Bare Speak

Tiny Spoon Chef: Doing Big Business From the Heart

• Lwilliamson • Season 1 • Episode 7

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0:00 | 46:12

Laura Williamson talks with Tiny Spoon Chef founder Janice Carte about how she turned her dream into a successful business, preparing hearty, wholesome meals for everyone from the girl next door to well-known athletes. Bend your ear as we discuss the barriers she’s overcome and the ones she’s still working through, while making her dream a reality. It’s a great opportunity to learn her secrets to building a food empire centered on the wellbeing of her clients, her staff, and the community.

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Thanks for listening to Bare Speak, a space for women who want to feel stronger, more connected, and more supported in their bodies and lives.

I’m Laura Williamson, a fitness and wellness professional with 20+ years of experience helping women move with more confidence, less pain, and more trust in themselves, especially in seasons of change.

*New episodes every other Friday
 *Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurasbarefitness
 *Learn more about me https://barefitnesspilates.com/

A community and on-demand classes are coming soon. If this episode resonated, follow the show and share it with someone who could use the reminder that they’re not alone.

SPEAKER_05

Hey everyone, it's your girl Laura Williamson, and this is Bear Speak. Welcome back. We have another awesome, awesome, awesome guest today. And I'm going to introduce her, but before I introduce her, let me tell you a little bit about myself. Who am I? Well, I happen to be a Pilates instructor, a personal trainer, a health coach, a Reggie practitioner. So essentially, what I am is a professional cheerleader. And I'm happy to have you here today because again, this is Bear Speak, and we are bringing information to you to help you. This show is for you. It's all about you, and I'm happy to do it. Welcome. I'm welcoming Janice Cart today from Tony Spoon Chef.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_05

And you know what? I'm just gonna jump in. Tell us about yourself. Tell us what you do, tell us everything. We want all the deets. Just everything. Every we mean why not? Casual question. It's a casual question.

SPEAKER_01

You know, tell us everything. Yeah. Well, professionally, I founded Tiny Spoon Chef, which is a personal chef company. Um been around since 2013. And we provide all kinds of custom meal solutions with amazing personal chefs around the country. So we're in 110 cities and 15 states now. So that's what we do professionally. That's what I do professionally.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Um, and personally, I think I'm a cheerleader too. So yes, you are. It's a fun kind of matchmaking that we get to do. We get to know all kinds of households all over the country, uh, amazing chefs all over the country, and we get to set them up with happy relationships and hopefully improve lives on both sides. So chefs don't have great lives in like most chefs don't really have great lives in general. It's too many hours, it's not enough quality of life, that kind of thing. So we like to think we're doing a lot better by the people that we get to meet. Okay.

SPEAKER_05

See, I would think you're around great food, so you know what to eat, when to eat, and all the things. That's not the case.

SPEAKER_01

Uh well, think about any time that you really want to go out to eat. It's a time when you're glad not to be working.

SPEAKER_05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

But they're always working. Okay. And to make that food get ready to be put on the plate, somebody started twelve hours before you even got there. What? Twelve hours? Oh, yeah. Okay, so I didn't know that. I just assumed the food came. Yeah, or like that lovely Christmas Eve dinner that people love to go out to have, or Valentine's Day. Okay. Those are not days when I really want to be working.

unknown

No.

SPEAKER_01

So when you think about that, it's part of the way we celebrate, but they're not really celebrating being there. Okay.

SPEAKER_05

I okay. I you know, it makes sense. It makes sense. It makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

You know, okay. I that's fair.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

You know, that gives us insight because a lot of people do not know that. I would never know that if it weren't for you. But before we even we we delve more into you, your business, what you do, and all the things, I always like to give people a little bit of insight sometimes, especially when I know people and I meet people. So I'm gonna allow you to tell the story of how we actually met.

SPEAKER_01

Uh who stalked who?

SPEAKER_05

You started it.

SPEAKER_01

Probably. Well, it was COVID. It was. It was COVID. And and things were, I don't know, I mean, stressful, anxious. It was a weird time.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, my business was actually doing okay. And I felt really guilty about that. Uh I think at the beginning, and then I felt really aware that being a good member of community was important to me, and how could we kind of participate differently? And so once we knew that we were going to be okay and we were doing all the safety protocols and kind of putting the right connections into place, I really reached out to a lot of people in the community to connect and say, how can we shine a light on other small businesses, on other restaurants that were struggling, on just other people that we wanted to support. And so it was giving away a ton of meals with um the local food pantries in the cities we were in. And it was, I reached out to you and I said, Hey, could we do something fun together and do a giveaway and maybe we could use our social media presence and tie in with what you're doing and get some people to understand what you do and why it's important, and so that's how we met. And I don't know, you didn't think it was crazy when I reached out, so I totally didn't because I was in that space.

SPEAKER_05

Like, no, be because I was new, I was new to opening my business, so this has been a while now. I was new to opening my business, so I was welcoming meeting other like-minded people, just other people in general, and I consider myself a shy person. I uh you would think a shy person wouldn't necessarily be doing a podcast, however, yes, I consider myself a a shy person, and I just thought it was incredibly kind, it was it was genuine, it was heartfelt. And you started with that. You you started with how can I help?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, literally, and we wanted we wanted to pay people too. We pay we paid for everything that we did, we paid for services to give away, we did, and we paid for um restaurant gift certificates, and we just sort of said, like, we're okay, and how can we support other people and kind of make a ripple that felt really true to who we are? It's true. And during that time too, we really expanded our efforts, which we still maintain, which is when our chefs have quieter weeks, they have to be hourly by the nature of what they do, but when they have quieter weeks, we connect them with charitable opportunities to show up in their local communities in all of these different states, and we'll pay them for their time. And I think a lot of people want to do better, they just don't know how to connect or they feel like it can't work with their lives, and we make that really attainable for people.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I I mean, I I thought it was awesome, and it was a lot of fun because you didn't one could say, you didn't know me well, also, right? Yeah. But I I went to your house, we were in your kitchen cooking.

SPEAKER_01

That was all kinds of things. But that was the first time, that was the first time I'd ever done anything like that either. Really? I'd ever done anything for social media cooking like that. Okay. And I think back now to how many, I don't know. Like now it's like thousands of hours on social media, on live television, on recorded television that I've cooked. That's true. But that was the very first. Was that the I really think so? That was your first year. Yeah, I know, I know. And we planned it all out. We were cooking in my kitchen. It was.

SPEAKER_05

I met the dog. I met your dog, the baby. Yep, yep. You know, and I mean, again, it just it just worked.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

We clicked and you were so kind. And it it was just it's you can't say, I don't know. How can you say no to that? It's just it's kindness. Like it's, you know, and believe it or not, people can sometimes be challenged with that. Like, would you you're being kind, how come? But no, in this case, it just it felt right. We went with it, and we've known each other ever since. I I like to think we've gotten much closer since then.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And I think that this is I think what we do, this is what it's all about. Um, but before I get all, you know, boo-hoo and in the teas, because you know, I get it, I get all I got I get all of my feelings. I do, I do that, and even more so now. I don't know if that's an age thing, I don't know what that is, but but anyway, um, so tell us, how long have you been a chef? How did you start?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I started working, I started working in restaurants when I was 15. Um, I wouldn't, I don't know. Sometimes it's weird to call yourself a chef, like but you are.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, but I guess I mean chef. I didn't, I said it.

SPEAKER_01

I I didn't go to culinary school. That's not my training. I've just loved it my whole life. I started working as a personal chef. Um, I guess it was probably 2012. I formed the business officially in 2013.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

And but I've loved cooking my whole life. And more than that, I just love celebrating with food. And so whenever there was a gathering, I was like, oh, I'll make this, I'll make that. I'll I worked um for Barbara Lynch uh for a while, and I would make people's birthday cakes at number nine park.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

And then Chef uh Chef Lynch would pay me to make the staff birthday cakes, and you know, it was a big staff at number nine, and it was just constantly making this person's birthday cake and that. And that felt pretty fancy, you know, like she's really talented, and um, it kind of rolled from there. So I always joke that this business wanted me more than I wanted it, because I just thought this is a happy way to spend a few hours a week just cooking for people and taking care of them. But they kept telling friends who kept telling friends, and I'm also a helper, so I just kept saying yes, and then I thought, Jesus, what am I gonna do with all of this? It's kind of a lot, and maybe I could just share it. Maybe this could be a happier way somebody else could live too.

SPEAKER_05

So you also, I also know you not personally, but we have a mutual person in common or per sense. And we didn't find out until I don't even know how we figured that out, because we didn't figure it out right away. It took us some time to figure out that we had Anna and in common from Oleana.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_05

And and that was because once upon a time, uh I used to go for dinners in Cambridge, which is amazing, amazing restaurant, amazing food, by the way. But at any rate, and then you you told me what was the story with Anna anyway at Oleana? There was a story there also. Again, we didn't know each other yet, but we had connection and we didn't know we already had connection.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so uh and again, I think the power of the universe um is such a powerful the power of the universe is powerful. The power of the universe is something that I'm humbled by routinely. I believe that the universe wants us to win, and and it's our obligation to keep re refocused on the right things during challenging times. But uh I was actually sitting at the bar at Oleana years and years ago, and she was there and she was running expo at the restaurant, and I was there with a friend who was a chef, classically trained, and and we just had this conversation about how she wanted to start a canning and preservation program. And you know, she's a Middle Eastern chef and has traveled a lot through Turkey and Lebanon, and and my grandmother taught me a lot of these things, and so we connected for that. It was supposed to be a shorter project. And my degree and background in graphic design and marketing, I said, Oh, if we're gonna make pickles and jams and stuff, we should have th these kinds of jars and I'll design some labels and we'll kind of redo the whole thing. So she's she said, I don't want you to leave, I want you to stay. So I did that for several years, and she was creatively slowing down as her daughter was, you know, maybe like six at the time. I think she just graduated college, actually, which is hilarious. Um, so she said, We're kind of creatively slowing down, and I just thought that's really uninteresting. I'm a growth person, that's what I did for her for several years. So that's when I started taking on work as a personal chef. Um, so none of that was intentional. Had I not been kind of sitting at the bar that night and having that conversation, had I not been authentically me and said, You don't want to use ball canning jars, we want to do a little bit better. Like, I'll just take on more. I mean, none of that would have happened. And um when the personal chef thing started growing, it was exciting and also terrifying, and then moments of assurance and waffling, and what are you doing? And a paycheck is really nice. It's really hard to not you know know when things are gonna come. And right, um, so it was it was always this back and forth, but but uh she's such a powerhouse of a person and um is so credited for having brought Middle Eastern food here to the US, especially at such a time when um you know Middle Eastern food was not something that was easy to market here. So she marketed it as Eastern Mediterranean, which was such a smart move.

SPEAKER_05

Awesome. Yeah, and again, I've eaten there, the food is is amazing. But now let's fast forward. Yeah, okay. Tiny spoon chef. Tell us about it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Uh what do you want to know about?

SPEAKER_05

Okay, so how did how did you start how did you start the business in the I idea or the concept of tiny spoons? Because I love the tiny. You told me the tiny spoon story.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Could you please share that with us? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

So when I started working as a personal chef, just a couple inquiries had kind of come in to Oleana, and a couple inquiries had come in to me. Um, and I had a friend who'd done a little bit of personal chef work, a couple friends, um, who were transitioning to other parts of their job. So these opportunities kind of kept coming to me. And I said yes to a couple of them. Uh and then people want to know what you're calling yourself.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

So a friend of mine, I said, Well, is it weird if I just call it tiny spoon chef? Because I've collected tiny spoons for, you know, I don't know, a decade or so. And not like the little state spoons, the little novelty, you know, spoons. I would go to different countries and traveling and go to the flea markets and, you know, go to the Brimfield Fair here and just truck through bins of discarded cutlery, which makes me sound like such a nerd, but it's very true. No, it doesn't. And so I have hundreds of them. Right. I mean, and then you name a business this, and over, you know, the last 13 years, then I have easily like another 150 of them because people just keep giving them to you. Um, so I named the business this, not really thinking much more than that, just I have an enamorment with them. But when you have a small spoon, it's a moment of laughter and reflection, and it's a connection to childhood, and you can't eat too fast. It's like comical and slow and savoring, and you make it a moment. And um, there's something that just feels special about that, and most of them are really different. I don't really have very many sets of them, so most of them are really different. So it's kind of a fun thing. And now it took me eight years to have branded tiny spoons made to give away, which is a huge well, it was a huge missed opportunity. Like, how did I wait for eight years? But um, and so now it becomes this playful thing where sometimes we'll do an event for like big football players, you know, and we'll do desserts or things and give them a tiny spoon. And they just kind of look at it like what am I gonna do with a little spoon? Like it's perfect. Here's the real thing, whatever, and they kind of like laugh and look at one another, and it's this little thing, and then they just kind of succumb to the delight of like, oh my god, this is ridiculous, this is so silly, here we are all together. Yeah, and there's a shared feeling. Yeah, so I love that it's not fussy, it's not Epicurean. This it's not, you know, there's so many fussy names out there. Yeah, culinary, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_05

It's no, it's just it's an experience and and it or brings forth an experience for the person.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, it's joyful and silly in a moment, and like, let's remember this and feel what it feels like. And that's what it is for me.

SPEAKER_05

So tell me, who who's your client?

SPEAKER_01

Who do you work with? I'm surprised at how many different groups we work with. I I would have thought when I first started doing this work that it would have been all families. I think that's what I would have said to you. Oh, we're gonna help a ton of families. And there are many families that we help who just to earn our households, you know, not wanting to sacrifice their professional life while having kids and that kind of hustle. But there are also a lot of like dual income no kids that just want to kill it professionally while not compromising their health. Because we all know that the way we invest in our bodies throughout our lives are gonna reap the rewards or or feel the difficulties for the rest of our lives. So um a lot of people hire us to take care of their aging parents. It helps keep their relationship more balanced instead of critical and managing and babying and that kind of thing. We can come in and be a great friend and a resource and provide health and vibrancy. So that's definitely a big part of what we do as well. Um we're really getting into the pro-athlete space a lot with uh major league baseball. We have a couple NFL players and um and we're growing that relationship as well. So a couple people in pro basketball as well. So that's a growing field. So it's been really interesting.

SPEAKER_05

What are some of the challenges with what it is that you do on the day-to-day uh tiny spoon, Chef?

SPEAKER_01

Like personally, my role.

SPEAKER_05

I I'm gonna say your role first, yes. Let's start with you, because actually I want to focus on you a little bit more and because I know when we met, um the food, how healthful the food was, and and food options for people was very important or has been important to you, right? Especially it it's about if I understood you correctly, it was about catering to the need of the client first and foremost, but you also, for you personally, you wanted them to have options that were healthful, that would help them stay on a path of their best health and healthful and wellness selves. Yeah. I I recognize that because you're a pretty healthy and fit person yourself, but you also live life to the fullest. Like you don't take shortcuts, and I find that your balance, your ability to balance or to to try and balance that works out really well because as a as a personal trainer, what I recognize is people don't know how to balance or where to balance. They feel like, well, I eat too much of that, so I gotta go lose weight, so I'm not gonna be allowed to do this. Whereas I have recognized with you that you still you live life. Like you go out, you spend time with people you care about, you take care of your staff. And it also, we see it with your employees, at least I see it with your employees, and I see it in how you approach the food and the meals that you send out to people. So long and short of it, what are some of your challenges being a business person, a businesswoman? Uh, and what are some of the the challenges you find in your business itself as a business? So I'm separating the two business person and personal. And you tackle whichever one works for you. I know it's a big, there are two big questions, I recognize, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01

As a business person, I think I I've really had to figure out how to support myself in the growth that we've had. So the first seven or eight years we were here, seven years we were here exclusively in Boston. And so when I consider that, and consider that that means in less than five years, we've added 14 other states and you know a hundred different cities in those states. That's not a normal way people live their lives. And what is like what does that actually look like for someone to do? Um, it means that every year I get a promotion. If I was doing the same things that I was seven years ago, six, five, four, you know, then we would be largely the same. So every year it's a consistent evolution of what things are now my responsibility, what things shouldn't be my responsibility, and how do I manage that? Because if I really think about waking up and thinking about the livelihoods of 80 people and of their families and of their alignment with my decisions and my value system and my goals and my choices, man, I think there'd be days where that would be really hard to get out of bed.

SPEAKER_04

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Because there have been so many challenges in the last five years. Um so for me, I have a great therapist I work with every other week. I have a great business coach who you know, who I work with. I've worked with really consistently. Um, I have another mentor that I work with weekly in the in the business and meditation space. And I think it's just in accepting that this is a life that I love that I seem to have an acumen for, but the supporting of that I come at really aggressively. Um, and I've and I've had depression off and on since I was young. And I just know that you don't wait until you feel like something's wrong. Right. You just you handle it. Um so I also it's funny because recently I was in a meeting with a couple of associates and we were we were problem solving. And in this meeting, I'm sitting back and everybody's kind of having this challenge session, and the messaging that came afterward was really funny. They said, You're always so calm. You know, we're dealing with this issue, we're dealing that with that. Issue and recently we've had a lot of departures in the staff, and I've I've chosen to kind of part ways with people. And I realize how great I've become at mitigating fear. And I'm so proud of that because COVID really tested that. Everything was to be feared, it felt like during that time. And now I just feel like I feel like a total badass in that regard.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, but you are.

SPEAKER_01

Like there's there's absolutely nothing. There's nothing to fear. We're just gonna plow through it. We've we've solved every problem we've ever had. I love it. Um it's a learned behavior, so I love it.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. And some would even call it conditioning. I I mean, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna share this with with with everyone because when I was going back and forth with my uh a lot of people don't know my history, you know, and and where I've been and where I've come from. And I've never really delved into it yet here. Uh-huh. But what I will say is before this, I did work at the Sports Club LA, which is also Equinox. Yeah. I've been in this industry over 21 years now. Yeah. Right. As personal trainer, Pilates instructor, all the things which I mentioned in the beginning. However, I was him and Han, I was going back and forth with them. I don't know if I'm gonna leave. When am I gonna leave? Should I leave? I don't know what to do and a thing. And then and then you told me the rake story. Can I tell the story? Tell us the break the rake story.

SPEAKER_01

This is my meditation mentor who I tell this every week. Tell the story. Well, first of all, he has these amazing stories, and sometimes he'll be like, Have you heard about the marker and the elephant? Have you I always tell him like that he has the most arbitrary, like whatever, the hilarious stories. But he said, Have you heard about the guy and the rake? And I said, Oh, of course I haven't. And now I've shared this with so many people, and I love that it resonates with you because it's such a meaningful story.

SPEAKER_05

So the story is um Oh, actually, you know what? Before you tell a story, let's take a tiny break because I want I don't want to miss, I don't want to miss anything here. So, okay, everyone, you want to hear the story. Hold on one moment, we'll be right back. All right, we're just gonna take a tiny break. Do you work hard? Do you play hard? And are you living well? The truth is, we're all figuring it out as we go. Um, this week we have honest, relatable, and fun conversations with real people about life, growth, health, and becoming stronger.

SPEAKER_00

Wait, oh, life therapy. You and I have talked a little bit about this. This is Terrence Real. Depending on your makeup, you're either a fight, flight, or fix.

SPEAKER_05

Because you can be the hero of your own movie. Stay tuned and listen to inspiring people who found the trend to face their biggest fears and live their biggest dreams. Okay, everyone, we are back. Okay, we're back with Janice Cart from Tunny Spoon Chef. Now, she's gonna tell us the story about breaking the rake. All right, now, Janice, please share.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so this is an amazing man, Dr. William Jackson. His business is skillful, means I can't say enough about working with him, but he said the story of um the guy and the rake. And he said, This very poor poor man, and and he lived in this small village, and um the only possession he had was this rake.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And every day he would get up and he would tend to his very small plot of land, and and he would greet the day by getting up and walking into the center of town, and he had this feeling he was so connected to the monks in the town who were walking in these beautiful golden robes and had their bowls of alms, and they were, you know, collecting the tithings for the day. And he just felt so connected to them, and he would go back and he would get his rake and he would tend to his land. And he just felt this longing in his heart. He knew this wasn't his life. And so one day he went deep into the woods and he buried his rake and he went to the monastery and he surrendered his life and he said, I'm here to be a monk. And they they took him in and and he was in the practice of of washing the floors and preparing the food and all these tasks, and and he was so distracted, and he just said, No, but this isn't right. And he went back into the woods and he unburied his rake and he went back to his life of waking up and going into the town and and seeing the monks and this whole thing. And this went on for years and years, where he would uh bury his rake in the woods and go back, and he would stay sometimes for longer periods and shorter periods, and he would experience this brotherhood and he had this struggle. And one day, after many, many years of this, he left the monastery, he went deep into the woods, he unburied his rake, and he took it further and further into the woods than he had ever gone. And he came to a river and he broke the rake and threw it into the river, and he went back to the monastery and he became a monk.

SPEAKER_05

I love the story. I love that story.

SPEAKER_01

And it means something different to everyone. And sometimes I tell this to people and they look at me and they're like, And I'm like, you can't fully choose it until you choose it. Like sometimes we just feel like we have to leave a toe in something else, a possibility of what he wasn't ready. Yeah. Right? Yeah, yes. And that was a conversation we had. It was like, you weren't ready to fully be in the next thing.

SPEAKER_04

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And when you fully choose something, your whole energy, your whole universe, you're well, you're in it.

SPEAKER_05

You're completely in it. You're all in. Yeah. You're all in.

SPEAKER_01

When you're gonna leave yourself the rake in the woods, you're gonna choose the option to go back to the temptation for that. When it's no longer there, when you don't have the option, yeah, you're right. You're gonna fully be present with what you're bringing.

SPEAKER_05

That's right, and exactly. Yeah. And it for me, it was like you said, it resonated. It it was a great story for me. And I was still holding on because I'd been there for so long. But again, I don't want to make this uh about me because it's not about me. Um, but I'm just sharing how your words were inspirational and how they actually helped me because I look at you and think, you know, you've come through a lot and you've done a lot. And I just think others like myself, and I mean, honestly, you are inspiration. And I think just knowing that there are other people who have been where I am and have gotten to a certain point, but are still moving through. And like you said, for me, also you talking about fear that resonates because I feel like, yeah, there is some conditioning there, and that everything I feel like in the end, it always comes back to fear. Like, okay, now I'm afraid. But the question is, what are you gonna do with that fear? And what's your worst case scenario when that fear happens? And usually what we imagine in our heads, it's always worse than what actually happens.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And then we work ourselves up, we put ourselves in this stressful position. I know, because I do it myself. Yeah, you know, but that's one thing personally I'm also working on. So when you say, I have a therapist, I have a coach, I have a in my mind, I think, yeah, I had to do all those same things too. And I know I'm sure they're gonna be people sitting out there who's like, oh, that's a lot. I don't have money for this, I don't have money for that. I get it, but you know what? You don't need a lot of money. It doesn't take much money to take five minutes for yourself and have a meditative moment. It doesn't take much to to say, you know what, today I need to turn my phone off. I need to shut the news off so I don't hear anything negative. It doesn't always have to cost money to help yourself.

SPEAKER_01

It does not. And I think the community of people, of other people who just know what you're up to and can support you and reach out and bounce. I think you're amazing at that, at reaching out and saying, How are you doing? I I know that this is you know, you're going through something. But but just having other people that, you know, it's it's such a blessing to be able to have a business coach and have people to talk to. But even in the sense of just thinking about meditating and how to get started with meditating, I remember talking to Dr. Jackson when that when I was first trying this. And the very first time I sat down, I just thought, I'll sit down for 20 minutes, which is an excruciating time. It's really like it is, it's that's like 17 years. It's forever, right? It's it's it's yes. And I sat on my porch and it was like there was a fly, and the way the sun was on part of my legs, it was like everything was wrong. And then I look and it's like two and a half minutes later. Right? But even in that lesson, I remember talking to him and him saying, set an alarm every hour and sit for one minute and just focus on your breathing. Close your eyes, don't think about anything else, but imagine what shape that breath is taking as it goes in your body and out of your body, and just think about it for one minute and then go back to your day. And it's there are so many easy ways to incorporate mindfulness and peace and let your nervous system reset. It costs absolutely nothing, and it's such an investment in yourself.

SPEAKER_05

It's true.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I remember I had, I mean, I mean, everyone, we're not trying to make this into a therapy session, but we we gotta talk about it here. So I remember I had one session with my therapist. I remember I I sat down with her one day and I was in a moment. I was all rah-rah, I'm upset about this and I'm upset about that. And she very calmly said to me, She says, So, what is it about that that's upsetting you so much? What do you think that is? I don't know, and I'm I'm all in a and just and so she said, Okay, so this is what we're gonna do. Because she's one of these people who believes that everything is in parts.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

So apparently that part of you is unhappy with this situation right now.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

So maybe what we should do is, and she had me sit in a meditation. She said, let's just take a moment and we're just gonna breathe, and we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna have a conversation with that part of yourself. I was like, we're gonna have a conversation with that part of myself. Like, this is this is some kind of a weird What are we talking about right now? We're gonna have a conversation with that part. Yeah. So she's like, all right, so she put me in a room, she put me in a space, and she had me sit down facing that part of myself. She's like, imagine, you're talking to that part of yourself. And I was like, okay, I'm gonna imagine talking to this part of myself and be like, what's up? What's your problem? type of thing. But at any rate, so I did it, and I had this whole conversation with that part of myself. And I know there are people sitting out there like, what? And then I know there are people sitting out there like, yeah, I've done that. It works. And I had that conversation essentially with myself. That's really what the conversation who I was having the conversation with. And I had realized I tapped into something deeper that was resonating, that was sitting there that I didn't even realize was sitting there. It was an emotion, it was something that I was upset about, and I hadn't processed it yet. I hadn't, it came out in a worse way at that point because it was something that was already there that I had never really addressed. And then once I came out of that meditation, then we talked about it. She said, Okay, so now let's talk about that. And I thought, wow, did I just work through that? Like I had no idea that was there. And I also bring up, we talk about therapy, and you're not the first person, and I've had therapists here so far. Therapy is important. We have friends that we talk to about things that we can share and confide in. But sometimes um we need someone who's not um emotionally invested with us, so they can really give us the the grays, the black and white. No, it's good to have your friends, but sometimes you need someone to kind of be like, okay, so why'd you do that? What like did that did that work for you at the time?

SPEAKER_01

Was that I'm only laughing because how many times have you also had a conversation with someone you really love who like you get the sense that they're wanting to know what angle you you want to hear back? Yes, very often. Right. I think about this as you know, dating or something. They're like, do we love him or do we hate him? Yes, right. Like what angle are we? Where are we going? Right? Like, are we cheering for this to work out or is he dead to us? Right.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Their advice is only gonna be that good. Yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_03

That's right. But sometimes you want that, right?

SPEAKER_01

Right, but it's the time, but it's not a dispassionate evaluation of how you feel. It's like, do we love him or do we hate him? Okay, like now I'm on board. I'm gonna get there.

SPEAKER_03

Right, right. But that's that's fun, right? Exactly. But some, yeah, sometimes you you you need someone who's not invested emotionally.

SPEAKER_05

Exactly. Exactly. Because no, you still want your friends, though. You want them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You need that balance. Very true. But you know, so the the point is, it's like freely I talk about therapy now. I've been talking about it more because there's nothing wrong with that. It's actually, in fact, it's very helpful. And I feel like nowadays we're also or can be so very stressed, and we need coping mechanisms, mechanisms, and skill. And I feel like with COVID, that brought out a lot of uh or brought things to the surface that it was like, oh, I didn't know that was there. I probably should should I work on that? I might need to work on that. That that's a thing. I didn't know that was a thing. Yeah, but I mean, very and what I also will ask you because you and I we worked out, we've trained together. Now, you again are really good about taking care of yourself, you know, despite all the things that you do. So try. Sometimes you know, so but but tell me, now what do you do? Okay, what do you do for yourself? How do you care for yourself? We got the the mental health, we we have that part, making time for yourself. Yeah. What other ways do you self-care?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I think rituals are really important.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, what kind of rituals would you are you speaking of?

SPEAKER_01

You know, a latest thing for me is realizing that waking up my body includes good circulation.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Just kind of moving everything in the morning, uh, not starting my day with coffee.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Starting my day with really good hydration, thinking about, you know, having some collagen and creatine and having some, you know, like thinking about it. I'll do that. Stop things. You know, you know, I'm into this like liquid multivitamin right now. My hairdresser's like, you got lots of little hairs growing in there. I'm like, thanks. Yes. Just like the little rituals. Um, I just got engaged this weekend.

SPEAKER_05

Congratulations. I heard.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. And he um is I don't know why it's infinitely cuter when he just does this, but he likes making tea at night, so we'll have a cup of tea before bed, and like there's something about just it's warms you from the inside and it kind of slows you down. And I love that. Just those kinds of little rituals are also very nourishing for mind, body, and spirit, and kind of it either gets you up or kind of slows you down and starts those those little rituals. I also have rituals with my little dog. I have a little three and a half pound dog noodle and noodles. We get all we always get little snuggles in right before bed, and it's you know part of our little routine. So um lots of vegetables. Lots of vegetables keep me feeling really good. I never really thought about being such a healthy eater, but people tell me that all the time who know me and my habits and lots of kale, lots of salads, lots of good stuff like that. But I man, I love you know me. I love I love me some croissants. I bring people baked goods all the time. I didn't know you were a croissant kind of girl. I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, I do. I love uh yeah, but you know they're fluffy and like air with butter, their buttery goodness is what they are.

SPEAKER_01

But you know what I've learned too though, that like all good things, one croissant is like delicious. If I ever think, wow, that was so good, I want another, my body hates it. Oh like one once in a while is good, the second one, my body is like, you like kale. Your body tells you that you like kale. My body is like, you do not like that much of this. You like feel like a croissant like once in a while, and like you'll enjoy that and that feels okay.

SPEAKER_05

But are you sure your body's saying you like kale? Are you sure? Because I don't know. I mean, I like kale, but my body's not gonna say go for a second helpens on that kale.

SPEAKER_04

My body feels really good with kale. I don't know. I had a really good kale.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, that's an understanding.

SPEAKER_01

Kale beans, like my body feels really good with that kind of stuff. Like I also I mean, also like cheese, so there's that too, but I don't know. The rich stuff, like I have a limit. Okay. I enjoy it, but my body's like, yeah, that's probably enough.

SPEAKER_05

All right. So Janice, we're um we're we're getting we're nearing to the end, and I'm kind of sad because I love spending I love spending time with you.

SPEAKER_01

We're both energy people. I think so. We talk a lot about that, I feel like if you know when we're together.

SPEAKER_05

So I think again, but you know, like and like equal energy, um exchange and and all the things. All right, now, why is wellness even important to you? Why where did that start? Why is that a big deal?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

You know?

SPEAKER_01

That's an interesting question. I think wellness has come more into focus since my father passed away. That was about seven years ago.

SPEAKER_04

All right.

SPEAKER_01

But it's always been important. Uh I remember talking to him years ago when I was, you know, when I'd started the business and everything. And I was trying to fit fit out exercising and stuff in with the hectic pace of everything, and he he'd made some kind of comment about it. I said, Oh, well, you know, like nobody wants like a a really overweight chef or something like this. And he said, That's not true, nobody cares about it. And and at the time, I think he was referencing Mario Batali, you know, who's a really big guy.

SPEAKER_05

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And I said, Well, I said, here's the thing. If you're going out to eat once a year for your anniversary, and you're like, Oh, I'm gonna have the Alfredo pasta, because like I never have that. I said, That's a different thing than if you're welcoming a chef into your home every day to take care of your spouse, your kids, your whatever, you want to know that that person is also committed to walking the walk and having a healthy lifestyle. And I'm also committed to just feeling good in my body. And um, my stepmother's mother passed away. Um I guess it was probably 10 or 11 years ago now. And I remember that my reaction to that was I wanted to run up a mountain. I wanted to feel all the things my body could do that that her body was not well enough to do. And I think when I lost my dad, it wasn't maybe even a little bit more of an extension of that. It was just like bodies can do hard things. It's conditioning, it's it's practice. And and so I last year I I did the Pan Mask Challenge. Um, I did 80 miles cycle to raise money for cancer research and and just taking on challenges like that. I think wellness is important, it's just a rhythm of our life. I think charity is important, it's a rhythm of our life. It's how we just kind of prioritize um the things that make us whole. And part of that is the spiritual part of yeah, just honoring like I really feel um my body is not who I am, it's a vessel. We get one vessel. I'm gonna do right by it. I'm also gonna enjoy the croissance.

SPEAKER_05

Right. As you should, right? Because balance, yeah, because we talked about that.

SPEAKER_01

Because balance and nourishment, nourishment is not necessarily, you know, what are what are the vitamins in this and how much fiber. Nourishment is a very rounded kind of word. Um, but yeah, I want the vessel to be here. I want to feel good in it. I don't I don't want to uh work towards a different level of freedom of time and then find I don't feel great. Right. To be able to move and stretch and well, isn't it that's part of freedom, right?

SPEAKER_05

Is your health.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

You know, because if your health is in question or if it is compromised and or taken away from you, you realize how much you had or how much you lost, actually. Because all of a sudden your perspective changes. It's like, oh, that money, if this money can't help me with this, I have money, but then it what do I do with my health? How do I get my how do I get that back?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_05

You know, how do what do I do then?

SPEAKER_01

And and at this age too, I'm I'm 45 now. Um just the wellness of knowing, the centeredness of knowing what belongs to me and what doesn't belong to me. Is sometimes people lament age and and you know, idolize youth, and I would never go back to any prior age. I don't regret any prior age, but the centeredness with which I can just sort of say, Oh wow, like there's a lot going on for you, like that's your stuff, that's not mine. It's it's so separate, and that it takes a long time to to figure out and to see with any kind of acumen. So that's a different kind of wellness too.

SPEAKER_05

Before we take off today, what advice would you give our listeners?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

What advice?

SPEAKER_01

I think a lot of people ask me about business advice because I've done some big things there. And the biggest thing I would say in that regard is that the universal hesitation that people have with their business is centered around fear.

SPEAKER_05

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And once you do it, you realize how much wasted energy that fear is. Um and that I can say after speaking with people who've done really, really impressive things, that's a universal thing. And I think it's a big nugget that more people need to talk about is if you're scared that it's not gonna work, that what if this, what if that, that's all the more reason to do it. It's it's not actually not a limiting factor. Um and also to be sure that what you really want, the life you really want to be living is what you're moving towards. So I think it's really easy to like we're sort of taught that money is the goal. But if you want a life that looks like more time in your garden or more time to travel, or there can be lots of different motivations, but I think people also have a tendency to move towards building a life In a certain classic trajectory where when you get there, you're gonna have achieved something that actually doesn't look like a day-to-day that you want to live.

SPEAKER_05

Janice, this is a different, this is a different show. You realize that though, what you're talking about right now. This is a whole other topic. This is this is for me, and this is wonderful advice, but for me, this is a topic with regards to abundance and looking at money as being the only currency with regards to abundance, because abundance is about more than money. And and I think, and then fear, like again, this is a completely different, a whole new topic that we could do a whole other show on. But I I think again, you've been a cheerleader for me, and I think you're phenomenal, and I'm so happy you spent time with us today.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

If anyone wanted to reach out to you or get more information about what you provide and what you what you offer in your chefs and so on and so forth, how can one get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so we're on the web at tinyyspoonchef.com. Okay. We do a lot on Instagram at Tiny Spoon Chef. And then I'm personally on LinkedIn. And so Janice, the last name is Cart C-A-R-T-E. I love to connect with other business people. Um, and we help people who are really taking on a lot professionally, personally, and just really you can delegate your wellness to someone else. Um so would love to connect in any regard.

SPEAKER_05

Janice, thank you so much for being with us today. Listeners, I'm here for you. I do this show for you. I do it for myself, I'll be honest, but I also do it for you. This is the way that I get to connect with you. This is my way of doing that. Thank you for being with us today. I'm so happy to have you. Please join us for other shows. I'm Laura Williamson. I'm your host. This is Bear Speak. Take care.