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[00:00:00] I talk to personal chefs all the time who aren’t ready yet to start their personal chef business, even though they’ve been thinking about it for months, sometimes years. If this thought is on your mind too, that you’re not ready, then

If this is where you’re at thinking that you’re not quite ready, chances are you’re actually a lot closer to being ready than you might think. Hey there Chef Shelly here. I help passionate home cooks turn their love of cooking into a successful personal chef business so that you can get paid to do what you love, cook on your own terms.

If that sounds like a dream come true be sure to hit like. Subscribe and ring the little bell so that you never miss one of my weekly videos full of tips, strategies, and know how. Now let’s dive in how you can tell if you’re really ready to get started or not. What do you actually need to be ready to go?

Well, here’s the deal. To know if you’re ready, ask yourself these three simple questions. Do you love cooking and want to get paid for it? Let’s start [00:01:00] with the obvious. If cooking is your happy place, you’ve dreamed about making money doing it, that’s a huge sign that you’re ready. You don’t need a culinary degree or years of restaurant experience to be able to start your own business.

It’s about preparing meals people love, not chasing Michelin stars. If the idea of planning and cooking meals for other people excites you, and the thought of a 9 to 5 desk job makes you cringe, Then you’re in the right place! It’s not just about passion, though, of course. It’s about realizing that your love for food and for cooking food and cooking food for other people has value.

People are already out there, they’re struggling to get dinner on the table every night, they can’t get the family together at the same time. They hate to cook. Maybe they have dietary needs that are new that they need to accommodate and they don’t know how. They basically just don’t have the time, the skills, the energy or whatever.

But you [00:02:00] do and people are willing to pay you for that. Next, do you have tried and true recipes you’re confident in making? Now listen, you don’t need to have created every recipe that you use in your business. Did I invent lasagna? No. Do I make lasagna for clients? Sure, if that’s what they want. You don’t need a massive recipe library.

You don’t need to have created all the recipes yourself. In fact, trying to do too much too soon can be really overwhelming. The best personal chefs start with what they know, the solid foundations, your go to meals that are delicious. Reliable, and other people love too. Think about the meals that you make over and over again.

The ones that get rave reviews from family and friends. Whether it’s your signature pasta dish, it’s a perfectly seasoned roast chicken that’s always moist with crispy skin, or whatever. If you can make, a handful of meals confidently, you can build [00:03:00] from there. Start with that as your foundation. Over time, as you’re getting your practice in, and getting as you’re getting your practice in, and building your recipe collection, your skills will grow too.

Over time, as you’re practicing, as you’re cooking more and more, you’ll get more experience, you’ll understand what works, how things work. Ugh.

Do you have a few tried and true recipes that you’re confident in making? You don’t need a massive recipe library of entrees. As a matter of fact, I hear from people, this mistake, you don’t need to have created all the recipes that you use in your personal chef business. Do I make lasagna for my clients?

Yes, if they ask for it. Did I invent lasagna? Of course I didn’t, right? This can be really overwhelming when you’re getting started, but start with the foundation of recipes that you already know you’ve master you love and other people love too. As you’re cooking, add to your [00:04:00] recipe collection. Be sure to focus on those entrees because that’s what meal prep services focuses on, if that’s the main service you want to do.

You can get my free guide, there’s a link below, on how to do meal prep services for clients and that’ll help you work through picking out good recipes to use for that service too. So again, think about the meals that you’ve made over and over that people love and get rave reviews. And then as you’re cooking for yourself, as you’re cooking for family and friends, add new recipes to your repertoire all the time.

Go through your cookbooks and write down a list of all the things that you know how to make that you might not have an actual recipe for. Like lasagna, like a roast chicken. Once you get a couple dozen, three dozen entree recipes that you’ve really mastered, that can be a good time to start taking a client.

Now over time, again, as you gain experience and your skills start increasing and you’re building that recipe collection, that’s [00:05:00] when you can add more things. Now if you’ve gone to culinary skill and you have techniques mastered, then you know. It’s super easy to build out a huge recipe collection because you are so confident in your skill set.

Are you excited, even a little nervous about starting something new? Okay, nerves are totally normal. In fact, it’s actually kind of a good sign. That mix of excitement and fear makes you, you know, it means you’re stepping outside of your comfort zone. And that’s where all the good stuff happens. Starting a personal chef isn’t, isn’t just about cooking.

It’s about Doing it on your own terms, right? Taking control of your own future, creating a flexible business that lets you do what you love on your own terms. You say who, you say when, you say how much. Of course the unknown can be scary. What if it doesn’t work? What if I make mistakes? Here’s the truth.

Everybody feels this [00:06:00] way at the beginning. The difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is that successful personal chefs take that nervous energy and turn it into action instead of inaction. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to get started. If you’re feeling that mix of excitement and Oh God, can I really do this?

The answer is yes, you can! The clients are out there and they’re hungry for what you’re cooking.

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