tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67400318825534859122024-03-13T22:55:49.453+11:00Sheryl's CupcakesMy name is Sheryl and I had a dream to open my own cupcake bakery. I lost my IT job during the GFC and now I bake for a living. Cupcake Central has grown into my dream cupcake bakery chain and I am learning what it means to be a young entrepreneur and dream bigger. Go on and hatch that dream!Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-36062101066265070542011-08-02T21:43:00.000+10:002011-08-02T21:43:30.595+10:00My blog has moved..Hi lovely people. Just a short and sweet post to let you know that I have moved my blog over to Wordpress which is also what our new website is running on. This means more regular blog posts about my cupcake adventures.
Click over to see pics of our brand new second store!! Very exciting stuff.
www.cupcakecentral.com.au
See you over there! Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-2652250124958755562011-07-04T18:43:00.000+10:002011-07-04T18:43:37.601+10:00Murphy's Law, you win buddyJust a short post today because I want to share my experience of 'life running a business' with you all. I can honestly say I haven't felt stress such as this before, not even when we opened our very first store in Hawthorn. I feel sick in the stomach from worry and want to cry but my head hurts too much to handle it.
Our new brand rollout. Our website will also be updated soon!
The Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-59091254284639852142011-06-23T16:13:00.001+10:002011-06-23T16:20:05.588+10:00Innovators innovate, Imitators imitateIt is mostly true that “nothing is original” and that every idea is some reincarnation of a previous idea . Just look at all those variations for different abdominal machines on late night infomercials.Most of the products out there are hardly anything brand new or never seen before ideas. The successful ones are more ‘new & improved’ versions of someone else’s idea. Apple for instance didn’tSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-61716321838295433582011-06-08T19:09:00.001+10:002011-06-08T20:54:12.803+10:00Building building building! Evolving evolving evolving!
Cupcake Central Workshop is currently nothing but an empty, clean slate but watch this space!
Plans have been approved and the building process has begun! I must admit we were a little optimistic when we set our minds on opening our second store in Melbourne Central on the 1st June but we live & we learn. The second store which we are dubbing The Workshop is smaller than Hawthorn but the Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-37745584577102576202011-06-01T14:23:00.002+10:002011-06-01T14:38:38.973+10:00Hitting the jackpot!Late last night I turned on the TV and stumbled across a doco called Lucky on SBS One. It was an interesting doco about how winning the lottery changes these winners' lives and how they deal with going from rags to riches. And let's be honest, we've all at one stage or another dreamed of what it would be like to win the lottery.
- The S'mores cupcake is part of our new Winter Collection of Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-82634413429144516822011-05-25T19:01:00.002+10:002011-05-25T19:10:02.677+10:00What 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 inspiringSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-29797270486967101862011-05-11T17:42:00.001+10:002011-05-11T17:45:14.535+10:00The countdown beginsWhat 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 & trainingSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-61431430770654301022011-04-12T18:40:00.003+10:002011-05-28T18:06:51.597+10:00If you're not growing, you're dying. There's no in between.When an apple is still on it's tree, it keeps growing and growing but once it's been picked it's no longer growing and starts to die. There's no in between - where it will stay in that state forever.
"If you're not growing, you're dying. There's no in between." - Tony Robbins
Our Company started off as a small business, myself being the sole trader operating from my registered home kitchen,Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-23706949070028438862011-03-15T13:47:00.000+11:002011-03-15T13:47:17.325+11:00What the world needs now...On Friday afternoon I jumped onto Twitter and started seeing tweets about an earthquake hitting Japan. My heart sunk as I started seeing all the photos flow through the news & media. For the last few days I've been feeling so many mixed emotions - sadness, this sick feeling in my stomach, helplessness, thankfulness and wondering what I can do to help. I'm sure you have all felt one or Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-72265445004067319362011-03-09T08:45:00.001+11:002011-03-09T08:46:32.531+11:00Why you can't give up!Ahh a blog post at 8AM in the morning, yet I've already been awake for 4 hours. Yes that is how early I start my days. Back in the corporate world days I would always rock up to work at 9.01 am, never earlier because I used to press the snooze button 5 times. Nowdays I press the snooze button 2 times, I must train myself to be like Julia Gillard and wake up as soon as the alarm goes off.Limited Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-73516347715438985562011-02-23T20:04:00.001+11:002011-02-23T20:06:44.804+11:00Cupcake Decorating Party!"Frosting Time!" is one of the most awesome tasks here at the bakery for our team of bakers (yes it's grown to 5 and almost 6 now!). So imagine Maddy's excitement when her Mother organised a Cupcake Decorating Party for her 13th Birthday here at Cupcake Central! We were just as excited. I've only ever done this once, for my dear little cousin over at her house. Yes there was a lot of screaming, Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-41968702404876723122011-02-07T23:09:00.013+11:002011-02-08T01:11:00.046+11:00Working in a cupcake bakery and losing weight? Yes, it can happen.Happy new year everyone! Or more recently Happy New Lunar Year! I know it's been a while and one of my new year's resolutions was to blog a lot more and share more experiences with you all - there's still time...it's only February, already! Ok I promise to keep you all more updated on the happenings of Cupcake Central this year. For now, I want to put business talk aside and talk about something Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-25721367132122438612010-12-21T13:05:00.011+11:002011-02-08T01:10:44.008+11:00So now that I'm living the dream...what's next?
It's almost Christmas and boy am I looking forward to it. Working 7 days a week (with some half days off now though) is exhausting and I've heard too many "You look tired" than I can bear. I've realised that when you have to wake up at 4am to bake, every minute of sleep counts so this means that putting on make-up is not a priority which probably leads to all the "You look tired" aka "You lookSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-4294042220509161142010-10-24T22:11:00.011+11:002011-02-08T01:11:00.048+11:00Living the dream and moreOur cupcake display is a specially designed glass cabinet that minimises airflow to make sure that cupcakes don't dry out. I actually dreamt about how this would look for at least 3 years. I still can't believe how it's turned out more perfect than what I envisioned.
We're onto our ninth week of trading and it feels like it has just flown by, yet at the same time I feel like I've been doing thisSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-18993745972187019122010-09-20T20:02:00.007+10:002011-02-08T01:11:00.050+11:00Welcome to Cupcake Central's first storefront!
Hi Everyone! May I introduce you to our first Cupcake Central storefront located Shop 7/672 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn VIC, Australia!
Yes, I know I've been MIA for a while here and I did promise I would do my best to update you all during the process of opening up the shop. And I thought about it many times, to update my blog but I honestly have been too exhausted. To give you an insight on Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-7912595219119031632010-07-30T15:49:00.005+10:002011-02-08T01:10:44.011+11:00"I--think--I--can, I--think--I--can" to "I thought I could, I thought I could."A few weeks ago on a Friday night, I decided to organise a Taste Testing event for some of my VIP'ers to taste some of my new cupcake flavours. I mainly organised this for one reason, because I am lazy. Yes, I am too lazy to bake all these new flavours that I have floating around my head. This is because after all the baking I do during the week for my cupcake orders, during my downtime I would Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-48817612465578849842010-07-05T16:38:00.003+10:002011-02-08T01:10:44.013+11:00Planning, Building and Everything in betweenI cannot believe how quickly time is passing and although progress is being made, I feel we are still so so far from the end result of opening up a storefront. We are hoping to open in 6 weeks which sounds like a long time to get a shop built but there is much to do. Here are a couple photos of how our shop currently looks like... it's bare, empty and not very pretty.Our shop will have 3 levels, Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-23259526235269540092010-06-18T15:24:00.006+10:002011-02-08T01:10:44.014+11:00Is following your dream enough to make a business successful?It's been a couple of weeks and I feel like an engine going full steam ahead. In between all the orders, I've been organising a lot of meetings, planning, brainstorming and reading. After all the excitement died down a little, reality settled in and hit me...this is a huge step I'm taking. This is no longer going to be just an online bake-at-home business. There is more risk involved and more Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-72354750501136952542010-05-31T23:31:00.003+10:002011-02-08T01:10:44.017+11:00A new chapter for Cupcake Central begins...It seems to be a bit of a trend to me to write up blog entries after midnight. Perhaps this is the time I feel most inspired to write and also not be interrupted whilst in my train of thought. I have some news to share with you all. I know I don't get many comments on my blog but I do get emails from readers who follow my blog who are going through a similar situation, so I know there are readersSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-63571090160137428522010-05-13T03:07:00.004+10:002011-02-08T01:11:00.053+11:00What do you choose to do?It's 3am and I'm restless, unable to sleep...fuelled by my excitement of what lies ahead. (Not to mention I had a very late afternoon nap which has now stuffed up my body clock) Nevertheless, I could probably fall asleep again but I'm too excited.As some of you may already know, I love my self-help books. Sometimes I read them cover to cover and re-read them. Sometimes it takes me a little longerSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-4661475820932475302010-04-20T12:04:00.007+10:002011-02-08T01:11:00.054+11:00What's your story?Having a story behind your business and what you do, distinguishes you from the other businesses out there. It allows your customers and those who meet you, to create a connection with you. No one really wants to hear that you go into business purely for the dosh and to make as much of it as you can (however true it may be). People want to hear the heart and soul of how you started up, how you Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-23977009903615115922010-03-31T13:30:00.004+11:002011-02-08T01:11:00.056+11:00Being busy is a good thing...It's been over a month since my last post and so many things have happened I don't even know where to start. So here goes.The L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival has come and gone, we had been preparing for the HUSSY VIP event for a while, coming up with some customised babycakes for their VIP guests. The client was extremely happy with the results and the customers & guests loved the cupcakesSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-86303494505450183402010-02-22T21:30:00.005+11:002011-02-08T01:11:00.057+11:00Buried on the other side of frustration is successA beautiful Hydrangea cupcake tower setup by Shirin from www.dddash.com.au for a 40th birthday using our cupcakes and featuring a custom request for a three tier flower cupcake. A close up of a three tier flower cupcake is below in a different colour scheme.It has been an insanely busy few weeks with all the Valentine's Day celebrations and Chinese New Year celebrations.. it's been great though Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-56098672205670852452010-02-05T01:08:00.005+11:002011-02-08T01:11:00.058+11:001 Year BlogiversaryIt's my one year Blogiversary. It's hard to believe that only a short year ago I started on my journey to figure out how to bake cupcakes for a living. This is going to be a pretty short post as I'm up at 1am and I need to get up in about 6 hours to bake again. Even though it can be tiring sometimes, I enjoy every moment of baking. Of course there are stressful moments where I'm not 100% sure Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6740031882553485912.post-64189570754127805132010-01-27T21:56:00.004+11:002011-02-08T01:11:00.060+11:00We have raised $163 for the Haiti Earthquake Emergency Appeal!Thank you to everyone that came along to our Cupcake Stall on the weekend at the Globe to Globe Music Festival at Namatjira Park. As promised, 5% of all our cupcake sales will be going towards the Haiti Earthquake Emergency Appeal and I am proud to announce that together we have raised $163.00! Please trust that this amount has been donated to Save The Children Australia, we have always been avidSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489593730178079318noreply@blogger.com7