Thinking things over

*******
The long awaited cafe biz, which I had dreamed of for quite a while, did not push through. It's a sad thought; but considering what could be lost, from a more objective view, not getting into it yet is just the right decision. I had moved on from that already and it has been more than a month now since I have spoken about it. When I started seeing myself into it all, I believe I wouldn't stay long in it. Somehow, seeing the pros and cons at closer view helped.

I was offered a different biz by a male friend lately. It's been sitting in my head for quite a time. I know it's good, aside from generating good revenue, it will provide jobs to those who have the proper skills. I can't talk about it yet as I am in the process of researching and preparing feasibility studies about it. I will also prepare the business plan (a collaborative work between me and him) so there will be no surprises later on when the biz is already on its flight. That would surely prepare us for all the financial costs plus how much of expectations from both of us can we meet.

There is no better preparation than arming oneself with a very good plan, that I believe so much. I had been a witness to a lot of disasters that lacked a good plan.

I have a friend who started to purchase a right to use a place early June this year and decided to start a canteen business. The location is great; it is in front of two big exclusive schools. What she did not look into were the encumbrances entailed in the use of that right. She thought she could use the place for as long as she wanted; but as developments showed, by the end of this year, she has to go.

The place she got was semi-developed and the occupant before her, who had constructed everything there, asked her to pay for the developments she put up. She paid her quickly as the previous occupant created enough hype that there were three other parties interested in the site. She also purchased other stuff she needed for her canteen. She borrowed money from friends and family as her start-up budget wasn't enough. She hired four hands for a 5-square-meter canteen, then reduced the number and then added some more later on. What was supposed to be an enjoyable activity for her became the reason for relationships to strain. And added to that already sad scenario, she wouldn't take any advice intended to provide her enough knowledge on areas as staffing, staff training and staff performance monitoring -- the basics to ensure honesty and professionalism in the workplace.

So the business took off earlier than the intended date so as to cover for the lull during preparation time, which only really covered the setting up and fixes in the canteen. There was no attention given to the staffing at all. She called all her friends to see it and try what she offers in her store. On normal days, when no friends are around, her sales are only so-so. In the end, she had to admit that there is not enough revenue from the store to cover the bills, plus the problem that she cannot stay there long hangs in her head.

By mid-November, in the middle of all that, she decided to diversify by offering catering services, for which she had no training at all. Her first deal was a high school reunion consisting of 400 persons. She entered a bid that is too low to even purchase what she needed. She doesn't even have any utensils to start with! The people she only knew she could borrow money from could not provide her any as she still has outstanding balance from the canteen she started last June. So she asked the reunion organizers to pay her in full, which they did.

But the reunion turned out a total disaster. Even before food was served on the buffet table, the quality was already on its way to doom. Her untrained staff could not provide good service. The organizers complained. They started pointing out items in the contract that she was not able to deliver. In other words, she was short of being sued in court.

For a long time before all that -- the canteen and the catering -- she talked me into being her partner. She even used her mother to get me into considering joining her in that venture to which I politely declined. I told her then that I was not yet ready for something to do with food, which is a highly perishable item. She even came back at me with, "so when will you be ready?" I just did not mind it; she wanted to make me mad so I would recklessly consider. But I did not. I was so determined not to.

And because of that, she wouldn't heed any advice I gave whenever I hear something has gone awry. Again, her mother came up. This time she asked me, as her daughter would not listen to her, to put some sense into her or talk her out of adding more menu on her already existing list that are not sold as expected, or other things like that. I told the old lady to leave her be. She will learn in her own time, and if it will take her so long until she's broke to learn, so be it.

Now, still in debt, struggling to keep up, the only really logical thing to do is to stop and re-think the whole thing. Start over with proper training and with the right plan. But she is so blinded (by what, I don't really know).

No one dares to advice her or make small suggestions for she comes back lashing. But there really is no shame in thinking things over.
*******