• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
You’re here. Awesome! 😉 Here’s a Free Thank You Gift.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
DBD International Logo

Award-winning branding, rebranding and package design

How brands outshine, outlast and outperform their competition

  • Home
  • Start Here
    • About David Brier
    • In The Press
    • Keynote Speaking Engagements
  • Brand Intervention
    • Branding
    • Rebranding
    • Storytelling for Entrepreneurs
    • Leadership
    • Portfolio
  • Videos
  • Contact
  • Blog
Rising above the noise with David Brier

The No-excuses Approach That Made $1 Billion

Reading Time: 2 minutes

$1 billion chicken

What every entrepreneur, startup, and CEO needs to know to create a no-excuses brand.

Today’s One Minute Wednesday tackles whether something you’re progressing toward remains an obstacle or becomes an excuse. The fate of an obstacle rests with you.

It’s become quite popular to talk about no excuses amongst thought leaders.

Here’s my take in today’s One Minute Wednesday:

But first, let’s talk about chicken or fast food in general.

And one company that’s breaking all the rules and all the records.

The No-excuses Approach That’s Deep Frying the Competition

  • They earn more per restaurant than any other chain in the industry
  • They rate an astonishing 87 (out of a possible 100) by customers in the American Customer Satisfaction Index
  • They’re closed on Sundays
  • Even at 6 days a week, they outperform KFC and Chipotle combined
  • For the third year in a row, consumers named it the nation’s favorite fast-food restaurant.
  • They’re the 8th largest fast-food company in sales
  • And, to prove it all, they added $1 billion to their revenue last year totaling $9 billion in sales.

The company? Chick-Fil-A.

No Excuses = No Obstacles

If you ever wanted an excuse, you could pick the fast food industry with a “people-get-what-they-pay-for” attitude (or any other way of excusing sloppiness, slower-than-needed service, or inconsistency).

But you know me and the vital factor of exceeding expectations.

Chick-Fil-A has a culture, a standard of performance, and a pride that operates on a no-excuses basis.

Hell, the odds of being accepted for a franchise, you almost have better luck winning the lottery.

Yet, they are rapidly approaching toppling the top three fast food chains.

How to Adopt a No-excuses Approach and Win

  1. Have your goal clearly defined. Otherwise, you have no path and will end up as the famous baseball legend Yogi Berra put it: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there…”
  2. Recognize that every path of progress will have obstacles. Could be time, distance, internal politics, impossible circumstances, and more.
  3. Get over it. It’s not you. It’s this: life. As long as you have people, time, goals, etc., you’ll encounter obstacles.
  4. Persist despite obstacles.
  5. The moment you decide an obstacle’s “bigger than you,” it’s become your master. Outlast any obstacle.
  6. Be willing to endure whatever comes your way. By being willing to, you’re not “backing off” relying on things “going your way.”
  7. By deciding you won’t quit, that obstacle will eventually be overcome (provided you’re resourceful, persistent, stubbornly inventive, and resilient).
  8. Rinse and repeat as you progress to your known goal.

The fate of every obstacle is in your hands.

It only becomes an excuse with your permission.

Related articles:

How to Brand, Talk Less and Sell More
Is This Really The Encyclopedia of Branding?
Don't Try This at Home (Office Confessions)
Social Media Simplified: Exposing One's Pickle
Contact David Brier

Found this helpful? Never miss an issue

Join 7,500+ subscribers who get step-by-step
actionable brand strategies every two weeks

Grab Your Free
Thank You gift!
Ready to defy gravity?

For over 30 years, David Brier has worked with large and small companies and startups that refuse to blend in and want — not only a brand that has something to say but — a brand that demands to be heard: to defy gravity and rise above the noise. Read More…

Discipline
  • Branding
  • Rebranding
  • Storytelling
  • Leadership
  • Portfolio
4 ways I can help you
  • It’s the Entrepreneurs Bible. Yours Free
  • Amazon’s #1 BestSeller “Brand Intervention”
  • Transform Your Business and Brand in 9 weeks
  • Work With Me And My Team :One to One
Subscribe to my branding insights email and get my free e-book on branding
Free Branding Ebook - The Lucky Brand
You Know You Want To!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2023 · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy · Log in