Hunger for innovation
There is a new mother of invention in town and it’s called frustration. That’s what Dane Saddler faced over and over again for 15 years. That frustration would be just the push he needed to get on the road to becoming his own boss. The originator of Caribbean Villa Chefs, never quite saw himself as an entrepreneur; just someone who had an idea, ran with it and became successful. Dane took the audience at the Innovate Barbados Conference on a journey from disenchanted employee to driven founder and franchise holder.
distinguish his product from all the others, searching for a way to “sell him without having to sell himself.”
Then an opportunity presented itself in the form of a periodic work offer at a Villa. This potential client discovered him by referral. And it was during their conversation that he hit upon the idea to create something that did not yet exist in the market: a referral agency for chefs. After working on the job for
demand for a service such as his, especially in the international market. As Dane, and his cohorts, consistently marketed the business, word spread. Three months into the venture American Express contacted Dane on behalf of one of their clients. At first he thought it was spam, but Saddler took a chance to check out their email and respond. “This was the eye opener” for Dane who was further encouraged to make a go of his enterprise. He took some sick leave and flew down to work with this client.
“you do what you have to do now, so you can do what you want to do later”.
In the beginning he did what everyone else did; post his studies he became employed. In fact he worked for several operations. Yet on his last job he began to get into a rut, feeling as though he had no room to be creative. That is when the frustration began to reach a point of crisis. He became rebellious while encountering issues in his position, revealing that one day he came to work and discovered they didn’t even have salt with which to cook. It was at that point he had an epiphany that he could “work with them but not for them.” Tired of experiencing the same problems with no apparent solutions, and with years of experience in his arsenal he was ready to strike out on his own. Jumping into a market filled with great chefs and eateries, Dane searched for a way to
10 days, he realized this was the direction he wanted to take and so began to do research. Among the many insights offered up during his refreshingly frank delivery addressed to those looking to jump into any potential enterprise, was "A great failing of most entrepreneurs is they have an idea and just start,” revealing that taking the time to do research leads to a higher level of success. Saddler also pointed to strategic alliances as a way to move one’s enterprise forward. Remarking that as one person he could only avail himself of a single revenue stream. However, employing the applicable skills of partners who shared his goals was a greater recipe for success, for both him and his soon to be partners. In his experience, networking and reaching out, uncovered an existing
Dane’s philosophy when it comes to seizing opportunity is “you do what you have to do now, so you can do what you want to do later”. As the spotlight on his enterprise began to spread it soon caught the attention of his then employers. Upon finding out he was ‘freelancing’ his then employers gave him an ultimatum: quit his private clients or his day job. For Dane the choice was obvious, at that very moment he went back to his car for his uniform, returned it and continued on a course to career fulfillment and financial viability. To this day Caribbean Villa Chefs provides their services to such exclusive clients as American Express.
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