Lesson #4: Learn to See a Problem for its Potential

When Ray moved from New York City back to her hometown of Lake George, New York, she was not quite sure what life had in store for her yet. She had had some success as a food buyer, but knew that was not what she wanted to be doing for the rest of her life. All she knew was that she was tired of life in the big city, and went back home to figure things out. Little did she know that it would be a life-changing decision for her.

Thanks to her previous experience, it was not long before Cowan and Lobel snatched her up to go work for them as a food buyer. Again, it was not her dream job, but Ray accepted it. Who knew where it might lead one day, she wondered. In fact, she did so well in her position there that Cowan and Lobel executives promoted Ray to be their store chef. She was now in charge of making all of the prepared dishes for sale in their store.

There, too, Ray excelled. So much so, in fact, that she began to threaten the company’s success. Her prepared meals were becoming so popular that people were buying fewer of the store’s groceries and more of her dishes. As it turned out, her additional responsibilities had come with additional challenges as well.

Cowan and Lobel executives began to wonder about the fate of their store. What would happen to their grocery sales in the future? Would they continue to drop if Ray stayed on preparing the packaged meals? Ray knew there was a problem, but instead of offering to cut back on the number of meals she made, she offered another solution.

Ray conducted a little bit of market research to determine why grocery sales were dropping. When she found out why people were buying her meals instead of making them themselves – because they did not have the time or know how – Ray set out to solve the problem.

First, she began by creating stocking-stuffer coupons for her newly created “30-Minute Meals” class to be held at the store. Ray figured that 30 minutes was a key time to focus on; since most people are willing to wait no more than half an hour for pizza delivery, the ideal meal should take no more than half an hour to prepare.

While sales of her coupons were successful, and Ray had been right in determining the demand for such a course, another problem presented itself. All of the local chefs she approached to teach the course wanted more money than she had been allotted. “I went to my boss and said, ‘I think I’ve made a big boo-boo here,’” recalls Ray. “I sold all of these classes, and I can’t get a chef to do it.” Upon her boss’ suggestion, Ray decided to teach the course herself. “I didn’t think I could teach a class; I’m not a real chef,” she says. “But we started the class and I made a packet of 30 30-minute Mediterranean meals because the bestsellers every day were the pasta and chicken dishes...and that’s how it started.”

Ray could have given up when she moved back home and found herself unemployed. She could have given up when her boss told her she was threatening the store’s success. And, she could have given up when she did not find a chef to teach her course. But, she did not. And that is why Ray is where she is today.



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