Taking A Ribbing

Tumultuous times taught Anderson that even his hobbies, like making Indian jewelry, could help dig him out of his financial ditch. Meanwhile, he sought self-improvement. He bought a $5 mirror to practice smiling, wiggling his eyebrows and shaking hands (when family was not at home, of course). He also resurrected his motivational tapes and practiced public speaking by reading books aloud in his basement.

By 1982, Anderson's real-world business experience persuaded his tribe, the La Courte Oreilles Ojibway, to appoint him CEO and have him oversee their troubled business operations in several industries. Three years later, he more than doubled the tribe's gross sales.

The realization that he'd actually started turning his life around didn't hit Anderson until he co-founded Grand Casinos in 1987. The company flourished, but he ceased involvement in 1994. "It didn't fit well with the way I was raised," he says. "I didn't want my kids to think that's where Dad hung his hat." Following his feelings that tribes "shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket, but diversify," Anderson became one of the first investors in The Rainforest Cafe chain-an investment that made it clear that being a restaurateur was Anderson's strong suit.

He closed out 1994 by making a lifelong dream a reality when he opened the first Famous Dave's rib house in Wisconsin's 1,800-person town of Hayward. "We realized we had something when we started serving between 4,000 and 6,000 people a week," Anderson says. "They were driving hundreds of miles just to eat there."

This article was originally published in the May 2000 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Taking A Ribbing.