Turning the page

New Years is a few days away so now seems an appropriate time to wrap up what happened this year, and set my goals for next year. A virtual Board of Directors meeting if you will, and since my social media followers and fans are the closest thing I have to a BoD I figured I'd share the wrap up with you.
At the start of 2011 fencing was still something new, and Cookies were still mostly an experiment. In February I was told that I should start thinking about upgrading my equipment to the international standard, this or course came with a hefty price tag. at that point I set a sales goal of 200 dozen cookies. Thanks to some lucky breaks, a spotlight interview on Thrillist ATL andThrillist Seatle I was able to get my internationally rated uniform, unfortunately I came up a little shy on funds for my first international event in Montreal. It worked out better for me in the long run because it gave me more time to develop as a fencer. In March I went to my 3rd National event of my fencing career in Detroit Michigan. I won my first medal at this event and started to see all that all the hard work was paying off.

I lost focus on cookies in April and got away from sharing my story with my friends and customers and started to use social interaction to inundate time lines with sales pitches rather then interacting with customers. I still find myself falling into the "buy my cookies" trap but I'm trying to be more human and less corporate.
In May I had the opportunity to get away from the normal weekend practices with my team and go to an event in Oklahoma. I fenced well and learned how to enjoy myself on the fencing strip. The trip back home was..Well that's another story  

The cookie biz slowed for a bit during  "swimsuit" season and I found myself getting a little discouraged but the slow down gave me time to refocus on my goals for fencing as well as for Wheeling Chef.

Things started to pick back up in October and haven't slowed down since. Holiday sales were very good this year, my one week sales this year actually eclipsed a great month last year. Fencing has also seemed to have taken off. In Kansas City this month I fenced as well as I ever have bringing home two medals.

The next few months are going to be busy as far as fencing I'll be in Tampa in February, Cincinnati, in March and Virgina Beach in April.   The schedule is demanding but I'm looking forward to it.
Like last year I'm setting a sales goal for a major purchase, this year its a new fencing chair. The one that I use now is my team captains old one. It has served me well to this point but it is time I got one of my own that was built for me. A new fencing chair is approximately $2,000 or 333 dozen cookies. A big goal no doubt, but I have never backed down from a challenge.
Thank you all for your support over the last 12 months and for sticking with me during my cookie experiment and fencing adventure.

Little bites of buttery independence!

No it is not a hobby it is not something I am doing "just because" Wheeling Chef is my business, small at the moment but building every day. The recipes are not ones I lifted from the web they are ones I've developed from research and trial and error. The business supports my passion for my fencing and I wouldn't have it any other way. Granted the business started at a time when all I could afford was a 5lb bag of flour and a box of butter and I needed to raise funds to cover some major expenses that I was hardly prepared for. Now those little bits of buttery goodness have done so much more for me then I ever intended. Yes the budget is still tight, but cookies are helping ends meet more and more. There were times when I wondered what I had gotten myself into, and if this crazy idea was to crazy to go anywhere, but just like fencing, and life in general I just put my head down and powered through. Now like fencing, cookies are turning the corner, with every dozen I get closer and closer to my dream. Who knew that butter flour and sugar could be so liberating. Now its time to head back into the kitchen and create a few more dozen little bites of buttery independence!

Well that was fun!

As most of you know I spent last weekend in Kansas City at a fencing tournament. I am happy to report that I fenced very well rolling away with two shiny medals! Thanks to your suppourt and love of wheeling chef cookies I was able to pay my registration fee, cover my hotel room, eat and buy a new mask! More importantly thank you all for the text messages, Facebook posts and tweets wishing me luck, those meant more to me then the financial support.  Delta behaved themselves and my chair and equipment arrived in one piece, honestly I think they managed to bend it back to where it was before the infamous flight from hell.

I never thought I would be participating in wheelchair fencing nor that I would be supporting my participation in it with the profits from cookies, but here we are almost two years into my fencing career and a year and a half into running a cookie business and things are rolling right along. My next major event is in Cincinnati Ohio March 16th-19th and then  April 13,- April 16,   Virginia Beach, Virginia. I'm going to be vary busy.. And I'm going to have to start selling a lot of cookies.

This years big goal is to pay for the tournaments and  get a new fencing chair, the one i'm using now is hand me down and has served me well but its time to get one built just for me, They are not cheap but worth it, a new chair breaks down to about 500 dozen cookies but  it can be done.


Again I cannot express my gratitude for the support I've received from all of you. Thank you for joining and supporting me on this journey.