To do the work you love, you’ve got to unlock a few doors. UNLOCKED Stories are honest conversations with people who chose a path and made it happen.
A note from Ellen: I’m excited to feature this interview with Brandon Weeks, a pastry chef and entrepreneur based in Portland, Oregon.
He’s in the process of doing something that thousands of people dream about: opening up his own restaurant. He’s got a great story — and some sound advice on what it takes to get big things done.
Read on… and try not to drool on your screen!
What do you do?
[Brandon]: I’m a pastry chef. I currently work in a restaurant where I handle the dessert menu, breads, pastries and cheese plates.
My dream — which I am pursuing right now — is to run my own sexy shop specializing in ice cream and hot donuts. Like a “treat lounge.” It’s going to be called: Hunnymilk.
You’re about to do something that thousands — if not millions — of people dream about: start your own business! Where did the original idea for your ice cream and donut “treat lounge” come from?
[Brandon]: I’ve always had a huge sweet tooth — ever since I was a little kid. When mom would bring home a big tub of ice cream for me and my brothers and sisters to eat, that was always the happiest day of the week!
Sweets just make people happy. But as a chef, I’ve noticed that many desserts are prepared really poorly — made with low-quality ingredients, fruits that are out of season, bad oil for deep frying, or served when they’re not at peak temperature.
It always makes me so disappointed to bite into a treat that’s just… mediocre. Especially when — with just a few upgrades — it could taste so much better!
About six years ago, I wrote the original menu for the treat lounge of my dreams, but didn’t take it any further. After selling off my egg farm — a side-business that I ran for a couple years — last year, I was left with much more free time to re-focus on the treat lounge concept.
During a picnic in the park with my girlfriend, we sat down and came up with fun names for all of the potential ice creams — silly and sexy names like Brunch, Girl Talk, Man Cave and Morning After. Seeing the newly-written menu down on paper re-invigorated my excitement for the project.
I started experimenting with new flavors, frying up new creations, photographing everything… and got things back in motion!
What were you doing before you worked as a chef?
[Brandon]: Before I decided to take the plunge and enroll in culinary school, I was young and a bit of a vagabond. I remember fun times working as a street performing juggler, and gross times working as a pest control technician.
I wasn’t one of those people who grew up cooking at grandma’s knee. The honest truth is that I saw a TV commercial advertising a local culinary school program, and I figured, “Sure, why not?”
My career started as a whim, but I learned to love food and became more and more obsessed with food and cooking as I went along.
I feel lucky to have found a career I love, working with my hands, and making people happy!
Like many entrepreneurs, your biggest struggle in getting Hunnymilk off the ground has been getting funding to open the first shop. That’s a major “locked door.” How did you open it?
[Brandon]: Getting my dream off the ground requires a good bit of startup capital. I had intended to finance it through a traditional business loan, which can be a long, tedious process.
I’d heard about the website Kickstarter, a cool crowd-funding resource, so I decided to give it a shot before going forward with the bank loan.
Putting together a Kickstarter campaign forced me to really evaluate and refine my menu and concept. I built a website with a full photo gallery, developed and tested dozens of new recipes — essentially writing half a cookbook. This was an extremely important exercise in clarifying what, exactly, I wanted my future business to be.
The bad news is that I didn’t reach my intended fundraising goal. However, about two days into my campaign, I attracted the attention of an investor who just happened to come across my Kickstarter page. He liked my concept, wrote to me, we met several times, and now… we’re taking it all the way!
In the end, Kickstarter did help me to get the funding I needed — just not in the way I expected!
I now have a very business-savvy partner who is just as passionate about opening Hunnymilk as I am, and who can offer great insights, financial support, networking abilities, and be an overall great asset to what I’m trying to build.
What’s next for you — and when can I come to Portland to eat one of your treats?
[Brandon]: I’m now on the path of living the “American Dream,” in a sense — opening my own business and pursuing my own path. That in itself is pretty exciting, but I know this is only just the beginning.
There is still a ton of work to do just to get my first shop fully operational, and even more work to become successful and ultimately grow and expand into other locations and cities.
I am currently negotiating a lease on a location for the first Hunnymilk shop — which is very exciting. Now all that’s left is finalizing the terms, hiring an architect, and building it out!
I can’t wait to see it take shape and come to life. If all goes well, we should be up and running just as the weather here in Portland turns warm, sunny and ice-creamy: in late spring 2015.
Lastly: What’s your biggest piece of advice for anyone who wants to stay motivated, do amazing work and unlock major doors?
[Brandon]: Take daily action.
Until there’s commitment, there is hesitation.
Once you decide what path you’re going to take, just do something every day to move forward in that direction.
It could be something as small as making one phone call, or as big as launching a website or signing a lease. It doesn’t matter, just as long as it’s something.
Keep your mind focused and in the game.
UNLOCK yourself
Three questions to think about, write about — or talk about with a friend.
1. Brandon became a chef somewhat “accidentally.” He saw a TV advertisement about a culinary program and thought, “Why not?” He followed the impulse to check out the program, and the rest is sweet, glazed, sprinkled history!
: Have you ever had a little whisper inside of you saying, “Just try this” or “Why not?” Did you listen?
2. By creating a Kickstarter campaign to get funding for his treat shop, Brandon was forced to “get his ducks in a row” — clarifying his business concept, writing a new menu, developing flavors, coming up with a budget, and more.
: Do you have a business or career project in the works right now? What are some of the basic, foundational steps you need to take? What would help you to buckle down and get it done? (A mentor to push you, a deadline, doing it with friends, doing it in public, reporting your progress on your blog…?)
3. Brandon says that if you’ve got a dream, you must take action daily to make progress towards it — even if your “action step of the day” is something as small as one phone call.
: What is one action step you could take to move closer to your goals, today?
To learn more about Brandon’s delicious project, visit the Hunnymilk website here.
For more UNLOCKED interviews, click over here.
Know somebody that ought to be spotlighted? Write to me here.
See you next time for another inspiring conversation!