by Claire Willmer
When we started the business in September 2018, we had no idea what to expect! We just knew that we loved cooking, we loved working with children and we loved trying out new bakes!
Working with my mum was (and still is) lovely! A good excuse to have some time away from the boys (until they came and found me and joined in the classes!). We would spend hours researching, making and taste testing bakes. I’ve always loved cooking but I wouldn’t say I was the best cook! Through running Time to Cook, I was able to improve my skills and baking repertoire too! Relecting on this amazing milestone, I thought I’d write this blog post on 5 things I’ve learnt about having our own business.
1. It can make you feel very insecure
The first thing that I learnt pretty early on, is that having your own business can make even the most confident person an absolute bag of nerves. I know I’m not alone in this. When we did physical classes, it was actually much easier in this respect. You would see first-hand, families enjoying the classes. Seeing big smiles on our little cook’s faces when we brought out their bakes from the kitchen, to a round of applause was instant feedback and the best feeling ever. Coming online, it’s been a bit harder.
Anyone in my family will testify that the week before a launch, I am an actual nightmare to live with! I am plagued with self-doubt. Will anyone want to join? Will they think it’s good? Will they think I’m an idiot? Why am I doing this? Would it be better to get a ‘proper job’? Are some of the many frequent thoughts that buzz around my head during launch week. Every time someone signs up, and I mean every time, I literally do a happy dance. The feeling that people believe in us and in Time to Cook, enough to part with cold, hard cash is beyond amazing! Putting something that you have created, out there, is super scary and makes you feel very vulnerable but when people start to sign up, it really is the best feeling in the world.
2. You think about it. all. the. time.
As a teacher, I would often think about my lessons at the weekends. When shopping, I would pick things up and think what a great addition they would make to my classroom. But having your own business takes this to a new level. There have been so many nights when I literally cannot sleep because of the ideas that are buzzing around my head. There’s always a post to write, an event to create, a course that looks interesting or a book to read. There just is never enough time in the day! I find the best ideas come to me in the shower (so long as no little people follow me in, demanding snacks!). Kev obviously loves it when I say I’ve just had another idea! as he mentally tots up how many more hours of my work he’s got to do! I genuinely wake up excited at moving the business forward and seeing what the day brings. When we get sent pictures of our member’s bakes, it’s such a fantastic feeling knowing that we’ve helped to put a smile on their faces and helped them to achieve their bakes. Seeing these pictures further spurs us on to think of new ideas to engage our cooks. Plus our special ‘Time to Cook’ song is so ridiculously catchy, I swear my three boys sing it in their sleep!
3. The flexibility is amazing
The flexibility that having your own business brings is just amazing. When Kev and I both worked in London, and Eddie became ill, we would really stress about taking the day off. Mentally going through our day to see who’s turn it should be to make the call. We obviously wanted to be there with Eddie, giving him hugs and making him feel better, but the thought of letting people down was awful. Working for yourself means that this is no longer such a big problem and I will always be so grateful for this. It’s a risk running your own business, there’s no guarantee it will make any money and requires bucketfulls of passion and enthusiasm. Being able to rearrange your schedule to make a school play or to take an unplanned trip to the beach is amazing.
4. 9:00a.m. – 5:00a.m.
This kind of links in to the point above! Being able to be flexible is fantastic but often leads to very un-socialble working hours! When we launched our Time to Cook website, both Kev and I were up until 5:00a.m. making last minute changes and getting everything in place for the morning. I don’t think I’ve pulled an all nighter since uni and it was not pretty, expecially when the boys decided that they’d like to wake up that little bit earlier than usual, 2 hours later! I’m super lucky that at the moment, I can split the day with Kev so that we both get to spend time with the boys. But after bedtime and grabbing a quick dinner, it’s back to work, creating content, editing videos and typing up recipe cards. Plus watching the occassional Netflix series! Often we won’t finish until 1:00a.m. before starting all over again the next morning. All I can say is that finding the Facebook Live Filter has been a game changer!
5. A little help from my friends!
I would honestly say that the best thing about Time to Cook has been meeting so many amazing families. Throughout the 2 years we have been running, it has amazed me how many truly lovely people are out there who genuinely care about you and want to see you do well. I feel so fortunate to have such an amazing community in both the Time to Cook Clubs and the Time to Cook Kitchen. Even though I haven’t met many of the people in the groups, I feel like I know them and would happily put the world to rights and dissect plotlines with anyone of them. I think Lockdown has made this more important, when we were unable to physically see our friends and family. I definitely feel that the online community got us through some of the tricker times.
So there you have it! It’s not always easy and lots of times, you feel like giving up. But knowing that you’re passionate about your work and finding other people that are passionate about it too is the best feeling in the world
