I’ve been thinking a lot about inspiration lately. Poets and songwriters often say the words they pen sometimes come to them from out of nowhere. They hint that the thoughts they articulate and put to paper are a gift from another realm. Other times they cite a muse — a person, place or event that moved them to write about an emotion or experience.

Jeremy White
Editor-in-Chief
Pizza Today
[email protected]

They humbly discredit their skill and dedication to their craft when they talk about this, but we all know nonetheless that they are masters at what they do regardless of what inspires their art.

What inspires me? Showing my sons that anything less than your best effort will result in life kicking your ass is probably a good place to start. But deep down there has to be something more. There has to be a pride and self-respect that says “I am going to be the absolute best at what I do. Period. No one will outwork me and no one will get in the way of what I intend to accomplish.”

It’s an athlete’s mindset. And in business, you better have it.

If a fighter doubts his training, doubts his conditioning, doubts his skill or doesn’t properly respect his opponent … what happens when he steps in the ring?

If a pitcher doubts his ability to hit his spot, what does the batter do with the ball?

World-class athletes, regardless of their sport, have one thing in common: a burning desire to win. And that desire is so strong that it overrides every sense of doubt or fear they have and spurs them to train relentlessly so that when their moment comes they do not fail.

What if you adopted that mindset? What if you decided you were going to grow sales by 20 percent over the next 12 months by implementing an all-out marketing assault coupled with elite-level service and product?

Could you do it? What would it take? From a marketing standpoint, what resources would you need to allocate? What sort of assistance would you need?

What training could you provide your staff to elevate the customer experience? What changes to your menu — either product-wise or pricing structure — would yield you better results?

Chances are you’re not perfect. Chances are you’re not doing every little thing flawlessly. If you can agree to that statement, what weaknesses can you attack immediately?

Develop a plan. Then execute it. Maybe you don’t grow sales by 20 percent in the next 12 months. Maybe you hit a few roadblocks and increase them by, say, 11 percent. Would that be a decent consolation?

If you don’t have the eye of the tiger, if you’re not “leaving it all on the field” … then what are you even doing here running a pizzeria in the most highly competitive food market ever?

Get to work and go earn the results!

Best,

Jeremy White

Editor In Chief