Ben Dalton
Turning a Great Idea Into Reality - It Only Takes 10 Years to be an Overnight Success!
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Providing a very personal account of his progress and the difficult journey from the initial idea to success, Ben recounted the path to his original idea. Growing increasingly frustrated with his flatmates? constant complaints about his cooking, he sought to enrol in a cooking school. Having examined other schools' classes, Ben felt what was on offer was insufficient and responded to friends' suggestions to open his own. A green idea at the time, Ben opened Mamma's Boys Home Cooking School, employed a chef to run trial classes and picked up some valuable lessons about running your own business along the way.
The idea was put on hold as other pursuits such as managing a wine company dominated his thinking. However, the passion for the idea grew stronger and Ben continued to conduct informal market research at parties and family gatherings, receiving an overwhelmingly positive response each time he mentioned it.
Tired of the corporate world and the situations it presented, Ben enrolled in an MGSM MBA in an attempt to get ahead. Initially enrolling as revenge against the organisation that passed him up for promotion, Ben's motives changed when he became involved in syndicate work, and could apply the skills of each of his group members to his concept of a men's only cooking school. Describing this to guests, he said "the MBA became a parachute which I used to get out of the multinational I was working in".
As Ben explained it, the MBA provided a 'safe' arena where he could learn and practice management skills and "the worst outcome was a bad grade, and that didn't happen very often". It provided the structure to start the business with a solid body of theory and experience behind it, the confidence to take the chance and a full realisation of the costs, risks and rewards.
Developing the concept of his cooking school, He Cooks further during every subject, Ben estimates over 250 fellow students worked on the business plan during his MBA. He credits subjects such as Accounting for Management (and its seven deadly sins), Marketing Management, Economic Context of Management, New Enterprise Management ("the hardest 10 weeks work in my life") and Information and Decision Analysis for their contribution to the success of his business. Ben feels each of these subjects and others taught him something unique that he could immediately apply to the business.
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How to Maximise the Chances of Success:
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Looking back on the situation however, Ben also acknowledges that without five central traits, the business could have not have survived. Personal characteristics like passion, vision, focus, tenacity and perspective pulled him through when the stakes were high. Learning to relinquish control and not to re-invent the wheel were lessons Ben picked up during the journey. Above all, he remains passionate.
He admits he made mistakes along the way, for example a TV pilot series which Ben believes he acted on too swiftly and a large investment in a website for which the business was perhaps not yet ready. However, as the business has developed, Ben has been able to gradually divest control so he is now able to concentrate on the strategic, rather than the tactical. This has included plans for sponsorship arrangements, state and national franchises, retail and new campuses.
Although the transformation is not yet complete, Ben is pleased with the results so far. Ready to take the business to the next step, he has certainly transformed the idea into reality with great success.
He Cooks provides men with enough basic knowledge, skills and confidence to be able to walk into a kitchen and create a meal with whatever ingredients are on hand. For more information, visit www.hecooks.com.au
