Do you like sweets? When I was a kid I used to tell my mom I couldn’t finish my dinner because there was a special part of my stomach that was just for dessert. My rule now that I’m an adult is to keep sweets out of the house so I’m forced to walk and get them. That worked much better before Sprinkles and More Cupcakes joined the already popular Ghirardelli and Whisper gelato shops within 6 blocks of my place. This is becoming a walking nightmare or dream depending on the day!
If you live in, or have walked through, Georgetown near 33rd & M you know that it’s become the land of Georgetown Cupcakes. This sweet little spot on the Northwest corner has given rise to round-the-block cupcake consumer lines making even Oprah wait more than 20 minutes. How did this pretty little cupcake bakery build such a hot brand?
It’s a revolution
Sisters, and stars of the new TLC show DC Cupcakes, Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne didn’t start off as cupcake crusaders. These gals were professional women who traded careers in fashion and finance to pursue their passion of baking their beautiful (and delicious) cupcakes. Their passion ignited more than a few ovens in Georgetown. The cupcake revolution has gone crazy coast to coast with Beverly Hills-founded Sprinkles stores popping up in LA, AZ, Chicago and NY; these little ditties have now replaced wedding cakes.
Why the buzz about cupcakes? Georgetown and Sprinkles are both women-owned bakeries started because of family recipes and these ladies have developed their personal brands into national success stories. Do these cupcakes fill more than a sweet spot for us? Does stopping in a Sprinkles store make us feel like we, too, can accomplish our life dreams?
Does your personal brand fulfill those needs for you? What’s your career sweet spot? Does the job you’re spending hours networking for and hoping to land fulfill your selfish needs?
Cupcakes and chutzpah
It took guts to walk away from careers in the growing industries of fashion and finance and step into a kitchen full of flour together. Opening a bakery, working side by side each day and running a busy business takes commitment and chutzpah! Katherine and Sophie whipped up family recipes hoping their grandmother’s baking had truly made them bakers with recipes for success.
These sisters followed their dreams without knowing it would end up creating a cupcake movement and landing them a TV show on TLC.
Job search sweet spot
When passion, purpose and skill intersect you find the ultimate career sweet spot that makes it easy to commit yourself to success. The hours it takes to job search for the right job or to build your business are for a bigger reason. Your personal branding statement flows easier because it has greater meaning.
Have you found your ultimate career sweet spot? What is your purpose? Which skills of yours align with your purpose? What are you passionate about? How does your passion fit with your job search?
Author:
Adriana Llames is a veteran career coach and acclaimed author of Career Sudoku: 9 Ways to Win the Job Search Game, released with top book seller Amazon.com. She is creator of “HR In-A-Box,” a Human Resources software product helping small businesses across America and a professional keynote speaker motivating and inspiring audiences with her focused programs on “9 Ways to Win the Job Search Game”, “Confessions of a Career Coach” and “Nice Girls End Up on Welfare.” For more information, visit www.adrianallames.com
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That sweet spot is hard to find – I found certain subjects easy at school got the degree and the job but ended up changing careers to something I enjoyed more.
Do what you enjoy not just what you’re good at?
I agree. The sweet spot is hard to find yet worth the journey of looking for it and continuing to go after it. If you look for what you enjoy doing there’s a good chance you’ll be good at it. If that’s not the case, seek out a mentor in the area you enjoy and ask what they did to advance their skills. People are willing to help others when asked (for the most part).
As you found out, the past of least resistance rarely fulfills us in life. Congrats to you for having the chutzpah to make a change!
[...] Llames in her post, “Sweet Spot: the Intersection of Passion, Purpose, and Skills” further defines the career sweet spot and how to get there: When passion, purpose and skill [...]