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Dreams and vision, but no television

Amanda Wright, owner of Amanda Cupcake, advanced, but came up short of her goal of winning commercial time during the Super Bowl.

The contest, sponsored by Intuit QuickBooks, will give the winning small business commercial time during the Super Bowl in February. The first round of the contest required Wright to submit the story of her business.

“They wanted a really good story. They wanted something that kind of had meaning behind it, like a tear jerker story behind it. Honestly I have that story,” Wright said.

Amanda Cupcake made it to the second round of the contest.

“I was excited and I was hopeful because I have a lot of dreams and visions of what’s next,” she said.

Making it to the second round required Wright to submit a short video about her business.

Unfortunately, Amanda Cupcake wasn’t one of the 20 small businesses chosen to move on to round three.

“I was bummed because I thought for sure I was going to make it,” Wright said. “… It was exciting anyway and it gave me a chance to make a video to introduce what my company is about. I’ll keep the video and use it on my YouTube channel.”

Wright was so sure she was going to make it to the third round that she had to find out as soon as it was announced.

“They said the date they were going to announce it and I was so excited that I actually stayed up until midnight just to see [if I advanced]. At midnight I looked and I wasn’t one of the finalists,” Wright said. “It was a fun experience. Honestly, things like that are what give me hope for a lot more that I think is going to come in the future.”

Wright was thinking about the future before she entered the contest, but entering the contest made her focus on the future.

“I was like, ‘Ok, maybe this is a sign to keep going, to have hope for those other things that I dream of now,’” Wright said.

Since entering the contest, Wright said she has researched shipping cupcakes.

“This forced me to look into shipping my cupcakes, so now I’ve figured out a way to do it,” she said. “I haven’t started officially doing it yet, but I’ve figured out a way to do it now because I knew if I got picked then I’d have to ship them.”

Amanda Cupcake didn’t win the contest, but the business is branching out. In late October, it started selling its product at Woodman’s in Appleton and Green Bay. It’s been a success so far.

“Grocery stores are different than a typical specialty customer. You have to keep the shelves stocked and you have to establish a good relationship with them,” Wright said. “It’s been a challenge keeping everything stocked because they sold out in the first week.”

Amanda Cupcake’s following on Facebook and in the Appleton area has helped with this success, Wright said.

“It’s probably the best career move that I’ve made yet,” Wright said.

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