I realised it again today.

Good solutions are often simple. It’s the path leading to them, which can be hard to find.

Building a restaurant on a tiny island, as I do now, is challenging. And one of the big challenges we face is logistic.

So, when I needed to buy material for the roof this morning, I called the shop in town, and asked them.

But the town is small, and quite remote. So everything you want to buy here, is more expensive.

First, because it comes from Makassar, which is 900km away. And I know it’s far, because I did it by motorbike. I experienced this road. Trucks take 3-4 days to do the trip.

Then, because nobody else is selling it. Market advantage.

I was shocked at the price I had to pay… Just for a roof!

Then I remembered a shipping company I got in touch with, when I shopped in Makassar. He said he could help us finding stuff.

I called him.

He sent me the phone number of a shop.

I called the shop owner.

And I got better quality material.

For half the price!

The solution was easy, right? I called a guy. He gave me a contact. I called the contact. Ordered. Done.

But the path to it, the 900km motorbike trip to Makassar, staying in the city, looking for suppliers, looking for shipping companies, meeting them and dealing with them… This, was not easy.

I could just have listened to my friend here, who told me months ago to find suppliers in Makassar.

And I could have asked my staff to look for shop phone numbers.

But it took me all the hassle, to finally make it there, and realise how much better this option was.

I would not allow myself to see the obvious.

Of course, this is just one example among hundreds.

The point is, we should always be more open to alternatives.

Lowering our resistances to what’s beyond the scope of what we think is “ok”.

And head towards what is great.

This is a 1% extra effort that can make 100% of the difference.