Hi Steve,
I had a set back when I was told I needed eye surgery for a detached retina the very next day. It was that serious.
My problem is I have to rest for a month to heal. I had to turn down a gig, my two locations at auctions, and I had to leave my home improvement center location open. I have no contract with them and no way of knowing if it will be available when I get back.
So my question is, “How does a sole proprietor prevent this from happening again” Partner with another vendor? Train someone to do your business from start to finish?
Thanks for your time,
-Jeff
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Hi Jeff,
Sorry to hear about your set back, but I think this may be a huge opportunity in disguise.
First, I would not rush into a partnership with another vendor. Partnerships are usually a permanent solution to a temporary problem. You are almost always better off running your own show 100%.
Can you be on your feet long enough to train one person to run your hot dog cart? You wouldn’t have to lift anything or bend over. Even if you could just sit in a chair in your driveway for a half hour, you could easily train someone by talking them through it.
If you can do that it would position you for expansion upon your return – big time. You should be scouting around for more locations while you heal.
In a month you can run one new location and leave the employee at your old location. Then just rinse and repeat. Before too long you could have many, many carts up and running.
Once you get the system down pat, the job of serving great hot dogs (with a great customer experience, of course) will fall to your employees. Your job Jeff, will be opening new locations.
That is what successful franchisees do. They get really, really good at opening new locations.
So when life gives you lemons, make lemonade right?
I wish you a speedy recovery Jeff. Let me know how it goes!
Steve
Jeff,
My Prayers are with you. Take care and don’t stop slingin’ (LOL)!
George
“Papa George”
Pray hard, Trust God, and get the rest you need to heal. I pushed myself too hard and ended up having to take a year off to get well. My prayers are with you. Wanda
Great advice Wanda! You get better too!
Best of luck in your healing process
Hey Marge! When does the St Joe slingin’ season begin?
Jeff,
Praying and looking forward to hearing about your full and speedy recovery.
Thank you all for your prayers and kind words. This is killing me not being able to sling dogs. Thank you Steve for your advice. I’m going to try this weekend to train someone at my location and have him do all the work. I will be the “supervisor”.
Thanks again.
Sounds like a plan, man! Keep us posted. Praying for a speedy recovery and prosperous return.
Prayers for your healing, Jeff!
Todd
I had to go through a lot of time down for medical issues. It really taught me to trust in a Great Big God. He said He would never leave me or forsake me, and He was true to His promise. I am convinced that His Promise is also for you Jeff. Bless You Paul
Praying for a speedy recovery, hopefully you will be able to find someone who is trustworthy and industrious so that you can take the necessary time off to recover. Who knows, this just might be a blessing in disguise where you find that diamond in the rough and allows you to grow and expand your operation. Good luck.
I had back surgery right in the middle of my busy season last July and I trained a couple of people and my wife kept my two carts running.
Mike.
when one door closes another one opens. Our prayers are with you for a speedy recovery and a prosperous year.
Take care of yourself first wishing you a speedy recovery
Prayers my friend and. Quick recovery.
prayers go out to you
I find myself having to shut down for an extended period of time, I hope to be back in business sometime next year. I hope all is well now.
Let me know if I can do anything hermano!
My brother from another mother, it’s just a matter of landing a better location because the one I was at just didn’t have enough foot traffic to sustain the business. I figure that with this time off, it’ll give me an opportunity to regroup, take care of all my bills and set aside some money to help withstand the down times. I have too many loyal customers to not get back into it, hopefully I’ll still be able to do weekend markets and festivals, along with more catering gigs.
Sounds like a plan Stevie.
Hope you are well and up and going soon. Always sad when you hear a fellow “sole”prenuer is down and out. My only input is you did it once, you can do it again (if all your spots are gone when you’re back and running). Just remember, Sam Walton fell on hard times (very hard times) three times before he hit it big with Walmart. He jus kept plugging away at what he knew (retail) You’ve proven you know what you’re doing! Just do it again :-). GET WELL SOON
Jeff, I had the same surgery. When they tell you not to lift anything heavy LISTEN. I didn’t and ended up right back in the hospital. Good Luck!!
Prayers for healing *and* patience (that’s my weakness!). Follow your doc’s advice, they spent a lot of years learning how to reattach a retina! Listen to Steve’s audio books while recouping. 🙂