 Are you a new food business owner? If you are, well, you're probably making these new rookie mistakes. That's probably killing your business. I know this because I see this every day with my students and consultation clients. And this is not at any fault of their own because they just lack the right information in order for them to make good decisions. And that's the reason why in this video, I'm going to be sharing with you the three rookie mistakes that you should learn if you're a new food business owner. So then that way you can avoid it. So then that way you can build something you love, something amazing, something you are proud of. That's what you want to do. Make sure you guys keep watching. Hello friends. My name is Wilson and I help new food entrepreneurs build a thriving small business and a profitable food business. So then that way they can enjoy doing what they do. They can avoid making some amateur mistakes that can be very, very costly. I do this to the free YouTube videos that you see on this channel. And on top of that, my paid mentorship programs for those that want more of a step-by-step guidance and more support. So if you guys like videos like these, make sure you guys smash that like button because it shows me and the team that this is the type of content you enjoy. So then that way I can make more of this for you. So go ahead and smash that like button. If you're looking at starting a food business, but you just don't know where to start or you want to take that plunge, but you don't have the experience to start a food business, you could very well end up making a very costly mistake or focusing on items, things that you're doing. That's going to be very costly to your time, your resources and money. And that's the reason why I created this free master class where it's a step-by-step process teaching you, showing you how you can leverage Instagram to build your online food business, to build your cloud kitchen, your food truck. This, my friends, are lessons and learnings, mistakes that I wish I knew when I first started. So if you're interested, go into the link below and sign up for my free master class. The first rookie mistake is not doing your preparation, not doing your preparation and not being prepared leads to a lot of things that is very detrimental to you and your business. We're talking about high stress, anxiety. We're talking about burnout. We're talking about mistakes. We're talking about things that will actually kill you and your business. Imagine just for a second, you jumping into the business, spending in thousands of dollars and time building this business without doing the proper research. How confident are you going to be with your marketing, with your menu, with your pricing? Imagine your friends or your investors or your partners come and ask you, hey, how's your business doing? How confident are you going to be able to share with them? And not only that, guys, the lack of proper planning also leads to a lot of bad decisions, hecticness. So if you want to avoid the crazy rollercoaster ride of running a poorly managed business and to avoid you having more gray hair pulling your hair out, being all stressed out all the time. So you might as well take the effort and time into doing proper planning. Trust me, friends, this is going to save you so much more headache down the road. And plus, if you're going to do it first, might as well do it in the beginning. So what do I mean by proper planning? Doing the basic work like writing a business plan. If you have seen my previous video, we talk about how do you build the core competency of a business? And that requires a lot of critical thinking and strategic thought as well. The critical research and the planning part allows you to get more insight on your customer profile. Who it is that you're trying to serve? Where are you going to have your location? How many walk by traffic is there? What is the menu you're going to have? What are the pricing that you want to make sure you have in order for you to be profitable? What is your SWOT analysis? What are some of the strengths that you have over your competitors? What are some of the threats that could potentially put you out of business? What is your vision? Do you have clarity on where you want to go and where you want to bring your food business? So then that way, you can always come back to this. So then that way, you can rally your team, your customers to go on this journey with you. Second part of planning means planning your operations and your finances. People often joke that when you leave your nine to five, you're going into a 24 seven glorified job. There are some truth to this if you do not have proper planning. But if you have proper planning, initially it could be a lot of hours because you're building this machine that's going to automatically run for you. But after a while, after this machine is built, then this is the time you can step away and still have your business run for you. So that's the reason why you must have a head start in order for you to build the process, the systems. So other people can step in your shoe to help you run your business for you. And if you fail to plan for your finances, that's a big no-no. You're going to end up spending 70 plus hours baking your cookies, selling out, and then realize that there is not enough money in your bank at the end of the month because you fail to bake in your profits, because you fail to do your math, because you fail to plan for making money. That's the reason why. And that's how a lot of rookies fail and lose money right from the get-go. The second mistake is not educating yourself. In today's world, there's no reason for you not to educate yourself. There's YouTube, there's Google. A lot of people might try winging it, but that is not the smartest way to move forward because that could lead to some very costly mistakes, especially in the food and beverage world. If anything goes wrong, it's going to be a disaster for you because you need to be a master in a lot of different things. For example, you need to know how to cook, you need to know your numbers, accounting, finances, marketing, logistics, equipment, and facing your customers. And each one of these mistakes can be very costly. For example, wrong equipment, that's tens of thousands of dollars, wrong menu, that can lead to thousands of dollars in missed profits, wrong location. This is a deadly mistake. Tens of thousands of dollars. So that means even before your food business is open, you could already be in racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars from your short-term decisions and your lack of foresight into the long-term. So why would you want to wing how to open up a business when there are mentors out there like me who create the free resources for you and even the paid resources for people to follow if they want a more step-by-step guidance? And truth is guys, when I first started my ice cream shop, I wish I had someone like myself. I wish there was the luxury of someone online willing to share their experiences, the mistakes that they made, because I made some very costly mistakes. Most notably, a $30,000 mistake that I could easily avoid if only there was someone a little bit more experienced that I could learn from. $30,000 mistake guys. And I don't want that to happen to you because you're taking a massive risk and investment in building something that you love. And that's the reason why I'm creating these weekly videos to share with you the mistakes that I've made, the lessons that I've learned, the tips to make you a more successful business owner. And for those of you who are actually serious in starting and operating your very own food business, then I have this free masterclass and this paid mentorship program where I share with you the lessons that I've learned, the templates, the resources, the step-by-step guide, and the support that you need in order for you to build a profitable food business. Truth is guys, if I could go back in time, spend a few thousand dollars so that way I know exactly what to avoid to save me from making the $30,000 silly mistake. Have someone on my side in my corner to share with me and walk me through this lonely journey. I would 100% take that. So if you're serious about your food business, then I invite you to join me in the free masterclass in the link below where we cover how we can build your own food business so that way we can be in the journey together. The third rookie mistake is taking the wrong advice. Now I know you guys are not going to be the first crowd that does not listen to feedback, does not care for feedback because clearly you care about your growth and your learn because you're watching this video. So we're going to put that aside. You are the learners. Now with feedback and advice, we oftentimes ask our friends to ask our family, ask our customers, look at reviews, and we end up having a flood of different feedback, opinion, because everyone has an opinion on something. They're going to say this is too sweet, this is too sour, texture is no good, so on and so forth. And we end up reiterating our product so much that we end up losing our voice, end up not serving a single person. In this space, we need to identify who it is that are our audience. We need to identify that and we need to create everything to cater towards this specific demographic. As a creative, as someone that wants to bring something special to the world, if you do not find your voice, if you do not identify what makes you special, what is your secret, what is your specialty, what types of food you really focus on. You're going to end up losing your voice, you're going to end up not having the confidence for you to continue to cook because you don't seem to please everyone. It's hard to please everyone and that's not your job to please everyone. And you're not going to be able to create a thriving business because when you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. I'll give you a quick example. One cake shop that I really, really enjoy locally in Vancouver is called Remy. And the reason why I enjoy their cakes is because their cakes are not that sweet, yet it's aesthetically pleasing, texture is beautiful, not too filling, light and fluffy. And the reason why I like it is because it's just, it just fits my profile. And so does a lot of my other friends because we're Asian, this is what we enjoy, it seems like. And whereas Caucasian friends, when they try on this cake, they're like, Hey, Wilson, did they add enough sugar? Doesn't seem like it's enough taste to this cake. Clearly, there's a different taste profile because of our demographic. And Remy does a great job because he is catering to one type of demographic and one very specific clientele. And that's the reason why guys, make sure you guys know exactly who it is that you're serving. Being able to cater the experience specifically for them, not only will your business boom, your self-esteem would boom, you would become a better provider for your restaurant and your family as well. So make sure you guys take the right advice. And if this is something that you struggle with is to identify who it is that you're serving, being able to understand their fears, being able to understand what it is that they like, their cycle graphics, being able to cater the experience to your demographic. Then I welcome you guys to join my free masterclass in the link below. This is a masterclass where I share with you a step-by-step process to leverage your Instagram account. So then that way you can create a brand, a brand that allows you to bring your food concept to life, being able to create something that you enjoy, something that you're proud of, something that you can call your own. Definitely guys, click in the link below and I'll see you guys in the masterclass. So there you go, friends. I really hope you enjoyed this video. I share with you the three rookie mistakes, things that I wish I had learned right from the get go. These things that really hinder people from achieving any type of success. And if you can unblock yourself from these three mistakes, friends, you're going to be able to have much more success in your career. Once again, I hope you enjoyed this video guys. If you guys do, what do you do? The only thing that I request is for you to smash that like button. Otherwise, I'll see you guys in the next video.