If you are thinking of opening your own business and enjoy baking a cupcake shop may be something to think about. In our slowing economy people are trading in large indulgences for smaller ones. Places like cupcake shops are still showing solid growth and doing quite well, especially in your small to medium sized towns and cities.  

Pick a location for your shop that gets good foot traffic and make it bright and colorful so people notice as they walk by. Keep your prices reasonable and make your customers feel like family so they will want to come back. A large portion of your business will be repeat customers, usually as part of a routine, and how you treat your patrons is almost as important as your cupcakes.

Another option is mail order cupcakes and doing an online cupcake shop. People can order your cupcakes from a website you setup. After they order the cupcakes you would bake them and mail them out the same day via next day air so they arrive as fresh as possible. This has also proven to work if you advertise well and build up a reputation.

A mix of having a physical store and mail order cupcakes would give you the best chance of success but would be considerably more difficult to manage. If you have a trusted friend or family member to help you start out, this option would be a good choice. Give yourself the greatest possibility for success and happy baking.