We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Antonio Williams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Antonio below.

Antonio, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

My parents have always told me “with anything you do in life, do it right or don’t do it at all. Your name is attached to anything that you do so make sure you’re remembered for doing it right”. That quote has stayed on my mind for years and it will never leave. It reminds me to take pride in everything that I do and be proud that you have the ability to do it.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

There’s no way I ever expected to be a Private Chef and Caterer. Growing up it wasn’t something I ever intended on doing but I always found myself around a kitchen or watching Emeralds television show yelling “BAM!!” with my parents not knowing that someday that would be me in a kitchen doing what I love to do. Cooking always came natural to me and it’s thanks to my friends and family for being responsible for me cooking anyway. I’d always prepare food for my loved ones and they would always say “You’re pretty good at this, you should look into it.” Eventually those words stuck with me and were backed up by my parents words of “doing things right or not doing them at all.” I told myself God willing I’m going to do this and If it were to be long term great. If it were short term great but I do know when I walk away from the kitchen I know I gave it my best everytime I turned on the stove. I taught myself how to cook with influences from family and others but never went to Culinary school but some might say they way I’ve grown in my cooking experience over the years that humbly I didn’t need it. I prefer to run my business my way with the customer in mind. Customer service is HUGE to me. How you do anything is how you do everything. If I’m treating the most high profile clientele with respect and appreciation would be no different than how I treat a client who just wants a tasting or wants to see about inquires. Every individual I interact with is met with the upmost respect and consistent gratitude and that’s what I’ve built my business upon.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is no doubt one of if not the biggest platform to get your business out into the world. Myself started just as any other business would with posts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, just trying to get my name out there. Some days are better than others but it does pay off. You must stay the course even when it feels like nobody is watching just stay the course. I often revisit my first few posts just so I can see how much I’ve consistently grown through the years. Don’t post for just the sake of going “viral”. You post to put your work out into the world so that others can see your hard work and all of your dedication. Even when something you worked really hard on only gets 7 likes and 1 comment and 3 shares, post it anyway because it pays off. You’re in it for the love of the profession not the love of the acknowledgment.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

For me personally I do not have a specific source of growing clientele other than continuing to put my business out into the world. There are months ahead where I have nothing booked and then I look up and I’m completely booked for 2-3 months in advance. Social media has had to have been my most effective strategy if I were to say I had one. I receive emails and inquires from all over the country and the world about my business and it’s all thanks to social media. Staying consistent and staying personable. Clients appreciate how I’m a real person in real time communicating with them and it’s much appreciated. It makes clients want to do business with me because I treat them with respect.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flavortrelv?igsh=Z2NuaTRwaXNtY3hp&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/14z6bRjKR2/?mibextid=wwXIfr