Alignment Over Perfection - What’s Ahead in 2023
…I’m back!
In this episode, I’m excited to share what’s been happening over the last several months and what you can expect going forward.
We’ll be chatting about alignment versus perfection, especially in light of my own realization that I wasn’t fully aligned with my business at the end of 2022.
I’m also sharing the new vision and mission for Culinary Creator Business School plus how we can work together, no matter where you’re at in your culinary business.
Links from this episode
Watch our new free masterclass to learn our 4-step framework to teaching online and the details of our new program, The Online Jumpstart™️!
Get on the waitlist for The Profit Parfait™️ (for experienced business owners)
Sign up for my FREE Culinary Roadmap and learn how to start a flexible and fulfilling online business.
Say hello to Cynthia on Instagram → @culinarycynthia!
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CYNTHIA SAMANIAN: Hello, hello. I'm back. It's me Cynthia, and I have missed you all. This episode has been months in the making, if not more. I may not have had podcast episodes since gosh, like fall 2022, but that doesn't mean things have been at a stand still over here. No, in fact, it's been quite the opposite and I'm going to tell you all about that in this episode.
This is a totally unscripted, off the cuff episode, just so you know, I have some notes in front of me, but I'm just going to be speaking to you as a friend, because I have a lot of things to share and some of them are personal and some of them are more business-related. But as you probably know, from your experience as a solopreneur, business is personal. We are not robots. We power our businesses from our heart. So I want to share a little behind the scenes with you before I ultimately get into what's new for Culinary Creator Business School.
Now, one thing I will say is that I have been recording a lot of interviews for the podcast. But I've kind of been sitting on them. They will come out after this episode and I'll tell you why I've been sitting on them. There is a reason.
So what has been going on? Well, 2022 was a blur of a year. I don't know if you felt like this, but that was probably one of the strangest years.
A lot of good things happened, I have to say. And also some bad things.
In terms of positives, well we were able to buy a home, which was really exciting. I went to Harvard Business School for my 10-year reunion, which was eye opening, I have to say. We traveled to France. We spent time visiting family in Seattle.
And then the fall hit. And I don't know, after a really busy summer, I just thought that maybe things would quiet down. Well, it was kind of the opposite. We moved into our home, which, uh, you know, has a lot of character, you could say. We have some older windows that led me to urgent care as I tried to open them and they didn't quite agree with me. Our children's daycare situation was a bit in limbo. And the real thing I have to say. The thing that was really just pulling at my heart was what was happening in Iran.
My family immigrated from Iran in the seventies during the revolution. I was born here in the U.S. but I still very much feel connected to Iran and to the people there. In the fall, I was completely consumed by the atrocities that were happening in Iran following the killing of Mahsa Amini who was just 22 years old. If you haven't heard about this, I don't know where you've been, um, but frankly I'm not surprised because Western media has not really covered it to the extent that you would expect given that there is a full blown revolution happening in Iran right now.
But I've shared it on my social media and will continue to share it because that is actually the most valuable thing we can all do to support the Iranian people. They do not have a voice. They do not have a platform. They do not have internet access.
I've leaned into this more, into sharing more about Iran. Yes, it's not technically about food or business, but I share it because I have a platform. It's not a huge platform, but it's still a platform and regardless of the size, it exists. And we have to use the platforms that we have to be the voice for others, especially those who don't have one.
Needless to say there wasn't really a moment in 2022 when I actually felt settled. It's really, really hard to focus on your business when everything around you is in constant motion or just feels chaotic or deeply saddening. But that entire experience, everything that kind of happened in the later part of 2022, really helped me think about the business I want to build moving forward and that's something I'll touch upon later in this episode.
Now how did this personal stuff impact the business? Well, they are interconnected, right? I don't know how much you can really compartmentalize as an entrepreneur. I think it's really tough.
Last fall, I started to slip on some things that I knew were core tasks in my business. For example, releasing podcast episodes. Hello, it's been a while, right? Well, instead of doing that, I just found myself spending a lot of time thinking. Scribbling. Jotting down notes. Sketching out ideas.
I had felt this type of thing before. This unsettling in my business. I knew that this wasn't me procrastinating or being lazy or being burnt out. Or having self-doubt or imposter syndrome. There are all sorts of reasons why you could say, well, maybe Cynthia, this is why you're not doing it.
In fact, in my program, I'm constantly teaching about this idea of taking imperfect action. Doing things even when you're not feeling fully ready or fully comfortable. This is not that.
This is misalignment. This is what happens when there's energy working against you in a way that is just impossible to ignore. But again, I knew what this was. I had experienced it before.
And I knew that these were actually symptoms of misalignment. I describe it as having that gut feeling, just knowing that, you know, you're doing something that's not lighting you up the same way it used to. Uh, you feel resistance to doing the work. And it's not because it's technically hard. It's not because you don't know how to do it. But because there's this force working against you. I had recorded a handful of really great podcasts in your views last fall. And I was just sitting on them. There was something in me that said, Nope. We're not going to hit publish. Technically I could do it. That wasn't a problem. But there was something holding me back from pressing publish.
And I knew that I wanted nothing more than to keep building Culinary Creator Business School, but I had to take a minute to step back and reevaluate some of the assumptions I had around the business.
So here's what I did. And I didn't know if it would quite work at the time. Of course. I did more than just this, but I think the real catalyst was taking a night away.
My husband had encouraged me to do this before. And he's like, Cynthia. I've got the kids. Just why don't you go take a night for yourself? Just go somewhere. And I never really used that calling card, but I did at the end of December. I knew that I needed a night away. Not just because I wanted to sleep a little bit more. In fact, I didn't sleep that much. I just wanted to change up my surroundings and have a different space to think. So that's exactly what I did. I went on HotelTonight. I found a room in San Francisco a few days before New Year's Eve. It wasn't expensive and I booked a room for myself and that was perhaps the best $175 I spent. And when you have a business, you are used to spending money on different services and things. So I could justify this. This was a really big deal because I had to leave my two girls at home with my husband who is amazing with them but I was going to spend time away from them and I wanted it to be worth it.
So I knew that more than anything, I wanted to gain some clarity around my business. Like I love working on my business so some of you may be like, well, Cynthia, why didn't you just relax? When something is just on your mind to the point where you can't think about anything else, for me, I just want to work through it. So that's what I did.
I went to Target, I got these huge, massive sticky notes and I had these markers and I just went to town and I started working on the vision for CCBS. The mission. What were my goals? Where do I want to take this business? And I was just answering some really big questions and it felt so good to get these thoughts out of my head and on paper. And also to be able to sit with them and look at them by myself for hours.
Since then things have evolved a bit. And what I'm going to share with you is our vision, mission and the different ways that you can work with us inside CCBS.
Before I get into that though. Here's what I want you to take away from this episode. I hope that it can help you if you're feeling like you're not in alignment with your work. In fact, I want you to deeper into this idea of alignment.
I recently was thinking about alignment versus perfection. We all strive for perfection, even though we know it's not attainable, we all work towards perfection. Perfection for me would mean never missing a podcast recording date or posting consistently on Instagram. You probably know what perfection would look like for you. Is it achievable? No, but we still try.
One thing I thought about is, well, what have we focused on alignment instead of perfection? What if we pursued work that aligned with our mission, with our vision, with our beliefs and our values? What have we pursued work that actually aligned with the favorite kinds of clients we work with? Work that actually lights us up, brings us closer to that dream lifestyle?
To me, alignment is the goal. Not perfection. I don't believe it's possible to achieve complete perfection in near business, but I do think it's really possible to feel aligned in your business. And that's what I want for you.
Now it's hard to know when you're not in alignment. I think it's a personal thing. It looks different for everyone. I felt unmotivated to do daily tasks that were important. I also wanted to turn into a bit of a hermit. I felt slow in my business and at times I just felt like I couldn't move forward. And I thought that that was a weakness. The earlier Cynthia would have said, oh, like I'm being lazy. I'm not being productive. But now that I know that these are, I don't even want to say red flags, but they're signals or symptoms that there's something bigger happening, I embrace it.
I take a step back and I think, okay, maybe I'm on the verge of a big breakthrough. This is what I have to get through, or this is what I have to experience to be on the other side. I want you to take a minute to reflect on your own alignment and if things feel off it's totally okay. But I want you to interpret that as a gift, rather than a setback.
So with that, I am super excited to finally share some of the updates with Culinary Creator Business School. Since that night in San Francisco, I have refined our vision and our mission and I just figured I'm going to share it with you, right? Why not?
So, let me start with our vision statement. If you're not familiar, a vision statement is just, it's a few sentences and it reflects the big ambitious, juicy idea for your company. It's inspirational. It may feel scary big. It's where you want to go as a company. And it's something that I highly recommend you write up for yourself and let yourself dream. Think big here.
So our vision is to bring opportunity and connection to every single kitchen in the world. That's right. I want every single person around the world to be able to either teach from or learn in their own kitchen. Teaching brings financial opportunity and learning creates powerful connection. We all know that food is one of the most powerful mediums at bringing people together.
So I want to bring more opportunity and to connection to every single kitchen in the world. How we do that, well, that's where our mission statement comes into play. Now your mission statement can be paragraphs long. I'm just keeping things super short. So here is how we fulfill our vision today, here's our mission statement.
We help solopreneurs build a life-first culinary business by teaching online. If you've been in my community for a while, this may not sound too surprising. Here are a few shifts I want to point out though.
Solopreneurs instead of culinary pros. More and more, I believe it's less about being a quote professional. And more about having expertise. And that can come from your own experience, cooking at home, like my mom. Or from working in Michelin star kitchens. I know that the term culinary pros was turning people away from CCBS who are actually an amazing fit. They have real expertise and a passion to teach.
Also, most of you are building your business on your own. That's where solopreneur comes into play. You've got your own challenges. You're not only the teacher, but you're also the website developer, the graphic designer, the tech support and more. Knowing this I've updated what I offer in CCBS to give the most support possible in areas where solopreneurs need it.
The next thing I want to highlight is this term life-first business. I used to say profitable. And I still believe profit is important. Don't get me wrong. But I want to also acknowledge the fact that you have a full life. Some of you have young children like me. Others are caring for aging parents or for your own health concerns. You have a lot on your plate.
As a mom, I have a front row seat to this and I can just see what it's like in my own life. And I think this was one of the biggest misalignments I was experiencing myself last year.
I was ignoring these things. Ignoring the fact that yes, I have two children under the age of three and I wasn't weaving it into my business. And I also wasn't making it loudly clear to my community, all of you that I get it. I get where you're at and I can help you build a business while having this full life.
Our businesses don't operate in a silo. They have to fit in or even support the lifestyle we have and help us create the lifestyle we crave. I think it's frankly, impossible to compare you and your business to a business started by a single 20- something with no financial obligations or other responsibilities, except for themselves. And I know because I was that person. I've been an entrepreneur through all of the different life phases from being a single 20 something in San Francisco to being married, to now having two children. And I can tell you that nothing is harder than it is right now. Building a business with a family is no joke.
Now life first doesn't mean that we forget about profit. And we just treat this like a hobby. No, no, no. You are still building a legitimate business. Life first means that you recognize that there is work we all do outside of our business for ourselves and others. It's just our reality.
And the final thing I want to talk about here is teaching online. In our mission statement, I referenced teaching online, but I want to talk about this more in a future episode, because when I talk about teaching online, it's not just about online classes and courses. Those are the traditional ways we think about teaching.
But I believe that you are teaching through your blog posts. You're teaching through hosting a podcast. You can teach through YouTube channel. You can teach through a Substack newsletter. There are many ways to teach that go beyond online classes and courses.
And that's where things are going to start opening up here inside Culinary Creator Business School. We are going to go beyond the traditional definition of teaching online. It all comes back to our vision of bringing opportunity and connection to every single kitchen in the world. And that can be done in many ways.
So you know our vision and you know, the mission. And again, if you haven't done this for your business, I highly recommend it. I have both of these statements posted on my office wall because it is just so important to revisit them over and over again.
Now I want to share with you what's coming up inside Culinary Creator Business School. What are some of the changes? Now, if you're listening to this, it's February 2023, things may look the same or maybe a little bit different, but here's how we can work together.
Essentially I've split up the current CCBS program into two separate programs. Uh, beginner program and a more advanced program. The first program is called The Online Jumpstart. This program will help you build your online business foundation and teach your first online class in 90 days.
If that sounds familiar well it's because the original CCBS program was all about getting you to teach your first online class in 90 days or less. We are taking the best of that program and also adding tools and templates and other resources to help you build your online business foundation on top of teaching.
This is a beginner friendly program. I have to say. So you don't need to have a website or tech skills or a big Instagram following to get started.
Now, this is important. This is not an online course. Okay, this is not an online course. When people think of online courses, I think we tend to think of logging in, watching a video, doing tasks then hoping that it works. The Online Jumpstart is not that. It is what I call a done-with-you implementation program.
Yes, it has content. It has coaching and it has the community group. But more importantly, it's focused on actually getting things done. We have step-by-step trainings. We have more templates than ever before. We have checklists and personalized support.
And what's really new about this is that there's more focus on building your online business foundation than ever before. This includes your branding, your website, your social media, your email list. These are all the things that you need in place to sell anything online. So it's really important that we get into it. And that's what we're going to do inside The Online Jumpstart.
For example, what are the things that we're offering is one that I just, I knew we've got to do this. This is what people need. And it's what people want. It's a website template. Yes. We have a Culinary Creator Squarespace template that you get for free when you enroll in the program.
So if you've been struggling with getting your website up. And perhaps you've bought the domain and you don't know how to hook it up to the website. All of those things, we'll walk through it with you every step of the way inside the program.
Okay. So if you're like yes Cynthia. This is for me. I want to teach online. I've been dragging my feet. I don't know how to get started. I want the website, the email list, all of that. Then I want you to go to theonlinejumpstart.com. I have a free on demand masterclass. It's brand new, it's under an hour long and you can watch it at your own convenience. So again, that's at theonlinejumpstart.com and I'll include links in the show notes.
Now, if you're thinking, Mmm, I've been there, done that. I have a website. I've taught online before. I really want to take things to the next level. Then this program is for you.
It's called The Profit Parfait. And if you speak French, then you get the double meaning. The Profit Parfait is a group mastermind for experienced online culinary business owners who want to add in new layers of revenue. So you can imagine a parfait with multiple layers of revenue. That's what we're going to be working on. So that could come from recorded courses, launching a membership, teaching corporate, offering your own group program. This program is a mix of one-on-one and group coaching.
And one thing that I'm very excited about is that this program is open to anyone, whether or not we've worked together before inside any of my past programs. It is by application only so that I can ensure you're the right fit and that I'm able to support you. Now I'm going to be launching a beta version of this program in early spring. So if you're interested, go to theprofitparfait.com and enter your information to join the waitlist.
What I'm most excited about with this mastermind is that it's not a cookie cutter program because there is no such thing as a one size fits all solution. You are coming into the program with your own expertise, your own business background, your own set of goals. So working in this one-on-one container allows us to really give you that personalized support while also getting to tap into the minds of the people around you, who also have experience.
If you can't tell from my voice, I am just so pumped up about these different ways to work together. What I love is that no matter which level you're at, whether you're a beginner, you're intermediate or advanced, there's a way that we can connect and help you make progress.
Now outside of those two programs, I have a lot more in store. I'm planning to host more workshops both paid and free and possibly return the Planning Potluck, if you know you know .
The best way to stay in the loop is to get on my email list. Once you sign up for The Online Jumpstart training you will automatically be on my list and you'll be the first to know about what's coming up .
Okay, thank you so much for listening. I've missed this podcast so much but I also am respectful of you and your time and I wanted to make sure that once I came back on this podcast, I was able to address everything that's been going on and give you an opportunity to connect with me going forward.
And if you found this episode useful, if there was something that you learned, if you had an a-ha moment, I would really, really love it if you could help me spread the word. Just take a screenshot of this episode, share it on Instagram and tag @culinarycynthia and I would love to share it as well.
Thanks again for tuning in and I'll see you back here next week!
