All Businesses Taste Like Chicken

After working with dozens of business owners across multiple industries, I've reached a controversial conclusion:

Most businesses are basically the same.

Every owner thinks their business is special. Their industry is different. Their challenges are unique.

But strip away the surface differences, and the fundamentals are remarkably similar.

The Great Business Illusion

When I started coaching, I thought I'd need to learn every industry inside and out. Construction, professional services, manufacturing, retail – surely they all required different approaches?

Turns out, not really.

Yes, the marketing tactics are different. The regulatory requirements vary. But once you get past the surface level, it's all the same core functions:

• Find and keep customers

• Deliver value consistently

• Manage cash flow

• Hire and develop people

• Build systems that work

The mechanics? Pretty much identical across industries.

The Five Ways Reality

Here's what I discovered: For most business functions, there are really only about five ways to do things well.

Take employee reviews. You could spend months researching approaches. But strip away the consultant jargon, and there are maybe five solid methodologies that actually work in small businesses.

Same with hiring. Same with financial planning. Same with customer onboarding.

The problem isn't finding the right way – it's that owners waste time reinventing wheels that have already been perfected.

The Consulting Secret

Want to know why consultants make bank? They've figured this out.

Good consultants work across industries because the fundamentals transfer. They learn the core systems once, then apply them everywhere with minor tweaks.

The operations expert who streamlined your manufacturing process? They'll use 80% of the same principles for a service business.

They're not industry experts – they're systems experts.

Why This Is Great News

If you're a business owner, this should be incredibly encouraging:

You don't have to reinvent everything. The solutions already exist. They've been tested by thousands of other businesses.

You can learn from any industry. That restaurant's customer retention strategy? Probably applies to your software company.

There's a proven path. You're not in uncharted territory. Others have walked this path and figured out what works.

The Knowledge Problem

So if solutions exist, why do so many owners struggle with the same problems?

Because the knowledge is scattered.

You learn cash flow from your accountant, pick up hiring tips at networking events, discover customer strategies in random podcasts. But nobody's organized it by priority or business stage. And nobody's made it accessible to smaller businesses.

The Standardization Opportunity

This is why I'm building OwnerRx the way I am.

Instead of creating industry-specific solutions, I'm focusing on the core functions every business needs to master. The 20% that drives 80% of results.

When you need better hiring, you don't need 47 methodologies. You need the 3-5 that actually work, explained clearly.

When cash flow is killing you, you don't need a finance PhD. You need the handful of practices successful businesses use.

The Beautiful Truth

Here's what I love about this: It makes success achievable.

You don't need genius. You don't need revolutionary approaches. You just need to execute the proven fundamentals better than your competitors.

Most businesses fail not because their industry is hard, but because they never master the basics every successful business has figured out.

The restaurant with bad cash flow fails like the tech startup with bad cash flow. The construction company with terrible hiring struggles like the consulting firm with terrible hiring.

Your Real Advantage

Want a competitive edge? Stop trying to be revolutionary. Start being excellent at fundamentals.

Master the core functions 90% of your competitors are still figuring out through trial and error. Use proven systems instead of inventing your own.

Your industry expertise matters for marketing and customer relationships. But your success comes from mastering the same fundamentals every other successful business has mastered.

That's what drives OwnerRx: Great business isn't about being different – it's about being better at the things that always matter.