Three hundred dollars, a dream, and lots of prayers. That was the motivation behind Gale Gibbon’s decision to start her own cooking business from her home 11 years ago.
The devout Christian, and mother of four felt it was time for her to channel her energies into a business of her own.
“My mother loved to cook. She always loved to feed a lot of people,” Gale recalled. “Actually she would cater for dances, weddings, stuff like that. From the time I was growing up I always liked the kitchen, but I worked in all different areas. Then one day I heard this little voice in my head, saying: “Why would you work for people. Why don’t you do what you like to do. So I had some money put down and I decided to build a shop and open my own food business.”
Gale’s decision to start her own cooking business wasn’t the result of some fleeting idea that she had. It was actually the culmination of a lifetime of experience which began from watching her mother cooking for the family and other people.
“Anything that I go to do I always put God first and wherever he directs me I go. I bought my first stock back in 2000 for $300,” Gale said. “Back then you could get a lot of things for $300. I told my son when you go outside, tell your friends that I would be making fish and chips. He told them and ever since then my business has been going and growing.”
Gale’s love of cooking has caused her business to flourish and her clients to look forward to her stellar dishes on weekends. What’s even more amazing is that she has had no formal training in cooking. All she gleaned was from watching her mother over the years.
“I learnt how to cook from watching my mother. I don’t weigh or measure anything . . . . Most of the things I do whether it’s cooking or baking is done by guessing,” Gale said.
Her “guess-baking and cooking” as she calls it seems to be working because she has a staunch clientele that looks forward to her end product on weekends. In fact, from starting the business in 2000, Gale has been able to build a thriving home-based business. She used her mother as an inspiration to launch out on her own.
That was until 2007 when illness unexpectedly crept in.
“I couldn’t hold anything. Whenever I took up a bag I had to put it down, my hands were constantly in pain,” she said. “Doctors did all sorts of tests and they still couldn’t find out what was wrong. I thought it was all the hot and cold, but we never found out what it was, so I stopped cooking for a year.”
During that year, Gale did a lot of soul-searching about her future and her business. But through it all she prayed and sought God’s guidance.
“Then one day I heard this voice from the Holy Spirit saying: ‘Why don’t you go back and cook,” Gale revealed. “So I went back.”
“I would have to say that God himself healed me because I have not had any problems with my hands since then.”
Three years since her illness, Gale hopes that her kids will see her as an example.
“It’s okay to work for people, but if there’s something that you’re good at, and can make money from, I always tell them to go for it. I know how I am. I’m a strong-willed person and anything that I set my mind to do I will do. I set my standards and I maintain them, and once you’ll do that you’ll succeed.”
