Something just hit me the other week, come 2019 I will be celebrating 10, T-E-N years in business, HOLY SHITAKE MUSHROOMS people! Where the hell has the time gone?! To be honest, I always trip up on the number of years I have been in business. I tend to always think seven years, since that is how long it has been since I officially became a certified personal chef, however I am always reminded, ever so kindly by my associate Anne, that I officially started my business at the ripe young age of 21 selling pies for Thanksgiving. See the full story here: http://eatyourheartoutedibles.com/about/about-chef-angela/
Back then, it was all about treats and baked goods – “Angela’s Sweet Eats”. Looking back, I am glad that I was young and naïve, and that I just dove in and started a business when I was just a babe. Now I am established at 30 years old, and still have many “prime” working years ahead of me to sharpen my culinary skills as well as grow my business, all without having to really worry about the entire “start-up” end of things.
Side note, I am a firm believer that age is just a number and it is never too late (or too early!) in life to change career paths, goals, etc. I always say that in five years from now, if I am just over this entire cheffing gig, I will be the first one to chase my new set of goals and dreams…a few of which I am starting to embark upon now on the side, but I will let you all in on that secret a little later on! 😉
So, almost 10 years in business, but most of those years were a whoollllle bunch of trial and error, I was just figuring things out and working a lot. I am still learning and growing all the time, constantly being mentored, stretched and tested. But at this point I have figured a few things out, so I thought it would be fun to share with you my top 5 tips for when embarking upon your very own start-up/small business. These tips apply to all businesses not just personal chef, or those in the culinary world.
#1 Don’t think too hard- just do it!
(Tip of the chef’s cap to Nike here lol) This should be an easy step for most of you, don’t think, or maybe I should say don’t overthink lol. When I first started out, I seriously just dove right in and started with the skills, materials and contacts that I had readily available. Obviously if you are trying to turn your dream job into your full time career/source of income, it will take time, so don’t quit your day job haha. I waitressed almost full time up until about four years ago…no shame here keeping on the grind (and I LOVED waitressing!!). Anyway, it is really, really easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged, and to feel under-qualified when just starting out.
One thing that I constantly had to remind myself, when I would see other businesses, or even other chefs that I knew from PC school, excelling more than I was – NEVER compare your journey, your chapter one to someone else’s journey and chapter 10! When I made my first attempt to sell some of my baked goods, I literally just baked a few samples, printed price sheets/flyers on my home printer, and sent the pies and handouts with my friends/family to take with them to their places of work, for their coworkers to sample. I did not have a website, business card, commercial kitchen, chef coat or any real training, I just did it. I am glad that I did.
#2 Be prepared for when opportunity does present itself (finally lol)
This is a biggie! When I had completed PC school seven years ago and turned Annie’s Sweet Eats into Eat Your Heart Out Edibles, I had ZERO clients. I continued to have ZERO clients for at least a year, despite all my advertising efforts. What I did have was time to prepare myself to the best of my ability. I spoke with accomplished personal chefs and took notes of any tricks or tips that they were willing to share. I created a welcome packet for all of my many clients (insert sarcasm lol). I developed a dietary assessment for potential clients to complete, and I even had “mock” cookdates where I would volunteer to cook for my family and friends (a week’s worth of food). Oh, and the first few of those “cookdates” ended in tears – me, not my “clients” lol. I was just not able to get all the shopping, prepping, cooking, packaging and clean up done in an 8 hour day. I was a mess, to say the least. BUT let me tell you, it was SO helpful when I finally did receive my first call from a potential client, I was not scrambling to gather info to provide my future customer, and I “appeared” quite organized, and dare I say, even accomplished/established. So be prepared for when opportunity hits – because oh it will. 😉
#3 Get a Super Support System
Hands down, I would not have gotten this business up and off the ground if it were not for my family, and friends, and famillllly! Whoever your “people” are, make sure they have your back!! From bouncing ideas off them, to complaining to them, to crying to them, to hiring them…or I should say bribing them to work with you lol, a set of folks who are in on your dreams with you, is just as important as the clients/customers themselves!
#4 Don’t be afraid to ask for help
After almost two years of advertising and taking on a client or dinner party here or there, business slowly started to take off, and in a matter of a few months, things became non-stop and I have not had time to look back since! At first, I thought I could handle everything by myself, as I did with the first few clients I had over the course of two years. From the invoicing and bookkeeping, to menu planning, corresponding with new inquiries and current clients, grocery shopping, cooking, prepping etc., I kept trying to keep up with it all, as I had always done, but this time with more work than I had ever had. I was literally working non-stop around the clock, 7 days a week. Take some advice from me: do not let yourself get to this point, it is not pretty lol. Actually, life got pretty cranky; I was always tired and exasperated. Don’t get me wrong, I was SO thankful for all the business and I genuinely loved working, but one can work only so much. I tell you all this to say, DELEGATE. Keep doing what you love, and hand over the tasks that you don’t love so much or are a “time-suck”. For me, that is all things financial/bookkeeping-related, so I hired a bookkeeper, and I hired an amazing marketing associate, who is really the brains of the business, Anne! Anne keeps me organized, sane and keeps things moving!
#5 Document
I saved the most important tip for last, because this tip, THIS tip has been LIFE to me lol. Over the years I have learned the hard way. I always “kept” all notes/tips/tricks in my head…a verrry scary place ha ha. In the beginning, when business was slower, I was able to recall everything from memory; fast forward a few years and that is just not the case. For example, I would spend over an hour writing a quote for a catering job, perfectly formatted, with different menu attachments and photos. I’d send it off to the client and be done with it. Then six months later, I’d receive another inquiry for the same type of job, only to find myself spending another hour of my precious time putting together the same type of email, and scrambling trying to recall where I saved the pictures. Another example – I might make a recipe, such as my mini taco cups, and realize that 1.25 lbs. of ground beef would yield 30 mini taco cups, but I would not record that info. Then when my next request for taco cups comes around, I am trying to recall how much beef to purchase!! This is NOT very savvy, and it is quite maddening. I am wiser now and I document EVERYTHING, and you should too! I wish I could go back to my early days and record every tip and trick I learned along the way, because I know it would still be serving my purposes to this day, and saving me TIME!
I wish I had known these tips myself when starting out, and I hope that you all find them helpful and encouraging in turning your dreams in a reality.
What tips would you share about starting your business? Let us know in the comments!
