Your Mindset Sets the Standard

Too often in our industry, owners and managers fail to consider the impact of their behavior on the overall culture of their bar. In any business, but especially in our industry where the culture of our business is directly related to the guest experience, the mindset of ownership and management is critical for success. 

Without establishing a positive mindset, and running your life by your internal values, you will never be able to be your best self, and if you are not your best self, you will never be able to make your bar as great as it can be. All personal accomplishment has to come from a place rooted deep within. As an entrepreneur, your personal accomplishment and your bar’s profits are one and the same. 

In my coaching, I focus on my three-part framework of Mindset, Concept, and Culture. There is a reason that mindset comes first. For independent bar owners, the single most important foundational piece that will set you up for success is having the right mindset. It is the structure that your concept and bar culture needs to be built on to be sustainable and maximize your profitability. 

Why You Can’t Be a Hypocrite

Let’s face it, the bar industry does not have a great history of professionalism. When you look at bar culture and the larger hospitality industry culture that existed in the ’80s and ‘90s very little that went on then fits into our current culture. Many things that were common in our industry in 1985 will cause your employees to quit or slap you with a lawsuit in 2024. And beyond that, Gen Z, which makes up a large amount of the hospitality workforce, has zero tolerance for putting up with that shit.

One of the biggest changes has been what employees expect from their bosses. The days of “do what I say, not what I do” are over. You have to set the example for all behaviors you expect your employees to have while at work. If you want your team to always care about your guests, you have to always care about your guests. If you want them to always be professional and not drink while on the clock, you have to always be professional and not drink in your establishment. 

If you expect something of your employees that you do not do yourself, simply that makes you a hypocrite, and hypocrites are, frankly, assholes. That is how your team will see it too. They will then at best care less about the job and not be focused on helping you improve things and making sure your guests have a great experience. At worst, they will quiet quit and just ride the job out until you fire them, or even steal from you.

Plenty of bars exist that operate like that, with owners that just are there to party and have a good time, where the employees are expected to do things that the owner does not themselves. Just look at any restaurant or bar show where they go in and save the place. In almost every episode the owner is the underlying issue. 

The bars that are thriving, doing great business, and making 20%+ on the bottom line, have owners who have mastered their own mindset and are setting the right example for their staff. They understand what drives them as individuals and their core values and have built the culture of the bar around them. 

Tips For Developing a Positive Mindset

To develop a positive mindset to guide your life and entrepreneurial pursuits that will have a huge positive impact on your bar, you have to start by understanding yourself. If you don’t know who you are and what drives you, there is no way to bring yourself into your bar in a way that is going to drive excellence. And excellence is where the profit lies. 

Develop Personal Value Statements

Just like you need a vision, mission, and core values for your bar, you need them for yourself as well. They can help you guide your decisions, maintain calm in rough situations, and give you a blueprint for approaching everything in your life, including your bar. 

The process for developing your personal vision, mission, and core values is the same as if you are doing it for your bar. When guiding others through this process, I always start with core values. That way when you go to create your vision and mission, you can make sure that they do not conflict with your values. 

Determining your core values is not an easy process. You need to think introspectively about who you are as a person and what drives you. Start by brainstorming values that you have and follow in your life every day. You should end up with a list of 15-25 items. If it isn’t that long that is fine, but try to brainstorm as many values as you can. Then whittle the list down to 4-7 total values. Start by removing repetitive values and then pick the ones that speak strongest to who you are from the list. 

Once you have your values, then you need to define your vision and mission. Your vision should reflect the goals and aspirations you have for your life. You want it to be somewhat abstract. “Being the best bar owner in my area” is way too specific. Think less concrete and more aspirational, maybe something like “To be a leader in my community and for my family by leading with purpose”. 

Once you have your vision, then you need to define your mission. Your mission should be more concrete than your vision. It defines your primary objectives, your north star. For example, my personal mission statement is “To help hospitality business owners and leaders achieve their dreams and goals through operating world-class establishments.” It is what I get out of bed every day focused on achieving. 

Understanding Your Why

One of the very powerful personal growth ideas that has come about in the past few decades is defining your why. The reason that drives you to do what you do. That core purpose that you try to achieve every day. In many ways, it is similar to your mission statement, but it is a bit different. 

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of your why, you need to pick up Simon Sinek’s books Start with Why and Find Your Why. He developed the concept and those two books explain it in detail and explain how to create your personal why statement. But in short, your why statement is your statement of purpose. 

A why statement is a single sentence that is structured as “To _________ so that __________.” The first blank is how you contribute to others and the second blank is for the impact that contribution has. A key here is that while it is about you and personal, it is focused not on you, but on your impact on the world, both personally and professionally. It is a statement about who you are at your core, a truth about your soul that does not change. 

Putting your Why with your vision, mission, and core values will not only give you a concrete idea of who you are and what your purpose is, but it will also serve as a guide, a reference point for every decision that you make. 

Daily Review and Meditation

Daily affirmations have gotten a bad rap over the years, and generally are seen as being quite silly. We can blame Stuart Smalley for that. You don’t need to tell yourself that you are smart enough and that gosh darn it people like you. But, reading your vision, mission, core values, and why statement out loud each morning can be a powerful tool to start your day, even more so when combined with a bit of time for thought and reflection. 

There really is no right or wrong way to do this. Just read those statements aloud and give yourself 5-10 minutes to sit and quietly reflect on the day ahead. You don’t need complex breathing exercises, guided meditation, or anything else. Just focus your mind on being who you are. 

At first, you will find your mind racing with specific things you need to do while you are trying to relax your mind on more existential thought, but over time it will get easier. Most people find that a short period of reflection helps to center them and energize them for the day. 

Find Value in Problems

One of the hardest times to develop a positive mindset is when you are faced with big, real-world problems. Issues like your walk-in compressor going down, servers not showing up for shifts, or getting the wrong food delivered. The key is to frame every problem, issue, or bump in your day as an opportunity to learn. 

Too often in business and life, we run around putting out fires but do not consider the root cause of those fires. We just fix the immediate issue and move on, often with a bad attitude that will last the rest of the day. When you start to frame every fire as a learning opportunity, after you put it out, you reflect on the cause, determine action steps you can take to avoid it in the future and put yourself in a better position overall than you were in before the issue occurred. 

This is just applying the concepts of continuous improvement to your life. Strive to be one percent better every day. To always learn and grow. To tackle the issues you face and build frameworks and tools to avoid the same issues in the future. 

The Impact of a Great Mindset

A positive mindset is the best tool you can have as a business owner for navigating all of the ups and downs that come with bar ownership, both in and outside of the bar. It gives you direction, guidance, and a framework to use to solve problems. Beyond that, it gives you the ability to maintain a calm demeanor even in the roughest of times, ensuring that you do not jump to a quick decision, but arrive at a meaningful solution that will drive your business forward.

Final Thoughts

If you have not taken the time to think through your personal values and beliefs in the past, now is the time to do it. It will create a foundation for you and your bar to prosper. A positive mindset is the single most important factor for success as an entrepreneur and bar owner. If you are looking for assistance in clarifying your vision, mission, core values, and why statement make sure to schedule a free thirty-minute strategy session with The Bar Business Coach to learn how we can collaborate.