Ellen Bennett, Founder and CEO of Hedley & Bennett in conversation with Evan Funke for Dream First, Details Later: How to Quit Overthinking & Make It Happen!
“Ellen Bennett’s infectiously inspiring story of grit and entrepreneurial spirit, Dream First, Details Later is a powerfully honest and colorful account of her wild journey from line cook to business owner. In it, she gives license to break free from self-doubt and to seize the wheel for your own journey to success.”
—Danny Meyer, author of Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business
James Beard-nominated chef, author of award-winning American Sfoglino and chef-owner of FELIX TRATTORIA and FINGERS CROSSED.
You’ll never know where to start…until you start. This gutsy guidebook will help anyone who's procrastinating on a goal, career change, or business idea stop the obsessive worrying and leap into action.
As a 24-year-old line cook, Ellen Marie Bennett couldn't stand the kitchen staff’s poorly designed, cheaply made aprons. So when her head chef announced he was ordering a new batch, she blurted out, “Chef, I have an apron company”—even though she had no company, no business plan—just a glimmer of a design idea and a business license. Through hustle and a willingness to leap into the unknown, time and time again, she built that first order into a multi-million-dollar company called Hedley & Bennett, making aprons and kitchen gear worn by many of the world’s best chefs and home cooks everywhere.
Dream First, Details Later shares Ellen's journey and her forged-in-the-fire personal playbook for starting before you stop yourself. If you've ever imagined doing something and immediately thought, "that's impossible," or "I wouldn't even know where to start," or "I'm not qualified to do that," in these pages, you'll learn how to shove aside your inner worrier and launch into action. This honest and bold illustrated book will be like having Ellen—your personal hype woman—there with you, all the while yelling, "Don't stop! You got this!" She'll share hard-won advice on:
• Squashing doubts and reservations about venturing outside your comfort zone. (These doubts masquerade as rational, but they’re more likely coming from a place of fear.)
• Saying screw it to the perfect plan and using creative problem-solving—and heart and guts—to conquer the shit storms as they come.
• Eventually transitioning from the "flying by the seat of your pants" stage to the "well-oiled machine" stage.
You don't need to have all the answers to make your dream a reality. You just need to start before you're ready.
An important and marvelous new book full of can-do spirit from the force of nature that is Ellen Bennett. If you needed a reminder that you are capable of doing the impossible, this is it. Ellen inspires me daily! I’ve been on many impossible adventures with Ellen and just knowing her has given me so much personal power. Now she shares her can-do spirit with the world in this important and marvelous book. An essential reminder that you are capable of doing the impossible. Trust me, read this book!”
