Are you comfortable talking about your pricing to potential clients? Or, does it make you squirm and stumble over your words? 

Need help pricing? Check out Pricing for Personal Chefs $94 course here >>

Are you confident when speaking about your service fees? Do you have a service fee structure in place or do you find yourself stressing over calculating a custom quote for every event?

Have you not started or progressed in your business because of difficulty figuring out how to charge?

It's finally time to get comfortable talking about your pricing. Sharing your offering with confidence will land you that new client so much faster and propel you to the success you want and deserve.

Did you know that focusing your promotional messages on money factors will NOT bring in new clients or worse, will bring in clients that question your pricing. Take a look at these social media posts:

• "Order before Dec 20th to receive a 20%...

"It’s really expensive to start a personal chef business."   FALSE.

You're currently dreaming of being a successful personal chef and want your own business with more financial freedom and more time freedom. You want to be your own boss and once you start your own business, you’ll never look back at being an employee again.

I'm going to share the five most common myths I hear about personal chefs.

Myth #1 – Starting a personal chef business takes too much time.

I’m going to be real with you. Starting a business does take time, but too much time…disagree.

The reality is that if you want your own business, you’re going to have to set aside some devoted time and effort, but as all good things take time and so does building  a successful personal chef business.

Yes, it takes time at the beginning, but once you put in the time and effort, you can then create recurring revenue. Once the foundation of your...

Look Chef, however advanced your cooking skills, business knowledge or lack of knowledge you think you have...whatever your market size or how long or short you've been is business is completely irrelevant...

It’s not a matter of how ready or not you think you are right now.

It’s simply a matter of how committed you’re willing to be.

The entire concept of commitment is an entirely internal process.

Commitment is free of external variables and circumstances.

No external circumstances constrict or limit your decision one moment to the next to be committed to something.

Committed means “I’m in” no matter what.

It’s happening.

Whatever it takes, I’m going to do it until it happens.

It's telling yourself, “I'm willing to be 100% committed right now."

Are you willing to re-commit right now to your business?” It's a yes or it's a no. There’s no right or wrong...

I'm often asked how to go about scheduling a typical week as a brand new personal chef. How do you go about starting a new career as a personal chef if you already have a full-time job?

Watch the video

As a full-time Personal Chef, this is my schedule

I personally schedule my week with cook sessions Monday through Friday at 9am and 1:30pm. I go to client homes for about 2.5 to 3 hours per cook session and fit in grocery shopping at lunch time. Thursdays, I'll do desk work such as answering emails, bookkeeping, etc. Wednesday evenings, I actually work later in the evening to be able to send out menus for the following week. Throughout the week, I’ll also fit in fifteen minutes here or there to write up grocery lists.

Currently, I'm working Monday through Friday cook sessions with the occasional dinner party. I don’t do many dinner parties anymore because I’m already working Monday through Friday. When I first started, however, and...

When was the last time you contemplated your successes? When was the last time you really stepped outside yourself for a chance to smile at all your accomplishments.

Well, today is the day!

Achievements in life are successes you've attained and are proud of accomplishing. What you consider an achievement is very personal. Your friend who underwent a similar achievement may not feel the success that you feel...and that's okay!

These life successes often involve overcoming a life obstacle or challenge, emotionally or physically. It's these life achievements that help us realize our values and goals.

Take the time today to write down three life achievements you're proud of having accomplished.

• Was the challenge something you created for your life or did the challenge come to you without warning? 
• How long ago was your latest achievement?
• Do you think it's time to offer yourself a challenge again? If so...what is it going to be and how are...

I am often asked the question of whether or not joining a national association of personal chefs has any benefit to those in the profession.

First, consider what you are hoping to gain from joining the group and if there is a monetary cost involved. If there is no cost, yes, why not join! If there is a cost, what are you receiving in exchange and does this promise appear to benefit your up and coming business?

The promise of sending you referrals or listing you in their national database is not enough of a promise to pay for a membership. 

Consider the consumer online looking for a personal chef. They're not likely going to visit a national website of personal chefs because they don't likely know that one exists. The most likely action is going to be Googling "personal chef near me" or similar search.

The promise of placing the name or logo of the association on your resume is not enough of a promise to pay for a membership. 

People hiring...

Have you ever thought about the differences between a low price leader like Wal-Mart versus a high end store like Saks Fifth Avenue? 

Is it just that one costs more than the other? Is it that one has better quality items than the other? Yes, both are correct, but there's so much more than that.

When presenting your services to potential clients, are you offering yourself as a high end personal chef or a low price leader? Duh, of course you want to be the high end professional that is paid top dollar for your services! 

To request top dollar, it takes more than a mindset of confidence.

Professionalism is also a visual presentation of your brand. When first meeting someone, it's a natural human tendency to judge them right away. You're judging them based on their clothing, posture, eye contact, speaking style, body language, facial expression, and so much more. And you're doing all this in a split second. That's exactly was a first...

Do you ever wonder if you're ready (confident) enough to start your personal chef business?

Here are six signs that say YOU'RE READY to turn your love for cooking into a professional business.

#1 Your friends and family always say you should open a restaurant.

You probably hear this every time you cook something and serve it to your friends and family, "your cooking is so good, you should open a restaurant!" 

But in reality, opening a restaurant is not what you think (cooking), it's more about human resources, paperwork, marketing innovations, and working 10-12 hour days including Every Single Weekend. As well, it takes thousands of $$ to open up that restaurant in a location that would bring in the traffic it needs. 

As a personal chef, you choose what hours and days of the week you'd like to work, then design a business around that. 

#2 You look forward to making dinner every night.

The thought of preparing dinner excites you! You...

I'm curious, have you started your personal chef business yet? Or...are you leaning on an excuse for why you have not yet begun?

There are two reasons I commonly hear about why someone has not yet started (or progressed beyond one to two clients) in their business.

THIS IS NOT your reason: You already know your reason is NOT "because I don't have the start-up costs" because working in client homes, the start-up costs are so low that is NOT an excuse to not begin or progress in your business. The absolute requirements are business license and liability insurance. If you're leaning on the fact that you think it costs too much to start, you're fooling yourself. Learn more about the start-up costs of the personal chef business in this blog post >>

*** 

Common Reason for Not Starting #1

“I don’t know where to begin."

You might be feeling stuck because you don’t know the next step to take.

The truth...

I'm curious...how will you go about getting your first personal chef client? 

I went about it the old fashioned way. I started telling absolutely everyone I knew that I was a personal chef until eventually, someone replied, "oh, my mom needs someone like you" and next thing I knew, I was cooking for a family of four. 

It still works, ya know! Start telling everyone you know that you're a personal chef. I mean, you're probably doing it for your family right now, right?!

With the right amount of confidence behind your elevator pitch, you can do this. Everyone has to start somewhere and everyone has a first day of business. What do you think about starting to share it tomorrow?

Learn more about all aspects of the Personal Chef Business in the comprehensive course Personal Chef Business in 10 Weeks >>

Best Wishes & Much Success to You, Virginia Stockwell