Bad Boss

It looks as though I'll have another client.
I have no idea why people decide to open nightclubs without any previous experience.
Maybe they'd been to a well run club and thought, "This looks easy. I could do this.".
But it only looked easy because the people knew what they were doing.

My business is strictly word of mouth and I accept cash payments only.
I initially go to the club as a guest and try to see what the club is doing right and what needs to be improved upon.
After this, I offer to work for two weeks for free and then after the two weeks we'll negotiate a price based on performance.
(Usually a percentage of the increase in the club's revenue.)

I just finished my first week at a well funded, but poorly run, club.
The biggest problem with the club is it's owners and managers.
The owners and managers want to sit in the lounge and talk to their little circle of friends.
But this is a mistake - the hundred or so friends of the owners won't keep a club open as well as can the thousands of potential patrons the owners don't know.
When a club is slow is the best time to stop and introduce oneself and to thank the patrons for coming in.
Every patron likes to brag that they know the owner.
The more patrons that can say this the better.

The other common problem is the insecurities of those in charge.
As a cocktail waitress was having trouble taking a patron's drink order - I left the bar to offer the patron some options.
But this club did not have a working blender and it's Daiquiri machine was on the fritz.
As I was talking to the table of ladies, one of the owners came by to see what was going on.
Upon hearing that we couldn't make the drinks first requested, "Oh, he's new and he doesn't know how to work the bar yet." the owner said.
But this is wrong.
I had left the bar to take the blame away from the young cocktail waitress and to offer a remedy.
(I know I'm good so a little heat wouldn't hurt my reputation. In fact - saying,"I don't know" or "I'm sorry but..." improves my reputation.)
The owner came to the table to place the blame on someone else.
(Her fear of looking bad actually made her look worse.)
But the cocktail waitress noticed this.
The young cocktail waitress also knew that the higher ones position the higher the blame.
The cocktail waitress and her coworkers are now more loyal to me than they are their bosses.

Bad bosses (managers, owners, leaders,...) blame others.
Good bosses blame themselves and then find solutions.
Bad bosses run and hide when things go wrong.
Good bosses take the heat when things go wrong.