{"id":1449,"date":"2021-05-06T16:47:09","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T20:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/?p=1449"},"modified":"2021-05-06T16:47:10","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T20:47:10","slug":"b2b-with-adam-lieberman-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevoiceoflakewood.com\/b2b-with-adam-lieberman-3\/","title":{"rendered":"B2B With Adam Lieberman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eggs in a Basket<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facilitated by Dina Steinberg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A healthy business does not depend on a single source for success. Rather, it develops a comprehensive network of vendors, customers, and employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The farm hand kneels on the barn floor. Slowly and carefully, he nudges the chickens aside and takes their smooth, warm, white eggs and gently nestles them in his woven basket.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cautiously, the boy makes his way across the farm. So focused is he on the package in his hands that he fails to notice the branches in his path. It\u2019s only when he is sprawled on the ground, dirt and grass clinging to him, eggs spinning madly, rolling and cracking, that he remembers the age-old idiom. Amid the dripping yolks and eggshell shards, he thinks of the phrase \u201cDon\u2019t put all your eggs in one basket\u201d and sighs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putting all your eggs in one fiscal basket is known as dependency<\/em>. If a business relies too heavily on one client, worker, or supplier, the company is extremely vulnerable. If the entity on which the company depends falls through, the business is doomed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An empty toque<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taste of Italy was a popular restaurant in the city. It had a brick wood-burning oven; high, round, cross-backed tables; and chocolate-brown wood flooring. Red-brick walls, hazy gold lighting, and bronze trimmings added to the warm and cozy ambiance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though famous for its stuffed crust pizzas, Taste of Italy also boasted a full caf\u00e9 menu from cheesy appetizers to decadent desserts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlos, the head chef, was a creative genius in the kitchen. His famous pizza sauce, a recipe developed over years of cooking, was a secret never shared. He\u2019d slice an onion paper-thin, mince a garlic to near invisibility, and saut\u00e9 both in sizzling olive oil. Then he would add some carrots and red peppers and lots of plum tomatoes to the pan. Low and slow, he\u2019d let them simmer for hours until they were soft and sweet and caramelized. He\u2019d finish it off with a combination of fresh herbs and some spices measured out in pinches, adding a splash of this and a dash of that, though no one knew exactly what. The result was likely the most aromatic and flavor-rich pizza sauce ever created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a metal ladle, Carlos would lovingly spread the sauce onto soft, puffy dough, grate some fresh white cheese, artfully place basil leaves on top, and slide the pizza into the oven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there were other staff members. Frank and Barney helped with the cooking. The owner, Mark, was there every day, mostly overseeing things, and his wife, Carol, took care of the bookkeeping. There were three waiters, a janitor, and a maintenance crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Carlos was the cog keeping the whole machine going. He was the guy who knew the recipes, the only one who could make every item on the menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, the other employees stuck to peeling and plating, supervising and accounting, serving and sweeping and mopping and lightbulb changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taste of Italy was doing great business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When AJ, the owner of a large local eatery, took notice of Carlos\u2019s skill, he tried to lure the chef to his place. He dangled irresistible offers like double salary plus benefits and lured Carlos in with promises of a state-of-the-art kitchen and top-notch appliances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chef was only human. He eventually capitulated and defected to the competitor\u2019s restaurant, leaving Taste of Italy\u2019s staff scrambling to fill the gap he left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Determined to keep the lights on and the kitchen buzzing, they attempted to recreate Carlos\u2019s dishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frank and Barney gave it all they had, and the whole staff worked overtime trying desperately to fill the shoes\u2014or rather, the toque\u2014left empty by Carlos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But without the head chef, it was just not possible. Some dishes were undercooked, others were charred, and the complaints and unfinished portions rolled through the metal swinging doors into the hot and stress-filled kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slowly, the crowds thinned, until only a few loyal regulars visited Taste of Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, the business crumbled and was forced to close its doors forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are three basic kinds of business dependency. For each category, it is important to cultivate many resources to bank on, never giving a single entity the power to leave your company in the lurch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n