Reflection Paper Project 4 - 5 pages

Development of Foster’s Freeze Restaurants & Vintage Realtors 3

Reflection on Randy Lewis’ Foster’s Freeze & Real Estate Business

Robert Lewis

DeVry University

Professor: Russell

SBE_310 – Reflection Paper

November 18th, 2013

Randy Lewis has been an entrepreneur and in the California region since 1975. His fields of experience span from franchising, restaurants, real estate and some basic computer programming. As an entrepreneur CEO, Randy Lewis invested in a four businesses over the past 40 years. The first business was the restaurant business called Foster’s Freeze and the 2nd was Vintage Relators.

For Randy money certainly was an important factor for his new venture at just 26 years old but there was more to it. Randy states “You must be an independent thinker and self-starter who desires freedom and independence so that you can chart your own path” (Randy Lewis, 2013). The number one problem Randy and many other entrepreneurs face is under capitalization for their business. You can have the perfect product or service but without capital you have a big challenge. Another challenge for Randy was managing employees at times. There are many personalities you encounter and have to adapt to. Attracting the new and reliable employees is difficult. Having a budget for advertising and marketing is also another obstacle business owner’s face. Again, that goes back to capitalization. Lastly, there are very long hours and no paychecks for sometimes a couple of years. You are paid last if at all.

For Randy spending too much time in the business and not balancing his family time would be his failure but was a sacrifice he had to endure. Comes down to time management. Randy had three Foster’s Freeze restaurants for over 25 years and then started into the Real Estate brokerage business for the past 15 years for a total of four entities. Randy has gone from zero to two million dollars back to zero and once again back closer to three million dollars. This clearly shows that Randy can build back up from ground zero to success many times over. Randy is successful today due to a few key ingredients; tenacity, an optimist, good management skills and great communication. The main reason Randy sought out to become an entrepreneur was primarily being bores with the corporate world and desire to have freedom and steer his own ship. His success was based on achieving balance between success and his family later on as he got older. His model is “Success at home and business makes a happy life and a happy wife.”

I have learned a great deal with this interview. Randy Lewis clearly has demonstrated that money is not the only important or motivating factor when it comes to running a business. He has passion for what he does but really does it so he can have the freedom to make his own destiny. In the corporate world your boss dictates your destiny which ultimately leads to destruction after a layoff etc. Another key element here to acknowledge is that family and work most definitely need balancing to be completely successful in life. Many business owners are successful in business but not at home. For me that is a huge concern to keep in mind when going into business. Although some sacrifices will need to be made along the way but keep a balance is key with good time management.

References

According to J. Smith (personal communication, November 10, 2013),

http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.devry.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=12441283&site=pov-live

Personal interview by phone

According to R. Lewis (personal communication, November 10, 2013)