A Lesson From A Chef

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.

He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.

After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?”

“Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,” she hastily replied.

“Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity - the boiling water.

However, each one reacted differently.

The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.

The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.

However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

“Which are you,” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? “

In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.

Which one are you?

The Elephant Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” the trainer said, “When they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

A Tragedy Or a Blessing?

Years ago in Scotland, the Clark family had a dream. Clark and his wife worked and saved, making plans for their nine children and themselves to travel to the United States. It had taken years, but they had finally saved enough money and had gotten passports and reservations for the whole family on a new liner to the United States.
The entire family was filled with anticipation and excitement about their new life. However, seven days before their departure, the youngest son was bitten by a dog. The doctor sewed up the boy but hung a yellow sheet on the Clarks' front door. Because of the possibility of rabies, they were being quarantined for fourteen days.

The family's dreams were dashed. They would not be able to make the trip to America as they had planned. The father, filled with disappointment and anger, stomped to the dock to watch the ship leave - without the Clark family. The father shed tears of disappointment and cursed both his son and God for their misfortune.

Five days later, the tragic news spread throughout Scotland - the mighty Titanic had sunk. The unsinkable ship had sunk, taking hundreds of lives with it. The Clark family was to have been on that ship, but because the son had been bitten by a dog, they were left behind in Scotland.

When Mr. Clark heard the news, he hugged his son and thanked him for saving the family. He thanked God for saving their lives and turning what he had felt was a tragedy into a blessing.

Today, Specialists Agree that more businesses face an unstable business environment. Improvements in information processing and
telecommunications have made major changes in most businesses. In addition to this, improvements in transportation and the
development of foreign markets (especially in Europe and Asia) have generated a worldwide marketplace and surpassed certain
businesses. In addition, as consumers are vulnerable to more options, loyalty is becoming less significant than it once was; a
slightly better price or a temporary shortage of inventory can easily result in the loss of consumers. Competitors can also alter
quickly, with new ones emerging from out of nowhere (frequently this means another side of the world ). With the uncertainty of
the global market, it is vital that you make tactical planning part of your overall business strategy.

Proactive Versus Reactive Management. A couple of years back, you can set and maintain a business by reacting to and fulfilling
changes in preferences, costs and prices. This reactive type of direction was frequently enough to help keep the company going.
But, today changes happen quickly and come from a number of directions. From the time a reactive supervisor can make the required
alterations, he or she may lose many clients -- possibly for good.

Proactive Preparation is the anticipation of future events. Decisions are based on predictions of future conditions of the
environment instead of responses to various disasters as they happen. Proactive planning in an unstable, technology-driven
business environment is important to continuing success in almost any endeavor. As opposed to reacting to this situation as it
affects, proactive planning requires that you examine environmental forces and earn resource-allocation decisions. Using this
method you can take your business where it ought to be in another month, year and decade. Barry Worth, a consultant specializing
in small business management, puts it this way: Today's entrepreneur must be a business architect. Anything built in today's
business environment must have a step-by-step blueprint or strategy about how to achieve success. The blueprint for the business
owner is a company program.

The Want To Get a Strategic Plan. Planning plays a significant role in any business venture. It can make the difference between
the success or failure of your organization. You need to plan carefully before investing your time and effort, especially, your
cash in any business enterprise. The need for a strategy is best exemplified by the following scenario -"A Tale of 2 Businesses."

Two franchises (B and A ) were started by people who had worked in management in much larger businesses. While Franchise A
supplied a item and Franchise B per service, the output of the franchise systems had been marketed exclusively in the USA prior to
the current owners became involved. The output of both was readily available in other developed nations as well. The franchises
started about precisely the exact same time and franchisee had a solid market presence, nor do they present. Today Franchise B is
broke. By contrast, Franchise A is selling products in the Midwestern United States and in Europe.

What was the Deciding difference in the two franchises' success? You probably expect it to be the you had developed a strategic
plan and another hadn't; howeverit isn't this easy. Several factors can influence the result of a business venture. There were
lots of similarities between the franchises, but there also were many differences.

Most notably, Franchise A sold a product and Franchise B per service (though this doesn't clearly limit choices ). The other
variation was that Franchise A had a closely thought-out plan. The investors understood as they looked to get a franchise partner
that they desired to locate something which could satisfy global markets and a franchiser who'd support that kind of sales
campaign. These investors were based in the Midwest, but negotiated for exclusive rights to export the franchiser's product. After
they had acquired the franchise, as soon as they began to establish their business domestically, they also began to contact
authorities specialists in the U.S. Department of Commerce as well as teachers and local managers with international experience.

Clear plans Were developed outlining how they'd place, promote and distribute the solution and which overseas markets will be
targeted first. Even as they were building sales in a single European market, they were attending trade shows and preparation
entry strategies others.

By comparison, The next investor (Franchise B) started his business strictly because he wished to leave a former employer.
Obviously many small businesses begin this way; however, in this case no investigation of franchising alternatives was done. The
organization has been located in a place that, as it was, included virtually no consumers for the kind of service being supplied.
If this mistake was accomplished, it had been too late to move--the investor only didn't have the money or the desire to risk
starting again.

Other examples Further demonstrate the demand for strategic planning and for developing a clear business plan. The owner of a
business that appeared to be performing quite well in two locations was about to start in a third. The writers have been called in
to create a benefits policy and found cash flow problems that could be found just after operations had begun in the new site.
After analyzing the situation, an expansion and financial plan was designed for the sound locations only. In another case, the
authors decided that a company had purchased more equipment than has been necessary to accomplish the present workload.

After careful Evaluation, plans to make additional purchases were placed on hold, along with the equipment available was used
effectively to meet immediate demands.

A Enterprise Enterprise is to complicated to presume that failure to come up with a solid business Plan is going to be the cause
for problems But this failure often counts Among the factors contributing to business issues. As Worth has said, "Being a business
entrepreneur now takes constant vigilance to be able to Be in a position to take advantage of fresh opportunities and the
availability of fresh Information and technology as they become." The first step in Doing this is to get a program.

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