You have been making cupcakes from your own recipes for years and everyone tells you that you should start your own business. If your dream has been to own your own business, then maybe you should listen to your friends and family and get your cupcake business off the ground.
Protecting Yourself
When you come up with a name for your business, you should file a business certificate with your local government office so you can start a business bank account and protect your business name. You should write down your recipe and have it copyrighted by the <a href=”https://www.copyright.gov/”>federal copyright office</a> so no one else can use that recipe. You will also need business liability insurance to protect your general business operations. Your insurance agent can help you get liability insurance.
Establish Home Base
Most cupcake businesses start in the home kitchens of their owners, which is a perfectly acceptable start. You need to figure out how much it costs to make your cupcakes so that you can determine how much you should charge. When figuring out your costs, always remember to include 15 or 20 percent extra for overhead costs such as electricity and your time.
Get Your Friends Talking
Once you have established your home base, you need to have professional business cards printed up that you can distribute to people in the area. You should give a small amount of cards to the friends and family members who love your cupcakes so they can help spread the word. It is always best to not use your home phone number for your business. Use your cell phone number, or get a cell phone if you do not have one.
Free Samples
The best way to get people talking about your cupcakes is to start giving out free samples to get people interested. Take small boxes of your cupcakes to local businesses, along with a good supply of your business cards and copies of your price list, and ask to have the cupcakes put in the employee break room. When you are just starting out, free samples are great ways to get the orders flowing in.
Community Events
Another great way to market your cupcake business is to become a regular part of community events. Whenever there is a chance to rent a table or booth at an event, you should be there to give out cupcakes and price lists.
Social Media
Once you start seeing some orders rolling in, there is a good chance that people are starting to talk about your cupcakes in your community. The best way to capitalize on your growing reputation is to start social media accounts and let your customers start telling everyone about your products. You should also register for as many business rating websites as you can and get your customers to give you the highest rating possible.
Cupcakes are a lot of fun, but starting your own cupcake business can be a lot of work. But with the right recipe and plenty of promotion, you can be your own boss making cupcakes all day long.
Jim Treebold is a North Carolina based writer. He lives by the mantra of “Learn 1 new thing each day”! Jim loves to write, read, pedal around on his electric bike and dream of big things. Drop him a line if you like his writing, he loves hearing from his readers!