Have you ever heard those success stories where a simple hobby ended up growing into a very lucrative business? We have all heard about these amazing stories, and some of these stories are what has fueled the American dream. There is nothing wrong with wanting to take a hobby from the hobby stage to a full blown multimillion dollar industry. This is a very popular dream, but it takes a lot more than luck to make it happen. There are a bunch of things that have to fall perfectly into place in order for this type of success story to become your very own personal reality. I know this because I have been a part of one of these success stories. I know firsthand exactly how difficult it can be to turn a hobby into a huge multimillion dollar business.
My Wife's Famous Cookies
I always thought that I was a little biased, but as the popularity of my wife's cookies started to spread, I knew that it was not just me. My wife had some of the best cookies I have ever tasted. They were just your regular homemade chocolate chip cookies. She combined several ingredients to make what I would only refer to as a super cookie. Her cookies had chocolate chips in them, they had Macadamia nuts in them and she had a few other secrets that I'm not allowed to tell. The point is this. Her cookies were different than any other cookies out there. This was just one reason why her cookies were becoming so popular.
One night after dinner while my wife and I were eating a batch of her cookies, she asked me if I thought we should turn her already semi-famous cookies into a business. I had never really given it much thought. I did not know what it took to run a successful baking business. I thought it was a good idea, and together we started to do a little bit of research on the subject.
We quickly learned that there were a lot of things that we needed. The first thing that we needed was bakery equipment. We could not possibly bake the world's most famous cookies without the right equipment. This also meant that we would need to come up with a sizable cash investment to purchase the right equipment. We both thought that it was a good idea, and we decided to give it a go.
Building the Business
The next part was pretty easy. As soon as we found a place to set up shop, my wife started cranking out her cookies in record numbers. The cookies sold themselves, and we both knew that they would. It did not take more than a month for us to start selling out of all of her cookies. This meant that we would need to upgrade our equipment. We contacted US foods culinary equipment and supplies , and they were able to help us upgrade fairly easy. There was no downtime involved in the upgrade. This was very important to my wife and I. We already had a bunch of very happy customers, and we did not want to lose any of them.
This was over five years ago. Today my wife and I own one of the most successful bakery businesses in town. We have started branching out by opening other bakeries in other towns as well. It took a lot of hard work for us to get there, but it was worth every bit of it.