we spent $400,000 on an underperforming chocolate machine

we spent $400,000 on an underperforming chocolate machine. so what went wrong? our obsession with improving our chocolate brought us across the Atlantic Ocean to the famous city of Amsterdam. we went there to look at this machine, the concher. by grinding, mixing and aerating chocolate, it improves the flavor and texture, giving you that silky, smooth, delicious, melt in your mouth chocolate. it was love at first taste and we knew we needed to have it. but what we didn't know at the time is that we were in for a rough ride. we thought that if you're spending nearly half a million dollars on a machine, it should work close to 100% of the time. maybe there'd be a few problems, nothing major though. but that was not the case. incorrect schematics, delays in installation, critical components breaking down, parts needing replacing and confusing communication. everything that could have went wrong went very wrong. buying this machine was a huge gamble that we lost pretty heavily on, but it wasn't the wrong choice at the time. in order to shake up this centuries old archaic industry, you need to take bold risks that puts everything on the line but could pay off in massive ways. our sales were growing and to keep the momentum up, we needed a better way to make chocolate. we're all human, mistakes are inevitable, but it's how you pivot that defines greatness. if you're scared of failing, you'll only make safe, average decisions, but that just means you'll never achieve anything that isn't average. i'm here to tell you that i make mistakes. i never went to college and yet i own my own chocolate bar company. because as long as you have determination and you're right more than you're wrong, you can achieve anything you set your mind to. $400,000 is a lot of money, but we haven't given up on the machine yet. we're determined to get it working properly and turn our losses into wins, because that's what we do at MDS. when our backs are against the wall, we work our asses off to make our vision a reality. if you want to see more of these behind the scenes, then please follow and drop a heart. i'd really appreciate it.