People are on constant auto-pilot. Traditional success these days means going to school for 20 years, graduating from high school, college, and graduate school with a fresh MBA in hand. Those degrees grant you a shitty 9-5 job with an $80K salary surrounded by people you don't even know, doing things to impress people you don't know at all. Then, you may get married and work for the rest of your life to pay the debts of your childhood. They live without purpose.
Purpose is all that matters, because at the end of the day, all you have is yourself. If you're constantly lying to yourself to impress others, tons of regret is going to start building up.
This fact that people are constantly on auto-pilot is something that bothers me very much. It's because society has imposed great demands upon itself to create bullshit and make everything seem OK, when they're really forgetting to cover their ass.
Here in Silicon Valley, it's astounding that we're constantly trying to innovate, when in all honesty, we've haven't gotten the greatest inkling of what to do with the problems right in front of us. Things that really matter - people starving on the streets everywhere, for instance.
People just don't seem aware of their existence and the greater purpose of their lives. Many lack authenticity. They're busy constantly. Blowing off things that really matter - family, close friends, their health. They're just in this rat race to make more money, dealing with more bullshit, just to impress the people around them that they don't even know.
At the end of the day, many seem content with just watching TV and drinking beer. Calling it a day. Going to Costco and Target on weekends. Not really taking their time to see the sky, or watch the stars at night. Not enjoying a good meal over weekends. Things that are normal.
This is ultimately why a city like SF appeals to me so much as opposed to Silicon Valley. People seem more normal, and at the same time paradoxically weird. They're weird, because they're just doing normal people things - drinking coffee at cafes, walking their dogs down Hayes Valley, chatting with friends over mimosas during brunch, chilling at Mission Dolores, watching the boats at the Marina, or eating at a classy restaurant. Living life.
I'm unabashedly a work in progress myself. I know my purpose and am working on myself every day. I'm always looking to improve my health through lifting and running, and constantly curious on how to improve my relationships. I'm also strongly in tune with my moral compass and know that it'd be wrong to follow the path that society dictates, though it has not been an easy path to follow at all. Today, I identify as a food photographer and entrepreneur. My dream is to help restaurants around SF and around the world. Through a variety of services stacked upon each other, we focus on helping different aspects of restaurant business, as well as those who are chefs or really enjoy eating. Ultimately, I want to be able to run a small company remotely, from where ever in the world I am.
That said, my plan of action for Dish Crawl Co includes expanding the food photography workshops to other cities on the west cost of the US first. These workshops have been focused on building a larger presence for restaurants, as well as helping eaters better their food photography to attract more clients. I am first owning the process of food photography workshops and food photography in SF. After, we will expand to a city such as LA or Seattle. My hope is that once we've taught someone food photography and how to build your brand, they will be able do food photography under us with many restaurants through the different cities.
Currently, I'm building out the different resources, such as ebooks, guides, and videos. Once these are all in place, eaters learn a lot from our free content as well as paid content, if they do choose to buy them. There will also be ebooks, guides, and videos for restauranteurs to study to help them boost their customer base. At the workshops, we will have these guides available for eaters to read. We are also opening the private coaching for eaters, currently starting at $270 per 2 hours - the price will increase.
This is why I've been working so hard at my food photography and Dish Crawl Co. I don't want to be another cog in the machine that deals with shit every day. It scares me to see and hear about it, and it's also extremely motivating to see a few others join me on this journey of making it every day.
This is my purpose - now what's yours?
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Check us out at Dish Crawl Co!