Trying to help a buddy with a business. Need your advice

[Tommy92l]

<div class="bbWrapper">This is my best friend. He is an absolutely GREAT guy, but when it comes to business. We disagree.<br /> <br /> I&#039;ll make this as short and concise as possible.<br /> <br /> He works for a businessman who has a VERY awesome product. It&#039;s not digital, it involves showing up to a place to take part in it. Kids to adults, parents, boys or girls. Everyone loves it. There are virtually no complaints... but it&#039;s almost always empty.<br /> <br /> The businessman he works for left him to run the place, and he hired me to help out.<br /> <br /> I was asked &quot;What do you think about the marketing so far?&quot;. And I said point blank - It&#039;s failing.<br /> <br /> He was insulted, a lot, actually. I explained to him that it is not HIS fault. He is out there busting his a$$, handing out flyers, ect ,ect. HE is doing the physical labor, but the marketing side is failing, not him.<br /> <br /> When your product is awesome, and anyone who tries it loves it... but the lobby is empty and no one is clamoring to get it, something is wrong.<br /> <br /> He&#039;s new to business, and doesn&#039;t yet understand that just because something doesn&#039;t work, doesn&#039;t mean it&#039;s a flaw of his character...<br /> <br /> <br /> You know how we all talk about how kids now-a-days are cultivated to have the victim-hood mentality? That no kid should ever go without winning a trophy in an event. Even if it&#039;s a 145th place trophy, they should still be rewarded? Nothing is ever their fault?<br /> <br /> That&#039;s the thing. He doesn&#039;t get that with business, you need to F*ck up A TON , and feel like shit to get to where you want to be. I guess that&#039;s the Academic perspective? That if you get a bad grade, the teacher is a douche?<br /> <br /> I explained that my youtube channel failed because of ME. I didn&#039;t heed the warnings to play new games, I didn&#039;t change characters and accents enough, and I didn&#039;t give the people what they wanted. I got pretty far, but the failure was due to me not heeding the warnings.<br /> <br /> When I suggest &quot;Hey, lets change the music that plays, and the slogan... it&#039;s too vague&quot;.<br /> <br /> They&#039;re afraid to change the things that aren&#039;t working. PEOPLE. AREN&#039;T. SHOWING. UP... THEY ARE NOT MAKING MONEY. WHY ARE YOU AFRAID TO CHANGE/<br /> <br /> <br /> This guy really is my best buddy, but the business sense clashes with mine.<br /> <br /> I&#039;m not saying I have the answers, but when no one is showing up (Besides the 5 regulars every weekend) and the boss is thinking of shutting it down, and they&#039;re still &quot;On the fence&quot; about trying new things, what do you do?<br /> <br /> Edit: To clarify, I was just brought on board 2 days ago, so that&#039;s why I&#039;m sort of joining this venture after they&#039;ve already been set in their ways.</div>

 

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[DeletedUser394]

<div class="bbWrapper">What are you asking?</div>

 

[BigBrianC]

<div class="bbWrapper">Like you said, some people have to fail to see the err in their ways. If he doesn&#039;t listen to your advice, buy the business (or flat out let him fail, but thats more cutthroat) and do it yourself. Let him hang around and see how it should work.<br /> <br /> .</div>

 

[Tommy92l]

<div class="bbWrapper">How do I help market this place better without them getting in their own way? How do I put forth the concept that people aren&#039;t showing and they&#039;re not making money, but they are still to stubborn too change anything?<br /> <br /> How do you help someone get out of their own way and get them to try new things. This was how I was before, and you guys helped me a ton. It hurt a bit at first, though.</div>

 

[jon.a]

<div class="bbWrapper">If you can get rewarded, ramp up. If not move on.</div>

 

[Bellini]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 11601" data-quote="Tommy92l" data-source="post: 464244" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=464244" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-464244">Tommy92l said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Everyone loves it. There are virtually no complaints... but it&#039;s almost always empty. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> The way you have this written makes me think the issue is that customers come the first time (everyone loves it) but not the second (it&#039;s empty). In other words, no return customers? <br /> <br /> Is it empty of first time customers or second time customers? There&#039;s a big difference. <br /> <br /> No first time customers, then it&#039;s a marketing problem. No second time customers, then it&#039;s a product problem (or customer service, bad place, whatever)</div>

 

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[GuestUser113]

<div class="bbWrapper"><div class="bbMediaWrapper" data-media-site-id="youtube" data-media-key="jE8HAAhVtos"> <div class="bbMediaWrapper-inner"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jE8HAAhVtos?wmode=opaque" loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> </div> </div></div>

 

[Kevin Peter]

<div class="bbWrapper">Change your approach towards marketing. Have a marketing mix leveraged baased on the product. Am sure there are niche target audiences, but it is never that challenging to tap them with the improving technology. Direct traditional marketing or online marketing, there is a real good opportunity when someone thinks of shutting down! Think <img src="/community/imgs/emoticons/em-smile2.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-shortname=":)" /></div>