One step at a time

It really is amazing what can be achieved when you dare to dream. You step out, taking one step at a time and before you know it, a year has passed and you find yourself in a very different place. When I left the restaurant world many years ago, I worked as a stay at home mum raising my three kids and to a degree still do! Once my kids all started school, I worked part time in our new engineering business, that my husband was building. I was the one doing the accounts, admin and data entry (such joy for someone with techno learning difficulties like me!!!). This joy went on for five long years, thankfully over this time, the business grew. For the sake of our marriage continuing to be an enduring one, I finally resigned from this position. The business was now in the place where it could afford to employ someone with proper qualifications and after a period of training my replacement and transitioning, I was out of there! There was a period of procrastination for me about resigning though, I didn't really have anything else I was heading into, which produced a certain amount of anxiety and guilt within me, that I in fact was resigning to do what exactly?? However, a series of confirmations, that my pending decision was the right one, came to me through different people, over a three month period. Finally I accepted that it was indeed time for me to move on, into another new season. In January 2009, I took a step into the unknown really, with no hint of what was ahead!
Often people had asked me over the years, once they discovered I trained and worked as a chef prior to raising kids, would you ever return to your cooking? maybe open a cafe? return to the restaurant kitchens? I would often say probably not, however my standard answer was that, I would love to teach people to cook one day!
I had done a few live cooking demos at different times for charity over the years and hard work as it was, I loved it and it seemed to be helpful to people. At the end of 2008/April & May 2009 I committed to do a couple more live cooking demos to use the gift in my hands, to help others for different reasons.
In April 2009, three months after resigning from working with Paul, the whole idea of beginning a business myself, running cooking classes began to stir in me. It all seemed to come out of nowhere really, and yet the idea sat well with me. My ever believing in me, entrepreneurial husband, Paul encouraged me to go for it.
In May 2009, we set up a company called janeCOOKS Pty Ltd.
What a journey it has been so far, there has been lots of hard work and delightfully a whole array of both, old connections revived and new ones made with some very talented people, who have helped get me through the first twelve months. This week marks the first anniversary of the birth of janeCOOKS Pty Ltd. The first twelve months have seen a solid foundation laid, although it has been just one step at a time.
Once the company was established on 5th May 2009, we then got the domain name for the website http://www.janecooks.com.au/, then the logo and branding came next. Many hours went into designing the cooking class concept and planning the variety of classes,menus and recipes.
Then in Sept/Oct 2009 another step, designing and overseeing the renovation,
Before the reno



in progress, I can be such a helper!!!!!



the gutted space ready to fill



to install the custom built kitchen, with touches of red.



The next step and quite a daunting one, was to build the website, which Paul gave many hours to and we had many late nights together refining the process. In Feb 2010 only just meeting the deadline, the janeCOOKS Cooking Classes were launched, with a full year ahead of fourteen janeCOOKS Cooking Classes planned.


Term One has been just crazy, doing three Seasonal Classes, a Summer BBQ Class in February and two Autumn Harvest Classes in March, twenty one guests booked in for the janeCOOKS experience in February and March. Throw in the ridiculous idea I put on myself, to post a recipe each week on the janeCOOKS website. As well as start a blog "Real Stories of Food and Travel" also adding to that weekly. amidst it all, to celebrate my birthday in March, I managed to squeeze in a trip with Paul to Melbourne to meet Jamie Oliver LIVE on stage! That's a whole other story :) :0
The most recent step in April was to coordinate editing, music and launch to youtube and the home page of my website, of the janeCOOKS promo DVD, to show people a one minute grab of the janeCOOKSLIVE experience. After a brief break for a week in April to recharge, both physically and spiritually, I am off again!
Term Two has planned four janeCOOKS Cooking Classes, the first three already booked out, which simply means no turning back now!
There are many more steps to take, with many recipes to write, classes to plan, some janeCOOKSLIVE SHOWS to larger groups planned in the second half of 2010 and dreaming of and seeing a Cook Book on the shelves in 2011.
Some days I feel way out of my depth, other days my mind is racing with ideas of what could come next, I am simply head down and bum up going for it, just one step at a time.
Why do I share all this, simply to encourage, that it really is just one step at a time that gets you into a new place. My journey has been quite a ride thus far and thankfully I've not done it alone. There truly has been an abundance of help and I cannot start naming people, as someone would surely be disappointed. Instead I will conclude by saying, if you ve helped me, encouraged me, believed in me, prayed for me, if you've come along to a cooking class, tried out the recipes yourselves, visited the website, read the blog, shared it with a friend etc. etc. etc. you know who you are and I say to you THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU xx
I look forward to the next steps, the next twelve months, the next part of the journey of janeCOOKS and of course sharing it with you all. I'll leave you with these thoughts, just one life, NO dress rehearsal, so seize the day, step out of your comfort zone, you just need to take one step at a time!