i think this has been discussed but i cant search, not a full member yet, and to go through all pages makes me dizzy. how plausible is it to try this as a weekend job? as of now i am looking at a 9 month to a year before i can go out for my knee from work, but if i can do this on the weekends it would be allot sooner. i guess it would be up to the client. and that leads to another question, do the people let you in there house alone or would you rather have the home owner there.
There has been (& may still be) personal chefs that work only on weekends while retaining their "other" job during the week. Most people are out & about on weekends, and so just go at that angle...for that matter, the client can be at home anyway...they don't have to leave, just need to stay outta the kitchen so you can cook.
I have been a "part-time" pc for four years now. At first, I was thinking I could eventually leave my "original" full-time job for a full-time job as a personal chef. All I thought about was when, when when was I going to be able to work at being a pc full-time. Funny, while I was stressing about when I could go full-time with the pc biz, my "original" full time job took an interesting turn and now I really do not want to give it up. Nor do I want to give up being a personal chef. I am very lucky to have a job that I love, plus the flexibility to be a personal chef. But my point is, that even if I did not love my original full-time job, I have still been able to have enough clients that I can work at being a personal chef on Saturdays, for dinner parties, etc. I make enough to pay insurance and membership and keep an okay balance in my pc account, and being a part-time pc fulfills me in a way I never dreamed possible. I have yet to find it to be a problem cooking with clients at home. However, I have some unusual clients plus I am pretty tolerant and laid back.
I guess what I am trying to say is that once I quit stressing about when things were going to happen, that thing that was right for me just fell into place. Jim Davis' famous saying "it takes as long as it takes" applies not only to a cook date, but to building your business as well.
Don't know if this helps, just my perspective from the view of a "part-timer."
hey candy, i shot you another email. you didnt get my last one.
miki sounds like a good plan. as you can see from candy's post i may be in the retired portion of my life a bit sooner than i thought but it is not certain and since i have been totally taken in by being a pc i would hate to not do it because of my other job. i actually want more of the dinner parties and bbq side of it which falls on the weekend most of the time.
I've been doing weekends for a couple of years now. For the past couple of months, my job has kept me pretty busy. However, I've had my clients for years so we work out if something comes up one specific weekend. Maybe I do something one night during the week and then my weekend day is free.
With doing weekends only, you have to get the right mix of business,dinner parties, clients, etc. that fits with how you want to work with your primary job. For me, what I have works.
