Saturday, July 11, 2009

Two Lefft Feet

So here we are going out for pizza...after a fun day...and so we are walking down to the car...and Kathleen Atchley looks down at me as we exit the elevator...and notices something peculiar...illustrated above...so what does she see?

...She sees a dufus who has put on two different flip-flops to go out on the town...a very proud moment of my life...and not just two different flip-flops but both were the left one...of course our dear friends and my lovely bride have promised to never mock me over this faux pas...but then again they also said they would never mention my other major doofus moment...involving our small group friends in Morro Bay long ago...

...So I figured it would be better to just get it out there...admit I was a knucklehead...and then turn it into a witty story about being an entrepreneur...and that there was some great lesson I will extract and share with each of you...of making mistakes and bouncing back through it...or turning a "sows ear into a silk purse"...or something else...but really I just needed to say that I was a knucklehead...and sometimes that is really all you can say...and not much else...

But on the plane back stateside I had the opportunity to listen to a book summary that was really great...very useful and much that I agreed with...which is high praise for most books on entrepreneurship and small business management that I come across...


Never Bet The Farm was a great "read"...and I will soon read it in its entirety...and if any of you have been through it let me know your thoughts...but I put it right up there "Small Giants" and you all know how I feel about that great little book..

...So anyway, time to sign off...but what was that other great doofus moment...I mentioned earlier it was in Morro Bay...about ten years ago...and let's just say it involved the picture below...and that despite what some say...the price of good friends can sometimes be too much!...especially when you miscalculate the price of crab legs...boy I hope Albertsons found that bundle of legs in the poultry section...where I left it...

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Are Christians Social Entrepreneurs?


Well as promised I am posting my recently completed research article on religious and social entrepreneurship. This is a topic that I have been thinking about since I attended the Skoll World Forum at the Said Business School in Oxford in 2007.

Go to this link and you should be able to access it.

And if you are wondering about the picture...of those handsome and youthful men approaching the lovely young ladies...this is a cover from a magazine I read...a long long time ago...titled The Door...originally known as The Wittenberg Door...edited by (the late) Mike Yaconelli...probably the funniest Christian ever...who diligently labored to create the very small field known as Christian Satire...which few people ever understood...and Mike and The Door had a wit and wisdom that was inspiring to those of us who feel way too many people (aka Christians) have their undies cinched down too much...Yaconelli was prophetic in his own way...and I would highly recommend some of his books to you...
I hope some of you enjoy the article...and feel free to dialogue with me on your opinion!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Breaking all the Rules!


So I have taken a few days off after a long school year and traveled to Kauai...and once again been exposed to that unique delicacy known as "shave ice"...now before you go get your panties in a bunch that shave ice is in many other locales please understand that is not the point of this post...only that it does seem to be very popular here in the islands and that I never really think about it back home...and really I am not as impressed as everyone else seems to be about it...I mean it is very good but not earth shattering...like Silva brand linguica or Summeripe peaches are...but anyway...

Everyone here raves about shave ice and there are fans of various locations and lines everywhere...so I decided to make some observations about three separate vendors in two different towns...two of which I have visited and enjoyed their products...and they all seem to break the entrepreneur rules that I teach...

...the first is in Hanalei as is known as the "Wishing Well"...and the picture below really does more justice to the location than it deserves...shall we say it has a certain rustic ambience...earthy...with a hint of palm trees...and syrup and ice cream...and yet all day long people line up for this particular delicacy...but the most interesting thing is that the owner...a lovely elderly lady...serves customers in a unique way...somewhere between Attila the Hun and the soup Nazi from Seinfeld days...so don't you dare hesitate when you stand in line and finally get to the window to order...do it quick and precise and know what you want...or you are going to get yelled at...all for the privlege of some shave ice...perhaps part of the enjoyment is to watch how she talks to everyone in line...but the produce really is very good..
...And in seat #2 of the entrepreneurial puzzle we have Jo-Jo's Shave Ice in Waimea...and one can certainly not criticize it for inadequate signage...and they are on the main road...so all should be going well...right?...well my dear daughter Rachel desires the Jo-Jo's product...having heard so much about it...and so we stop and what do we find?...that they are all out of the Haupio sweet cream that they pour over the top...right after lunch time...on a weekday...in summer...so go figure...I guess the 60 flavors they advertise must not include the famous topping that makes it unique...
...but to make it really interesting Jo-Jo's is not really Jo-Jo's since Jo-Jo actually sold her Jo-Jo's shave ice shop a few years ago and the new owner kept the name Jo-Jo's since Jo-Jo the person had retired and Jo-Jo's had quite a following...got it?...but guess what happened when Jo-Jo didn't like the way the new owner's were running Jo-Jo's?...so Jo-Jo decided to open another shave ice store...not just in the same town but no more than 50 yards away...and Jo-Jo decided to name it Jo-Jo's Anuenue Shaved Ice...

...so now we have two Jo-Jo's almost next to each other...each with the same products...competing for the same customers...at the same price...how does that make any sense?...thus all the rules are being broken...and especially very slow lines, poor customer service, waiting in the sun, out of products, etc. etc. etc...
Does this make sense?
Not to me it does...at least at first glance...because I always teach that regardless of the business you must always treat customers well, provide for their comfort, have adequate products in stock, clean restrooms, etc....and none of these businesses have that...in fact they have just the opposite...So how do they survive? Why do people line up?
Just to tantalize you, here is a review from a website of one of the sites (does it really matter which one?)...

"The reviews of this place MADE me wait for an hour, in the sun and then in the hell hole that it is.... waited while ONE guy...ONE...waited on about 35 people, at once. Here's the story....you wait...give your order to this moron...he takes about 15 orders at a time...writes them down on post it notes...then...when his notepad is full, he walks over to the otherside of the 100+ degree shop and makes your shave ice treat. He makes about 20....and hands them out to the melted, crancky people...and then goes back to take more orders. Guess what? After practically dying of heat stroke....ANYTHING cold would have gotten 4 stars. This is really over rated, over hyped and extremely poorly run. The shaved ice is simply that. Shave ice with the same old syrup poured over the top. Nothing spectacular...nothing to rave about except that by the time you get it, condensation would have been great. I rate it a negative 5."



...So I must admit I am a bit perplexed about the who Shave Ice thing...a good product delivered in a poor way...and have concluded that these places break all the entrepreneurial rules...and therefore they fascinate me...and require further thought...and comment...over a #3 with mac nut on the bottom...and of course the Haupio Sweet Cream on it...if they are not out of it..Aloha!