It Worked So Well, They Stopped Doing It!

I guess it’s just human nature. When something works really well, instead of just keeping it up, fine tuning it, and making sure that really works… we want more. We let what worked so well “coast” and then start trying to do “more”.

Take Wendy’s and their first attempt at doing “breakfast”.

The hamburgers were selling great after the “Where’s the beef?” campaign.

Then they wanted to go into breakfast, didn’t do well, and started seeing their hamburger business flop.

In my town the Oriental restaurant started in not much more than a shack and built itself up to being pretty nice… newer building, hibachi grill, sushi, etc.

It was doing so well the Chines Buffet opened.

But the superior service at the Oriental restaurant and personable management carried the day and the Chinese Buffet started to slide.

It slid so much that the owners of the Oriental restaurant have now taken over the Chinese Buffet. I never went there because I was loyal to the owners of the Oriental Restaurant.

Now the Oriental restaurant - with them focusing on breathing life into the Chinese Buffet - is starting to slide.

Does anything I’ve said remind you of your home business?

Did the home parties or flea markets that produced reliable income after expending significant effort fall by the wayside because of the lure of fast money on the internet that’s not really arrived?

I learned another thing from the Wendy’s article.

Even if you catch yourself and go back to doing what DID work, you can be tempted again.

Yep, Wendy’s is getting back in the breakfast market.

When the local McDonalds closed to renovate, I tried Wendy’s breakfasts - once. Yuck!

I really don’t think they learned much the first time.