The man who sold hot dogs...

I was reading a practice management book and this story was part of it...Let's see if you can catch onto the moral of the story....


There was a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing, so he had no radio. He had trouble seeing so he had no newspapers. But he sold good hot dogs. He put up signs on the side of the highway telling how good they were. He stood by the side of the road and cried "Buy a hot dog, mister" and people bought...and bought often. He increased his meat and rolls orders. He bought a bigger stove to take care of his trade. He finally got his son to come home from college to help him out. But then something happened. His son said: "Father, haven't you been listening to the radio? There's a big depression coming on! The European situation is terrible. The dommestic situation is even worse!" That made the father think: "Well, my son has been to college, he reads the papers and he listens to the radio and he ought to know." So the father cut down on meat and roll orders, took down his advertsing signs and no longer bothered to stand on the side of the highway to sell his hot dogs. Sales fell fast almost overnight. "You're right son," the father said to the boy. "We certainly are in the middle of a great depression. There just isn't any business. No one even comes by anymore!"

Don't know who wrote it or when it is from (no one was credited with writing it), but it makes a lot of sense...

If you didn't catch the moral....check where your attitude and outlook is on life...

__________________
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" Wayne Gretzky
"Every strike brings me closer to the next home run" Babe Ruth

Thanks for the post. I was starting to feel down again. I was on a positive high a few weeks ago and brainstorming left and right on all kinds of things. I started sharing some of my ideas with colleagues but kept getting shot down. I started feeling unmotivated and doubting myself and well, things started to slide downhill again.

Today I decided to change my current attitude back to a positive one. And I am going to be more careful about who I share things with because I don't need dream killers.

I wish that everyone in America would read that a couple of times over the weekend.

__________________
Chuck
http://www.projectonemillion.net

even in the depths of a large recession, consumers and businesses spend money on all sorts of things. Billions upon billions of dollars.

Recessions just seem to weed out the weak companies not prepared for small downturns.

If you serve your customers, plan for a rainy day, and keep working hard, sales might slow a little bit, but as the recession ends, you'll be operating and ready to take in all sorts of new business.

I never ever listen to the macro economic predictions as a way to plan my business strategy. There are many economic indicators to consider wisely, but being in a 'recession' and cutting back is a very reactionary defensive tactic.

Build up the customer base now, earn customers businesses who are being turned away by your struggling competitors.

Always turn problems into opportunities.