Opening your own home bakery can be a great way to earn money from home doing something you enjoy. Being a home based entrepreneur can be difficult, however, especially if your business succumbs to some common mistakes. Make sure you avoid these mistakes when opening your home baking business, and you'll be far more likely to succeed.

Mistake 1: Changing Your Recipes

While there's no problem with improving a recipe, you should be careful about making any significant modifications to a popular treat. If you want to change a recipe, try offering the new recipe while retaining the original recipe so people can choose which they want to order. If your new recipe gets little or negative interest, stick with the original. You should never change a recipe without at least informing people of the switch, and be prepared to dump it if you don't get enough buyers to make it worthwhile.

Mistake 2: Not Getting Insurance

If you're running a baking business, it's important to carry some kind of business liability insurance. You can get business insurance through many popular insurance providers like State Farm and Allstate. If someone has an unforeseen allergic reaction to any of your baked goods, you don't want to foot the bill if they decide to sue. Along that vein, here's mistake number 3...

Mistake 3: Not Listing Ingredients

You don't have to make your secret recipes available by any means, but do have an ingredient list clearly posted for each item so people know what to expect in their order. Ingredients should be listed in order from most to least volume used. Even if your item doesn't contain nuts, if you handle nuts in your kitchen at all, make sure to state that the product is created in a kitchen where nuts are handled. Some peoples' allergic reactions are so strong that this is a significant concern. By listing your ingredients, you are much less likely to find yourself liable for allergic reactions.

Mistake 4: Skimping on Shipping

If you ship orders, you don't want your cookies breaking or your pastries getting smashed before they arrive. An attractive presentation along with taste is key to being remembered and earning repeat customers. Invest in high quality, aesthetically pleasing packaging before you ship your creations off - dress them to impress. Even if you have to charge your customers a couple of dollars extra for shipping, unblemished goods will be worth it for both of you.

Mistake 5: Not Recording Expenses

Home baking businesses can have very high overhead costs, so you want to make absolutely certain to record all of your expenses for tax purposes. Keep a notebook and record all the ingredients you buy and the cost of your kitchen equipment to make sure you don't forget to list them in April. All of your business expenses are 100 percent tax deductible, so don't forget to subtract them from your profit.

By knowing these mistakes, you can be careful to avoid them. Running your home bakery without making these errors can help you build a successful business.