Show Summary
Pizza Champion Michael Shepherd joins Mike Michalowicz, Chris Curran and Kristina Bolduc for Episode 57 of the Profit First Podcast! Michael talks about his experience in growing his pizza chain an how he managed business growth at a fast rate.
Our Guest
Michael Shepherd a 4 time World Pizza Champion, 3 Time U.S. Pizza Champion and an 8 Time World Medalist Pizza Acrobat. He owns and operates his pizza consulting business – Michael ShepherdConsulting, LLC – helping existing and aspiring pizza operators with their pizzerias. Michael Shepherd is also owner/president of 70X7 Incorporated that operates Six Hundred Downtown, a full service pizzeria, in Bellefontaine, Ohio.
From humble beginnings as a delivery driver for a national chain to the owner of three independent pizzerias, he has over 20 years of experience in the pizza business. Growing his original pizzeria from a meager $2,000 per week to over $1 million dollars a year in sales in a town of only 8,000 and opening his newest pizzeria at the $1.2 million sales mark in a town of 13,000 with an advertising budget of nearly zero.
As a founding member of the World Pizza Champions (America’s #1 Pizza Team), he has traveled to Italy competing at the World Pizza Championships in Italy annually since 2002. In 2006/2007 his team won back to back Gold Medals in the Team Acrobatic Event. He has been featured on the Food Network, ABC’s Master of Champions, Discovery Channel, and more.
Michael is a featured speaker for Pizza Today magazine, organizes and manages the World Pizza Games for the International Pizza Expo, is a certified Italian Pizza Maker (certified by the International School of Pizza) and teaches at local adult vocational schools on how to make pizzeria quality pizza at home. In his non pizza making downtown Michael enjoys being an avid OCR competitor, runner, and Crossfitter.
Show Quotes
Turn your idols into your rivals.
Train yourself to turn any situation into a positive outcome. Michael placed 49th/50 participants in the World Pizza Championship in Italy. Instead of looking at it as 2nd to last place, he put a positive spin on it; he promotes himself as being in the top 50 in the world!
Exciting news can fade. Always find new and unique ways that your company stands out – keep elevating and changing the recognition and people will notice. Don’t just sell your product, sell the experience you offer… this makes a HUGE difference.
Once you get your services or your product to the point where it’s already great and you’re happy with it… stop changing the product (because it’s already great) and shift focus on how to manage growth in your business.
It takes dedication, confidence, and preparation. Have systems, tools, checklists in place early on in your business. If you organize your business properly you can grow to a larger scale much easier.
Identify the right people to hire. Make sure they fit the culture and don’t stop looking until you find them.
Make yourself replaceable! Train your employees so they can function fully without you there.
Annnnnnd as promised, Mike’s beard:
Show Links
Michael’s Website: www.growingpizza.com
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