A young mother from New York founded the empire of cupcakes and became a millionaire
'02.01.2018'
Source: Womo
At 2008, the American Melissa Ben-Isha career in the corporate sector ended because of the crisis, and she decided to do what she really loved: baking cupcakes. Previously, in his free time, Melissa always baked goodies for their loved ones and friends.
In the end, after the dismissal of the girl decided to start his own business. A week later she had her first order. 10 has passed years, and today its company, Bakery Melissa, is one of the leading manufacturers of cupcakes. In 2017, the company sold around 30 million cupcakes at 13 outlets, writes Womo.
Melissa's story is an inspiring example of how you can build a successful business from scratch. The Cupcake Queen shared some tips and conclusions to which she came on the path to her success.
All goes to good
The day I lost my job was a complete nightmare. I remember how in the morning I went to the HR department, anticipating receiving the award. And instead ... Later, I rang my brother in tears (he is now my business partner). He said: “Do not worry. This is the best that could happen. Now go home and bake cupcakes. ”
That evening I baked 250 pieces and gave them to my friend's sister. She then trained at a PR agency and brought all the cakes to the office. Her boss liked sweets very much, and he brought me to a familiar restaurateur, who also tasted them and eventually made a big order for hundreds of pieces.
Tiny Cupcakes
When we started, it was clear that it was important for us to differ from competitors. In addition, we wanted our customers to try different cupcake tastes without suffering from overeating. Therefore, we decided to make very small cupcakes, each of them is just 50 calories. We started in times of crisis, people tried to save, and therefore our cupcakes cost a dollar apiece.
Financial background
My parents tried to instill financial responsibility in me from early childhood: I worked as a nanny, helped me on holidays and kept saving money. I had more financially secure friends and, naturally, I compared myself with them, it was depressing. But my mother always said: "You are well done, and you do not need anything else." And at some point I believed it.
No need a lot of money to start
It is quite possible to start a business without space investments, but you should not immediately give up work for the sake of your business. To start, try to combine. I started this way: I baked cupcakes at home, while working in the corporate sector. Just every day she made a small step towards her dream. And by the way, in between times get rid of debt - so then it is easier to take loans.
Lessons and mistakes
You never know where danger lurks you. We opened a store where we started selling gluten-free products. For the year of its existence, this location could not recoup the investment. And here we had to act quickly. We closed this point, and distributed the goods to other stores. It is important to track errors and fix them promptly. Otherwise it may cost you a lot of money.
Savings vs. spending
Do not save and do not waste, just live! I am more interested in the things themselves than the opportunity to assign them. There are only three sweaters in my wardrobe, but at the same time I pay a personal trainer and thanks to the lessons with him I feel great. Often I am so busy that I don’t have time to spend money, and I always forget what I need to buy. Yesterday I set myself a reminder that I should buy a moisturizer.
What to spend money on
Every morning I start by unloading the dishwasher, so if someone came and helped me clean the house, it would be perfect.
Key advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
It is worth working with people who support you and have different skills from yours. My brother, for example, had more entrepreneurial experience than I did, and the design of the site and the packages were helped by the experts. So our business has come to the way it is today: we are independent and motivated, and therefore everything works out for us.
A few figures
250 employees work in the company.
532 million dollars in annual sales of cupcakes and cupcakes sales in the US in 2016 year.
3-5 Thousands of cupcakes are sold on average every day at the main Melissa Bakery store in New York.
7,2% of the projected annual growth in retail sales in the period from 2016 to 2021 year.
