"That's not the way we work, We'll take a flier on that," is what the text said, but I knew what it meant. What it meant is that here is another businessman who thinks he can do a better job at all the jobs to run his business than you can do at your own real estate focus. Being an Entrepreneur is not easy, it often feels like the whole weight of the world is on your shoulders. As the boss you are supposed to know how to do everything, fix everything, understand everything, right? Well, not so fast Skippy. The successful entrepreneurs know what they don't know and they get support and help to complete tasks that our outside of their specific Renaissance talents.
For instance real estate. Why wouldn't a savvy entrepreneur say building restaurants in multiple cities not know where to look for potential real estate and get a great deal done. That is exactly how the entrepreneur would have put his first restaurant in his first city. He knew the city, he knew the locations and he was in a state of not knowing what he didn't know and so he got the first couple opened up. The confidence was building and he just kept doing things the same way as he grew from one place to the second, to the third, to the next town and the next until now there are 11 spread out over 5 great towns as diverse as NYC, Philadelphia, DC, San Francisco and Chicago, all great food towns. But wait. 
He needs something in Boston and he has been looking for a very long time. He is using his old techniques. Search the internet, contact the broker and pray. This is really, really wrong in spite of the fact it worked for a while.
First off the listing broker works for the Seller. If you can't grasp that simple fact then there are issues deeper than just taking forever to find your next location and open it up. The barriers to entry for a small restaurant are not incredibly high. This is especially true when you don't need a large space, but a small one in a great location. Spaces like this come off the market before they come on, especially the good ones. There is a network of agents who work the areas and they know what is going on. A smart entrepreneur would search out specific expertise when they keep running into time and distance road blocks. The key to any growing business is to grow. Gathering a good team around you and one that will protect your interests as you grow is invaluable. Since I received this news by text I don't have a way to tell this really smart and so far successful entrepreneur that he needs help to continue his growth. Letting go of the deeply nuanced actions of a commercial lease in a distant city should be a no brainer, but sadly last week it was not.
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