Step 7: The Going Gets Tough

When you have decided that you are going to become an entrepreneur, start your own business and become your own boss, you are going to find your share of obstacles that you will have to overcome. Like the saying goes, you make plans and then life happens. You will receive your share of unexpected expenses, health related issues, the stream of naysayers that will call you crazy for going independent, even the eventual hater that makes his/her life's mission to bring your happiness down. There will be some that will tell you that what you are doing is a waste of time.

But you want to know what really is a waste of time? A waste of time is to have invested time and money in formal education and be stuck in a job you hate, fading away a little each day into numbness. If you dare go for your happiness, the things that makes you tick, if you go out and find your "food truck", research about this thing that makes you happy, the past, the present and dare to create its future. That is definitely not a waste of time. If you are in a hole, you have to stop digging.

I went through all of this, I was dying a little every day, I had people that seemed invested in keeping me bottled down and stuck at a job that I started to loath, I was way too overweight, my wife was diagnosed with arthritis at 31, a little girl starting school and people around me trying to convince me that I was crazy for wanting for more. I broke my fears, and went for it and I am starting to see the fruits of my work, how my dreams and ideas are slowly becoming realities. 

You don't have to be tough to make it, as the old saying goes. You just have to keep moving, as slow as you want, but just as long as you don't stay on the same place. Remember, when the going gets tough, just keep moving forward.

MrFD

Live, Laugh, Love and Keep Moving Forward.

Jon Favreau's "Chef": Entrepreneurship by Happiness.

Have you had time to see the movie "Chef" yet? if not, please check my previous post, then come back here.

Ok, after these lines you must have seen the movie. I am about to give a bunch of spoilers.

SPOILERS AHEAD

SPOILERS AHEAD

You have been warned....

I loved this movie, not just because it was made by Jon Favreau, one of my favorite directors, not even because of the fact that I am a hardcore foodie and this movie is based on food, and amazing looking food at that! It is not even Jon is able to show the power of a social network such as Twitter. No, what I loved the most about this movie is that Jon touched two of the most basic entrepreneurship principles: failure and the quest for happiness.

Jon's character, Carl Casper is introduced as a failure as a father and husband, but still quite successful as the main chef of the restaurant he has worked for over 10 years, and we seem him fail at that too, miserably. He doesn't fail when he quits, he leaves the restaurant moved by his own principles, but he fails when he is not able to take the heat from Oliver Platt's character Ramsey Michel, going viral at the same time all over the internet.

But he knows what makes him happy, he knows that making food, really good food for others makes him happy. So, with nothing to lose he goes to Miami to be his kid's nanny with her scheming ex-wife, that is using the trip as an excuse to set him up with her other ex-husband to get a dilapidated food truck that he tries to restore with the help of his son Percy.

We see the transformation on Carl, from depression to excitement. It happens quite quickly, and this is the part that is the most important for me, after all that failure, he is able to take this thing that makes him happy, he gets back up, dusts himself up, learns from his past mistakes and  he moves forward with this idea that he didn't like at the start, but in the end was his stepping stone for happiness. 

When his friend Marvin arrives to help out and work for Carl. Carl, Marvin and Percy go on a road trip to drive the food truck back to L.A. and it is during this trip that Carl finds the new source of his happiness, to cook food with his son. Cooking food alone, makes no sense for him anymore, so his source of happiness is the same, but it is bigger when done along with a loved one that shares his passion. In the end even his ex-wife joins in, and Ramsey Michel comes back to become his investor to set up a nice Cuban restaurant where he has total freedom and in the end he also finds love again with his ex-wife and they all become a big happy family once again.

I'm a sucker for happy endings, I have to admit. Just liked I said before, this movie is just like comfort food, I love it.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, where you principles are compromised, you are pressured until the point of meltdown, you fail at something big in life. Just find your happiness, find your support group and share that happiness with them, success will find you. You just have to go out there and find your "food truck".

Don't stay on the same spot. Keep Moving Forward! 

MrFD

Jon Favreau's "Chef". Entrepreneurship, Happiness, Family and a Food Truck.

Entrepreneurship Movie #2

Jon Favreau's movie "Chef" is an amazing movie, it is just like comfort food, it is not complicated, it makes you feel good and leaves you craving for a little more.

There is certain elegance to the story's simplicity that also delves deeper into entrepreneurship at it's greatest, social media, the pursue of happiness and the strong bonds between family and friends. All within the confines of a food truck. Doesn't sound too sexy, you say? well, you are wrong, you'll see.

I will write a follow up post later on because I do not want to spoil this movie for you. But I can tell you something, if you are not happy where you are right now, if you have been laid off recently, if you want to start a business, I highly recommend this movie.

Warning: Do not watch this movie on an empty stomach, grab a large range of snacks before you hit play. You'll be drooling from start to finish, be sure to stay until the end of the credits. 

Netflix   Amazon Prime