Red Tape or Guard Rails?

I know someone in Vietnam who owns a handful of bars. Out of curiosity, I asked him, a 20-something white guy from Ohio, how he got the liquor / business / whatever-he-needed licenses.

“I just started selling booze. Soon, the cops came to inquire. Then I paid them a fine (bribe), and they brought me a license.”

If he had done it the “right” way, it would have been a 6-9 month process to open. Instead, he had a legal bar in 2 weeks. It wasn’t legit on day 1, but it got there much faster.

Sometimes sequence matters. But surely there are times it doesn’t.

How does that relate to my bakery business?

Oops, we did some stuff out of order! 😇😇😇

Now that we’ve made a few thousand dollars, it’s time to scramble to get a legal entity, a bank account, stop using personal credit cards, proper paperwork, appropriate business licenses, set up payroll, stop paying people in cash, etc.