000: Elaine Benoit | Host of Dishing with Delishes

Elaine Benoit | Podcast Host | Food Blogger | Cocktail Drinker

This episode is an introduction to the Dishing with Delishes podcast host, Elaine Benoit.  That’s me!

In it, I discuss what the podcast is about, what to expect when you listen to the Dishing with Delishes podcast and I reveal a little of my background and why I started on this journey!!

I will be interviewing successful food bloggers and experts to find out their tips and tricks of how they became the rock stars that they are in this competitive business!

This podcast is intended to inspire and educate other food bloggers to help them go to the next level in their business!

If you would like, you can read more about me here.

Elaine Benoit Show Notes Page

Transcript:

Hi there!  This is Elaine Benoit your host of the Dishing with Delishes podcast!

This is episode 000 which is actually the first episode.  When people launch podcasts, they almost always launch the 000 episode because that is the episode where you can ‘meet’ the host and get an idea of what to expect when you listen to the podcast.

It is a fun episode because I’m all for introducing myself and setting the stage for what you can expect with the Dishing with Delishes Podcast.

So, let me get right into it.

In Dishing with Delishes, I will be sitting down virtually with other food bloggers.  Foodies with  successful businesses. I will ask probing questions to find out how they went from starting a food blog to becoming the rockstar that they are today!

I’ll ask about their successes, non-successes and anything else that I can squeeze out them.  We’ll also talk about things you’ve always wanted to know, such as what their favorite food gadget, what their favorite food is and other fun things that will make you feel as though you know them.

So, it will be a podcast that not only is informative, but interesting and fun.

As a listener, you don’t need to be a food blogger, you can be someone wanting to start a food blog but you need the guidance from others that have paved the way before you.  You can also be a fan and just want to hear your favorite food bloggers talk.

Here’s a little bit about me.  I have always wanted to get out of the grind of working 9 to 5 and have ventured into different endeavors.  My first entrepreneurial venture, though short lived was When I was 4 years old, I sold flowers door to door to neighbors.  How did I get these flowers?  I  picked them from their front yard and sold it to them for 5 cents a bundle.  The thing that cracks me up, even to this day, is I wasn’t savvy enough to shake the dirt clumps from the roots.  I can’t remember how much I made that day, but I do know that I got a bunch of penny candy with the spoils of my efforts.

Years later I studied to be a massage therapist and had my own massage business when I lived in CA.  I chose not to continue with my business when we moved from California to Maine, because the qualifications to be a massage therapist in that new state, required me to go back to school for another 250 hours, which I wasn’t willing to do.

Many jobs later, when I was working as a medical secretary for a new optical office and shop. The idea to start a food blog came to me because the shop wasn’t busy and the owner allowed me and the other employee  to surf the web.  Some people would think that would be a perfect job, hardly any work and getting paid for surfing the web.  But it was torture.

In my web searches, I came across some food blogs and thought, wow, I can do that.  I cook, I like to write, how hard can it be?

So, I started a food blog called Dishes Delish. So essentially, I would get paid to write my blog and do other tasks related to the food blog all the while at work.  I joined a few organizations to help me with food blogging and boy, I am glad that I did because.  There was a learning curve involved but I have to say that I’m making money after almost 2 years of blogging.

I worked for the shop for 9 months before me and the other employee got laid off. Hubby Christopher and I decided that I’d concentrate on blogging full time.  And during that time, I discovered podcasts and since I have a degree in theater and don’t mind the sound of my own voice and wanted to help other people see their dreams come to fruition just as I did with my food blog.  So, I started my first podcast called MaturePreneurial, where I interview entrepreneurs that started at least one venture past the age of 40.  My intention is to inspire other like-aged people to become entrepreneurs.  That podcast is almost a year old!

A few months after I started MaturePreneurial, the idea for this podcast, Dishing with Delishes started to germinate in my head.  But I didn’t want to start it until I knew the other two businesses I had were on auto-pilot.  And by that, I mean not that they run on their own, just that I have systems set up where they run pretty smoothly.

I’m here to tell you, there is money to be made in food blogging.  You can get started and you can be successful!  I believe that!  Especially with the tools and advice that you will hear listening to the Dishing with Delishes podcast.

You know what would mean a lot to me?  If you sign up for my email list and subscribe to Dishing with Delishes on itunes.

If you have a food blogger that you’d love for me to interview, contact me through the contact form, or email me at elaine at dishingwithdelishes.com  I read every email and am interested in what you have to say.

Thank you for listening to this introduction episode and I can’t wait to see what is in store!