We have limited amount of energy for whole day. For all we do.
Many times we don’t realize we are spending loads of our energy on decision making. Every decision takes energy.
Don’t waste your energy on small things so you don’t miss it for big things.

Here’s how you can jump start your day and save lots of energy:

i) the evening before decide what you will wear tomorrow
I am not very fashion conscious so I take t-shirts, socks etc from my closet as they are there. No brainer. Take the t-shirt that is on the top and go.

ii) the evening before decide what you will have for breakfast
Not only you will not waste energy for decision making process,
you will also go to bed much happier with thoughts for yummy breakfast.

iii) pack your bag / case the evening before and put it next to your shoes
You will take it on your way out knowing everything you need is there.

iv) write your to-do list the evening before
Can’t stress this enough. This alone will change your life.

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99% of things you regret in life are things you haven’t done.

Worst thing in life is to regret. Regret something you haven’t done.
Opportunity you did not take. Place you didn’t go.

So, do things. You won’t regret.

Did you ever asked yourself why would somebody pay you a salary?
Why do you expect somebody to send you money every month?
What do you get paid for?

For most part I pay to my employees for solving problems. Little part of their salaries is for keeping business running. Big part is for solving problems. Our internal problems, problems of our clients, just any problem that will appear in their field of responsibility.

Many times they don’t realize this. How do I know?
I hear them complaining about the problems.
While they should welcome and praise them for being there.
Should there be no problem, I wouldn’t need employees.
Machines, software or a part time student would do their job for a fraction of cost.

You are here to solve problems. The more problems and more complex problems you solve, the better you become in problems solving. Every problem you solve makes you grow, learn something new and will make you much more valuable to your employer. And then he’ll pay you more.
If not, I am sure somebody else who needs his problems to be solved will.

I hate complaining. Any kind. My closest friends never complain. Whatever problem they have they working on solving it. Without complaints.
That would be one of the reasons they are my closest friends.

Many people believe they have the right to be happy. They don’t. Nobody has. You only have the right to fight for your happiness. You have the right to do everything and anything you can to be happy.

People believe they have the right for a great day. And great future while we’re at it. Sooner or later they will realize they don’t. But what they don’t realize, they have the right to fight for a great day. And for a great future. That’s good enough if you ask me.

As entrepreneur you don’t have the right to be successful. Even if you do everything right. You still don’t have right to succeed. But, you have the right to fight for success over and over again.

Don’t complain. Fight for your success.

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Most of our life is formed of habits.
Good or bad. Great news is, we can learn new ones and un-learn ones we no longer want. It’s not easy, but it can be done.

I strongly believe that one of the biggest factors contributing to my productivity is my “working habit”.
My working habit is as follows:

a) to do list the day before
If I don’t write down my tasks / objectives for next day, I may as well stay in bed all day for I will do nothing without it.

b) workspace
I go to work to work, I am at home to rest and be with family. I can’t work (at my top productivity) anywhere apart from my desk. My mind is switching to work mode as soon as I get there and turning to rest/family mode as soon as I leave.
My workplace must be clean and in order. No loose papers, no loose cables. Nothing on table I don’t currently work on. Every morning I put jug of fresh water with lemon in it on a table. To ensure my daily fluids intake.

c) music
When I work alone I listen to heavy metal music. When people are around it’s lounge music playing. Turning music on is like starting pistol for my mind.
Fun begins and off to work we go.

d) walking around
Every 45-60 minutes I get up and take like 15 min break. During these 15 min I grab some snack, talk to somebody or just walk around the block. Then it’s time to come back and give it some more.

There is no “one size fits all” solution.
Think what works for you and what doesn’t. Create habit out of good things.

Couple days ago I was ordering gift certificate for a friend.
Easy online operation, certificate arrived into my mailbox.
But it was not what I expected.
There was my name on it (I specifically asked for my friends name to be there) and price, which I obviously didn’t want to be there.

So I sent them e-mail explaining situation asking for changes.
Accidentaly, two people replied at the same time.

First one saying “this is our certificate, that’s it, this is what you get”.

Second said “sorry for that, let me change it according to your needs”. And he did.
Two hours later I had great gift certificate ready.

They both work at the same company with same procedures, same systems.
The only thing that is different is their attitude.
Should only first one reply they would lose a customer.
Thanks to attitude of second one they kept one and made 750$ sale.

Get the most out of your people.
That’s what I believe is the ultimate job of every leader.

It is tough. Many people don’t want to grow. Many people don’t know what’s inside them. Some people need to point into right direction. Sometimes the right direction is to other company.
But you need to do what’s best for your people and your company.

Set your standards high. The higher you have it the more you can get out of your people. Maybe they will not understand, but do it anyway. It is your responsibility as a leader. When people leave your company they have to be much better compared to when you hired them.

Be tough, but fair. Always keep in mind that you are here to help them grow and get better.

You chose to lead, toughest job there is but rewards are immense. Enjoy it!

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We got to know cost of toilet paper because of crisis in 2009.
Owner of big hotel chain in Czech republic said in interview.
If you knew it before you would have no crisis.
Nobody interviewed me so I am writing it here on my blog.

Knowing your business down to every detail is the key.
It is not enough to rely on your accountant to tell you what’s going on.
He is just that – accountant. Putting numbers into appropriate place.
What you need is to see connections between numbers.
You need to know and see principles of company finance structure.

All your company numbers must be actively measured and managed.

For every project/company I did I had my own “accounting”.
Excel sheet that told me in real time everything about the health of my business.
Excel is entrepreneur’s best friend. Always tells you the truth (obviously if you don’t screw up formulas). You should do your own. What it should tell you at minimum is:

a) cost structure of your business
– what is the percentage of people cost, rent, operations etc on your revenues
– also shows you detailed picture on all your costs

b) revenue structure
– by day/week/month
– by customer/by segment

c) what is your profitability
– by month, by segment, by customer … you name it

d) how are you doing
– statistics on “year on year” growth by months / weeks / even days depending on your business

e) others
– at Chefparade we also look at:
revenue per session, revenue per person, number of sessions, average number of people per session, number of people, up-sale revenue per session

Know your business. Know your numbers. It will pay you back big time.

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Growth is essence of life.
Everything around us grows as much as it possibly can.
Plants, animals. Even river goes as far as possibly can.
Not always case for people.

At Chefparade we measure ourselves on monthly basis vs year ago.
On yearly basis vs year ago. All possible indicators that we are trying to improve.
Obviously you might ask:
Don’t you have enough? Why should you push ourselves all the time?
Why all innovations, new projects and investments? Why not take it easy for some time?

Answering this question is very easy.
We trying to do better because it can be done better.
Because WE CAN do better.
Nothing except our innermost desire for improvement is motivating us to be better. Day by day, month by month, week by week.

When they asked Robert Mallory why he wants to climb Mt. Everest. He said:
“because it’s there”.

Improve and grow your business and yourself just because it can be done better and YOU CAN do better!

RELATED POSTS: Regardless; When Do You Stop?

It is easier and cheaper to sell to customer who already bought from you.

Growth and improvement must not necessarily mean that you need to get something new. New partnership, skill, space, tools. Before you do, think about what you already have.

As our operations and e-shop grew we had all our storages full.
So we rented another storage.
It was like 200$ a month and helped us to store a lot of stuff.
After couple months it became clear that it is not more space we need.
It is better utilization of our current space. So I cancelled the extra storage and we decided to find space in our current place. And we did.
And then as we grew we found some more.
Now with twice as much business we still don’t need extra storage.

The other day, two of my people spent good one day preparing new recipes for our corporate cooking programs.
Good initiative. Thing is, recently we released Chefparade cooking book.
58 great recipes with superb pictures for every step.
Instantly ready for use. No extra work needed.

Same works for you as person.
Did you fully utilise potential in you that you already have?
Did you get most out of your strengths?

Use what you already have to the fullest.
It is easier, cheaper and readily available.

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