Reading Reflection No. 1 ~ Assignment Thirteen

I read the book Grinding It Out by Ray Kroc. This is a book about the making of Mcdonald's. I am not a huge fan of fast food but reading about how they started and expanded is pretty awesome. One of the reasons I chose this book is because I know that Mcdonald's is an international company. I have traveled out of the country a couple of times and I still see Mcdonald's everywhere!

1. You read about an entrepreneur...

- What surprised you the most?

I was surprised at how many jobs he had at once. I was happy to see that he liked it but it was crazy that he had a job during the day, a job from 10pm-2am and then would wake up bright and early the next day to go his day job again. He said he averaged around six hours of sleep a night but sometimes four to five. That is what I normally get but it seems like he never had any off time.

- What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

I liked how he always stated how he was providing for his wife and daughter in the beginning. He was working so hard so they could all have a good life.

- What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

I didn't like how he didn't take a lot of time for his family. I understand he was working really hard to provide for them and that is what I put for what I most admired about him but it was sad to hear how his wife Ethel, was unhappy about it.

- Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

He did. He actually had one of his secretaries screw him over in a deal because she colluded with someone else. What was amazing to me that even after his failure. He kept going and was on to the next thing. The next opportunity was the Mcdonald's restaurant.

2. What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

He definitely had determination. I haven't met a lot of people like that. There are only a few in my life and my dad is one of them. The cool thing was he didn't see working as being a chore. He actually enjoyed it.

3. Identify at least one part of the reading that confused you.

I said that he encountered a failure when he secretary colluded with someone else but I was confused how that happened. I think he was doing this Multimixer when that happened.

4. If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

1. If he were able to spend more time with his family, would he? The reason I ask this question is because he states in the book that after 35 years of marriage to his wife, he thought it was over... But he kept going like nothing happened because he didn't have time for emotional stress.

2. How could he tell if something was a good idea or a good job to go with at the time?

5. For fun... What do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

I think he thought hard work was a quote that he put in the book which was "you can really do anything, if you put your mind to it". It is true too. You can make anything work and do whatever you want... You just have to work hard enough for it.