Category: Blog

Ruwandi and Jagath, her husband, own a restaurant business, “The Family Treat”. They make a cool 100k rupees a month in profits.

She’s the face of the business. Her clients love what she’s done with the place. They love her husband’s food.

For Ruwandi and Jagath, the restaurant is their baby. They’ve spent nearly 4 years growing it and developing a loyal customer base.

They’ve got a good team to help too. Ruwandi is the manager of sorts, and Jagath is the head chef. Then, there’s Joshua who works as the accounts person. Shalindi is in charge of procurement, and Shane does the marketing and social media work.

The first year was a struggle. It was just her and Jagath running things. They invested all they had on this business. And Jagath was so supportive. They had a passion for food, and that’s what mattered.

And once the hurdle was passed, and the 2nd year came around, they started to break even in the business. Getting good reviews and referrals from loyal customers surely helped.

They actually started making a profit last year, after they introduced catering services. Running a restaurant wasn’t what people made it out to be.

But all Ruwandi and Jagath have to show for the 4 years of commitment to the business is the small profit they’ve been making since last year. Business is business, but Ruwandi feels like this isn’t what they signed up for.

Worst of all, Ruwandi and Jagath can’t remember why they started the business in the first place. Before, they used to go abroad on vacation, at least once a year. Now, they only left the business if it was for a funeral or someone’s wedding. Even then, it was only for very close family and friends.

The baby they both lovingly grew is starting to strangle the both of them.

They open the restaurant at 9 in the morning. 6 am if there’s a catering order to prepare for. They close up and get home around 11.30 in the night. Ruwandi has to be there during the peak times. She’s the face of the business. Jagath can’t trust anyone else to make the food the way he does.

They are swamped, and that’s an understatement. They are stuck. Ruwandi feels suffocated most days. Jagath feels numb.

The thought of selling the business crossed their minds several times during the years. But who’d buy it? There’s no restaurant to speak of without these 2. They are the glue that’s holding things together.

On the strong suggestion of a family friend, they decided to hire a consultant to systemize and document the business. Maybe they could stand a chance of selling it for the price they wanted.

Not that they really wanted to. But the option allowed some much needed breathing space.

Either this or spend the rest of their lives like this. Stuck in limbo.

Enter Michael. A Process consultant.

Michael was brought in as a last ditch effort to salvage their lives and that of the business. He was their hope.

He helped them structure the business and create an Operations Manual. Until now, Ruwandi and Jagath had a person-dependent business. Michael made it systems-dependent.

He mapped the entire operation. Every title and task had an accountability, responsibility, and an outcome. The people were merely there to run the system.

Ruwandi used to be the face of the business. Now, the face of the business was the brand. A family run restaurant where staff and customers were treated like family.

Jagath now could begin to delegate some of his work in the kitchen. Thanks to the systems. He hired a sous chef, and began to train him using the manual. And it was easy, since the manual was, basically, a list of Jagath’s routine in the kitchen.

Like Ruwandi and Jagath, the rest of the staff had accountabilities, responsibilities, and outcomes for their roles. If one person wasn’t able to show up, another could easily handle the extra work. It was all there in the manual.

All of a sudden, Ruwandi and Jagath could take a few days off from running the business. The system could run it for them. When they came back, it was with new energy.

Then they started taking longer vacations. They went abroad for the first time in 4 years. It felt great. Free at last.

Now, their restaurant didn’t feel suffocating or numbing. Their passion for the business was rekindled.

All thoughts of selling the business was gone, though the option was there. As a last resort.

They hired a manager to run things full time. Ruwandi and Jagath were able to dine in their restaurant for the first time – as guests. It was a new experience. Like looking at the business from the outside.

In time, they opened another restaurant in another location. Running a restaurant, now, was as easy as ‘copy-paste’. They had the brand, and the systems.

If you run a business that’s making you feel stuck and suffocated, we’d love to help change that. Check out how we can help you or contact us if you want what we have to offer.

Management myths are ruining businesses.

There are many management tips and tricks floating around there, and most of them fail to address one critical aspect. That is, profit.

Profit isn’t everything. It’s the Only thing.

Managing for Profit

Why are you in business? To make a profit

If you’re spending time, effort, or money on your business, why is it? To make a profit

So, when management is concerned it should be to make a profit.

Not to be the best boss of the year, or the most enjoyable work place of the year.

If you achieve these things after turning a profit, then consider it an added benefit.

When you’re hiring employees, what are the things you look for?

Most business owners would say tings like, “reliable, honest, loyal, trustworthy, intelligent, motivated, etc…” Now, all of these traits are useful to have in an employee, IF he/she has one key aspect: profitable.

The only employee you need as a business owner, is a Profitable Employee.

The only reason to have an employee is to make a profit. Period.

Not because you have a friend, not because you want to provide jobs for relatives, not because you don’t like working alone, or you want someone to hang out with.

The only reason you hire a person, is so that they make you a multiple of what you pay them.

If you want a friend, buy a dog. Don’t hire somebody.

The only reason you hire someone is to turn a profit.

One of the key differences between a ‘rich’ mentality vs a ‘poor’ one is how expenses are viewed.

Rich people look at how can they make something make money for them.

If a business owner is thinking about spending on the business, be it in terms of products or services, the key decision maker must be, “how is this going to make me money?”

Here’s a story to illustrate this point.

Shamen runs a clothing store, The Outlet. Her showroom looks nice and tidy. Posh looking.

She also has a few sales staff. Shamen does the procurement, inventory and accounts.

Sales is okay, but not where Shamen would like it to be.

A friend of Shamen’s suggested that she attend a management workshop so might be able to learn something new to help herself and the business.

Initially, Shamen was reluctant. After all, it cost Rs 10,000!

But her friend, who was a businessperson herself, told Shamen one valuable thing. “If you want to be successful, you need to look at this in terms of how much it’s going to make you. Not how much it’s going to cost you. ”

Shamen attended the workshop. Learnt a lot. And started looking at her business (and expenditures) in a whole new light!

She hired people for procurement, inventory, and accounts. Before, she sold her time, by doing the menial tasks in the business, herself. Now, she was buying time from others.

She began to have more time for herself. More time to plan and expand her business. More time to invest on herself. She began to develop her high income skills.

While the business was running, Shamen was doing other independent work that gave her a cool monthly earning of at least 200,000 rupees a month. And this number kept growing.

Her High Income Skills helped her earn more on her own. She began to conduct workshops, give talks, and coach others in business.

Now she was independent of her business. Any dips in sales were not going to hurt her.

As she began to invest in herself, and improve and expand her business, her disposable income began to increase.

She invested this in assets, not liabilities. For Shamen, assets meant something that earns her money when she slept. Real estate, and other businesses. She wanted the income from her assets to pay for any luxuries (liabilities) she wanted.

At the same time, her business was doing great. Sales was booming.

Before, her business was turning around 1 – 2 million in revenue a month. After the changes, her business was turning between 4  – 5 million rupees in revenue.

Shamen created a holding company, and brought all her businesses under it. Her own store, The Outlet, the others she invested/bought, and the real estate, were all under this holding company.

Shamen was now a Billionaire.

All because she had learnt to look at things, not in how much it was going to cost her, but in terms of how the returns were going to be.

Have a business that’s making you feel stuck? Not able to grow beyond a point? Are you doing the work that other people could be doing for you? Are you selling your time? Check out how we can help you if you said yes to any of these or contact us if you want what we have to offer. We’d love to help you create a business that runs on its own.