Folks welcome back to another episode of the corporate Cowboys podcast as always your host Alex another Proof of Life today is Wednesday February 22nd 2023. and so we’ll treat this like another 30 minute consult of my time that you get in order to help you edify yourself educate yourself develop
Yourself professionally that’s what I’m here for as long as you associate with me I’m associating with you in the sense that we’re helping one another become better now granted given that given that nothing that comes across these sound waves these Airwaves into your ear should be construed as legal advice right we don’t
Condone any wrongful activity whether it’s extra legal or not right I don’t know did that come off as a double negative do we or do we not okay so we don’t promote we don’t promote it but I’ll go ahead and say we don’t condone it either if you find yourself
In a situation where you’re contemplating your next move the ethics of it the mechanics of it the kind of strategy the logic you need and the tact to carry it out with please by all means reach out to us that’s what we do for a living we’re on Instagram that’s at corporates
Cowboys with a z you’ll recognize the profile picture we’re on patreon the corporate Cowboys podcast refer your family refer your friends I mean those that are those that are with the [ __ ] right because I understand that for some this content at least the way it’s presented come off a bit abrasive
But that’s what we’re here for whether it’s after hours or just on your break right on your lunch you want to sit back and relax shoot the [ __ ] a little bit granted there is no back and forth here which is why if you want something personalized you’ll come
To us for a one-on-one our rates are more than reasonable laughs and as always I mean that’s it’s our belief that if you have a circle of fools to [ __ ] and [ __ ] around with I don’t know what you do on the weekends smoke dope Crush Brews go to the range
You could instead have a circle of dudes that you talk business with not a circle of dudes let me because I I kept it casual let me let me keep it professional instead you could have a circle of professionals Associates borderline friends that you could come to with ideas with concerns with questions
About moves to make inside and out of corporate in order to position yourself for the future to increase and protect your livelihood professionally and of course that ought to bleed into your life personally and so without further ado today’s question for this episode is coming from r slash career advice
Yeah and the question is asking what is the best way to write a resignation letter man that’s always a mixed bag you know mixed emotions feelings feelings all over granted we try to be as professional as possible remain emotionless think in a cold and calculated manner
Don’t wear your heart all the way out on your sleeve when it isn’t necessary when it is when the action doesn’t warrant it and yet still we need a little bit of emotion for authenticity especially when it comes to a resignation letter now now let’s read
The body and find if it’s say uh if it’s a positive or A negative emotion what kind of experience will be informing our resignation letter here they’re writing in the body I recently recently okay I bro if it’s recent fan if it’s recent do you need a letter
I recently took over a restaurant as general manager okay yes you need a letter that high up in the food chain you need a letter for a company I had worked with in the past okay so they have some history there’s history here I put in 10 years with them
And have a very solid relationship and highly respect the owners okay okay you highly respect the owners I feel like I’m still waiting for a shoe to drop somewhere I’m waiting for a hook maybe there’s some bad blood so far this seems like you’re just uh have outgrown your position somehow or you’ve
You’ve sought out and found a different opportunity outside of the organization which there’s never a negative thing but again your resignation letter should reflect something like that appreciating the time that you’ve had with the organ is 10 years 10 years is a stint that’s a [ __ ] stretch of time
Can’t discount it you can’t no matter how recent you became a general manager 10 years you’ve been putting in work 10 years you’ve been laying the foundation Brick by Brick and earning your stripes stripe by stripe in order to become a general manager there’s history there of course there’s
Going to be emotion bound up and intertwined in that so these owners they say they keep writing they understand the business and do what is necessary to make them run right to making them run right what is this one restaurant or multiple restaurants to make maybe it’s written incorrectly
They understand the business and do what is necessary to make them run right okay maybe it’s more than one restaurant maybe it’s a chain of some kind maybe they have a portfolio of restaurants but uh our our hypothetical clients is just chummy or on a on a good relationship basis with
The owners you see I went with the Casual chummy maybe not as chummy right maybe they have a really good professional relationship and not so great or not so close a personal relationship to be chummy right they may not even be on a first name basis there
Are some Associates that I keep that we aren’t even on a first name basis you see that’s [ __ ] professional and some of them I would trust with to hold me down with knives and guns and not and again we’re not even on a first name basis professional
They understand the business and do what it takes and do what is necessary to make them run right nice I took over a restaurant a restaurant okay so then to me the context implies that they have multiple in their portfolio folks if you’re wondering why I’m breaking down sentence by sentence this
This fact pattern the body of this message it’s because typically these questions and I’ve I’ve said this before in past episodes typically these questions don’t have the amount of information that I would love I would love to have all the information and if I had this hypothetical client in
Front of me our interview would be in depth it would be back and forth question and answer question and answer follow-up question answer follow-up question to that another answer why because information matters information opens doors and I don’t mean physical ones I do mean metaphysical ones the more information we have
About your situation about your circumstances the better informed your options will be moving forward professional development strategies in order for you to get ahead so they say so again if you find me tearing apart these questions sentence by sentence line by line it’s because now I’m having to make inferences not so
Much jumping to conclusions and as much as I dislike making assumptions I could at least make a reasonable inference if I don’t have the information the inference is there to make so they continue they say I’ve got oh I took over a restaurant I took over a restaurant right so we’re
Thinking out of a portfolio of many they’ve been assigned one or they’re taking over one right I took over a restaurant that was struggling terribly in every aspect possible I’ve got the place turned around but if I’m honest with myself I hate the job man that sucks it sucks to hear
It sucks here there are some folks who Do It For the Love of the Game and then there are those folks that do it for the money and sometimes sometimes when you do it for the money and it’s what you thought you were really after turns out you get to a point
Where you realize that you are not satisfied no matter how much money you make now You Do It For the Love of the Game maybe you enjoy running restaurants maybe you enjoy managing them you could you could Branch out become a consultant of your own you now know how to turn restaurants
Around can you make that a process can you make that a method can you create a methodology put it down on paper create a manual a manuscript of sort if you can you can go into business for yourself as a professional otherwise expect expect to manage restaurants expect to just become to
Just be a general manager of restaurants unless you want to I don’t know move up and get promoted and become uh some type of area or some type of area manager a middle manager within this Management’s Corporation for restaurants which sound which which is what sounds like the
Owners do right if they have a portfolio of restaurants they may have one or maybe or maybe two more managers above you as the general manager maybe they have two more rungs above you that subordinates like you as a general manager report to somebody and then they
Kick up numbers to somebody else before it finally gets to the owners but and this in this scenario it does not sound likely because they are writing about the owners directly right so it sounds like this person is just a general manager in a restaurant within the portfolio and
They report directly to the owners right I mean that there could be some type of executive assistant in the way that helps coordinate reports as they arrive for the owners but I mean that’s higher level technical thinking and we don’t have the hypothetical clients in
Front of us to ask them this but it is relevant and we would like to know but again you will you want to find out or you want to know ask yourself these are perfect questions to be these are great questions to be writing down if you’re taking notes mental notes you
Don’t need a pencil and paper right take notes and if if you run out of questions to ask yourself consider reaching out right that’s where we can help give you a corporate Cowboys perspective perspectives that you may or may not have considered previously contemplated and how they might interact
With your with your plans with your strategies just a way to augment yourself and augment your professional development it’s us here I’ve got the place continuing then sorry I went off on a little tangent on a mini tangent there with that higher level analysis I’ve got the place turned around but if
I’m honest with myself I hate the job I’ve got a stay-at-home wife and two daughters under the age of five it’s not a good fit jeez well I’m not gonna comment too much so I don’t disclose too much about myself but when you have dependents and what I mean by dependence is when
You have people that depend on you at home folks that stay at home folks that you have to feed you have mouths to feed quote unquote bills to pay when you have bills to pay mouth to feed and more so when you have people people
At home that depend on you and that want your individual involvement in their lives I mean [ __ ] you’re a father you should you should help raise your children to some extent you should contribute to the life at home to some extent it makes sense it makes sense being the general manager of
A restaurant may or may not may or may not lend itself to that type of life to the ideal family home life it’s possible I mean to keep from resigning which is eventually what this what this body of uh eventually what our hypothetical client wants to do or is thinking of doing
To keep from resigning you could pitch it to the owners to get you an assistant manager okay an assistant general manager even if you want to up the ante a little bit so you split so you split the duties and you may have to split the pay right
Unless unless you find some way to formulate to craft this position where you are still indispensable where you are still needed again you have the option to go consultancy turning around these restaurants and if they need your help you could swing through with personal Professional Services on top of
Now you’re free to consult for the other restaurants and these owners portfolio right if you have such a solid relationship with them if they didn’t see the transformation as it happened as you turned the restaurants around which you know if if they were there to witness it and they
Were there to document and record it they could probably craft create reproduce a blueprint of sorts and maybe may not need you but if but if they were not there [ __ ] this becomes your trade secret this becomes your work product something you can Market otherwise I mean [ __ ] go uh
Go the assistant manager route pitch the position for an assistant manager especially if you’ve turned the restaurant around and it’s now become profitable what you can’t hire another hand to handle more menial administrative duties and leave you the more executive tasks the more executive obligations as a general
Manager that way you could have quote unquote bosses hours easy nine to five let them take the night shift the dinner shift and just cash in at the end of the night there’s ways around it there’s what you don’t have to leave your post you don’t
Have to follow you don’t have to fall on your sword when you first think you do it’s not always necessary it says I got the place turned around gotta stay at home it’s not a good fit they say and while finances are better I don’t think
It’s a long-term solution for me I just gave you a solution I give you two [ __ ] Solutions not even five minutes ago again if that offends you at all I mean it shouldn’t be shouldn’t be offending you it’s not meant to offend you again you come into this podcast you listen to
These episodes it’s as if we’re sitting in a circle and you pitch me this question now I’m repeating the question back to you line by line and we’re just [ __ ] we’re just shooting the [ __ ] granted you can’t talk back and that might be ideal right that might be ideal so you can
Finally sit and listen but it’s 30 minutes that I have to fill and they could have come off as a stream of Consciousness but I’ve done this enough I’ve done this enough where I can be professional about it so this isn’t a [ __ ] hour this is an hour for professional development
And it’s 30 minutes at that it’s not even an hour it’s a 30 minute free consult I call it a consult because it’s it’s professional education in my mind that’s what you’re coming here for but truth be told this is what I do to [ __ ] to shoot the [ __ ] shoot the
Breeze this is what I do with my associates just go back and forth on ideas and schemes I’m telling you we’re stand-up guys just have Criminal Minds Stand Up Guys with Criminal Minds it says and while the finances are better I don’t think it’s a long-term
Solution for me I gave you two not even five minutes ago maybe now it’s not even 10 minutes ago what would be the best way for me to put in a notice just notice not a notice it’s just notice what would be the best way for me
To put in notice to put in my notice keep in mind I don’t want to burn a bridge because as I mentioned I highly respect the owners that got a question mark at the end there so I had to give it that inflection I highly respect the
Owners so I don’t want to burn this bridge I guess my question is if you were a business owner what would you want to hear if I were a business owner and I have been I am what would I want to hear I think I I think I answered that at the
Very beginning right if I think I’ve been a good owner if I think I’ve been a good manager a good supervisor I don’t have to toot my own horn and be like if I’ve treated you as a mentee and I was your mentor how [ __ ] deep what what I want you to
Right now now if I was a business owner and I’ve known you for 10 years and you’re now resigning I mean what I want is for you not to leave hahaha it’s right off of the bat but I did answer it at the top of the of the
Half hour I answered that by saying the hypothetical client ought to uh to summarize pay little respect right you’ve already paid your dues 10 years is quite the stretch summarize a little bit about the experience that you’ve learned the values that you will be retaining right because you’re walking away with
Something that’s experience knowledge know-how that that practical value the value you can’t really put a price on unless you choose to as a professional like like I said you walk away you could become a consultant to turn restaurants around that’s money that is money right there I’m giving I’m giving you the keys
I’m giving you the keys to your own kingdom now you got to start with the door you have to build the door outward for the [ __ ] key to work pour the door inward depending on how you think your entry or x-fill out of corporate will work there’s there’s many ways around this
This is a marvelous metaverse and applying what you know to get what you want you don’t have to leave right you don’t have to leave but if it’s just the resignation you’re after if the advice is just what do I write in this resignation letter fam there are templates on Google is
That what you wanted to hear there’s [ __ ] templates on Google go [ __ ] rip one off change a couple of words in it if the owner’s name is David put David a David just just change change the dear David and [ __ ] send it burn Brit you don’t want to burn Bridges
That’s 10 years that’s 10 years at least mitigated some right if you’re on your way out why not reduce your responsibilities there have them hire an assistant manager like I mentioned you never know you might see some slack you might see some some extra slack some extra capacity added to your end
And you can continue building in that owner’s portfolio you can continue building value maybe you move on to manage two restaurants manage three restaurants install assistant managers in all of them and you’re just kicking back collecting a check and Consulting you can be an internal consultant of sorts
With the title of a general manager or a different title something you can make up an area manager a division manager if it’s certain types of restaurants that you run but again we don’t have all that information if I have the hypothetical client you don’t think I would be walking them down
These paths they say the money’s good right now and yet in the very body they don’t give any alternatives for what they will be doing to keep money coming in we don’t know if they’re just leaving and just gonna start what collecting unemployment we don’t know
Where are they leaving to how will they support their stay-at-home wife and two daughters they got two kids they have literally mouths to feed multiple and they don’t want to burn a bridge that’s going to be tough it can be done but you’re gonna have to bow pretty [ __ ] low
And when I say bow I mean you’re gonna you’re gonna bow out of the business you’re gonna tell them all like I can’t be your general manager anymore because I have a [ __ ] kids to feed obviously the owner is going to be like whoa dog if you got [ __ ] kids to feed
Why are you not working why don’t you why don’t you want to manage my other restaurant right I don’t know how this 10-year relationship thing works with you and your and your owner and your manager Your Own Boss I don’t know how that’s working at all whether or not they’ll
See through any possible bullshits because I’m I’m on the verge I’m on the verge of calling [ __ ] but whether or not they’ll see through your intent maybe you want to maybe what you want is more money so what you’re going to threaten to leave after having been there for 10
Years all of a sudden you hate the job the finances are good but if I leave now [ __ ] it I’ll have I’ll just have no finances and have a stay-at-home wife and two kids to feed [ __ ] it [ __ ] it why not I don’t want to burn this bridge
But you’ve grown you’ve grown to hate it hold on it says here I took over a restaurant I turned it around but if I’m honest with myself I hate the job well funny how I came back to that line at the very end of this console I’m I leave every console with more
Questions than I have answers why because professional development is is a very nebulous thing every consult is like this so I’ll give you a heads up if you come through for a professional consult expect questions and if you walk away with more questions and answers I mean [ __ ]
That might be a uh a feature to the way we console to have you what come back to have you what think for yourself to have you what analyze your own life and the associates that you hang with the company that you keep but again if you
If you were in it for the money to begin with well [ __ ] the money is good right the the finances are good now what do you want you want to stay home with your wife and have no finances again we were never let in on what the alternatives for income were
And that is a question that we would ask but you do need a love for the game you do need a love for the game even if the game is only professional development which is what this podcast is geared toward that’s our Target demographic our Target demographic is you the listener
The aspiring professional we don’t care about your age sex gender religion none of that [ __ ] [ __ ] because none of that [ __ ] [ __ ] matters in corporate we are all the same in this corporate War as businesses were doesn’t have to be but business is personal so long as we take care of business
Business will take care of us I say that almost every episode take notes even mental ones right I’ll catch up with y’all later you want to drop us a line [ __ ] you can send us you can send us stuff I suppose you can send us a harder Goods
Letters of sorts with words and whatnot little valuables P.O box 3372 Rancho Cordova California 95741 and if you want to send us digital donations there’s a couple of links floating around there it’s like a venmo PayPal cash app floating about maybe we’ll set up a Bitcoin wallet
I mean we’ve got personals but um I mean those are for internal operations right internal transactions maybe we’ll set one up for the org I don’t know we’re in the we’re in talks about it how deep we wanna take this mission take care of yourselves how about that
I’ll catch you on the next one foreign
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