christmas gift guide 2012 **** barts cookies**** food and snacks

Meet Bart Smith, "The Cookie Man"

"Respectfully, of course, I put my Mom out of business when I was 18!" ~ Bart Smith I've been makin' the word's best chocolate chip cookies you've ever tasted for more than 20 years! It all started when I was in college, living far away from home and mom's cooking. This is how my story begins ...I made my first batch of chocolate chip cookies for dinner (at college) in 1988 ... One afternoon I said to myself, "Bart, you don't live at home any more." Translated, that meant that I could have anything I wanted for dinner! You're on your own now, and mamma ain't around to tell you what you can or cannot eat!" So, I thought, "Why not make CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES for DINNER! YEAHHHH!!!" So, I drove to the local grocery store, bought all the ingredients, returned home, made 'em, ate 'em and called my mom to boast, "Mom, I just had to call to say how much I love you and that I 'spoiled my appetite!' Yep, I made cookies for dinner!" Well, she laughed, said how much she missed me, and I went on eating my cookies ... for dinner! I started baking cookies for others around me at college ... Well, after this first cookie bakin' episode, that soon turned me on to baking cookies for my girlfriend, friends, track teammates, a couple of teachers and my coaches. People seem to like my cookies ... Cookies for the main course at potlucks ... After opting out of college for personal reasons, I had several temp j.o.b.s (e.g., job=just over broke) through a number of temp agencies in Orange County, California. Being so proficient at the computer like I was, I found myself working at several different companies throughout Southern California. This gave me ample opportunity to attended my fair share of potluck lunch/dinner events. Wherever I went, I always took my cookies for dessert. The problem was, they never made it to dessert. Time and again, my co-workers (even at different locations) were eating my cookies BEFORE they were chowing down on the fried chicken someone brought as the main course. I was pretty amused with the success I was having with my homemade cookies. There must be something special about them!" Cookies help attract clients, bring in new business and increase one's income ... Fast-forward a few years! After the j.o.b. program wasn't paying me my true worth, and with the birth of the Internet back in the mid 90's, I launched into becoming a marketing and graphic design consultant. While I still use the Internet to make my money, back then, I got my start building websites for clients, helping them with their businesses, offering marketing and other forms of business consulting, etc. Well, whenever I mentioned, "I make the world's best chocolate chip cookies," my clients would always ask me to mail them some. Of course, I said, "Yes! It'd be my pleasure!" I wanted their business! I soon began to observe a new trend taking place in my business. I started to notice clients signing up for my services with ease, refer my services to others with joy, and whenever I wanted to secure a new client project, I'd just offer to mail them a dozen of my world famous chocolate chip cookies. They'd receive them, call me up and say, "Bart, how can we not work with you. These cookies are the best. Thank you so much for sending them. Now, how do we get started working with you?" Can you hear the register ringing by now? Can we all say, "Ca-ching!" The magic formula to making clients pay their bill ... (i.e., "Cookies!") Of course, working as an independent consultant, has its downsides. For starters, you don't have a regular paycheck like employees do. Instead, you've got to keep track of your clients, and make sure they pay you on time, or you'll starve. Well, you can imagine, a few of them didn't pay me on time and I had to track 'em down, or I was going to be homeless. Many consultants would probably resort to harassing phone calls, letters, bill collectors or small claims court, I just sent a few dozen of my world famous chocolate chip cookies. Why? For starters, if you're only looking to collect $300, $500, even $1,000 from of a client, taking them to small claims court, writing nasty notes, or making upset telephone calls is a big waste of time, not to mention, bad karma. You want them to pay you, right? The reason some people don't pay you is because they either don't have the money, sales are down, or some adverse thing is going on in their lives. The way I look at it, I'll always need money to survive. Right? We all do. Whether that's today, next week, a month from now, etc. So, why not be kind to them, give them some time, and if there are other people ahead of you wanting to get paid too, you've got to do something special to get ahead of the others so YOU get paid BEFORE any else does! Right? You bet! So, what do I do? Simple! Send them a thank you card expressing my thanks for them doing business with me, along with??? ... You guessed it, a dozen or two of my world famous chocolate chip cookies. This warmed up their hearts, opened their minds, made their day and then BAM! There was my thoughtful thank you card with treats in the same box to make them think POSITIVELY about ME! Typically, I would receive a phone call soon after from clients who owed me money, saying, "Bart, we're so sorry we are late in paying you. We just received your card and cookies in the mail. We appreciate your understanding and the time you gave us to pay you. (In the background, I can hear them munching on the cookies!) How much do we owe you? We're cutting your check right now. Most people would call the dogs out on us, but not you. Thank you!" Seriously, it always goes down like this. It's amazing how a little patience, goodwill and my chocolate chip cookies can go to getting someone to pay their bill eventually. Rock on ... my review. My whole family loves to eat cookies of all sorts. I was so happy to hear back from bart himself that he would sponsor my christmas gift guide. I knew my family would enjoy his cookies. I chose to review his white chocolate chip and chocolate chip cookies. When i showed meme his pictures of the cookies on the website, she was so excited and asked me everyday mommy are the cookies coming today? lol she is so funny. When the cookies got here she begged me to let her have just one. So i agreed. Then she kept asking for more. She got upset when i told her she had to wait for her sister and daddy to get home to have more. lol. she loved them so much. My whole family loved how great barts cookies tasted. My husband said he loved how the chocolate chips melt in your mouth. Barts cookies are some of the best cookies my family has ever tasted. head over and check out barts cookies and purchase some you will love them too. here is meme enjoying her cookie from barts cookies. disclaimer: i was given a sample product to try. i wasnt compensated in any other way for this review. these are all my own opinions.