With all this talk of a recession looming, and the political parties climbing over one another to say how they would be best for small businesses, I thought I’d briefly mention how I helped someone in my own little way with their enterprise.
During my time in Peru, I met a young entrepreneur, who came to me with a business proposition.
“Shine your shoes mister?” He said with a Peruvian twang.
“No thanks lad, as you can see I’m wearing a dirty pair of adidas trainers, you won’t be able to polish these bad boys up” I replied, without breaking a stride. These trainers were the only thing that had been on my feet for 6 months (Bar a pair of flippers I went diving in), they had been covered in mud, soaked through, climbed a volcano and much more, and were really dirty and stank.
“Go on. Only one sole (20p). Please?”
I admired his tenacity, as he followed me down the street for half a mile, so finally I relented.
So he shined my shoes, and I gave him a couple of soles. (Despite him trying to hike the price up to 16 soles midway through the polish)
So, in all their glory, here is the end result, my shiny trainers!
October 27, 2008 at 11:58 am |
Not a bad deal,
however to turn a good profit he should change business, in the East end of Glasgow many young entrepreneurs generate a high turnover through the well rehearsed pitch of “Watch your car mister?”