Ray Kroc represents the fast-food godfather, and I think from his biography, we can learn a lot.

Like many entrepreneurs, Ray Kroc was a struggling salesman with a bag full of bad past experiences, 52 years old who turned out to be the Founder of McDonald’s. 

Furthermore, he wasn’t the ideal generator of the speedy burger system (that was the McDonald’s brothers), but he was the one who saw the great potential of scaling something good.

The entrepreneurship path is hard at times, especially when it does not succeed in the way or time you expected it to. Entrepreneurs want instant success and get frustrated when things don't turn out the way that they had planned. It’s important to understand that the entrepreneurship path isn’t a quick win, but a lifestyle point of view. 

In the last 7 years of choosing my entrepreneurial path, I understood from self-taught experience, that in order to succeed, you need these skills that successful founders, like Ray Kroc, share in common.

The difference between a $1,000 business and a $10,000,000 business is their entrepreneurs’ mindset. 

$1,000 businesses think in the $1,000 limited mindset, and $10,000,000 think in the $10,000,000 mindset.

Usually, entrepreneurs focus on developing the current best technology, the current best solution to the need they discovered. They are focused on the current product-fit, not on challenging it.

Thinking big requires expanding the boundaries of possibilities, and not accepting the limitations of our current mindset. The McDonald brothers focused their innovation on having the best quality burger restaurant, but Ray Kroc thought bigger - how could this innovation become a business expansion opportunity through a franchisee model?

We can ask ourselves: "Where can I find an investor who will invest the initial capital needed to take this idea one step further?” Successful entrepreneurs will ask themselves: “Where can I find people who know more than me to help take my business one step further?”.  We can think: "I believe this idea will be successful”. Successful entrepreneurs will think: "How can this product be a part of a successful chain of products?”.

"Big thinkers” are the most valuable asset a successful entrepreneur can have.

These kinds of people can lift you up, expand your view, and make you think about something in a new and unexpected way. When you choose whom to team up with, focus on adding rare value that isn’t buyable with money. A big thinker’s vision is the most valuable asset an entrepreneur can have. It’s much more important than experience and resources.

Ray Krock discovered that, in order for him to fulfill his franchise empire, he needed to find a big-thinker franchise owner - with high motivation to build a money-making business that could easily be scaled. If Ray Krock were satisfied with the McDonald’s brothers, he would have owned a few franchises and made a good enough business, but not a legendary business. 

Don’t be afraid of bigger thinkers than you. The McDonald’s brothers enjoyed less success from their innovation because they were afraid of dreaming big. 

Entrepreneurs who are afraid of people who are more ambitious than them usually focus only on protecting their current work and not on developing their business for greater success.

3. The skill to always be inspired 

Ray Krock’s success story is an example of how opportunity can come knocking at your door at any time.

All you have to do is to be able to see and to be inspired.

Each and every success I had during my journey was based on seizing opportunities through inspiration. 

Ray Krock’s success story is an example of how opportunity can come knocking at your door at any time.

All you have to do is to be able to see it and be inspired. One of Ray’s biggest strengths was his ability to be inspired. Ronald McDonald, the clown, for example, was first implemented by a franchisee in Washington before going worldwide. And the most memorable inspiration of all is when Ray Krock got inspired to build his franchisees through a real estate business model, and not the food franchisees business model.  

On the entrepreneurship path, you will face challenges. The third important ingredient toward big success is to remember to always seize solutions & opportunities through fresh perspective inspirations.