Good Morning Friends! Here are my 5 Things to Consider this week!
Culture – Things Get Harder. I know this sounds pessimistic, but damn if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes. It’s kind of the opposite of what you’d commonly think. As you do something longer, you get better at it and it gets easier, right? For a business like ours, with as many moving parts as we have, I’m finding the bigger we get and the more locations, people, systems and processes we amass, the harder of a job it is to manage it all. It’s getting harder. The systems we once used when we had 80 people on our team don’t work now that we have almost 200. We must adapt and grow to be efficient and to, more importantly, meet the expectations of those of you who spend a good portion of your lives with us. Just because things tend to get harder as we grow, doesn’t necessarily mean they become shitty or unfun. Hard doesn’t equal bad. Hard just equals new challenges and opportunities for growth. We will always have the perspective of growth so when things get hard, we see it as an opportunity to grow and breakthrough to something great. We grow when we’re stretched. We become better when we’re forced to be uncomfortable. When things are the hardest, the greatest lessons are right around the corner. Struggle, adapt, learn, grow, repeat.
Leadership – How you do anything is how you do everything. This simple sentence holds more gravity than probably almost anything I’ve ever read. Read it again to yourself. Try to fully absorb its meaning. Take a moment to think about your habits. The way you interact with other people. The way you do your daily work. The way you treat your friends and family. Chances are the way you handle anything in your life, is the way you handle everything in your life. It’s important to be honest with yourself. Are you always a few minutes late for places you have to be? Do you constantly “cut corners” to get a job done more quickly? Are you always picking up paper on the floor or do you step over it? Do you avoid social interaction? If you cut corners at work, you probably do it at home too. If you’re procrastinating in one area, you’re probably doing it in other areas too. Once you understand that the patterns in your habits directly reflect each other in almost every aspect of your life, you can begin to make conscious decisions to choose to do things differently.
History – S. 4th St. Way back in 2013 I had this idea that Late Night Slice needed to stop being small kitchens and needed to be bigger, stand-alone restaurants. This was hard because before we opened S. 4th St, we we’re basically just a few concession stands. We had Woodlands Tavern – a bar kitchen, the Truck – a mobile kitchen, and the Short North and Clintonville were take outs. So the challenge to us was, how do we take the “experience” of standing in line at a concession stand or food truck and turn that into a full dining experience. We had to think about interior design, product delivery, kitchen layout and most importantly, we had to think about how to match and exceed our customer’s expectations. I found the actual location, 268 South 4th Street, because at the time it was then Gov. John Kasich’s election headquarters and I knew he wasn’t going to be in there forever. I did some digging and found the owner of the building and a couple months later we had a signed lease for what would become our newest concept; a Late Night Slice with a dining room, full bar, bathrooms and most importantly, all the charm and personality our loyal fan had come to expect from our brand. We didn’t nail everything off the rip, but eventually we got it all right and almost 5 years ago this week we opened and haven’t looked back with this concept. To this day, we can still call this location the workhorse of the company. Thanks to everyone who’s kept this joint humming over the years. You’ve done and continue to do amazing work!
Motivation – “I may not have understood then but I understand now that each and every action I take, word I speak and decision I make contributes to the creation of the life I choose to live.” – Laura Campbell
What I’m Reading or Watching – The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle. This book was another recommendation from another author I was reading. I’m only about 40 pages in, but the concept is amazing. It’s always been said that to do anything, your brain has to fire synapsis. Electrical current has to pass from one area of your brain to another. What scientists have found out is that to “master” a skill, from downhill skiing, to speaking English to belly dancing, the more you practice, the more “insulation” or Myelin gets wrapped around these circuits and the more insulation you have around them, the stronger the signal and the more proficient you become. The White Matter in your brain is more important than they ever thought!
Baby Update – Things really do change. Everyone always says that to you when they find out you’re expecting, but what they don’t tell you is how everything changes. Obviously life is very different now that William is here but as the weeks go by, I’m finding I’m missing different things at different times. Perhaps “missing” is the incorrect word to use. I’m more noticing things changing. Like mine and Rachael’s relationship. It’s still super strong, it’s just not as selfish as it used to be. It’s like we changed into parents overnight(…) I did anyway. We’re both trying to do the right thing, not get frustrated, respect each other’s time and space, do our fair share and still remain, if even just for a little bit, be the people we used to be. I guess that’s just unrealistic though. Once you have a kid, you stop being the people you used to be. You stop being a couple. You become a family.
Thanks for reading! Like or hate any part of this? Let me know! I really value your feedback.
Have a great week!
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