What is your WHY?

Michelle Gilbert had a goal to learn something new every year.  In 2008 she decided to learn how to make bread at the suggestion of her sister in order to help support her two boys in their missionary service for the church they belong to.  She had lots of wheat stored in the garage as well as a good supply of other ingredients needed for bread making.  At first she gave her bread away to the neighbors.  Soon she began selling it to them.  Before long she was making sweet breads and other baked items for weddings and other events.  Before she knew it she was getting up at 3:00 a.m. every morning and baking about 60 loaves of bread per day in addition to other baked goods.  The project had become huge!  After paying for a total of four years of missionary service for her two sons she decided to close her in-home business.

In 2014 she went to work for a marketing company.  One day she was in a work meeting when a question was posed to the group: "What is your WHY?  Why do you get up in the morning?"  Michelle says it hit her that her "WHY" was not marketing.  In discussing the question later with her husband he pointed out that she had loved having a bakery, so why didn't she do that?  Michelle realized that she indeed did love baking, and it was the WHY that she wanted to get up for in the morning.  That is when the idea for "Vanilla Bean" was born.  Michelle decided to open a bakery, not run it out of her home.  She had a vision of exactly what it would look like, how it would be run, and what would be offered.  She set about to make her vision a reality, and that is just what she did.

When Michelle had trouble finding the decor she was looking for she decided to build much of it herself.  She built everything from the cabinet that the soda fountain dispenser sits on to the artwork on the walls to the big barn door into the kitchen.

 Michelle worked to make everything about The Vanilla Bean the fresh and inviting bakery you encounter when you enter its doors.

Michelle says that making this successful bakery a reality is probably the hardest thing she has ever done because she did not know how to do it.  She had to go through an intense learning period that was difficult and stressful.  But she got her WHY.   She now knows WHY she gets up in the morning.   About her bakery she says, "I walk in here in the mornings and it feels good.  I feel good because I didn't quit.  Keep at it and don't give up.  Keep going, keep trying.  If there is something you want to do, keep trying!  I feel good because I did this!"

What is your WHY?  Why do you get up in the morning?  What motivates you?  What are you passionate about that is worth doing each day?  Don't be afraid to go after your dreams and do hard things.  Figure out your WHY and make it happen.