Mohit Tater – You Don’t Know What You’re Getting Into Until You Are in It

BIO: Mohit Tater is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and consultant. He founded BlackBook Investments and quickly became a recognized expert investor in online businesses and digital assets.

STORY: Mohit got enticed by the numbers his favorite pizza shop was turning and decided to start his own shop. Since he and his partner had no experience in the F&B industry, they were to receive full support from the franchise owner. Unfortunately, the owner went into a coma before the shop opened. The partners tried all they could, but the shop eventually failed.

LEARNING: Don’t venture into an industry you don’t understand and chase high returns. You don’t know what you’re getting into until you are in it.

“It’s more difficult to execute something you don’t know. Try and stick to something that is already working for you.”

Mohit Tater

Guest profile

Mohit Tater is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and consultant. He founded BlackBook Investments and quickly became a recognized expert investor in online businesses and digital assets. Mohit has extensive experience in SEO, content marketing, social media marketing, and conversion rate optimization. He has worked closely with brands such as eBay, Groupon, Microsoft, Nokia, and many more on their digital marketing strategies. Today, Mohit lives his passion as an investor, growing online businesses for himself and his clients.

Worst investment ever

Mohit would visit a pizza place in his city every so often. One day he casually talked to the manager about how many pizzas they sell daily, what the operations are like, how much it costs to start a pizza shop like that one, etc. The numbers the manager shared with Mohit were very lucrative and enticing.

Mohit set up a meeting with the owner of the franchise. He seemed very positive, and the numbers looked good. The guy had the whole business plan mapped out for expansion. Mohit and his business partner decided to open a pizza shop with the manager’s support, who would hire the team for them and ensure that the operations ran smoothly. Mohit and his partner had no experience in this business. Still, they believed they’d learn eventually and hopefully turn around and make a profit.

The partners spent $100,000 setting up the shop, and just before it was about to open, the franchise owner got a stroke and went into a coma. This guy was the brains behind branding, marketing, operations, and everything, basically. Without him, Mohit and his partner were like sitting ducks. They had no option but to continue with the plan because they had spent so much money building it.

The team the franchise owner had hired came and tried to run the pizza shop as efficiently as possible. But they were not turning a profit. The partners were just putting more money every month into sustaining and still not breaking even. Both partners had no experience with the F&B industry, and even though they tried all they could, the shop eventually failed.

Lessons learned

• Don’t venture into an industry you don’t understand and chase high returns because it’s not as easy as it looks from the outside.
• Unless you have good experience in an industry, don’t bother putting your money at stake. Learn about it first.
• You don’t know what you’re getting into until you are in it.
• You have to dedicate time to your business.

Andrew’s takeaways

• Get into a business knowing that unexpected things are going to happen.
• You think you can control all the variables, but you can’t.
• Only buy a company you understand where you can add value to its core.

Actionable advice

Try and stick to what you kno