If you’re trying to start a personal chef business and it’s not moving the way you expected, there’s usually a reason—and it’s not that your cooking isn’t good enough. 

In this video, I’m going to walk you through the biggest mistakes I see early on, and what actually helps you get to your first paying personal chef client.

If we haven’t met, I’m Chef Shelley. I’ve been a personal chef for 20 years, and now I teach passionate cooks how to turn your cooking passion into a real business with consistent schedule, clients, and income through personal chef services..

And if you want help on how to do thos personal chef services, you can nget my free guide here or at the link below. It’sll walk you throught the same process that all personal chefs do for premium clients and premium prices.

Let’s start with the mistake that keeps people stuck the longest.

A lot of people spend months getting ready to start. Planning, adjusting, rethinking… trying to make everything feel complete before they begin. They think they need a full setup—a brand, a menu, something polished.

But this business doesn’t reward preparation, it rewards clarity.

You don’t need everything figured out. You need to be able to clearly explain what you do.
I cook weekly meals in your home so you don’t have to.

That’s enough to start having real conversations—and that’s what leads to your first paying personal chef client.

Once someone moves past that, another mistake shows up quickly.

They try to offer everything.

Meal prep, dinner parties, events, classes—anything someone might ask for. It feels like being flexible will create more opportunities, but it usually does the opposite.

From the client’s perspective, it’s unclear.

They’re not looking for options. They’re looking for a solution to a specific problem. And the easiest place to start is weekly meal prep. It fits into people’s lives, it solves something they deal with every week, and it creates consistency in your schedule.

Then there’s pricing, which is where hesitation shows up in a bigger badder way.

Instead of confidently offering the service, people start adjusting their price to feel more comfortable. They base it on what they think is reasonable for the food and don’t take into consideration the value of the service which is what it’s really about.

But either way, that’s not how clients are thinking.

They’re thinking about the time they’re spending every week on food—planning, shopping, cooking, cleaning. They’re thinking about how annoyed they are at wasting their valuable time on something they hate. Or they’re thinkgin about their health and being overwhelmed with how they should be eating and know their not. Or feeling super gilding about door dashing every night for their kis and feeling like a bad mom.

You’re stepping into that entire gap. And the right clients value this a lot.

But when your pricing doesn’t reflect that, the whole business gets harder. Not just with income, but with the type of clients you attract and how sustainable the business feels. Because if you can’t get enough clients and your pricing isn’t right to attract great clients and to earn what you need, this turns into a jobby – a thing you’re pretending is a business but it’s just a hobby with some money here and there. Which is fine if that’s what you want. But if it’s not and you want more, thats where your issue is.

Another big reason people stay stuck is waiting for clients to come to them. You know you’re good. You know there’s demand. You’re even confident that there are people out there who are willing to pay you premium prices for your personal chef services.

But then there’s this assumption that if you post a few things people will find you. Or my personal fav, the minute you get that website perfect and publish it the inquiries are going to come flooding in. 

But honestly, most clients don’t come from that especially in the beginning.

They come from conversations. Letting people know what you’re doing. Talking about your services when someone mentions they’re overwhelmed with teh dinner drag. Being visible in a real, human way.

This business grows through trust. And trust usually starts with people who already know you, or are one connection away.

The last mistake is where people overthink everything—trying to build the entire business before they’ve worked with a single client.

Planning every detail. Every package. Every future scenario. I can’t tell you how many times some emails me about what kind of labels do i use, as if that’s the thing standing between them and cooking for clients.

Your first goal isn’t to build a perfect business.

It’s to get your first paying personal chef client.

Because that experience answers questions you can’t solve in advance. It shows you what actually matters to clients, how your process works, and what needs to change.

I’ve seen this over and over again.

The people who move forward the fastest aren’t the ones with the most detailed plans or perfect business cards. They’re the ones who simplify, get their personal chef services dialed in, and start talking to real people.

And once that first client comes in, things start to shift.

You’re no longer guessing. You understand how a cook day works. You can explain your service more clearly. And that first client often leads to the next—either through a referral or by becoming part of your regular schedule.

So if things feel slower than you expected, it’s worth asking yourself—are you building the business, or just preparing to build it?

Because those are two very different things.

Clarity creates confidence. That’s how you get your first paying personal chef client.

If you’re ready you can get my free guide here on how to do weekly personal chef services for clients here and link below.

And if you want to see a complete overview of a personal chef business watch the video on your screen right now.

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