Hey there y'all...Welcome back to Que-Licious!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing the adventures of my whiskey soaked barbecue journey. It's a brand new year and I have a brand new outlook on life, living, and the pursuit of great barbecue! I guess I am like most people this time of year and have a renewed sense of being optimistic almost to the point where people want to punch me in the face. Okay, maybe not that much...but close. I don't make resolutions because they are easily discarded by making flimsy excuses why you can't achieve what you set out to do in the first place. Instead, I see opportunities. I have an opportunity to change something about myself; an opportunity to make a difference in my community; an opportunity to achieve my goals. In my last post I touched on my outline for continuing to grow Whiskey River BBQ.
My goals are simple:
1. Be Realistic But Keep Dreaming - As a natural born dreamer, this is the hardest goal for me to apply in my everyday life. Taking an idea from conception to completion has always been an issue for me because I seem to get "sidetracked" or take my day-dreaming to the point where it becomes impossible for me to make that first step. I guess I tend to look too far down the road first and in doing so skip the details around how to actually start at the beginning in a sensible manner and grow from there. Well...at least I know where I want the company to be, I just need to focus on getting it off the ground. That is my challenge. I believe Whiskey River BBQ has great products and is a great brand to offer people to enjoy in their own backyard. So, in the coming blogs I plan to introduce Whiskey River BBQ from the catering aspect of the business first and focus on the backyard and drop-off catering and go from there. People have to be familiar with our products before they will seek you out in the retail market. I think the best way to get our product out there is through the fair and festival venue so people can sample our products first hand and let them see what our backyard pig-pickin' is all about! There will be more to come on this topic soon so keep checking that inbox for our latest blog posts.
2. Do Your Best Everyday - My dad said it best, "Whatever you do, do your best!" I really do have good intentions of doing my best, but if I am to be completely honest...I could do better. When I think of what this statement means to me, I think of having to be the best or be nothing...that has to change starting now. It is that type of thinking that makes you second guess every decision you make, and I can tell you from experience you're going to make bad and wrong decisions. The key is to learn from them. So, having re-interpreted this statement I will do my best everyday by being productive, having faith in God that I am on the path that I need to be, and working hard to achieve my dream of being self-sufficient. I believe it is so easy for people to give up when they encounter roadblocks or brick walls. Those are the times when you need to break out the heavy artillery and move forward. As long as you try, and I mean really try, and you are doing your best and working hard everyday, you are considerate of others, and you have faith...then you are doing your best and that's enough. Only you know your own capabilities and limitations; no one else has the authority to tell you what you can and cannot accomplish - as long as it's not harmful, immoral, or illegal - you are in control of your own success. Go For It!
3. BE HAPPY - A simple statement easy enough to understand, yet we have such a hard time applying this concept in our daily lives for so many different reasons. I know I have been guilty more than once of trying to make everyone in my life happy that I only succeed in making everyone miserable...including myself. Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy or choose not to be...it's that simple. What I know to be true is this: If you are surrounded by negative thinking it generates negative energy that effects every aspect of your life. (Think the worst...expect the worst...the worst will eventually happen) That statement is as true in your personal life as in business. If your every thought, idea, plan, or action is engaged with the constant though of failure...you're going to fail. People gage their happiness on different levels and for different reasons. Personally, I am never happier than when I am in my kitchen or my garden surrounded by family and friends creating, cooking, laughing, sharing, and of course...eating! That feeling of comfort and warmth is what I want to relay through my business and my life. My dad was the best at making the people around him happy and living a happy life. He had amazing faith and loved his family more than life itself and we all knew it. He looked at everyday as a gift and was grateful for so many blessings in his life. So many people shared with me that very thought when he passed. At my dad's funeral, the one statement I heard repeatedly was; "Your dad always had a smile on his face and was just the type of person you wanted to be around." I will carry that with me always and let his personality be the example to live by. We make choices everyday to be happy, angry, bitter, content, to succeed, or to fail. I choose to put my past in the past and move forward...happily.
These are just a few insights as to where I am in life and in my pursuit of a dream. As I have stated before, my business is personal, so what better way for you, my whiskey-spritzed barbecue readers, to know what me and my company stand for that to put it out there in the blog-a-sphere!
Keep cookin' y'all!
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