This afternoon I’m driving south down 395, in the construction zone between Moana and Neil. Speedometer says 58 or so (limit is 55 in this spot) as I creep up on a deep blue Ferrari convertible. I can see the brown leather interior through the windscreen, an older gentleman with a baseball cap at the wheel.

The speed limit raises to 65. He stays close to 60. Other cars and a motorcycle start to pull past us in the middle lane. Even if it was a Ford Fiesta I’d be a little anxious for him to speed it up. But he’s in a damn Ferrari!!! As traffic clears up to my right I hop into the middle lane and speed past him and kept going. I looked over past his black wheels and gold trimmed brake rotors to see him just causally driving, not even noticing me next to him. I’ll admit it, I was speeding….. About 80 or so, both windows down and stereo blasting!

I kept it that way all the way to my exit. Cruised on up to the turn lane and stopped at the red light. A few seconds pass and I notice a blue Ferrari pulling up beside me…. Yup, that blue Ferrari. The same one I passed on the freeway a few minutes before. Sitting right there at the same red light.

It really got me thinking about the difference between the journey and the goal. I chose to crank it up a bit and drive my big SUV a little faster than it was really made to go. He chose to just cruise along in a car that is designed to drive at three times the speed. In the end, we both got to the same place at roughly the same time. My speeding didn’t make a difference at all.

Maybe it comes with age…. The ability to slow down and just enjoy the moment a bit. I tend to always rush through things, never taking a minute to relax and enjoy the moment. Always looking for another shot of excitement. I think I’ll do my best from here out to think of the blue Ferrari.

I get this question a lot as I travel about town and all the other places I manage to end up visiting. “So, what do you do?” or “Are you still doing catering?”. I’ve answered this before but figured it’s time for an update.

We’ll start with what I’ve been working on today to give you a taste of a “normal” day in my world….

Up about 7am to eat a high protein breakfast. That’s part of my new goal of being in better shape and losing some weight. I’m in the muscle building phase and my trainer says I need more protein, less fat and no carbs…..

Put together the email newsletter and some social media stuff for Vintage Wine Shop. They’re one of my favorite clients to work with on marketing consulting. Not only because I do some of the work in trade which keeps my wine collection stocked, but also because they are awesome people who trust me to do what needs to be done without much oversight. If you want to get the emails and bash me for typos head over to their site and sign up.

Then off to a meeting with some new business partners about a retail project we are putting together. A bit early to spill all of the beans but think of places like The Ferry Building in SF and Pike’s Place Market in Seattle for an idea of what we want to bring to Reno later this summer. Excited for this one!

Of course my phone starts ringing off the hook from customers who need some last minute catering from Great Thyme. Have two new bids to send out today for parties that are coming up quick. I’m also finishing up some marketing pieces for my spot over at My Wedding Library to find some great new brides to work with this year.

Dad is on the way over to my house to finish up some work on his boat trailer. I built a garage a few years back at my house so I am the default workshop for most of my friends and family. Sadly, it’s full of extra catering equipment and “stuff” so I don’t spend much time building new things anymore.

As I’m writing this, I got a call about helping someone launch a brand of limoncello. They’re looking for someone to help take them from recipe to store shelves. These are the kind of things I love to work on. Get the concept down and figure out the execution, then let someone else take the reigns and go with it. It’s one of the aspects of my “old job” when my dad and I launched a marinade and spice company.

Sometime before the end of the day I will finish up a kitchen design, finish catering proposals, complete some business collateral pieces for my trainer (another great trade deal), write a post for Chow Reno that’s a few days over due and make some phone calls for a food event that I want to organize for this summer. And of course the personal stuff like laundry, dinner and packing for a trip to Seattle this weekend.

This all pulls together into a “dynamic” lifestyle that I absolutely love. I never stop strategizing and thinking about projects which satisfies my need to keep my mind moving. My breaks come in the form of tasks such as working with my dad on the trailer today. It gives me a chance to rest my brain and just use my hands which I don’t do all that much anymore.

A lot of people I know well give me a bit of a hard time for not working that hard. And really, I understand that. I don’t have a regular job, regular schedule or a regular paycheck. It changes from day to day and I won’t have it any other way!

Next time someone asks, I will just reply with “Trying to figure out how to make a buck without working too hard for it” and a sly smile……

Wow, been a while since I’ve seen you blog. How are things?

This post may be a little self fulfilling. But I’m not really looking for accolades as much as I want to record the thoughts and realizations I have today….

HOLY CRAP I’VE LOST WEIGHT!!!

Somewhere around summer of 2006 I went to the doctor for a physical. The nurse asked how much I weighed as I stepped onto the scale. “270 or so….” I was scared, shocked and sad when she pushed the marker past 300….

309 pounds that day around 6 years ago. Today, I weighed in at 238 before breakfast. So, about 70 pounds and change. But, I’ve dropped 35+ of that since last May.

The numbers are good. And I’d like to get to around 220 with less body fat. That’s why I’ve been at the gym weight training lately. Should be able to hit that goal by summer time or so I think thanks to a my friend and trainer Bryan Eidem.

Anyway, what REALLY shocked me was the clothes I pulled from the closet this morning. You see, I have a shopping problem. Since I buy clothes 2-3 times a month (I know….) I don’t really see how they fit differently as my weight and sizes drop. Today I had to make some room for a few new purchases…..

Tangent…… I picked up a rad grey denim jacket from Ralph Lauren’s “Denim & Supply” line at Macy’s. Normal price was $220, I paid $36. It’s a motorcycle cut- angled zippers, waist buckle and all. There’s a sale on sale items happening through tomorrow in the Men’s department.

And back to the story….. As I grabbed the shirts that have been pushed to the end of the closet and not touched for a bit I figured I could start the elimination process by seeing which of them didn’t fit well anymore. Here is the first shirt I tried on-

And on it went until I had a large pile of shirts, a few pants (still more to go through) and a couple of jackets that are too big to even have tailored down. The good news is that I get to do some more shopping!!! The bad news is that most of these clothes are quality labels. Shirts from $80-200 that have been worn a few times at most. Some of them once….. Labels like Visconti Uomo, Joseph & Feiss, Claiborne, along with some more everyday wear mid line stuff. I cleared out 23 hangers so there’s close to a couple thousand dollars worth of clothes there….

Anyone wear a XXL or 18.5/36-37 shirt, 40X32 pants or 52 tall jacket that needs some clothes?

In other news, this marks 100 posts on the blog!!! I going to celebrate by grabbing burgers and cocktails with some friends over at CommRow. Then tomorrow, back to the high protein, low carb world of fat burning goodness.

Cheers!

I have a bad habit of constantly looking for new ways to do business. The reason I say that it’s bad is that it gets me off track from what I need to do. I know how to make money for myself, but I start to sway a bit and see opportunities pop up here and there that grab my attention.

I have two main loves when it comes to business. I’m married to the food world and marketing is my girlfriend. My catering business is the “cash cow” for now (not that I’m getting rich) that keeps the bills paid and affords me a bit of free time to build other ventures. Besides catering, I do a bit of business working with others to help them succeed in online marketing. I’m still defining my niche there, but have seen some successes with a few different folks.

My career in the foodservice industry has been a mainstay for my entire life. I’ll never leave it completely. But, I would like to expand and grow into a bit of a different direction than catering parties. Not that I hate it, I actually have a lot of fun working with my clients, it’s just that I don’t want to be loading grills and tables in a trailer when I’m 50….. So, I enjoy writing and I’ve had a fair share of people tell me that I’m good at it. I enjoy reaching out and interacting with other business people and learning about what they do and how they make themselves successful. Finally, I enjoy sharing my thoughts with people and building a community of folks that are interested in similar things.

I’ve found a way to tie all of this together into one project. I’m marrying my love for food, business, marketing and community into one in a way that I think most of you will enjoy. Early next month I’m launching a food news website. It’s not complete yet and I’m probably a bit early in telling you all about it but I’m excited to see it through. I will be sharing a chef’s inside look at new restaurant openings, new chef hirings, events, new menus, etc. Sort of a loose journalistic approach (I’m not a trained journalist) to food news. No reviews, a bit of professional opinion and hopefully the best source in town for foodie gossip.

I’m lucky to have a great friend by the name of Sam Shad that is going to be a part of the journey. You may have seen him on The Dining Show, Nevada Newsmakers, or on the local news for many years. He is sponsoring the new blog through the dining show and using his years of experience in journalism to keep us on track. We may be the first local, independent blog that has TV sponsorship

I’m also looking at teaching some classes in online marketing to business owners. I have been to a few of these events that others are teaching, I’ve watched a few on video. I think I can add a little bit of a different perspective since I have the experience from their end. I’ve been the guy running a retail store, managing employees and still overseeing an interactive marketing campaign. I was also running all of the marketing so I’ve seen how it can all tie together in a full marketing mix. Just last night I had two people ask me about doing classes like this. We’ll see where that one goes.

So there it is- back on track, keeping my focus to three ventures. Catering, the new blog and exploring the possibility of teaching others some things I know. If I start to sway, please slap me!

Here is what I would like from you, my loyal readers — If you hear of any good food news- restaurant openings, closings, new menus, etc. Or, if you simply have a great experience at a local restaurant or bar, shoot me an email at clint@clintjolly.com. I have a list of 15 or so stories I’m going to go after to get started but the more the better so I can stay ahead of the game. Also, when we have the site up and running in a few weeks I would love your help in sharing it with your friends that may be interested. You’ll see announcements here, Facebook, Twitter, etc. when we have the site live and things are rolling.

Cheers!!!

I’ve been in a funk the last few weeks. It happens to me about every 3-4 months it seems. I just feel down and as though I’m not doing something that I should be doing.

The funny thing is that I know how to get myself out of it easily enough. I just forget to take action for a while. Working on a new project is one sure fire way to get my mood up, the juices flowing and my spirit soaring.

I have a great new gig on the horizon, I’ll wait until it’s firmed up to share more details…. should be the end of the week

The other sure thing I can do is to sit and chat with my friend and business coach Andrew Hill. He’s blogging on his site – Sage at Work. He always has the knack for helping me find answers I need at the time. I leave a meeting with him full of spunk and go get it attitude.

The funk starts when I don’t feel as though I’m contributing or sharing enough. I need to be surrounded by people that are doing great things. I need to lead people in some form or another. I just recently joined up at Reno Collective as a member to get myself out of the home office and surrounded by quality people. (funny though that I’m writing this from home…..)