Episode ##9

Jack Finn: Hello and welcome to another episode of Series 1 Turn Cupcakes into Cash. This is your

host Jack Finn. How are you doing? Welcome once again to the show. Again on Series 1 Turn

Cupcakes into Cash you’re going to be hearing exclusive interviews, hard to find interviews from the

experts themselves. Of course experts from all over the world right here on this podcast. So this is

the place for you.

Now you might be thinking how much does it take to start off my own business? Let’s listen to the

experts right now:

Interviewer: So how did you pay for all that? Did you have to take a loan out?

Shannon: No, I didn’t do any loans. Last year I did so many college lectures I was able to save up a lot

of cash, everything I build on cash. So my whole total build out was around $10,000. It doesn’t seem

like a lot, it really doesn’t. We’re talking about 500 square feet.

Interviewer: That’s just to get the building up to code?

Shannon: Yeah that’s just to get the building up to code. That’s with an oven, the island, the

furniture, the floor, the plumbing and the electrical.

Interviewer: Okay so that’s also some of your equipment and stuff there.

Shannon: A little bit. I mean I don’t even know the exact figure but I would say it was about

probably, when all was said and done, to get operating and have everything I needed including my

supplies, about $15,000 up front. That was stuff paid for. That doesn’t include your monthly utilities,

your rent, any of that. I should have started a little bigger too, but who knew that in one year things

would grow so fast. I’m already running out of space, big time.

Interviewer: Yeah, it’s like maybe as the economy seems to take longer and longer people want

more and more comfort food or something.

Shannon: It’s a lot of money, but it’s fun. When you get something new you get butterflies in your

stomach and you can’t wait to try it out. It’s a lot of fun but it’s not a cheap hobby for someone to

do. You have to build it up. I went head first into it. I mean I dove right in, like overnight I opened

this business and it can be very overwhelming and you definitely need to know what you’re doing.

Jack: Oh definitely. If you’ve just logged in welcome to the podcast: Series 1 Turn Cupcakes into Cash

here with Jack your host. If you’re beginning your venture as an online store of course, you could

very well make do with the oven in your home’s kitchen as you will only be baking when you get the

order. However if you’re opting for a physical store front your oven at home is not going to cut it.

Now keep in mind there are two types of items you will need to purchase; that’s appliances and

inventory. Appliances of course you’re talking about commercial baking oven, commercial

refrigerator, freezer, commercial mixers, dish washer and cupcake tins. Looking for this equipment

you might want to check bakeries or restaurants and other businesses that are closing up shop for

whatever reason. Most of the time these stores will warranty the appliances, so it’s all good. Try to

find the best equipment, the best condition.

Inventory of course you’re talking about every ingredient you need to mix, bake and frost your

cupcakes. That will be included in inventory. Try to research for savings, saving options open to you

in purchasing your ingredients. One is purchase wholesale. That will go a long way. Other costs you

should consider: rent, utilities, staff, cleaning supplies, licenses and of course, marketing and

advertising. Now I know there’s a lot of work here, there’s a lot of investment and all but why is

being an entrepreneur better than being employed? Check out my good buddy Stuart Ross:

Stuart: I’d worked for eight years so hard, to live a stressful lifestyle, to have to commute and sit in

traffic every day, to struggle to pay my rent, to struggle to keep up my car payments, to live pay

cheque to pay cheque and to be in a position where $3,000 was a real struggle for me to get that

amount of money. So I was driving home that evening and when I was driving home I changed my

mind about five times on what I was going to do. One minute I was going to do it, the next minute I

wasn’t.

I didn’t want to discuss it with anyone. I didn’t want to

discuss it with my girlfriend or family or friends because I

knew anybody I discussed it with would probably talk me out

of it because it’s stick to the safe options, stick to your job,

you know, work hard and everything will be okay. Well no,

let’s be honest with you, for most people everything isn’t

okay. You only have to look at the people around you, the

situation that they’re in and no, everything won’t be okay if

you follow the old system. Making money in 2012 and

beyond isn’t about following the system in my opinion. It’s

about being an entrepreneur. It’s about learning new skills and applying them.

Jack: He’s all about digital marketing at its best. Go to www.turncupcakesintocash.com/digitallife to

get his free training. And let me reward you for your time with a free training audio guide that will

help you with your website, like how to use YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Groupon, Living Social and

Foursquare for free, to get customers in the cupcake business or any business for that matter.

It’s only $39 and it’s limited time only so go ahead now. Check out

www.turncupcakesintocash.com/digitallife. Also I’d like to invite you to watch this intense but

amazing video training from Rich Schefren that will transform your mind set, your attitude on the

way you think about your business. Here’s Rich briefly talking about his magic:

Rich: Most entrepreneurs who fail do not know what their strengths are. When you ask them they

look at you with a blank stare or respond in terms of subject knowledge which is the wrong answer.

You see, one of the biggest reasons opportunity seeking entrepreneurs fail is because they don’t

leverage their strengths and that’s because they don’t even know what they are, let alone how

important it is to spend as much time using them.

And here’s why: it’s incredibly difficult to figure out your strengths all by yourself. It’s like trying to

see the entire forest when you’re stuck in the trees. And here’s why: first because we’re taught to

focus on our weaknesses ever since we were in school; second we don’t recognise our strengths

because we’ve always had them so we don’t really have a way to contrast what it would be like to

not have them; third, we assume others can do it just as easily as we can and fourth, we discount

them because of how enjoyable they feel. Think about that for a second. When you understand that,

you realise how important it is for anyone who wants to succeed in business to learn and then

leverage their strengths.

Jack: I’m going to throw in some gifts right now. The first is to simply go to

www.turncupcakesintocash.com/rich and see why Rich is someone you should listen to and the

value you will get. Just share your name and your email address and it covers everything you need to

know.

***

Jack: The capital when you started, perhaps roughly how much?

Leanne: Around the $30,000. $30,000 to $40,000 to start up with and I mean we had to do a lot of

renovations and as I told you The Greaser rester

cost us quite a bit.

Alex: But we did have a lot of friends and family

and friends of the family as well that are

carpenters and electricians and that. So that

helped out a lot as well. That cut down the costs.

Leanne: We had a master painter paint the

building and we had a bland ceiling rose and he

did a work of art on it and people walk in our

doors and look straight up to the ceiling. I mean that was all free. That was I’ll scratch your back, you

scratch mine. So my family members, my dad, so he just has worked tirelessly, helping us. He built

rooms inside of rooms.

Alex: And now surprisingly if we need something done, it’s usually the people that come into the

shop, so a picture frame or an electrician or a plumber so if we’ve got a problem they come in and

say, give me a couple of coffees and call it a day.

***

John: I was rather lucky as I said when I bought my bakery in Campbell River there. It was under

bankruptcy so I was able to offer the trustees of the bankruptcy enough money for them to accept

my offer and walk in there with a dirty, filthy bakery and I spent close to three weeks I think it was,

cleaning the entire place up, the equipment and everything else and putting in some new furniture

and rebuilding the stockroom and the washrooms.

But it cost me another, oh I guess about another $10,000 at that time before I even opened up. But

then again I had help in rebuilding. My nephew knew the health inspector. I shouldn’t probably say

that but… Yeah, he came in, he took the staff toilets out, rebuilt it, repainted It, re-laid the floor, put

a wall in between the toilet and the stockroom because that’s illegal. If there’s no wall or the toilet

opens up into an open area of the bakery, that’s illegal. So once we’d done that, we cleaned up

everything in there right from the front door to the back door. Then the health inspector come in

and she said, yeah okay, that looks nice.

Jack: And that winds up our podcast for today for Series 1 Turn Cupcakes into Cash. Your host Jack

Finn right here. Oh by the way, a quick-start tip on how to start your bakery courtesy of this amazing

video on www.turncupcakesintocash.com/howtostartabakery. You’ll find all you need in there.

Again this has been Jack, thank you for joining me. Until the next episode, don’t forget if you’ve got

what it takes, go for it!