This is the inspiring story of Mignon Francois and how she turned her last $5 into a $10 million baking empire.
Mignon Francois did not have any of the things that one needed to turn her last $5 into a $10 Million empire. A child outside wedlock, a philandering and abusive husband, and a life of lack all conspired to send her self-esteem to the dogs. Her self-esteem was non-existent, she says.
In describing the violence in her marital home, she says her home had become so loud in the neighborhood. Her husband had several times tried to take her life. But she decided she wanted to live and change her story. Because she had a child outside wedlock, she thought nobody would one day marry her and felt this man did her a favor by marrying her.
Stay at Home Mom
A stay-at-home mom, she spent most of her time at home and waited to care for her children with what was left of her husband’s ways. All in a home with no electricity and water, which she was losing to debt. Amidst all these, she played the dutiful wife hoping to one day change her conditions, even though she didn’t know why.
Then one day, after twenty-one years of marriage, her husband asked for a divorce and her world came tumbling down. What was she going to do next? Where do broken hearts go? In her own words, “I was supposed to drown, but God said no.
Then Mignon remembered the man on the Radio. With nothing to her name, no experience, and no knowledge of the product, changed her mindset forever. It is in this improbable background that she rose from the ashes, from scratch with only $5 in her home, and built a $10 million cupcake empire.
A History of Lack
Mignon’s household had a history of lack. Born to a father who was a slave and worked on a sugarcane plantation, the school of hard knocks started early for her. And that’s why they moved from New Orleans to settle in Nashville, Tennessee where her husband had landed a better job offer. But as soon as they arrived in Nashville, the job was gone.
In Nashville, many times they had no electricity, no water, and wallowed in endless debt even as six children looked up to them for care, safety, and comfort.
It is here as a stay-at-home mom that she built her family and later turned her last $5 into a $10 million baking empire.
Battling an Abusive Marriage
As they raised their children, Mignon silently endured a philandering and abusive husband who killed all her sense of worth before her children and society. Recurring violence, unfaithfulness, and lack of respect for both her person and the institution of marriage made her open her eyes to the fact that one day this man was going to leave her.
At this moment of turmoil in her troubled marriage, she made the conscious decision to think of a way she could survive if that came to pass.
She remembered the man on the radio.
The Man on the Radio
David Lawrence Ramsey III is an American radio personality who hosts the nationally syndicated radio program, The Ramsey Show. What’s more, in his radio shows he shares practical answers to life’s tough money questions.
Mignon had heard Ramsey say several times that to get out of debt, you needed to host a garage sale or bake cupcakes. She couldn’t host a garage sale because she had nothing, having sold all her things to move to Nashville. And now, deep in debt and facing a divorce for which she didn’t know what to do, having depended all her life on her husband, she remembered the words of Ramsey.
Divorce and finding a purpose in Cupcakes.
As the divorce process progressed, Mignon started baking cakes in her kitchen and selling them to neighbors and construction workers who brought down houses to build ones in her neighborhood. She just wanted some money so she could afford her children’s field trips and pay for electricity and daily needs.
She knocked on doors and talked about her cake and gave them a taste, and people paid her on the streets. And with the help of her grandma giving instructions on cooking by phone, she perfected her art in incremental steps.
It was then, that moment when people paid her the very first time and asked for more, that she knew she had a product that could change her life.
Then one day, a lady across the street approached her that she wanted 600 cupcakes for her guests for a function. It was a surprise because Mignon didn’t have the infrastructure to produce that number of cakes and she had only $5 between her and poverty.
She went with her $5 to Kroger Supermarket and bought the little ingredients she could get with that amount of money and produced the first batch of cakes. She delivered them to her customer and at the end of the day she had flipped the $5 to $60.
Graciously, the lady agreed to pay her increasingly as she supplied. That gesture was a Godsend. She now had money to buy enough ingredients for a larger supply. At the end of the week, she had flipped the money to a whopping $600. It was unbelievable, it was the birth of a dream. She had just landed an opportunity to change her situation forever.
How she turned her last $5 into a $10 Million Baking Empire
It was this initial $5 that she flipped to $60, then to $600 that she says she continues flipping to this day and that is how she turned her last $5 into a $10 Million baking empire. With the first big order of her life giving her the boost she needed to stock ingredients, Mignon went on a roll, baking as if her life depended on it. And it did. Besides, the local community was her anchor and remained steadfast in purchasing her cakes.
Slowly, $5 gave birth to $60, then to $600, to thousands and to the millions of dollars she amassed to date.
The birth of the Cupcake Collection (TCC)
On November 9, 2008, Mignon felt she needed to go big. She ventured out with her Cupcake collection with a dorm-sized refrigerator and a kitchen aid mixer out of her former living room, to meet the requirements of the health inspector. She had stepped forward to make a difference with no knowledge of the product she was getting into, no experience, and no recipe. Additionally, this was known to be a saturated industry with a very high failure rate.
But her determination was bigger than the challenges ahead of her. Over time, TCC has sold over 5 million cupcakes and employed so many people, significantly changing their lives.
How Mignon got out the word about her cupcakes and turned her last $5 into a $10 Million Baking Empire.
The birth of a new company and a new product required going the extra mile to let people know of her cupcake revolution. Mignon used the following ways to get her product out to the masses;
- Word of mouth: she knocked on doors, visited construction sites, and talked to neighbors with a fierce urgency or she would perish.
- With money coming in, she could now afford some billboard advertising.
- She carried out continuous digital advertising.
- She used text messages to reach new and old customers and her networks.
- Email marketing.
- Cupcake truck; her first cupcake truck was beautifully branded to spread the word wherever it went distributing cakes.
- Mignon through her company TCC ships cakes to any part of America where they are needed, further expanding her reach and popularity.
Lessons in life from Mignon Francois and her famous quotes.
Mignon calls herself the CEO and Director of joy at The Cupcake Collection (TCC). Indeed, she is spreading joy in her company and to the next generation of people who feel called to step forward and make a difference.
Like all people who have been made from scratch, she is sharing her story with the world and leaving behind memorable words of wisdom.
These are a few of her memorable words;
- “Speak what you seek until you see what you said.” She and her son kept talking positively about how one day they would make it in life, even though they didn’t know how this would happen. Until it came to pass.
- “My father was born on a sugarcane plantation. God has allowed me to build wealth and make a living and legacy in the same industry that enslaved my ancestors. That makes me proud, to contribute to their memory.”
- “If you have seen somebody, do it, it is an indication that you can have it too.”
- “The older you are, the better the chances of success.”
- “I am a perpetual learner.”
- “Nothing is wasted. Everything you have ever done, every mistake you have ever made, was taking you on a journey to somewhere.”
- “I dropped out of medical school to study for a different degree. I have come to realize that you don’t only heal people in operating rooms. I heal people in the kitchen. With cakes.”
- “It doesn’t matter that you detour, God is just recalculating your route.”
- “I am who I am today because God used my mistakes to teach me.”
- “When God gives you something, he doesn’t add no troubles to it. When Gid does it, he lets you know, this is me.”
Mignon quotes on Business
- Do not follow the crowd.
- The art of listening has really helped me in my business.
- The voice in your head that says you can’t do it is a liar.
- Faith and money have the same characteristics and properties.
- When you own your now, you will have won.
- I learned my business skills from the school of hard knocks.
- I took my experience being a mother of my children and applied it to my business. Because a business is like a baby.
Conclusion on how She turned her last $5 into a $10 Million Baking Empire
Mignon Francois rose out of adversity to build a multimillion-dollar business she had no idea she could own. Furthermore, she built it with no loans, no debts, no experience, no recipe, and no knowledge of the product. Only her faith, her determination, and the $5 that was left in her house.
In addition, she believed that all you have is all you need to get you where you want to be.
Mignon has written a beautiful book on her experiences and her journey aptly titled, Made from Scratch: Finding Success without a Recipe.
She crisscrosses America and the globe sharing her story, her inspiration, her journey, and her faith to help build a new generation of believers who will take the button from her. In her own words,
“I promised God if he made me successful, I would tell anybody about what they could do if they believe.”
Also read our story How an expert in failure built a $100 million business.
