I was talking to a restaurant owner the other day about the brutal journey that is, small business ownership.  We were talking about our biggest mistakers, regrets and victories.  

As we talked I couldn’t help but think about my journey from a one man show in 2008 to a company serving 20 local businesses to a company with 60+team members serving 3,000 restaurants in 2024.  It got me thinking about the highs and the lows, but as much as I’d like to think the highs were at the top of the list, it was the LOWS!

You can’t help but think WHAT IF with those lows, those mistakes, did not happen.  And it’s hard not to have throw yourself a pity party and doubt where you are going.  

But then you think deeper into those mistakes, like for me a few that I had in 2023 that ending costing my company around $1,000,0000…YES 1 MILLION DOLLARS!  And as I thought about what happened and where we are, I saw that those issues were 100% unavoidable.  There wasn’t any way I’d be where I am today without them.  So those mistakes had to happen to find the promised land.  

And then the thought crossed my mind, so I lost $1,000,000 but I found the way forward to $10,000,00.  And when you frame it that way, its easy to see the massive value the mistake actually was.  

For years I’ve heard the term “your mistakes fund your victories” and to be 100% honest, I never understood it completely.  But now I do.

It takes me back to high school track when I was learning the hurdles.  I had to fall down and get hurt to really appreciate the purpose of perfect form, and it wasn’t until I busted my ass a few times that I fixed what my coach had been pointing out to me.