Panera.  I find myself out this morning and at the local Panera restaurant.  It is good to get out on a Friday.

I wonder what it would be like to have my own business like a Panera.  How would I manage it, how would it do?  Who would I hire and what little things would I put in place to make my place special.  If I started from where this one is today what would I change first, what would my goals be for the first month, the first three months? Who would I hire, who would I fire?  What choices would I have and what decisions would I make?

I wonder just how hard it is to start up your own business.  Is it hard these days, harder than before?  Is it easier to do it here in this country or in another?  How long would I expect to be able to stay in business?

And just how much would all the various arms of the government get into my business?

Seems to me it’s better to set myself up as a government or something similar from what I’ve been told.  That way instead of being the guy who takes all the risk and puts in all the time and sweat equity I could simply be the guy who tells that guy what rules he has to follow and what fees and taxes he has to pay.  And then I just have to sit back and check in on him from time to time to make sure he’s following all the original rules, is aware of and is following all the rules put in place since the original set of rules, and is paying his fair share per my prescribed payment plan for what a fair share looks like.

I don’t have to assume any of the risk and my success, for the most part, is not predicated upon his success.  If he fails then there surely will be another guy waiting to take things over or, if not, I can simply just make up the difference by charging the other guys more.

If my business of selling coffee and egg sandwiches is failing and I’m not making enough to meet payroll and expenses then I suppose I could raise the prices if I couldn’t get more customers and sell more coffee and egg sandwiches but that would likely just drive even more folks away and make my situation worse wouldn’t it?

Please help me on all this because I’m not a business guy so probably don’t have things exactly correct but I have talked to people who know more than me and I do watch CNN from time to time so…

So I think that my customers can vote with their feet, as they say.  They say that about voters in elections sometimes as well but since more and more of them seem to be transported to the polling booths by invested parties it would appear that their feet aren’t all that functional.  Or, as I have heard in Chicago, you have to get them back before dusk because that’s when they lock the cemetery gates.  Then again, that’s an entirely different set of choices- some have called it the redistribution of life…at voting time.

Okay, where was I?  Oh yeah.

But as the owner of the business if the folks I am paying money to decide to increase what I must pay then am I able to vote with my feet?  I think I could find other suppliers; I think that I might be able to find employees who would work for less or be more efficient in what they do; I could decide to lower my profit targets even if that threatens my long-term existence; I could make more efficient use of my utilities;  I could, I suppose, find ways to survive…at least for awhile anyhow.

But what do I tell the government man that tells me I have to pay more?  No?

I guess I could fight it somehow but how?  Could I just pick another government (without moving of course)?  Could I ask for more time?  Can I turn around and tell my suppliers and employees to take less or my customers to pay more?  They have other choices and can supply or consume elsewhere.

But wait- and then I’ll finish…  What if where they decide to go to supply or consume has a government that applies the same exact set of rules to the coffee and egg sandwich guys?  And also to the orange juice and bagel guys?  And also to the milk and oatmeal guys?

Being here at Panera this morning has made me think.  And I believe that I have the answer.

Decisions are no longer needed when the choices have all gone away.

I don’t think I’ll start a business.  I think I’ll run for office instead.