Dilemma

I just went and met with the director of finance of Desjardins. I am now torn between RBC and Desjardins. I like both of them, RBC were the first once I approached but Desjardins were the the ones pursuing our business. RBC knows our product, but Desjardins is a neighbor and a potential source of revenue for our new venture.

I like the guy at RBC, but the girl at Desjardins seems to be much more knowledgeable.

What to do, what to do? Time for a decision, sometimes decisions aren't easy, actually no one has ever said it would be easy, they actually warn you that things would be hard. But decisions, is what you must make. All our future postions are decided by our present decisions.

Business Taboo!

Today I went to the CLD. The CLD is a non-profit organization implemented for the sole purpose of helping the development of entrepreneurs and the local economies. And in our case, we are assigned an adviser, someone who can help us develop a sound business plan and be a sounding board for our ideas. So today, I had my second interview with this adviser.

He brought many good points and has shed good lights on some of the many discrepancies of my business plan. However, during our conversation he asked a simple question: "what guarantees do you have to insure the sale numbers in your business plan?". I had to think about it for a few moments and I started to blurt a bunch of random thoughts on how we came up with the numbers and how sound they were according to "our" experience. Truth be told, I didn't have any guarantees, all I have is confidence, but the question took me a little by surprise.

Which brings me to the point I wanted to make in this blog. Confidence, where does it stem from? I think it comes from a concept that we don't usually associate to business. I think it comes from something we don't like to talk about because it is almost a taboo subject in our society, yet that subject is the driving motor for what we do and how we engage in all parts of our life, whether it be personal, professional or anything for that matter. Confidence stem from FAITH...I know, I know, I know don't roll your eyes yet, or shake your fingers at me or stop reading just yet. Allow me to make my point.

Faith is an important part of starting a business and if I dare say it, it is the basis of what we should start a company. Without it, it would be completely absurd to tackle a project like starting your own company or investing in a company. Why start anything if you don't have faith in the good outcome of your endeavors?

Anyway, I am stating a fact. Every part of our life we exercise faith, sometime at lesser degree than others but we all in some sort of way do. Whether we sit on the dentist chair "trusting" that the dentist knows what she or he is doing to getting in an elevator "hoping" the mechanic did his maintenance job on the wires. We all exercise faith and in business we often hide the word or the feeling with sentences like, "my educated guess" or "in my experience" or "the data suggest"....We all trust a 6th sense. That "6th" sense is simply faith.

So to get back to what my boy the adviser asked: "what guarantees do you have to insure the sale numbers in your business plan?". I don't have any guarantees, all I have is a faith that I did my job and will be doing my job to the best of my abilities and that "Someone" is going to provide.

I am not suggesting that faith is the ONLY thing in business, what I am saying is that without faith there is no point in beginning a business or a project for that matter.

Guilty

I had a little altercation with one of the cooks this week at my parent restaurant. Let me set it up for you.

The cook is in charged of all that is fried and grilled and one of the item that was to be served was an imperial roll, those are fried rolls that some of our Caucasian friends mistakenly refer to as egg rolls. Anyway, the rolls were, that day, consistently overcooked. At which point I told the cook to PLEASE ensure the quality of the rolls. She responded by saying that it was not her fault and that the oil needed to be changed for the past couple of days etc... I abruptly interrupted her, by "shusshing" her, emphatically, may I add. What you have to understand, is that the lady was older than I am and in the Asian culture, a younger person giving his "emphatic" opinion to someone older is not well reguarded. At that point I couldn't care less, I just wanted the damn rolls.

So let's fast forward a little bit, to Friday. My mom, upon hearing the altercation asked me to give her an explanation of the situation. After listening to me, she asked me to go apologize to the lady about being curt. Honestly, I couldn't care less if I did or if I did not. So I did, or at least I thought I did.

Apologizing is not an easy thing for me to do. I don't like apologizing especially when I believe in the truthfulness of what I have done. However we have to ask ourselves a bigger question than "are we right or are we wrong?" Because being right and being wrong is just human rationalization, so we can swing both ways. The questions is more along the line of "what is the right thing to do?" See we should always strive to do the right thing, but too often we get stuck on just being right.

I hate being wrong, more importantly I hate when my nose is being rubbed in when I am wrong. There are 2 kinds of criticism we receive, the first one are just plain wrong and the second are just plain right ON. And it is never the criticism that are false that hurt the most,nope it is those damn right ON criticism that come in and pierce right through our heart, sould and mind, those are the one that are just.....well...right.

In the end I had to apologize. Not because I was wrong, as a matter of fact, I was right, the quality of the product was poor and completely unacceptable. No instead, I had to apologize because I did not give her the respect she deserved. We all need respect, we all asked to be respected, I do and I did not follow the golden rule: "Do unto others as I would have them do unto you"

I know it is easier said than done and many will crucify us for our wrong doings. But listen, those who criticize you are either your enemy or your friend and if they are your friends, you should take heed of their criticism. Listen-Learn and Grow.

And to those who have an easy way of pointing the faults of others, you should remember that a velvet glove is always better than a slap in the face. Sometime, just sometime, it is better to let the fire settle and than use a gentle blow to take out the rest.

Yup, I am turning into a Guerilla...

Yes, again Guerilla Marketing- Funny thing is that I took at look at it when Duy first brought it home, and told him I wanted it read it. I was sitting there taking a look at his copy of Guerilla Marketing, he takes a look over my shoulder and tells me "your thumb is in the wrong spot, you are going to break my bind". Hmmm.... now I know Duy takes very good care of the things that he owns, but seriously, my thumb? So needless to say the following day I get a phone call from the restaurant [Zen Asia] and it is Duy; "can you phone around and find out where you can get your own copy of Guerilla Marketing? I think we ought to read it together in order to be able to discuss it." My solution was I would read his in the evenings, and he would read it in the mornings... "Oh no- you need your own copy". Needless to say after a while on the phone talking to many people, we actually found me a copy, and now I have my brand spanking new copy of Guerilla Marketing, and guess what, I can put my thumb anywhere I want...

Cheerio!

M.

Guerilla Marketing

I am presently reading a book about marketing called Guerilla Marketing from Jay Conrad Levinson.

In the span of a few pages it has triggered a lot of ideas about how to market ourselves. But I discovered that it is very hard to contemplate an idea without a team around you. More importantly it is very difficult to get to the point when the members of your team does not know where you come from. So I decided to ask Melissa to buy the book and read it at the same time. I also think that I will recommend this book to any office employee coming on-board in the future, accounting, operation, who cares as long as they are willing to think outside the box.

Anyway all I can say is that all those ideas on how to brand ourselves or seek new opportunities and ensure our "future" client base are rushing in. Now I need to go get myself a camouflage outfit....hmmmm....maybe paint too...betonel!! JERONIMO!!!

Menu Signage

Ok, so I am making a decision, a blind decision, as I have no clue what either looks like nor their benefits for me the owner/taker-care-of-er!

I am deciding on my menu design signage for inside the restaurant. I have been given a couple of choices: acrylic or perhaps anodized aluminum ( with a satin finish on the surface)- I know what a satin finish is- but that is about it... so technically of three things presented to me, I know the finish.

I might be able to make a decision, if acrylic didn't come in a myriad of different shapes, sizes, finishes... etc. HELP! But wait! Just what exactly is anodized aluminum? and what are my final costs?

Out of curiosity, how many people who start something new feel nauseous a lot of the time? Anyone, anyone... Bueller?

signing off to go vomit,

M.

Designing; Good for the Human Soul.

We are so excited to be using a great product from 3form. This company is very environmentally conscious and goes along with our commitment to making the world a better place, one person at a time. This not only speaks to us being kind and courteous to our patrons, but it also means taking a look into the future and trying to determine how we can create a better future for our children and for your children. How can we as a business make sure that what we are using is the best possible option both for us and for our environment. This is no easy task let me tell you. Biodegradable plastic bags are more expensive then regular plastic... but paper bags aren't and they biodegrade. I'm not claiming that we will be perfect, no one is, but when we know better- we try to do better, and that is what we are trying to do here.

3form has a video showing its environmental efforts: http://www.3-form.com/about-path_to_zero.php

We have also committed to using a coffee from Rwanda. Land of a 1000 hills coffee: By the way, not only is this coffee good for the Human Soul, it tastes great! Knowing that you are making a difference, makes a difference. It is so easy to not think about where your coffee comes from, who is growing it, and whether or not they are being paid fairly for their product. We feel so honoured that we can bring this coffee to the Montreal area. Take a read, let me know what you think?

Can a Good Cup of Coffee really make a Difference?

Welcome to Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee, where you can have a high quality cup of coffee that provides a Living Wage to coffee growers, micro-finance loans to widows, and engages redemption in a very tangible way across the world.

Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee is on a mission to provide excellent coffee, support sustainable economic development, and to be a catalyst for reconciliation in Rwanda. We invite you to partner with us to "Drink Coffee. Do Good."

From: http://www.landof1000hills.com/

Ceremony

me wife, isn't she pretty?

Today Melissa, Patrick, Alain and I are going to go meet with our architect. He has received material sample for us to look at and also it will be a time to discuss planning schedule for contract submission and construction schedule.

I finished my last project on Friday, so now I can dedicate a lot more energy on this project, which is a good thing. We are going to submit our business plan by the end of the month to the RBC and we are going to also asked for a loan from the CFYE (Canadian foundation of Young Entrepreneur).wish me luck.


I am also in the process of finding myself a mentor, someone who can help me through my business venture. For that we contacted Yes Montreal.


We were invited to the ceremonial opening of the construction site on Tuesday. It took about 25 minutes.

I have to admit being close to a construction field made me a little bit nostalgic, good "old" days of being in the "field".

We are the third hole from the left.

This "little" ceremony to many was a HUGE event for us. It was a reality check right in the... we are actually taking on a huge project, that is being completed even as we stand here gazing at our future. This may seem insignificant to others, but this is our life, it is scary, bloody scary. But then again, when you are young, it is easier to take some risks, after all you have nothing to lose right? (Maxwell said this) Thing is though, is I don't feel all that young and yup we have stuff to lose... so in the end, yup its pant crapping scary!

M.

Layout

Here is a first overview of what the architect sent us. You get to see the first draft. There is some work to be done but not bad isn't it? I am getting excited for this project. Now that Maximum Impact Simulcast is done, I can concentrate all my energy on this project!!

Business Plan - To be or Not to be

Ever wondered if you should or should not have a business plan? I always thought a business plan was for big companies, that it was needed for the bookshelves of multimillion dollar corporations. How beneficial would a business plan be for me?

I didn't really want to write anything, simply because I was lazy, and secondly I had no idea how to write a business plan. Either way, I started to do research on HOW to make a business plan, sucked to be me at that time.

However, interestingly enough, I started to believe in the necessity of a business plan for any organization, no matter how big they were or how small, no matter what they did in life. But writing a business plan didn't come without any headaches. For example, you should have read my first business plan, it went like this "A quick service restaurant that will serve awesome food, serving everyone and be awesome!!". As you can see, I had a very clear picture of what the business was going to be...not. I truly struggled while doing the business plan. And probably not where I thought I would have problem, such as the financial projection (I am an engineer, so I have been known to fudge numbers after all!!) or marketing positioning. No, the hardest thing I had problem with was the development of the corporate identity.

A lot of us have great ideas on how to run a company or an organization, we seem to inherently know the answers to the ongoing problems of an organization. So we jump ahead and provide the solutions and say: "do this, do that, eat this, eat that..." However very few of us are able to simply state on a piece of paper what the problem is and give a step by step execution manual to rectify the problem or put the idea into motion.

If you have an idea, a project or dream, you need a plan. A business plan is simply the blue print of your dream. Take the time to write one, take the time to see how you will be able to make your dream come true. It will help you see the value of your idea. If you can't put a step by step plan...maybe your dream is not yet ready to be birthed.

Repentance

Yesterday I had a set task that I was not looking forward to do. I needed to confront my partner, in order word my, brother.

So let me put everything in context and maybe you'll understand my position at the time. My brother and I are legal partner in this venture, opening a quick service restaurant. This business is the beginning of what we believe to be a legacy for our children. I jumped head first into this adventure, like most project I take on. I poured my heart and still pouring (just ask Melissa) into it, sometimes to detriment of other obligations I have, however it is presently my priority.I started to learn everything I thought was needed, I started to seek all the counsel that existed in the world of franchising, financing, operation, entrepreneurship, leadership etc...You get the picture.

I had envisioned that my enthusiasm of the project would inevitably leak onto my brother. That by some strange event, he would grab on to the exhilaration of a new project and he too would be swept and would before long would be running with me into the sunset where the sun never set and the leaves they never fade, in this beautiful city of gold!! I mean I was in the zone, I was pushing, prodding, lifting any kind of 'ing' you can imagine.

Alas, I felt alone in this endeavor and in the past 4 days I have started to resent the partnership.

This past Wednesday, I sat alone in my room mauling over the feelings of negativity I had towards my brother. As you can imagine, any new project starting with resentment between partners needs to be taken care of as soon as possible, however my nature is not to disturb anything and anyone unless really pissed off, stew and internalize any malignant thoughts and, sadly I must confess, to victimize myself.

I had to repent, in a flash of genius, I discovered that my brother was never at fault, but I was. You see, Alain was doing all he knew he could do, with all is heart and knowledge, he did pour HIS soul into this project. The problem was me, I wanted Alain to be EXACTLY like me, to walk, to think, to feel just like me (I was going to write to poop, but I didn't feel it would be value added, oh crap I just did, of well). And there lied my mistake.

I had to ask forgiveness to my brother for having negative feelings toward him. And in return, he accepted my apologies and shared with me some of his own inner struggle. I was able to see through his own eyes and we found a way to keep on running together.

When we partner with someone in a project, we are bound to be disappointed. Simply because of our expectations of others will never be the same as their expectation of themselves. We in response to that problem, must be willing to accept our own fault and be willing to walk in the other person's shoes. You may just be surprised how fast your project may fly once all the air has been cleared out.