Bare with me first time ever posting a blog... I was told to capture the readers interest & to hope for a returned visit to a Blog the person Blogging needed to be REAL. Well this is real & I tried to include minor details to help paint the picture, but not so many details the interest was lost or I left the reader thinking I told way to much... Here Goes Nothing!
Vibrant Events Catering is something I've been talking about wanting to do for quite a few years....There was all the dreaming & plan making that went along with it!!! Every evening my husband (Matt) and I spoke of all the "What if this..." & " What about that!" Then, Israel & I would menu plan & drum up new ideas of service lines every chance we got. The name was born & still I waited! Matt & I talked about when....I talked about it a lot with Israel who works next to me through it all (even decided to join the fun on this endeavor), I talked about it with my siblings who support every single thing I do, I spoke about it with my parents, my in-laws, our friends, and the list goes on. Totally not being the type of person to just JUMP! Rather you have known me for a long time or your just now getting to know me....This is a FACT 100% no way around it! (: I AM A PLANNER :) My husband is the "JUMPER" & in the past year boy have we jumped....Did you notice that "WE" jumped! I am a very big believer that people must do what they LOVE;) If it stops being FUN and you stop loving it at the same time you have to ask yourself "Why am I doing this." If it comes down to only doing something for the money, "Is that reason enough to not live life to the fullest?" December 21 2015, was the day I forever changed my focus from always doing what a Career driven person would do and I flipped it to going after what felt right. This was a very important day because it was the day of my evaluation from my VERY NEW Executive Leader. *Okay short side note here: I had worked for my now past employer for 12 years- within those years I was the Director of Nutritional Services managing 27-33 people, a budget of 4.2million, and always came in under budget with increased revenue. Back to my Eval.... I was nervous, as we all should be no matter how long we've been in the game...I sat (confidently also)! The first words he said were "You may think this is going to be easy, but its not...You're not as great as you think you are... We will start doing things the way I want them done!" WOW, okay lets hear how you think things should be done (reminder guy isn't from food world whatsoever). *Other side note...We make lots of things from scratch & that's the pride of the kitchen. We enjoy making our menu from fresh ingredients! Well, first suggestion from the new guy is to scrap all the fresh & Order in Papa John's Pizza (laughable right), get more items already pre-made to save labor dollars (which we were already $15k under for the year), & start to look at new food vendors (no reason just because). Oh plus the biggest kicker & why this all has become what it is today. He states, "NO more catering to the outside community (yes, I cried when he said that...I'm not to proud to admit tears fell when I was stabbed in the heart)!!!" So, that was only a glimpse of my 2hr evaluation & the last few hours before starting my 2015 holiday vacation. Now imagine how well a hardworking, driven, dedicated, successful leader took that...... Correct, Not so Well! I can take constructive criticism, I can listen to suggestions, I can even handle change, but I cannot be bullied!!! Thus, the determination set in to be self-employed & doing what I truly love!!! My husband of course wasn't the happiest when I told him how my evaluation went. So being the "JUMPER" he is....You guessed it, I had more support than one person could ever dream of. I gave myself 1 year to figure it all out. First the location, cost, construction, & blah blah blah!!!! Then once that was all figured out came the hardest part. Making sure my amazing team would be ready for the day I decided to leave. Not really knowing when I was going to decide I went to work everyday wanting only the best for my team & our patients. We had lots of great success this past year, but the meetings were getting longer, the phrase I'm here for you & support you was getting old!!! Not knowing what the Executive Leader was really doing (because there were some not very honest things happening) yet I wanted to work through all of it for my team. The team of hardworking, dedicated, & willing to do anything asked of them didn't deserve to be left high & dry!!! I was the cushion for the impact they felt!!! Then it happened...I woke up on Wednesday Morning November 9, 2016 at 4:45am, I got ready for my early morning meeting, I has having a great morning, & walked down to my meeting. I was done!!! Before things could really get started I said the words,"I'm Done!" He laughed & said to take a vacation. I replied, "Just stop talking please & listen...No, I'm not burnt out, I'm not mad, I'm not quitting because you never supported me." I am ready to be a Mom & I will be doing things I love (of course more tears were shed)!!! My time to do something for myself & my family was finally here!!! I've never been so happy to do what I should've been doing all along!!! I fought/worked long & hard along side of 27-33 people for 12 years!!! Now I am fighting for two very cool little dudes who have needed me more then I was ever able to give them with my career. I loved my career, my team, the challenge, & the reward of it all!!! Sometimes the rough patches are there to help us be certain that we feel confident/great about the final decision! Myself, My Family, My Friends.... we are who we are because of the enormous amount of Support we show each other. My friends helped build the kitchen of my dreams, My family has loved me through it all, & those of you I'm lucky enough to serve, "I Thank You for helping make this a New Reality!"
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Katya Swisher: Dedicated Wife, Mother, & Chef who has decided life is about making Unique Services available to everyone! Let's Create ArchivesCategories |