Many Bostonians have bought the fresh baked spin on T-shirts at Johnny Cupcakes, but not many know how the store got its start.

The creator of Johnny Cupcakes’ ‘gourmet’ T-shirts, John Earle, spoke to a group of aspiring entrepreneurs at Northeastern University Wednesday about the dos and don’ts of starting your own business, and how he made a cupcake T-shirt into a multi-million dollar enterprise.

‘ ‘I love that rollercoaster feeling you get in your stomach when you take a risk,’ Earle said. ‘If you go out there and you don’t take risks you just become part of the rat race.’

Earle’s colorful demeanor and young age appealed to the students in the audience.

‘It was good to hear from someone you could relate to,’ Northeastern junior Martin Lehon said. ‘He’s just an average Joe.’

Earle said he started out by selling prank kits at his middle school in Hull, Mass., and then moved on to selling T-shirts out of the trunk of his beat-up Ford after dropping out of college.

Earle’s company exploded into an enterprise run by his family and friends with boutiques in his hometown, Boston’s Newbury Street and a store that he calls ‘Newbury on steroids’ in Los Angeles.

Amid the successes of the boutiques, however, Earle said Johnny Cupcake’s online store is still the backbone of the company, earning at least $3,500 a day in orders.

Though the original Johnny Cupcakes T-shirt was a joke between his co-workers at Newbury Comics, who gave him the name Johnny Cupcakes, Earle said the ‘cultish’ following he now enjoys is a result of the personal touch he continues to add to his products. All of the Johnny cupcakes are limited edition and are never reproduced once they go off the market.

‘There’s nothing worse than seeing someone wearing the same thing as you,’ Earle said. ‘People aren’t buying my shirts because they’re popular; they’re buying them because it’s personal. You can’t go into a Mark Jacobs or Paul Frank and find him hanging out behind the counter like I am.’

Earle said he did not start out with a business plan for his success and told students that his gut instincts are what got him to where he is today.

Northeastern entrepreneurial professor Gordon Adomdza said Earle’s presentation was interesting because his approach is similar to the way young entrepreneurs are now operating.

‘Johnny is very random when it comes to planning, but his style is very similar to a new descriptive model of entrepreneurial decision making called effectuation,’ he said. ‘You don’t go through casual process, but take advantage of opportunities that come your way.’

Earle did just that when Northeastern sophomore Anthony Spinoccia walked into his shop on Newbury last week. Earle enlisted Spinoccia to advertise his speaking event around campus and Spinoccia did, putting fliers around campus and making a Facebook group. As a result, the halls were filled yesterday, because of Earle’s quick insight on how to transform a small discussion into an opportunity for his company.

‘People might think I’m crazy,’ Earle said. ‘But I think it’s about fun. I’m building memories.’