In today’s episode of the Inspiration2Grow podcast, you’re in for a real treat. Pun intended and you’ll discover why shortly.
I love following and diving into the success stories of remarkable women, who have achieved paramount success in business, life and the field of sports because there are many lessons to be learned from these women. And, something they all have in common and share openly in interviews they give is – mindset. They wouldn’t be where they are today without a solid mindset that helped them through many tough situations, challenging decisions they had to make, setbacks they experienced, the nay-sayers, their failures along the road, their own self-doubt and self-sabotage. They all attribute their success to a rock solid mindset that was developed over time.
In previous episodes, I featured the mindset of billionaire and founder of Spanx, Sara Blakley. This was episode #12 by the way. She was brought up to have a different view of failure, which helped her immensely in her early years of creating the brand of flattering undergarments for women that we all know and adore, Spanx.
The other sports icon I have talked about was Serena Williams in episode #8. This tennis legend had to adopt a “think bigger” attitude to overcome a hurdle in her career. She was and still is a great example of how to stand tall and show up for yourself as the winner you want to be.
Be sure to check out these two episodes for lots of tangible mindset hacks that you too can implement for more personal growth.
BUT, today we are talking about the female founder of a business everyone thought was completely insane. This amazing woman is Candace Nelson – whose journey into entrepreneurship is an interesting one to say the least. It took an enormous amount of courage and conviction to follow her dream of opening the world’s first ever cupcake bakery in SoCal during the height of the low carb craze.
Just imagine the journey of going from an investment banker in California to attending pastry school. It was a complete 180-degree pivot in careers, but this passion and purpose-led woman wanted to fuel her soul by making something tangible people would enjoy. She soon discovered that cupcakes needed a makeover and she decided that she was the one who was going to do it.
After many months of developing her recipes, creating her brand, and amassing a social media following, she opened the first ever only cupcake bakery in California. The success came quickly once word got out about how upscale, aspirational, and unique her cupcakes were. Candace knew she was on to something big when Tyra Banks ordered her signature cupcakes for her birthday bash and when she was invited to appear on the Oprah Winfrey show.
The rest is history for this Netflix star (Sugar Rush and Food Network’s judge on Cupcake Wars are two of the shows she starred in), serial entrepreneur and serial author, who has two books under her belt – the first one entitled “The Sprinkles Baking Book” including 100 cupcake recipes, and the other one entitled “Sweet Success”- a simple recipe to turn your passion into profit. With this book, Candace wants to inspire people to become entrepreneurs while demystifying entrepreneurship and offering a proven roadmap for budding entrepreneurs.
Her and her husband, who both put their hearts and souls into their bakery business “Sprinkles”, went on to scale to 11 locations across the United States. It was a tough go at first with countless gruelling, exhausting days, sleeping on the bakery floors at night, but she always makes a point of saying that her business was founded with a strong sense of purpose and joy.
If you’ve ever heard Candace Nelson speak about her personal growth, you already know that she is a very charismatic person. She is open and honest about her journey and offers some refreshingly new takes on the mindset you need to have in order to grow as a person – both in life and business.
In fact, she claims her secret ingredient to the success she has experienced thus far is MINDSET.
So, let’s sprinkle in some of her secret ingredient mindset tips into today’s episode…
1.) Your mindset muscle can and should be exercised daily. We are constantly feeding ourselves thoughts which in turn become our reality. Negative thoughts weigh you down and throughout the course of the day, most people have too many negative thoughts. So, we have to work on flexing and developing our mindset muscles to shift from negative to positive. You hear me say all the time – flip the script. Go from… I can’t -> I will give it my best shot.
2.) Start thinking in terms of “What if….?” Release yourself from the role you think you should be filling and instead, view the world from a perspective of “What might be…?” and “What if…?” Believe in yourself and your potential more and try new things. Take chances and make use of opportunities that come your way.
3.) Craft your identity by pursuing many things. Be open and willing to pivot and reinvent yourself at any point in life. Don’t remain stuck in one place and wondering what could have been or regretting not taking the chance.
4.) Have a vision of where you’re going, BUT be nimble with the plan. It is imperative to keep your focus and not to take your eye off the ball. Eliminate distractions and don’t fall victim to ‘shiny object syndrome’.
5.) Bet on your dreams. This one is pretty self explanatory. Bet on yourself and go after your dreams, because no one else is going to do it for you. You can’t outsource it, you can’t delegate it, you can’t hire anyone to do this for you.
6.) Think of yourself as a multi-faceted person (because you are) and remind yourself constantly, that – I am going to show up in the world the way I want to. Explore all the avenues you would like to go down.
7.) Inject joy, fun, surprise and meaning into the everyday. Look inward and ask yourself what truly lights you up. Be fuelled by passion and enjoyment – every day of your life.
8.) Have a cheerleader by your side. Candace had her husband, who told her that he believed wholeheartedly in her dream of opening a cupcake bakery even though people close to her as well as potential investors told her “This will never work.” Find that special person who will say support your dreams with these simple words, “I believe in you.”
9.) Don’t care what anyone else thinks about you or your decisions. Listen to your gut and release yourself from the opinions of others.
10.) Learn to get back up when there are setbacks. Dust yourself off and continue moving forward. This is an important part of the mindset piece – becoming resilient and confronting fear of failure.
11.) Don’t fall victim to imposter syndrome. If you feel like a fraud or that you don’t belong ‘in the room’, this is what people refer to as ‘imposter syndrome’ and it holds many women back from going after what they truly want in life and business. I believe we all suffer from it, and it doesn’t really go away, but we need to know how to deal with it when it arises. Two things to keep in mind when you feel like an imposter:
-> Remember you are not alone in feeling this way.
-> Feel the fear and do it anyway.
These are two essential building blocks to confidence. When you are scared of something but go after it and achieve it, you build up your confidence situation by situation.
A quote be Candace Nelson, “Mindset is key and really is the jumping-off point to any sort of big goal.” And, I couldn’t agree more.
I will end today’s show as I always do…
In case you haven’t heard it yet today, let me be the first one to tell you…
You are an amazing human being with so much potential. I believe in you wholeheartedly. Now, go out and show the world what you are made of.
I hope to have inspired you to grow.
Til next time,
Xoxo Lisa
