Business cards arrived today!

Checkmate, bitches!

A few times in my life, I’ve come to make big life decisions after being asked simple questions.

• When I was in LA half-heartedly running a volunteer program while it was obvious my true passion was cooking, my friend Angelica asked, “Michelle, why don't you go to culinary school?”  I didn’t have an answer, and I went and took my life in a different direction.
• When my marriage ended abruptly in Vegas and I became frantic trying to get the hell outta town, my friend John asked, “Michelle, why do you feel like you have to leave Vegas?  What are you running from?”  I didn’t have an answer, and I stayed and had the time of my life.
• And finally, just last week I spent 2 days working on an elaborate cake (and loved every minute of it) and when it was finished, my boss Peter asked, “Michelle, why don't you open your own cake shop?”  I didn’t have an answer.

I used to think I wasn't good enough, but over the past few months at work, I've seen some HORRIBLE cakes brought in by customers, professionally made cakes that looked and tasted like crap.  If the people responsible for those fugly cakes can make a living selling cakes, I sure as hell can.  It's time to stop questioning my abilities and talking about what I want-- it's time to act and DO something about it.  Sure, I don't know jack about starting or running a business, but I have to start somewhere and some time, so what better place than here and now? 

So for the purpose of making the first step of making this a reality, I would like to declare right here and now and release into the universe... that I want to stick it to the man, make my own damn path, and I want to start my own business.

Correction... I WILL start my own business.

I don’t know much about it, but I think it might end up in California?  Will it be a funky little dessert food truck in LA?  Or an upscale, couture wedding cake business in San Francisco?  Or should I take advantage of my connections and start something in Monterey, a town with plenty of disposable income and outdated bakeries?  I really don't know.  I do know that I want to start small here in Philly—I mean microscopically small. 

Hmm… I think I’ll make some business cards!

“Treat it like an adventure. An adventure worth sharing.”

- Hugh MacLeod

Do it!

My job as a pastry chef is to rush to make food, put food on plates, scream for runners as ice cream melts into puddles, and, ultimately, work twice as hard to receive half the pay of what the waiter serving the food gets.  I realize that it's the nature of the job, but I know now that I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life.  I’ve said this many times before.  It’s time to DO something about it. 

Or as my fellow chef friend CJ likes to say, “Saying means nothing.  DO it.”

I've been looking for guidance and answers from a few sources lately, and I keep finding the same message: Do what you love.  I've been communicating with another chef friend Mikey about this lately.  He recommended a great little book to me, Hugh MacLeod's "Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World Domination."  Everyone talks about what they want out of life, but how many people are willing to take action and commit to the work it takes?  

Time to shut up and do it already. 

Grrrrr.....

Got kinda pissy the other night at work.  I was really busy and behind, trying to get my department caught up before going on my weekend, and a shit ton of work was dropped on me unexpectedly, work that we normally wouldn't have done on such short notice but had to do because it was for "VIPs".

I realized then and there, that in my dream job situation, I would have the power to say one little but powerful word: NO.  (Or, rather, my natural instinct would be three words long: "Go fuck yourself," but my parents read this blog so I'll try to be better with the cursing.  But... there will still definitely be cursing.)

I've seen a few episodes of <don't judge me> the Millionaire Matchmaker, and I get a little thrill whenever the crazy matchmaker chick doesn't like a rude client and screams at him, "Get the FUCK outta my office, you're BANNED from my business!!!"  I can think of a few instances in my career in which I would have LOVED to have done that.

Example numero uno: at one of my past jobs, I was asked by the chef to work on a gingerbread house, a school project for his friend's daughter.  He asked me to construct the base and house, and let the daughter decorate it and make the finishing touches.  Although I was already overwhelmed with work and found it unethical, because my chef asked me to, I sucked it up and constructed the base and bare bones of the house.  When my chef's friend came to pick it up, instead of being grateful, she asked me to keep working on it and finish it.

<Insert PERFECT time to scream: "Get the FUCK outta my kitchen!  You don't even WORK, do it yourself!!!">

But, alas, no, I had to bite my tongue, grin, and through gritted teeth, say I would be happy to finish it.  Thankfully one of my cooks was happy to take on the project and finish it.

So, as my wise Pa would say, "What have you learned from all this?  I've learned this...

Criterion #1 for my dream job: the power to say NO.

I'm sure this would be ideal for ANYone in ANY profession, but it's especially difficult when you're in the service industry.  It may not be attainable at first, but hopefully I'll get to say No some day!