It takes real effort to see that you are stuck. Effort and time. To break out of the cycle of stuckness, I need to continually remind myself of three things. Write-them-on-paper-and-stick-it-by-the-keyboard things:
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blog
The blog is my Whole Self Home Base,
where all the aspects of my life come together through my writing.
It’s like a bread recipe - bring a wide variety of ingredients together and create something way better than the individual parts.
You’ll find riffs on community and connection, musings on baking and fermentation, reflections on travel experiences and much more.
I’ve been lucky enough to chat briefly with Jeffrey Hamelman over the years, via email or a quick lunch at WheatStalk, but this time I got to sit down and really dig into his remarkable life and career, from finally convincing his first boss to hire him, to learning the craft and eventually teaching bakers on six continents.
This episode is one of the real highlights of Rise Up! so far. It was a dream when I first started the podcast but I have to say the actual chat was even better than I imagined. Enjoy!
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In this episode, we talk about Peter’s long and winding career as a baker, teacher and author. I learn all about Roman pizza, the Pizza Expo in Vegas, and Peter’s On The Rise bread symposium coming up in June. We also talk about the future of culinary schools in North America. All while I try my best to not be a complete fanboy.
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When we’re bootstrapping a business or starting something new, money is often a constraint. More money will help us do more, faster. With out it, we feel stuck.
We have more assets than money, however. Often, we just need to be creative.
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Marc-Andre Cyr is a baker and founder of the coolest grain gathering in Canada. Now in it’s fourth year, with a team of volunteers making it work, A Taste For Grain is quickly turning into one of the ‘must attend’ gatherings for bakers, brewers and other grain-heads.
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What would happen if world leaders, especially those who we disagree with the most, sat down with a set of paints and a piece of fresh, blank paper and make a sketch? What would they draw? What would it look like?
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I first met Sheena Howdle when I was up in Saskatoon visiting Night Oven Bakery. She was calm, cool and collected, right in the middle of the mayhem of a brand new busy bakery. I was very impressed.
I’m totally in awe of how Sheena has structured her life. I hope you get a ton of ideas on how to structure your work and play after listening to this episode.
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Consider the following: You're struggling with a problem that you just can't figure out, so you ask a friend for help.
You then proceed to defend every assumption, every decision and every design choice you've made.
It doesn't work because the starting question is wrong.
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I say it all the time: there’s something special about talking with bakers. And if you don’t believe me, spend a few minutes talking with Sarah Rossi and you’ll be convinced that I’m right.
I met Sarah at WheatStalk 2018 when I held my breath and crashed her table in the lunch room. And am I ever glad I did. She’s not only friendly, bright and articulate, but she has a deep love for her profession.
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It's been a good week. But you know what? Every week’s been a good week. It's just that this week, I made the effort to listen. My wish for you is that you'll take the time this week to listen as well.
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In this episode, we have a great chat and get caught up on all the cool things Teisha’s done in her young life. We also dig into exactly what it’s like to be a young baker, working the early shift when it seems the world around you is on an opposite schedule. And we figure out how to be at peace with that - as much as possible anyway.
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You may feel like working on four projects simultaneously, while also making supper and doing laundry, is possible. But it’s not.
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If I look a little pale, it's because I'm dealing with subscription fatigue. If you are trying to simplify your life to the essentials, subscriptions can help, up to a point. But too many subscriptions become a burden that you don't want to bear.
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Lieschen Moller has a busy career in the health care field, but bread baking has her in its gluten-y tentacles. Last year, she started Lizzy's Bakehouse, a cottage microbakery that is making awesome bread for her subscription customers.
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New team members, potential spouses and business partners need to take the time to listen, to give context, to understand each other. The time spend is an investment that will pay back again and again, as the team works in the same direction.
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Over the past several posts I've laid out a way of thinking of bakery economics, so that you can think critically about what is blocking you from building a business that works for you over the long term. A way to make the change that you desperately want but can't seem to afford.
This is not an easy road, but then again, neither was opening a bakery. You've already done some extremely hard work. You can do this too.
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He had no idea until we spoke, but Paul MacEwan was a huge inspiration to me as a baker and bakery builder. That’s because I stumbled across the Slow Rise Bakery blog way back in 2007 and read and re-read every single post.
In this episode, I finally got to meet Paul and learn how things have changed since those first days 12 years ago.
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Last time, you did some figuring about what it would cost you, each week, to make the changes needed to get your bakery stable. Where are we going to find that money? Well, we only have a couple of options…
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When Helene Godin left her law career, she dreamed of opening a cute bakery that served her local community in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. And she did that, at least for a little while.
By The Way Bakery now has four locations in New York and is in over 40 Whole Foods Markets. Oh, and By The Way, everything Helene makes is gluten free, dairy free and kosher!
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So far you've gathered some basic numbers and paused to imagine a business where you are able to take a day off without the entire bakery crashing around you.
I'm willing to bet this still seems huge and impossible, right? This step is going to make the challenge more tangible. And if it's tangible, it's imaginable. And if you can imagine it, you can do it.
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