Do You Have A Business Or An Expensive Hobby?

This is something many home based cake business owners struggle with, and I will admit have struggled with this in the past.

Treating your business like an expensive hobby instead of a business. You might be doing this right now but you might not know it.

So, in this blogpost I am going to help you recognise whether you are actually running a business or in fact just have a very expensive hobby.

If anything I say below rings true, then you may just be running a hobby rather than a fully-fledged business, then please go and register for my Pricing your cakes right to build a money making cake business Masterclass where you will be taken through the process to make sure you move away from hobby cake business owner and move into the role of a successful cake businesswoman.

  1. You have not even registered your company

One of the first steps in setting up your business is to register it at the Corporate Affairs Commission.  Structuring your business properly from the start sets the right tone for not only yourself but for your potential customers as well.

You will appear more trustworthy and professional if you have a duly registered company. How can you expect your potential customers seriously if you too don’t take yourself seriously?

  1. You do not know how to price your cakes

I know pricing can be a real struggle for cake business owners. Most times we do not know how much we should charge for our cakes and in the end we allow ourselves to be under-priced.

People value what they pay for. If a person values what you are doing, then you should charge appropriately otherwise they will value you less and you will be known as the cheap cake lady.

You are in business to make money, so you need to charge right for your time, skill and effort you put in in crating that masterpiece of a cake.

If pricing is a struggle for you then register for my Pricing your cakes right to build a money making cake business Masterclass and all your pricing woes will be out to bed.


  1. You don’t know how much money you make from my business.

If you don’t know how much money you are making then you also don’t know if, or when your business is making a profit or loss.

This is a clear sign your business is an expensive hobby.

The foundation of any business is in good record keeping and keeping track of your expenses. You need to have bookkeeping and accounting systems in place. This will help you monitor the finances of your business.

If you cannot tell how much you made and how much you spent in previous months, then it means you’re treating it like an expensive hobby.

So, if this is you then please, please watch my Training on Bookkeeping Systems you should have in your cake business here and here and put an end to it now with my simple actionable tactics.

  1. You know nothing about marketing

Customers do not fall from the sky. You have to go out there to get them and the only way you can get customers is by marketing. 

Marketing your business is a must. There are various marketing strategies you can employ such as social media marketing, having a blog, sending out email or sms newsletters. You need to be doing some sort of marketing on a consistent basis every day, if not; your business will find it hard to survive.

If you are unsure about marketing, then register for Pricing your cakes right to build a money making cake business Masterclass which has an  entire Module dedicated to Marketing.

Stop waiting for people to find you and go out and go get them

  1. You do not keep track of your time

Do you how long it takes you to bake and decorate a cake from start to finish? How long does it take for you to give a quote for a cake, answering emails, shopping for ingredients and so on? You need to keep track of your time. Because you need to be paid for your time. You need to earn a wage for the time you use for an order.

If you feel you are worth N500 an hour, then if you spend 5 hours shopping, baking and decorating a cake, that means you will have earned N2,500. So that amount should be added to the price of your cake.

If you don’t know where you are spending your time then you have no idea what you are actually getting paid.



6.    Your family and friends don’t take your business seriously

The energy that we give off about something reflects on those around us. If you are finding that your friends treat your business like a hobby, then it’s likely you are also speaking about it in that way as well.

What kind of language do you use when you speak about your cake business? How do you stand and how do you feel? All of these signals are emitted and interpreted by those around us.
If you are upset by a friend or maybe even family members  not taking your business seriously or they keep asking you for a free or a cheap cake, then this is a sign that you probably aren’t taking your business seriously.

  1. You do not have a website because you are still deciding what logo to use

If the reason you have not launched your website is because you are still deciding on what colours, or logo or theme to use, then you really are missing the point of being in business.

Yes it’s good to get those things right, but don’t spend time and a lot of money deciding on such trivial matters. You mind should be on how to get your business out there so that people will know you and you can start making money, how to add value and how to be different from the other cake businesses out there.

So that’s it.

I have struggled with all of these in the past, and many home based cake business owners do to. And this is something that I help my clients to deal with all of the time through my coaching programs and courses.

So, if any of these are true for you don’t worry. You are not alone.

The most important step is to become aware of and identify the issue, and if you have done this by reading to the end of this article, that is a huge step, well done.

The next step is to come over and register for my Pricing your cake right to build a money making cake business masterclass and I will give you some really actionable strategies that you can implement straight away to build a more profitable and lucrative cake business.





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About Me:

Rotimicakelady is your personal cake fairy. She is a cake business consultant and Coach. She runs the Cake Business Owners Club where she helps bakers through Online courses have super profitable and successful cake businesses.

She has a passion for helping women who have a passion for baking, transition from hobby cake makers to successful and profitable cake business owners. She also help cake business owners who have struggling in their cake business with strategies to enable them get more customers, so you make more money. Rotimicakelady is passionate about Cakes, business and making money.