Lost and Tired seeking advices.

[Benw523]

Hey guys my name is Ben and I have been running businesses for the past 4 years. I am an entrepreneur like many of you here and want to be on the fastlane when I am young. I am starting to discover that the business I am in is not fastlane and I am starting to dislike it and losing my passion for it. I am at a crossroad now and hoping to find some useful insights and advices about my current situation. Long story short, I started a restaurant/lounge business and a fast food business about 2 1/2 years ago with my cousin with the help of a loan from my parents. The restaurant lounge business was a mild success but sold after a year of operation for a small profit due to partnership split with my cousin and his wife. I found out the hard way about partnership business as ego, politic, and worst of all having a couple in the business do get in the way of a successful operation, moreover the business was sold to another party for a high 5 figure profit. The fast food place was a money losing operation for a year and my cousin wanted out and I bought him out with another partner for cheap. We invested more money into the operation to make it more efficient and is now turning a small profit between 2-4 k each month.

For the last few months I have been searching for locations to expand and now I have found an okay location as real estate is a big challenge for small business like us. Prime locations are usually taken or are only available for big chain restaurants as they are seen as risk free tenants. Now I am asking myself do I want to a plunge into another location and it can be another year or 2 before it turns a profit. I feel the business is not fastlane and I will never reach the goals I want to achieve through this business. I am starting to think of other options but I feel I lacked the experience and skills to transition into another field. I feel the last 4 years most of what I learned was operational like managing people, leading people in my business, or increasing operation efficiency. I don't think I can utilize these skills because very likely I will start from the bottom in another field.

I face 2 options now, either option 1 continue with my business to make an okay living and give up on my fastlane dream. Option 2 pursue another field and face all the uncertainties, even worst maybe waste couple years and still be in the same position I am now. I am also short on capital because I repaid my loan and blew my profit on stupid stuffs due to my false sense of success earlier. I feel I have been distracted with my personal issues and didn't give everything to my business. I have learned the hard way and I have reflected deeply on why I didn't succeed earlier. I am hungry for success now and I am willing to give my time and sweat for it, but now I need some help and a direction.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[C.S. Abbink]

Why is fastfood not fastlane? Go make it fastlane! You obviously know how to run it, now all you need to do is improve it.

Improve the values it gives to customers:
- Better food
- Identify new trends in food and offer those (a fast food joint came up with a new type of dish and I went to get it after work everyday for a month..)
- Increase the speed of in which the order is delivered
- Invest in a fresh set of furniture for your customers to sit at. Make it look clean, lean, young etc

Know your customers:
- What prices are right for your customers? Might be that they are willing to pay more! Experiment.
- How do you get them to order that one extra snack on the side?
- What problems do your customers have? Identify (interview) and solve.
- What opening times do your customers prefer?

When you fabricated this lean mean burger machine, copy and paste it into a second location. Be sure to get to know your new customers and adapt to that. If you make a good enough profit, go hire a manager and focus merely on expanding yourself.

Hope this helps

 

[SteveO]

I'm not sure whether you can make this fastlane or not. What I am sure of though is that you have learned a lot during the past few years. The learned how to grind a business into profitability. You have learned about operations, employees, and other general business stuff. You learned about dealing with partners. Above all, you have learned about the food business.

Can you leverage off of your knowledge to start something that is related to what you are doing? Supplier of food or equipment? Can you make your current business more profitable, sell it, and start a new one? I know you said there are challenges but who is better at overcoming those challenges than you?

I feel that you are on your way and just need a couple of twists to move faster.

 

[CommonCents]

to avoid the high cost of location location location, have you considered a food truck? you can bring to food to where the people are.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Benw523]

Why is fastfood not fastlane? Go make it fastlane! You obviously know how to run it, now all you need to do is improve it.

Improve the values it gives to customers:
- Better food
- Identify new trends in food and offer those (a fast food joint came up with a new type of dish and I went to get it after work everyday for a month..)
- Increase the speed of in which the order is delivered
- Invest in a fresh set of furniture for your customers to sit at. Make it look clean, lean, young etc

Know your customers:
- What prices are right for your customers? Might be that they are willing to pay more! Experiment.
- How do you get them to order that one extra snack on the side?
- What problems do your customers have? Identify (interview) and solve.
- What opening times do your customers prefer?

When you fabricated this lean mean burger machine, copy and paste it into a second location. Be sure to get to know your new customers and adapt to that. If you make a good enough profit, go hire a manager and focus merely on expanding yourself.

Hope this helps

What you mentioned above is mostly what I did when the business was losing money. We invested more money to renovate the place and made it look hip and inviting, we bought new equipment to reduce labor cost while increasing sales, rolled out a brand new menu, automated the supply line, and then changed the name of the business after all the changes was made.
I just feel the ROI is too slow and to open another one I would need to find other partners and invest another 200,000 and it would take 4 years to get the money back assuming on current profitability of our first location. I am pretty sure the second location is gonna be more profitable since we are more experience and efficient. We are a fast food chicken place and our price is on the high side since we are based in the downtown area. I just don't feel I will get on the fastlane unless I spend at least another 10 years in the business.

 

[CreateLiving]

Sometimes, knowing when something is not working is the best skill an entrepreneur can posses. Do you feel like your Fastlane future lies in Food and Beverage? If not, it's time to find a new venture.

 

[Benw523]

Sometimes, knowing when something is not working is the best skill an entrepreneur can posses. Do you feel like your Fastlane future lies in Food and Beverage? If not, it's time to find a new venture.

Yes, but I feel like I am trapped. I want to get into a business that is not as capital and labor intensive as the restaurant business. But, I feel I have no skills and mentors to get me into a new field. I know nobody can help me but myself. I am seriously thinking about moving to a new city and just start from nothing. Worst of all, I still have a little bit of passive income left every month after repaying the chicken place loan to my parents. Sometime I feel if I take that route, I would lose a lot of what I have. My bmw would have to go since I will no longer have sufficient income to make the payments every month. My relationship with my girlfriend of a 2 years will have to go too, since I wont have anytime for her. Deeply down in my heart, I know all I want is to be successful business person. It's been a long 5 years journey ever since I dropped out of college. I feel I am far behind many of other cousins and relatives as many of them are now investment bankers, It consultants, and other professionals. I deeply regret that I didn't learn a skill like coding and enter a business where I can fail over and over again until I find out what works. Restaurants business is not something you can afford to fail over and over again because you would be so much in debt. Most of the time if you fail in my business, you lose all your life savings and your skills are not worth much.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[throttleforward]

My recommendation is to find an expert in food franchising and determine if a franchise model is right for your niche (maybe someone on here, otherwise talk to some franchise owners in your area to get a feel for the business from there end, and maybe seek out a session or two of professional mentorship). Franchises are definitely fastlane if they are managed properly.

 

[CreateLiving]

Yes, but I feel like I am trapped. I want to get into a business that is not as capital and labor intensive as the restaurant business. But, I feel I have no skills and mentors to get me into a new field. I know nobody can help me but myself. I am seriously thinking about moving to a new city and just start from nothing. Worst of all, I still have a little bit of passive income left every month after repaying the chicken place loan to my parents. Sometime I feel if I take that route, I would lose a lot of what I have. My bmw would have to go since I will no longer have sufficient income to make the payments every month. My relationship with my girlfriend of a 2 years will have to go too, since I wont have anytime for her. Deeply down in my heart, I know all I want is to be successful business person. It's been a long 5 years journey ever since I dropped out of college. I feel I am far behind many of other cousins and relatives as many of them are now investment bankers, It consultants, and other professionals. I deeply regret that I didn't learn a skill like coding and enter a business where I can fail over and over again until I find out what works. Restaurants business is not something you can afford to fail over and over again because you would be so much in debt. Most of the time if you fail in my business, you lose all your life savings and your skills are not worth much.

It sounds to me like you have a solid foundation that you have worked hard to build. I think you need to stick with it, you were passionate about it at one point for a reason..Try this: infuse what you are passionate about at this very moment into the business model that is already generating income. That will make you more excited to get to work and grow the company. Don't think too much about expanding right now, think "re-imagining". You don't want to expand if you hate what you're doing. Keep your BMW, keep your girl, and force your business to kick a$$.

 

[Lauryn]

That profit can be used to hire a manager or consultant to help scale the profit with less time on your end. Then you can put your time and passion into something fastlane.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Benw523]

my heart, I know all I want is to be successful business person. It's been a long 5 years journey ever since I dropped out of college. I feel I am far behind

I'm not sure whether you can make this fastlane or not. What I am sure of though is that you have learned a lot during the past few years. The learned how to grind a business into profitability. You have learned about operations, employees, and other general business stuff. You learned about dealing with partners. Above all, you have learned about the food business.

Can you leverage off of your knowledge to start something that is related to what you are doing? Supplier of food or equipment? Can you make your current business more profitable, sell it, and start a new one? I know you said there are challenges but who is better at overcoming those challenges than you?

I feel that you are on your way and just need a couple of twists to move faster.

Yes, I feel the same way when my business was losing money. I knew I had no option but to make the business work. I had to find a way to make it work no matter what. I did everything I could and double the business in 4 months. I was dedicated and determined, but now the business is turning a profit, I feel I have more options open now. I want to ponder carefully before I start another business because I know its gonna be at least 2 more years of commitment.

 

[Benw523]

It sounds to me like you have a solid foundation that you have worked hard to build. I think you need to stick with it, you were passionate about it at one point for a reason..Try this: infuse what you are passionate about at this very moment into the business model that is already generating income. That will make you more excited to get to work and grow the company. Don't think too much about expanding right now, think "re-imagining". You don't want to expand if you hate what you're doing. Keep your BMW, keep your girl, and force your business to kick a$$.

Yes, thanks for the advice. I kept asking myself do I want to continue or waste all the time I put into the business. I think what you stated above is totally the correct direction that I want to focus if I shall continue with the business. But, now I am thinking I was never too passionate about the food business but I was committed to make it work. I feel I should find something that I am more passionate about as I know without passion sometimes you will get burnt out quickly.

 

[Benw523]

to avoid the high cost of location location location, have you considered a food truck? you can bring to food to where the people are.

My restaurant model requires more equipments than a food truck can provide and food trucks are mainly a one man operation that can't be scaled.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Benw523]

My recommendation is to find an expert in food franchising and determine if a franchise model is right for your niche (maybe someone on here, otherwise talk to some franchise owners in your area to get a feel for the business from there end, and maybe seek out a session or two of professional mentorship). Franchises are definitely fastlane if they are managed properly.

Yes, franchises is definitely the fast lane in the food business. Where you can make money with no risk involved. Franchisees provide capital and take the risk while you make money regardless of their success or failures. But one thing you need is a proven model and track record with multiple locations at least. I don't think any franchisee would plunge their life savings into your concept unless you have at least multiple profitable locations.

 

[Nate-NewVenture]

Only you can determine the best road to travel. As far as mentored, try looking for mastermind groups or meet ups Ina specific field. Also, research, read, teach yourself. Those are advice given to me and it changed the way I was looking at it. Sometimes the best road isn't one you're comfortable in, but one that challenging.

Look for what fills a need and be better than the competition. You already have a good mindset of being more efficient. Use that to your advantage but don't be afraid. Instead of: "I'm uncomfortable in an unknown world" use "I'm going to learn that new world".

If also recommend reading the book. It sheds some great light on pro's/con's as well as what your goals are/should be and what changes you need to make to your way of thinking.

Just my 2 cents,
Nate-NewVenture

 

[randomnumber314]

Yes, franchises is definitely the fast lane in the food business. Where you can make money with no risk involved. Franchisees provide capital and take the risk while you make money regardless of their success or failures. But one thing you need is a proven model and track record with multiple locations at least. I don't think any franchisee would plunge their life savings into your concept unless you have at least multiple profitable locations.

I hear a lot of negativity in your comments. You have a working prototype that is profitable. You have what you need to go fastlane. Maybe it's not what you want to do, but it's possible.

Think of it this way, why wouldn't you be able to sell someone the dream of a turnkey restaurant with your name on it? That dream is what 90% of wantrepreneurs are looking for, the "easy" business idea that someone else created.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[tekcraze]

I would suggest reading the e-myth by Michael Gerber, specifically where he starts talking about systems and building a franchise "prototype".

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[RogueInnovation]

I feel like cr#p too! Welcome to the club

You cannot skip the grind
Just keep grinding

Flip flopping will do you more harm than good, there is only an outlying chance you'll find your big idea by just cutting the chord here. Its possible, just you need to take responsibility for if you don't find it. Cuz if you give up what you have now and run out of steam you'll get stuck inbetween, then die off.

If your heart is all bottled up, you just gotta grind, until you get clear, unless there is someone in the organisation holding you back.

Take what we all say with a lot of salt too, and don't use us to make the lazy/wrong choices

 

[ZCP]

How much of the $2k to $4k per month is yours? Use it to venture into other fastlane endeavors. Rentals, online, buy existing business, etc.

In the meantime, start looking for investors for that 2nd location. If the numbers work, do it as well. Get to work!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[UniversalMind]

The restaurant business is one of the toughest be successful in. You can expect not to see substantial profits for the 1st 5+ years that you are in business IF you are under your own name or brand. It maybe different if you buy into a successful franchise. I've seen some of the dirtiest most unappealing restaurants that are in a bad location succeed, because of the PRODUCT they are offering. I would only stay in the business, if I could offer a better tasting item than anyone else, or have something on the menu that no one else is offering. Or if you could find some investors, go for a proven franchise, with an established name. That could definitely be fastlane.

 

[Benw523]

I feel like cr#p too! Welcome to the club

You cannot skip the grind
Just keep grinding

Flip flopping will do you more harm than good, there is only an outlying chance you'll find your big idea by just cutting the chord here. Its possible, just you need to take responsibility for if you don't find it. Cuz if you give up what you have now and run out of steam you'll get stuck inbetween, then die off.

If your heart is all bottled up, you just gotta grind, until you get clear, unless there is someone in the organisation holding you back.

Take what we all say with a lot of salt too, and don't use us to make the lazy/wrong choices

Its been 2 and half years since I made this post. I just recently checked back on this forum. It has taught me so much. I currently have my 2nd location opened and its breaking even after 3 months of opening. It took me a year to go through neighborhood association, city zoning, location scouting, renovations, equipment buying, concept testing and over-budgeted that cost me 350K. The first location is has ben turning a monthly profit of 10-14k for the last 1 year and half. I have also ventured into import/export business as family members are in it and making some money off it. Reviewing all the advices I have received I think I was too lazy and afraid of the grind. In the past year I had been through a lot of personal problems. You know sometimes when you start making money, you start having different temptations when you have time. I gambled and lost some money in the stock market and casinos. I have been clean now for couple months, but have burned through most of my income on travels, gambling, clothes, entertainment. I am currently carrying some debt due to my bad habits and big spending. I feel like a loser and not a real entrepreneur. Real entrepreneur will save their capital and utilize if for future business purposes until they reach their goals. I truly believe the people that are chasing girls, money, cars, or lavish life style will never be truly successful. You are really just chasing money. When you are just chasing money, you overlooked a lot of the stuff that can create long term value. I think a real entrepreneur are really lookiong to creating value for others and long term ones also that they can harvest. Focusing on how to make your business better and creating value for your customers. Once, you focus on adding value to your business then money will follow. After all, I truly feel rogueinnovation gave me the best advice here. Its simple which is to face the grind and be committed. After 6 years of entrepreneurship, I really need to start acknowledging that in order to reach success, you have to grind it out. There's no shortcuts. Even if there is a shortcuts, you'll need to grind hard to find your luck. I hope all the people that's chasing the dream can all realize that entrepreneurship is hard money. Its no easy money as it takes time to compete and learn a business inside out. But, once your able to compound your experience and skills and turning them into value that's when you start collecting your rewards. I am on the same path as most people here and now with a better mentality.

 

[Mattie]

I believe the lesson here is self-disciplining your mind. Grinding is long-term, as you stated. Part of self-disciplining yourself is getting to the root of the problem. Why did you feel the need to gamble, and make the choices you did with money. This is escapism. What are you running away from inside of yourself. Ask these questions. Get to the root of why? Otherwise you will repeat the same mistakes.

This is just my experience, but until you pull up all the roots inside of yourself, you will keep self-sabotaging yourself like you just have for the simple reason, no matter how many times you hear people tell you, you can just forget and erase the past, and suppress your emotions and feelings, its never going to go away until you confront what ever it is you fight within yourself. This is all about self-mastery. Forget about temptation. I believe you should be able to stand in the middle of a Casino and not ever feel the need to spend a dime. As I used to waste a lot of time years ago on Virtual Reality and gaming. Until you're done pulling up the roots in your thoughts and breaking the patterns, and find self-worth, self-respect, self-discipline, you will go back to escapism.

The whole point being if you're in emotional pain and mental pain, the pleasure and pain center in the Amygdala and Limbic System is the culprit. The highway to all addictions is dopamine. It gives you that quick release. Same as sex, substance abuse, alcoholism, food, and other addictions. Same thing when you go to a fitness gym. Write out a list of healthy ways to get the same effect. Example: Recreational Activities involving some kind of Sport. As an Entrepreneur, you should already know this is what they're aiming for, for you to become addicted and drain your pocket book.

Frankly it's not easy for people to get rid of all these negative escapism methods and trade them in for more positive ones. And this is I think is part of the process, rising above the mainstream consensus of indulging in different forms of escapism. I find at this point in time, I can't even stand being in escapism anymore whether it's gaming, television, or even emotionally eating. I think it is a process of doing inner work every day, and like everything else setting limits, setting goals, and breaking bad habits and exchanging them for positive habits.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.