I'm going to let you in on a secret. If you read this secret, congratulations! You're in the loop. All those other people out there have the opportunity to read and know, but they're not reading this, are they?
After pulling out of the job search for a while, I've begun again to think about jobs and business. My thoughts on this matter have changed much since my post-graduation disappointment. I no longer feel a desperation to do the first, easiest thing to come in front of my face. My willingness to do anything has not diminished, but the fear that I have to do anything (as in anything that may not be worth my effort and sanity) is gone. Or mostly gone. I'm in the frame of mind and spirit to pursue something less accessible, something that may not even make sense. Something that has the potential to be more worthwhile than working in a nameless cubicle or hanging drywall. (I've done the latter. I'm willing to do it for myself, or to help out a friend, but as soon as it became a job, I couldn't recall a time I'd been more miserable.)
My retirement from running after a job has also allowed me to experience life in its most basic elements. Fulfilling relationships, serving everyone, loving everyone, unwavering gratitude: these are things which make life a joy, and contribute to well-being of both mind and body. I've been focusing particularly on the latter in recent months, and let me tell you, feeling alive is so much better than eating cheeseburgers.
These things have combined in my head and heart, and what I find emerging are ideas for running a food-manufacturing business from my home. I've always liked to make food, but as I had little interest in eating it, and felt no other passion for it outside of the creation process, I didn't think much about wanting to employ myself in by the process of making it. But my mindset started changing as my diet started changing. I feel great, my mother is on the road to feeling well for the first time in many years, and in light of wellness, a new passion for making food has been aroused in me. I think I can help others with what I have learned.
A few weeks ago, I researched the laws Tennessee has set in place governing this kind of venture, and I gratefully found it is possible, and the provisions are more generous than I expected. Since then, my mind has been swirling with possibilities. It's been hard to know where to begin. I think my mind has settled, however, on specializing in bread. Bread is one of the most integral parts of our diets, so easy to get wrong, and it's these things combined that can make it so devastating to good health. People don't need to be deprived of bread, they just need to eat the right kind.
For me, the name of the game is still research. I'm nowhere near ready to start passing out loaves to my friends and neighbors. Thus as confident as I feel in this direction, every bit of this is still tentative. My other tentative plan is to at least begin taking requests for anything it's legal for me to make and sell at home to fill in gaps between bread sales, but in the interest of fruitfulness and longevity, I think it's important to specialize. This is particularly so in cases where I might sell product after it's made, like setting up at the farmer's market and selling pre-prepared things on the spot. People can't buy something at booth if it hasn't been made yet.
I have lots of other ideas (like wanting my business name and the name of each recipe I make to have something to do with literature and/or music), but I want to focus in on just having organized what it will take to get started, and get started well. I have a feeling many of ideas will stay in my head for a while, until their time to emerge. Or perhaps they'll stay forever. I have no idea how long I will do this, or how large it will grow. I don't see myself baking and only baking for the rest of my life, but my future vision isn't great. I don't know what will happen with this. I still hold a desire to write. And sing. Perhaps I'll do all three.
That's my secret. If you have any comments, suggestions, words of counsel, I welcome them. There is still a long list of things to work out, and as I'm intending to create something for people, I need to know what the people think. Would you buy homemade bread? What kind of bread do you think you might buy? Would you buy something else? Have any charming ideas for names? Any words of experience to impart?
And if you're the kind inclined to pray, I would be ever so grateful for your kindness in talking to the Lord about me.
After pulling out of the job search for a while, I've begun again to think about jobs and business. My thoughts on this matter have changed much since my post-graduation disappointment. I no longer feel a desperation to do the first, easiest thing to come in front of my face. My willingness to do anything has not diminished, but the fear that I have to do anything (as in anything that may not be worth my effort and sanity) is gone. Or mostly gone. I'm in the frame of mind and spirit to pursue something less accessible, something that may not even make sense. Something that has the potential to be more worthwhile than working in a nameless cubicle or hanging drywall. (I've done the latter. I'm willing to do it for myself, or to help out a friend, but as soon as it became a job, I couldn't recall a time I'd been more miserable.)
My retirement from running after a job has also allowed me to experience life in its most basic elements. Fulfilling relationships, serving everyone, loving everyone, unwavering gratitude: these are things which make life a joy, and contribute to well-being of both mind and body. I've been focusing particularly on the latter in recent months, and let me tell you, feeling alive is so much better than eating cheeseburgers.
These things have combined in my head and heart, and what I find emerging are ideas for running a food-manufacturing business from my home. I've always liked to make food, but as I had little interest in eating it, and felt no other passion for it outside of the creation process, I didn't think much about wanting to employ myself in by the process of making it. But my mindset started changing as my diet started changing. I feel great, my mother is on the road to feeling well for the first time in many years, and in light of wellness, a new passion for making food has been aroused in me. I think I can help others with what I have learned.
A few weeks ago, I researched the laws Tennessee has set in place governing this kind of venture, and I gratefully found it is possible, and the provisions are more generous than I expected. Since then, my mind has been swirling with possibilities. It's been hard to know where to begin. I think my mind has settled, however, on specializing in bread. Bread is one of the most integral parts of our diets, so easy to get wrong, and it's these things combined that can make it so devastating to good health. People don't need to be deprived of bread, they just need to eat the right kind.
For me, the name of the game is still research. I'm nowhere near ready to start passing out loaves to my friends and neighbors. Thus as confident as I feel in this direction, every bit of this is still tentative. My other tentative plan is to at least begin taking requests for anything it's legal for me to make and sell at home to fill in gaps between bread sales, but in the interest of fruitfulness and longevity, I think it's important to specialize. This is particularly so in cases where I might sell product after it's made, like setting up at the farmer's market and selling pre-prepared things on the spot. People can't buy something at booth if it hasn't been made yet.
I have lots of other ideas (like wanting my business name and the name of each recipe I make to have something to do with literature and/or music), but I want to focus in on just having organized what it will take to get started, and get started well. I have a feeling many of ideas will stay in my head for a while, until their time to emerge. Or perhaps they'll stay forever. I have no idea how long I will do this, or how large it will grow. I don't see myself baking and only baking for the rest of my life, but my future vision isn't great. I don't know what will happen with this. I still hold a desire to write. And sing. Perhaps I'll do all three.
That's my secret. If you have any comments, suggestions, words of counsel, I welcome them. There is still a long list of things to work out, and as I'm intending to create something for people, I need to know what the people think. Would you buy homemade bread? What kind of bread do you think you might buy? Would you buy something else? Have any charming ideas for names? Any words of experience to impart?
And if you're the kind inclined to pray, I would be ever so grateful for your kindness in talking to the Lord about me.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I like conversation. Your comments promote conversation. You know what to do. Vielen Dank.