Chip Close (0:00)

This week, the last week of the year, is maybe my favorite time of the year because it gives me an opportunity to reflect on the year that just is about to end. And it gives me a chance to look forward to the year that's coming. And I can be really intentional about what went well and what didn't go well in this year. And what do I want more of and what do I want less of in the year to come? Especially as I've been on my entrepreneur journey over the last several years. There are ideas, insights, mindset shifts, affirmations that have made a profound impact impact on me. And I want to share those with you. I want to share with you 10, let's say mindset shifts 10 affirmations that I think will make a profound impact on you. Or at least I hope they will resonate with you as you set about to crush your goals in 2025. Don't go anywhere because I want to share all of them with you and and how I've implemented them and how I think you can implement them. All of that on today's episode of Restaurant Strategy. There's an old saying that goes something like this. You'll only find three kinds of people in the world. Those who see, those who will never see, and those who can see when shown. This is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast with answers for anyone who's looking. Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in. My name is Chip Close and this is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast dedicated to independent restaurant owners to helping you guys build more profitable and sustainable business. I've been in this industry for over 25 years. Each week I leverage all of that experience to help you build a more profitable and sustainable business. I wrote a book. It's called the Restaurant Marketing Mindset. Of course you can get that. I take the stage all throughout the year, all over the world. Of course you can come find me on a stage and hear what I have to say there. I run the P3 mastermind. You guys know how much I talk about it there. But I want to remind you that I have the server playbooks. These are 10 videos I put out. I'm making them available for free. The link is in the show notes if you want a way a series of scripts, sales tactics you can implement into your business that you can teach to your servers and your bartenders. Then go click the link. Download these again absolutely free. They will make a profound impact. If you want to grow top line revenue in the year ahead, you need to get these absolutely free. 10 videos. All of them are between 5 and 10 minutes long. So mercifully short. And I promise you they will help you grow. Check average in the year ahead. Go do that again. That link is in the show notes. Now Torque understands that expectations for food service, sustainability and guest experience are higher now than ever before. That's why torq provides products and services that help restaurants meet those demands. With more than 50 years of global food service expertise, Torq can help you keep up with hygiene standards and food safety guidelines in all areas of your business. Front of house, back house restrooms and drive. From expressnap, the world's favorite napkin dispenser, to multipurpose cleaning towels that clean smarter and high capacity restroom dispensers that reduce runouts, Torque offers better hygiene for better guest and staff experiences. You can check them out and get more tips@torqueusa.com restaurant that's t o r k u s a dot com restaurant and yes, you're gonna find that link in the show notes. Okay, so just like you guys, I am a small business owner. I work with restaurant owners from all over the world. I meet with them two hours every single week. I'm on an entrepreneurial journey. I know all of you guys are on the entrepreneur's journ. There are insights, there are ideas, concept mindset shifts, really like affirmations that I want to bring to you, I want to share with you. These have been really impactful to me over the years and I've shared some of them on this show, but not all of them. I want to collect them all in one place and this is the perfect time to do it again. This last week of the year is where we should be reflecting on the year that just passed and looking ahead to the year that's about to come and getting really intentional with how we're going to crush it, what we're going to do, how we're going to do it, and why those actions matter so that we can achieve all of our goals. I want to share with you, in no, in no certain order, the 10 things that, that I think about a lot, especially during this week, to help me get ready for the year ahead. So without any further ado, number one, you guys know I talk about this a lot. Gary Keller wrote a book. It's called the One Thing I Always say, right? The one thing, the thing that matters most in your business is profit, because that's the thing that leads to all else. If you want to grow your business, if you want to sell your business, if you want to step away from your business, if you Want to pass it off to your employees if you. Whatever it is, profitability is the thing that will keep you around, sustain you for a very, very long time so you can feed more people, employ more people, provide more sales tax revenue to your, your wonderful state. All of that profitability is the thing that keeps the engine running. It doesn't matter if you have the best restaurant in the world. If it's not profitable, you're not going to be around very long. Of course, we all know that the idea that Gary Keller talks about in his book is what inspired me to talk so much about the key to profitability. But it's also impacted my life as well. And in his book, the one thing, which, if you haven't read it, go read it. Gary Keller, the one thing, I promise you, you'll read it over a weekend. But in it, he says this mantra, right? And I share this all the time. He says, what's the one thing I can do such that by doing it would make everything else easier or unnecessary? Again, what's the one thing I can do such that by doing it would make everything else easier or unnecessary? That's it. That's the key to the whole thing. Rather than running around doing all these different things that people say you should do, you got to focus in on the one thing for, for restaurants, especially independent restaurants, I think it's profitability. We need to generate steady, positive cash flow, right? Operating profit. Then what happens is, you say, okay, well, then what do I need to do to make that happen? Because if you can make that one thing happen, everything else falls into line. That's also going to affect you personally if you, if you apply that to your life, and I hope you do, what's the thing you can do that will render all else easier or unnecessary? That book, that idea has impacted me more over the last, I'll say, three years than just about anything else. Number two, right? We spend a lot of time talking about profit, but for me, time is way more valuable than money, right? We can always make more money. We can always sell another thing, can always get another paycheck, but we have a finite amount of time, right? The sands of time. It's an hourglass. And when the sand runs out, the sand runs out. And I know we know that, but it's worth, worth embracing, especially as we look to the year ahead. So for me, profit equals time. I want to run a profitable business so that I can reinvest some of that profit in other people who can do some of the things that I Can delegate. And that frees up my time. Right? Time is way more valuable than money. And I know you'll look back after a year, five years, 10 years, 50 years, and you'll realize the value of it. So stop for a minute and just acknowledge how precious time is. The third one I want to share with you is. Is something that's quoted a lot. A rising tide lifts all ships, right? The idea being that, like, that if I succeed, it's sort of my duty to bring others up with me, right? That it's not I succeed and others fail. Right. I don't succeed when others fail. It's. I think. I think we can all succeed. I certainly do this. As I've gotten to know other coaches, consultants, all of that. There's. There's plen. People that maybe don't jive with me, right? They're gonna. They're thinking about working with me in the P3 mastermind. They meet with me and there's a misalignment, and that's fine. You've got to really trust the person you're working with. I have sent prospective members to so many other colleagues of mine because it doesn't take away from me. If they're not gonna work with me, then I want them to be able to work with someone, especially when I know they need help and I know there are people out there that can help them. I love to be able to do that. And other people have sent me business as well. That's me business as a coach, as a consultant, right? That's how I live that, and that's what I really, truly believe. The same thing is true with you, right? It's not that if you. If others fail, that means you succeed. I think if you succeed, others can succeed too. If you learn things, I think it's your moral obligation to teach others, to teach colleagues, to teach other restaurant owners what you have learned. Right? Don't hoard all that knowledge. I think it's. I think it's way too important to make sure that everybody comes up, that if we can lift everybody else up again, a rising tide lifts all ships. I think it's a really powerful idea. I want to talk for a second about culture. Right? Culture exists. That's what you have to acknowledge. Culture exists. What's important is that you understand that culture could also be created. So let's talk for a second about what culture is. Culture is simply. And here's the definition, right? Culture is simply the set of shared beliefs, values, customs, and behaviors that define a specific group of people or a society. So culture exists, whether you realize it or not. The question is, are you being deliberate and intentional about creating the culture that you want in a vacuum? If you don't create the culture, the people on your team will naturally create the culture. Seth Godin always says this about culture, right? People like us do things like this. I always talk about Danny Meyer when I use this thing, when I use that, that quote. So Danny Meyer is obviously the owner of Union Square Hospitality Group, a big restaurant group here in New York and beyond. And he hires very nice people. Warm, nice, gracious, hospitable. Hospitality is the thing that, that, that runs through the veins of all of his restaurants. You have to care. You have to want to care. There is Kool Aid, there's to be drunk, right? This idea that, you know, they're drinking the Kool Aid in Danny Meyer's restaurants, you drink the Kool Aid or you don't belong, you don't stick around very long. His culture is. Has been created very intentionally over the last, you know, two decades. That's the same thing with you as well, right? So being really clear about what those shared beliefs, values and behaviors are, making sure to communicate them to people, making sure, finding people who can live and breathe that, right? And then making sure that it's cool to drink the Kool Aid. Culture exists, whether you realize it or not. And as soon as you understand that culture can be created, it puts you in the driver's seat to create that culture. I can't tell you how important that is. If you want to create a place that you like being around, you have to be intentional about creating the kind of place that you want to be around. Number five here, I want you to start thinking about living a life of abundance. Imagine that success, that wealth, that whatever it is you want will come your way. You put that out into the universe. And this is something as simple as being a glass half full person instead of a glass half empty. And if you can take control and take, be proactive, right, about all of the things that are within your control, you will find that abundance will find you. Live a life of plenty is another way of thinking about this, right? That like, exist, move forward as if you are just going to get busier, you are going to be more profitable, you are going to open more places, you are going to get better and better and better. And if you live with that expectation, if you walk through the day looking for that, it will find you because you will be looking for it, right? It's like when you think about buying a car and you're like, I think about, I'm thinking about buying a Lexus, let's say, right? And it's on your mind and you're doing your research and then everywhere you go, you see Lexus, you say, man, there's a lot of Lexuses on the, on the road. Like, man, they must be a pretty popular car. They must be a pretty good car. I'm not alone. Other people believe it too. There's probably the same number of those cars that have always existed. But now your attention is there, your focus is there, and therefore your intention is there. Where attention goes, intention flows, right? Success will follow you. If you are living a life of abundance, if you're living a life of optimism, seeing the glass half full, taking control, taking ownership of as much as you possibly can, I promise it will change the way you go through the world. It will change the way that the world interacts with you. Five more after a word from another one of our sponsors. Now. Thousands of restaurants across the country use Kickfin to send instant cashless tip payouts directly to their employees bank accounts the second their shift ends. It's a really simple solution to what's become a really big problem. Because let's face it, paying out cash tips to your workers day after day, shift after shift is kind of a nightmare. Tedious tip distribution takes managers away from work that matters. It's hard to track payments, which leads to accounting and compliance headaches. Plus, cash tip outs create the perfect opportunity for theft. And there's never enough cash on hand to pay out the tips. 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Okay, so we're talking about a series of mindset shifts, insights, ideas, concepts, what I'm calling 10 affirmations, 10 new ways 10 new things to bring you, to bring with you into the new year new ways of looking at the world Again, the first five, Number one, is the one thing, right? Gary Keller's idea. What's the one thing you could do such that by doing it will render all else easier or unnecessary? Number two. Understand, acknowledge, feel it, breathe it. This idea that time is way more valuable than money. Three, a rising tide lifts all ships. Four, culture exists, whether you realize it or not. Therefore, culture can be created. Be intentional about the culture you create. Number five, I want you to get into this mindset of living a life of abundance, living a life of plenty. If you walk through the world expecting that success will happen, success will find you. I promise you will find opportunities. Number six, then is this the condition I so feared? So the Stoic philosophers, a couple thousand years ago wrote a tons, right? Marcus Aurelius, you know, being probably the most famous. They wrote these meditations. It was a way of existing in the world, and it was about taking ownership of everything. And there's this idea that they wrote about that all the Stoic philosophers wrote about. And it was this. This quote. Literally, it says, is this the condition I so feared? And most of the great Stoic philosophers were emperors, were notable, wealthy people in Roman. In Roman culture, what happened is one week a year, they were. They would live life, live their biggest fear, right? That they would, you know that most of them, and you know, what they mostly wrote about was that they were afraid of being homeless, poor, destitute. And so once a year, for a week, they would get rid of all their nice clothes. They would wear rags, and then you live on the street, and they would have to beg for food. And they did that for a week. And this idea of. Of facing your fears, saying, is this the life I. So is this the condition I so feared? And when you put yourself in that condition and actually see what it's like, it may not be comfortable, it may not be what you want, but when you get through a week like that, you go, oh, I survived. I got through that. If the thing you fear keeps you from taking risks, from stepping out, from doing great things, then face that fear head on. This idea of, again, that quote, is this the condition I so feared? I think is incredibly powerful. By facing that head on, it will free you up to make better, better decisions in the year ahead. There's this idea, maybe a little bit cheesy, but this affirmation of, I am exactly where I'm supposed to be. You may not be where you want to be yet, but you're where you're supposed to be. You are learning lessons along the way. Right there is the, the Rocky cutscene. This idea of, you know, Rocky getting ready for the fight where he's doing all the hard things, working out, getting up early, running through the snow, doing all this stuff. The hard stuff. In the movie, it's 45 seconds. In real life, it might be six years. I think anybody who owns their own business, anybody who's opened their own restaurant understands the Rocky cutscene analogy. We know What a year, 2, 3, 5, 10 years is like. Understand that where you are is teaching you something, is going to make you appreciate things more when you get where you want to go. I'm not saying you don't set goals and you don't reach to get where you want to go, but also don't fear and don't turn your back on where you are. You are exactly where you're supposed to be. Number eight, I want you to set goals for yourself. I talk a lot about this, the power of systems and goals, right? I'm at point A, I want to get to point B, right? So this is coming on the heels of this idea of being exactly where you're supposed to be. So where you are is where you're supposed to be. That's point A. Where you want to get to is point B. Be really clear with point A. Be really clear with what point B looks like. I'm here, I want to get there. What do I have to do to get from here to there? And as much as possible, you set a system. You set a series of actions that you alone are responsible for. It's not about you being discovered or getting a rave review or any sort of external factors. It's I'm going to do the following things to get myself from point A to point B. When you do that, it will change the way you go through the world. Again, these are all meant to change your. Shift your perspective for the year ahead. Just an 8 degree shift with the way that you interact with the world. Number nine, you want to know the secret to happiness? Dan Gilbert wrote about this and it's really, it really lacks any sort of romanticism. The secret to happiness is to lower your expectations, set ambitious goals, struggle, work hard to reach them without expectation. If you are expecting a three star restaurant, if you are expecting to make a certain amount of money, if you are and you don't hit it, you will always be unsatisfied. You will always, always be unhappy. So set ambitious goals Work hard to reach for them without expectation. Secret to happiness is simply to lower your expectations. And you can laugh at it. I laughed at it the first time I read that book. I don't know, more than 10 years ago, but it makes, it makes all the difference. If you can just go through the world with zero expectations, you'll be a lot happier and grateful for every single thing you get. The last thing I want to leave you with. This has been making the rounds. I certainly didn't invent this. I took this from somebody else, who I'm sure took it from somebody else. If you want to be part of the 1%, you have to be willing to do the things that the other 99% won't do. I say this to all my mastermind members, right? The fact that they joined my program, asked for help, put themselves in a network of their peers, other experts, people who have been doing it and continue to do it, they've taken the step that 99% of other people won't do. They are already the 1% because they've got the humility, the vulnerability to say they need help to do things that they haven't done before. To level up personally and professionally, whatever that is for you, you have to do what the rest are unwilling to do. If you want to be part of the 1%. Now, I'm not talking about the 1% necessarily income wise. I'm talking if you want to be part of the 1% of best restaurants in your market, in the country, in the world. If you want to be the 1% in pizza places and sushi places and whatever it is, if you want to be great, you've got to do the stuff that everybody else is not doing, the other stuff that people don't have time to do or are unwilling to do. If you want to be part of the 1%, you have to be willing to do the things that 99% of the population won't do. I finished with that purposely because I think that more than anything, this past year has changed my perspective, has changed my life. My business has never been more successful than it is this year. Partially because I've embraced that. I say that because it can be the same for you. Whatever that is, whatever those actions are, take that step forward. If you want to be part of the 1%, you got to do things that the other 99% are unwilling or unable to do. You do that, it changes your life. Guys, I appreciate you taking time out of this. I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year. One final reminder. The server playbooks are available absolutely free. 10 videos, 10 scripts, tactics, sales, taxic you can implement into your restaurant that will make an immediate and profound impact in your top line revenue. No day but today. You want to get started? Start today. You can get them absolutely for free. That link is in the show notes. Thank you very much guys. Go get those server playbooks and I will see you in the new year.