“May I add cilantro?”
“Yes, that will be your fourth topping.”
“Ok but what about sour cream?”
“That would be extra.”
“Gotcha.” (I had read the rules.)
“Would you like a drink?”
“Yes!” (I had, after all, read the rules.)
The Rules:
“That will be $27.99.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
(We were at dollar taco night. The bill should have been something like $18.)
“Ma’am, he added guacamole.”
Of course he did.
“What are you doing?” asked the guacamole adder, a.k.a. my husband of 17ish years.
“Making a note. This will be my next newsletter.”
“Of course it will be.”
5 lessons from dollar taco night with Joe
1. Posting the rules kept the peace. It allowed customers to make informed choices — to guac or not to guac — and staff to enforce the rules. There was no arguing while I was there. The rules were the rules.
2. Everyone understands tacos.
Therefore it’s pretty easy to say, “You get four toppings” and then when someone requests a fifth, tell them “That’s extra,” and they say, “OK” or “No, thank you” and don’t freak out.
Because everyone understands tacos.
(Some people are jerks or they try to argue about the taco rules, but you can’t account for jerks.)
Unfortunately, not everything’s a taco. (Websites, peonies in July, Boombalattis ice cream in Indiana.)
3. There are two kinds of people. The kind that always adds the guac and the kind that never adds the guac. I was, apparently, cosplaying as someone that does not add guac that night, because I usually ALWAYS add the guac.
That surprised my husband. “It’s like I don’t even KNOW YOU, Katie.”
Honestly, at that point, I didn’t know myself. I think I got distracted by the Hi-C in the drink dispenser. Good thing it was only about the tacos.
It’s good to know which one you are, and choose the products and services that you purchase and that you sell, accordingly.
As someone that almost always adds the guac, I’m pretty uncomfortable selling bare-bones service. I don’t want you to have to figure it out. I want us to handle it for you.
That means I have to price to include the guac, and I have to work with people who want to pay for the guac.
4. Two people ordering off the same menu can end up with vastly different dinners.
5. Dollar taco night is not about the tacos.
It’s about the dollars.
Specifically, not spending them.
Which is totally fine! Obviously I found dollar taco night to be a pretty interesting experience. It just wasn’t about what I was eating.
Peony Passport
I have 76,000 images in my camera roll, but I did not take screenshots of Farmgirl Flower’s “Peony Passport” Instastories last night, and now I wish I had.
They posted a super fun series of graphics that took followers on a journey through the peony bloom around the globe throughout the year.
Instead of just saying, “If you are enjoying peonies in July they came from Alaska and that is why they cost $200 a dozen,” they took us on a little globe trot, using something we all understand (International airline flight prices, weather, and passport stamps) to explain peony pricing.
It was such a clever way to communicate everything involved in getting peonies to your door in the middle of a northern hemisphere summer. It made $200 seem downright INEXPENSIVE (in terms of dollars, if not environmental impact) if you simply must have peonies.
Wish I had screenshots.
Instead you can enjoy a few photos of the lovely Farmgirl Flowers bouquet team GOW sent me. (I have 150 more pictures. If you would like to see them all you have to do is ask.)
My key takeaway from this bouquet is that if I could grow astrantia in the humid summers where I live, I’d plant 300 of them.
Links
What are people searching for? Check this out. (Found by our Heather Prince!)
Scan-Savvy Signage – a great article about incorporating QR codes into your printed signs and materials. (This site is timing out right now, so try again later if it doesn’t load. It’s a great article.)
The best logo I’ve seen in ages. (H/t to Vi for this one)
This business understands how to taco-ify container planting services.
Parts of a website (a cheat sheet for non-techies)
Upcoming Events
Want to go to space with me? I’m speaking at these fantastic events this summer/fall, starting with these talks at Cultivate:
Saturday, July 16 • 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Subscription Services for IGC’s: Why and How to Develop Value-Added Recurring Revenue Streams
Sunday, July 17 • 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Growing Recurring Revenue Swap Shop
Sunday, July 17 • 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM
With special guests Liz Lark-Riley, Jessie Jacobson, and Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
4th Space Bootcamp: A Hands-On Workshop for Streamlining Your Digital Presence
Monday, July 18 • 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Are you going to be at any of these events? I’d love to meet up with you! Email me and we’ll find a time!
