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How easy is it to build a business as a home baker? Fledgling entrepreneur and home baker Iffat Agboatwala shares her experience over the last year.
Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life! This thought may very well have rung in Iffat Agboatwala’s mind when she choose to listen to her heart and follow her passion of baking cakes.
Iffat Agboatwala, a graduate in Commerce and Economics and an online stock trader started her passion of baking cakes as a home business last year. Her business Bon Baker which means good baker in French, lives up to its name churning up delicious cakes, tarts, muffins, cupcakes, quiches, Swiss rolls and more.
Iffat is also the story of courage when she turned her stroke of illness in to something fruitful. Being bed ridden a year due to a slip disc and with only the numerous youtube videos and recipes to keep her company, the idea of a home based business was born.
Starting the business has given her a new purpose and Iffat says lightly that Bon Baker is a great stress buster for her. Her dream, she says, is to start a small coffee shop of her own and this may well materialize soon with her love of baking and her skill at trying out new things.
When asked what tips she would suggest for beginners starting in this venture, the effervescent Iffat did not hesitate and shared her practical tips for beginners new to this field.
“New comers in this field should be ready to to stay back late night or early mornings if an order has to be met”, says Iffat. “There are no shortcuts or lazy hours in this field when it comes to meeting deadlines. Also it is plain hard work and one needs to have a lot of patience. It takes a good 2-3 hours for baking and then another 2 hours to cool before you can start the process of icing. So with so much labour involved, efficiency cannot be compromised in this field”, she adds.
One of the main difficulties faced in the home baking business is managing the expectation from customers, since there is a general feeling among many people that home based products should equate to lower cost.
“This is simply not true”, stresses Iffat. As home bakers are quality conscious, it is difficult to bring the price down.
Another difficulty faced by home bakers is the frequent power cuts. To avoid these problems, Iffat keeps a close watch on the timers during baking. Her suggestion to entrepreneurs is to go for gas based ovens if possible. She also suggests that it is important to be on the look out for new baking equipment and tools in the market.
Her mantra for people starting out is that there is no substitute for hard work. Her motto? “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”.
Pic credit: Bon Baker
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