It is a widely known fact that if you want to accomplish anything, you need to have goals.  If you are a chef and you want to open up a restaurant, what are your goals going to be?

The thing is, you can’t just say, “I want to open up a place and make money.”  Your goals need to be specific.  Very specific.

I find a good starting place to be the seven steps of goal-setting:

1) Write it down in sufficient detail

2) Set a specific date

3) Identify everything you need

4) Identify obstacles in your way

5) Identify people/groups who can help

6) Create a detailed plan of action

7) Answer the question, “What’s in it for me?’

I often like to add an eighth:  Say it out loud.  If you say it out loud, either to yourself or to others, odds are that you will succeed.  If you tell others that you are trying to accomplish a goal, and what it is, you kind of have to follow through.  If only to save yourself a lot of embarrassment.

So, think of what your reasons for opening up a place are.  Is it just to make a lot of money?  That’s perfectly all right, but you should understand what you are getting in to.  Remember, restaurants are an extremely low-margin business.  Maybe you want to be the next celebrity chef.  That’s okay, too.  My point is if you don’t know your reasons for getting started in the first place, odds are you will likely fail.  If you don’t know why you are doing something, it will be impossible to set and obtain achievable goals.