Learning from your customers is vital to your success. Even if you work in a back office or don't deal directly with the public, you are serving someone in your job. You have a boss--and the boss is really your customer, right? You have to think of the people you work for (and if you have a job, your work for someone) as customers. Doing so gives you greater buy-in to the idea that your job is part of a bigger universe--it's not just you toiling away on a computer making sure the numbers add up (or whatever it is you do). Someone, somewhere, is counting on you to hold up your end of the bargain and to do your job better, and you can learn from that person (or people).
I've traveled the world, and as an America,n I get insulted when people say American businesses aren't respected overseas. Look at how our food and beverage companies do around the world. We are regarded as the best at this. A lot of what we do here is exportable, and I don't think there's anybody that does it better in the whole world.
I have a playroom with my drum set, a guitar, and amplifier at home.
When I was running the Troubadour, there was this transition from the classic singer/songwriter Jackson Browne types to bands like Black Flag, the Dead Kennedys, and Fear. Those are just some that come to mind. Oh, and Adam Ant! The Fear fans wanted to 'crush' the Ants. These guys hated each other.
When I went to college, I really became interested in cultural anthropology. Our behavior isn't that different from other primate species'.
Each 'Bar Rescue' is shot in real time. So the complete rescue is 5 days from my arrival to my departure. I do not see or meet anyone in advance.
I'm a businessman, not a bartender.
If you have to signal a bartender to get a drink, then they're not looking at you, which is their problem. They're not doing their job. So don't feel rude when you signal a bartender. They're the ones who caused you to signal them. Go for it.
You ever see a bar with 200 beautiful women go broke? But I've seen a lot of bars with great DJs go broke.
The infusion of technology and social marketing to bar spaces is a big opportunity.
There has been a black hole in the bar business in Las Vegas, particularly on the Strip in tourist areas.
The greatest gift of leadership is a boss who wants you to be successful.
One of my first bartending gigs was on Santa Monica Boulevard at Doug Weston's Troubadour, a very famous live music venue.
Revenue cures everything in the business world.
I think success is a relative term. If you're a caveman, success is capturing an elephant. Success is achieving better than the norm. Success is being exceptional. It's exceptional reputation, exceptional income, and exceptional respect.
I could take a cemetery and make all the tombstones beer companies. There's a lot of craft beers that came and went. A lot of them.
Great negotiations happen when people are relaxed, so a relaxing environment is important. A high-energy environment tenses people up. It closes them up. You're not as likely to get that concession.
Cocktails and food are social.
Any time a bar or chef cares more about their own ego than the tastes and comforts of their customers, they should just open a monument to themselves and not a business.
Failure is an awful thing, and when I look at the common denominator of failure, it seems to always be the same thing: excuses.
