So many people go to years of business school to get specialized degrees in very specific aspects of business.

When I was younger, I thought they must know what they're doing.

Since then, in the past 20 years I've watched so many huge companies that are too big to fail, go under and cease operations.

I mean for christs sake! How the fuck does SEARS go under???

For any Gen-Z people who may not be firmiliar with Sears, I want you to imagine if you get to age 40, and Amazon just stops existing and goes out of business. Personally I think SEARS in its day was bigger than Amazon is now. You used to be able to buy HOUSES from Sears.

So now I'm older, and I realize one thing. These businessmen with all their degrees and training and world of knowledge don't know the simple fundamental basics of business.

Step 1) Sell a quality product for a reasonable price.

Thats it. There is no step 2. You can try all day to fidget with the numbers, and raise prices, and shrink portions, and decrease quality. All you're doing is nickle and diming your customer base. You're destroying any good reputation you once had. You make an extra 5% profit on that singular sale.....and then lose a customer.

I once worked at a hotel. Every week this guy would come in, and rent a room. He barely used the room. Housekeepers always said it was like 5-10 minutes of cleaning (as opposed to 30-40 minutes). He always paid his room for the night in cash. And never was a problem. I charged $60 a night, which was on the low side for our hotel.

One day he comes in as the owner is with me. He decides to check in the regular. He tries charging $90, and demanded a credit card to be put on file for incidentals. Which is a rule we apply to most guests, but we know this guy isn't going to be a problem. I told the owner we don't need that for him, and he'll pay $60.

The owner argued, so I backed out. Then he and the guest got into an arguement. He didn't pay the $90, he never came back.

I told the owner "When I run my shift, I make sure these housekeepers are providing clean rooms. I make sure the maintence man is on call to fix any break downs. I make sure on my end the computers are functional, and I pass these guests through the checkin process with speed and efficiency. All while doing my best to make you the most money. The tools at my disposal are selling a quality product for a reasonable price. That may sound boring to you. I'm not maximizing profits on short term sales. I'm retaining regular customers through company growth and hospitality. Now I can't do much to make this hotel any higher quality, but I can at least satisfy the reasonable price aspect and try to retain repeat customers. But if you come in here and argue with customers, and run your company with a short sighted mentality, you'll run your hotel into the ground."

He argued with me. And thats when I knew I couldn't stay there much longer. I immediately started looking for a new job. I think a month later I left.

Within 2 years the city shut the place down because they failed a city inspection. Instead of saying "Yes, ok, I'll fix the violations", he instead decided to argue with, and threaten the mayor. Which is when they just straight up shut the property down. He paid 2 million for the property. I know for a fact he didn't make that money back. Then argued with a mayor until he threatened her, which resulted in him losing any chance for a profit.

Now for the kicker.

That story happened in 2019. Just last year the Cleveland Browns announced they were going to build a new stadium. That stadium would be built on land that was on the other side of a highway from where this hotel was.

Meaning, in 2029, once the stadium opens, you could walk out of your hotel room, walk to the end of the property, walk under the highway bridge, and now you're at the stadium. No need for a cab ride, it's a 3 minute walk.

During football season, he could be charging $400 per room, per night, and still be sold out.

Or, maybe the Haslams (owner of the Browns, and also will be the owners of this stadium) would maybe want to buy his hotel. He could have sold it for 20 million. He could have had a highly profitable hotel which is sold out every weekend during football season.

Instead, he took a loss. Because every businessman right now wants to direct the world around them with ego and stuborness.

Just sell a quality product, at a reasonable price. You can use that as a baseline to grow your business.