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July 31, 2003 Here is the third and last way to get rich: work hard and pyramid the work. My wife and I have been eating at a tiny hole-in- the-wall Chinese restaurant in a small strip mall. It is run by a family recently immigrated, a family which, except for a bright and talented daughter, speaks hardly a word of English, but which is going to be rich quite soon. The father and mother and son cook, and the daughter, who speaks English fairly well and has a bubbly personality, runs the cash register and takes orders. When we started eating there, it was mostly empty, but over the past year the little restaurant has become busier and busier. And now the restaurant is run solely by the son and daughter, they have hired other help, and the parents are starting a newer and much larger restaurant in a larger mall several miles closer to city center. The family is pyramiding their success, taking the gamble of investing their profits in a new site, and I bet they succeed. The main secret is that they have a relatively small selection but each dish is prepared with great care and is delicious. This relatively small selection allows them to keep prices down, noticeably lower than other similar restaurants. As I write this, I recall a restaurant started by some Laotian immigrants in North Carolina, and I remember that the two sons worked in the restaurant, then went off to college, returned to work during their summer breaks, and one is now in law school and the other in medical school. So, to summarise this, the "secrets" are that: 1) America is THE land of opportunity. 2) Hard work pays off IF YOU ARE WORKING FOR YOURSELF, but decidedly less so if you are working for someone else. 3) Do what you do to very high standards. 4) Pyramid your success--expand, branch out, and multiply your profits. 5) And treat the customer well! Smiles and friendliness go a long way. ------------ Email Brooks A. Mick: brooks15@cox.net Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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