Welcome to Edition #68 of Did You Know? (DYK), the weekly newsletter by Gorick Ng, Harvard career adviser and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of The Unspoken Rules, where we deconstruct the untold story of how someone (or something) became successful—and what you can do to follow in their footsteps.
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Did You Know? Use what you have!
Your story this week
Did you know? The largest hotel chain in the world started as a root beer stand.
36 brands, 9,000 locations, and 1,000,000 rooms: Marriott International is the world’s largest lodging company. If you’ve ever stayed at a Sheraton, Westin, or Courtyard, you’ve stayed at a Marriott hotel.
But did you know that the hospitality giant started as a root beer stand… and didn’t open its first hotel until 30 years later?
It’s 1927. J. Willard Marriott, a new college graduate and the son of sheepherders, needed a way to make more money. So, using his savings and a loan, Marriott decided to open an A&W root beer stand franchise in Washington, D.C., USA to serve cold drinks during summertime.
But then fall arrived, the weather cooled—and sales plummeted.
He could have quit. But he didn’t—and instead built on what he had and started selling food.
With permission from A&W, Marriott renamed the root beer stand “Hot Shoppe”—and sold chili and hot tamales. Marriott waited tables while his wife Alice cooked in the back. To drive sales, Marriott offered cheap food, free root beer coupons, and even the East Coast’s first “drive-in” food service (where you can drive up and get your food brought to your car).
Within 5 years, Marriott expanded “Hot Shoppe” to 7 locations across the Washington, D.C. area. Over the following 10 years, 7 locations became 24—and even expanded to include a service that provided pre-packaged meals for passengers flying out of the now-defunct Hoover National Airport in the D.C. metro area.
But then World War II broke out—and sales plummeted again.
Marriott could have quit. But he didn’t—and instead built on what he had by servicing the cafeterias located inside government offices and war production factories.
Thanks to Marriott’s pivot, the company remained intact during World War II. By 1953, 8 years after World War II ended, “Hot Shoppe” had 56 locations and became a public company.
Then, Marriott, like the founder of Trader Joe’s, started hearing predictions that more and more people would fly for leisure and not just for business. Marriott immediately wondered: What if I can go bigger—beyond restaurants—and into motels?
Fast forward to 1957, 30 years after the original root beer stand started, and the Twin Bridges Motor Hotel opened just outside of the Hoover National Airport—with a “Hot Shoppe” inside.
But then winter arrived again, travel stalled—and sales plummeted yet again.
Only able to afford to keep one of the motel’s elevators running, Marriott could have quit. But he didn't—and instead recruited his son, Bill Jr. (who had convinced him to move into the hotel industry in the first place), to join the business.
Then, over the next 20 years, Bill Jr. rose from vice president to president to CEO—and took the company to new heights.
Today, Marriott has nearly 8,900 properties in 141 countries and boasts nearly $24 billion in revenue.
What does this mean for you? The next time you find yourself wondering if you should just quit and start over, remember Marriott—who built on what he had until the best version stuck.
Your strategy this week
Did you know? Build on what you have!
In the face of struggle, Marriott could have quit and done something else. But, as we discussed in my newsletter on Joe Biden and “The 10Ten Year Rule”, there’s a big downside to doing something else: you’re starting from scratch. You’re restarting in terms of your knowledge, your skills, and your networks.
So, what can you do instead, even when it doesn’t seem like you have any options left?
Do what Marriott did and build on what you have by filling in the following blanks:
(1) KNOWLEDGE: “I know about _______ more than my friends.”
- E.g., “I know about how to design learning experiences more than my friends.”
(2) SKILLS: “I know how to _______ faster than my friends.”
- E.g., “I know how to build websites faster than my friends.”
(3) NETWORKS: “I know more people who are in / do / know _______ than my friends.”
- E.g., “I know more people who are in local politics than my friends.”
In Marriott’s case, he and his wife probably knew how the restaurant industry worked (knowledge), how to cook tasty food (skills), and who’s who in retail (networks) better than their friends.
And while they probably weren’t the best in the world in any of these areas, they at least had more going for them than anyone else around them—and that counts for something!
I know it because I’ve experienced it: When I started creating my HOW TO SAY IT flashcard series, I didn’t know anything about how to create a consumer product. But what I did have was the skill of turning just about anything into fill-in-the-blanks. That’s all I needed to get started!
Build on what you have!
Gorick
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