Wednesday, September 22, 2010

"Against the wind" is more than a rock moneymaker

Perhaps this observation belongs in my music blog, but I believe that Bob Seger has only written one song in his life, and he keeps on rewriting it. Seger's song has lyrics that say that when he was younger, things were wonderful, and now he's older. The song has different names - "Night Moves," Mainstreet, "Still the Same," "Old Time Rock & Roll" - but it's pretty much the same song.

One time Seger released the song with the name "Against the Wind." A true song of youthful rebellion...and a moneymaker for Seger; the song was a top ten hit in the U.S. and Canada.

But even if you're not a rock star, you can get benefits from going against the wind. Steve Johnson wrote about this, using restaurants as an example. Every restaurant wants to stand apart from the crowd in some way, which gave Johnson an idea.

Here's my favorite idea: do you really want to be unique? Then FORBID children in your restaurant. There are many family-friendly restaurants but this isn't one of them. This happened with a restaurant in Washington state and the mothers went insane. They felt it was their RIGHT to annoy everyone with their damn kids. But the owner said, I don't have high-chairs or chicken fingers or a play room. I serve adult food to adults. If you don't like it, don't dine here. And adults flocked to this unique atmosphere.

I couldn't find out anything about this restaurant in the state of Washington, but I did find out about a restaurant in the state of North Carolina. This particular restaurant is more lenient, since it does allow children. As long as they're not screaming.

There's a new item on the menu at Olde Salty Restaurant on Carolina Beach. And it may be hard for some parents to digest. No screaming children. Brenda Armes, Olde Salty's owner says, "If they find it offending, I suggest that they find another restaurant to eat at that does tolerate it, because we're not going to."

Armes is tired of hearing her customers complain about screaming kids while they're trying to dine. So she put up these signs inside and out. She says, "It has brought us in more customers than it's ever kept away."


Some spectacular business and other successes have resulted from counter-programming, including the entire fast food industry (which was not the slow food industry), the Rolling Stones (who were perceived as not being good like the Beatles were), and Barack Obama (who was associated with the word "change").

So how can going "against the wind" bring financial benefits to YOU?
blog comments powered by Disqus