My Sweet Work from Home Job

The work from home job that's sugar and spice
and everything nice!

By Tonja Serrano for
Work-from-Home.org

One day about five years ago I decided I wanted to “work from home”. And I mean make real money, not just fold laundry and do the dishes.

Maybe you’re having the same problem now that I had then. I couldn't think of many things I could do from home. Day care? No, I wanted to do something more exciting, but I just couldn’t come up with the right idea. I’d been a stay at home mom for fourteen years. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out a job that I was qualified for to do from home.

Some work from home websites publish articles about how the most perfect home-based jobs and businesses evolve from our passions and loves. My love was baking. I loved to bake, still do, and everyone loves my cooking. It's the one thing in this world I'm excellent at, and the one thing I love to do. Every time that I'm asked to bring something for a holiday or potluck I'm always the dessert queen. Then I have to give out the recipes and send home the leftovers with everyone else. And I must admit that I love all the attention, too!

"One day it hit me like a pie in the face, I could make candy and desserts for a living!"

A friend of mine has a candy store. She sells candy molds, melting chocolates and everything else under the sun you need to make candy. I started doing some research. She showed me how to pour molds and the proper way to melt and set the chocolate. It is quite alot of work, but was very fun and creative. You wouldn't believe some of the things I was making! Red chocolate tool boxes with little milk chocolate tools inside… fake teeth that looked like real dentures…

The molds are endless and novelty chocolate has a market.

There is nothing that could take me away from the most important job in the world (my family) and there’s nothing else I’d rather do than bake. Baking from home was a perfect solution for me.

One thing I truly enjoy is to make something tasty, whether it's a hot meal or rich chocolate cake. The look on people’s faces, their eyes close and for a moment, the world just stops...that is the true payoff!

The humble beginning of my home business

A friend and I rented a table for $10.00 for a Friday and Saturday at a local church craft bizarre. I made rice crispy treats dipped in chocolate and nerds. I made all kinds of different cookies, cakes, pies and my grandmothers caramel corn recipe. My first year I did about fifteen bazaars around Christmas time. It was a lot of work, but very fun. I found that a lot of people wanted a business card, so the next time I was prepared. I handed them out, and lots of people wanted to know if they could order more.

Well, of course they could. And off my home business went.

There was word of mouth and I had people calling me. They were asking me to make a cake or cookies that they could bring to a Christmas party because they didn't have the time. They didn’t want to show up at parties with a bag of Oreos and they didn’t have time to bake themselves, so voila, there was my target market. I made baked goods home-made for them and they could take all the credit.

For awhile my business was pretty seasonal but about a year ago, I had a new idea for my business. I realized that people seem to go crazy for my caramel corn. All year long people want bags of it. So, one day I took a few different samples of my goodies to some office buildings and doctors’ offices that I knew. Along with the samples, I dropped off order forms. Every Monday I go to each business and pick up the order forms. Often I may even have a few extra special requests for a whole cake or pie that someone needs. Then on Friday, I drop off all the orders and collect my money. Most of the orders are for people to eat at their desk or to take home for the weekend.

I drop off on Friday's because most people get paid on a Friday and it tends to be a relaxed day in the office. I want them to look forward to Fridays.

I love working for myself. I love cooking sweets. I love making people smile. My sweet treats are always asked for. It makes me popular AND I get paid AND I get to work from home. I get extra busy around the holiday time.

I've even had to hire a few people seasonally now. But I don't mind, because if one of my children is sick at home, I don't have to worry about calling someone and asking them if it's all right. You’re darn right that it's all right to be at home with my kids!

My next step: my own website. In fact, you can contact me at my site if you have any questions, want to chat or just want to try any of my goodies. Be patient. I’m a baker not a webmaster. When it’s fully operational I'll be able to take Visa, Mastercard, personal checks and be able to ship anywhere in the U.S.A. within twenty four hours of ordering.

Now you know my work from home story and it’s proof positive what they say: find something that you love and build a business from it. You’ll not only have fun working but you’ll be far more likely to be successful. Throw your heart over the fence and your body will follow.

I hope that you will find your passion, too, and make your work from home dreams become a reality. Stop by and drop me a note.

Here’s to the sweet joy of working at home.

Tonja Serrano is the happy, self-made owner of "Serrano Sweets". You can learn more about her business and contact her at: http://www.serranosweets.HighPowerSites.com

Please note that this information is not intended to give financial, tax or legal advice. Please consult a competent professional with questions about tax, finances or other such issues.