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The Hot Dog Man 1

The Beginning

There was once a young man who, finding it difficult to get a good job, because he was not well educated, decided that he would open his own business. He might not have been well educated but he was very intelligent and he had noticed, in his search for work, that there seemed to be a great demand for quick meals. He also noticed that people liked to have a place to meet and chat so he decided to put up a hotdog stand.

Now the first thing that he did was to make up his mind to supply the very best hotdogs that he could. He had been to a few places and been very disappointed at the quality of their offering and had not gone back.

He wanted people to remember his food fondly and to recommend it to their friends, and besides he was very proud of his work.

Not having a lot of money he started with a small stand that he could wheel to his corner every day. He would go to the bakery early every morning to get fresh rolls, no stale rolls on his stand. He selected his supply of sausages very carefully and tested them for texture and flavour. He also supplied the best sauces that he could get. He had tasted the sauces that some other vendors provided and had realised that the quickest way to spoil a good hot dog was with a cheap sauce. He wasn't going to risk that.

Business was slow to start because he was new, and people are often wary of new things. But he was friendly and greeted every one that passed by and extolled the virtues of his hot dogs. "Best hot dogs in town" he would say. And slowly his business began to pick up. People bought his hot dogs and exclaimed at how good they were and came back for more.

Soon he had regular clients and they brought their friends. His little corner stand became too small to handle all the business, but he had been very careful with his money and had saved as much as he could. No fancy lifestyle for him. He had noticed that when people complained about the "High cost of living" the problem was more often the "Cost of their High living"

With his savings he was able to purchase a stand in a park close to his corner. He told all his customers well in advance that he was making this change so that he could serve them even better, and while there might be a break in service, for a day or two, the result would be well worth the wait. He actually got some of his customers so excited about the move that they offered to help.

The move was successful and his business kept growing. He remained true to his original commitment to supply the best hot dogs he could and his customers rewarded him by being his greatest supporters. His little cart had grown into a full sized restaurant and he had to advertise for people to help him in the business as he could no longer cope.

The first thing that he taught all new employees was the importance of the business reputation and his commitment to supply the best hot dogs that he could. He sold them on his VISION and emphasised the importance of reputation. He made sure that they understood their responsibility to protect the reputation as it was the most valuable asset that the business had, and it was the most fragile.

He always told them that "We are judged by our customers on our performance of today so treat every customer so well that we score high marks every day". His favourite saying was "Yesterdays win counts for nothing in today's race, except that it draws the crowds. But the crowd wants to know if you can do it again! Our job is to meet their expectations and let them go home satisfied".

End of episode 1

This is a fairly long story and will be delivered as a series so watch your inbox for the next exciting episode. Please don't just read it. Think about it. What can you learn from it? How can you apply what you have learned?

To live your best life be true to the YOU, that you want to be.

Live with passion. Change your life from making a living to making a difference.

Live up to the reputation that you want to have.