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🖐 Happy Wednesday!

Issue #67 is a 3.0-minute read.

The Awful Painful Cafe Disaster

“Dad, is this really Taylor’s concert?” asked my niece excitedly, her head leaning way too far out of the car window.

It was her charming way of reminding my brother that getting Swift tickets was on red alert in December.

In fact, we have tickets.

Not for Taylor.

Rather, for the famous holiday exhibit at a sensational local art museum.

It’s the perfect Friday field trip to get away from gravy and post-election conversations.

I’m with my dad, my brother, his family, and 328 holiday visitors waiting to get in and see gingerbread. 

And art.

And it’s 24 degrees.

And I forgot my hat. 

“We might as well make camp since this line isn’t moving anytime…,” I started to say…

And then we start walking. Fast.

Inside of 39 seconds, the museum team takes our tickets, checks our coats, and gives us a master class on the exhibits to see.

They’re an Indy 500 pit crew, READY for the holiday crowds.

We scoot into the main lobby and grab the clipboards for the gingerbread house scavenger hunt.

“Better get lunch now,” says my sister-in-law. “Blood sugar drop at 1:30 is no bueno.”

“Yeah, okay, that works.” I say. “There’s the cafe. Grab some real estate for all of us at that booth, and I’ll order.”

19 minutes later, I’m still in line.

23 minutes.

28 minutes.

Still ready to order.

What began as a perfect onboarding process at the museum entrance is now an awful, painful tortoise walk to order lunch for six.

I’m a consultant.

I know I have a 24/7 fixation to, well, FIX business models.

Still, this was nuts.

I’m watching ONE well-meaning, frantic café employee…

• ring up orders

• make open-faced gourmet sandwiches

• change coffee filters on three machines

• pour lemonade

• take payment

• AND deliver food to tables

The line is now 28 people long. 

Through the glass I see four docents smiling, leading large crowds.

The six-person coat check crew is taking jackets, hats, and scarves and arranging them like Marie Kondo.

And now, in front of 33 people, the lone café worker is yelling about mayonnaise.

I’ve got 100x empathy for her.

I want to put on an apron, run around the counter, and start making sandwiches.

Every other part of the museum is on cruise.

But in the café, where hungry museumgoers will happily spend $5.99 for a bag of salty vinegar baguette chips and $19.95 for a red-pepper hummus sandwich, there’s 1 EMPLOYEE.

And that’s just it!

In every business, you need an A+ team tackling every task in every division.

If you want to attract, sell, and impress premier clients so you can take off and visit museums in Paris, you need an amazing team.

How many times do you lose it on a Thursday because you ‘don’t have the time?’

You promise yourself you’ll hire help.

Only to then say on Friday, “Yeah, I’m not spending that much on that person!”

So you end up doing it all yourself.

And you know how that goes…

Instead, make 2025 your ‘hero team’ year with…

The Fantastic Five

I get it.

Hiring folks to take over a part of your business is a nail biter.

What if they mess up?

What if they piss off a client?

What if they put your financial info on the dark web, turning your checking account into an ATM for their DraftKings habit?

🙏 No worries.

I built a free template that gives you the Fantastic Five.

It shows you how each one of the five key teammates moves you away from the crazy café employee model to the calm tour guide taking in the love of your audience.

Simply shoot me a note at [email protected] and I’ll send you the template.

📢 A subscriber asked for a pic of their home city, Bangkok. Happy to do it!

I appreciate your sharing this newsletter with your friends and contacts.

Stay curious in your business and keep opening doors.

-Erik

P.S. If you dream of getting to $150K of sales, let’s do it!

When you’re set, here’s your custom, 90-minute consulting session to bring you there. Faster.

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