Simply Living Hardly Thinking

No more time for butterflies. We are on and with a bang. We started on 10th Mar, 2007 and completed a good three months recently. It has been amazing how all of us have evolved in past three months. Learnt to do so many things which we never though we would ever do. My old belief that few days when your customers use you are worth more than months of conf room discussions has turned out to be so true. Our customers have loved us, liked us, hated us all in the same breath. Interacting with so many people gives you such a broad and interesting perspective and when you can make them feel good it just feels amazing.

Another interesting thing I have learnt is that business is not just about making money. I always had that hesitation before getting into this business that without having a lust for money, can someone really do business. But I have learnt my lessons. Entrepreneurship is all about joy of creation. The entire lifecycle of creation, presentation to customer and realizing the good bad ugly part of the idea is such a creative and satisfying experience.

Another key learning for me has been that there are so many people who would love to get into restauranting but are not able to do it due to lack of time and understanding of business. I wish I could help them to realize there dreams and aspirations. What happens due to this is that there are so many people offering free advice. After all food is something everyone can relate to.

When will you start breakfast? Why don’t you serve south india and chinese also? Why don’t you drop pamphlets in my apartment? Increase the portion size. Increase the prices. Give us free onion.

The list of advice you get is endless and it becomes so essential to understand and be clear in your mind what your overall objective is and what would be inline with it. It has certainly given me the clarity of purpose and an ability to take on advice with a clear mind.

Dunno in what context Vivekanand said, but useful words – “Arise, Awake, and Stop Not Till the Goal Is Reached!”

What else can you think of at almost 2AM at night ??

These butterflies are of a different kind….. Finally I am getting close to launching my restaurant Potluck. The last eight month journey of creating this institution has been amazing. There were times when I thought will I really make it and others when I thought of being a McDonalds. But now as we get closer to our target, the day one questions pop up again. I have practiced a million times in my mind how I would welcome guests to the restaurant. What are the type of conversations I will make with them. Will I wear formal dress and interact as per the dress or be casual as usual. Is our pricing low or too high. Does it make sense for us to have differential pricing for self service. The list is endless and the answers are just around the corner.

There are lot of learning in this journey but let me highlight a few….
1. It makes sense to build a team of diverse people. We have few partners who don’t know about most of the dishes in the menu.
2. It is possible to build a system of operating a company where nobody is the boss.
3. Ask yourself the question – When was the last time when you did something for the first time ?
4. A METRO card does increase the social status of your family.
5. Giving employment to others is such a satisfying feeling.
6. You can do business even if you do not have greed for money. I am sure bollywood does not believe in this as all the businessman are shown as villains. It is all about creating something new and innovative.
7. The innovation is outside computers and not inside it.
8. Set your basic principles and be open to evolution.
9. Play one instrument at a time instead of doing an unorganized orchestra.
10. Come on nine are enough…..