(Gilmore Girls fan site)Continuing from the last post about how Gilmore Girls portrays business reality, with Wednesday morning’s episode (“The Ins and Outs of Inns”).
This really is what it’s like to start a new business.
“I figured,” Luke said, “I had to just dive in on my own, fail if that’s my destiny, and forget about what the experts say.”
“That is exactly my philosophy,” replied Lorelai. “Exactly. Except I’m not diving in on my own; I’m diving in with Sookie. And failure is not even a choice of destinies. And I’m consulting any expert who’ll listen to me. Otherwise, it’s identical.”
Actually, either approach will work. So long as you take ownership of the result. But there are indeed successful entrepreneurs in both categories.
Remember Michel’s nay-saying? His kind are a real downer, and Lorelai and Sookie did the right thing to ignore him.
Very realistic! There will always be nay-sayers to tell you how stupid you are to start a new business. But you can’t listen to them. Rather, you have to surround yourself with supportive people, who can help you see how to succeed, not to encourage you to give up or fail.
“Most new businesses go down within 2 years.” Actually, that’s a myth, but one that’s common, especially among the nay-sayers. The only way you can even get close to that figure is if you include businesses whose owners sold out (and got rich in the process) and those who closed up shop, even though they were making money, because they wanted to do something else (maybe even start a different business).
“I say if we go down after 2 years, it’ll be the most exciting 2 years of our lives!” I love this line, and it appears twice in the episode. Yeah, there are reasons not to start your own business, but I can’t seem to think of any of them right now.
Mia said to Lorelai, “That inn is like your place now,” referring to the Independence Inn, which Lorelai manages. See, even though she’s not the owner, she’s already developed all the skills. And Mia didn’t even know at the time that Loreali and Sookie wanted to start their own inn. Starting their own place is the next logical step for them.
Again, people who start successful businesses already know something about the business before they go into the business… That is, they’ve already developed the skills they need, because they have a passion for the line of work they’re in.
So Lorelai finds out that after she’s left to start her new business, Mia wants to sell the Independence Inn, and that Mia’s just been hanging on to it for Lorelai’s sake. I guess that’s too much change, too fast for Lorelai. She needs to hold on to the past, needs to feel stable, in control. As it turns out, Lorelai will need circumstances to force her to quit the Independence Inn and get going on her own thing. (But that’s in a future episode.) Even with all her skill and talent, she hangs on to what is, rather than looking forward to what could be.
Again, there’s some truth to this, because while some entrepreneurs jump out fearlessly, far more it seems need to be laid off, or even fired from their old jobs, before they fulfill the quest of their own destiny.
In a moment of desperate emotion, Lorelai scolds Sookie, saying, “This is business. You’ve got to stay detached.” Ouch!
And it’s not exactly true, either. Yes, you need to remain detached from any given task or tactic, because you need to be prepared to shift gears if you need to. That’s part of the flexibility that you need to have to run a new, growing business. But at the same time, you must throw your whole self into your vision, must become emotionally invested in it, because that’s the only way you’ll be able to justify all the work you’ll put into it. You sure as hell ain’t doin’ it for the money!
Of course, this is true of any great worker in any field. Great workers work for the love of what they do, not for the money. (The money is just a necessary perk. But that’s another blog post.)
Lorelai also scolds Sookie, that she can’t be a perfectionist. Yes, that’s true, because you’ll need to try new things, and when you try new things—by definition—they’re not yet perfect.
But Lorelai was still wrong to say it. Because what characterizes Sookie is not perfectionism, but excellence. And excellence is something you especially need in a new business. Even at the Independence Inn, she has to deal with unexpected surprises. Remember the dried-out lettuce from “Like Mother, Like Daughter”? She and Lorelai handled that situation without wasting anything and without missing a beaat and without lowering Sookie’s culinary standards. High standards are what make Sookie a great chef, because she can meet those standards, even on a budget.
Another reason Lorelai thinks they should slow down on starting their new inn: “The economy right now…”
Ha! I love this line, because it’s one of the great myths of starting a business. First of all, you can say that at any time, because the economy is constantly going up, down, around, back and forth, and wibble-wobble. There’s always something to grouse about when it comes to the economy, always some reason why you think it’ll be better to start your business tomorrow.
But more to the point, most new businesses are started during recessions, because there’s less risk, due to layoffs, because during a recession is when circumstances are forcing economic adjustment and innovation to occur.
Sookie sees their vision, and she thought that Lorelai saw it too, because they were both on the ball, but now she feels like Lorelai has jumped off the ball, and Sookies still on the ball trying not to fall off. A funny line, yes, but also profound, because she’s talking about their shared vision.
Vision is so important, to have a vision and to be able to see it, for two reasons: Firstly, that vision will show you where you’re going, because it shows you your destination. Secondly, that vision will inspire and sustain you, because it excites your positive imagination of what you’re creating. And to have a shared vision is even more powerful, because the inspiration from each person feeds back on itself, increasing exponentially… At least until one of them freaks out.
“There is no button to push,” Luke tell Lorelai, “to get you through this. You’ve just got to jump in and be scared and stick with it until it gets fun.”
Again, oh so realistic. That’s exactly right. You’re going to run into hyper-scary situations, and you know you’re on good footing, but in the back of your mind is this little, black voice whispering, “But what if I fall? Oh shit! What if I fall?!” And you know that you’re not going to fall, and if you do, you’re wearing a safety harness, and if that fails, there’s a safety net under you, and if that rips, the ground is covered with mountains of soft hay. But you’re afraid of heights, so you just have to barrel through until you reach the other side. That’s the only way to get through.
Yes, one of the reasons I love Gilmore Girls is because of the realistic character interactions and development, which provides a level of depth too frequently lacking from fiction. There’s always a profound insight, or an inspirational point to take away from the story.
-TimK
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