We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bobby Harris a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Bobby , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?
One of my prior jobs was for a small family owned business. It was a great experience because I was able to get the inside look into a successful small business design. While being a successful business, there was one big issue that consequently contributed to the most important lesson I have learned. That lesson would be to develop processes within your business before starting your business. The company that I worked for didn’t necessarily have structured processes in place when I first began and this led to nothing but frustration from employees and the owners. As business poured in, the infrastructure felt like nothing but chaos most days. There wasn’t always proper cross-functional communication leading to customers falling through the cracks and eventually led to customer complaints. This issue was brought up after a few conversations and our team finally began to work on how to fix it. As you would expect, when processes began to be put in place, work became more enjoyable and customers received better service. It also allowed for the majority of the company to have a basic idea to follow no matter what. Establishing processes became the main focus of my business because I wanted a smooth customer experience from inquiry to completion, great internal communication, and a smooth transition from idea to publishing for social media. The last thing I would say that I learned from this experience is that processes should be constantly evolving. The scale of your business will determine how efficient your processes are at times. What is working today could not work in a year, or what is working for a company of four people could not work for a company of 100 people. Consistently analyzing processes can help you get ahead of certain issues and have a consistently successful business.
Bobby , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Bobby Harris and I am a graduate of THE Auburn University. I fell into the industry due to a great friend of mine, Chelsea Walker of Chelsea’s Event Planning. One day during a conversation, she spoke about a need for a hookah catering service because some of her clients had mentioned it. At the time, I wasn’t really intrigued by the idea because I had tried hookah in college and I wasn’t the biggest fan. Because we mentioned the word “hookah” during our phone call, I began to notice different ads for hookahs on social media. This sparked my interest and eventually led me down a rabbit hole of great information and knowledge. I created Up in Smoke Hookah Delivery Service to not only offer an amazing hookah experience, but to also provide knowledge to those that interested in the concept of hookah. I have witnessed many services that don’t necessarily think about the customers experience and I wanted to set myself apart from them. I take pride in the fact that my business prioritizes customer service and the value of education. No matter if someone is using our service or not, we want to educate anyone that wants to learn. The hookah industry is growing and a lot of new things are coming out daily. With the right information, my friends and I have learned to truly enjoy hookah and have higher expectations.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Two books that really changed my thought process towards my business were: The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy and The One Thing by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan. The Compound Effect isn’t a book solely about business, but more so about how the little decisions you make daily can help you build momentum to where you want to be, or not. From a business stand point, this book helped me to relax and stop putting so much pressure on myself. Rome wasn’t built in a day and I had to understand that same concept for my business. The One Thing helped me to understand how to stop being all over the place when it came to business. There may be many things that need to be done in my business, but the only way for me to maximize my potential is to complete one thing at a time. Not only will this help with your stress that sometimes comes from having multiple things on your mind, it will also help build positive momentum and keep the business afloat.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best source of new clients for me has been relocating the business to Atlanta permanently. I originally started my business in Nashville, TN but travelled to Atlanta for services. I knew moving to Atlanta would be great for business because while in Nashville, bookings from Atlanta came in quite often. While I’m Nashville, the biggest issue I would have with potential Atlanta customers was the traveling fee. I would lose a good amount of potential clients because of the extra cost. After finally moving the business to Atlanta and removing the traveling fee, the bookings have increased greatly. I would say that taking the risk of relocating my business was the blessing that I needed.
Contact Info:
- Website: up-in-smoke-services.com
- Instagram: @upinsmokellc_
- Facebook: Up in Smoke Hookah Delivery Service
Image Credits
Mukai Masunungure (Grizzy Grey) Dia Andrews BCarter Photography