My boyfriend and I have been binging on The Food Network lately. The show Restaurant: Impossible, to be exact. It’s amazing. The perfect combination of food and drama. Maybe it’s the fact that we’re both trying to be better about food (resolutions blah blah blah) or maybe we just get some ridiculous satisfaction out of watching a guy with a faux pretentious accent yell at people about garnishes. Whatev. It’s our thang. Don’t judge.

But in all seriousness, the show did get me thinking. For those of you who haven’t seen it, here’s a synopsis: Robert Irvine is the host and an executive chef who roams around the country saving restaurants that are about to shut down. It’s great. There are tears at the end. But anyway, I was really shocked at how some of these businesses were being run, and the reasons that the owners were finding themselves in this impossible (pun intended) situation. There was literally an Italian restaurant that ran out of pasta. There was another place that only served canned food. All of the owners were disgruntled and close to personal and financial ruin.

The restaurant biz aside, there are lessons to be learned here. I write about startups and going out on your own. I write about how many great kickstarter and crowdfunding opportunities there are now. But today we’re concentrating on the basics. You might have a great idea for a business, but there are things that you need to do before you turn this idea into a very expensive reality.

1. Mind your own business. You have to know your business before you start it. Not just your store, your website, your personal effort, but the ins and outs of the industry as a whole. How would you start a knitting store without knowing how other knitting stores function? Is there a place for you in the market? Is the market doing well for your industry? Are you taking a brave and awesome step, or setting yourself up to fail? Know these things.

2. Do you know what you’re doing? Beyond knowing about how other businesses with models like yours are doing, you have to know how to do the every day functions your company would require from you.

3. Your costs. One thing all the people on the show have in common is that no one has a handle on their finances. They all think that starting their business would help them save money…which is almost never the case, especially within the first few years. It’s true that it takes money to make money. Are you hiring employees? Do you need office supplies? Computers? Produce? Electricity? Whatever your business is, you’re going to need things. And these things cost money. Know your startup costs, how you’re covering them, and how you’re moving forward.

4. Your environment/clientele. Are you selling fishing gear in the middle of the desert? Think about your location, and whether or not your idea will fit. If it will be a struggle from the get-go, rethink. There are enough hardships within the first year that you don’t want to add more to your plate. Next, think of the best way to reach your clients. Who are they? What kind of promotional efforts will they respond to? You have to know who you’re marketing toward.

And if you do open a restaurant, make sure to do a good job because you don’t want this guy yelling at you, do you?

Robert Irvine, Restaurant Impossible host and bicep extraordinaire, courtesy of Loren Javier via Flickr.

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

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Alexandra Saville (@CapitalistaBlog) is the Media and Writing Specialist at Law Street Media. She has experience in the publishing and marketing worlds and started her own publishing company right out of college. Her blogs, The Capitalista and Capitalista Careers, focus on the young and the entrepreneurial.

Alexandra Saville

Alexandra Saville is the Media and Writing Specialist at Law Street Media. She has experience in the publishing and marketing worlds and started her own publishing company right out of college. Her blogs, The Capitalista and Capitalista Careers, focus on the young and the entrepreneurial.

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