Author Topic: A question on my Professional Life.  (Read 4716 times)

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Re: A question on my Professional Life.
« Reply #15 on: November 27, 2016, 07:39:46 AM »

Offline clover

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Congrats. I was in something of a similar situation when I was 25. Having got through school a couple of years early, and I had much more experience than was usual for my age. Having progressively moved up the management ladder while concretely exceeding targets at every stage, I ended up managing dozens of professionals who were much older than me, including all our company's international offices, and had P&L responsibility.

I knew my stuff and everyone knew it, so the questions were around the appearance to clients and the outside (my manager actually asked me to consider dying some grey into my hair) and my management of ambitious managers reporting to me.

I am sure you know your stuff too, so I would say the additional challenge is making sure people like working for you while still focusing on high standards of performance for your team overall. The old saws about making them successful and the group/restaurant look good I imagine would apply.

Well done!

Re: A question on my Professional Life.
« Reply #16 on: November 27, 2016, 08:16:32 AM »

Offline chambers

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It will be a very big step.
You will probably adjust but you'll have to be EXTREMELY organized and look after your health, both physically and mentally.

I had two large 'time to become a man' moments in my life.
One was when I decided to become a professional poker player and was trying to 'live' off poker for 6 months without any external financial help. I was age 24 and it was that time where I had to take the plunge and see if I could actually do it as a full time job, otherwise I'd have to start a corporate job with some family connections- which was a great job, but not what I wanted to do.

The second moment was when I decided to purchase a business which was a cafe restaurant in a very high foot traffic area (basically the busiest in the state). I had been playing poker professionally for 3 years and doing well. I was good at cash games which is where I made my bread and butter (online, sometimes live in casino's if a large event was on that attracted recreational 'fish' as we call them). Even though I was a cash game specialist (texas hold em and Pot Limit Omaha), started trying tournaments and I ran very hot in tournaments which skyrocketed my bankroll and had won enough money to look for a business opportunity.

There was enormous risk involved at investing pretty much all my life savings and some borrowed money from my parents, into a business in which I'd never had experience. The location of this cafe/restaurant was just too good to pass up and it just made sense.
Anyway, 8 years later and the business is going well and I don't actually have to do too much work. I do get help from my family but we now have 34 staff, and we have an accountant and 2 store managers to do the roster and staff issues. I still do the ordering, manage the books with help by an accountant, and 'run' the business side of the operation but only spend 30 hours on a normal week as my 'work week'. The rest of the time I play online poker and basically do what I want.

Anyway, I think the reason I did these things was probably because I was young, energetic, and always knew if anything went wrong I could rebuild pretty quickly since I was only 24/25 years old.
Ask yourself, will I regret not taking this opportunity.
Opportunities are taken, not given.

If you think you'll enjoy it and not get too stressed out, and it won't affect your wellbeing, then roll the dice my man. You've got another 50 years of working life ahead of you and really, you have nothing to lose.
"We are lucky we have a very patient GM that isn't willing to settle for being good and coming close. He wants to win a championship and we have the potential to get there still with our roster and assets."

quoting 'Greg B' on RealGM after 2017 trade deadline.
Read that last line again. One more time.

Re: A question on my Professional Life.
« Reply #17 on: November 27, 2016, 08:31:50 AM »

Offline Surferdad

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BDeCosta, it sounds like you know what to do, but you are just lacking some self-confidence to take the plunge.  I have been in this situation multiple times in my career.  My advice is to go for it because this kind of opportunity seems like a stepping-stone to even better things.  They will underpay you but you get the experience that leads to a top-paying position. 

I sense you can do this, but don't get too down on your self if there are bumps along the way.  Pursue your passion!  It's the best approach to a career.

Re: A question on my Professional Life.
« Reply #18 on: November 27, 2016, 10:23:58 AM »

Offline tstorey_97

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I've spent my life in the restaurant business. Was a busboy at Pier 4 ages ago, ran some kitchens, was GM for a couple of chains and some independents. Owned a place in VT and later, one in Mass. Great industry and one that you have plenty of experience and training in. The folks here have given you some great observations. I'll try this, but is it isn't any different from what has already been said.

If you are fearful of a new challenge, it is a good thing. As once you have mastered it, the reward is considerable and will be yours only. I remember coming home with a new baby 30 years ago and the terror and the elation couldn't be put to words, but, it was a good thing. The struggle to overcome makes life worth living. Good luck!

Re: A question on my Professional Life.
« Reply #19 on: November 27, 2016, 11:02:44 AM »

Offline Ogaju

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I am taking the unusual step of responding to OP without having read any of the other responses, not one.

First of all congratulations on your success in your chosen field. Think about two words, a name actually "Theo Epstein'.

You have said yourself that you fell in love with cooking at the age of 13 and you poured yourself into it. That is unlike most others who probably did not decide what they were going to do until after high school, and then chose it for money and not love. You are reaping the reward of your devotion to a trade you love. Embrace the voice in your head, that is your moral compass, and that is what will keep you from complacency. Think about all the executive chefs you worked with. Take what you learned from all of them. Know who you are, and harness your strengths. I am sure you played a key part in all the kitchens you worked in over the years. You helped others succeed, let others help you succeed. Hire good people, treat them well, listen to yourself, your staff, and your clientele. I can go on and on, but most important do not rest on your laurels. Continue doing what go you there. I have dealt with many professionals that achieved success and then once successful delegated to folks that diminished their product. Delegate were necessary but not to the detriment of your product.

Good luck, and go for it, learn from it. Continue to grow!!!!

Re: A question on my Professional Life.
« Reply #20 on: November 27, 2016, 12:20:13 PM »

Offline LooseCannon

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Trying to change everything at once may be too much, so you should consider prioritizing the changes you want to make.  You did every facet of the job as a sous chef, so your first task might be to make sure you have someone dependable in that role who you can delegate jobs to.
"The worst thing that ever happened in sports was sports radio, and the internet is sports radio on steroids with lower IQs.” -- Brian Burke, former Toronto Maple Leafs senior adviser, at the 2013 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

Re: A question on my Professional Life.
« Reply #21 on: November 27, 2016, 12:39:31 PM »

Offline Ogaju

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people are creatures of habit.... if you are planning to change the menu don't make wholesale changes at once. You may lose your clientele. so unless you have a clientele coming with you try to ease the changes on the clientele, and get out and talk to the clientele about their menu favorites.

There is this restaurant I loved going to downtown LA. I would go numerous times a week because I loved the menu and believe it or not, the iced-tea (go figure). In comes a new chef, and he just threw out the old menu and introduced a totally new menu, and this has turned me off the place. The few times I have been there I just do not see the same patronage it enjoyed.

So do not change drastically what is working.

Re: A question on my Professional Life.
« Reply #22 on: November 27, 2016, 02:25:54 PM »

Offline BDeCosta26

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people are creatures of habit.... if you are planning to change the menu don't make wholesale changes at once. You may lose your clientele. so unless you have a clientele coming with you try to ease the changes on the clientele, and get out and talk to the clientele about their menu favorites.

There is this restaurant I loved going to downtown LA. I would go numerous times a week because I loved the menu and believe it or not, the iced-tea (go figure). In comes a new chef, and he just threw out the old menu and introduced a totally new menu, and this has turned me off the place. The few times I have been there I just do not see the same patronage it enjoyed.

So do not change drastically what is working.

Yeah, I mean this place is like a large college kind of bar near PC and they have a full menu right now, but it's really really basic and premade. They hired me with a mandate to change the menu, so it's near the top of my list, but I'm not just gonna slash and burn everything they were doing. Luckily they have detailed records of every item on the menu about how much they sell and how well liked an item is. Their menu is just way too big. They currently run a food cost around 41-43% (they should be in the low 30's), so I'm gonna have to improve a few things they currently sell, replace a few things with similar but better things and cut a few things. It's really important to have as many items crossover in different places in your menu to limit inventory, and they're not doing that, so some fairly sized changes are neccesary.

But still, they hired me to improve their menu so if the customer base doesn't like it, it's not totally on me. It's gonna be an adjustment. I was the sous chef in some higher end, very disciplined kitchens before this, where the only acceptable words during service are "Yes Chef" and "No Chef. This is a college bar with 15 or 20 guys that are just there to have a job, so I'll have to be a little less demanding but I have to expect them to improve their efforts and do what I ask. Most of the guys here are at least 5 years older than me and they haven't really had anyone telling them exactly what to do.

Still, I feel like I can just be confident in my skills, do what my mentors did when I worked for them, and do my best to get better every day. That's what I've always done. Much thanks for everyone who responded, the comments are very thoughtful, articulate and very helpful. I knew this would be a good question for CB.

Re: A question on my Professional Life.
« Reply #23 on: November 27, 2016, 02:45:03 PM »

Offline TrueFan

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It will be a very big step.
You will probably adjust but you'll have to be EXTREMELY organized and look after your health, both physically and mentally.

I had two large 'time to become a man' moments in my life.
One was when I decided to become a professional poker player and was trying to 'live' off poker for 6 months without any external financial help. I was age 24 and it was that time where I had to take the plunge and see if I could actually do it as a full time job, otherwise I'd have to start a corporate job with some family connections- which was a great job, but not what I wanted to do.

The second moment was when I decided to purchase a business which was a cafe restaurant in a very high foot traffic area (basically the busiest in the state). I had been playing poker professionally for 3 years and doing well. I was good at cash games which is where I made my bread and butter (online, sometimes live in casino's if a large event was on that attracted recreational 'fish' as we call them). Even though I was a cash game specialist (texas hold em and Pot Limit Omaha), started trying tournaments and I ran very hot in tournaments which skyrocketed my bankroll and had won enough money to look for a business opportunity.

There was enormous risk involved at investing pretty much all my life savings and some borrowed money from my parents, into a business in which I'd never had experience. The location of this cafe/restaurant was just too good to pass up and it just made sense.
Anyway, 8 years later and the business is going well and I don't actually have to do too much work. I do get help from my family but we now have 34 staff, and we have an accountant and 2 store managers to do the roster and staff issues. I still do the ordering, manage the books with help by an accountant, and 'run' the business side of the operation but only spend 30 hours on a normal week as my 'work week'. The rest of the time I play online poker and basically do what I want.

Anyway, I think the reason I did these things was probably because I was young, energetic, and always knew if anything went wrong I could rebuild pretty quickly since I was only 24/25 years old.
Ask yourself, will I regret not taking this opportunity.
Opportunities are taken, not given.

If you think you'll enjoy it and not get too stressed out, and it won't affect your wellbeing, then roll the dice my man. You've got another 50 years of working life ahead of you and really, you have nothing to lose.
Congrats on your success with poker. Are you still a winning player?

My main game is 2-5 no limit. I started playing about 14 years ago. I quickly got into about 30-40K in debt and had to stop and get a second job. Paid it all off. The biggest hole in my game was calling thin 3 bets pre flop and calling thin on the river too often. Over the next 5-7 years I was a break even player. It wasn't until the last 3-4 years that I've had any success. Made 45k last year. About 30k the year before and about 10k this year but I haven't played too much this year. The biggest difference in my game is playing more in position and 3 betting a lot in position preflop.

I don't get to play too often. I'm married and have a full time job. I probably only play about 5 times a month. Last year I went through a serious heater so I logged more sessions then normal. At one point last year over a 14 sessions my win rate per hour was over $100 on a 2-5 table and I log 14-15 hour sessions. I got a bit scared that I would fall drastically off that since 50 an hour is unrealistic and I was running at 100. It pretty much is the reason I haven't played much this year. I lost the stomach to handle the pressures.

I just recently started to get that mojo back where I know I'm in the right frame of mind to play aggressive poker again. Seeing how you do this or did this as a job, do you have any inside tips for a fellow Celtic fan? I'm pretty much a loaner when it comes to poker so I don't get to discuss poker much. My friends just aren't interested. I would really appreciate if you could PM me any tips you might have developed. As a poker loaner it's been a hard road to travel without anyone to bounce ideas off.

Sorry to the OP for side tracking the discussion.

A tip from someone who has sat at a 75k job but had 100k offers but was too scared to do something different. I regret it. Go for it. Regret sucks.

Re: A question on my Professional Life.
« Reply #24 on: November 27, 2016, 02:48:35 PM »

Offline Redz

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This may sound trite, but if you can find out a lot about the boss (GM or owner) it could help. If they are nazi-like it just might be a crappy job full stop. If they genuinely seem cool, then dive in and own it. (And ask owner to trade for boogie, kthx)

This. If your boss is knowingly adding you to his kitchen knowing you have the skills and enough experience, but haven't yet fully experienced what it's like to be an Executive Chef than to some extent they should know that there will be some sort of growing pains as you grow into the leader and the chef that you and them envisioned would take the position. Either way I say you should take it because it seems like your work ethic alone will help guide you on a path to success. Have confidence in the skills you've attained in your hard work and chase your dreams bud!! Best of luck

Yup. Knowing the level of support you'll receive and having a clear set of expectations is crucial.

Good luck!
Yup

Re: A question on my Professional Life.
« Reply #25 on: November 27, 2016, 03:52:13 PM »

Offline Ogaju

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people are creatures of habit.... if you are planning to change the menu don't make wholesale changes at once. You may lose your clientele. so unless you have a clientele coming with you try to ease the changes on the clientele, and get out and talk to the clientele about their menu favorites.

There is this restaurant I loved going to downtown LA. I would go numerous times a week because I loved the menu and believe it or not, the iced-tea (go figure). In comes a new chef, and he just threw out the old menu and introduced a totally new menu, and this has turned me off the place. The few times I have been there I just do not see the same patronage it enjoyed.

So do not change drastically what is working.

Yeah, I mean this place is like a large college kind of bar near PC and they have a full menu right now, but it's really really basic and premade. They hired me with a mandate to change the menu, so it's near the top of my list, but I'm not just gonna slash and burn everything they were doing. Luckily they have detailed records of every item on the menu about how much they sell and how well liked an item is. Their menu is just way too big. They currently run a food cost around 41-43% (they should be in the low 30's), so I'm gonna have to improve a few things they currently sell, replace a few things with similar but better things and cut a few things. It's really important to have as many items crossover in different places in your menu to limit inventory, and they're not doing that, so some fairly sized changes are neccesary.

But still, they hired me to improve their menu so if the customer base doesn't like it, it's not totally on me. It's gonna be an adjustment. I was the sous chef in some higher end, very disciplined kitchens before this, where the only acceptable words during service are "Yes Chef" and "No Chef. This is a college bar with 15 or 20 guys that are just there to have a job, so I'll have to be a little less demanding but I have to expect them to improve their efforts and do what I ask. Most of the guys here are at least 5 years older than me and they haven't really had anyone telling them exactly what to do.

Still, I feel like I can just be confident in my skills, do what my mentors did when I worked for them, and do my best to get better every day. That's what I've always done. Much thanks for everyone who responded, the comments are very thoughtful, articulate and very helpful. I knew this would be a good question for CB.

Nice information. I work in an area that is going through revitalization. A well run market with various eateries was changed to become more upscale (when I say upscale I mean more trendy for millenials). A favorite restaurant (not the one I referred to earlier) was changed from standard deli food to really weird stuff that most of my demographic would not understand, but yours will. So it sounds like your employer chose you for your experience and your youth to shake things up and introduce more cutting edge cuisine that will appeal to a more youthful and global client base. If that is the case, you should get management involved to get a clear direction of what the goal is, so there is no misunderstanding. Look at it as being CEO and answering to a Board of Directors.

The area I am talking about has gone through a youthful transformation such that the restaurants have had to cater to their demands for exotic cuisine like beef tongue, ginger tea, quiona, and other things that I cant even remember. Some actually taste pretty good. One spot had this spicy curry plate with quiona (s/p) and all kinds of veggies. It was super good. So, is this what the owners want?