What gets you out of bed every morning?

What motivates you to get out of bed every morning? For me it keeps changing. At first it was because I loved to bake, then it was to see the smiles on faces when they ate something that I made, then it was the feedback I would get, then it was because I felt accountable to building this business to grow so we can keep our staff, then it became a mixture of so many things but especially inspiring others to do what they wanted to do in life.

- Chilli Chocolate - a flavour that's going onto our Winter Collection coming 1st June. -

The other week my old high school, Killester College, asked me to make an appearance and run a cupcake decorating workshop with a class of Year 10's as part of their Visual Communication & Design subject. They were designing cupcake packaging and so part of it was decorating cupcakes so they could take photos of them in their packaging.

It was such a great experience and such a privilege to be able to speak in front of a class and tell them about my story. I let them know it was possible to follow their passion and make a 'career' out of it. I spoke to them about how "The world needs to do what you love" because it's the people like the Steve Jobs, Richard Bransons, Oprah Winfreys of this world that influence us and makes a difference in this world.

 

I remember when I was in high school, there was such pressure from parents and family to grow up to become a doctor, a lawyer, a pharmacist as it was seen as a successful job and provided security. I knew from a young age that I didn't want to be any of those professions as I had more of a creative side and I also loathed science and maths (with a passion). I was so lucky to have parents that believed in me and supported me in what ever I wanted to do, even though I knew that they were secretly scared sometimes. I just wanted to share my experience and story with the girls because even though they might not know what they're passionate about now or what their dreams are yet... one day if it dawns on them, then they can hold onto that dream and follow it.
 

 

- The group of creative young ladies at Killester College -

- The end result, what a creative bunch! -

"The greatest change happens because of people that are deeply passionate, and have a great love for the work they do.
If you want to make a difference in the world, the single most important thing you can do is consciously and deliberately choose to do work that you are passionate about." - Johnathan Mead, Zen Habits

The countdown begins

What a few weeks it has been. I've been busy working on getting our processes in preparation for the Cupcake Central Workshop, also the Winter Collection of cupcakes, organising Young Female Entrepreneur networking nights, running cupcake decoration workshops at my old high school, having the first staff party which will be one that will probably be hard to top.. and lots of baking & training new staff!

 

 - Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes with a Royal Wedding theme to celebrate Will & Kate's wedding. We were so overwhelmed by the amount of orders that came in for these cupcakes and sold out in record time and we had to bake more!-

So the countdown begins as we are working on getting the design and planning of our next store approved. It's been a bit of a lengthy process but this store is a step up from our Hawthorn store. When we started on our Hawthorn store we had a very limited budget and we were very much beginners in what we did. Most of teh design was done by Tin with the guidance from our project manager. This time around we've got a bit more of a budget, learnt from our mistakes and have a much better idea of what we want and how to execute it. We've also been able to create a network of professionals that know how to get the job done a lot better than we do.

 

- An Autumn themed Wedding Cupcake Tower. The red laser cut wrappers added the perfect touch -

- A cherry blossom themed Wedding Babycake Tower with Red Velvets and Black Velvets -

Having heard other entrepreneurs speak at The Unconvention, it makes it clearer to me that as entrepreneurs, we're not meant to be specialists in every single area in our businesses. An interesting thought was when Dominic Carosa mentioned that he was quite offended when someone said he was a "Jack of all trades but master of none" but realising afterwards that it was actually a good trait to have as an entrepreneur. You know a little about a lot but a lot about a little - enough to be able to bring the skills of those that are smarter and more highly skilled than you in those areas and make your idea & business work!

 

- Professional photoshoot of our cupcakes for our new website and our 2011 Winter Collection -

- I tried my hand at taking some photos too. I like this one -

So as we prepare for the second store, I'm focusing on what I love doing and what I do best - which I believe is coming up with new ideas, flavours, interacting with customers face-to-face and through social media, focusing on processes and systems (my previous life as a Business Analyst does have it's pros!). As the countdown approaches June, you'll start to see Cupcake Central evolve into a brand, it's going to be a brand that spells out our core values. 

Aspiration - Quality - Experience

Change is on it's way and I know that there will be people that will love it and there will be those that will hate it. If anyone ever has feedback to pass onto us, we are more than happy to listen and at the end of the day - you are our customers and we do what we can to make you happy when you step in our store or order from us. That's a promise!

You will also see some vlogs from me as I want to share my experience of living my dream and how much care we put into our business to make you guys happy! Take a squizz.

- Test baking for our new Winter Collection of cupcakes -

One last thing, I want to introduce you to my cute little puppy Joey. Most adorable thing ever. I've heard that pets help you destress and allow you to live a longer life.