We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Wesly Simon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Wesly below.
Wesly , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Hiring the right people – smart, driven, responsible and curious – can only get you so far. You have to be smart, driven, responsible and curious yourself. And even leaders need leaders. Make sure you know when to rest so that when you step in to guide your team you’re not coming from a place of exhaustion but rest.
Wesly , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’ve worked my way up into large scale kitchens from airport cuisine to Times Square managing a floor and kitchen of up to 100 people. This took many years and tenacity and hard work (being as tough on myself as I am with others). This experience helping others run their business taught me how to run my own. I am proud of taking the leap to leave behind the security of a stable income to the uncertainty of owning my own business and creating multiple startups. I think most people dream about becoming independent but never really take the step to risk everything. What I’m proud is going from a behind the scenes person to now promoting my businesses on a national scale. I’ve been on multiple tv and radio spots including a regular visit to The Food Network. I never knew I had this ability inside of me and would have never known had I not taken this step.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Not every project has been perfection. As business owners sometimes we make the mistake of hiring the wrong people, or trusting that bad habits won’t form from good employees. Nobody is perfect and the workplace for employees needs constant refinement. And sometimes that also means turnover. I’ve had to make some hard decisions about partnerships and managers in the past that felt very difficult at the time. When you spend 80 hours a week at a restaurant sometimes you get to know people on a personal level. But at the end of the day business is business.
Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?
People are visual and they eat with their eyes. My first restaurant venture opened during the pandemic. We grew by devoting ourselves to social media. We posted everyday, 3 times a day, we were relentless. We tagged the neighborhood, we forwarded our videos to local organizations, we shared memes, we did live streams. Eventually we ended up with 55k followers and a business that survived the pandemic – without extensive ppp loans. Business owners – invest in a social media manager. Just do it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.marketbarbk.com
- Instagram: @marketbarbk
