A mum of three who ditched her job has shed light on the pros and cons of running a business from your kitchen.
Laura Davies, from Ormskirk, "loved" baking as a child, but invested more time into studying and work as she got older. However, she recovered her passion while on maternity leave, eventually setting up Laura's Cakery in 2015.
Laura told the ECHO: "I’d decided not to return to my social work career after the birth of my third baby due to work/life balance struggles - starting a little cupcake business seemed like a perfect option as it would allow me to stay at home with the children whilst having something new and exciting to focus on."
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Starting with cupcakes, Laura moved into larger celebration cakes after completing a Peggy Porschen Wedding Cake Training Course. Laura's Cakery now specialises in wedding cakes, cupcakes and treat boxes, satiating sweet tooth's across the North West, and has more than 13,000 followers on Instagram.
Laura had aspirations to have her own shop, or even a "couple" of shops, but was put off by the pandemic. She said: "It scared me.
"If I had of been in a shop at that point I fear that my business would have failed. Being based at home protected me in the sense that I did not have the huge overheads to cover in such an uncertain time.
"The safety of being at home means that I do not have the same financial responsibilities as other businesses which means I can take prolonged periods of time off for half term or the summer holidays."
However, that's not to say the pandemic did not impact Laura. she added: "It was really heartbreaking to see so many weddings and events cancelled.
"I was able to spend some time focusing on figuring out myself as a brand; I spruced up my logo, became clearer and stricter on deciding the products I wanted to focus on and my style, and spent some time smartening up my social media pages."
Like every family up and down the country, the cost of living is also starting to pinch. Laura said it was a "scary" time.
She said: "As a small business it is difficult to manage and balance the necessity of increasing prices to cover supply cost increases with wanting to keep occasion cakes affordable for all my lovely customers. There are definitely more uncertain times ahead for little businesses like mine."
When it comes to practicality, Laura said the business "works brilliantly" around the family and allows her to be "present" with her children. Husband John also mucks in, doing deliveries.
She said: "I often document his little mishaps, such as almost dropping a cake at a family event, on social media which tends to attract a lot of laughs."
Freedom and creativity aside, Laura does admit running an empire from her kitchen can be "a little lonely".
"I don’t have the buzz of a work environment with colleagues, which I sometimes do miss, but more often than not, having the radio blasting whilst decorating cakes, in my own home environment, is just perfect for me and my family."
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