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Ina Garten’s culinary career began more than thirty years ago when she purchased a small specialty food store in New York’s Westhampton Beach called the Barefoot Contessa. Without any formal training, she quickly built the business and parlayed her early success into a veritable empire that includes 10 best-selling cookbooks and an Emmy Award–winning show on the Food Network. So what’s the key to Garten’s success? Considerable talent mixed with a healthy dose of business acumen and an endearing personality that has won her legions of devoted fans around the world.
I recently spoke with Garten at the 2015 Forbes Women’s Summit about the most important business --and life-- lessons she’s learned along the way.
Do What Makes You Happy—You Can’t Help But Be Good At It
Garten spent years working on nuclear energy policy at the White House in the 1970s. “I was writing the budget for enriched uranium programs, and thinking, life’s got to be more fun than this,” she recalls. That night her husband, Jeffrey, shared some advice that changed the course of her life -- and the lives of the millions of fans who know and love her as the Barefoot Contessa. “Pick something that you think would be fun, don’t worry about whether you make money at it. If it’s fun, you’ll be really good at it,” he counseled. It was exactly the nudge she needed to put in an offer on a real estate listing she’d seen earlier that day to buy a specialty food shop in the Hamptons. "I loved the customers. I loved the store. I always felt like it was like a big party...And I thought, 'this is where I belonged,'" recalls Garten.
It’s Hard To Build Something From Nothing
Successful business owners know how to capitalize on the roots that already exist, and Ina is no exception. “That it was a business already in progress made it possible for me,” she remembers. She struck a deal with the previous owner to have her stay on for a month so Garten could get a turbo lesson in running the shop. “She was a great teacher,” says Garten, “and I really learned…and then built it, and built it.” Years later, the shop has evolved into a 3,000-square-foot space in East Hampton.
She applies that same philosophy toward her cooking. “I think a lot of people think you can sit around at home just thinking up ideas, and you can’t,” she says. “I go and see what everybody's doing,” says Garten “I’m always collecting ideas from people, what they like, what interests them…And then I’ll take it to another level.”
Boredom Can Be Exactly What Your Career Needs
“I was 50 years old and I thought that the best years of my career were over,” says Garten. At that point in her career, the day-to-day operation of her specialty food store wasn’t stimulating for her anymore. One day, a friend of Garten shared some wisdom with her, "Type A people think they can figure out what to do next while they're doing something [else], and they can't," advised the friend. It was at that moment that Garten decided to sell her iconic store and rent the office above it in order to “just let myself be.” “I spent literally a year doing nothing, and I have to tell you, it was the hardest year of my life,” admits Garten. “I had to get good and bored.”
“Cocooning is a really important part of changing and figuring out what to do next,” says Garten. She decided to pass the time by…writing a cookbook. “When I thought my professional career was over, it hadn't even started yet.” undefined
Jump In The Pond
“I like working scared,” says Garten, remembering how long and hard she fought off offers to do her own cooking show. “I just didn't think I'd be good at it.” She ultimately gave it a try, even though the thought of filming terrified her. “I think we all stand on the side of the pond discussing the pond, instead jumping in the pond, splashing around, and saying, ‘Oh, it’s cold, it’s hot, oh, that’s really interesting over there,” says Garten. “You really don’t know what's in the pond until you're in it. And I think it’s not a huge risk jumping in, as long as you know you can get out.”
Schedule Downtime
Although Garten infuses all of her projects with fun, there’s a marked difference between work and play. “Oscar Wilde used to say, ‘Work is easy, fun is hard,” says Garten. “You know what you need to do for work -- it’s the rest of it, your personal life, that ends up getting what’s left over,” she cautions. That’s why Garten blocks out “downtime” a year in advance. “I think [vacation] is when your brain’s working and you don’t even know it,” she says.
In today’s over-scheduled world, that kind of recharging is one of the most important things women can do for themselves. It’s certainly critical to Garten’s success. On one vacation, she recalls walking down the street in Milan and admiring the dresses the Italian women were wearing. That led to the creation of a wonderful watermelon and raspberry recipe that ultimately made it into her next book.
