I want you to imagine getting a brand new job. This is a job you worked for many years to finally get hired. Finally, you landed that position. Then, within two weeks after getting that job, you just know. You just know that this job is not for you. Has that happened to you?

That’s exactly what happened to me. I had worked so hard in school, eight years of college to be exact, to graduate with a Doctor of Chiropractic. That degree cost me six figures in student loans.

Around my last year of school, I began to realize that others around me were more excited about practicing than me.

I couldn't wait to finish clinic each afternoon so I could hang out with people who didn't talk about chiropractic. I wanted to escape, but I couldn't.

I imagined that going this far and graduating without a degree would be worse than graduating with the degree and having even more student loans. I continued my studies, graduated, and went to work at a private...

If you had a magic wand and could make your biggest challenge as a personal chef disappear, what would it be? 

Click one:

• I would be more confident.
• I would have my pricing figured out.
  
• I would have a full roster of clients.
  
• I would have a completed business plan.

Taking action sooner than later will always bring you closer to your ideal life. The best time to start is yesterday and the second best time to start is today!

Best Wishes & Much Success to You, Virginia Stockwell

You’re ready to begin your personal chef business. You have all the culinary skills needed, but something is stalling you.

It’s the 200 questions running around in your mind!

• How do I go about pricing my services?
• How do I know who in my community is ready, willing and able to hire me for my services?
• How do I choose a business name that screams success?
• How do I go about getting a business license?
• Where do I find clients?

Back in 2012 when I started my personal chef business, I Googled for hours, months on end trying to find these answers. There’s just nothing out there that gives definitive answers.

I had to learn it all myself through trial and error. I made so many mistakes and don’t want to see you making those same business errors. I strive to share everything I've learned over the years.

How much can I make as a personal chef?

Start-up costs run about $500. There are very few businesses with such a low start-up cost.

...

I'll often receive emails from aspiring personal chefs asking if I have recommendations of where they can get a loan to begin their personal chef business.

Truthfully, this perplexes me. I'm unsure of what they think the costs are going to be to run a service business like this.

For a break down of costs, check out the start-up costs of a personal chef business >>

You can truly start up your personal chef business for about $500. You don't have to quit your current job. In fact, you shouldn't quit your current job since it's paying the bills. 

The personal chef business is not one day you decide you're going to do this then the next day you have a full schedule of clients. It takes time to build relationships and gain new clients into your schedule. 

You'll start off with one client at a time while continuing to work your current job. If your current position just doesn't allow any days of the week off, you will...

When entering the personal chef space, you may have a perception of what life will be like.

Let's plot that against what personal chef life really is...

You imagine a life of meal prep and dinner parties.

Reality is that you'll spend just as much time going to and from the grocery store and your client's home than actual cooking. You'll also spend a lot of time at your desk planning before the actual execution of an event or meal prep. There's also bookkeeping and marketing tasks that are always needing your attention.

If you're not organized and have a good judgment of time, your business could get chaotic quickly.

You may factor in 15 to 30 minutes for cleanup at the END of your cook session.

Truth is that whatever time you've estimated for cleanup...double that and that's how long it takes. Oh yes and what about when you arrive in a client's kitchen and they left chaotically that morning so the remnants of dinner last night and breakfast this morning are all...

A taco walks into a bar and the bartender says, “we don’t serve tacos here.” And the taco says, “that’s okay, I’m just here for a margarita.”

That was the premise behind the book that I wrote, “A Taco Walks into a Bar.” This is the cookbook cover, a taco walking into a bar: 

Watch the full video on how to write and publish your own cookbook here >> 

Successful Personal Chefs Know That...

What will set you apart from other personal chefs is not what you think (your cooking skills) - it's your ability to market and get new clients. 

There's so much more to learn when you join the Personal Chef Business in 10 Weeks program. Your business will be propelled so much faster if you reach out for help.

You may have been trying to go at it alone, researching over and over "how do I get clients? How do I price my services?"

Working with someone who has been in the personal chef...

Fear and self-doubt are unquestionably the two most common roadblocks to success in life including what holds many back from starting their personal chef business.

When coming face to face with fear and self-doubt, you could choose to either:

• Be held hostage to your current life just because it's comfortable; OR
• Courageously face your fears, take risks, and live life to its fullest

Everyone experiences fear and self-doubt to a  different degree: 

• An inability to realistically assess your competence and skills, "What if I put out the word about my new business and nobody is interested?"
• Attributing your success to external factors, "I only got this far because my friend gave me my last job."
• Berating your performance, "They were just being polite when they said they liked my chicken dish."
• Fear that you won't live up to expectations, "What if I start my personal chef business and my clients don't like the food I make them?"
• ...

As a personal brand, you already know that the biggest factor causing clients to hire you for services is connection.

In other words, if people don't feel a connection with you, they're not likely going to invest in you and your services.

The reality is that online video is the most effective medium for creating that connection. It's why we feel so connected with celebrities and follow them on social media. 

90% of communication is non-verbal, so people are connecting with all of you, not just your voice, tone and pitch but your whole presence. Your energy.

If you're refusing to do video like many struggling personal chefs, you're basically trying to start a business while hiding from people. Without video, you won't have that real connection. 

The people you follow and look up to online to have truly shown who they are. They have connected with you on an intimate level through the power of video.

It's time to overcome your...

Do you find yourself constantly researching, gathering information on the personal chef business?

Is gathering information becoming a hobby instead of what you know you should be doing...implementing the information?

There is a turning point in starting absolutely any business when it's time to shift from information to implementation, but how do you know when it's time?

Implementation over Information

There are a myriad of different kinds of personalities when jumping into a new business venture. 

• The analyst will need to gather absolutely all the facts possible, spending hours and hours online. 
• The perfectionist will need to ensure every item on their checklist is complete, possibly too much time.
• The risk taker will dive right in and may not do any research at all, so may appear sloppy.
• The collaborator will need to have a buddy ready to take the business risk with them because they're uncomfortable...

How do I price my services? 

Many personal chefs don't launch their business because they are looking for a scientific formula to answer this question. The truth is that pricing personal service is more psychology than science. 

More details about pricing are available here, but this post is about the employee mindset (charging by the hour) in your personal chef business.  

WHY do you think charging by the hour is the way to go? 

It's likely you've been an employee of a business your entire life. You may not know any other way! You're currently being paid $20 an hour so your goal when opening your personal chef business may be $25 an hour.  

Truthfully, that's exactly what I had thought when starting my own personal chef business. Charging by the job didn't even occur me. This is because I had always been an employee and didn't know any better. 

I was stuck in employee mindset versus business...