Mom of 3 turns idea into multi-million dollar cupcake business

Being your own boss is a dream many people have, but one mom is hoping to make extra money for her family by doing so, with a hobby-turned into a multi-million dollar business.

Whatever flavor cupcake they’re serving, customers still wait in line to be served at Misha’s Cupcakes.

“It started in 2005 after I had my first daughter,” said Misha Kuryla, the owner.

Kuryla heard an NPR report about a cupcake shop in Los Angeles that inspired the idea for her own business.

“They were selling 1,000 cupcakes a day and they had lines out the door and I thought that sounds like something I could do,” she said.

Baking was in her DNA, as her mother baked all her life. So Kuryla threw on an apron and got to work.

“When I first started baking them I just gave them to my friends, and then I started walking up my street and I gave them to my neighbors,” Kuryla said.

Her big break came when she decided to donate 300 cupcakes to a breast cancer event.

“I’d done like 10 cupcakes, 20 cupcakes, and then my whole kitchen was covered with cupcakes!” Kuryla said.

Right after the event, a woman who owned a local bakery gave her a call.

“She’s like oh you know, I want to see if you can wholesale. I’m like I don’t even know what wholesaling is,” Kuryla said.

But that opportunity got her more customers. In her first year, she sold $50,000 in cupcakes and has become a role model to her employees.

“It’s all about confidence and believing in yourself that you can do it, and if you believe in yourself then you can do anything,” said Vanessa Aleman, an employee at the shop.

Kuryla is now the owner of eight stores with more than $4 million in annual sales. But her three kids are still her official taste testers.