This blog post from Warwick Quinton:
http://www.sourdoughbaker.com.au/index.php/stories/the-rise-and-fall-of-a-bakery
Heart-breaking. But good on him for sharing such a cautionary tale. Brave feller.
This blog post from Warwick Quinton:
http://www.sourdoughbaker.com.au/index.php/stories/the-rise-and-fall-of-a-bakery
Heart-breaking. But good on him for sharing such a cautionary tale. Brave feller.
"Control freaks eventually drive all the good people away..." This is my takeaway. The art of hiring good people and trusting those around you to perform well, is as important as the product itself. For people building a new business I think this is often overlooked, and the end result is an overbearing, over-tasked and generally disgruntled owner.
I commend Mr. Quinton's raw honesty in his writing. While we may tend to focus on "failure", he also generated many successes along the way. Success and failure is not always black and white.
"Success and failure is not always black and white."
It is in the sense that no one can succeed in business who would publish an article with white text against a black background as this man did. Failure was inevitable.
and good to read while in the process of starting my own operation...the financial burdens he took on (with the building and equipment) were the main flags for me...substantial debt and rent are daunting treadmills that can crush anyone (esp. when selling bread...hmmm...I should really be opening a brewery)
Which I vaguely recall at least one other TFLer has done. Personally, I dream of opening a smokebrewkery. Smoked meat, beer and bread all-in-one. But you're right. It's high rents and debt that are the big challenges. Maybe someday.
and chocolates
Roundhay thanks for posting this.
An mazing story about all the things he learned too late for him and his business but the telling of the story will hopefully help others greatly. Managing a small business is much easier than managing a larger one by far. You can find, nurture and take care of a few good employees but finding 50 of them is difficult. Finding 2,000 of them and treating them right is much, much harder still. The business is only as good as the people that work there, including the owner, no matter how great the customers, the machines and product.
Still, most businesses do fail eventually, usually because they are under capitalized, grow too fast without the employees required. The buiness can't weather difficult financial problems caused by bad ownership, managers and employees. Small businesses are fun and profitable for good reason - they are easy and many folks can handle them by themselves or a few employees.
Larger businesses require much different skills, training, focus and financing. Fewer folks, a lot fewer, can do it. The old business saying that small is beautiful is correct and true and this is another example of it. The best decisions you will make are not the hundred of times you will say yes, but the very few where you are lucky enough to realize the correct answer is no. Saying 'yes I can do that' at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons can just kill your business and you financially. It is saying no that keeps you alive and well - not saying yes.
Not so oddly, some of the best business people I know have failed like this man, several times. Or they have mentors who have failed and can help them along when things get tough. They learn from their mistakes and when they get or make another chance for themselves they have a better chance of succeeding. They don't make the same mistakes again which allows them to make different ones and grow from them as well. These folks fail their way to the top - perfect for those with no fear. Others never get a chance nor do they want one.
It is much less painful to have a good mentor, or mentors, who want to help you, have seen these problems before and know what to do instead. We see how important this is every day here on TFL. It is best to fail often when it doesn't matter, ask questions and listen carefully to those who have been there, done that and willing to help. Next thing you know you can make a really great loaf of SD bread with little heartbreak. But, don't think you can run 50 person bakery just as easy with the same amount of risk and talent.
Someone else can do so and make it look pretty easy, even though it isn't. That someone else might be you....... it just isn't you right now and the saying no and waiting for the right time is the hardest part to learn. But being there and ready at the right time is what really makes the difference.
It's just like proofing dough just right, with the oven actually at the right temperature and ready to bake that loaf that results in a thing of beauty.
As a side note My favorite mentor of all time, that everyone knows, was Michael Corleone's father Don Vito
Don Corleone: [to Michael] Listen, whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he's the traitor. Don't forget that.
Don Corleone: [to Michael] So, Barzini will move against you first. He'll set up a meeting with someone that you absolutely trust, guaranteeing your safety. And at that meeting, you'll be assassinated.
Thanks for the post and happy baking
...puts all that experience, good and bad, to good use. He now consults/mentors other bakers.
which is what Mark Sinclair has done up in Montana
I'm glad that I'm just a one-woman micro-bakery, it's still fun and not a hassle.
I like watching the small business show every Sunday morning at MSNBC - lots of stories like that.