“Does anyone here think I really sell cupcakes?” asked 28-year-old Johnny Earle, a multi-million dollar business owner, at a lecture to about 150 students in the College of General Studies on Monday night.
Earle, known also by his brand name Johnny Cupcakes, talked about how his decision to drop out of college and do what he loves ultimately resulted in a successful clothing business, a large fan base and three stores, including one on Newbury Street.
The Johnny Cupcakes brand, which originated in Massachusetts, is known for its unique shirts with interesting cupcake designs, he said.
As a child with a business mindset, Earle was always coming up with ways to make money, he said. He bought drinks in bulk and sold them on the beach, made a yearbook in eighth grade that earned him $1,500, and even sold practical joke products that got him suspended from school.
“I went back to school, [I] had to come up with something else to sell,” Earle said. “It wasn’t drugs. It was candy.” His candy sales ended up earning him $1,000 every week.
Earle began college at The Art Institute of Boston, but he said his learning disability and business ideas caused him to stop his college education. He began making shirts for his friends’ bands after he interned at a T-shirt printing company.
“You can go to school for 10 years and rack up all these great degrees which is very helpful and very useful. However, most jobs out there require lots of experience,” Earle said. “I’d want to hire somebody who has more experience.”
Earle also explained that while his friends went out partying, he stayed behind, saving time and money. He said he has never tried alcohol.
One day while working at Newbury Comics, Earle came in with a T-shirt he had made that said “Johnny Cupcakes,” one of his many nicknames that friends gave him, he said. Customers and fellow employees began asking him about it and thus he began selling shirts out of the back of his car at work.
Earle urged the audience to think outside of the box and pay attention to the details that make businesses unique.
Earle said he adapts quirky, unconventional practices for Johnny Cupcakes. His stores look like bakeries, equipped with ovens, refrigerator displays and employees wearing aprons. When customers order online, he said he sometimes sends random gifts in their boxes.
Before opening his London store, Earle said he sent handwritten letters to people in the area.
Earle said that he did not use traditional advertising or sell out to the company giants who were all interested in his clothing.
“If I chose to do business with all these giant stores that have locations around the world, I could’ve started to make hundreds of thousands of dollars each year,” Earle said. “But I thought about it and as much as I want the whole world to see this brand that I started, it’s much more important for me to have brand longevity.”
Fans and aspiring businessmen said they enjoyed Earle’s speech.
“I’m generally interested in Johnny Cupcakes, I usually buy all his T-shirts,” said Metropolitan College sophomore Shane Guidaboni, who had met Earle before the lecture.
“I haven’t really been into Johnny Cupcakes,” said School of Management sophomore Trixy Tran. “It never really caught my attention so I thought this was a good way to find out.” As a business student interested in fashion, Tran wanted to see how Earle managed his business without a college degree.
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