Had a random barista read my business plan and it actually helped

I was sitting at a coffee shop in Portland last Tuesday trying to figure out why my online store wasn't getting any traction. The barista came over to refill my cup and asked what I was working on. I joked that she probably didn't want to hear about my inventory problems but she just shrugged and said try me. So I laid out the whole thing about how I was selling handmade leather wallets but getting zero repeat buyers. She looked at it for like 30 seconds and pointed out that my website had no clear way for people to sign up for restock alerts or discounts. I had been so focused on the product itself that I totally missed the basic email list setup. I fixed it that night and in 3 weeks I got 47 signups from just the page she spotted. Has anyone else had a random stranger point out something obvious you were missing?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_nathan1mo ago

Sometimes the best advice comes with a side of latte art.

adamk951mo ago

oh absolutely my buddy eric had something similar happen. he was stressing about his little pop-up art gallery idea for months, talking my ear off about pricing and framing and whatever. then some guy at a brewery overheard him complaining and just said "bro your instagram has zero location tags in the bio" and walked away. eric laughed it off but added them that night and literally doubled his foot traffic in two weeks from people just finding him on maps. sometimes it really is the dumbest most obvious thing you've been staring past the whole time.

clark.alex1mo ago

lol I mean checking blind spots is good but trusting coffee shop advice on inventory is kinda wild too.