I Just Learned About The Best Restaurant in the World...

If I asked you to tell me what you thought the BEST restaurant in the world was, you'd most likely name off some well known chefs, exotic locales, and differing ethnic choices....

...but if you think the BEST restaurant is the MOST SUCCESSFUL restaurant, there is one, clear choice-

MC DONALD'S. 

McDonald's Restaurant is arguably the most successful in the world. 

Yes, the iconic "Golden Arches" that now span the globe took a small hamburger joint in California from 15 cent hamburgers to HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS in annual revenues.

There's a new movie in theaters starring Michael Keaton called, "The Founder"- about the building of the McDonalds empire by Ray Croc.
It is mistakenly getting what I would consider to be rather mediocre reviews.

 I believe the reasoning behind it is that, as in most of life, only a select type of person will understand it.

 This movie is a character study of a salesman- One that was relatively successful, in the waning years of his career, and who had recently gone through a patch of difficult times.

 It is the study of a man with a drive to succeed – something that seems awfully absent for the majority of today's population.
 It's not that people don't want to succeed – it's that most people are perfectly happy working in a "job" that keeps them in one place, doing one thing, for a very, very long time (if they're lucky) and have a "steady" and "average" income which allows them to buy an "average" home   and lead an "average" life.
(Note- when you look back to your aspirations as a child, do you ever recall wanting to be "Average?")

 There was a point in the movie where Ray Croc  is talking to his wife. It's a difficult discussion.

 If you're an entrepreneur or sales person, you've had this conversation.
 It's a conversation about how hard you work, how much they do alone, about how many years is it going to be before you slow down, stay home, go to the club, etc. …
 It is that same conversation is one that has signaled the beginning of the end of many marriages, and why many successful people are married multiple times.

I hope  that you are lucky enough, as I am, to have a special significant other that "knows the drill" and has chosen to partner rather than prevent your success. The attitude of many is to "settle, " but what do you do when you just can't SETTLE?
You work HARDER, that's what.

This story is one of the "American Dream."

The "American Dream" is a concept that has built this country to levels far and above all others in the world.
It is a story of a lifetime of struggle, of small failures and large failures, and, finally, what is arguably one of the greatest successes the world has ever known.
It's a story of "partners," of teamwork, and of FAMILY.

I was fortunate to grow up not far from Ray Croc's first franchise in Des Planes, to know several McDonald's franchisees, and to have visited and known people at McDonalds HQ in Oakbrook, IL.
As a matter of fact, one of McDonalds' CEOs was my father's fraternity brother, and their head chef for most of the 90's was a family friend.

This movie is a great story, and the observant viewer will note many things (and, no, the insinuation that Ray Croc "stole" McDonald's from the McDonald brothers is not one of them).
It was not an easy journey, There were difficult times. There were times when Ray Croc was broke. Times when he had to find a solution to a unique problem. There were many more failures than successes.
Yes, there are lots of lessons on business, ambition, success, and perseverance- and several others on human nature, resilience, and heartache.

I rank is as one of the best sales movies of all time.

Have you seen "The Founder" or any other great business or sales movies? Are there parallels to YOUR "story" and life to that of Ray Croc's?

Please, share your thoughts in the comments below.

Let Ace know in the comments below! 

"Ace" Luciano is a Hunter, Fisherman, Outdoorsman, Sales Executive, Author, Writer, and, perhaps most importantly, husband and father to 4 great kids. 

Learn more about Ace through his website, www.AceLuciano.com

Why You Should Never Turn Down A Potential Business Contact

For the second time in over a decade, I've been sent to "jail."

No- not "actual" jail, but, rather LinkedIn "Jail." You see, LinkedIn has rules regarding contacts, linking, and SPAM related things. When I first started building LinkedIn contacts, this wasn't an issue.

Ace Luciano was sent to "LinkedIn Jail" for a brief period...

Then, there was an issue that could be solved by purchasing a "premium profile," which I did. That solved it for about 10 years. Next, when I tried to make a connection with a pleasant introduction, I received the following message: "Recently, several of your contacts have indicated that they do not know you." This was not the case when I was previously "jailed"- That time it was I had been marking "friend" too often (This was in my VERY EARLY LinkedIn Days.) Here is what Linkedin can suspend your ability to send contacts requests for: 1. The recipient's email preferences are set to only receive invitations from members who know their email address. 2. You've reached the limit of invitations you can send without email addresses to people you've identified as a "Friend" during the invitation process. 3. A number of recipients have clicked "I don't know this person" after getting your invitations.

Can Ace help you out of Jail? 

Now, I have a rule that I RARELY block or mark people as "I don't know this person"... The following people are simply "not connected."

1. People that are CLEARLY and ABSOLUTELY not going to help me or be of benefit to my network. These people are usually in a completely unrelated field, have few contacts, no contacts in common or have the title "student at.." or something like, "head cashier at local foodmart" or "Awesome plumber that loves Friday night."(- nothing against those people, but I don't see a benefit in connecting.) 2. I used to block all Realtors, until I realized that a LOT of them KNEW people that I wanted to know. Now, I just block the "lead generation" people. For some reason, these people have popped up all over LinkedIn and want people to pay them $5,000 + per month with a minimum 6 month contract, and no guarantees. 3. Anyone that has no or few contacts.
This is a "safety" thing- a lot of spammers out there use more and more "new" and "fake" profiles to gain access to your connections. Unless you are a direct introduction, I block you.

That's it. Almost every single other person I connect with. I certainly don't penalize them for trying. Why? Consider some of the following major "successes" that I have received through what initially was not anything to be considered a serious "business" connection. - access to one of the most difficult to access CEOs of a major corporation in the COUNTRY- through his SECRETARY. You see, this secretary happens to be a hunting and gun enthusiast that had asked to connect with me on LinkedIn. She sent me a very respectful request, explained why she wanted to be connected, and said that she had a network she would be happy to open to me. Fast forward 18 months. I was working a contract that was approaching, of all things, very large lending institutions with over $1 billion in assets. When I begin typing the connection into my LinkedIn program, lo and behold, who do you think pops up? The commission on that project was in excess of five figures. The connection came from somebody that, at the time, I had no "legitimate" business reason to connect with. - A referral to a six-figure job opportunity. Back in the days when I actively looked for executive sales positions outside of the gun world, I received a referral to the executive vice President of a multibillion dollar pharmaceutical company. When I saw a position open at that company, I did not apply through the normal channels. I sent a handwritten letter to him explaining our connection, and followed up with a phone call and email to him seven days later. I was able to skip the first three parts of the "normal" hiring process and go right to the final interviews. How valuable was that connection? - someone that made my job a great deal easier. Within the past year, I connected with someone that was not what I would consider an "active outdoor industry" connection. They were someone who was a high-level sales and marketing executive, and they referred me to one of their friends when I sent out a network request looking for a software program with some very specific qualifications. Not only did my referral save me a great deal of money on that software when I did purchase it, that software has made my life in general a great deal easier. The moral of the story is multi fold. In today's electronic world you need not worry about running out of "space" in your rolodex. You never know who people know and how they will be able to benefit you in the future, and by clicking the "I don't know this person" button on LinkedIn, you will never know the possible millions of dollars you will miss out on in opportunity and ACTUAL income from MOST LinkedIn connections, let alone one that has tens of thousands of direct connections to people in your specific industry. Remember, good networking is good business!