So yesterday was my 34th birthday. It was a quiet day, not like in the past when its been a night of drunken debauchery. No this year it was a day of reflection I found myself thinking about how things have changed for me so much in the last 365 days. This time last year I was recovering from my 1st fencing tournament, and I had only flirted with relaunching wheeling chef. Here it is a year later and I am preparing for my 5th tournament and sitting trying my best to expand my simple cookie business into a thriving cookie enterprise. This year has had its share of challenges as well as triumphs,but its those ups and downs that make life fun.
Following my first event in May I knew that fencing was a good fit for me, yes it was hard work and extremely frustrating at times, but the feeling of accomplishment that comes from participating in such a sport has helped me in more ways then I can express. With all the benefits that come with fencing, there is a cost, not only the physical cost of the workouts, but also the financial cost of the sport, in order to continue in the sport that I had fallen in love with I needed to do something to raise some capital, but what?
A few years ago I was at a small Renaissance festival in Michigan where I saw a vendor selling homemade welsh cookies to the masses. Seeing this I thought I could do something similar. With the encouragement of friends and family I started Wheeling Chef. The 1st attempt at a cookie business was not very successful, but I knew it had potential. The idea would be shelved until I needed it. I resurrected wheeling chef in July and I haven’t looked back since. July started slow but a friend picked up on the story and introduced me to a friend of his who wrote a blog about “this guy who sold cookies to support himself in a sport that most people have never heard of.” That exposure gave me a push in the right direction. I dove head first into the world of social media and started to gain followers on twitter. My followers challenged me to push my cookies away from the traditional flavors of my original line to flavors that fit my personality and fed into the “inner pirate” that was starting to unleash itself through fencing and following my own path by selling cookies. Guinness cookies, maple bacon cookies were born! About this time I was contacted by a local radio station personality and did a podcast talking about the strange connection between cookies and fencing.
I started generating sales and was able to pay the entry fee to my 3rd tournament, and buy a new sword.. My coach was seeing development in my fencing and told me to start thinking about going to an international event. This was a huge wake-up call, not only would I have to continue to develop as a fencer but also reequip myself with an internationally rated uniform and weapons. This would mean selling 200 dozen cookies no small task but after a little more exposure on thilllist and some scrimping and saving on my own I managed to purchase the gear! I was so focused on the gear that I came up short on the entry fee, it stung a bit to come that far and still fall sort, but I proved just what I can do when I put my mind to it. So that’s how my last 365 days of my life have been . I still need a new mask and a of course some funding for my next campaign but I know I can make it happen. Sales will boom and sales will dry up to nothing, practice will hurt, I will doubt my resolve and the wisdom of this whole shortbreads and swords a I will just put my head down and solider on, and thats the fun part.
