I'm Cooking With "Steemit" Now! My Introduction And Back Story.....

Hello fellow Steemers, my name is Mickey, aka Chef Mickey. I’m so happy to have found this new platform and looking forward to growing and engaging with you all. Honestly I don’t even remember which click of my mouse lead me to Steemit but I do know this, the times we live in are amazing when you think of what great and new adventures you can come across at the next click of a mouse.

I don’t know why but as I began writing my introduction post on here, a flashback jumped into my mind. For some unknown reason as I was watching videos and reading articles to research Steemit I began thinking of how my online world all started.

It’s actually a pretty good story, so I’ll share.

Victoria was about as beautiful and intelligent young lady any new business person could ask for. A glowing smile, professionally dressed with an articulate British accent that made you pay attention. Her English boarding school education showed and I felt fortunate to have accidentally landed this jewel to help me with my first venture into entrepreneurship.
In January of 1998 Chef Mickey’s Catering was less than a month old and already I was feeling the crunch of too much to do with too little time issue that any individual experiencing running their own business for the first time has went through.

I needed a right hand, somebody to take all the bullshit off my plate so I could do what I wanted to do - cook. After all this is why I walked out of that board meeting and quit my high paying Executive Chef job at the country club. Too much administrative and political bullshit and not enough culinary for me. I knew if I could focus on what I do best, create amazing food, I would succeed. So I took the leap.

Now Vicki came into the picture completely random although serendipitously from my perspective. I had a large plated dinner contracted and was in dire need of service help. I reached out to a couple of servers that were already working for me on a regular basis and asked them if they had any friends or coworkers that would be interested in extra cash. At $25 an hour for 4 to 5 hours work it’s usually pretty easy to pull in the hands needed.

Meg brought Vicki in to work that party. She stood out as intelligent and organized so at the after party happy hour I took advantage of my opportunity to get to know her better and offer her a full time position with my new catering start up. She not only agreed but seemed very excited for the opportunity. Perfect! One month into my new business and I not only expanded from self employed chef to an employer but my instincts told me I nabbed a winner.

It was only a few weeks since Vicki came on board to help me that I began to realize I may have overloaded her plate just a bit. Supervising service staff, marketing, accounting, payroll and sales meetings with clients. She was a trooper and never complained but I could read her body language, a talent I acquired for determining when one of my cooks was feeling overwhelmed as the overload of orders coming in takes you to a breaking point.

It’s a situation anybody who’s ever worked in a kitchen has experienced and it’s also the responsibility of a good chef to recognize and amend it, either by jumping in and helping out themselves or sending in help. However, in Vicki’s situation my jumping in was not an option, it’s why I hired her, she was doing everything I disliked and did not want to do. So I told her it was obvious to me that she was a little overwhelmed and could use some help. Did she want me to find her somebody to lighten her workload?

Her response really surprised me and until this day I think of it as a revolutionary or pioneering moment if you will, in my entrepreneurship. She said “Actually I don’t think another employee is necessary, however a computer would be lovely and of great help to me”

A computer? Really? “How?” I ask. (In 1998 I was still breaking down entire sides of veal and pounding out portions for scallopini so computers were about as far away from my world as Captain Kirk transporting through thin air)

Vicki then told me with a computer she could automate payroll, scheduling and invoicing, design marketing materials, contact prospects with something called “email” and that all the organizational assistance a computer would provide her would mean she could do it all in less time.

So I asked, “How much?” and she said she had a friend that worked in a computer store and the friend would sell her a model that was about to be replaced with a new model for $250.00.

I’m thinking to myself, I can spend $250.00 on a computer to help her with all of that and I don’t have to hire another employee? She may have something here.

Sold.

After 4 hours of Vicki teaching me how to use email (quit laughing!) my new life and adventure was underway. Who would have known, 10 years later I would have built over 500 websites, consulted so many restaurants on how to grow their business via internet marketing and social media and stepped out of the kitchen permanently to focus my efforts 100% on digital marketing, video marketing, product creation and building my own cooking brand.

All that evolved from a chance meeting with a smart girl from London. You just never know what the next turn in life is going to lead to. As I look back at the last 20 years, so many changes and innovations, it’s been amazing but yet so easy to overlook. When I was a simple Chef before the information age took over a good night in a restaurant we served 300 people. A big catered event could feed up to 1000 people.

But now? The possibilities are realistically endless. I can publish a recipe on Facebook and the potential number of people that it can reach is billions! 25 years ago I was the Chef at 100 seat Italian Cafe and we used to bottle up our Marinara Sauce to sell at the bar. During a good week we would sell around 50 bottles. Today, I can brand that same sauce, outsource production and packaging to a manufacturer, have it up on Amazon and with proper marketing and promotion sell 50 bottles an hour, all without leaving my office!

That’s why when I come across a new and innovative technology like Steemit I get so damn excited. Because now, unlike the clutz I was 20 years ago that took 4 hours to figure out email, I understand the power and potential of what I have my hands on. I’m very happy I found this platform and I look forward to contributing, learning and growing with it.

Vicki and I lost contact, she moved back to England to get married a couple of years before social media was born but maybe one day our paths will cross again and I can show her this post!

Cheers! And remember - “Life’s too short to eat bad food or drink bad wine!”

Chef Mickey