Itaewon Class tells the story of ex-convict Park Saeroyi whose life has been turned upside down after he gets expelled from school for punching a bully and his father is killed in an accident. Following his father’s steps, he opens his bar-restaurant DanBam (Sweet Night) in Itaewon. Alongside his manager, Jo Yi-seo, and his staff, he strives towards success and reaching greater heights while battling against a food conglomerate.
From watching the series I caught several inspiring lessons about their entrepreneurship journey, I want to share it with you guys, it’s not something new, but I write it more as a reminder for myself.
1. Pareto law is real, focus on 20%!
To refresh our memory, the Pareto principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20%. In the series, DanBam got a snowball effect from an investment from a big firm, JM Holding. After the news of the investment spread, other investment firms followed the step because they believe in JM Holding moves. Rather than focusing on small firms, it’d be better to focus on big firms and also get smaller firm in the process. Sometimes in life and business we tend to forget to focus on 20% that actually gets 80% of the effect.
What is your 20%?
Have you found it?
2. Collaboration is key.
In the series, DanBam got kicked out from the first place they rent and move to less traffic neighborhood. They tried everything to attract the crowd but it didn’t work. The neighborhood is so unattractive, it was harder for them to get people coming compared to the old place. Park Saeroyi then visit their neighbor store, give them advice, and basically help them to do a makeover for their business to become more desirable design-wise. Collectively, the once dying area become trendy again, and successfully attracting more crowd.
Often time we believe in business is always a zero-sum game, it’s bad news for us if our competitors get good news. This kind of mentality needs to be removed. Even with our competitors, collaboration can be a key to a bigger market and to compete with big players. Always remember, together we can go far.
3. While “Just Do It” sounds amazingly sexy, planning will give you direction.
Nowadays, many business motivators shout out to just do it, but what to do if there is no plan? I’m not saying spending a long time perfecting your plan is the way to go, but the business most of the time will only as good as your plan. Without a proper plan you don’t have a direction where you need to go. It doesn’t have to be detail, it doesn’t have to be perfectly made from day 1, you just need one and you will be perfecting it along the way. It will be never perfect and will keep evolving. Of course, a plan without execution is not a plan, is a loser doodle.
Contrary to my belief when I watched the series at the beginning, Park Saeroyi had plans. Great plans. He was not just going to open a small store, he already set plans and milestones for years to come. He made the change of the plan and adjust according to the situation, but that’s totally normal. He managed to get to his goal eventually.
Without a plan, do you think you can achieve big things?
If not, do you have a plan?
4. Every big business is about people.
If you dream to build a business empire, you start with laying the foundation of your business and focus on the people aspects. Because you need a great number of great people with a great collaboration between them to make big business. No matter how great your product, if the people in your business not well developed, it will face a hard time sooner or later. Never tired to develop your people.
CFO: What happens if we train them and they leave?
CEO: What happens if we don’t and they stay?
Do you have a commitment to developing your people?
5. Great things coming from hard work
Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do. In the series, Park Saeroyi face a lot of challenges, he took on it with perseverance. It’s often we face a challenge in life, but do we believe that we need to face it and not falling into the sweet temptation of giving up?
Do you cut corners?
It’s one thing to talk about hard work, but do you walk the talk?
5+1. Growing too fast too soon is bad most of the time
In the series, DanBam had an offer to grow their company very fast. They took it and it came to bite them in the ass. Of course, Park Saeroyi can overcome it in the end, but growing your business too fast too soon without proper preparation and knowledge can harm your business instead. Some of my friend’s ventures driven out of business because of this bad decision to grow their company too fast too soon. Different scales of business needs a different method. Operating 1 store is very different from operating 5 stores. You need better SOP, a better supply chain, a different strategy for each store. Totally different level of strategies. Make sure you know what you need to do, and always be careful to take this kind of opportunity.
* This post originally appeared on linkedin.com