About ten years ago, I found myself needing to get out of a very bad relationship. I had work as a birth doula, childbirth educator and doula trainer. I had three very small children, however, and I wasn't able to take on the number of births I needed to make ends meet for all four of us to be able to live on our own. I remember sneaking away into another room, late at night, and calculating all my expenses over and over, trying to figure out just how many childbirth classes I'd have to teach to cover the rent, how many births I'd have to attend to pay for food and gas, how many people would need to register for my trainings in order for me to afford clothes and medical expenses and a car payment but I just couldn't make the numbers work. I needed something more.

I come from a family of entrepreneurs and I always thought my birth work was my way of being an entrepreneur. Now that I needed to add a new source of income, I was at a loss. I had been to so many business trainings and literally grew up in the home of two entrepreneur parents. I kept telling myself over and over that I could figure this out. I knew the formula, the one I'd been taught my whole life:

Work you love + things that you stand up for + passion + hard work = financial stability and a life you love!

So -- I started there. I went over and over what I loved to do. I made a list. Birth, sewing, gardening, reading, and food were at the top of the list. I'd look at each of those and then make sub-lists of possible ways to monetize each one. I thought maybe I could grow flowers and sell them at the farmer's market. I started writing a curriculum for an online childbirth class. I considered teaching sex education classes to newly married couples and then when they were pregnant, they'd come to me for their birth needs! I thought about starting a business where I could somehow read books and make a living at it. I even {almost} roped my friends into starting a lingerie business with me, where the niche was that stay-at-home moms sewed all the products. I even bought some ribbon and lace and tried sewing some pretty panties for that one!

You may have guessed by now that what I kept coming back to was food. It seemed like the only sustainable and real thing I could make a living with.

I'd grown up at the feet of two women who were rock stars when it came to cooking: my Grandma Poole and my mama. Not only were they amazing cooks, they were extremely adept at making everything healthy and real. I remember, very clearly, the smells and the flavors at the little mom and pop health food shop my mama and grandma would take me to regularly. It was called Larsen's Health Food Store and they were famous for their Bible Bread Sandwiches.

Needless to say, I had been immersed in cooking and especially health food, my whole life. I finally realized that was what I should do. I started by personal cheffing for customers who had very stringent dietary restrictions. I'd make my clients Key Lime Pies and Chocolate Truffles and Chocolate Covered Macaroons and they RAVED about my food. I couldn't make enough of the desserts, especially, and my clients soon started urging me to try selling them at health food stores.

Larsen's Health Food Store had long gone out of business but there was another mom and pop health food store in my area so, with trepidation, I took them some samples of my chocolate truffle pie and crossed my fingers. I quickly got word back that they LOVED my products and wanted to start carrying them as soon as possible. I was thrilled beyond belief.