Reading Reflection No. 3

For this exercise I decided to read the autobiography Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald's by Ray Croc. The thing that surprised me the most about his story was that, at first, he was not making any money at all. He was actually in debt! The thing I least admired about Mr. Croc was the way he undermined the MCDonald's brothers and took over the franchise. The thing I most admired about Mr. Croc was his determination and his ability to seize an opportunity when he sees one. Mr. Croc did encounter failure when he was selling paper cups and milkshake machines. He was making barley any money and just getting by. What he did about this was seize an opportunity he discovered with McDonald's. I noticed that  Mr. Croc was very skilled in identifying opportunities and selling people on items. This is important because he had to sell this business idea to middle class people who were looking to make an investment. I did not completely understand why he was not making money while selling McDonald's, so I did some research and found out that he was not making any money at first because he did not own the rights to the McDonald's franchise and was growing it for the McDonald's brothers. I also discovered that the way he ended up making money was by buying the land the McDonald's would be built upon and collecting rent. If I could ask Mr. Croc two questions I would ask him "What are your goals for the future now that you are so successful?" and "What is your best tip for making sales?" These two questions would help me understand how to sell people my product and how to prepare for the future. I think Mr. Croc praised hard work heavily. He was always working, so much so that it tore his first marriage apart. I do share the opinion that hard work is valuable, but one must put their family above all else and if a hard work ethic is destroying ones family, then he/she must reconsider what is important to them.