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Daydreams and Time Management

By Amy Nielsen

I feel a bit like a magpie with a shiny new button to examine. The last month of travel has opened my eyes to possibilities that I never felt I had the chops to pursue.

The most important lesson I learned is that I am totally capable, even in my rusted state, of running any kitchen anywhere as a chef with no real help coming from any side other than my own backside. I felt powerful. Large and in charge. Within myself fully. And it felt great.

Three days ago I found the exact truck I want to buy. It’s located in San Antonio and is perfect. Not too big for me to run solo, but not too small that I couldn’t run a big show with one or two helpers on board; outfitted with beautiful reach-in coolers for the salads and a delightful area set up with baskets for fresh fruits and veggies. It has a place for self-serve beverages from an old fashioned soda jerk handle. I wouldn’t even have to rip out the offending fryer that seems to be standard equipment in every truck I have looked at so far.

I cannot get my budding food truck business out of my head. So much so that I doodled the adwrap for it while waiting for my kids to get out of the tub last night.

The truck will be really pretty and feminine with a touch of steampunk flare. I need to find a different font though. The one I used is too fussy to read from a good distance away. I was supposed to be doing was the dishes. Or the laundry. Or perhaps washing my kid’s hair. But instead I was doodling little café tables and streetlamps with a sweet little floral border and a big wheel bicycle on the back.

I did finish the dishes, but the girls washed their own hair, or more closely smeared soap on each other’s heads, then took themselves up to bed. I think.

While listening to my class lecture this week I was making up recipes from the ingredients my teacher had on the stage.  I was supposed to be learning about the proper vegetable fruit additive ratio for optimal nutrient density in smoothies. Instead, I was wondering, if I take the cucumbers, mint and the avocado, could I can make a beautiful cool summer soup!

Smoothie, cold soup. Tomato, tomahto. Wait, was that three or four to one with the proteins?

I have a bunch of work I have to do for other people. Projects I promised and projects I want to do. And a project still sitting on the cutting table yet to be sewn together. But I cannot seem to wrap my head around a single task that doesn’t involve growing my business and working toward that blasted truck. The fabric I have to cut for the under tunic would make lovely little café curtains to frame the service window.

Truck or trailer? If I get a truck I can run it around the country easily with a helper. But I can’t take my family on the road without towing a camper. If I get a trailer I can drop it and run more easily with a truck to the store. But a truck and trailer are twice as expensive as a truck alone. Mac and cheese for dinner, need to get the water boiling.

We went to our county summer fair today. I went to every food truck and trailer to see what they had inside. How they operated. What the food looked like coming out and what the menu options were.

My kids have never eaten so much junk in their lives. I fear for my sanity when all of the sugar and chemicals hit their central nervous systems just about bedtime tonight. But they tolerated my insanity until the magician show started, then all bets were off. I learned a lot of great information. Especially that carnival food sells at carnivals and real food doesn't.

I planned into our September vacation to not one, but two food truck festivals yesterday as bookends to our month with Nana. They are near enough to our vacation spot for me to visit both. I hope to learn more about the organizing company as they do festivals nationwide. We are going to eat well those days for sure! It’s too hot and sandy at the beach anyway, right?

What I should be doing is working on packing for the conference I am going to next week. A conference I chose when I had a totally different plan in mind. A conference that is still relevant to my schooling, but not so relevant to owning a food truck. It is something I am still highly interested in, but now it feels like I have to figure out how to incorporate those teachings into my new plan. Maybe it will spark a different idea for the truck. Maybe I will find a business partner who wants to do the truck with me.

How do I incorporate the schooling I am currently doing? This truck thing is a total left turn from where I was going with my health and wellness mentoring.  Is there a way to have my clients be less local and more regional, working long distance with them and visiting when there is a food festival near them? Are the two businesses too different to operate concurrently? Not as the same business but two sides of the same concept. Health and wellness mentoring and a healthy fresh food truck.

I am meeting with a small business advisor next week to discuss possible options for resources, funding with loans and grants, and start up mentoring. I would like to have at least an idea of what I want to start as a business when I talk to them. At this point that means deciding on the model. Both have plusses and minuses for me, my family and my career.

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