MBA1111 4 Movies That Will Make You Re-Think Your Business

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I'm going to share with you my favorite takeaways from each movie and how each of these movies will help you become a better entrepreneur so you can watch them asap. In business, we have to sometimes reevaluate the way we do things, rethink things. It's easy to get stuck in our ways and get stuck in routine, but sometimes lessons movies like these come along and make us say, wait, maybe there's a better way to do what I'm doing. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. All right, let's get into the four movies that will make you rethink the way you do things in your business. The first one is the founder. This movie came out about a year ago. It stars Michael Keane, who does a fantastic job in this film. And it's the origin story of McDonald's. Michael Keane plays Ray Kroc, who is, quote, unquote, the founder of McDonald's. When you watch the movie, that's debatable. And that's the first lesson you learn. You learn that, hey, business has a lot of gray areas. Not everything is black and white. But the biggest lesson that you learn in this movie, and I don't want to spoil it for you, but it's all about the business model. Ray Kroc thought that McDonald's success was going to come from selling more and more burgers. The more burgers they sell, the more successful they'll be. But what he learned is that he's doing it all wrong. Like, no, it's not about the number of burgers I'm selling. And in fact, he realizes he's not really in the burger business. He's in the real estate business. What he started to do is start to stipulate those franchisees that want to open a McDonald's to have to buy or rent the land that the McDonald's is going to be opened on from McDonald's. So essentially, they were selling real estate. That's where the money was really at and not really in the burgers. And to me, that was just an interesting insight in the film because he was flexible enough to change the way he saw his business, to see how he can make more of a profit. He saw a different revenue stream that he wasn't imagining. He didn't say, no, I'm in the restaurant business. I'm in the burger business. He teamed up with a lawyer that showed him that really, you can make a lot more money and be more profitable and expand the McDonald's brand if you got into real estate. Now, whether you agree with the move or not, it's irrelevant. The point is to really think laterally about your business, to think about what are some other ways you can grow and expand your brand. The other takeaway is how efficient the McDonald's model was. They're seen as the kind of forefather of fast food. And fast food is all about efficiency. How can you create a quality burger within a minute or two? And the McDonald brothers, who kind of started McDonald's, walk you through how they actually plan and iterated their system to deliver burgers and fries at a great quality at tremendous speed. Are you revalidating your systems? Are you the most efficient you can be or can you fine tune your business or your procedures in any way? Whether it's your customer service procedures, your sales procedures, your delivery procedures, or even your hiring procedures, how you hire new employees. The Founder is a great film. It's entertaining. It's one of those films where you'd love to debate about it with your friends after watching it. So I definitely watch it with somebody like a friend or maybe your partner in life. It gets you talking, it gets you speaking because again, a lot of gray areas in the story. All right, the second film I recommend you watch that will help you reevaluate the way you do things in business, is Gold. This is a film that stars Matthew McConaughey, plays the lead role of Kenny Wells. Now, gold is based on a true story. Kenny Wells was a minor, so. So I'm gonna mine for gold now. There's a lot of ups and downs and turns in this film, and that's what it's all about. Business is a rollercoaster. You're gonna have ups and downs. You're gonna have some really high moments, some moments where you're really successful and you think you're on top of the world. You're unbeatable, you're invincible. And that's your biggest Achilles heel, your ego. And this movie really illustrates this. He doesn't really pay attention to the details of his business and makes some major mistakes because he's just too high on himself, on his ego, on his success. Don't let that happen to you. Be vigilant in your business. Be vigilant with the details, especially the legal details, the financial details. Know that if you're having a high moment, a high day that you'll come down, you're going to have challenges down the road. So make sure you prepare for those rainy days. Save those acorns, Prepare yourself for those challenging moments. Now, gold is the epitome of everything. We think of gold as money. We think of gold as the ultimate prize. Now, when Kenny actually finds the gold, everybody wants to be his friend. Everybody wants a piece of it, and holding onto it is the hardest part. So you might be successful in your business, and you'll get people coming out of the woodwork wanting to invest and be partners and want to work for you and just be your friend. How you handle that situation is going to be a testament to who you are, who you're going to be as an entrepreneur. Some of these are really good opportunities and some of these are not. You're going to have to take the time to evaluate Each one. And if you don't, that could lead to your downfall. And this was this movie is all about. You're going to love this film. Check it out. It's a bit long, but it's definitely worth the ride. Movie number three is a documentary, and it's called Becoming Warren Buffett. Now, as you know, Warren Buffett is a multibillionaire, one of the richest men in the world, and one of the best investors of all time. And it's just a simple peek into the life of Warren Buffett, how he lives his life. And what you learn really quickly is this guy is super, super down to earth and simple. He lives a very simple life. He doesn't drive a fancy car. He doesn't have a fancy house. In fact, he has breakfast at McDonald's every day. He has a very nice demeanor, and he has a very positive attitude. But what you take away from the film, what you learn about Warren Buffett, is he is the master of simplicity. He takes complex ideas and simplifies them. Everything about his business is simple. Everything about his communication is simple. Everything about his life is simple. His advice in the film is simple. If you read his letters to his shareholders, it's in simple language. It's one of the most direct examples of communication I've ever seen. What you learn is that you think it has to be complicated. It has to be hard. It has to be some sort of, you know, enigma in order for you to be as successful as he is. But. But what you learn is just, he does the right things consistently. He does the simple things consistently. He works at it. He's been doing it for a very long time. You know, he's in his 80s. And what you learn is don't over complicate things. You start to think about your own business. Am I complicating things? How can I simplify things in my business? How can I make things easier for me? Am I putting too much on my plate? Am I making myself busy for no reason? I mean, this guy is the wealthiest man in the world. He's the most successful investor, and he doesn't seem so busy during the day. He's not stressed out. He's not, like, running from meeting to meeting. He has a simple life. And it makes you realize, maybe I'm over complicating things. I need to re look at the way I live my life, run my business, and do my thing. Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter? Right? And the best part, they accept Discover. Except discover in a little place like This? I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh, yeah. Huh? Discover is accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby.

Get with the times.

Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback, I think. Discover is accepted at 99% of places.

That take credit cards nationwide.

Based on the February 2025 Nielsen report.

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Alright, the final movie I want to share with you today is bad 25. This is a documentary by Spike Lee on the release of the Bad album by Michael Jackson. And it's called Bad 25 because it was released 25 years after Bad was released. For those who know me, they know I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan. He was an incredible performer and musician and creative, really. Now, what makes this documentary so important? What makes this documentary so helpful as an entrepreneur? It talks about the story of Michael producing and releasing and marketing the album Bad. Now, if you know a little bit about Michael, Bad was the album that was released four years after Thriller was released. Now Thriller is the best selling album of all time. It's probably the most well known album that Michael has produced. It won eight Grammys. It's a huge, huge success. And that's what it's all about. How do you follow up a success like that? What do you do? How do you plan for your next move after you've just broke all the records and surpassed everybody's expectation? Well, Michael set out to break new records and in fact, Bad is one of the only albums that has eight number one hit singles, which is incredibly hard to do. I mean, an album usually has 10 to 12 songs on it. So if eight of the songs on the album are number one, that's crazy. So how did he do it? Well, in the movie, Spike Lee kind of researches and interviews people and realizes he had to reinvent himself. He had to change things about how he does his thing, how he does his art, his craft. And in order to become something better, if you want to become something better, you have to become something different sometimes. A different version of your better self, right? When I look at my business, I look at, okay, maybe I have some success, things are going well, how do I take it to the next level? How do I surpass those expectations? I realize it starts with myself. I have to become a better entrepreneur. I have to invest in myself. I have to learn more, I have to read more, I have to take some risks. I have to set my goals and ambitions a little higher. Even if that's scary. The alternative is being mediocre. Who wants to be mediocre? Right? It also shows you what kind of work it takes to be great at something. If you want to be great in your business, whatever your marketplace is, whatever your expertise is, this is like a blueprint at what it takes, what kind of hard work it takes, what kind of research, how much time. Now, mind you, it took them four years to produce this album. Most artists, they come out with a new album every year, sometimes every six months. So he had the patience and the long term view to realize, hey, I got some time to work on something incredible. He also understands that people are expecting greatness from him now since he released Thriller and it was a great success. So anything less than great is going to be seen as a failure. It's going to damage his brand, it's going to damage his legacy. So remember that if you're having some success now, be careful, don't be mediocre. Don't just try to get by and be safe. You have to take some risks so you can become better and deliver something great. The next time you release something, a new product, a new service, a rebranding, a new website design, whatever it is, challenge yourself to be better. Well, there you have it, guys. Those are the four movies that will make you rethink your business and think how you function and work as an entrepreneur. Number one was the founder. Number two was gold. Number three is becoming Warren Buffett. And number four, bad 25. That's it for me today, guys. But before I go, I want to leave you with this. I love a good movie. It's one of my favorite things to do is to watch a film, whether at home or in the theater. But the next time you watch a movie, think of it as a product. A movie is a product. It's a product that they put together. It's a project they work on and they sell to ticket holders, you know, at the movies, DVD sales, merchandise, all that kind of stuff. It is a micro business. They dump millions of dollars to produce it and they hope to reap the benefits of it back. You can see it as an example and see how you can draw from it from the trailer of the film as a marketing piece to the delivery of the film. How is it delivered in terms of the quality of the special effects or is the quality of the camera work? You're going to enjoy the film on a whole new level when you see it through this lens. Yes. Pun intended. All right, I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

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