I was at a crossroads. The part time business I started was suddenly requiring a full time effort. I had to make a decision to either quit my job and focus on growing the operation or stay employed and not take on any new customers. Really though, the question I needed to answer for myself was whether I wanted the security of working for someone else or whether I wanted to plunge into the abyss. I chose the latter. Once I made the decision, it was scary and freeing at the same time. I knew I made the right decision and success or failure fell squarely on my shoulders.
I had a great building for running a catering operation and had everything I needed. As the season progressed, more customers came to us and we really didn’t do a lot of marketing. One party would lead to 3 others. Some of the men at the parties began using us for business luncheons in their offices. (Of course I was working 6 days a week, 12 – 16 hours a day. But hey, it was definitely keeping me out of trouble.) We started to get a lot of press for some reason also.
What I Learned: Having your name in the papers a lot is very good for business. The best way is to be positioned as an expert and have the writers interview you every time they are doing a story in your business segment. This is why bloggers in your field are so important. It is more credible than running advertisements.
All was good in this first season. But anyone who has ever been in this business knows that it is very cyclical.
Then came the slow season……….
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