Convincing

I think I have some skill in convincing people to do this things I want.
But with this skill, there is always a risk that I ignore what other people's views are.  It's like riding roughshod over people, but those people feel ok about it!  Is that still a bad thing?

I read a book "Raise the Bar" which talks about the fact that ANY interaction has an emotional component to it.  In that sense, there is always some feeling to any discussion.  And the aim of any discussion with staff (positive or negative) is to make them more engaged, more energised and more motivated than the start of the conversation.  I think that is good advice.  It is very easy to berate people, especially as the boss when whatever you say people listen more than once.

So today, convincing one more my staff that he should cut his labour costs was tough.  I think I ended up pushing through with a certain cost number.  What I think was good was that I offered some specific areas for him to focus on in order to hit that cost number and used past history to manage this expectation.  The "you've done it before, you can do it again!" has worked on many occasions!

Building Ideas

We have an opportunity for a new space at OC.  Rent seems like it can be quite low, so this may mean there is less requirement for it to make massive numbers.  In this case, it's pretty much a blank slate.  And that is the problem, I find it difficult to really conceptualise things that I can confidently say "oh yeah, the market will like this".  Perhaps that is actually too much to ask, start with something that I personally will like and go from there?

This location is on the rooftop, so need to take advantage of the views.  There is a outdoor section, which will be good for smoking.  There is an existing long izakaya bar, which should be easily converted into a normal bar.

The crowd around Orchard I find is not as avantgarde.  As a friend puts it, "it's atas and casual".  So I'm thinking comfort hipster!  Or something a bit more like Jones the Grocer.
Thoughts of utilising the space as an outdoor BBQ, but not sure of licensing rules.
I think back to The Oaks, but not sure if Singaporeans want to cook their own food!
Life is Beautiful is doing something similar.

I would like to combine:  good comfort food, normal priced drinks, and pop music done by a DJ.  Include a decent view and a smoking area, I think I would get some people.

The key is to transition from dinner to night time without missing a beat.  Lights have to go down.

Need to think more!!

Business Automation

My goal this year is to be able to earn the same amount of money from my business in SG without being in SG.  It is being location independent, but having very physical assets.

I estimate that I am about 50% of the way there with GAP.  The current situation is as follows:
1. Operationally on a day to day basis I am not involved.  I am at the outlets a lot, but I do not need to be on the floor or in the kitchen.
2. Corporate work in HR is done by our corporate admins.  This includes all timesheet reporting, payroll submissions and new hires/terminations.
3. Corporate work in IT is still done by me.  All POS changes, all computer issues, all printer issues, etc are done by me on a day to day basis.
4. Corporate work in Finance is still done by me.  This includes all cheque payments, our operations reporting, accounts receivable creation, GIRO payments, bank issues.
5. Suntec outlet construction issues still handled by me.
6. Mall relationships handled by me.
7. Key supplier relationships handled by me.

To be able to be location independent would mean the following (at a base level):
1. Corporate work in IT to be handled by a third party.  Not too hard, just a cost to be factored into our P&L.  I can do POS work remotely.
2. Corporate finance work, especially cheque payments would be handled by another person.  We just installed a cheque printer, so I just need to write up the process for submitting payments to be printed out.  From a sign-off perspective, if Jo is in SG then it is easy just for him to sign cheques,
3. Move more payments into GIRO form so that it can be done remotely.  At the very least all payroll (except CFS) should be GIRO.  Cash flow is an issue now, so holding payments is a good thing and hence holding cheques is a requirement.  Hopefully this is only an issue until April.
4. Mall relationships to be handled by Restaurant General Managers, instead of me.
5. Key supplier relationships to be handled by Drink and Food Champions, instead of me.  That one I can probably still manage remotely.
6. Sort out a communication method (Skype?) to manage the flow of information remotely.

The one area that needs me in SG is business development and new concepts.  Things such as OC or other options need to be sorted out.  Then this becomes a question of priority.  Is it more important to have the Korea experience, or rather should I concentrate this year to get more stuff off the ground?

If the goal is to earn the SAME amount of money, then perhaps it is ok to delay these new projects until I come back to develop them properly.

Separately, to improve some of our existing processes, we need to document the procedures better so that I do not need to be on call for questions on things that have already been answered,.

Worldviews

It's amazing to have conversations with people who have different worldviews to me.  A friend of mine is quite anti-Muslim. Every news they hear that concerns that worldview is slanted so that it paints Muslims in an even worse light.  And with western news the way it is, we only get to see the extremist events, which plays into the "there is nothing good about Islam" view.

It is easy to stay in one worldview.  Everything validates the view, as per perception bias.  It's altogether another challenge to see things from another worldview.  It really is a skill and a discipline to be willing to see the other side of the coin.

I still rate the David Wallace Foster speech as it articulates this skill so well.  I think seeing that other worldview is also skill in identifying business opportunities in this world.

Practising Negotiation

After the Sunday event incident, I had the pleasure of negotiating with the owner of the club as the outcome of the event was so bad.

Previously the agreement was that we would pay for the expenses of marketing the event, and he would cover the cost of staff and the band.  Based on the event turnout, he refused to pay the band.

In the end, we split the cost of the band.  In review, I think I did not negotiate well.
1. We had clearly agreed on the cost of the split.
2. The leverage obviously changed as after the event I was in a fairly poor position.
3. My worse case was to split the cost of the band.
4. My best case was that the agreement was the agreement and they should honour it.
4. When I offered to pay, I should have gone for increments.  Start at $100 and resisted hard on giving more money.
5. I have too great a sense of "fairness" in this context.  Given the relative transactional basis of this negotiation (I was really never going to work with the club owners again) I should have been more aggressive.
6. Will learn to hold the line more for next negotiation.
7. One thing was that I was able to put myself as the "good guy" with the band.  Keeping that relationship is not a bad thing, and something we can cultivate going forward for any additional events.

Poppy Sunday Review

What was done?
- Flyers distributed to Lucky Plaza, Ngee Ann City (twice) and Bugis MRT.
- 2500 flyers distributed
- Minimal facebook promotion. Zero promotion of FB page.

End result:

0 guests.  Let me repeat, 0 guests.  Basically all the assumptions we made about this crowd were wrong.  Meanwhile, Blowfish is packed out on a Sunday night.

Assumptions:

- That $10 / $5 was an acceptable amount for entry, given Blowfish is $5.

- That the location at Beach Rd was not too far away from the main Filipino crowd.

- That a "Filipino Live Band and Pop EDM" tag long was enough to draw a crowd.

- That ultimately that market is being underserviced and just needed additional capacity to fill.

What to do to improve:
- More communication to online FB community.  Challenge the perception that people aren't on FB.

- If we do flyer drops, consider doing flyer drops closer to the location.  Asking people to move from Orchard to Beach Rd is too far.  Focus on areas such as Concourse, Golden Mile and get them to visit.

- If we are going for Filipinos, then make the flyer for them.  Put it in Tagalog and English.

- Make the offering better.  1 for 1 drink.   Cheaper beer towers.  Free bottle if there are 10 in the group.  Giveaways and prizes.  Budget for the event.  Advertise the value more. 

- Utilise the band following much more.

- Review offering? $0 entry? Some giveaways? Group deals? More drinks promotion.
- Change the timing of the event to be 3pm to 8pm as lunch time people are still having lunch!

It just feels like there are minimal people in this area on Sunday afternoons.  Even Haji Lane is quite empty.  I believe that not the right people were told of the event. Plus the value proposition was not strong enough.

New Year 2015

Always worth doing a post in the new year.

There are always goals, there are always aspirations.  There seems to be more a sense of peace this previous year and now, even with all the ups and downs that come with building a small business and attempting also to build up other income streams.

Let's talk more about this "serenity".  I am definitely more comfortable expressing my opinions and revealing a level of honesty about myself.
I subscribe to the "honest vulnerability" concept of interactions with other people.  Whilst I don't socialise what I do that much, I am very open to talking about the things that I do, the good and the bad of it.  And as we all know there is always a good side and always a bad side of every endeavour.  I like being honest.  As a good friend told me once, "honesty is relaxing, because then you don't have to remember what you lied about".
The serenity comes from the feeling that, no matter how bad it gets, it's probably not that bad.  I just read a quote of "if $10k can solve the problem, then it's not really a problem".  Also the serenity comes from an intense focus of trying to systemise things, so that there is less (or no) firefighting, and more time to reflect and improve and create.
Having my own business brings a level of responsibility, but also a knowledge that many things are within my ability to control.  Knowing that means that any problem can be fixed, because it is me that is doing to fixing.

Back to the aspirations.  Korea trip is on the cards.  A long trip which may be an escapism but I prefer to see it more as a challenge to life experience.  I will try very hard not to let things derail this opportunity, by doing all I can to make the businesses I have more resilient, and autonomous.  That in itself is another challenge.  It has been this one F&B business the whole time, this is also the year to start exploring what other opportunities there are out there.
The Korea trip will also push me to live a more minimalistic life.  Less goods, more experiences.  Sell all that I don't need.  And in reality I really don't need much.

Physically I am feeling more my age, but I think I still have a lot of raw energy.  Need to keep that up.  I think setting the physical challenges (like this human flag pole thing) is the right type of inspiration for me.  Very happy if I can do that this year.  Generally better food would help, even 3 times home cooking a week would help.

Other themes:
- Contribution:  Deliver something on this front.  Just organise something and give the proceeds away.  Thinking BBQ Block party in Singapore by May.
- Relationships:  Getting closer to looking for a partner, but still not quite there.  Less floozies this year!
- Focus:  I realise it's too easy to get suckered into looking at my phone all the time, and notice it in other people as well.  Whatever I am doing, give it attention and enjoy it.   Perhaps even no FB on my phone (gasp!) and replace it with a "Ideas Generator" notepad.

As always 2015 will prove to be a enjoyable and educational year I am sure.  Here's to the good times ahead.