Here are five reasons to work with chocolate, although the first one is glaringly obvious, the others you may not have considered:
The biggest and best reason to work with chocolate is that you are…… working with chocolate!
You will never look at chocolate in the same way again – you will discover the amazing world that opens up to you – festivals, experts, academics, tastings, blogs, magazines, events, travel, education, history and developments.
It’s a funny thing isn’t it, that as soon as you start to pick up on something new, you suddenly see or hear it everywhere. So, imagine a world where chocolate is your main focus – how good does that sound?
Once chocolate is your ‘business’ you can legitimately go on tastings, sign up for tasting clubs, go to chocolate events, seminars, talks – visit new shops, try out new products, champion master chocolatiers, understand weird, wacky and wonderful pairings of flavours from the best in the business.
There are always exciting developments too – producers who are supporting farmers to cultivate rare and flavoursome beans, producing exquisite chocolate that tastes like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.
Supermarkets are selling good quality own brands of chocolate, making it accessible and affordable for all. The quality chocolate shops are more visible on high streets, and we as consumers are being exposed to more gourmet options (as well as all our old favourites too).
The chocolate world becomes your truffle!
Work with chocolate and notice the amazing affect it has on others
The Latin name for cocoa is ‘theobroma cacao’ which literally means ‘food of the gods’.
It contains tryptophan, a chemical in the brain that is used to produce the neurotransmitter, serotonin. High levels of serotonin stimulate the secretion of endorphins and produce feelings of elation. (Serotonin is found in the anti-depressant Prozac, and the designer drug ‘ecstasy’.)
Chocolate also contains a chemical called phenylethylamine – high levels of this neurotransmitter help promote feelings of attraction, excitement and giddiness!
So, working with chocolate and encouraging more people to eat the good stuff actually will make you, and the world, a happier and seemingly more attractive place to be!
We need more chocolate in our lives right now!
Say ‘chocolate’ and it will (almost) sell itself
How do you feel when someone tries to get you to change utility provider?
What about when someone knocks on the door and tries to sell some double-glazing, or cold calls, or leaves a message about that accident (you never had) for claiming compensation?
If you are anything like me, you wonder how anyone does their job if that’s what they have to sell?
Now think chocolate!
How easy is it to sell chocolate? Let me tell you, you don’t have to, it sells itself.
When people ask me what I do and I tell them I work with chocolate, I watch their reaction and it’s totally predictable. They get all animated and excited and start telling me what chocoholics they are.
They’re sold, just by me telling them what I do, without even having to ask them to consider buying!
At the bank, at the make-up counter, at the hairdressers, at the supermarket, buying a car, the dry-cleaners, shops, schools, travelling. Everywhere – these are all genuine places I’ve discussed chocolate and people have asked me for my details!
Next time someone asks, “What do you do?”, how cool will it feel to say, ‘I work with chocolate!”
The chocolate calendar is ideal for family life
So how many weeks holiday can you take a year? What with holiday entitlement and fitting in with colleagues and if you have little ones it’s a constant juggle, a total guilt-trip at times, especially over the long summer holidays.
What if you worked to your own timetable? Being your own boss means you can take holidays to suit the whole family, but here’s how the chocolate calendar works:
- January: quiet time to plan the year ahead
- February: Valentine’s Day
- March/April: Mothers Day/Easter
- May/June: Birthday and hen party season
- July/Aug: More hen parties and the wedding season –it’s also often a bit hot for choc so ideal for time out with the family!
- Sept/Oct: Birthdays/treats and Halloween
- Nov/Dec: the build-up to Christmas
Ideally suited to maximising chocolate sales and enjoying quality family time too!
Unleash your creative side working with chocolate
Working with chocolate, you can do something totally creative and earn money doing so too.
Chocolate is luxurious, it’s always been seen as a special treat since it arrived in London in 1650 – definitely not a fad and guaranteed not to lose popularity anytime soon.
People just love chocolate.
It’s tricky to work with, so an amateur at home will experience difficulties, especially when tempering chocolate. There will always be people looking to a trained ‘expert’ like you for help.
What you can do with chocolate is endless – making chocolate creations, running workshops, offering tastings, tutorials, cocoa ceremonies and so much more.
What would you do with chocolate?
I’ve covered five reasons to work with chocolate…… why not pop to my facebook page for more chocolate inspiration!
We need to choose to do things that make us happy and fulfilled – everyone deserves to do a job that they enjoy, you may even start blogging about it! What’s not to love about working with chocolate?