BE MCDONALD'S

When I was a teenager one of my first jobs was working at McDonalds. I worked there 6 years and it was one of the best jobs I have ever had.

You might be asking me why one of my best jobs was working at a fast food restaurant and how this applies to your business.

Well my friend, I will tell you.

Future Prospects

When I was hired I was told that McDonalds liked to promote from within, so if I worked hard I could be promoted quickly.

Training

I was put through a training program that left no room for guessing. I was shown, second by second, how to do my job effectively. I was shown the entire speedy service system so that I could see how it worked, but while I was on the floor I was given one station and it was expected that I did it well.

Systems

All of the equipment, kitchen design and technology were structured in such a way to remove any obstacles to delivering the food to the customer quickly. The margin for error was very small because of this.

Pride in my work

They didn't believe in idle time. If there were no customers there was still always something to do. Cleaning, restocking, tidying. We never sat around. We wanted to keep the restaurant clean and stocked. It helped us do our jobs better.

Fun

We had a lot of fun! My coworkers were my friends and stayed so even when I moved up the ranks to manager.

Clarity and Trust

The expectations of us as employees were so clearly laid out I didn't have to guess. There was no deviation on this either so I was able to build trust with my employer.

If you know me at all you know that I preach about consistency. 

Do what you say you are going to do when you say you are going to do it-on repeat.

Consistency builds trust.

Laying out a process that greatly reduces the margin for error allows for you to do your job to the best of your ability and focus on what drives in business.

The proper technology when used effectively gives you not only time freedom but frees up the your headspace to focus on the parts of your business that you want to and need to focus on.

Structure allows you to have more fun! It really does. As someone with ADHD I thrive when I have structure. It allows me to be more spontaneous.

This strong foundation allows you to scale effectively. You've done the hard work early on which allows you to grow with less hiccups (I didn't say no hiccups just less).

I wish I remembered the McDonalds philosophy and training when I first started as a mortgage broker. I wish I listened to those that had come before me and tried to show me the power of a strong process.

However I didn't. I was too focused on finding the next deal. Maybe if I had spent more time on learning from those that had build a consistent process and then implementing it would have grow my business faster earlier.

Alas we will never know.

This clip from the movie Founder was one of my favorites. How they designed the speedy service system was absolutely brilliant. 

WATCH HERE

When you watch this I invite you to think about your business. How precise are you on your client experience? Can you see the value of spending time on this?

RENEE