It was 1937 in a city just east of Glendale, California, two brothers, Dick and Maurice, opened the doors to a new drive-in restaurant serving burgers and milkshakes. Seeing immediate growth, they expanded their menu and relocated to San Bernardino in hopes to attract more customers and increase revenues. That they did. Within 5 years, this small startup burger joint was earning over $350,000 annually.
The brothers attempted to start a second location on numerous occasions but simply couldn’t get one off the ground. The reason was simple. Dick and Maurice knew how to run a single-store business extremely well, but what they lacked was the capacity to grow beyond their initial dream and turn the company into a successful franchise.
However, this same restaurant exists today in 119 countries with over 31,000 locations. It is considered one of the most recognized brands in the entire world. You know this restaurant by the two brother’s last name, McDonalds.
The success of McDonalds came from a man named Ray Kroc who purchased the McDonalds brand from the brothers in 1961 for $2.7 million dollars. After a short 4 years, Ray Kroc was able to build more than 500 profit-generating locations.
How come Dick and Maurice were not able to get a second location going, but Ray Kroc seemed to have exponential growth within a very short time frame? Ray Kroc had the capacity to grow.
For those pursuing the American Dream that have a burning passion to start your own business one day, capacity must be your number one focus. Capacity is what hindered the McDonald’s brothers from making billions off their restaurant chain. Those with incredible capacity see incredible results.
[bctt tweet=”Those with incredible capacity see incredible results.”]
The encouraging news is that you can actually grow your capacity. It may take time, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach or formula.
