{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/68357ec21b846c88bdcd7480/6af1c3fdce118fd5b56ce322?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"157: The sofa gradient","description":"<p>You move to the cool venue. The younger crowd turns up. And the rent triples. Now what?</p><p><br></p><p>In this one we wade through the swampier corners of Bournemouth’s Upper Gardens, with a beefing baby in tow. We pick through a live strategy problem from our side hustle: keeping a Lindy Hop school alive with two small children, no time for marketing and our own stubborn refusal to play pop music. After weeks of weighing options that all felt bad, the answer turned out to be moving one class to a different night. </p><p><br></p><p>We use this small stakes example as a lens onto your big serious business situation.</p><p><br></p><ul><li>Why the best decision we made was the one we refused to rush</li><li>The 8pm sofa problem, and how to rig the gradient so staying out beats going home</li><li>What a long commute to Weymouth tells you about why your most loyal customers won’t buy more</li><li>The date-night test for pricing something you love that will never wash its own face</li><li>Why becoming “the McDonald’s of dancing” is a trap, even if you could pull it off (and you probably couldn’t)</li><li>Boundaries versus constraints: the rules you choose versus the granite rocks you’re stuck with</li><li>A punch from the universe – every plan eventually meets a babysitter falling through</li></ul><p><br></p><p>For anyone running something niche, stretched and stubborn, and wondering whether to bend it, shrink it or just rearrange the deckchairs.</p><p><br></p><p>Share your stories of strategic furniture-rearranging with us: <a href=\"mailto:tentacles@crownandreach.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">tentacles@crownandreach.com</a></p><p><br></p><p>References</p><p><br></p><ul><li>JP Castlin’s ABCDE strategic framework (Aspiration, Boundaries, Constraints…), from his forthcoming book. <a href=\"https://strategyinpraxis.substack.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://strategyinpraxis.substack.com/</a></li><li>Lindy Hop, solo jazz and the Charleston</li><li>Constraints, constructors, actants, counterfactual constraints and energy gradients – <a href=\"https://cynefin.io/wiki/Estuarine_framework\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://cynefin.io/wiki/Estuarine_framework</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p>Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com</p>","author_name":"Tom Kerwin"}