You go in with your plan, you start to discuss the issues on your list … and somehow the focus of the meetings gets chopped and splinters into a thousand tangents. Surely, you’ve encountered this before?

At that point you have to make a choice. You can be the bad ass and slam your fist on the table and say “ENOUGH! Let’s focus” or you can sit back hoping that all the bantering and meaningless small talk will end shortly. The problem with the latter is that it just never seems to end and time continues to tick-a-way.

So unless you’re hardcore enough to jump right in front of that out of control train and tell it to stop … well, you’re pretty much screwed.

I’ve jumped in front of that train several times over the years when my blood pressure couldn’t take listening to that bantering buzz any longer. The train has also flattened me like a penny on the tracks.

There’s got to be a better way. Someone should come up with a word that everyone knows that can quickly diffuse the situation when meetings get off track. It’s got to be a bit funny and not too blunt … but clear enough that people know when they hear it it’s time to get back to the real business on the table.

Or maybe, just maybe, more of us just need to start slamming our fists on the table to save time and keep everyone sane.

Many of you are likely familiar with it. But actually executing it takes determination and is harder said than done. Why? If everyone followed through there would be many more successful startups around.

One company that look to be executing extremely well on this formula is Japadog in Vancouver.

Japadog sells hotdogs. But from the get go they’ve taken this commodity type business and differntiated themselves extremely well. How you ask? They sell hotdogs created in Japanese style. The hotdogs are covered with Japanese mayonnaise, seaweed, Japanese pork and many other wild and wildly tasty goodness.

Back to Japadog’s model though. They seem to have started off with just one hotdog stand. They tested the waters and when things went well they opened another, and now another is coming. They started off in good locations and opened up in even better ones.

They expanded only after they took their leap of faith and had their hypothesis proven true.

Now in a few months, Japadog will open an actual restaurant style shop. This is hotdog making at a whole new level.

What’s next for the company? You’d think if this new restaurant approach is successful, they’d open more across the city and be prime picking for becoming the next franchise chain.

Who eats these things you might wondering? While Vancouver has a good sized Japanese population, and a very large Asian population, Japadog attracts all kinds of people. In fact, if you drive or walk by a Japadog stand on any given day around lunch hour, you’ll often see more suits than jeans waiting to grab a dog. Way to go Japadog!

Most of my writing these days has been up on Business Consulting Buzz, so for the latest articles on being a marketing consultant and the consulting business be sure to check that out.

I’ll continue to post here as often as possible. Stay tuned. Cheers!