Take-Aways from The Margarita King

We’ve all heard the expression “Big things come in small packages”. For Giovanni – aka The Margarita King – this is exceptionally true. Chapter 22 in Starting From Scratch describes this 4”11 Italian man’s journey from busboy to owner of multiple successful restaurants, and then onto a whole new venture in the margarita bottling business.

Before finishing the first page of his story, a huge key to his success was obvious – the people that knew him loved him. People skills are an asset in any business setting – especially in the restaurant industry – and they took Giovanni to the top in no time!

He also illustrated another key to entrepreneurial success: persistence. Throughout his story, Giovanni faced adversity, but he never let it get in the way of his success; as Moss would say he “underestimated his obstacles”. For example, when he finally got his margarita recipe perfected and bottled, he ordered 1000 cases, despite everyone’s advice to start out with 200. Although he may have gotten in over his head with such a large order, he was relentless – he would not stop selling his margaritas until they were sold! And in doing so, he ended up creating a huge demand for more!!

I guess the biggest take-away from Giovanni’s story is to have confidence in your decisions. It seems like a lot of entrepreneurs have big dreams, but then realize they’re in way over their heads, so they just conk out and shut down! This little man on the other hand, dreams big, but takes the necessary actions to accomplish them no matter what!

As I read Giovanni’s story, I couldn’t help but think back to my interview with Mrs. Peterkin when she explained “we just have ideas and we do them!” What an effortless way to phrase such seemingly important decision-making. This was the same attitude Giovanni had – one day he said, “My margaritas are awesome; I want to start bottling them to sell.” And so it began… This seemed to be the underlying theme with the owners of Cornucopia too – they said, “I want to open a cheese shop” so they did. No doubt they’ve put in a trillion hours of hard work, but in doing so, they have been able to accomplish amazing things in spite of the obstacles.

To me, that’s what entrepreneurship is all about – proving to yourself that you can accomplish something that you genuinely care about. Sure it’s going to take immeasurable amounts of hard work, but if you’re willing to do anything for your dream, nothing will stop you!