I sold my first cupcake in the 6th grade and
loved the feeling of earning money for myself.
It’s funny because as I got older, instead of trying to
build my own business at an early age, I tried to play by the rules of society
and do what I thought my parents expected of me.
I got a regular job, went to college, heck I even wanted to
become an Attorney at some point and work for a big law firm somewhere, but
somehow, on some level all of that felt wrong to me.
For the longest time, I have to admit I felt like a loser in
the corporate world. I knew I was
bright, I tried my best to work well with others, but somehow, I just was not a
fit. I would either wind up getting bored
or feeling restless within a couple of weeks.
If not ,I would find myself wanting to change the system around as soon
as I learned it, I always thought I could teach my boss a thing or two about
how they could make the system more efficient, sound familiar?
I was bored out of my mind if my position did not entail
mutli-tasking or doing something that was not tedious. I often got in trouble
for speaking up “too much”. One time I
even had a boss tell me that he did not pay me to “think” he paid me to do as I was told, that should have clued me in.
As I recall, even as I was working a regular 9-5 I was
always trying different ventures on the side.
I would go to real-Estate Seminars, MLM campaigns, sold jewelry on the
side, set up a catering business with my best friend at the time, you name it ,
I did it, looking back, I was always trying to get my own thing going on the
side.
I felt like a loser most of my adult life when I tried to
work for others and never understood why. Thanks to one of the most successful
copywriters of all time , I finally understood that I was not a failure or a weirdo
when I watched him speak at the Attract Wealth Seminar in Austin Texas some
years back.
Remember those infomercials with the Blu-blocker sunglasses?
Joe Sugarman, a seasoned businessman, BILLIONAIRE , President of the
Blu-blocker Corporation and one of the most successful copywriters in American
history was the one that opened my eyes to the fact that most Entrepreneurs don’t
really easily fit in . We are a special breed of person that has many of the
following characteristics.
*Creative – Thinks outside the box.
*Risk Taker- We often take risks most people are not even
willing to consider.
*Confident – In spite of our flaws, we have an underlying
confidence in ourselves.
*Become easily bored- Restless ;)
*Restless- Never quite satisfied, unquenchable thirst for
growth and knowledge
*Perfectionist- Can tend to be a bit of a perfectionist.
*Generous- Generous on some level ( likes to share , give
back or pay it forward)
* BOSS- I hate to admit this, but we do NOT
like to take orders from others. Clearly most people do not, but for us it’s particularly
painful.
*Resilient- Bounces back like a rubber ball after each failure.
Turns lemons into lemon cookies.
*Optimistic- In spite of a grim outlook, we tend to remain
optimistic.
*Visionary- See opportunity where others do not.
*Unrelenting drive to succeed- You do NOT know the meaning
of the word Failure.
Okay, so by now you get the idea right? Can you relate to
this on any level?
I have a sneaking suspicion that most of you who are reading
this, can in fact relate to most, if not all of the aforementioned characteristics. If not you may be asking yourself, well what’s
the big deal? Why do I need to be like this in order to run a cookie business?
After all, all it takes is a bit of talent as a baker and cookie designer/decorator…
WRONG! I say, and I will tell you why.
You may in fact, have an amazing set of hands and be Sylvia Weinstock
of cookies, and you already have the creativity part down, but if you do not
start to develop some of these characteristics, particularly, optimism,
resilience, and an unrelenting drive to succeed it will be very difficult for
you to navigate the business of cookies, or most any other business.
Some people believe that you are born with these, I believe
that they can be learned !
In order to survive and succeed in this business, at times
you will have to be one tough cookie (pun intended), in order not to throw in
the towel. Running a small business,
particularly while managing a family/household and working a full or other part
time job requires an unwavering drive and focus that not everyone possesses.
This business may be sweet, but it is not for wimps. This may sound harsh but I have learned that
in order succeed in business you need to have the right mindset, otherwise you will
be ready to throw in the towel the first time you burn 200 cookies or one of
your cakes falls apart in transit. I am
here to make sure that does not happen to you (Not the cake and cookies, that,
I’m afraid is inevitable, I mean the quitting part)
Okay, so suppose, you feel this is just not you, or you don’t
want to deal with the business end of this. Hey that’s fine, in that case either
capitalize on your skills and go work for someone who will pay you a generous
salary (That will be a future post about learning to price your cookies
properly) or have your spouse, partner, friend or whomever else run the business
end for you. You can bake, be creative
and leave everything else up to them.
So ladies, in short I will admit it, I am an unapologetic
champion for female entrepreneurs everywhere. We are the champions of society,
we do it all, with love, compassion, dedication, drive and fearlessness so kudos
to you, my fellow Jean D’arc’s of Cookies! I celebrate you for being the few,
fearless females out there, changing the world one cookie at a time.
See you next week when we will start to discuss a bit of the
mechanics of what makes for an amazing cookie business that stands out among
the rest.
Again, if you have any general questions please feel free to
email me at cookiepreneur@gmail.com
or leave your questions in the comment section.
I would love to hear from you, Let me know when you first
discovered that you were a Cookiepreneur?
Always remember, If you can see it, you can be it! Never give up, NEVER!
Aymee
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