Be ahead of the curve

As we move past the economic collapse that happened during the pandemic, and the eventual recession that will come with poor choices made during the lockdowns I want to talk about being ahead of the curve. This is something many of us lack, and then when the bubble pops we are left wondering how did I get into this hole. There’s a great poem dedicated to this philosophy called “There’s a hole in my sidewalk.”

To begin, my life is the inspiration for this blog. During my years in the pizza world I was usually ahead of the curve. A couple small examples, if you see a Domino’s commercial on T.V. today, you’ll sometimes see a guy bring the pizza to the car, because the pandemic forced them to do this. In 2003 at my first Domino’s I operated in Charlotte, we did this because it was the right thing to do when someone pulled up, and we wanted to stand out as a unique experience that didn’t take the customer for granted. I had a handful of kids that worked for me who made it a challenge, to beat the customer to their car before they could get out of it. Since we didn’t have a drive thru, we wanted to accommodate them as best as we could.

A similar moment came 5 years later, when I felt the franchise I was working for was a sinking ship and it was time to jump off. I felt like after 5 years of fixing stores we made no progress and the over all culture hadn’t changed, nor were those above me willing to do so or promote me. It was becoming an abusive relationship where the abuser keeps promising change, using me, and in the end oppressing me from being who I was designed to be. Three months after I left, there was a Youtube situation that caused sales to drop 50% throughout the Carolinas and much of the south. Even though it wasn’t our franchise, due to many of the poorly operating stores, it was easy to assume they all behaved this way. Two years later the C.E.O. of Domino’s made a commercial acknowledging this weakness and promised change. I had been doing this for 5+ years previously. After being overlooked for promotions the writing was on the wall, I needed to find my own path.

For the next two years I roamed questioning life, and in October 2010 the light went on, and I began to discover life by taking a year off from normal work, resetting and retraining my life. Along these travels I began to learn many cultures, and I began to see others love for these cultural experiences. I just couldn’t figure out a way to monetize it at the time, in addition I struggled to water something down in corporate/franchise capitalism. I thought maybe I could be a local tour guide, or host over seas pilgrimages.

In April of 2016 I began to do Uber and Lyft, in some respects I was becoming this traveler and at times tour guide making cultural recommendations in the areas I drove. Once again however, I could see the bubble would one day pop. In the case of these 2 companies, they had made dramatic pay cuts and over reaching rules in 5 years of existence, similar to that of the pizza industry which I saw happen over 30 years due to my 20 in the industry and previous history I had learned. I knew the good times would be short, so I began to design my business.

I should note in 2009 I moved to Florida shortly after the economy tanked. Due to the large overhead, debt and poor economic conditions there was no money to be made as a sweat equity partner in the business. The only one who would win was my owner. I decided to walk away since he had a reputation of being a shrewd and greedy business man. I felt I would waste 4 years of my life to have him cheat me in our deal. Ironically he eventually did what I anticipated to a friend. Everything worked out for this friend in his faith, but it was another moment of being ahead of the curve. The same would happen with Uber and Lyft. In October 2019 I moved to Virginia and stopped after 3 years with these companies due to poor business practices. Several months later, the pandemic would crush their business and the drivers were left without a way to make their living.

This all brings me to the moment of finally getting it right. After all these hard lessons, I started a business that was low in overhead, so if there was ever another economic collapse I could manage my debt with a low paying job. In addition I designed it to be mobile so I can go to the business wherever opportunity may be, instead of being stationary and the possibility of a bad location. Ironically when the pandemic hit, and businesses were being shut down, I was just beginning my business May 1. I was still at the mercy of the farmers markets ran by the county, who delayed the openings, but I was ready to start a back up plan if those were shut down. Nearly one year later, without being able to predict everything that would happen in 2020, I have a growing business, because it was built to be ahead of the curve in many respects.

It’s a unique concept, no one else does or can compete with, it’s somewhat recession proof since I have zero over head other than inventory at the moment, in addition I rely on providing a great experience instead of the government or a corporation to provide my sales and income. As long as I do my part, the customers will come and I will live the American Dream everyday making a living doing what I enjoy doing, serving people in my little sober bar and atmosphere I have created. A dream I had for years, but due to poor life choices took the long way getting to. It was only when I made better life choices in harmony with good business choices I found the right balance. Anyone can do it in America, it’s why people come from around the world of any background. The question is, will you listen to the noise that the cards are stacked against you? Or will you know you live in the greatest country in the history of civilization, and even in our darkest times, those who were willing to be ahead of the curve, found success.

History doesn’t lie, when there was slavery, there were successful blacks who built schools and businesses. When women were oppressed, they found success. When immigrants were not appreciated, they found opportunity and started cultural trends. All these people were ahead of the times and ahead of the curve. Main thing, be respectful, when you buck the trends, and humbly trust God to deliver you.

A group of seminarians in Philadelphia that joined us for the Vietnamese festival. It was this visit and another shortly that led to my invitation to go to Vietnam with my friend.