What could a simple bake sale lead to? Meet Minion, the miraculous founder of the Cupcake Collection, who turned her financial struggles into a thriving business. Like any business owner we all face challenges and her new book, Made From Scratch, highlights the ones she overcame while building her brand.
Her story is sure to inspire anyone with a passion they want to convert into a successful venture.
This conversation is not just about baking; it’s about overcoming obstacles and choosing life.
Minion’s commitment to her business and community is inspiring, and her journey is a perfect example of how it is possible to be successful even when you don't have much to start with.
In this episode you will hear:
Love Mignon's story? You can check out her book by clicking here
Want to purchase her cupcakes to support? You can visit the Cupcake Collection by clicking here
Busines FREEBIES:
Grab my FREE resource guide and get 30 plus resources to level-up your home bakery business click here to grab my FREE guide and get more tips from me every week.http://bit.ly/bakersresources
Are we friends on Instagram? If you enjoyed this episode TAG ME at @bakingforbusiness
I really do appreciate each and every one of you guys and LOVE meeting new baking friends.
What could a simple bake sale lead to? Meet Minion, the miraculous founder of the Cupcake Collection, who turned her financial struggles into a thriving business. Like any business owner we all face challenges and her new book, Made From Scratch, highlights the ones she overcame while building her brand.
Her story is sure to inspire anyone with a passion they want to convert into a successful venture.
This conversation is not just about baking; it’s about overcoming obstacles and choosing life.
Minion’s commitment to her business and community is inspiring, and her journey is a perfect example of how it is possible to be successful even when you don't have much to start with.
In this episode you will hear:
Love Mignon's story? You can check out her book by clicking here
Want to purchase her cupcakes to support? You can visit the Cupcake Collection by clicking here
Busines FREEBIES:
Grab my FREE resource guide and get 30 plus resources to level-up your home bakery business click here to grab my FREE guide and get more tips from me every week.http://bit.ly/bakersresources
Are we friends on Instagram? If you enjoyed this episode TAG ME at @bakingforbusiness
I really do appreciate each and every one of you guys and LOVE meeting new baking friends.
Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg. I started my baking business with a bottle of DeCerono and one Bundt Cake Man. Fast forward to today, from news to magazines, speaking on national stages and more. I can truly say that baking has changed my life. So now, as a bakery business coach, i get to help others have the same success. I've helped hundreds of my students across the world in my global membership program create six-figure businesses, mainly from home.
Speaker 1:The Baking for Business podcast is an extension of that, from actionable tips to valuable tools and resources that can impact you as a business owner. I truly believe y'all. We would never have been given a gift if we couldn't profit and prosper from it. So come on, darling. What are you waiting for? Hey, what's going on, sweet friends, and welcome back to the Baking for Business podcast. Today we are in for a real treat, because some lovely lady just released a new memoir, and I'm sure you already know all about it, miss Minion, if you are not familiar with the story of the young lady who founded the cupcake collection, it is really an amazing story and the book has all the details. But if you've ever wondered, is this possible when I'm faced with an obstacle or I need just a little bit more faith, or when I don't see the end result, but I want to start. The answer is it totally is, and today's guest has done so. And then Welcome to the podcast, minion. How are you doing beautiful?
Speaker 2:I'm doing well thank you for having me. I'm excited just looking at all the pretty cake pans and pedestals you have. I love a good book, but all of those things, i just rather eat out of those things.
Speaker 1:I feel you. I definitely feel you, minion. Without going too much in the book, though, you have an amazing story. So when we go back to the beginning, for those who are unfamiliar with you, how did you actually get started baking?
Speaker 2:I was drowning in debt and brokenness. We were losing everything that we had. I was listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio. He was telling people they could get out of debt by having a bake sale. I wanted what they were screaming about. We just had sold everything, that we had to move to Nashville and we didn't have electricity on a regular basis. We didn't have water running out of our faucets because we willed it to, and I needed field trip money for my children.
Speaker 2:So I decided to try this thing that he was saying. I was stuffing cash and envelopes, trying to make the money last, make it stretch, when my neighbor knocked on the door and asked me to make cupcakes for all of her clients. I had been practicing this craft in my neighborhood, just trying to figure out how do you bake and to create a recipe that could be authentic and that would be mine. And my neighbors were smitten with what I was doing. When my neighbor asked for me to make cupcakes for all of her clients, it was going to be 600 cupcakes and I didn't have electricity And I really felt like, wow God, why would you give me this opportunity when I don't even have the money to take it?
Speaker 2:And I heard God say but I feed birds and they don't store up in barns, they don't save money for anything, but yet I feed them. And so I was like, okay, well, i'm going to take this last $5 that I have and I'm going to go to the store and buy the ingredients I can buy And I'm going to get paid for the few things that I'm going to be able to make, and from that I would take more of the money, go buy more ingredients and get paid for the few things I was able to make. I did that for an entire weeks period and I was able to turn that five into 600 by the end of the week, and when that happened, i knew that I wanted to have more bake sales. I knew I wanted to have more encounters like this, because this was going to be freedom for Mignon to be able to do the things that I needed and wanted to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I love that. And did you? you said you knew you wanted to do more. Did you sit down and come up with a plan? or when did you decide? Because I'm sure before the storefronts, it sounds like you were home-based first. So when did you decide to really say, okay, I'm going to turn this into a business? and what did those steps look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, i think I always believed it was a business or going to be a business. When I was a little girl, all the other little girls in the neighborhood were playing with Barbie and baby dolls and I was playing business. So I always knew that I wanted to be in business and I would start businesses all the time. It's just I would never finish what I started. And this was about finishing what I started because I could keep getting ideas.
Speaker 2:I took a strengths test by Gallup, the strengths finder, and one of my top five strengths is ideation. So all my life I have been taught to stick to something and stop trying to come up with all this stuff When I. Getting ideas was a gift. So I always knew that I wanted to do a business. It just was a matter of I would always quit and get bored with things, and that just wasn't a way to build wealth and a legacy for my family. So this this was about sticking to it and seeing it become successful before I either passed it on to someone else or grew it into something that was bigger than just myself.
Speaker 1:That is so true, so amazing, and so you started your first cupcake collection in 2008. And you said the ideas. You were always good with ideas, but sticking to it. How did that look more practically Like? what were the actual steps? Because so many people are afraid to do the first storefront And I believe I read you did it debt free. You opened your first storefront. Why was that so important to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I was raised to never be in debt, but the problem was I didn't have a choice right. We were. We were losing everything and many days we didn't even have electricity. So when, when I finally started seeing a bit of success, i really was kind of arrogant, like I don't want your money now.
Speaker 2:Now people are always willing to give to the person who has, but that's also a biblical. That's a biblical concept He who has gets more and he who doesn't have even what he has is taken from him. And so there are over 2,300 promises in the Bible that talk about money. So I believe that work and building wealth are kingdom requirements, and those were not things I knew how to subdue at the time. And so when you ask, like, what kind of steps we can, you know we can get into what it looks like to go from having no money at all to building a debt free business that is employing people and has become destination in the cities where they are. Mostly that's God, mostly that's the favor of God. There's a Bible verse that says I decide what's going to win. You know either this thing or that thing, and so I have to make sure that I'm constantly being in sync with what God is telling me to do. But more than anything, you know we talk about the scientific method.
Speaker 2:In this book I'm going to give you a playbook in my new book, made from scratch, finding Success Without a Recipe, i'm going to give you a whole playbook on what it looks like to start a business from scratch, from the whole imposter syndrome where you're thinking I don't have what it takes to finding out you were created for this. To. How are you going to take the first step? So for me, the first thing is I started looking at other successful people and started applying those things to my life. If I see someone like Beyonce being successful, then it's like God. Why is Beyonce successful in business? And when can there be someone as a baker who's doing that kind of level of business right? And so starting meant starting from where I was. I wanted to have a really big storefront. I wanted. We went scouting with real estate agents and all that kind of stuff, losing my house. I was trying to save my family and I'm out here looking for a storefront to start a business when I'm known for quitting, and so that never having a storefront never came to fruition free. So I was blessed to live in a house that was zoned commercial and residential, which meant that the bakery could be right there in my house And while it became convenient and the most probable place for it to go, so where I wanted it to be.
Speaker 2:And I think sometimes we are so caught up in what somebody else has or what somebody else is doing and how someone else is making, and it's just like what about what God has desired and designed for you? So I started with what I had, and that was a home that I was living in that had a room that we could designate to this bakery business, and that way the overhead could be low and we would be able to afford it because we're already living here. Well, the problem is we couldn't even afford living there, so we were losing the house on the day that we opened the cupcake collection. But leaving God. If he is who he says he is, he can do what he says he can do. And so here we are now, 17 years later, because it took me two years to open that store, working every day like it was a job, as if it were already even open, before the store ever even opened.
Speaker 2:And so I would say a lot of times people think that I'm going to have this great idea, i'm going to tell people that I'm going to do it and they're going to come, and they're not. They're not doing, they don't know that you're going to build it and they don't know that you're trying to build it. And even once you build it, you got to keep reminding them hey, i built this thing And so, having, i was my own photographer, i was my own PR, i was my own marketing. You know, i was the baker, i was the candlestick maker, i was the butcher. You know what I mean? I was everything and I didn't know how to be everything. So I was just was flailing at it, but I wouldn't say that I was failing at it. I think there's there's a difference. Flailing is like going under and they coming up for air and then going under and coming up for air, and I think that's what what my life looked like at the time I was flailing at.
Speaker 1:Many, so many people in our industry. That is what they they do. They go into debt. They're trying to create these Instagram looking bakeries. They do it all borrowing and you're right on biblical principle They do it being the tail and not the head, versus us supposedly being the head and not the tail. And so I think it's so amazing how you did it, how you looked at your home and looked at that area and transformed it and made the best you can out of what it could be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, And I think that's that is a valuable asset that a lot of women are looking over. Four out of 10 businesses are started by women. Every day, i was a stay at home mom when I started this business. It was the experience that I had in being their mom and being the manager of our household that I use in order to start this business.
Speaker 2:At first I thought I have nothing. How am I supposed to be able to take care of myself and this family? when I graduated from college. But I haven't used my skill, you know. But I had skill and I had experience and it was in managing the lives of the six people who were around me my children and you know, and their, their things, that they were in and bigger and out how to stuff money and cash, how to stuff cash and envelopes and take a, take a little bit And add a little more to it. Those were the things I used And I think a lot of times we just count ourselves as mothers, as women, for the experiences that we can bring to the table that will benefit our family and propelling us to where we want to go.
Speaker 1:So true, because I'm just going to put it out there. I've heard some baker say they always feel like they're less than because they don't have the storefront. And I say, no, you're whole just the way you are. But if we can be faithful with the little, how can we ever expect? and it sounds like you just came out the bat swinging like no, this is me, this is my gift, i'm believing in it and I'm going to turn this home based thing into something amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i just wanted field trip money. This is what happened to me, and I would say that God allowed me to be successful because I made him a promise. If you would make me successful, i'll tell anybody who will listen about what they can do if they believe. And so he had a role and I had a role and we both had a job in keeping our promise to you know, to each other. I'm going to make you successful.
Speaker 2:you go out there and tell those bakers who believe that they're less than And I think you said something so key just now little becomes much. replace it in a master's hands And it's just like that same flour, butter, sugar and eggs in the hands of somebody listening to this podcast to versus someone who doesn't know the goal that they are working with. You're not less. you're not less just because that voice inside of your head that's telling you you can't and that you're not enough is the one that's causing us to quit. and I would say go ahead, be a quitter. be a quitter because that was my problem. I was always quitting on me and I'm saying one of the things I use. you're asking me what were the steps? first, you got to be a quitter. if you're a quitter, quick quitting on you, it's like use the same concept of quitting and go ahead and be a quitter, quick quitting on yourself. It's quitting at its finest. It's like change the narrative so that you can have what you deserve to be a part of. And we are doing things and making things that are ancient in the world. If there's nothing new under the sun that what we're creating is an ancient. you know talk that used to be a currency. Yes, you know. you know you have, you have a basic opportunity to use what you have to get what you want, and that that's essentially what I did. I used what I had to get what I want. and that goes all the way down to, you know, having a dorm size refrigerator and a kitchen aid mixer inside of what was my ex husband's man cave. That's where the cupcake collection started. And when I think about these people who are bakers and they think that they're less, there are so many people who are leaving corporate America jobs to come and be able to have the piece that you get to have. that It's like classes all understanding like how are you leaving that computer job that's paying you six figures to go home and because you get to have that piece of mind that I made something with my hands and it goes back to what God did in the beginning. He created something But when he got finished making it, he said back and he said This is not only good, this is very good. I'm just one of those people. I'm one of those people who left the rat race, who stopped trying to go get another thing and use what I had in my house.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to be a baker. I wasn't good at it anyway, but I didn't. I didn't want to be one. I wanted to be a scientist, because in my community, being a doctor or lawyer or a teacher is what's respectful. I wanted to be a doctor And so I was studying science at David University, trying to become a doctor. I couldn't apply the science to the human body. It took me 17 years to find out that that same science that I couldn't apply to human body, i could apply it to flour, butter, sugar and eggs, and God gave me a recipe that I could use by trying to dig my family out. So I always tell people I am such a huge fan of other bakers and now become this celebrity baker in my own right, but I'm a scientist first. I am making chemical reactions every day, and so I'm just trying to change the narrative for other other children to know what they can do, so that they know this is science and scientific reactions at its best, and you can be that And that's a good thing.
Speaker 1:I love that And honestly, it made me think of the parable You can be all things through Christ honey. So you want to be a scientist, me and you be a scientist, You'll still be a superhero baker. I'm a scientist for the day. You can be all things And I love it.
Speaker 2:You can be all things and all things are working for your good. That's the other thing. There are no mistakes. All things are working together and sync for your good. That means it's not over until you win, and what I love about this is no, nothing is wasted. There's no. Every stupid thing that you've ever had to do is taking you from where you are to where you want to be.
Speaker 2:So, when it comes down to this bakery business, or baking in business that you know your listeners are doing, we each have something to provide. We each are given a measure of something to begin with. None of us starts with nothing. We each have a measure, and so it's like what do you already have in your house? Is it what's inside of your four walls? For me, it was a little bit of. It was $5. That's what I had in my house. I have $5 and I had some experience in making other kinds of businesses Because as a kid, i loved playing business.
Speaker 2:So that's what I had in my house and ability to start something, ability to create an idea that people could get around and want to share. So what is it that you have in your house that you can start a business with And it doesn't matter if somebody else is doing it, it doesn't matter if there's another one on another corner, because when I started the cupcake collection, it was 2008. There were cupcake places popping up on every corner And if I had been discouraged by that, i'd say, oh, that person knows how to bake, or that person has you know all these years of experience And after all these years, the cupcake collection is the last cupcake shop standing in my area. You know what I mean, and I was the one that came in with no experience, and I'm saying that to say there's no one as dope as you. There's no one who's going to put a spin on it like you're going to do it. So go ahead and make room to be who you've been called to be.
Speaker 2:There's a lesson that my five year old taught me when I was opening the cupcake collection. I've been working for two years like it was a job, before the store even opened. When I saw another cupcake place coming before me, it was just like God, really like you're only doing this because you told me to do it. And now here you let them get started before me And I'm sitting in front of their store, crying in my car And my five year old taps me on the shoulder and he says Mommy, just because they're first doesn't mean they're going to be the best. And then we turn the corner and I sit in front of the place and I cry And my five year old says but, mommy, there is room for cupcakes. And so what was he saying to me?
Speaker 2:if you were the only one making cupcakes anyway, you wouldn't be able to serve everybody. So the world needs you to come into the industry that feels like it's flooded, and they need you to put your spin on it so that you can serve the people what they need. I think it's my little language And for me it's like you want to tell me you love me. Give me a cake, give me a good cake. There's not been a cake I didn't like. You know what I mean, but give me a good cake because it took time.
Speaker 2:You couldn't just throw that thing together. And that's what bakers are. They're people who wear rose colored glasses mostly, who see the good and other people, and they're they're allowed themselves to be used or their time to be used so that someone else's beauty can can be elevated, can be celebrated, and that was the thing that I felt like I could do in the world. Hubcakes were my way because I didn't think it would take that much to decorate them, but I didn't know how much work it actually took to make one beautiful, and so my son could have been more right than to say there's, there's room, and there's room for what it is, that whatever business you want to bring to the table when it comes to baking.
Speaker 1:Many are you spoke on so much, because that is something that so many of our listeners struggle with is imposter syndrome. People will say the market is saturated. Well, i'm doing this, now she's doing it, and yeah.
Speaker 1:And you just really hit the hammer on the head with that statement. You also mentioned you said you didn't know about the decorating, which brings me to another point. So many people a lot of times have shiny object syndrome in this industry. So they'll start with cupcakes, but then they go to macarons, but then they go to chocolate covered this. They go to this and they're doing things because they're saying, well, if I do more, then I'll make more than I'll attract more. What actually made you decide to somewhat niche down and say, because you're the cupcake collection, i'm going to do cupcakes, and although you guys, you do off celebration cakes. But what made you niche and say, okay, this is going to be my main focus?
Speaker 2:Yeah, i'm really good at making cookies. I make some amazing cookies, but I make it for the people that I love. I'm a donut connoisseur I have been on the track to find the best donut in the country But cake is what I do well, and I decided to only to not try to reinvent the will and only do the things that I know how to do very well. I introduced cakes because it was in the same vein, it was the same recipe, was just bigger, and it allowed us to answer the call that our clients were asking of us. We realized, especially during the pandemic, that we could celebrate. We were in this community to celebrate with people. A 10 year old doesn't know that it's tornado today and their house got smashed and so they can't make cake. It's still my birthday, so what are we supposed to do with this? because they don't understand that the world can freeze when you're six. They just know it's my birthday and I was supposed to get a cake. Where is it? And so we learned that we could be the best versions of who we were at what we do. Well, and that's that.
Speaker 2:I just started out thinking that cupcakes would be easy to decorate, when in fact, it's easier to decorate a cake. How many bakers out there would agree it's easier to decorate a cake than it is to decorate a cupcake, like to make it gorgeous, because cakes, can you know? you can pull out a offset spatula, just whip around on that thing and it's just looks like a gorgeous, gourmet, homemade something. It's not as easy to do that with a cupcake because you got to understand the pressure and get the right piping tip and the right piping bag and the what kind of materials are you going to use? so many things that go into it?
Speaker 2:So I think that it was just deciding to do what I was called to do and do it well. I had a cafe at one point that did coffee at sandwiches and you know all kinds of that was part of my dream was to extend that. As always would say I eat salad so that I can have cake, and so it was just a way for me to have lunch or have my cake and either to. But we we knew that our biggest thing was attracting people so they could take home. Take home Kate, so that they could celebrate.
Speaker 1:What financial practices or tips can you share with other entrepreneurs who are listening? you just really mentioned the importance of niche and down and and doing what it is you love. What will be some good financial tips you would share with any?
Speaker 2:So the first, the first thing I would say is that we live below our means. We didn't go out buying a whole bunch of big stuff that we couldn't afford. We didn't have lots of credit because we couldn't. I didn't have a good credit scores, i could have credit cards, so we had to, we had to make and we had to bake according to what we had available to us. From that, i would always go and make sure that I paid Caesar what belonged to Caesar. So Uncle Sam was getting his.
Speaker 2:I use that envelope system to get myself out of debt and I also use the envelope system to create a solid, a solid foundation for my business. So at the end of the day, when I would get paid from all of my clients that were coming in, i would. I would separate the cash into different envelopes. Cash stuffing is still an like a primal or a very basic accounting system that works. You know you don't have to have a bunch of big systems in order to know I put some money over here, puts a. You know I make some and I save some for later. There there was a candy that I would eat when I was growing up, called now and later, and you eat some now, you save some for later. And that's what I do with with my money I use some now and I save some for later. It's been the same concept that we've been able to use.
Speaker 2:And so not only did we not get into debt with our vendors, we didn't get into debt with our employees either, as we began to welcome them onto the cupcake collection team, and we did that. You know very little at a time, we have friends and family and volunteers and things like that, but how many of you know that sometimes they can't do it? You're like, please don't even help me, right? So when we started inviting people to be a part of our team, it was about paying them every week. Yes, it is more expensive for me to run payroll every single week, but it is also allowing them to be able to see forward what they're doing with their own lives. And when you have somebody who you're helping to be able to also get out of and remain out of debt, it propels them and makes them want to work hard for you, because people don't work for businesses, people work for people.
Speaker 2:And I would say another major thing that you'll find is I wrote it all in the book And this is a playbook. This is a playbook for how you're going to start your business, how you can make it from scratch, how you I'm not going to give recipes per se, as far as you know put this cup of this flower. You know a half a spoon of this, but it is a recipe for you to take your own thing, your own spin and put some science behind it. So one of the first things I would say is how are you going to start it? made from scratch. It's available on Amazon And it just became a best seller of the new releases on Amazon about 10 days ago. So I'm so excited about that.
Speaker 2:But I would say that that's some of the practical things that I did. When I got money, i parted the money out. I didn't just think, oh, all of this is for me to spend. I saved some And then I went back and I bought more ingredients so that I can make more, and I treated it like a job.
Speaker 2:When you work a job every day, you get paid once every seven days, or you get paid once every 14 days, or every 21 days or every 30 days, whatever that looks like, or whatever you can do for yourself. I decided what my pay cycle was going to be And I got paid on a regimen like everybody else And the rest of the time I was recycling that money back into my business. And that's what I think that sometimes we're artists And we have this excuse of oh, i'm an artist, so I don't have to be responsible. But not only is work required of us, but stewarding over what we make is also required of us. And if you can't do it, get somebody else to do it. Absolutely, somebody is anointed to help you.
Speaker 1:We share on the podcast resources like Score, where you can get time with a free mentor that will help the Small Business Development Center, because too often that's what so many people are doing. They're number one, they're afraid to charge their worth And then, because of that fear and because they just pull numbers from the sky or they borrow other people's pricing, they're never really actually paying themselves. And so we end up with a lot of starving artists, which I hate, because I feel like I know you probably do as well. Abundances are birthright.
Speaker 2:We're not meant to struggle, so yeah.
Speaker 1:Amen.
Speaker 2:I love that. A lot of times, we struggle with our price because we don't know how to price, and so the great thing about being in a business for yourself you get to decide what your worth is, and I wore a shirt for all of them today. I don't know if you can see it, but it's a shirt I created that says wow, which you are worthy of winning. I think a lot of times we don't think that we're worthy of what we're asking for, and I think your friends, especially, should be willing to pay you more than strangers.
Speaker 1:Yes, I never thought that People are always like friends and family. They're just kind of like no, if you're my family, you're supposed to be rooting for me, Because if I win I can bring you with me. Why would I give you a discount?
Speaker 2:Your friends and family should be willing to pay you more than strangers are. Absolutely, and I've been living on that for myself. I'm not asking my friends for discounts because I know how hard they've been working to get from where they are to where it is that they want to be. Now a big, gigantic brand that I don't know I might ask them for a discount. I might ask them to please come and fix what you broke. But when it comes to my friend or when it comes to somebody I know, or a because when you go to a baker, you're putting into business or you're keeping into business, your neighbor, someone you know, is getting to go on the high school field trip because you bought a cake, because you told someone else where to get a great cake or a cookie or a bread, and we have gone our life's work to different small little boutique places and paid more Because we know that we can trace those ingredients, we know that our bodies are going to be well because of it, and those people are grateful that we came. And I think that's the beauty of what's happening here You get to have relationships with people. We were in the mall the other day Because the cupcake collection. The way I decide how we're going to put out a new store is I bring our cupcakes, our mobile cupcakes, and so we'll go and scout the area where people say they want us to be And we'll just set up shop there And we'll work there for several weeks or several months and just see what. We're testing the market. We're using scientific method, so we're testing the market to see, we're asking questions And we're formulating a hypothesis, and so the people will come out and patronize the store.
Speaker 2:We ran into one of our favorite bakers. Her name is Trudy And Trudy makes hand pies. Is that what you call them? The fried pies? My children are obsessed, do you understand? obsessed with her pies. And I was walking through the store And Trudy is this beautiful woman who has. She just has a unique style of her own. I go Trudy, is that you? And my son said is that my pie lady? Like, i didn't know her name, but he knew that the pie lady had a name like that And he was like, oh my gosh, it's the pie lady. And she was so thrilled at his excitement to run into her in the store and then said meet me over here, i'm going to make sure that I make you some pie And I'm going to even have you over to my house.
Speaker 2:You get to build relationships with people in the community And what happens?
Speaker 2:when you do something for someone else's child? Someone else does something for you when you need it. So I use the example in the book about a mechanic. If my child's car is broken and I call a friend and say, hey, friend, my child's car is broken, can they bring it to your shop? And the mechanic brings my child's car into the shop, fixes it extra well, even finds some other things that were wrong, and say I know your son doesn't have it right now, so I threw in the little extras because he needed it. When that mechanic needs something from me, i'm going to do what I'm going to do. I'm going to do it for her. I will give her an extra, say thank you. That's what you get to do in business and in baking. You get to build relationships with people that open doors for not only you before your children and their children's children. I believe that's our responsibility to put our foot in the door and keep it open for the people who are coming by.
Speaker 1:Yes, Absolutely, minya. The book has so many you said it earlier it has so many recipes for success, recipes for believing in yourself, recipes for endurance, and those are all the things that we go through. And, as you were just speaking, because I know someone's going to say, but I'm shy, i don't want it right I believe I heard you on Donald Miller, because we love all, i love all things, donald Miller, and I think you even said I'm shy. But in today's world, with Instagram, with putting a face, i always tell my students, i say there's nothing special about you, but it's just you, you know, because it's people don't buy products, people buy people.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So what would you say to the person who is saying, well, i'm shy or I don't want to show my face on social or stuff like that? because you mentioned, it's all about those connections, especially for those who are home base, and a lot of our other listeners have trucks, trailers, stuff like that. We're in a connection business. We're in a relationship building business And one of my favorites is your net worth is equivalent to your net work. So how can you ever make those connections if you don't put yourself out there? How did you get over your shyness to even have the courage because there are some awesome stories in this book, mm, hmm, I would say that I'm shy too.
Speaker 2:I'm very shy and it's always hard for me to talk about me, me, me and I, i, i, everybody look at me like I don't mind being the center of attention, but I don't want to be the one saying, oh, i did this and I did that, right. And so I would say that you some of the highest earning social media producers, youtubers you've never seen their faces Just because you're shy is not a reason for you not to go out there and kill what you need to kill and drag it home so that you can eat. And I believe that shy doesn't feed your belly and it doesn't pay the bills. And when you get into a position where you're hungry enough, you eat. You know my mother used to say that all the time you ain't hungry. You know she would say that to me. You're not hungry And I'm not. I'm not saying that to say to someone that they're not hungry, but you've got to look for the lesson.
Speaker 2:What is it that you have that's different? that's on the inside of your house, that you don't have to do it like I'm doing it. Do it how you would be willing to do it, or get somebody else to do it. I made a list of 100 things I didn't want to do anymore And I found someone else to do them who could do those things. Well, and at first you always don't have an opportunity, but in this age of technology that we're living in, you can outsource just about everything that you need.
Speaker 2:And listen, these kids, these high school kids, are good at the social media, you know, and social media is not the be all and end all either. Sometimes it's just going to your church or your community meeting and just bringing a cake there and someone to say this Oh, julie made that cake and leaving your cards there so people can call Julie, and then having more of those. Sometimes you got to keep your hand open to give some stuff away. You know, having those available in more than one place and enough places so that people can be calling you to make something for them to. It's OK to be shy, but courage isn't the absence of shyness. Courage is moving even though you are afraid. That's what courage is, because without, without fear or without shyness, there is no courage. Because courage exists, because fear exists. So you got to move even though you are afraid, and that's what. That's what happened to me.
Speaker 1:I love that statement and I love what you said just bringing stuff and dropping it off. Because I have a big saying we serve before we sell. You should serve before you sell. Even when we look at Jesus, you know he could have easily stepped out the Bible and said look, here I'm Jesus, i have the answer. But he didn't. He washed feet, he performed miracles, he sat with people, he served before he actually sold, which what he was selling when he was selling the salvation.
Speaker 2:I love it. That's so good, so, so good.
Speaker 1:You're true, it's not as good as your book, though, but I try. You have really shared with us so much and just so many nuggets and so many little gems. For those who are bakers, aside from because you say it all the time you've been flipping that same five dollars over and over, and it's gotten you to to where you are now, when you operate a multi-million dollar company, which is a blessing, aside from financial success. What are some other personal because I know it's not all about that But what are some charities or organizations or things that are near and dear to you that you can do now because of the financial stability you have?
Speaker 2:I? that's such a good question. I love giving away the information that I have in other business oriented organizations. So I serve at the Entrepreneur's Center, i serve at Pathways, which has a women's business center, so people can find me there And one of my favorite organizations to work with is Safe Haven.
Speaker 2:Safe Haven is a shelter that keeps the whole entire family together. It's the only one in Tennessee that allows the whole family, so the father and the mother and the children, to stay together. And so we recently well, not recently now, it's been, i guess it's been two years now we've been working with their Young Leaders Council to create birthday cakes for children who are experiencing homelessness in Middle Tennessee. So I love that we get to provide cake for them And then from the proceeds that they make as the Young Leaders Council, they go out and they buy presents and gift wrap for those mothers to be able to provide gifts to their children. So I love working with them and raising money with with with Safe Haven.
Speaker 2:I'm a huge fan of the YWCA and what they're doing for women who have, who are coming out of domestic violence. It's a subject that I talk about extensively in the book. There are things that I had kept silent that were that had happened in my life that my children never told anybody about, and in telling my story, i felt it was important that I share some of these stories so that people would know that they are not alone. There are a lot of people who are listening to your podcast and they are. They are suffering in silence, unable to make ends meet or looking for a way out or an avenue in order to provide for themselves or get a leg up, and I would say that I want you to know that you're not alone. There are other people just like you, and I was one of them, and so I love the YWCA for that. I love work. I've worked a lot with Second Harvest Being being in middle to the sea, we are one of the largest areas that experience food insecurity, which means that I know I'm going to probably eat today. I just don't know what it's going to be or where it's going to come from, and my children were part of that statistic, and so just getting that message out that a dollar will feed will feed make four meals for a family if put into the right hands, and so I love being promoting and being a spokesperson alongside of Second Harvest, for that reason as well. There's so many that I can't even name them. I love working with FH Jenkins. It's a little private school in North Nashville. It's the only African American school that is parochial for children of color in middle Tennessee. So I with a Christian base, so I love working with them as well.
Speaker 2:That list could just go on and on, and these are the things that God has allowed me to do as I have found success. Because you can't advance the kingdom of God if you don't have any money. Even God, even Jesus, had people who were collecting the money. I mean, that was Judas's problem, right? He was collecting the money and then trying to hoard that money. Zacchaeus was a tax collector, so he had people around him who were counting and collecting the money.
Speaker 2:Because you advance the kingdom of God with money first, first service. Like you said, you can't sell until you serve. So Jesus couldn't get people following him until he served them first, and then they began to follow him and the money that they lifted caused the message to go further. And that's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to keep my promise to God. If you make me successful, i will tell others what they can do if they believe, and the goal is hopefully to advance the kingdom so that other people know you don't have to live in lack. You can be the head and not the tail. You can be above and not beneath. You can be the lender and not the borrower. Yes, that the rich rule over the poor. All of those things are just reminders that we are not supposed to be in a place of lack.
Speaker 1:Menyong, that's everything, because we can't. We cannot make an impact if we do not have an income.
Speaker 2:That's so good, you just got nuggets.
Speaker 1:I have to write that one down And it's true, we can't make an impact without an income. I should have went down to New Orleans, because it's only our way. I hate crossing that bridge and put your cupcakes on this back stand, but I'm gonna have some. We're gonna represent.
Speaker 2:But We're gonna have way or something.
Speaker 1:You shared so many key things and key takeaways and didn't want to go into the book. I want them to actually read the book. That's gonna be everyone's homework When this episode comes out. You actually only have 30 days. When this episode comes out, you listen to it, you buy the book. You have 30 days to finish the book and then you need to tag Menyong social media and let her know what it is. You thought of it. What is the biggest takeaway that you want people to get from the book? Choose?
Speaker 2:life. God was saying to me, when he was waking me up in the morning, to give me this whole idea of this bakery business, because it wasn't my idea, it was his. And he said, as he was waking me up and giving me all the instructions, i was writing everything down. When God got ready to stop waking me up which, when they get the book, they'll understand what I mean about waking me up One of the last Bible verses I read was Deuteronomy, chapter 30, and then Joshua 1 and 9.
Speaker 2:And he said to me I said, before you like and death, lessons and curses, choose life so that you and your children will live, and that's what I want people to know. This is a gift that we've been given. To be able to create and make from scratch, and to get up every day and to do that thing that you've been called to do is about choosing to have life and to live it more abundantly. I believe that God didn't come and send his son and empty out heaven for me so that I would be mediocre. I believe that he emptied out heaven for me so that I would live abundantly, which means to the full.
Speaker 2:And so what I heard God saying to me was. I'm not giving you any more ideas. I'm not giving you any more things for you to start and quit. This is the last thing that I'm giving you And you can do it, and you can do it with everything you have, and that will be choosing life, or you can decide to ignore it and you will be choosing to die. And I think that we close our eyes and forever sleep for one of two reasons Either we fulfill our purpose or we ignore it.
Speaker 1:And I wanted to fulfill the purpose that I was planning on the Earth for Well, you have definitely fulfilled it, and then some by being with us today, sharing your inspiration to all the thousands of people that listen in, and also just by having the courage to bottle all that up and put it in a memoir, and put it in a book and share it with the world. So we are so grateful for that. Before I let you go, mignon, are you ready real quick to play lightning round?
Speaker 2:Oh, i got some scared, i'll leave them all scared of Okay, yes, it'll be fun. Even if I don't know the answer, i'm gonna try.
Speaker 1:You got this Mignon. what is your favorite color?
Speaker 2:My favorite color is right now is probably blush paint. Okay, i just think it's so pretty.
Speaker 1:All right, we'll take it. What is your favorite dessert?
Speaker 2:My favorite dessert is cake. I believe that cake is my love language, like, if you want, if you're trying to get to my heart, bring me a cake, honey, and let it. let it be a coconut cake with some rum, when you take it with some rum.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, i'll take it, however you bring it. Who is your celebrity crush? Oh, do I have one? I don't know if I have a celebrity crush. I believe that we are only six degrees away from the people who we really want to meet anyway, and most of the time that's somebody else's husband, and I don't want to be, you know, i don't want to be um coveted somebody else's husband, so I'm just waiting on God to send me mine.
Speaker 1:So wait a minute, but I want a definite answer. So are you maybe more like the Idris Elba type, the Michael P Jordan? Denzel, don't tell me more. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:I don't. Even this is so difficult. I don't even know who that person would be. I'll come back to that one. That's kind of lightning round if I can't answer the question, is it?
Speaker 1:Okay, and we're gonna skip the next.
Speaker 2:It might be it might be um Morris Chesney Oh okay, now yes. Yeah, that's who it would be.
Speaker 1:Well, okay, well, we will take that answer, So that's awesome. All right, we're gonna skip the next question What is, which is, what is your favorite book? Because we're gonna recommend all of our listeners to go out and to grab your book. And so the last question what is your favorite kitchen utensil?
Speaker 2:My favorite kitchen utensil? Oh, i love a good bowl. Can that be a kitchen utensil I also love? oh, that's not it, that's not it. My favorite kitchen utensil is probably a cake stand I like, although first time when we came into this segment I was like all of the cake dishes and things that you have back there. I love a beautiful pie plate or a cake stand. I have a cake stand that someone made me out of the trees on their father's land. It's gorgeous.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think my favorite kitchen utensil is a cake stand. It might be like a wooden spoon. It's like pretty dishes. Okay, well, I'm gonna use them. I just want to look at them Good serving dish.
Speaker 1:Well, you have past lightning round with flying colors.
Speaker 2:I was horrible on one of those pieces And then later on I was like I should have said this person or that person, It's okay, It's okay.
Speaker 1:We love all the answers. We love everything you share with us today from the bottom of my heart. Thanks so much for coming on and blessing all those who listen. I know it's really going to be a treat.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you, thank you. Don't forget that they can buy the book on amazoncom and that they want to collide with me. They can do it on Instagram, at mignonfrancisecom, on Instagram Awesome, or on the cupcakeelectioncom, where we're open 24 hours a day and shipping our cupcakes with our partnership with FedEx.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love it And we will have you guys check the show notes because it's going to have all the links to her stuff as well as, like she stated, shipping nationwide If you want to treat yourself to some cupcakes as well. She gave us that link, Mignon. Before you go, is there any last little tidbit you'd like to share?
Speaker 2:Oh, speak what you seek until you see what you said. One of the things that we do is we talk against ourselves, but we always have positive things to say about other people And I would say use your words, because there's power of life and death in your tongue. Use your words to speak life over yourself and the things that you were created to do, and I'm so excited about the ways that all of them are going to now start creating more of what they were called to do, because, listen, there can never be too much cake.
Speaker 1:So true, you guys heard it here. First Check the show notes. Thanks so much for speaking with us today, beautiful.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me. How amazing was it to hear Mignon's testimony. One of my favorite Christian songs talks about doing what God is famous for meaning the miracles, the things that he went above and beyond to do, the dreams, the aspirations, every single thing he touched, how he was able to multiply nothing and turn it into something. You know that multiplication, that fame. One of the first steps and you heard it from Mignon comes from sharing your story.
Speaker 1:It is so easy to look at someone like Mignon who owns two locations, a truck, who's built a seven-figure business. You know, at times you might be struggling to just make it to five and to just make it to six or seven, but sometimes we have to remember that we can believe God for eight and nine figure businesses as well. We have to take the limits off and not compare our day one, our month one, our year one to someone else's day 10, year 15, because we do not know the full story. And so the memoir made from scratch, is Mignon sharing her story. And you get to see, everybody goes through something.
Speaker 1:You guys, we all go through something. Life is going to always hand us some form of a trial or a test for an obstacle, but it's not how you go through it, it's how you grow through it and how you still show up and allow your gifts in order to change you and shape you and mold you so that you can walk into the king or queen, as well as the destiny that God has for you so that he can do what he is famous for. If you guys want to check out Mignon's book, i have the link below. Like she said it, you can find it on Amazon, and I hope that this story has inspired you to tap into your faith and to believe, because you never know what is possible when you share your story, when you show up and when you just have the faith to create something, even if you don't feel like there's much there to start with. Thanks so much for listening you guys. Take care and bye for now.