How long have you been thinking about starting your personal chef business? I’ll wait. . . one month, six months, one year or even longer. If the answer makes you a little uncomfortable, you are not alone. There are so many talented, capable and highly skilled people with entrepreneurial dreams but as we all know, not everyone will make it. But why?
Most of the time it’s not a lack of skill or resources but the self doubt, a little voice telling you you’re not ready or you don’t have enough experience. Also known as the “ Mental Block.” I know this because I have lived it in the past and am living a version of it right now. I’ve had my personal chef business for over 17 years but as I prepare to launch my updated Personal Chef 101 website and shop I’m going through the same thing that you are.
Starting something new, like a business, can be so overwhelming. It’s easy to talk yourself out of doing it, especially when you are already having some doubts . This way of thinking can slow you down or even stop you but it does not have to.
Let’s start by talking about some of the mental blocks we fall into and solutions to overcome them.
The ” Not Yet” Trap
There is a version of this story that almost every entrepreneur tells themselves. It goes something like this:
- I’ll start when I have my business name figured out
- I’ll reach out to clients when my website is ready
- I’ll put myself out there once I have my LLC set up
- I’ll get serious about this after the holidays
- I just need a little more time to prepare
None of these things are unreasonable on their own. A business name matters, a website helps and an LLC is a smart move. But here is what I want you to notice, there is not not a single item is actually related to cooking. Not one. And yet cooking is the entire business.
The “not yet” trap is clever because it disguises itself as responsibility. It feels like you are being thorough, being careful and doing things right. What it is actually doing is keeping you safe from the risk of trying and finding out whether it works.
Preparation is necessary. Endless preparation is avoidance.
Waiting for Perfect
Perfection in this context is really just fear with better posture. We tell ourselves that we are simply waiting for the website, the social media or our chef style to be perfect and then we’ll be ready. As life often shows us nothing is perfect, so in many ways waiting for perfect means we never have start on that next big thing . The fear underneath perfection it is usually one of a few things:
Fear of judgment. What if I put myself out there and people don’t take me seriously? What if someone questions my credentials or my pricing or my food? Visibility feels risky when you care about what people think.
Fear of failure. What if I do everything right and it still doesn’t work? At least while I’m preparing, there’s still a chance. Once I start, there’s a real possibility of finding out it didn’t go the way I hoped.
Fear of success. This one surprises people but it’s real. What if it works and now I have to keep delivering? What if I get clients and can’t handle the pressure? Success brings its own demands.
Imposter syndrome. Who am I to charge people for this? There are more experienced chefs out there. Why would someone choose me? This voice is particularly loud for people who haven’t had a formal business before, even if their cooking is exceptional.
My Own Version of This
When I landed my very first personal chef client, I did not have a business name. I did not have a website. I did not have a business card to hand them, a logo, a contract, or an LLC on file anywhere. I had my culinary skills, my confidence in what I could do in a kitchen, and the willingness to show up and prove it.
That first client came from a posting on my culinary school’s alumni board. Someone was looking for a cook to prepare meals. I reached out, they gave me a trial run, and I got the job. By the time I had a paying client, I was just starting to put the rest of the business together.
If I had waited until everything was in perfect before I reached out , if I had told myself I needed the website first, the business cards first and the perfect name. I would have missed that opportunity entirely. And who knows how much longer I would have waited for the next one.
The lesson: The business does not become real when the paperwork is filed. It becomes real when someone pays you for the first time. Everything else can be built around that.
What Actually Moves You Forward
I am not going to tell you to ignore the little voices and your fears or push through it with sheer willpower. That advice rarely works and it is not honest. What I will tell you is what actually helped me and what I have seen help others:
Scale down your tasks and work step by step. You do not have to launch a full business today. You only have to do one thing at a time. Send one message to someone in your network, cook one trial meal or create a sample menu. The goal is to the goal is to be in forward motion. Learn how to do effective list breakdown to make your tasks as small a possible so you can build momentum and feel motivated.
Separate being productive and feeling productive. Ask yourself honestly: does this task move me closer to a paying client, or does it just feel productive? Building a website is useful and welcomes clients into your culinary world. Spending three weeks redesigning your logo before you have a single client is not productive its just busy work that will not change the bottom line.
A timer is your best friend. When I can’t seem to focus to get down to business, I just choose a task and set the timer for 15 minutes. There is something about the timer that breaks the mind out of the mental blocks. You no longer have time to think about all the things you can’t do or are not ready for but you switch in to work mode where you’re racing against the clock. Subconsciously this causes us to forget all about the unproductive thoughts in our mind.
Celebrate your wins ( big and especially small). A win is a win big or small. Celebrating your wins keep you motivated. Motivation is what helps us to push though when we question ourselves. It also creates a reference of success in our mind that we can recall when the doubt, not yet and perfectionism seep in
The Cost of Waiting and a Question to Sit With
Every week you spend preparing instead of starting is a week without a client, without income, without the experience that actually makes you better and more confident. It is also a week that someone else in your area is out there building relationships, getting referrals, and establishing themselves in the exact market you want to serve.
The personal chef industry rewards the people who show up. Not the people with the most polished brand or the best website. The people who show up, do exceptional work, and let their clients tell everyone they know.
If fear and preparation were completely off the table and you knew beyond any doubt that it would work, what would you do tomorrow?
Whatever your answer is, that is your next move.
You have the skills. You have the passion. You have more than enough to get started. The only thing standing between you and your first personal chef client is the decision to stop waiting for perfect and start showing up.
Take the first step today.
Download the free Personal Chef 101 Playbook with 10 actionable steps to start your business, the 5 steps to landing your first client, and the tools you need to go from thinking about it to actually doing it. Maybe its time for you to move on to a more in depth plan, check out the Personal Chef 101 shop for more resources.