Burgers and hotdogs
The other day my boss came up to me and said he was looking for someone who would be willing to sell burgers and hotdogs at an event he was involved in called trials. As soon as I heard there would only be one vender I quickly jumped at the opportunity to make some extra cash. I thought what a breeze this is going to be, stand around sell some burgers and make a whole heap of cash. Sweet!
Well the process began, not only did it involve drawing up list after list to ensure I had everything I needed, as the area was remote and there would be no facilities at all including water. The cost of the operation soon rose and rose. I thought sweet I have all the supplies and as long as I sell out which shouldn’t be a problem as I am the only food seller there I will make a profit.
I had estimated numbers of how many people were going to be there because my boss was able to tell me how many riders there were. I took the amount of riders and added a few spectators and came up with a number of about 120 people. So I stocked about 120 peoples worth of food and drinks.
Then came spread sheet number three, amount/ cost, profit to be made/ potential loss. Now I knew going into this that I had a lot to lose. I was putting up all the money for supplies; I had to pay someone to be there to assist me. But what I didn’t take into account was the little things the things that were not on my list.
I had to buy things like sauce bottles and plastic bags for serving. Then came the cost of getting there, because we were transporting so much we had to take to vehicles, which cost about R200 which was fine, but this all put a huge dependency on selling out.
Well the day came, we all got up at about 04:45 to get dressed and packed, and we arrived after an hour drive at about 07:30 at the venue to set up. Because we were new at the whole thing we didn’t have massive attractive signs to let people know we were there so I walked around from person to person letting them know we were selling food(which helped sales a lot by the way). Only to find out that most had just had a big breakfast at the hotel they were staying in. What I also realised that I had way over catered, opposed to my calculation of about 120 people there were about 70 if that, most of which had brought their own food and drinks due to the fact that no one had ever supplied there before.
By lunch time I was getting stressed we had only sold half of our burgers and almost no hotdogs and cold drinks, cold drinks by the way were my biggest expense and smallest profit margin. These sales I must also mention were mostly due to the fact that I physically walked around and offered people items, and brought it to them. I needed to make sales happen and fast.
Fortunately at three people stated to buy more of our burgers which we managed to sell out on, however we only sole about 12 of the 72 hot dogs I had catered for cost R180. We waited and hoped, the day got longer and longer, eventually I decided to cut my losses, at 17:35 we started to pack up and head home after packing up driving back we got home at about 19:30, with R1000 and a ton cold drinks and hot dog rolls to show for it. Fortunately I managed to sell some of the cold drinks and rolls and left over sausages which earned me R1300 and then just gave away some perishables to my girlfriend’s mom as it would just go off in my fridge.
All in all I lost about R1000 rand, which is better the two I guess. I had the monopoly and I managed to lose money...
Looking back. There are a few things I could have done to prevent this from happening.
1. Is be more pedantic about my costs and potential gains
2. Is to use actual instead of estimates.
3. Analyse potential risk versus gains
4. Put more effort into cost saving.
All in all a very long day with no reward
I have learned a lot though and what I have taken away from this experience is you will never know until you try but expect the best and be prepared for the worst. In my case I should have bought less and guaranteed a sell out that way at least I would have known how much to expect at the end of the day. I do not regret this decision however as I took plenty away from it, When I one day open a business which involves a lot more infrastructure I will remember this incident and ensure I am prepared.
Let me know what you thought of this blog if you are enjoying the new additions, please feel free to make a comment below or become a follower.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Making Assumptions
The Pope was visiting America the other day and when he arrived a huge stretch limo was waiting to pick him up. As the driver let’s call him Gareth opened the door the Pope requested that he drove. Of course Gareth declined and said “I can’t let you drive what if something was to happen to you?” The Pope then went on to plead to Gareth the driver, saying that they never let him drive at the Vatican and he missed it terribly. Eventually after going back and forth for some time Gareth gave in and said the Pope could drive, so he got in the back and the Pope got behind the wheel. As they pulled off Gareth immediately regretted his decision as the Pope reached 180km’s an hour on the motor way. A speed cop saw the limo speeding past and requested they pull over.
When the limo had pulled over the officer walked up to the window to find the Pope in the driver’s seat. The officer immediately turned around and got on the radio with his Section Chief. Chief he said I have just pulled over a limo for doing a 180km’s per hour but I don’t know what to do. Book them replied the chief, no you don’t understand said the officer it’s someone really important. Who the Mayor? Replied the chief; no bigger than the mayor said the officer. The Governor guessed the chief again, no much bigger than that. Well who then? Said the chief. I think its God said the officer, God said the Chief don’t be silly. Seriously Sir I think its God, I think so because he has the Pope as his driver.
What assumptions have you made lately?
People often say to assume makes an ass out of you and me; “ass – u – me” which I always thought was an annoying statement because quite frankly in life we have to make assumptions at times. For instance right now we are going through a recession, we have to assume things will get better and go back to being normal again. We have to assume this because there is no evidence to suggest that it will go either way but being positive will ensure that we remain sane and instead of panicking we continue with our lives which in turn drives the economy and things stabilize, well that’s what we hope anyway.
But is it wise to assume something? Would it not be better if we were prepared? People often do things on a whim or an assumption (the big picture) without any planning necessary. In such a case you have a 20/80 chance things will work out the way you planned because you have not taking into account external factors. The officer in the story jumped to a conclusion, obviously he was wrong in his assumption, which begs the question, how difficult would it have been to simply ask who the passenger was?
By simply asking questions we can take the guess work out of the equation. This is something I’ve noticed throughout my life in various circumstances. Relationships are a prime example. How often do we tip toe around and plot in a relationship trying guess what our partner or potential partner is feeling or thinking, why can’t we just ask? If he or she does not feel the same you saved yourself a whole heap of time and trouble.
In business we elevate all the guess work by putting together adequate well thought out business plans, top professionals will tell you it took them years before they put their plans into action, especially if there is finance that is required.
Another very popular saying is;” you ask no questions you hear no lies.” My philosophy is you ask no questions you hear no truths, I remember in high school when teachers would ask if anyone had any questions and no one would put up their hands, then after the teacher was finished they would ask their friends to explain what had been said only to have their friends tell them they didn’t know either because they were too embarrassed to put their hand up as well.
I’ll end with this. A person who asks a question is a fool for thirty seconds and person who does not ask a question is a fool for the rest of their life.
Let me know what you think of this post by adding a comment and if you are enjoying these weekly posts please feel free to join this blog.
When the limo had pulled over the officer walked up to the window to find the Pope in the driver’s seat. The officer immediately turned around and got on the radio with his Section Chief. Chief he said I have just pulled over a limo for doing a 180km’s per hour but I don’t know what to do. Book them replied the chief, no you don’t understand said the officer it’s someone really important. Who the Mayor? Replied the chief; no bigger than the mayor said the officer. The Governor guessed the chief again, no much bigger than that. Well who then? Said the chief. I think its God said the officer, God said the Chief don’t be silly. Seriously Sir I think its God, I think so because he has the Pope as his driver.
What assumptions have you made lately?
People often say to assume makes an ass out of you and me; “ass – u – me” which I always thought was an annoying statement because quite frankly in life we have to make assumptions at times. For instance right now we are going through a recession, we have to assume things will get better and go back to being normal again. We have to assume this because there is no evidence to suggest that it will go either way but being positive will ensure that we remain sane and instead of panicking we continue with our lives which in turn drives the economy and things stabilize, well that’s what we hope anyway.
But is it wise to assume something? Would it not be better if we were prepared? People often do things on a whim or an assumption (the big picture) without any planning necessary. In such a case you have a 20/80 chance things will work out the way you planned because you have not taking into account external factors. The officer in the story jumped to a conclusion, obviously he was wrong in his assumption, which begs the question, how difficult would it have been to simply ask who the passenger was?
By simply asking questions we can take the guess work out of the equation. This is something I’ve noticed throughout my life in various circumstances. Relationships are a prime example. How often do we tip toe around and plot in a relationship trying guess what our partner or potential partner is feeling or thinking, why can’t we just ask? If he or she does not feel the same you saved yourself a whole heap of time and trouble.
In business we elevate all the guess work by putting together adequate well thought out business plans, top professionals will tell you it took them years before they put their plans into action, especially if there is finance that is required.
Another very popular saying is;” you ask no questions you hear no lies.” My philosophy is you ask no questions you hear no truths, I remember in high school when teachers would ask if anyone had any questions and no one would put up their hands, then after the teacher was finished they would ask their friends to explain what had been said only to have their friends tell them they didn’t know either because they were too embarrassed to put their hand up as well.
I’ll end with this. A person who asks a question is a fool for thirty seconds and person who does not ask a question is a fool for the rest of their life.
Let me know what you think of this post by adding a comment and if you are enjoying these weekly posts please feel free to join this blog.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
I wise person once said
How wise are you?
I was listening to a speaker the other day talking about the difference between being wise and being smart. Firstly it must be noted that being educated does not mean that you are wise.
Being smart allows you a freedom of knowing the best course of action through a specific situation. Being wise is the understanding of the fact that you do not know everything and that there are people who are smarter and wiser then yourself. Knowing this, allows you to put pride aside and ask questions and receive guidance.
Recently the Idea of mentors has become very popular, although this idea has been implanted by very successful professionals for years. Some of the smartest most successful people I know have mentors, someone to guide your ideas and set you on the right path.
Being wise allows you to understand that no matter how much you know you can still learn something from someone else.
Will smith said something at the Nickelodeon kids choice awards about three years ago which caught my attention. He said “you are like your friends, if your friends are a bunch of thugs you are a thug.”
This is relevant because it important to note that you should model yourself after someone wise. It would be foolish to model yourself after someone who does not understand that they don’t know everything.
When we are growing up a lot of us want to be just like our mom or our dad because to us they are the wisest people we know. We understand that they know far more than us and we seek advice. People often note how fast children learn, although this has no scientific justification, but could the reason for this not be because as we become older we start to believe we already know everything and choose to stop learning.
When I heard this speaker talk about how we need to accept our faults and seek the advice of others it hit a nerve. I am very proud at times and tend to ignore the advice of others because I often feel I know more than them. This speaker made me realise how foolish I had been. When I arrived in Joburg I understood that the only way I was going to survive was if I stole as much information from the people around me as possible and used it to work for me. I modelled myself after the members of my staff who achieved the most, I used the procedure implanted by my company because it has been tried and tested, and subsequently I am now the top money earner in my department.
The foolish man believes he knows everything, the wise man learns from those around him. “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” William Shakespeare
Surround yourself by people smarter and wiser then yourself and you will become wise.
Let me know your thoughts about this blog and feel free to become a follower.
I was listening to a speaker the other day talking about the difference between being wise and being smart. Firstly it must be noted that being educated does not mean that you are wise.
Being smart allows you a freedom of knowing the best course of action through a specific situation. Being wise is the understanding of the fact that you do not know everything and that there are people who are smarter and wiser then yourself. Knowing this, allows you to put pride aside and ask questions and receive guidance.
Recently the Idea of mentors has become very popular, although this idea has been implanted by very successful professionals for years. Some of the smartest most successful people I know have mentors, someone to guide your ideas and set you on the right path.
Being wise allows you to understand that no matter how much you know you can still learn something from someone else.
Will smith said something at the Nickelodeon kids choice awards about three years ago which caught my attention. He said “you are like your friends, if your friends are a bunch of thugs you are a thug.”
This is relevant because it important to note that you should model yourself after someone wise. It would be foolish to model yourself after someone who does not understand that they don’t know everything.
When we are growing up a lot of us want to be just like our mom or our dad because to us they are the wisest people we know. We understand that they know far more than us and we seek advice. People often note how fast children learn, although this has no scientific justification, but could the reason for this not be because as we become older we start to believe we already know everything and choose to stop learning.
When I heard this speaker talk about how we need to accept our faults and seek the advice of others it hit a nerve. I am very proud at times and tend to ignore the advice of others because I often feel I know more than them. This speaker made me realise how foolish I had been. When I arrived in Joburg I understood that the only way I was going to survive was if I stole as much information from the people around me as possible and used it to work for me. I modelled myself after the members of my staff who achieved the most, I used the procedure implanted by my company because it has been tried and tested, and subsequently I am now the top money earner in my department.
The foolish man believes he knows everything, the wise man learns from those around him. “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” William Shakespeare
Surround yourself by people smarter and wiser then yourself and you will become wise.
Let me know your thoughts about this blog and feel free to become a follower.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
how much value do you bring?
How valuable are you?
I used to be the laziest person I knew, at one stage in my life I think I slept about 14 hours a day and not the other way around. Fortunately I had a friend who knew someone who offered me a job.
The job wasn’t the most complex. Admittedly I couldn’t do it for a long period of time but it taught me a lot about deadlines and commitment. Being young I didn’t have family commitments, so I didn’t have to worry about rushing home to see the kids therefore I had no problem with working long hours and public holidays, the job had to be done after all.
When I moved to Reebok a lot of my laziness had been beaten out of me, not at first, when I started I still didn’t truly understand why work was called work and not fun. My time at Reebok was a serious learning curve. I was on a commission structure and therefore if I didn’t work, this meant, I didn’t receive any money for the month. I felt like giving up so many times, thinking this just wasn’t for me. What taught me was that things don’t happen overnight, you have to work for them.
My time in my first job taught me just how much you could get done in a day if you put your mind to it and my time at Reebok taught me that if you push eventually you make things happen.
Then I moved to the big city, Getting up at six in the morning and leaving work at 7 some nights isn’t fun, but I’ve realised that times are hard and although I have a job my salary is still based on my performance so long hard hours have become a part of my life. Admittedly I never really gave too much thought to this because it’s just my ingrained in my personality to work hard if it means I will earn more, let’s face facts I like nice things.
So I work hard, now to get to my point I need to give you some background, I am in recruitment and we are heading into a recession, if people aren’t being employed my company isn’t earning money. So my company like many others have been going through a bit of a hard time and they are looking to stream line. If you are not a contributing party these days you are not going to stick around, the days of doing the bare minimal are gone.
My bosses had a meeting with us the other day where they put our last six months earnings up on a screen and where the figures show I was the top earner over the last six months, now I’ve only been in this position for the nine months so to be achieving the way I am is very unusual, but I put it down to gritting my teeth and working till I sweat. Looking at our figures I was safe to say the poo hit the fan I would probably “fingers crossed” still have a job.
Have you asked yourself recently if you are bringing value to your company? Or are you just coasting by getting your pay check every month but not really contributing?
Just some thoughts let me know what you think and please feel free to join this blog.
I used to be the laziest person I knew, at one stage in my life I think I slept about 14 hours a day and not the other way around. Fortunately I had a friend who knew someone who offered me a job.
The job wasn’t the most complex. Admittedly I couldn’t do it for a long period of time but it taught me a lot about deadlines and commitment. Being young I didn’t have family commitments, so I didn’t have to worry about rushing home to see the kids therefore I had no problem with working long hours and public holidays, the job had to be done after all.
When I moved to Reebok a lot of my laziness had been beaten out of me, not at first, when I started I still didn’t truly understand why work was called work and not fun. My time at Reebok was a serious learning curve. I was on a commission structure and therefore if I didn’t work, this meant, I didn’t receive any money for the month. I felt like giving up so many times, thinking this just wasn’t for me. What taught me was that things don’t happen overnight, you have to work for them.
My time in my first job taught me just how much you could get done in a day if you put your mind to it and my time at Reebok taught me that if you push eventually you make things happen.
Then I moved to the big city, Getting up at six in the morning and leaving work at 7 some nights isn’t fun, but I’ve realised that times are hard and although I have a job my salary is still based on my performance so long hard hours have become a part of my life. Admittedly I never really gave too much thought to this because it’s just my ingrained in my personality to work hard if it means I will earn more, let’s face facts I like nice things.
So I work hard, now to get to my point I need to give you some background, I am in recruitment and we are heading into a recession, if people aren’t being employed my company isn’t earning money. So my company like many others have been going through a bit of a hard time and they are looking to stream line. If you are not a contributing party these days you are not going to stick around, the days of doing the bare minimal are gone.
My bosses had a meeting with us the other day where they put our last six months earnings up on a screen and where the figures show I was the top earner over the last six months, now I’ve only been in this position for the nine months so to be achieving the way I am is very unusual, but I put it down to gritting my teeth and working till I sweat. Looking at our figures I was safe to say the poo hit the fan I would probably “fingers crossed” still have a job.
Have you asked yourself recently if you are bringing value to your company? Or are you just coasting by getting your pay check every month but not really contributing?
Just some thoughts let me know what you think and please feel free to join this blog.
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