Mom Seeking Help on How to Start a Business

It is not legal to bake items at home that are to be sold. You would need to rent time in a licensed kitchen. If your church has a licensed kitchen, they may let you rent time?

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/foods/faq.shtm

1. Can I manufacture food in my home kitchen?
The rules do not allow any type of manufacturing or holding of food for distribution in any areas used as living or sleeping quarters unless it is completely partitioned from your home.

13. I personally know several people who are making products in their home, packaging and selling at flea markets, festivals, fair, crafts shows, etc. How can they do this in their home and without a license?
An individual who manufactures and packages food for sale is required to be licensed as a food manufacturer. A requirement of being licensed as a food manufacturer is that no manufacturing can take place in the home kitchen. Individuals who make products in their home are in violation of the Texas Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 431

Years ago I took a course at a local college titled "Starting a Business". It was very informative. You might check out your local community college's website. Do a search for "starting a business". My local one gave links to lots of free information as a result of that search.

I agree with Julie W, it depends on if it's a home-based business or one where you are located someplace. I had a CPA business before I started working from home. With my CPA business, one thing I did was make sure everything was very professional right from the beginning. Also know that the first two years, no matter what the business is you usually will not be making a lot of income. If it's a business that needs a lot of beginning operating cash, make sure to look for grants for women owned businesses, small business loans with lower interest rates, that kind of thing.

Hope that helps!!

L.

What kind of business are you trying to get started? Is it something that will be based out of your home? Something you will have to have an actual location to sell from?

Depending on what kind of business and where....word of mouth is great, Facebook is wonderful if you are on that. I had my own hairbow business for 5 years and I ended up getting a website. Took my bows to local craft shows and spread the word that way. Giving away a freebie is a great way to bring people to your product as well.

I now am with a direct sales company called Homemade Gourmet and I was able to build my business from that starting with my friends and family. They had a party for me, invited their friends etc and from there I booked more parties etc. So the word spread that way and now my business is exploding.

Best of luck in your adventure--hope some of my suggestions will help you!

Hugs!
J.

Sorry for the brevity here.

Opening a bakery sounds like a huge financial and personal undertaking. I notice that the cupcake businesses are very popular right now. Another bakery area to consider is catering to elementary schools for birthday parties, as home baked goods are no longer allowed in public schools. We have an entrepreneurial mom our school who advertises to bring in baked treats and is doing very well with that. She does it from her kitchen. She got certified and that whole process so she could provide this service. Starting from your kitchen will keep start up costs extremely low until you build up a base of costumers, and then you can launch into something more permanent.

I would recommend more brainstorming....what type of baking? Organic? Yeast breads? Self-rising breads? Gluten free breads? Desserts? Weddings? All of it, depending upon who comes your way?

Best of luck!

Buy or borrow the book: Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson.

Hi, how exciting! It is great you are wanting to do this. It is very easy to get started. Executing and becoming successful is more challenging.

Many businesses are easy to start using established companies (Pampered Chef, Mary Kay, etc.) or a franchise. Franchises usually have higher upfront cost and a lot of fees. In the end, I decided to start my business from scratch (Paradise Robotics).

We are self-funded. Personally, I think self funding is the best way to go, especially if you are low on experience. You could waste a lot of time trying to get a loan because no one will give you the money if your idea is not at least proven to some degree. Watch the show "Shark Tank" on TV. You will learn a lot about what makes someone willing to invest.

If you are not starting with an established franchise, I highly recommend starting at home to keep your overhead as low as possible. You need to test out your concept to make sure it works before making major commitments.

There are many suggestions I could make about how to get going for very low cost, but I would need to know more about your area of interest, etc. to steer you in the right direction. Feel free to send me a private message and I will try to help you out.