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(pick up a mock phone call from Emmie)
"Rent-My-Bike"
"Yes..we have that bike available; when do you need it?"
"Ok, I can drop it off at your house tonight"
"No, problem... see you soon, bye"
Imagine you just arrive at Palo Alto on Sunday night for one week business trip. You wanna cheap rental bike for commuting to Stanford or Caltrain station, starting on Monday. Who will you call?
(show slide#1: Yelp page)
My dear fellow toastmasters and welcome guests. How many of you here own a business?..raise your hand..
How many of you would like to own one..at least once in your life?..Great!
Let me tell share the story of my first adventure to a business world. ..the story of Rent-My-Bike.
Like many other business stories...my story start with a need.
(slide #2: ...with one word "Need")
Peter (slide #3: photo of me & Peter on youtube), a summer student in my lab, lost his bike only a few weeks before returning home. Don't wanna buy a new bike, Peter tries to find bike rental
...but he couldn't find a cheap one (slide#4..rental price page from Campus bike shop).. the cheapest weekly rental is almost the same price a new low-ended Walmart bike..which Peter don't wanna buy..given a few week left..
Trying to help Peter, I think what if.. (slide#5..with a single phrase "what if..").. what if I can rent out bike much cheaper than that?.. .(slide#6...rental price page from Campus bike shop again..but now cut all price by half)...will people rent them?.. will I be able to make some money?
.. so I run an experiment (slide#7....with a single word "experiment..")
..printing a few of this flyer (slide#8... a photo of Rent-My-Bike flyer) in my office...put them around campus. I didn't actually have any bike..except for the one I'm using..but I just wanna know how pp respond.
This is a scary step..when one translate an idea to an action..even a small one.I still vividly remember the evening (slide #9...a cartoon..a person sneaking with a flyer in hand)..I sneaked around campus to put on my flyers..a voice in my ear said " “this is stupid.. this is stupid..you’re wasting your time…you’re wasting your time.”
Luckinly, I got the first call a few days later ...(slide#10....with a single phrase "first sale.")..a Stanford grad student name Sankeet..broke his own bike...and happened to need a bike that day.... I gave him my bike, took $10 Not a lot… but I felt like winning a lottery. It was like my self-esteem level bounced back. The idea worked! (yeah , at least once!). I remember waving that $10 around and showing it to almost everyone I met that day...I actually pin that $10 trophy over my office bench ...(slide#11....a photo of $10 bills on Rent-My-Bike flyer).
..the same afternoon..I got the second call from Mona, an iranian visiting scholar..just arrived for the summer. (phone) "Hi this is Mona..do you have any bike? ..and where is your store by the way?" .."oh yes yes yes..uhh can you give me an hour?" ..(slide#12....with a single phrase "expand/learn")
..so I ran back home...you know..my bike's already at Sankeet....I drove to Walmart..bought the cheapest bike with a U-lock for a little over hundred dollar..my second bike (slide#13..with a photo of one bike to start with..then wipe in the second bike)....drove back to Mona....rent out that bike for a week..$35
..then on the next day (pick up phone).."I'm Jakrit; my roommate and I want two bikes for a week"..."oh yes..yes.yes.. can we meet later this evening?" ..I drove to Walmart again..again.. (still at slide#13..but wipe in more an more bike photo..up to 10 bikes) ..Small detail I didn’t think of start to emerge..missing light? Missing helmet? Missing waiver form? No change?..every time I forget, I had to drive back to Walmart.. (still at slide #13..add photos of helmet..light..etc.)That was a good punishment that teaches me to be more careful.
Soon I start to understood the sweet spot I just hit.
Stanford and palo alto is a very dynamic place with lots of shorter visitors..for conference..training..business visiting..etc.
Most people rent bike for a week..that's $35..about a third of a $100 cheapest new bike..people don't want to pay $100 for a new bike they'll use for only a week...but I do, of course, three week rental to three people..and I redeem the bike cost, what a great deal!
..there bikes are locked outside my lab..so no garage cost... I'm the office 7 days a week anyway..as a grad student...no office/cashier salary cost. ..basically after about 6 weeks..I redeemed investment cost..now every dime is profit..this way I can keep my rental rate low. less than half of other bike shop around...
what a great deal! I should let more pp know! so.. (slide#14..with Rent-My-Bike on Yelp, Facebook, google site..my business card..)
Many people asked if I made a lot of money. Well, $100 profit a week was not a lot but still much more than I expected when I started. However, for me, lessons from this small business experiment are very valuable. !.I learned that business could be a tool for connecting to people (slide #15..with one phrase "human connection") (slide #16...handshaking photo)
…. an visiting scholar from Iran, mathematician from England, tourist from Taiwan, an entrepreneur Sweden, a Attorney from DC, Journalist from German… It is amazing to think that I am graduate student working my lab at the basement …and all these customers from all over the places came find me, gave me money and said something like “oh I’m glad I found you!” or “thanks for doing this..such a great idea.”
I told you bike start up stories ..but the underlying philosophy of that go beyond making business..
(final slide..a photo of person biking under beautiful sunset)
(final slide..a photo of person biking under beautiful sunset)
...I learned to get excited hearing complaints
... to think outside the box..
...to have courage to give a short..
..to focus on small and concrete result..
..more keep moving up and learning..
..and to reflect upon human connection.
.
Rent-My-Bike is a just warm-up exercise..for much
bigger things to come
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