Farewell To Foodies
Tuesday evening I performed my last official act in connection with Foodies. After dedicating 4 years of my life to the company, I had expected that it would be very difficult to walk away. Fortunately, I’ve had several months to adjust to the idea while I continued to teach classes for the new owners. When my obligation was finally completed, I found it surprisingly easy to walk out the door and drive away. I’m sure that if I had simply turned my back as soon as the sale was final, it would have been much more difficult.
I’ve left other jobs in the past without so much as a second thought, but this was a very different situation. Foodies was something I had created from scratch; a product of my imagination and labor. I developed the concept, designed the facility, and built most of it with my own hands. New businesses don’t come with instruction manuals, so I also had to figure out every aspect of the operation on my own. That meant everything from menus and class schedules, to closed circuit television and online registration systems had to be devised, tested, implemented, and improved. Interestingly, almost all of these products and services are now available from a variety of providers, but that was not the case when I began.
I started Foodies for a number of different reasons, mainly to be my own boss, and to have the opportunity to create something entirely new from scratch. I loved every minute of the planning, designing, inventing, building, creating, plotting and scheming that went into the business. Sadly, once everything was in place and the creative phase was over, I found the day-to-day operation to be mind numbingly boring.
Technically, I’ve been unemployed since the day I sold Foodies in December, but the fact that I was still teaching on a part-time basis allowed me to pretend otherwise. Now that I have no more excuses, I’m going to have to be much more vigilant in my search for whatever comes next. I don’t have any idea what the next thing will be, but hopefully it will involve a lot of planning, designing, inventing, building, creating, plotting and scheming.
Chris,
Reading through more of your past posts along with the newer ones…I have to ask:
If you enjoy creating and building something from scratch…and have proven more than capable of producing a successful venture from it…why continue the search for employment? Why not build a new business, one that will have new challenges and new learning experiences?
You seem rather focused on being unfocused. Rather, your self-stated history shows your interest in changing your professional ’scenery’ and moving on to learn something different. Why stop now? Why settle for looking for employment you might not enjoy when you have proven you can build something new for yourself and expand your own personal knowledge?
Perhaps this would’ve been better suited as an email, but, honestly, this post is old enough that I don’t think anyone else will be reading it for awhile.
Feel free to remove the comment if you believe it’s better suited for more private conversation.
Matt,
I’ve shared enough of my personal history on this site that there isn’t much need for a private conversation. Your question is perfectly valid, and given the deteriorating state of our economy I’m having to reconsider all of my options. Creating a new business requires three things that I lack right now: a great idea, substantial financial resources, and the willingness to commit unlimited time and energy to get it off the ground. Even in the best of times, new business ventures are incredibly risky. In the current business climate, even if I had everything necessary to get it started, the chances of success would be even lower.
Chris,
A perfectly understandable answer. I also failed to consider your family and, more importantly, your son. As a father, myself, I can empathize with the difficulties of giving up ‘family time’ for ‘work time’. It’s the main reason I left my otherwise beneficial retail management career… the better I was at my job and the more I advanced, the less I saw of my two boys. I made the decision to move to a lower paying job closer to home so I could be more of a father to them.
However, I think you’re wrong on the ‘great idea’ front… I’d wager you have a few decent ones rolling around somewhere. The other reasons, of course, are more than valid.
Good luck with the job hunt. I am well acquainted with the feelings that come with longer term unemployment, which is why I wound up in entry level food service for the present. I needed something to pay the bills until I reached the point where I was ready to juggle family and school. I hope you can find what you’re looking for or, at the least, something to keep you interested for the time being.