I Became A Frozen Yogurt Expert

Summary

• Always look for opportunities to learn from others' experiences. When I wanted to understand small businesses, I called up a local store and asked to survey them. To my surprise, the manager was willing to share all their financials, which taught me a lot about their operations.

• Don't be afraid to reach out with curiosity and ask for information. Posing as a student doing a survey opened the door for me to receive valuable insights without any prior connection.

• Make sure to understand the financial health and seasonal trends of a business before getting involved. By reviewing their financials, I was able to see how seasonality affected their profitability.

• Leverage any opportunity to gather practical insights from existing businesses. The more you know about real-world operations and challenges, the better prepared you will be in your own ventures.

• Collaborate with others who have experience. Building relationships with managers or business owners can give access to their expertise and detail knowledge of the industry.

Video

How To Take Action

I would suggest implementing these strategies to gain valuable insights without much cost or effort:

• Learn from Others: Don't hesitate to reach out to local businesses or managers. You can pose as a student or someone interested in learning about their operations. This could open the door to gaining insider knowledge and financial insights, which can be incredibly educational.

• Be Curious: Approach businesses with genuine curiosity. Asking questions and showing interest can lead to opportunities where you can learn about their financial health, seasonal impacts, and operational challenges.

• Analyze Financial Health: If you get access to a business's financials, focus on understanding their cash flow and how seasonality affects their profitability. This information can help you make informed decisions if you plan to enter a similar market.

• Practical Insights: Look for opportunities to understand the real-world operations of businesses. Know how they deal with common challenges and what strategies they use to stay profitable during tough seasons.

• Build Relationships: Engage with business owners or managers and nurture these relationships over time. Their experience and knowledge can be a treasure trove when you're considering launching or growing your own venture.

These steps can help you gain a deep understanding of what it takes to run a successful business, all without spending too much time or money. The key is to be proactive and curious, and let those traits guide your learning process.

Full Transcript

crushed it it was a chain that was in Nashville and so I called out the store and I said hey I'm a student of Economics at vanderville and I'm doing economic survey of small businesses in the area to see how seasonality affects their business cuz I was like if I'm going to get into it I was said suck dur in the winter do you lose money every month and I got on the phone luckily with the manager and they're like I can I can just send you all our financials is that easier and I was like what that would be wonderful they're like I actually you know I'm the manager of the four locations want me to send you all of them I was like you know that would be lovely and so they send me all their finals and all their books for four or five locations and I just got to I just knew everything about what they did