The best and worst advice I have ever received is, "The devil is in the details". The chef I worked for back when I started this blog hammered that idea into my head. When used appropriately? Works splendidly. However, I have been finding myself getting fixated on things that honestly need to wait, or that are less than important in the grand scheme of things.
When I started my business plan, I made a timeline for what I needed to accomplish in order to work on the next item on my agenda. I would dedicate one day a week to completeing a chunk, and be finished by early January. Week 1 went off without a hitch, even got ahead of the game for week 2. Then week 2 came. The chunk I intended to complete was writing a menu and then costing out the recipes. Menus were written, but I had no idea how to start costing without accurate wholesale pricelists. My brain was telling me, "No, you HAVE to finish this! You can't DO anything else until you get this DONE." So I fixated. And I wasted valuable time. I let myself get 2 1/2 weeks behind before I even looked at my plan materials again and came across my checklist. Right then, looking at is with fresh eyes, I realized- I can (and have) asked some of my restaurant management friends for price lists. And while I wait for them to deliver? I can do other things.
Especially since the rest of the list is freaking easy in comparison. All of the financials are easily the most important part, but it's all a matter of collecting data and filling in appropriate tables. The rest is as simple as writing an operations manual, training timelines, quick analysis blurbs- all of which I have been doing in my off time at home. There was never any reason for me to save it all for one day a week. I should never have let the menu become as much of a hassle as it did. Thankfully, I am back on track. Possibly even ahead of schedule! Very excited for January, when I start doing the fun stuff for it!
