Willie Degel is a serial entrepreneur, motivational speaker, founder & CEO of Uncle Jack’s and Jack’s Shack restaurants, and host of Restaurant Stakeout on The Food Network. Born on September 1, 1967 in Queens, NY, William Jack Degel demonstrated his entrepreneurial skills early on when he helped with family finances by operating multiple newspaper routes and other service ventures
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
- Michael Jordan
- A lot of people from when I was young- different people I worked for, different people I met, different mentors that did things certain ways
When business started difficulties overcame:
“First of all is money, money is important, where you are getting the money, how you are getting the money to build your business. So that’s very important. So everyone talks about angel investors: you have to have a business plan, you have no track record, will your family and friends invest in you, can you put it together, can you get your permits in place, your insurances. So there is a lot of learning, a lot of studying you have to do”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
The Call of the Wild Book by Jack LondonFavourite Quote:
“customer is king”
Recommended Online Resources:
Google – Google LLC is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products, which include online advertising technologies, search engine, cloud computing, software, and hardware.
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“you have got to make everyone around you better, you have got surround yourself with good passionate people – hungry, eager, trustworthy. You have got to build a bond with them, you have got to create a family. They need to know that you are real, that you will go to war for them when they are on your team. You have got to get the most out of them, you have got to inspire them, you have got to pay them well, you have got to make them happy. So building your winning team is everything. Then as an entrepreneur being willing to take risk , willing to be different, willing to fail, having patience to let the brand grow and to get the customers to come in ”…[Listen for More]
More About Willie Degel:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” Herman Melville
Other Quotes From the Chat with Willie Degel:
- “you must look in that mirror and you have to make adjustments”
- “time does not stand still for anyone in time is priceless. So, if you are power napping and you are sleeping at night time someone else might be working somewhere else in the world trying to steal your dream. So, you better not sleep, you better stay up, you better get attacking and you have got to keep going”
- “you must challenge yourself to evolve, you must become better at what you do”
- “every position I ever created in my company, I worked that position, I learnt the position, then I filled the position, and then I move on to another position”
- “What drives me? The inner Hulk in me – the energy, my passion, I’ve always been on a mission to build a dream, to build a brand”
- “I am always willing to do whatever it takes and work my ass off and take as much risk as possible to make sure that I can live this way and maintain it, and I belong here and I’m living a dream”
- “I never doubt myself. You know sometimes my confidence can get kicked and I start getting little wary – the trials and tribulations in business”
- “I am a perfectionist and I expect everybody to care and I look at every inch and everything and I still do it today”
- “what, where and why. So, what are you going to do, where are you going to do it and why other people come and buy it?”
- “You are as good as the weakest link”
- “I wouldn’t change a damn thing. You have to go through this, you have got to have thick skin, you have got to have your failures, you have got to fight through it, it just makes it all so much more worth it, and it’s just part of it”
- “gut is a big thing it is a huge part of who I am”
- “I don’t like to many opinions. If I ask a lot of opinions, they are like ass holes, everyone has got one”
- “you cannot run any business or any company by opinion it will never work. You need one boss, one leader, one direction. If you have too many things there will be cracks in the dam and floods will start to come and your business will collapse and fall apart”
- “if you don’t see it you can’t be it”
- “you can travel to a hundred places in an hour through the Internet”
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