A New Approach to Your Personal Chef Business

I’ve been listening to cooks and chefs for years and have listed all the reasons they felt were stopping them from either starting or improving their personal chef businesses. Are any of these your reason?

Reason #1 "I'm not sure how to go about getting clients into my new business."  

TAKE ACTION: Did you know that getting leads is not the first step in taking your business off the ground? Identifying your ideal client is the first step, otherwise you won't know who to direct your marketing efforts toward.

Who is your ideal client? Learning marketing foundations is the key to a successful personal chef business. Luckily, marketing can be learned.

Reason #2 "It's too expensive to start a business." 

Start-up costs run about $500 for license and insurance for a full year. From there, you'll benefit from a website, about $250 a year. Other than that, you can run a slim business and skate by with no other expenses. 

Note that for exact business license or tax certification pricing, you could contact your local city/county Clerk's office as it varies in every locale.

As a personal chef doing meal prep, you'll make about $200 to $400 a cook session. Meal prep clients are often weekly or every other week. Dinner party income can vary greatly, but you could anticipate $500 to $1500 in one weekend depending on your offering and number of guests.

You don't have to quit your current job. You can start with one meal prep client a week or one dinner party a weekend to get started.

The small start-up costs overwhelmingly outweigh the income potential. What's REALLY stopping you. It's doubtful that it's the start-up costs. Is it your lack of confidence in your cooking, your ability to obtain clients, or pricing your services? Is that what's truly stopping you?

Reason #3 "I'm too busy to learn how to get a business going." 

Life is all about choices and priorities. If you're too busy to invest time in knowledge, then the next chapter in your life is not a priority right now. You're making a choice. You've chosen to not take a risk on yourself and instead stay in your comfort zone.

TAKE ACTION: The next question to ask yourself is, "if not now, then when?" 

• How long have you been saying "someday" and when will that day arrive?
• Why is it that taking this step is not a priority?
• How much time do you think it would require to start?
• What specific knowledge do you think you need to start?
• Do you have a way to acquire that knowledge?

Reason #4 "What if I fail? What if I start the business and it goes nowhere?" 

The first day at ANY job is scary. Starting your own business is even scarier. 

TAKE ACTION: Have you asked yourself "what if I'm successful?" It's truly just a mind shift. Changing your way of thinking changes everything. If you think you're successful, you will be successful. It doesn't matter what the people around you think about your new path. They're not the ones running your business. 

Reason #5 "What if my clients don't like my cooking? What if I'm disappointing to my clients?" 

There's probably not a professional chef in the world who hasn't had this thought. We have all caught ourselves doubting our skills. It's completely normal. It takes time to gain confidence and even when your confidence is built up, that sneaky voice always pops up once in a while.

TAKE ACTION: Create the mindset to let that negative voice go. It's not helping you or your business. You wouldn't be as far as you are in life right now if you weren't amazing at what you do.

Reason #6 "I'm not sure if these COVID times are the best for starting a personal chef business." 

The truth is that it's your choice and you should do what you feel most comfortable with.

TAKE ACTION: Are you sure you're not just using this as an excuse to delay getting started? If you do think right now is not your time, well then, that shouldn't stop you from gathering all the knowledge needed now. 

If you started now, just imagine where you'd be in just one year!!

Best Wishes & Much Success to You, Virginia Stockwell

All the tools you need to begin or progress your business are available here >>