Some people are inspired when they read about how a young couple got out of debt, paid off their mortgage, and now can invest $20K a year just in building wealth with only one spouse working, 3 little kids in tow, and their dream house completely paid off before they turn 40. Me? It makes my head want to explode.
I have been busting my chops to pay myself $160 a week. That's right, folks... $160 big fat buckaroos. I used to make more on unemployment. Sure, I can take pride in saying that I EARNED that $160, but I've never worked so damn hard to make peanuts. I'm talking about at least 70-80 hours a week, no joke! My weekly schedule looks something like this:
Monday: Day Off / Buy more jars day.
Tuesday: Prepare purchasing list, menu, and go all over the city buying supplies.
Wednesday: Finish purchasing and begin production.
Thursday: Production continues and label all the jars.
Friday: Prep work for the panini stand. Set up one of the market booths and prepare inventory for the other market booth.
Saturday: Run booth at one market and then go to other market to close.
Sunday: Open and play short order cook all day at the panini stand.
REPEAT.
I'm tired. I am soooo tired. There's so much more to it than this, of course, but you get the jist. Earlier this week, I was thinking about how I would ever achieve any of my dreams or get a break with only $160 per week. The answer: never. Frustration and desperation washed over me as I thought about the mess I have gotten myself in to. Then today, as I drove around shopping for supplies, a scary but liberating thought crossed my mind. Sell the business. Well, the panini stand portion of it, anyway.
My first reaction was to pretend it hadn't crossed my mind. Afterall, selling my little startup would be like giving up my firstborn for adoption. But the more I thought about it, the more liberating it felt. If all goes according to plan, the panini stand will be placed on the market by the end of the first quarter or beginning of the second quarter of 2012. After mucking through these horrendous summer months, you better believe I have every intention of rocking the high season months before bowing out. Afterwards, I'll just continue to dedicate time to selling my sauces and take it from there.
It's impossible to predict what's going to happen in the next six months, but I do know that I'm ready to move on. I suppose that having the wisdom to know when I've had enough and having the courage to let go are two important lessons I'll be able to take away from this experience. I created something really nice, and it's been a great experience, but it's time to step up onto the next rung of my career ladder.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Get Your Balls While They're Hot!
The meatball war is ON! As usual, drama is impossible to avoid no matter how much I try. Incredibly enough, it just shows up on my doorstep, knocks, and then lets itself into my life. A couple months ago I hired a former classmate to help me at the market and I spent her first morning introducing her to many of the other vendors at the market. We were almost at the end of our tour when I introduced Makia (this is not her name, but this is what my husband insists on calling her, so I guess it's a perfect alias) to the Drama Queen (DQ).
It went something like this, "Hi DQ! This is my friend Makia. She's going to be working with us from now on." DQ LOUDLY replies, "Oh, so I heard you wanted to hire my girl (the chick that runs her lemonade stand)." Huh? So I repeated, "Um, DQ, this is MAKIA and she's going to be working with us from now on. Your girl introduced herself to me a few weeks ago along with her boyfriend who was looking for a job, but I didn't hire him." DQ apparently doesn't understand English so she said, "That's ok, you don't have to offer me any explanations. I know you wanted to hire my girl over there. By the way, what the EFF is wrong with this EFFING generation? Why do they think they're so entitled to everything nowadays? Can you believe this girl already asked for a raise after working for me for 2 weeks?!". DQ proceeded to LOUDLY continue going on and on about all her grievances regarding this chick while Makia slowly began to step away. I cut DQ off and continued our tour.
A few hours later, I hear that the chick quit on DQ in the middle of her shift. Not long afterwards, the chick is at my booth personally telling me that she had quit and proceeds to tell me the reasons. We talked about it, I agreed with most of her complaints, but I told her that she made two fatal mistakes. First of all, she quit on someone in the middle of a shift leaving them completely stranded. You never burn bridges that way and it's incredibly unprofessional. Secondly, she quit before she got paid for the previous day of work. She was intimidated by DQ and afraid to ask her for her pay of $50 for the previous day, so she asked if I would accompany her to talk to the DQ.... and my bleeding heart agreed.
At the end of the day, I approached DQ with the chick in tow and said, "DQ, I'm here because this morning you shared something with me and then later on the chick shared something with me, and I was hoping you both could come to an amicable resolution to this problem. The chick was nervous about talking to you, but I told her that you're perfectly reasonable and there's no reason why this issue can't be resolved." Why did I do that? WHY?? DQ went off in a dramatic rant insulting the chick, the chick attempted to defend herself, and all that was accomplished was that DQ ripped off the chick, who is only 16 years old, and didn't pay her (DQ called it a $50 lesson), the chick never attempted to stand up for herself after that by having her parents assist her with this problem, and DQ decided to retaliate against me personally.
So what's my punishment for being Miss Goody Two Shoes? DQ decided to sabotage my business by copying my signature menu item: Meatball Subs. Her disgusting mediocre frozen meatballs with her ragu sauce were being sold on the same premises as my glorious tender delicious meatballs with my finger licking sauce. How daaare she? So now the bar, aka DQ's Tropical Escape, has meatball subs and chicken parmesan on the menu. My sales immediately took a nose dive and my anger nearly ate me alive.
I was overwhelmingly advised not to tear her head off or even demonstrate that I cared, otherwise she'd continue doing it. I spoke to the manager who has done nothing but give me some lame cop out to justify her lack of ethics and professionalism considering that DQ has done nothing but complain since the market opened a year ago that everyone copies whatever she does. Suddenly, it became ok for her to copy my signature item, not that she hasn't copied at least three of my other menu items in the past.
Although I've heard customers complain that her meatballs suck (of course they would), she's still selling the damn things. The only thing that gives me a little satisfaction is the knowledge that she's losing her ass and she was forced to close her lemonade stand because nobody can work with her. HA! But it's still annoying.
Now I'm making it a point to let people know that my meatballs are authentic delicious balls of heaven and my newest employee and friend has made it his mission to sell them to everyone and anyone who passes by - not even vegetarians are safe from his efforts. So if you walk by my booth and a good looking young man says, "Get your balls while they're hot!", please don't slap him.
It went something like this, "Hi DQ! This is my friend Makia. She's going to be working with us from now on." DQ LOUDLY replies, "Oh, so I heard you wanted to hire my girl (the chick that runs her lemonade stand)." Huh? So I repeated, "Um, DQ, this is MAKIA and she's going to be working with us from now on. Your girl introduced herself to me a few weeks ago along with her boyfriend who was looking for a job, but I didn't hire him." DQ apparently doesn't understand English so she said, "That's ok, you don't have to offer me any explanations. I know you wanted to hire my girl over there. By the way, what the EFF is wrong with this EFFING generation? Why do they think they're so entitled to everything nowadays? Can you believe this girl already asked for a raise after working for me for 2 weeks?!". DQ proceeded to LOUDLY continue going on and on about all her grievances regarding this chick while Makia slowly began to step away. I cut DQ off and continued our tour.
A few hours later, I hear that the chick quit on DQ in the middle of her shift. Not long afterwards, the chick is at my booth personally telling me that she had quit and proceeds to tell me the reasons. We talked about it, I agreed with most of her complaints, but I told her that she made two fatal mistakes. First of all, she quit on someone in the middle of a shift leaving them completely stranded. You never burn bridges that way and it's incredibly unprofessional. Secondly, she quit before she got paid for the previous day of work. She was intimidated by DQ and afraid to ask her for her pay of $50 for the previous day, so she asked if I would accompany her to talk to the DQ.... and my bleeding heart agreed.
At the end of the day, I approached DQ with the chick in tow and said, "DQ, I'm here because this morning you shared something with me and then later on the chick shared something with me, and I was hoping you both could come to an amicable resolution to this problem. The chick was nervous about talking to you, but I told her that you're perfectly reasonable and there's no reason why this issue can't be resolved." Why did I do that? WHY?? DQ went off in a dramatic rant insulting the chick, the chick attempted to defend herself, and all that was accomplished was that DQ ripped off the chick, who is only 16 years old, and didn't pay her (DQ called it a $50 lesson), the chick never attempted to stand up for herself after that by having her parents assist her with this problem, and DQ decided to retaliate against me personally.
So what's my punishment for being Miss Goody Two Shoes? DQ decided to sabotage my business by copying my signature menu item: Meatball Subs. Her disgusting mediocre frozen meatballs with her ragu sauce were being sold on the same premises as my glorious tender delicious meatballs with my finger licking sauce. How daaare she? So now the bar, aka DQ's Tropical Escape, has meatball subs and chicken parmesan on the menu. My sales immediately took a nose dive and my anger nearly ate me alive.
I was overwhelmingly advised not to tear her head off or even demonstrate that I cared, otherwise she'd continue doing it. I spoke to the manager who has done nothing but give me some lame cop out to justify her lack of ethics and professionalism considering that DQ has done nothing but complain since the market opened a year ago that everyone copies whatever she does. Suddenly, it became ok for her to copy my signature item, not that she hasn't copied at least three of my other menu items in the past.
Although I've heard customers complain that her meatballs suck (of course they would), she's still selling the damn things. The only thing that gives me a little satisfaction is the knowledge that she's losing her ass and she was forced to close her lemonade stand because nobody can work with her. HA! But it's still annoying.
Now I'm making it a point to let people know that my meatballs are authentic delicious balls of heaven and my newest employee and friend has made it his mission to sell them to everyone and anyone who passes by - not even vegetarians are safe from his efforts. So if you walk by my booth and a good looking young man says, "Get your balls while they're hot!", please don't slap him.
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