Meet Jesse Cushman

We recently connected with Jesse Cushman and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Jesse with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

I think my work ethic was modeled to me mostly by my mom. She was a single mom raising two kids – both of whom were good at throwing her for a loop. We were by no means poor, but we did struggle for things at times. If there was ever a situation where we needed money to do something or for an opportunity for one of the kids, my mom would just go work harder and longer, sometimes at second jobs or taking overtime. I have a similar mindset now that pushes me forward. That plus some willful optimism can get you pretty far.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I own an artisan candy franchise called Papabubble here in Houston. We make rock candies, gummies, caramels, marshmallows, chocolates – all in house by hand. We are always making new creations and we love sharing our passion for candy with our customers. We even have classes to teach people how to make candy as well.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Well the first I don’t think is a skill, and that’s naivete. I’ve always been the kind of person that just assumes I can do something if I try hard enough. Most of the time that will get you pretty far and you’ll learn what else you need along the way.

Second, I think that I can strike up conversations with just about anyone, and that definitely helps for welcoming people to our shop and explaining our process. When I was in college, I had an advisor strongly suggest that I try to strike up a conversation with at least 3 people I didn’t know per day. It was awkward at first, but I really stuck with it and it’s become much easier.

Third, I believe that being open and teachable is paramount to running a business. For all the singularly focused business-people we hear about and praise, I think that listening to your customers and incorporating common feedback into your plans is important. Earlier on, we didn’t have an offering for people that preferred softer candies. So out of that we developed marshmallow and caramel recipes, both of which are some of our best sellers.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

We love working with wedding planners, corporate event planners, caterers, etc to help make an event memorable. Having a fun takeaway at the end of the evening is a great send off, and candy definitely makes an impression.

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