• Step #1 – Setting up a business for success

    Oh, how I wish I could start my family business all over again. There are some things I’d change…but we did manage to get a few key things right. Here are our golden stars:

    • Setting my business up as an LLC, which enables me to pass profits and losses to my personal tax return.
    • Getting a business loan, which enabled us to buy enough basic things to give a good 1st impression from Day 1.
    • Using Craig’s List for equipment purchases, which saved me thousands of dollars on 2nd-hand stuff.
    • Finding a competent handyman to fix up our Craig’s List purchases.
    • Schedule our staff members in short shifts. This enabled us to quickly ID each person’s strengths and fit them into appropriate roles, and to let go of the weakest ones.
    • Asking a business owner friend for advice and tips, which yielded the next two points.
    • Not accepting Discover, as they charge the highest rates of all. Actually, I’m signed up to accept Discover (in case of emergencies), but I always ask people to politely use another card when possible.
    • Buying my credit card processing machine. It was a few hundred dollars up front, but leasing it would have cost me 4-fold by now. As convenient as a wireless machine would be, we don’t really need it.
    • Getting a catchy telephone number. We are 817-989-CAFE (2233), which helps people remember easily. The phone company wouldn’t give us many options – we lucked into 2233.
    • Offering wireless internet, and promoting that everywhere. We’ve had plenty of people find us on random websites like http://www.ilovefreewifi.com/.
    • Partnering with a nonprofit, www.samaritanhouse.org. This social entrepreneurship venture has been helpful in getting media coverage.
    • Recruiting a friend to design a webpage, let’s face it, nobody uses the yellow pages anymore.

    Without a doubt, the smartest thing we did was spending time researching and revising our business plan. This was crucial to getting our loan and giving us direction as we grew.

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  • The biggest mistake (sm)all businesses are making

    Everyone knows that “bought” advertising is simply a company’s message created by someone who gets paid by the company. For most small- and medium-sized businesses, this can be expensive and ineffective.

    Here’s a better, simpler, cheaper, way to 1) advertise your business and 2) contribute to the community.

    Give your product or service away.

    Think about it – what’s the end goal of advertising your business? You want people to see and adopt your product or service. I’ve tried the “spaghetti method” of throwing everything against the wall and seeing what sticks. Simply put, it was a waste.

    As the owner of a restaurant and catering company, the best way I’ve found to put my product directly in people’s hands is to donate to public events.

    Practically every weekend there are road races and fundraising walks in your city. Find one with a worthwhile cause and be an in-kind sponsor. Chances are that your product will make its way into the goodie bags of the race participants.

    These events usually also have a reunion area where vendors can set up tables to give samples and talk one-on-one.

    Remember, it’s better to reach a small group with a quality message than a huge group with….nothing.

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  • The art of starting a business on a shoestring

    I’m not a mathematician, but I’d imagine that 90% of all businesses are started in someone’s living room.

    And why not? It’s never been easier to put your idea in front of a billion people, waiting to be found in some online nook or cranny.

    For those offering a service, creating your own legit operation is a cinch. File with the government and your city/state, print up some business cards, create an e-mail address, and voila! You’re ready. Wedding planners, graphic designers, language translators, web developers – the list goes on and on.

    For those offering a tangible good, it’s a little more complicated, but not hard. In 2008, my family and I started a home-based catering company with all the money I had – practically nothing. Then, we opened a restaurant. We still own all 100% of the company, and have almost repaid our small business loan.

    Here are some ways I boot-strapped:

    - Barter

    This has been our biggest asset – everybody loves great food. I’ve traded for printing, cabinet installation, box lunch design and printing, menu design, website development, logo creation, cafe tables and chairs. Whatever your product, there are opportunities to create win-win situations that doesn’t involve cash…you’ll both end up spending less.

    - Give Stuff Away

    Yep, you heard me right. The biggest surprise in our business life has been this adage-come-to-life: give things away without expecting anything in return. They’ll usually come back to you ten-fold.

    Case in point. When my cafe started, we decided to partner with a local nonprofit to create jobs for low-income individuals. We’d hire them, train them, and watch in awe as they gained confidence and grew personally and professionally. Watching this unexpected transformation changed all of us, and the media loved it. Everyone wanted to tell our story and review our food, and they all gushed over it.

    - Use Craig’s List

    I completely furnished our kitchen with used equipment I found online. Some things, like a full refrigerator, took months to find. I had to drive all around the state of Texas, but it was worth it. Check Craig’s List 3 times a day. Post what you need on your Facebook status. People have all sorts of crazy stuff out there.

    - Over/Under estimate

    Rule of thumb – expect to sorely underestimate how much you will spend (money and time) to get this thing started, and overestimate how much you’ll sell. It’s nothing personal. Just a reality check. If you want to be super safe, don’t expect to take a paycheck for 6 months. Then start bartering with a restaurant when you get hungry.

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  • Community Renewal & Social Entrepreneurship

    This year, General Manager, Carlo Capua, spoke at the TCU State of Leadership Conference.  Texas Christian University brought various speakers and community leaders together to share their insights on community leadership through Social Entrepreneurship and Community Renewal. They encouraged students to actively engage these community leaders, as well as one another, as mentor and trend-setters.  The goal of the conference was to learn and explore effective strategies for creating change. "Positive change starts with an active mind and a willingness to learn. "

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