do. But then when I could finally say it out loud like "I want to
BAKE. I want to have a baking business. I want to do this for a living." Then it helped me to start
understanding that if I want to get there - that's the thing I want right - I need to start making
decisions according to THAT. Because if I'm just going to keep listening to my fear I'm going to
be the in the exact same spot a year from now, two years from now, five years from now. And
then one day I'm gonna be 80, lying on my bed, and regret not giving this a go. I'm gonna regret
not starting a business. I'm going to regret not doing something that I'm super super passionate
about and good at - like baking. If you've watched this far in the video, you know that you're a good
baker. People have told you that over and over again. And you know that you are passionate about
this! You owe to yourself to acknowledge that, and to make decisions according to that. Be honest
with yourself for a moment: what do you really want? Do you want to bake? Then start your baking
business - it's simple as that :) So, instead of waiting and waiting and waiting to "feel ready" or
to "feel more confident" realize that you're never going to feel those things. You will never feel
ready - you'll be waiting for the rest of your life. Rather make decisions according to where you
want to be and then your life will start changing right in front of your eyes. Great! So now that
you know how to start your home bakery business this year, to stop putting it off, but to start
getting that ball rolling. Remember your next three steps: the first step is to download the
free pricing calculator. Join the library - the link is below this video and then also the guide
to find the perfect niche for your business is also in the library. You can download both of
those there. And then your third step is to pick the perfect business name for your home bakery
that actually attracts your ideal customers and you can watch that in this video on your screen.
I'll see you in the next video, bye! [Music]
