Entrepreneurial mind can be curse, blessing

When I started my restaurant business, there were many things I did not know. I was in my 20s with a dream, tons of energy, a desire to be successful and an immense lack of experience as a business owner. Every possible mistake I could make when it came to running a restaurant company, I did, plus more.

What I did possess however, was the desire to keep getting better and better at my trade. As time went on, I kept seeking knowledge, I kept wanting to improve, and kept researching the industry, our processes, and how we wanted to continue to be better at what we do.

I remember one time, during our first year of operation, we had an extremely angry customer; her food took longer than usual on a busy Friday night. She came up to my face and screamed, “You should be ashamed of yourself as a restaurant owner, you will not last!” (Most customers will not give you that kind of feedback; they just don’t come back).

I took that feedback as a gift, even though my spirit was broken inside after the harsh comment, knowing we were giving it our all. I used it as an inspiration to fuel our drive to make the restaurant business work. At the time, I lacked the necessary experience as a 20-something year old in charge of a new venture. After regaining composure, my wife and I vouched for continuous improvement and never looked back.

One of the things that helped us gain momentum during that crucial startup time was asking ourselves two very important question consistently. To this day, we continue to ask ourselves these very important questions, two questions I consider to be a curse and a blessing for every entrepreneur who have achieve some level of success in their entrepreneurial journey:

What more can we do?

How can we do it better?

When you constantly ask yourself, what more can I do, you are forever getting out of your comfort zone looking for new ways to accomplish more and achieve more. It is part of an entrepreneur DNA, always expanding your level of capacity as a professional, your mind is always working (a curse).

Those of you who have been living the entrepreneurial life for a while understand that when you are running your own business, there is never off time, there is never “I get home and call it a day.” There is always a situation that needs to be addressed and resolved; even when you go away on vacation, you are never off, the mind is always thinking (at least those entrepreneurs that are truly committed to their craft) of ways to take on more capacity to keep the business moving forward (a blessing).

How can we do it better? It doesn’t matter what your industry is, committed entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to make things better and perfect their craft.

My father-in-law, Richard Reppert, a commercial ceiling and drywall contractor business owner for close to 50 years who is extremely good at what he does, every time we go inside any indoor structure together, I cannot help but notice him looking up and immediately checking out the ceiling with careful detail in his eye.

It doesn’t matter where we are, if we go into a building, he’s immediately looking up to check out the craftmanship.

Same when I visit any restaurant, I cannot help but notice the execution of the team. Is the staff using hospitality when dealing with the guests, do they greet the guests as soon they walk into their doors? Sometimes I feel like getting up and doing it myself even though I’m a guest myself (a curse). I wonder:

Is the bathroom clean?

Do they see that table needs help?

Is the food fresh?

As an entrepreneur who cares, you instantly reflect on those experiences and look for ways to improve your own operations and deliver a better product or service (a blessing).

As you continue through your journey as an entrepreneur, always remember it is a lifestyle. For those of you who are thinking about taking the entrepreneurial path, let me make you aware, it will take you a

tremendous amount of effort, mentally, physically, and emotionally.

The long hours, the blending of your personal and professional life — there is no “off ” switch.

You will soon realize you have never worked that hard in your entire life as you are trying to get your company up and running in the early years (first three to five years). When things get rough, and it will, consistently ask yourself those two questions:

„ What more can we do?

„ How can we do it better?

You will be surprised at how resourceful your mind can get to help you move forward as an entrepreneur.

Eventually, if you can conquer the startup phase, people will say you are lucky. Let me just remind you there is nothing lucky about your efforts.

Personally, I don’t believe in luck. I believe in hard work, preparation and determination in order to take advantage when the opportunity presents itself, the ability to execute better than anyone else. Much success.