More than one classic country song tells the tale of a dreamer cashing in her savings, hitching a bus to Nashville and hitting it big on Music Row. Gigi Butler’s song might have started that way when she left college to chase Nashville music dreams, but the chords ended being less harmonic when she found herself cleaning houses to make ends meet. Eventually Gigi came to the realization that tidying up after Taylor Swift was paying off a lot better than becoming Taylor Swift, and began to focus entirely on her cleaning business.
And then Gigi’s brother called. While cleaning a bathroom, Gigi listened to her brother’s story of waiting in a very long line for very average cupcakes. Bolstered by her brother’s opinion that her cupcakes were better, Gigi changed course once again and opened her first bakery in 2008, with even less money than when she moved to Nashville. It was a big risk, but armed with her own advice that, “what we do with fear defines us,” she knew it was one she had to take.
Now, nearly 100 locations later (with plans to hit 250 in the next five years), it’s pretty obvious that Gigi’s brother was right about her cupcakes. And while her country music dreams didn’t pan out, Gigi’s bakery success is its own sweet song.