Friday, April 24, 2009

Late Stage MBA- Josh Moritz- Can Felice and Yvonne Save America?

Felice is one of the Barbers I go to at the Compo Shopping Center in Westport, CT. His heavy Italian accent does not stop him from having opinions about everything ranging from the economy to AIG. One recent Friday morning he was exasperated; all the banks were crooks, the government can't figure it out, forget about the insurance companies. He runs a barber shop, he knows about money. No credit, no credit cards, just the cash or maybe a check if he knows you. While he didn't quite come out and say it, Felice wasn't so sure that these folks are any different than a two bit criminal. His solution is pretty simple, you take money in, you take money out. No derivatives and no deviation. While most of his clientele is driving up in BEEMERS, Mercedes and even the less than rare but more than common Maserati, he is thinking about the evil eye more these days and wondering about the tips.

Yvonne is another story. A long lost Texan gal, now Westport residdent who now owns a popular coffee shop in Westport called Docs is more worried that the solutions are coming fast enough. She'll tell you she did not vote for Obama, but she likes him, she just hopes there is enough time to fix the mix. A very plain speaking woman, Yvonne is quite colorful in describing the morning traffic that used to stop in on the way to the trains station: it is way down. She can't figure out if half the town has been laid off or is going on vacation. Wish I knew. Her solution to the whole mess is to keep on making that coffee. The parking lot is not half empty at rush hour, its still half full.

3 comments:

Tim Manners said...

Josh, I'm a Doc's regular who hasn't yet kicked the habit (although I'm there on Saturdays only). My advice to Yvette would be to take steps to attract more traffic instead of waiting around for Obama to do it for her.

How about some live music? Like a real coffee house? A poetry slam? Art exhibits? Author lectures? Plenty of talent in the area willing to pitch in for a bag of beans, I'll bet -- and it would create a whole new brand of buzz at Doc's.

As for the barber - cash only, eh? Hm. I'm not sure he's one to cast stones. Did you ask him if he thinks he's paying his fair share in taxes? :-)

Late Stage MBA - Josh Moritz said...

LinkedIn
Shari Lidsky has sent you a message.
Date: 4/27/2009
Subject: RE: What can the barber and coffee shop owner do better than an MBA? Maybe they already own successful businesses.
Hi Josh,
Enjoying your blog and I hope you are learning something useful in MBA school. Can't imagine what they'll teach you after all these years. So on the success question -- define success. Are the customers who come in to see Felice happier worrying about having a job next month to pay for their leased Mercedes and their mortage of 1.2 million on a house that's now worth 900K, or is Felice the successful one, taking only cash, paying as he goes and not worrying about making his mortgage payments on his already paid for 300K ranch house? The guy on your blog who suggests that Doc's bring in authors and give away free beans, forgets that the beans cost money, nothing's free in life. So who is succesfull in life? It's all in the eye of the beholder.

Regards, Shari

Late Stage MBA - Josh Moritz said...

Herb Satzman No, but you may get a good haircut and a halfway decent cup of Joe!2:43pm ·