Nov 14, 2018
Today, Chef Andres invited a special guest onto his show: Mirella Hinojosa, a chef born and raised in San Diego. She went through a culinary arts program at Grossmont College in San Diego. Her parents did not understand her passion for the industry. She worked at the race track as a chef, in a fine dining restaurant as a chef, and helped opened very high-end establishments. She watched owners fail at the restaurant business and experienced lots of highs and lows in the industry. Mirella describes her experiences in the industry as being “somewhat in between a call-girl and a whore.”
She talks about how she worked in restaurants, sometimes 6 nights a week as a single mom. She went on maternity leave 3 times in five years and found it hard to re-enter the industry every time she left. She finally decided that she just couldn’t do it. The hours were too crazy. She ended up taking a few years off from work so she could raise her kids but became increasingly depressed because she missed her work. Eventually she went back to work, but the pay was not high enough. She was unhappy because she was working for someone else … the industry was getting younger and she was getting older, and the costs were not outweighing the work.Chef Andres experienced these same feelings of frustration as he worked to care for his growing family.
Now, Mirella has taken a year off from work now to regroup. The industry has taken too much from her. She is hungry for the industry but not the stress and the low pay that comes with it. Mirella is looking to become a solopreneur and go into business for herself.
Does Mirella sound like you? Are you the main breadwinner in your household and all you do is work, but the money is never enough? Are you fearful of failure? Do you lack self-confidence? Well, you are not alone. Chef Andres experienced these same emotions before stepping out and taking that risk to become a Chefpreneur. Just know that we are in your corner and can’t wait to share the tools Chef Andres has created so that you can continue to work in your passion. Never feel like you have to leave the industry over pay. As a Chefpreneur, you determine how much and when you will get paid.
Stay tuned each week as Chef Andres guides listeners through the process of becoming personal chefs. The Chefpreneur FaceBook Group was created to give you the support you need to follow your dreams. It won’t be easy (It can be overwhelming at times), but it will be well worth it. Chef Andres is hard at work perfecting the Chefpreneur program so that you will have all the tools you need to get started at your fingertips. The program is coming soon, but in the meantime, work on naming your business, getting licensed, and all the other items discussed in the Chefpreneur e-book.
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