Business of Buttercream: The Sweet Journey of Gold Mine Cupcakes

How many people can say they turned a doodle into a successful business? That's exactly what I did with Gold Mine Cupcakes, and I'm excited to share the journey with you. From humble beginnings in my mom's kitchen, to a bustling cupcake shop that sold out within 30 minutes on opening day - it's been an adventure filled with milestones, challenges, and personal growth.

There were definitely lots of wonderful memories and amazing times had, but it wasn't all a piece of cake! I'll be open about the anxiety and exhaustion that came with the success. This emotional roller coaster led to a crucial conversation about the future of Gold Mine Cupcakes and my personal wellbeing.

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a fan of heartfelt stories, or just love a good cupcake, this tale has something for you. So sit back, maybe grab a sweet treat, and join me on this journey of the business of buttercream.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Hello friends, alright, in today's episode we are going to dive deep into the business of buttercream and what it was like to start gold mine cupcakes and the journey throughout owning the business and even up until present day, and what my relationship with the business looks like today. So let's get this thing rolling. Welcome to the Farm to Heart Podcast, a podcast for heart centered entrepreneurs and dreamers alike seeking to plant their seeds and grow a life of alignment, purpose and their own version of joy filled success. I'm Sarah Rutter, a former award winning bakery owner, turned mama, animal rescuer and multi-passionate entrepreneur with a desire to help others ignite their dreams and create a life they love without the burnout. So whether you're seeking guidance on personal growth, launching or growing your current business, or simply looking for inspiration to ignite your entrepreneurial spirit, this podcast will be your loyal companion. So join me as we plant the seeds of your dreams, nurture their growth and cultivate a life of purpose, abundance and fulfillment. So saddle up and let's go. Alright, let's just dive on in.

Speaker 1: 1:22

Gold mine cupcakes was my first business that I started, and the idea for it came to me in college when I shortly after I met my now husband, calvin, and when I first met him and he told me that he was getting his degree in mining engineering. I just thought that was really fascinating, and I actually ended up doing a whole college elective project on the mining history of Colorado and I became really fascinated by it and so I just kind of doodled it one day during class and I was like gold mine cupcakes. That has a nice ring to it, and I even told Calvin I was like if I ever opened a shop, I would want it to be in downtown golden Colorado, because that town just has such a strong mining history and that's where the Colorado School of Mines is, where Calvin went to college, and so it just made sense for me. So that's kind of how it all got started, and I just really started planning out the business and what I would want it to look like when I was still in college. And then, after college, calvin and I got married in 2012 and I was working for a corporate restaurant at the time and I just wasn't digging the corporate world.

Speaker 1: 2:43

I have a I struggle working for other bosses, because I always feel like it starts out great and then I kind of start inserting my opinions on what I think should be changed or what I don't like or my creativity or whatever, and it tends to cause some headbutting and stuff like that, but anyways. So that's kind of when I knew like entrepreneurship was for me, because I can be a little stubborn and stuck in my ways and kind of, you know, just not work nicely with others, but I am a very nice person, so I don't really get it. It doesn't really make sense to me, but anyways. So I decided to start Goldmine Cupcakes officially in February of 2013 and I like super pumped, I got it, made it all official, and then I went over to my parents house and I was just like, hey, mom, like do you want to be a co-owner on this with me? And I think she was just kind of like, oh, that's cute, like yeah, I'll sign that with you, we can bake a couple cupcakes or whatever. And so she did. She signed on. We both really signed on to it, not knowing what the heck we were doing or what it was about to become, and she was still a full-time nurse at the time. So I mean, she was just like supporting her daughter, I'm pretty sure, and didn't have any clue what was going to happen with it.

Speaker 1: 4:13

And then we spent kind of the first six months just creating all of our own recipes and doing lots and lots and lots of trial and error. Because we really are very particular with our cupcakes. We don't like super sweet frosting and we really like the cake part to be just as good as the frosting and not have like one overpower the other. And so we were really working on so many recipes over the span of six months but we were truly just trying to nail down like the solid base ones, so like a good chocolate, a good vanilla, a good carrot and a good red velvet, and then from there, that's where all of the other flavors kind of branched off of all of those base recipes.

Speaker 1: 5:00

So yeah, once we got those figured out and we were feeling really good about those, we signed up for a few farmers markets around town. We did those like I think one was on a Tuesday and one was on a Saturday. So my dad and I would go do the Tuesday one and just kind of start promoting ourselves and get our name out there, and then my mom and sister and I would go up to the farmers market on Saturday and do the same thing up there, and people really just started to get to know us and get to know our product and it really kind of just blew up from there. Like we made so many wonderful connections at the farmers markets and all of the locals that started placing orders from us each week to come pick up because they needed them for parties. And we met a couple like wedding couples, engaged couples at the farmers markets and ended up doing cupcakes for their weddings, and so farmers markets were definitely kind of where everything took off for us and we loved them. We loved the interaction with the people and just getting to know our customers and getting the feedback. So, and then we also would just do my dad and I would go around town and just literally pass out boxes of cupcakes to local businesses and with my business card on them and just be like, hey, if you're having a meeting coming up, like let me know and we'll bake cupcakes for your meeting.

Speaker 1: 6:24

And that was really huge. So my parents I just I have to start off by saying my parents have been all in on this since the very beginning and their support throughout this entire journey like truly was worth its weight in gold. Like they are, they're the best people ever and I could not have done this without them. They're my huge, my huge, my biggest, my hugest that's not even a word my biggest supporters, always, and they just love all their children so much and I just cannot like think of a time where they haven't fully supported us in in our dreams and what we want to do. So, but I'll do a whole episode on how wonderful they are some some other time, but anyways. So my dad was always helping me like promote it. He's like our official marketing guy. He just loves talking to people about the cupcakes. So we just continue to bake out of my mom's kitchen and continue to grow and grow and we were doing local bridal shows and booking a lot of weddings through that and it really was just like it was awesome.

Speaker 1: 7:30

Even in our just our first two years, we were really out growing my mom's kitchen and needed a bigger space. And then in December of 2014, we went to the local Christmas parade in Golden, colorado and as we were leaving, we were walking to the parking garage and we saw this spot that said for lease and I was like, huh, that's like a pretty ideal spot, like that would be the dream. Right there it would. It wasn't right on the main street, like it was just like a half a block off, so it wouldn't be super crazy, but it was just close enough to where the rent would be cheaper. And so, like we went in, we inquired about it and I emailed the lady and I just was like, hey, I don't even know if this is feasible for us, but this spot is amazing. Like here is what we do. We're a family owned business, like I do. You think it would be possible.

Speaker 1: 8:27

And she wrote back pretty much instantly and was like, oh my gosh, I think you guys would be perfect, but let me just kind of ask you a whole bunch of questions about your estimated sales and your forecasting for your business and stuff. And I was just like, okay, like I didn't even know, I didn't have a clue what some of the stuff she was even asking me meant, let alone like what the numbers should look like. So it was it's pretty funny if I look back at the emails like I was just totally pulling stuff out of thin air to answer these emails for her and like hoping and praying that they sounded legit. And apparently they did, because she decided I think it was around let's see January or February that we found out that we were gonna be the ones getting the shop and we would get the keys, starting in March of 2015. So, yeah, in March of 2015, we got the keys handed over to us and we started construction on the shop and very quickly we jumped into a crowdfunding campaign because we were hoping I mean, we didn't know that we were gonna get the shop, but we didn't want to take out a loan without knowing for sure and so once we found out, like the whole process just moved really, really quickly.

Speaker 1: 9:50

So we decided to do a crowdfunding campaign with friends and family and the local community and stuff. And it just like it was crazy, like we would not have been there without our friends and family supporting us and the local community that wanted to see us open, because they we were able to raise enough money to buy literally everything that we needed for the shop to open it and to be able to open pretty much debt-free. And so that was just incredible and such a blessing like so, so huge for us. And so we did the crowdfunding campaign and got to work on building out all the kitchen and everything else and dealing with the permits and all that fun stuff. And then the doors finally opened in May of 2015.

Speaker 1: 10:41

So it's opening day, it's our grand opening, and we really just had no idea what to expect. I mean, we had had signs hung up on the windows for two months like saying goldmine cupcakes coming soon, and some days when we were working at the shop we would have cupcakes there with us. So if people like were curious and came by, we would give them a free cupcake, because we weren't open yet, but we wanted them to know, like what was coming. And so that we did kind of that little marketing tactic as we were still doing construction on the shop. But anyways, so opening day comes and we the whole family, my mom and dad, my sister and I, and then my brother was in town too, because he's like my unofficial but official business consultant. I just go to him with like all things business and all that good stuff.

Speaker 1: 11:35

But anyways, we all got to the shop around 7am and got to baking and like just getting things ready for grand opening and the doors open at. I think we opened at 10am that day, or maybe it was 11. I don't even know, but we started the day with about 12 dozen cupcakes total because we just had no clue. We had no clue what to expect. We had sent out invites to like everybody that did the crowdfunding campaign and stuff, but we really just didn't know how excited people were for our grand opening and so doors open at 10 or 11, whatever time it was and we had a line down the street Like it was over a block long and so before I'd say in the first 15 minutes maybe 30 minutes we completely sold out of cupcakes. My mom and I were in the back like completely rebaking everything and filling up the ovens with round two and we continued to do this. We kept baking and making more batters and baking and trying to cool them as quickly as possible to keep up with the demand, the entire day, literally until we closed and I think I think to this day it still ended up being our best day in sales for walk in sales ever, like it was just incredible and crazy and we were just like, holy cow, what did we just get ourselves into? And, oh my gosh, were we so exhausted at the end of that day. I mean, during the day we were pretty okay because we were running on adrenaline and it was just so exciting and like all of our friends came to see us and it was great. And then, once that day was over, I think my mom and I just kind of looked at each other like oh man, like is everything going to be like this? We really we just had no clue, but it was incredible. And so that was our opening day.

Speaker 1: 13:36

And then kind of fast forward through our first year. It was not that crazy I mean, it definitely continued to stay busy, but it was not like opening day but our like our catering orders picked up and we started booking a lot more weddings. I think we were doing like 160 to 170 weddings that summer. So, yeah, it was just, it was crazy. It was such a blessing and such a dream come true. And but also just like oh man, like here we go. And so I think for the first six to eight months, I believe that we were open. We were open seven days a week and it was a lot. And it was also a lot because we didn't hire our first staff member until almost probably six to eight months in as well. And so it was just us, it was my parents, it was me, my mom and my sister would come after her full time job and then my husband would come after his full time job and like it was just nuts, we were, I don't know. I don't know what I was thinking, honestly, like I have so many things that I look back on now and I'm just like what was I thinking? But those are the things now that I feel like make me so much smarter when it comes to running a business and things that I can tell other people definitely not to do so.

Speaker 1: 15:03

Once we finally did hire our staff though it was a it took a while to find some good staff members, but eventually we got there. But yeah, I mean, we definitely went through our fair share of like struggling to find people that really even just wanted to work which was sounds weird but unfortunately is kind of true and people that were friendly and kind of had the same values and business outlook that our family did, because, I mean, we're a cupcake shop we wanted people to be friendly and like get to know people and not just be sitting behind a desk on their phone like trying to hide from everyone as they come in. So it was a struggle to find people, to find people that wanted to bake, to find people that really just kind of fit in with our family because that's really what what they were doing. They were going to be working with our entire family at some point and so but we got there eventually. We found a really good team eventually. So a normal day for us at the cupcake shop once we kind of figured things out like a normal, slower day with not a whole lot of catering and no weddings or anything like that usually would be about 30 to 40 dozen cupcakes and so that just kind of became like our normal and then. But that also meant like I was getting to the shop around four every morning minimum to start baking.

Speaker 1: 16:38

So the first couple of years go by and it was it's honestly kind of a blur, but I know it was just I. The thing that I remember the most about the first couple of years is just how truly grateful I was to be working with my family every day. Like, not many people get to do that and not many people enjoy doing that, and I think our family is just very special in that we're all like pretty much best friends and we worked really well together and we loved working together and I will just always cherish that time working with my mom early in the mornings or going on deliveries with my dad and just the conversations and the time spent with them like that is truly the best part of gold mine cupcakes was being able to be with my family so much. And there was just so many amazing memories too of like getting to go to really cool events because we were donating the cupcakes to them, or being the ones to provide the cupcakes to Bill Kuer's 100th birthday, because Kuer's brewery was just two blocks down the road from us. So stuff like that was really incredible and amazing.

Speaker 1: 17:53

But otherwise, to be totally transparent, like the first couple of years are truly a blur and it was just a huge, huge learning curve for me. I was learning all at the same time, like how to be a business owner, how to be a manager, while also making the mistake of like working full time in the business and then trying to find time to work on the business, like outside of work, but then also just everything that comes with owning a brick and mortar and learning about inventory and supplies and ingredient costs and all that stuff, and then employees and everything that comes with employees. So all I really know about the first few years is that like I was constantly learning and I was constantly making mistakes, but I know that it was such a like pivotal time for me because it was creating me into the business and entrepreneurial person that I am today. So as the years went on, like everyone kind of knew us as the cupcake family and knew me or called me the cupcake lady, and like it was fun and cute at first and it was nice, like if we went anywhere around town it was like oh, you're the cupcake lady or you guys are the cupcake family, here's a free beer or here's half off your meal or whatever. But then after a while I kind of realized like nobody actually really knew my name and that like kind of stuck with me. Like it made me kind of sad. It was like people don't really know me. They don't really know me other than because of cupcakes, and so I could kind of feel that like hitting my heart in a certain way, but I didn't really know what that meant or why it bothered me. But then I kind of just let like the cupcake lady become my identity, kind of lost track a little bit of who I was outside of cupcakes and so I don't know, I think that was like probably the very, very beginning of me noticing like that I was losing myself a little bit because of the cupcake shop, where it was like fully my identity and I didn't know I was or I was losing myself and who I was outside of work.

Speaker 1: 20:14

Even though those first few years were a blur, they definitely were amazing and we got to do some really, really cool stuff, like doing cupcakes for brother's Osborne concert and we got to be front row. We got to do cupcakes for a high valley concert. We got to provide cupcakes at several concerts at the Grizzly Rose and get tickets to those concerts. So, if you couldn't tell, we love country music and so anytime there was an opportunity to be a donor or a sponsor or anything like that to a concert, we kind of jumped on it and ended up being able to go to the show. And then we were also hosted two different fundraisers over the years, and both of which Corey Kent was our headliner for. So that was really awesome to just kind of be there for the beginning of his career and then bring them back as his career was taking off as well too. We also hosted a bunch of dog adoption events at the shop, which are really awesome. We supported a lot of other animal organizations just by having the cupcake shop is kind of our platform to work off of. So we did some really, really amazing things that really kind of were in line with our values and things that our whole family is passionate about. So that was a really wonderful part.

Speaker 1: 21:41

And after the first couple of years, like, we were getting a really lot of great press. We had won best cupcakes in the state a few years in a row by this point, and we had just found out that we were named the top 15 cupcake bakeries in the entire country and that, I think, was definitely a red flag for me in where my mental state was at, because when I found that out, I can remember exactly where I was. I was standing in my kitchen at our old house and I remember this feeling of like, wow, that's really cool. But then it was like instantly, like is that gonna make us more busy? Like, is that gonna make me have to work more? And I, like instantly went to these thoughts of, oh my gosh, like I don't want us to get bigger, I don't want us to get more popular, and so I think that was definitely a red flag for me, that like, hmm, this should be really exciting that we're being recognized as a top bakery in the entire country. And I am instantly like, oh no, I don't want people to find that out. But now, looking back on it, like I mean, that's incredible and it's great.

Speaker 1: 22:58

But I just know at the time, like I just wasn't, I wasn't taking care of myself mentally, I wasn't taking care of myself physically and I was truly, truly just overworking at this point, and so I think it just made me anxious hearing it a little bit. And then when we I wasn't too long after that, I believe when we hit our first million dollars in sales, and again you would think like, oh, that's incredible. Like you sold a million dollars worth of literally just cupcakes, like that's all we sold with cupcakes, and like, yeah, I was excited about it. But again I was just like, oh my gosh, like I think we're gonna do that again and it's gonna be faster this time. And I don't know if I can handle that.

Speaker 1: 23:41

Like I just had this kind of inner turmoil and inner panic of like, oh, my whole family thinks that this is incredible and I'm over here just like, oh my gosh, like I don't know if I can keep doing this. And so this is when I kind of started dealing with a lot of inner guilt, because I could see how much joy and fun my family was having and like, yes, I was having fun still, like I was enjoying most days still, but it was every time that anything came up that had to do with growth and expansion it really like ate at me inside and I didn't know why. I wasn't sure why the thought of growing and expanding and becoming more popular really was scaring me, and so I started to feel super guilty about that, because I didn't wanna let my family down and I didn't wanna disappoint them, because everybody had put so much time and energy and tears and everything into this business and it had just become like literally a child for us and we were like working every single day, and my parents were both retired at this point and they were working full-time hours again, and so I just I carried a lot of guilt and a lot of just anxiety with me about how I was making my family feel and how they were enjoying it, and I didn't want them to know the truth, that I was actually like really, really exhausted and just wasn't sure what was going on inside of my head at this point. And then my sister came on with us full-time in 2019 and that was super exciting because I was able to pay her almost the same salary that she was making at her other job and I was just so excited to have her there and I was really just hoping that it would kinda like re-energize my soul a little bit, because she's my best friend and I was excited to just be working with her every day and it was. It was great, it was super fun, because then it was every morning it was my mom and I baking and at this point we had a really solid staff. That was great and they were with us for several years. And then to have my sister come in too and be decorating and just hanging out and I made her like the wedding coordinator and she was doing a lot of the marketing and then she helped out with the baking or with the decorating and working at the shop and all that. So I mean it was really a good time.

Speaker 1: 26:13

I felt really good about where things were at this point and I but I was still working way way too many hours and just wasn't giving myself the opportunity to work on the business and I was always in the business I was easily putting in like 80 plus hours a week, with the majority of those being like Thursday through Saturday, because those were our busiest days, and so it wasn't uncommon for me to go home and take like a three hour nap and then come back and start baking and bake through the night and then work on 18 hour day the next day, like that was. That became a normal weekend and that was not healthy. And I could tell it wasn't healthy because I was I mean, for obvious reasons was exhausted all the time and my body just felt tired and I was passing out at random times. But again, I was trying like I was just trying not to let anybody down, because I felt like I had so many people's livelihoods on the line, like I was paying my parents, I was paying my sister, I was paying the employees, paid my dad as well, and so they, since they were retired, they were basically just volunteering their time for minimum wage and I felt that guilt and I carried that guilt for sure, because they're supposed to be like living up their retirement and traveling and hanging out with grandkids and here they were putting in 40 plus hours a week for me and I could see that they were getting tired and I definitely could see it wearing on them. And that really started to eat away at me as we got a few years into the business is that I could see that they were getting tired. And not only was I tired, but they were tired, and I think that was definitely a pivotal point in my head where I was like, oh shoot, like I don't wanna overwork my parents and I don't wanna be the reason that they don't get to enjoy retirement. So everything was going really great for a while and I was really enjoying having my sister work full-time, and then I took my mom and my sister and I to a retreat in Nashville in 2019.

Speaker 1: 28:30

Right, yeah, right after my sister came on full-time and I think that was another big thing for me is because when I got there, or when we were there, a couple of the women were talking about burnouts that they had had in their businesses and I just was like, oh my gosh, like this is me, this is exactly what I'm feeling. These are the thoughts I'm having. This is what my body feels like, like it was this definite aha moment of like oh well, shoot, I am burned out, and that was kind of something that I had been thinking about for a couple of years at this point. But I didn't want to admit it. I didn't want anybody else to see it, I didn't want it to be out in the open at all, I wanted to hide it because I didn't wanna feel like I was letting anybody down and that was definitely like there was a million plus sides to working with my family. But there was also this immense pressure that I carried with me and I put it on myself. It's not anybody's fault, but I carried this pressure with me to take care of them and to not let them see me struggling or definitely not let them know that I was feeling burnt out. But then hearing these other women talk about it was like man, that is exactly what is happening. I am burnt out.

Speaker 1: 29:50

So this retreat was really, really eye-opening for me in ways that I don't even think my sister and my mom realized at the time. But again, I tried to push it aside. I tried to just go back and like, take the business stuff that I had learned at this amazing retreat and with all these new women that I had met and I tried to just forget that. I knew that I was burnt out and so I kept going, I just kept pushing through, but I eventually, in 2020, when COVID hit and I was forced to slow down and I woke up one morning it was a Saturday morning when everything was still kinda being decided if the cupcake shop was gonna be allowed to stay open or not because of COVID Cause, apparently, cupcakes were an essential item at the time. So we were allowed to stay open. But before we knew that, there was a Saturday morning that I got to wake up next to Calvin and we got to sit out on the back patio and have coffee and just watch the dogs play. And it was the first time almost since we yeah, I mean almost Ooh whew, pretty much since we had opened the shop that I had been able to do that with him.

Speaker 1: 31:02

So five years at this point, and our marriage up until this point had been really rocky, and I mean there was various reasons for that, but I know a big part of that is because I was never around, I was always working, and so to be able to sit with Calvin and hold his hand and drink a cup of coffee and just have a slow, intentional day with him, like kind of destroyed me in the best way, and it really really opened up my eyes to what I had been missing and that my priorities were wrong and that I just I was just like so, I was just tired, I knew I needed to make a change, I knew I needed to take a break or to pivot in some big way, and COVID was a blessing in disguise and really really opened my eyes to to what I had been missing and what I needed to do, and so I still continued to struggle with it Like I would call my brother. So at this time we had our, our mule, max. He was our rescue, he lived, he was boarded, just a couple blocks down the road from us, and so that was another thing too. That really ate me alive is like I would work these 16, 18 hour days and I would drive home and I would drive right past Max and I would be so exhausted that I wouldn't even want to go say hi to him, and that like truly broke my heart and just made me cry several times because all I wanted to do was go home and go to bed. When COVID hit, it was like I could go. I just went and sat with Max and he was such an amazing therapist for me and he it just felt so good to just sit with him and realize that, like being present with him is where I needed to be, and being present with Calvin is where I needed to be, and being able to go walk the dogs. And we talked about starting a family and we finally started talking about our dream of having a farm, and so COVID for us was definitely a blessing in disguise.

Speaker 1: 33:14

But I remember this day that I went and I was sitting with Max and I was still just really struggling with what that looked like for me, because at this point I think I knew that I needed to leave the shop, but I didn't know what that looked like for me. And so and what, sorry, when I say leave the shop, I mean like leave gold, mine cupcakes, leave the business in some way, and I didn't know what that looked like for me. And so I called my brother and my sister-in-law and I just like told them I was like I'm tired, I don't know what this means and I think it was my sister-in-law, tracy, that said, have you ever thought about selling the shop? And that was the first time that I was like, yeah, like I have. I have thought about it, but I didn't want to admit it because, again, I didn't want to disappoint my family and let them down. But after she said it, and my brother kind of talked about it too and they kind of we all just kind of started discussing like that, maybe this would be a good option. It really started turning wheels in my head and I didn't tell anybody else at the time.

Speaker 1: 34:22

It took probably a couple months before I really started to tell my parents how I was feeling and they could, they could see, and I finally opened up with them about how exhausted I was. And there was this moment with my mom and my dad, but my mom mostly because I could just see how tired she was and I said that I was tired and she just said me too. And I just remember this weight being lifted off of my shoulders because I not that I was happy that she was tired, but I was happy that she understood and I was so relieved that she was ready to to retire as well, that she needed a change as well. It was just like the permission that I needed, that it was okay with my family, that I was, I was ready for a change, and that my parents were too and I get emotional talking about it, because it truly was like a few of the hardest weeks I've ever had, because I was really struggling to convey to them how I was feeling because I didn't know how they were feeling.

Speaker 1: 35:34

But then mostly I was just so, so heartbroken to tell my sister who had only been working full time with us now for about a year, that I that I needed to be done because she's my best friend and I didn't want to disappoint her and I didn't want to let her down and it had absolutely nothing to do with her. I loved every second of working with her but I, for the sake of my own health and my marriage and everything, I needed to make a change. And so I just remember, like physically being sick, thinking about telling her how I was feeling and what I was thinking about doing with selling the shop. And then, when that day came, after I talked to my mom and dad about it and I drove up to her house and I gave her a letter because I knew that I wouldn't be able to to speak the words, I wouldn't be able to get them out. And so I wrote this letter and I sat in a chair while she read it and I just bawled my eyes out and I cried and I cried, and then she cried and she was upset and I yeah, it was really hard and it's making me sad now thinking about it, because I knew in that moment that I had broken her heart and I was so scared that she like wouldn't want to be my best friend anymore. Excuse me, but then we went to work the next day and there she was and it was better.

Speaker 1: 37:09

And each day got a little better and better after that, because I think, the more that we were able to like talk about it openly now that it was out there that she understood. She understood that I was tired and that I needed to make a change and that Calvin and I had we wanted to start trying to have a family and thinking we were getting ready to sell our house and look for a new home and everything like that. So as the days went on, it got so much easier and everybody got more comfortable talking about it, and that is when I decided to reach out to a local couple, the man he was our contractor with the shop and then the wife owned a couple other businesses there in town as well and they're wonderful people. And I just happened to remember in one like morning coffee meeting that we had with the golden women in business that her name is Jen and she said I would be so cool to have a bakery someday. And I just remember this, like light bulb going off, like I should ask her if she wants to buy the cupcake shop. It's like arms up in the air.

Speaker 1: 38:21

I wrote Dan and Jen this email and I was like, hey, here's the situation. Like I'm really burned out. I am thinking about selling the cupcake shop. Would you guys be interested? Because they're both from Colorado, they're both born and raised there and they are just wonderful people and they have multiple businesses there in golden, and so I knew that they would keep the shop there in golden. And they wrote back and they were like, yeah, actually we would really be interested. And it was just like, oh, okay, like my whole body posture just perked up, like are we really doing this? So long story short with that, like I. Well, there's another lesson in that, is that you really should know your numbers better and keep track of them better, because I had to do some digging to figure out some numbers for Jen as far as all of our numbers over the years.

Speaker 1: 39:17

But anyways, once we got all of our numbers together and they kinda saw like the success of the business and they made an offer. And part of their offer, too, was that they would really like Christa, my sister, to stay on as the GM and to just continue kinda running it the exact same as it was with our family, and to me that was like such a blessing because I felt like Christa could stay on and it's still I mean, it's still to this day is very much a huge piece of our family, but she is still running it now. And Jen and Dan bought the cupcake shop. And then it was just a couple weeks after they said they wanted to buy the cupcake shop that I found out I was pregnant and we sold our house in our Vata and then we got the offer accepted on the farm up here in Blackhawk. So it was just truly the hardest yet, the most beautiful month, basically in September of 2020, where Calvin and I both and my parents, like kind of all of us just kind of let go of control, and God really had a hand in how everything worked out. And it worked out beautifully, in my opinion, and it's still.

Speaker 1: 40:35

The cupcake shop is thriving, even more today than it was under my control, and for me, I had so many like realizations during this time, but for me specifically, it was like, well, in a bigger vision, we all have these dreams that we pray for and that we have in our heads, and those dreams can come true. And then it's okay if those dreams aren't ours anymore. It's okay that we grow and we change, and we want to change what our dream is and we want to pivot. And that is something that happened with me for 100%, and I at first like felt like a failure because I had gone through this burnout, but now I look back at it and it was like, well, really it was a burnout that turned into a breakthrough and it became such an incredible part of my story and I had learned so so much about it about mental health, about business, about pivoting, about dreams, just everything. I learned so much through the entire journey. It was just a beautiful example of like, yes, you can have a dream and then that dream can come true. And then at some point that dream might not be for you anymore.

Speaker 1: 42:02

And now the cupcake shop is thriving under my sister's control and under the ownership of Jen and Dan, and it's getting bigger than it ever would have had. I kept trying to push through because I was the one holding it back, and so it's really amazing to see it just like continue to grow, and I have no bitterness whatsoever towards it. I love baking again, which was something I wasn't sure. I was really resentful of baking for a while, and now I love it. And I actually do still go in and help out with large events sometimes, and I still help bake and decorate if they're in a bind with employees or with a big event or anything like that, and I love it.

Speaker 1: 42:45

And so it's been really incredible just to kinda to watch my evolution through the whole journey and then watch the growth of the shop, but then also like really watch my sister come in to her own confidence in knowing that she could do it without our family there as well, and she's done an amazing job with it. So it's been really, really great to see everything just unfold the way that it has, and it could not have been more perfect and I love, love looking back on that time now within the cupcake shop because it is just truly. It was a defining time for me and it was memories that I will never forget and it is some of the best years of my life and, yes, parts of it were really hard and I struggled emotionally and mentally, going through phases of burnout over a span of a few years, but ultimately, starting the cupcake shop was like one of the greatest things that I have ever done and I am so proud to look at it now and see everything that it accomplished and to just know that it was wonderful time spent with my family and in the community and I would not trade a single second of the hardest times and the greatest times for anything. So, again, I am so grateful for the entrepreneur that the cupcake shop made me to become and I'm so proud of what Gold Mine Cupcakes is still doing to this day and I can't wait to watch it continue to grow and to flourish through the next several years and as far as Jen and Dan wanna take it, and I just know and always will know that that was me that started it and that those sweet treats that people hold in their hand are because of me, and that makes me feel really proud and I'm just really, really grateful for every lesson learned in that experience and I would not be who I am today without those hard times and without that experience with Gold Mine Cupcakes.

Speaker 1: 44:57

I hope you enjoyed listening and I will be talking to you soon. Thank you so much for listening today. If you enjoyed the show, please like and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite listening platform. You can also leave a review anytime or send me a DM on Instagram at farm2heartSarah. I would love to hear from you and hear more about your story. You can also help the podcast even more by financially supporting the tech and time costs of each episode, starting at just $3 per month. Click the Support the Show link in show notes to learn more. Today's show, plus more farm fun, can be found on the blog at sweetfreedomfarmcocom. I can't wait to talk to you again next week. Have a beautiful day everyone.