In November, 2022, popular entrepreneur and creator of the California-based cupcake company “Sprinkles” Candace Nelson released a book of her own tips and tricks on how to become a successful business owner. This cute attempt to help struggling individuals interested in starting their own business falls short from the start. A well-intended book on guidance comes off lacking any awareness of the situations of ordinary people. Divided up into a series of steps, “Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn Your Passion into Profit” divulges a recipe containing “industry secrets” of how to become successful from a simple idea. In reality, this recipe sounds like the makings of a pyramid scheme. This was the initial impression from the first few pages. The remainder of the book felt as if it needed a few more test runs in the kitchen to perfect the recipe of business.
Using testimony from celebrities advocating for her cupcakes and soaking up the fame that she received from her success, I still had to look up who she was since I’ve never heard of her or her product. Apparently those cupcakes are a big deal down in Los Angeles. Like, line out the door daily, big deal. It makes sense that this book would appeal to people who enjoy her cupcakes or support what she has created, but it is wasted on the remaining majority of the population.
Nelson makes it clear that she is a baker, not a writer, and that she is not qualified to tell people what they should do with their lives. Why then she feels it necessary to write a book to help people was the thought I had racing through my head. When in every chapter she glorifies her success and insists that everyone will have the same results if they follow her simple steps, it feels too good to be true.
For example, she talks of finding your brand. What she does is take a classic pink cupcake box, turn it inside out, and voila: her own cupcake boxes. As anti-climatic as it sounds, just wait until you read her lead-up to that ingenious idea.
What the book makes clear is that Nelson got lucky. She exited her tech job during the early 2000s tech bubble to pursue her passion of baking. She spent time perfecting her recipe and shows the long hours spent making her business what it is today. Props to her for doing what she loves and persevering through challenges to bless the Rodeo Drive with her iconic red velvet and cream cheese frosting cupcake with its signature “Sprinkles” dot. But that’s not something everyone wants to do or might find the same success following. It is a nice gesture and something that was meant with good intentions, but it fails to provide any valuable information that someone could benefit from and instead shares other case studies of successful businesses.
Perhaps there is something within “Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn Your Passion into Profit” that I am missing. Or perhaps this is a book that just doesn’t resonate with the college demographic. It would be more valuable to figure things out on your own or take a few business classes than spend nearly $20 on a book that tells you nothing new. If you want a feel good story rather than a business book, then “Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn Your Passion into Profit” can be found on Amazon.
