Monday Menu for Clients...

 Baked Salmon with a lemon vinaigrette

 Meatballs

 Marinara with ground turkey

 Raspberry Tea in a jar

 More Creamy Asparagus Soup

 Brussel Sprouts sauteed in olive oil with a little salt and pepper

Ground Turkey Lasagna

September Goals...

Buckling down this month to do the official kick-off to build the business.  Tomorrow is Labor Day and this week is the first full week of September.  My first e-mail goes out Tuesday with a list of items for the Fall.  I am doing baking to get things started.  I am still saving for a personal chef course and then I will work on that.  I am setting three to five big goals to do each week

For the week of September 5-10

*   Send out Fall Baking Price List and begin taking orders for Holiday items.  As I do the baking I will take photos for the portfolio to post on the blog and in the cookbook I am building with business recipes... see below for this goal.

*   Marketing Goal... put business magnets on vehicle and carry business cards everywhere I go.  Pass out at least 5 cards each week and keep building e-mail list and send weekly updates and reminders.

*   Continue reading Personal Chef and Catering Books by Denise Vivaldo and add Jay Conrad Levinson's Guerrilla Marketing Excellence book.  I will also be purchasing Dave Ramsey's new book, EntreLeadership by the end of the month.  I will do a book review on my favorites as I go.

*   Continue to revise and complete business plan (for the month of September)

*   Spend time building recipe collection.  I have purchased a notebook, stickers, recipe cards and tabs and will be typing in recipes to print and put in notebook to organize the menus and recipes I use.  Print all menus and price lists to put in notebook.  Be on the lookout for new things and spend time testing recipes as I go.  Purchase new printer cartridge soon...

IN THE TEST KITCHEN.... APPLE RECIPES AND PUMPKIN ALE RECIPES....

Goal Setting to kick off the week...

After I registered a business last week I started some list making and finally dug out some books I have been intending to read for quite some time.  Timing is everything I think.  LOL  The time is right now and these books are speaking directly to where I am.

The book I have chosen for this week is... 

I am already half way through this one in about two days.  I am a slow reader but I have been disciplining myself to sit and read more.  I will be writing goals each week to keep me on task and for the first few months I will be including a business book of some kind in the rotation.

Goals for this week are...

1.   Read the above book - completed

2.   Complete the process of writing a business plan - in progress... may take several weeks to complete

3.   Price and make a decision on which personal chef program I will complete for certification and register.... in progress... waiting on money to purchase course but have one chosen

4.   Make an equipment list and start pricing the items.  Decide what I will save for first for purchasing. in progress but written down

5.   Start building an e-mail list - in progress but written down

6.   Clean church kitchen thoroughly and start preparing it for use... wound up with emergency at home with plumbing and did not make it up there... next week for sure.

7.   Build holiday baking menu to start sending out for orders.  Set a deadline for placing orders.  Will send out by September 1st and pick a deadline soon.

8.   Write out menu for Eagle Court of Honor and start pricing items for purchase.  Budget for the extra expense on our personal budget and have oldest make his list of guests to prepare for.

9.   REFinish desk and set it up for business - in progress... Dan is refinishing this right now

10.   Set up filing system and add to it as I clean out all the crates and boxes around the house with papers in them... I am the crate lady it seems... it is pathetic!  LOL  I cannot resist a good crate. Cleaned out two a day and started filing system... still in progress... will take several weeks still

Some goals and reading.....

Today is about starting a business.

I have plans.... BIG PLANS!  LOL

I am graduating by August 2010 with a culinary degree and a pastry certificate.  I will also have my ACF certification by then, too.  I will be an official chef at that point.  I still want to continue with getting a nutrition degree but we MUST be debt free FIRST.

So, this is my passion.... to cook, to bake, to help people with their special dietary needs.  I do NOT want to run a restaurant... or a catering business.  I would LOVE to be a personal chef, to teach classes, to write books and basically just help people eat better.  That is the deepest passion in my spirit...  to help people eat well.  My heros are Ellie Kreiger and Pamela Smith as well as Candy Wallace.

What can I do to help my family financially in the form of a home business while I am trying to get clients?  I can make granola and healthy breads and pastries... I can bake pies and cakes as I need to do that and really advertise... do tons of PR and just put my name and products out there.  Does anyone want to buy a loaf of bread?  ;)

I also have some plans in the works to teach some basic cooking classes to teens and their moms for a local homeschool group.

I have a book from PBS coming called Guerrilla Marketing Excellence by Jay Conrad Levinson

I am also rereading this book

and working through this one...

and one more...

and someday... not in our near future.... I want to own a bed and breakfast.... someday.... *deephappysigh*

So, the reading comes first and then I will put together more of a plan after I graduate from school because my primary goal is finishing school and getting my certification first.

What is HMR?

(cause somebody asked the question and I realized that I had not shared this info)

That would be Home Meal Replacements... (an article)

A lot of families are more interested in eating at home but do not have time to cook. If you go to the store on any given night and pick up a roasted chicken and precooked sides you are buying home meal replacement items.

The way it would work for me as a caterer is if I take orders for meals from a family during the week and then prepare a meal that they eat for dinner or another meal instead of cooking it themselves.

It is a way that many families are eating more healthy and at home instead of eating out all the time. It is also a good alternative for older people who either cannot cook or do not want to cook for one every night. The whole idea behind Meals on Wheels is based on this concept (except it is free). I am doing that for an elderly man once a week now who's wife just died and am not charging him. He is my BIL's grandfather and I see it as a ministry.

I would offer menus for the week and then people would choose what they want and I would prepare them for delivery or pick-up and they have instant dinner without dirtying their own kitchens to cook it.

Found the plan for me...

You know I am eating MOSTLY vegetarian these days. It is not a political statement or a stand against people who eat meat. I still cook and feed my family meat dishes. I have just chosen, for health reasons, to eat this way for myself. I have kind of floundered in looking for the right eating plan and come across a few links to some pretty good recipes but this weekend I was talking with my MIL and she introduced me to something called the Sonoma Diet. I am reading her copy of the book right now and have my own copy on the way. For me, it is the PERFECT plan. You see, I LOVE to cook and I LOVE great food. I do not cook with boxed products and prepackaged things. I cook with whole foods and this plan lets me do just that. It is the PERFECT diet for those who enjoy being in the kitchen and love to cook. It is also a diet that I can feed my whole family and feel good that they are getting the nutrition they need. It is also a very tasty diet which is important to me as a cook. I can still eat vegetarian, too!!! Things are not worth eating if they are not tasty! So, I am reading The Sonoma Diet...