life as seen by wodat

Archived discussion from Toril-2.
amolol
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life as seen by wodat

Postby amolol » Wed Apr 18, 2007 12:40 am

so um not that any of you guys care but i thought i would update you all on why i havent been around......



ok well i moved up to eugene OR for a fresh start and a happy life. it took me a while but i finaly got a job up there for cooking (the tourist season realy affects the employment of cooks/chefs) after a short while i started getting sick (this has been discovered to be a stress trigger. i get stressed and i get violently ill) so after 3 weeks under doctors orders understandably i lost my job. i ended up with another jobv prospect but it was filled shortly after i had been asked to come in and do a trial shift (job 2 out the window). shortly after that linsow/kikuji my girfriend of 4 years broke up with me so i moved back home to coosbay broken and torn. shortly after arriving i got a job working at a local diner/pub called gussies. i worked one shift under employ and ended up loosing my job because my father was an old empoyee of the owner. evidently my last name doesnt do me any good in this world (job #3 toasted) so i called a friend and asked if he needed an on call worker, he said he could use me i had worked for him before so he knew i was good. he ended having tomany people on staff and i ended up going home... i was supposed to go in the next day and same scenario.. possibly job #4.... during all of this my parents decided that i was going to continue remodeling their house... for no pay or compensation... it cut into my time and energy and has made me slower on my feet. this may affect my performance in the kitchen... we will see


this has been a sumarized 2 week glimse into the life of wodat. i hope you enjoyed that youguys arent the only ones that have strokes of bad luck and that god/the supreme being/fate/whomever doesnt have it out for just you. i am on a borrowed computor at the moment because i havent had the time to set up my own.



P.S. if you happened to be near around or know anyone near or around coos bay oregon... i could use a friend.
i dont know what your problem is, but i bet its hard to pronounce

myspace.com/tgchef
Birile
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Postby Birile » Wed Apr 18, 2007 12:33 pm

:(

Keep your chin up... That's about as good as I can do from New York...

That all really sucks, but really just know that things can really only get better.

Take an hour to set up your computer if you can, you've got friends here!
Corth
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Postby Corth » Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:23 pm

Don't know if this is a great idea, but I'll throw it out there..

Being unemployed is a great opportunity to try and start your own business. A catering business might be perfect for you because the startup costs are not necessarily backbreaking. Chances are it won't work out, but its worth a shot, especially if you have nothing else to do at the moment. Beats remodelling the house. Also, if your illness is triggered by stress, your going to have a hard time working long shifts at a restaurant, so maybe this makes more sense for you.
Having said all that, the situation has been handled, so this thread is pretty much at an end. -Kossuth

Goddamned slippery mage.
Sarvis
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Postby Sarvis » Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:38 pm

Corth wrote:Don't know if this is a great idea, but I'll throw it out there..

Being unemployed is a great opportunity to try and start your own business. A catering business might be perfect for you because the startup costs are not necessarily backbreaking. Chances are it won't work out, but its worth a shot, especially if you have nothing else to do at the moment. Beats remodelling the house. Also, if your illness is triggered by stress, your going to have a hard time working long shifts at a restaurant, so maybe this makes more sense for you.


Err... running a business isn't stressful?
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Birile
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Postby Birile » Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:05 pm

I think Corth was more talking about how he could really make his own hours if he owned his own business.

Along the lines of what Corth mentioned:

Consider being some sort of private chef for upper-middle-class or upper-class families.

My boss who owned a magazine I used to work for had a private chef who would come into her home one day a week and prepare five meals for the upcoming weekdays. The meals would be placed into freezer-friendly containers and thawed as needed. My boss supplied the cooking utensils and cooking space (ie. her kitchen). The chef bought the foodstuffs but was either reimbursed for them or factored them into his cost for services.

I looked into the cost of doing this several years ago. While it wasn't outrageously priced, it was still good enough money (very good, actually) for a chef to live nicely off of, even if they only have two or three clients per week.

This is along the lines of Corth's idea, but a lot less stress than a full-on catering business, IMHO, along with the bonus of VERY low overhead since you use OTHER peoples' cooking equipment and they pay for the groceries. :D
Corth
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Postby Corth » Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:20 pm

I think my overall point was that Wodat needs to do what he enjoys doing, which is cook.. but also needs to find a way to succesfully do it given his medical condition. Be it catering, being a private chef, or whatever, his current unemployed status is actually a great opportunity to try something outside the box. Its good to try and find opportunities in otherwise lousy situations.
Having said all that, the situation has been handled, so this thread is pretty much at an end. -Kossuth



Goddamned slippery mage.
amolol
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Postby amolol » Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:20 am

its a very good idea to start a small buisiness and i have thought of it... but you see... im already 20k in debts from school
i dont know what your problem is, but i bet its hard to pronounce



myspace.com/tgchef
Lilira
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Postby Lilira » Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:04 pm

Do you still have your kitchen supplies from school?? Did you HAVE supplies from school? Start small. Design some business cards on your desktop and buy a package of printables from Walmart.. better yet, if you haven't go to
here to Vistaprint and get some freebies printed up. You pay shipping costs, but they look very professional. If you have any wedding planners in the area, drop off a card with them. Tell them you are small-scale and would be interested in possibly catering _small_ events.

Until you get your expenses figured out, request a deposit. Not sure, but that might be a standard procedure anyway. I know I would in case of last second cancellation so you don't take a loss on supplies.

Carry cards with you at all times and if you find yourself striking up a conversation with someone about cooking etc, give them your card. It might sound cheezy, but the whole "Hey.. I was just talking to someone about that the other day, lemme see if I have their card...." thing really works. I've had friends hand me cards for services I've been looking for, and with a new house, that has been ALOT lately. We were thrilled with our realtor and now I carry three of her cards in my wallet, just in case. My husband does the same. Same deal with the apartments we were staying in while waiting for the house to close.

The power of the word of mouth can be huge, but the trick is to have it in a form that is small and easy for people to carry with them. When you get a few successful events under your belt, I would put some sample menus together along with a resume, and some pictures of your finished products and burn them to the small business card sized CD-ROMS to hand out. Lots smaller than a full color brochure, and easier for YOU to carry as well.
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