I recently wrote this article for Merchant Processing Resource, an independent resource for merchant processing and merchant cash advance,
where my contributions are posted as part of The Small Business Corner. I
wrote this particular article to pay tribute to all of those women who are not
business owners, but whose contributions
as Homemakers lead the way for many of us who followed our dreams to become
business owners against all odds. Since
Mother’s Day is just around the corner, here it is one more time.
Culinary Byte$...A Mother’s Day tribute
I was raised in a household with a mother who was known in
those days as a Homemaker, a woman whose career choice was to raise her
children in a way that included parenting skills such as cooking, sewing,
medicine, sports and psychology. If you
fell off your bike, Mom administered first aid.
If you were invited to the school dance, Mom made your gown. When you broke up with your boyfriend, Mom
said you were too good for him anyway.
By now you are probably questioning, how relevant is this to the small business corner? Here’s how.
I owned and operated a successful small business for twenty-three
years. It was a retail store. It required skills in marketing and human
relations, as well as budgeting and cost saving, and character traits such as
perseverance and diplomacy. Although I
graduated from various colleges with a variety of degrees, none was in business
management or marketing or anything else that would prepare me to be the
successful retailer that I was. No, I
was not successful because of any formal training that I received, but rather
from the example set by my mother, a Homemaker who showed me how to stretch a
dollar when I tagged along to the grocer, the Green Stamp redemption center or
the downtown Salvation Army outlet. She
taught me how to persuade my dad to give me the keys to the car, what to say to
keep my other siblings from fighting, how to get the front seat on the long
ride, how to sell the most Girl Scout cookies, and most of all--- not to give
up.
Thank you,
Mom, for all the lessons without which I would not have enjoyed the successes
and learned from the failures. Happy
Mother’s Day to all Homemakers everywhere!
Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef Angela
Bell
Beyond the Bulll (an "eat smart" kitchen)
233 W. Main St., Central, SC 29630
http://antiaginggastronomy.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ChefAngelaB
http://antiaginggastronomy.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ChefAngelaB
It was several decades ago that Chef Alice Waters introduced the concept of using natural, locally grown ingredients in all of her menu items in one single restaurant in California, a restaurant known as Chez Panisse. From one Chef with an idea and a passion for fresh ingredients came a whole new cuisine, California cuisine, still popular today for it’s abundance of fresh, locally caught or grown, and simply prepared ingredients. Fast forward to 2000 and there is Chef Jamie Oliver who has made it his mission to rid America’s food supply of toxins, sugar and all things unnatural. He singlehandedly rid the country of “pink slime”, a nasty concoction of ammonia laundered meat remnants in ground beef.
