Recently the DigiGround team had the pleasure of a team outing, to the movies!
Going alone is fun. Going with two people even better. But going with 10 of your favourite work colleagues, well that’s just a party! We called it a ‘work related’ excursion because we were going to see The Founder and well, among the many things we do, we work in the area of business growth (some might call it marketing).
If you haven’t seen it or heard of it yet The Founder, we also like to call The McDonald’s Story (even though Ronald McDonald doesn’t make an appearance), makes a bold move.
Warning, The Founder Spoiler Alert
From this point forward the story will be revealed in it’s entirety. However, if you have seen a golden arches in your travels or daily commute you shouldn’t be that surprised by the plot. Ultimately it’s success story.
The Founder takes place in the 1950’s and is about Ray Kroc (played by the super talented Michael Keaton), a salesman from Illinois, who meets 2 guys, Mac and Dick McDonald, who are running a burger joint in San Bernardino California. Kroc is given the grand tour where he is introduced to The McDonald’s brother’s clever super-fast efficient system of making the food and sees a major opportunity.
To begin with, he positions himself to create a franchise operation with the support of the brothers. As time goes on Kroc decides the money he is making is not enough, and not in the food. He ultimately discovers the real money is in real-estate. Kroc, with this awareness (and a little back stabbing, depending on how you view it) creates the now billion-dollar empire we know today as McDonald’s.
As with all movies, there are winners and losers. The McDonald’s brothers come out the clear losers in this tale. One could argue they amassed wealth they would never have had, if it wasn’t for Kroc. But on the flipside we could also argue that they could have received a LOT more, if they had been included in on the deals that were occurring behind their back.
One of the reasons the McDonald’s brothers missed out was they were extremely set in their way. They refused to adjust their self-created process and above all, were unwilling to take risks.
When we left the cinema that evening we had quite a discussion. We were left with mixed emotions and conflicting views. We all agreed it was a great film, (Keaton was a standout) but we were in conflict with the method of Croc’s success. Did he act in a conscionable way? Is it possible to have success without bringing others down? Were his actions wrong? All debatable.
To some in the team, they saw the pure genius and vision of Kroc and admired his ability to succeed no matter the obstacle. As a group we all admired his marketing foresight and his determination. Especially after what seemed like a life of failed attempts.
I questioned the moral aspect of his methods and recalled the Shakespearean line “Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so”. Our experiences and our perspectives were relative to each of us. Each offered their opinion based on their subjective view. And after all, who really determines anything but our own selves?
There’s no denying the popular fast-food restaurant we eat at today (even if we don’t like to admit it) and their familiar golden arches are synonymous with success on a global scale and symbolise all fast-food systems and budget eateries we have become so familiar with. For example:
The multi-billion-dollar corporation reported gross profit earnings of $25.41 billion in 2015. It has a brand value exceeding 81 billion. It operates over 36,525 restaurants in over 119 countries worldwide, and serves approximately 68 million customers per day. Hard to ignore these statistics. Hard to ignore the ability of one man and his vision.
For this reason, we felt we were able to use this story as a sort of case study for business marketing success and took away some key messages from the movie.
If you’re in business currently or just looking to get started, these following 7 points are crucial to achieving great success.
The Founder Key Takeaways (to use a pun):
1. You do not have to have a completely original idea, you can improve on an existing one.
Not only is ‘original’ a highly unattainable, highly unlikely scenario (because let’s face it there’s no such thing as original anyway), you could be waiting a long time to create something entirely new. Meanwhile, a million other companies are making money from something that has simply been ‘enhanced’. Key point – just make sure your idea solves a problem and this will start you off on the right foot.
2. Surround yourself with a good team.
People who are successful, have successful ideas. You do not have to be the smartest one in the room. In fact, it’s rarely possible to have the most knowledge in every area of a business. Years of experience will definitely give you great perspective, but hiring people who specialise in their chosen area will almost always increase your chances for success.
3. Do your research. Understand the market.
Before you dive straight in. Take a look at your competitors. Research the potential threats in the industry. Understand your strengths, your point of difference and what opportunities are present. We even recommend looking at the history surrounding your product/service. As the popular saying goes ‘history, always repeats’, so taking this step will arm you with background information and help you to recognise any possible pitfalls before they occur.
4. Be flexible and open to change.
In The Founder, the McDonald’s brothers were resistant to change. When ideas were presented to make things more efficient at the risk of quality they were reluctant to hear it. You may think, well that’s understandable, but this move proved to be a critical reason they were kept out of future deals.
5. Take risks. Step outside your comfort zone.
We’re not suggesting you sign a million-dollar deal when you only have $500,000 budget (that would be pretty silly). But we are intimating that by doing something that challenges you, with the right advice and experts surrounding you, you could take your business to new heights. This could be in the form of taking something you do in your business from a manual process to an automated process. Or, deciding to bring out-sourced staff, in-house. Both functions may seem daunting and expensive at the time, but in the long run it could open up opportunities and efficiencies that would not have been available to you if you were still using the previous system.
6. Envisage your expansion.
Realise your dreams. Walt Disney was quoted as saying “If you can dream it you can do it”. His tiny company which began in 1928, today known to us as The Walt Disney Company, amassed assets with a total worth of 74.9 billion U.S. dollars. Amazing to think it all started with a mouse!
And most of all,
7. Never rely on a hand-shake deal.
There must be a contract. Sign on the dotted line. Different countries have different laws around business contracts, but you are best to put something in writing. Don’t think that because you have a long standing relationship with someone you will be okay with a verbal or hand-shake agreement.
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