Wot I learnt ‘working’
August 4th, 2010 | Published in peak experiences
For almost the last two months, I have been working at The Flying Burrito. It is a very, very cool little Burrito Bar down near Liverpool St. in London. A big reason I was keen to get stuck in there, was I was sure there was something to learn I could apply to our own efforts to improve cashflow. I think I was wright, and before I forget, here they are.
- Putting a gun to your head is good. Online businesses are remote and sterile things. They are generally run in low-energy environment, either offices or coffee shops. Everything is calm and serine. In the shop, come hell or high water, every day, at 8 and 11.30, service starts. A barrage of angry looking customers will be staring you down if you don’t have the food ready. Some mornings that feels like a trap – there is no excuse. By and large however, it means you work consistently, every day and with high energy. Running around, chopping, cleaning organising and fire fighting is exciting. You might be exhausted by the end of the day, but gee, it would be great to get the same sense of urgency into an online business.
- Footfall matters. Surveying customers of the shop showed that 7% heard about us by online means. Not bad. 35% came from walk bye’s and 40% from friends. This meant we pretty much abandoned online means of promotion in favour of focusing on those who were already walking by the shop. That meant standing outside with samples and flyers. Low tech – but we reckon that about every 1 in 10 people that came in became regulars.
- There is more than one way to subscribe a customer. I have been somewhat obsessed with developing our subscriber base on Piehole, but seeing how the shop worked reminded me that there is more than one type of subscription contract. In in every 100 customers or so became super-fans, repeatedly coming back to the shop. In one case, we created a Burrito for a guy who ended up coming back every day for weeks (that is A LOT of burritos). People’s loyalty to the shop was made up in part by convenience, part by the great food and part by the service. All of which proved to be as powerful in generating repeat custom as any credit card subscription.
- Work ain’t that bad. Having spent years trying to extracate myself from a 40 hour week, I found that although we were pulling 10 hour days, it was very rewarding. I had always had a bit of a chip on my shoulder about how some employers would try to extracate extra unpaid hours from their employees. I’d feel under-rewarded and taken for granted. On the other hand, here I was, working for nothing, performing fairly menial tasks, and yet it was very fulfulling. The feeling of being part of the success of the shop was enough in itself. More than that, the fact we weren’t getting paid, made us feel better about ourselves again. I can honestly say, that this time has been as enjoyable as any of the fancy 5-star places we’re stayed at in sun-kissed South America for the last year.
We are still in London for another couple of months, but I’m determined to infuse some of the energy and excitement of a ‘real world’ business into our work. I’m going to try:
- Adding non-negotiable tasks to every day. In the shop, everything had to be cleaned, for us a certain amount of sales must occur.
- Talk to at least one customer by phone or in person every day.
- Get started early. Getting up early and staring early adds to your energy.
Lets see if it helps.
