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pan6467 · 09-30-2006, 09:20 AM

I can answer from my own experience as a business owner, but as previous people have stated your guidelines are not true to life.... at least not in any experience I have ever had.

In Sept. of 1995 I bought a pizza place in a city of 16,000 and 8 other pizza joints (Pizza Hut, Domino's, Little Ceasar's were the nationals, East of Chicago, Checker's and Tubby's were regional chains with more stores elsewhere and 2 drive thrus that had pizza delivery and could deliver beer and wine).

The place I bought did about $1,000 -1,500 a week in sales. They paid their drivers as independant contractors and really didn't make much. But the owner was rich and he had given it to his kids to run because he felt they needed to learn business. They didn't do anything but live off dad so he sold it to me for $35,000.

I took over on Sept. 7th 1995, my mothers birthday and by Dec. 1, 1995, I was doing $10,000 per week in sales and still climbing. My net profit after all my overhead, was about $1500/week. By March, 2 competitors were close to going under.

How did I do it?

I worked my ass off, I was there an hour before opening to an hour after close (95% of the time), I did whatever needed to be done thus showing my employees that I didn't ask them to do anything I wouldn't. I started paying my employees $7.5 an hour (with monthly raises), bonuses, plus mileage, had charitable Tuesdays, where the first Tuesday of every month all sales monies went to a certain charity in town (and I never wrote any of it off).

I offered the best product, most reliable service and took pride in what I did.

By paying my employees more and treating them with respect and allowing them to have fun, (I would take them out to dinners, take them to my home and have hot tub parties, and so on) I promoted loyalty. This loyalty showed by their families and friends ordering on a regular basis, respect amongst the town for not just how I treated employees but how I ran my business.

I had to pay full price for my goods (and those prices especially on cheese could skyrocket and were unpredictable from week to week), unlike the nationals that have their own distribution, or those locals that had more than 1 store and could contract lower prices, my overhead was far more. My prices were low, but there were 2 or 3 lower.

Domino's (and a friend of mine was the franchisee) would cut their prices to match or beat mine. If I ran a special, he did the same one (except he couldn't offer the Ribs, subs and the pasta dinners like I could).

I could have easily dropped wages and made more for myself, but I made what I needed and was living quite well. At first the wages were bogging me down and I was losing money, but every week as sales grew my losses became less and profit prevailed. It was about a month before I started showing profit, had caught up on debts and was pretty much becoming a cash coww.

I could have lowered the quality of the product, by buying cheaper ingredients, but again, why? I wanted to serve the best at affordable prices and I did.

I could have written off Charitable Tuesdays (which were loss days because I gave away food that day, however, employees were not forced to work and volunteered, so I didn't have to pay their wages), but it wasn't about that it was about helping the community that supported my livelihood.

I was even looking into expanding into other nearby cities.

The only thing that stopped me was my gambling addiction. Had I not gambled there is no doubt in my mind I could have kept the business thriving. But I gambled, I chose to stop paying attention, I chose to hire people that would steal me blind, and I chose not to be there.

So, there you have it, a business that grew and thrived and was run by a very liberal owner.

09-30-2006, 09:20 AM	#34 (permalink)
pan6467 Lennonite Priest Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA	I can answer from my own experience as a business owner, but as previous people have stated your guidelines are not true to life.... at least not in any experience I have ever had. In Sept. of 1995 I bought a pizza place in a city of 16,000 and 8 other pizza joints (Pizza Hut, Domino's, Little Ceasar's were the nationals, East of Chicago, Checker's and Tubby's were regional chains with more stores elsewhere and 2 drive thrus that had pizza delivery and could deliver beer and wine). The place I bought did about $1,000 -1,500 a week in sales. They paid their drivers as independant contractors and really didn't make much. But the owner was rich and he had given it to his kids to run because he felt they needed to learn business. They didn't do anything but live off dad so he sold it to me for $35,000. I took over on Sept. 7th 1995, my mothers birthday and by Dec. 1, 1995, I was doing $10,000 per week in sales and still climbing. My net profit after all my overhead, was about $1500/week. By March, 2 competitors were close to going under. How did I do it? I worked my ass off, I was there an hour before opening to an hour after close (95% of the time), I did whatever needed to be done thus showing my employees that I didn't ask them to do anything I wouldn't. I started paying my employees $7.5 an hour (with monthly raises), bonuses, plus mileage, had charitable Tuesdays, where the first Tuesday of every month all sales monies went to a certain charity in town (and I never wrote any of it off). I offered the best product, most reliable service and took pride in what I did. By paying my employees more and treating them with respect and allowing them to have fun, (I would take them out to dinners, take them to my home and have hot tub parties, and so on) I promoted loyalty. This loyalty showed by their families and friends ordering on a regular basis, respect amongst the town for not just how I treated employees but how I ran my business. I had to pay full price for my goods (and those prices especially on cheese could skyrocket and were unpredictable from week to week), unlike the nationals that have their own distribution, or those locals that had more than 1 store and could contract lower prices, my overhead was far more. My prices were low, but there were 2 or 3 lower. Domino's (and a friend of mine was the franchisee) would cut their prices to match or beat mine. If I ran a special, he did the same one (except he couldn't offer the Ribs, subs and the pasta dinners like I could). I could have easily dropped wages and made more for myself, but I made what I needed and was living quite well. At first the wages were bogging me down and I was losing money, but every week as sales grew my losses became less and profit prevailed. It was about a month before I started showing profit, had caught up on debts and was pretty much becoming a cash coww. I could have lowered the quality of the product, by buying cheaper ingredients, but again, why? I wanted to serve the best at affordable prices and I did. I could have written off Charitable Tuesdays (which were loss days because I gave away food that day, however, employees were not forced to work and volunteered, so I didn't have to pay their wages), but it wasn't about that it was about helping the community that supported my livelihood. I was even looking into expanding into other nearby cities. The only thing that stopped me was my gambling addiction. Had I not gambled there is no doubt in my mind I could have kept the business thriving. But I gambled, I chose to stop paying attention, I chose to hire people that would steal me blind, and I chose not to be there. So, there you have it, a business that grew and thrived and was run by a very liberal owner. __________________ I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?" Last edited by pan6467; 09-30-2006 at 09:23 AM..