We recently connected with Anna Klimmek and have shared our conversation below.
Anna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.
I want to tell the story of how I got my first culinary workshop client. I had left culinary for a bit to try my hand as a concierge. I was a concierge for a couple of apartment buildings in Minneapolis as and as such I was a member of a local concierge networking group.
When I decided to leave and start my business as a personal chef, I had offered a charcuterie board workshop to the group (this was about 10 years before charcuterie was hot!) Concierges are known for being connectors and event creators. One of the women enjoyed the workshop and asked if I would be willing to come to do a workshop at the buildings in which she offers a concierge service. One of which is finding Lunch and Learn offerings to large Corporate buildings in Downtown Minneapolis and in Bloomington. Each building houses many large business and employees from those businesses attended. I signed on to do three, one at each building. I built the curriculum and I remember being so insecure, because I didn’t know how to do any PowerPoint or anything of that sort (still don’t). Instead I did what I knew how to do, talk about food, cook a little, and show a lot of products. My personality showed through and people liked it! I got lots of questions afterwards and few people thought that their company would want to hire me. After that I just kept creating workshops, raising my prices and raising my game.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a chef, health and personal transformation coach, yoga/mindfulness & meditation teacher and outdoor enthusiast. All of these skills I’ve combined into a culinary wellness company called Happy Food MN, and Breakthrough Adventures – Personal Transformation and Outdoor Adventure Retreats.
At Happy Food MN I work with business as a part of their wellness program to teach workshops that have a food/cooking component as well as healthy ways to live. We help people eat for their bodies in a way that works for their life. We focus on some cooking skills, but also how foods work with your body, you life style and easy ways to get what you need. We can also touch on other facets of wellness, Sleep, Movement, Spiritual Connection, Purpose, Relationships. We say there is more on your plate than just food. So how do you help you look at the whole picture. I offer many workshops from “Reinventing Lunch” to “Eat Well, Be Well, Work Wel”l-which talks about many facets stated above. My most popular workshop is “Food for Focus,” everyone wants to know how we can be more focused in the day and which foods and lifestyle components will help with that. Aside from the workshops, I also offer 1/2 day events where clients can dig further into all of these topics and put them into practice by offering yoga/mindfulness, stress reduction conversations as well as a cooking demonstration with samples.
Breakthrough Adventures (BA) is more of a passion project – I love nature, adventure, community and conversation and I really love helping women understand what they want for themselves, and that they are worthy of their dreams. I love to create special adventures that bring women together to tell their stories, overcome their fears, learn from each other and lean on each other and we do it in the woods or on little mini adventures. I especially love helping to plan retreat adventures for already formed groups. So if you are a coach and you have a group (it doesn’t have to be all women, we love everybody) and you want to create something special but don’t know how to lead a retreat, I can help you with that. Coaches, Team Building, Small Executive Groups – any group that is looking for a curated transformational experience with an outdoor element that is what I do.
For example last Spring I lead a group of 11 women who were a part of a coaching mastermind all business entrepreneurs who’s coach wanted to create a retreat for them but hates the planning. So we created an experience together where BA provided a location with enough space, a sauna and wilderness. We offered meals, an opening fire ceremony, guided sauna experience, morning yoga and space for personal transformation talks from the coach. It was a life changing experience for everyone who participated.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Is it too weird to say that my entire success has been built on a Pivot? Happy Food MN (HFMN). When I first set out, HFMN was a personal chef business. That’s it. I had no plans of vision for anything else. But after I was asked to teach my first workshop I really leaned into that. I still was a personal chef for many years and had both revenue streams. In the pandemic I lost all of my personal chef clients and just never picked them up again. Instead I leaned into the virtual as many did and really leaned into the space created there, teaching online classes that had world wide reach from Australia, New Zealand and Ireland to Mexico, Canada and across the states even into Alaska. It was so fun to reach people abroad and connect with them through my Happy Food World Wide Classes. I also had the opportunity to be on the local Television Show, Twin Cities Live, on which I still occasionally appear! In this pivot I had to learn to run a camera and sound, record, take photos, have an on camera presence. I know a lot of people made this pivot but it completely elevated my skills and the entire company. Now in the past few years virtual is much less interesting and people want to be in person again. I believe every event that I have booked so far in 2024 is in person.
Leaning into this is where I created Breakthrough Adventures. I recognize that people want to be together again. People have changed. I’ve changed. The conversation has expanded and gone deep. People realize that there is only one life and they want to experience it! Some people don’t know where to begin. That’s where I come in, through retreats and coaching I help people realize that they are worthy of their dreams. I help them figure out what they want and how to get there.
The next personal pivot? My daughter graduates this year. I can tell things are changing yet again. I’m not sure what the next pivot will be but I can tell you that there is adventure and my own personal transformation on the horizon as plan a trip to India for a Pilgramage and then a long stay in Paris where my daughter will be studying. It’s been really good and I have a feeling it’s about to get really really good!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I talk pretty openly with my personal struggle with ADHD. When I was growing up and in school ADHD really wasn’t a part of the conversation. We barely knew what it was. So as I kid and young adult I just didn’t think I’d amount to much…no one really did. I didn’t look good on paper. I remember my step dad’s encouraging words, “You’ve got a good personality, that will take you far.” and I remember me thinking, “that’s not a skill, I’m gonna have to be Oprah”. Honestly I wish I would not have discounted that comment as obviously it stuck with me. Maybe I’d be Oprah adjacent! Here’s the thing, I always was frustrated because even though I didn’t look good on paper, I knew that I had something, my own kind of smart. I’ve always had a hard time showing it, so there was a time in which I leaned into partying. People like a big personality at a party and I certainly brought that to the table. I don’t suffer from addiction but at some point you realize it’s not serving you. When it came time to start taking care of myself and my daughter, I knew I had to find other ways to tap into that personality strengths and that there was more to me than just fun. I knew I wanted to become something. that I could become something. So once I started betting on myself and not waiting for institutions that required a high GPA and accolades, I started to pave a way for myself that I am really proud of. The ADHD now works in my favor, it’s kind of my super power. In an age when things change so fast my ADHD loves to solve a problem and a pivot! It keeps things fresh and interesting. And if there is a task that I really hate doing or don’t feel like I can do myself. I outsource. I’ve had a lot of helpers along the way too. But here is what I know. Every part of that story had led me here and every piece will lead me to the next. And I have the deepest of faith that each piece of my path was meant to be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://annaklimmek.com/ & https://happyfoodmn.com/
- Instagram: @happyfoodmn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/happyfoodmn/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-klimmek-23847414/
- Youtube: @annaklimmek4290
Image Credits
Kristen Olson of Studio Q Bre McGee of Uncommon Collaborative