What I Learned About Business From the Dancing Subway Guy

Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 01:00pm by Warren Greeley in Innovation

Living near a big city has its advantages. One of the greatest things I love is public transportation (and the answer is no, I am not crazy). But there are plenty of unique people that ride the rails through the city of Chicago. Like many philosophers of old and new, I like to learn from all different perspectives and here are three contrasting ways to run a business that I learned from people I met on the subway system of Chicago.

THE SUBWAY PERFORMER

Chicago’s subways (like New York’s) are famous for their starving musicians looking to make a buck by performing for the commuters and more for the tourists. They know the tourists are the ones who they’ll get more money from.

On a particular stop under the Wicker Park area there was a black man with a guitar and the voice of a drunk Jimmy Hendrix on a bad day. Though his sound was off, he still had some soul in his music, beating out tunes from Clapton and The Temptations. When he finished his second solo, he looked around to see most of the train station ignoring him.

So, what did he do? He got peoples attention, yelling, “Excuse me. I don’t care if you like what I play, I don’t care if you give me money, but I demand that you clap when I am done.”

What a guy.

Now, what do you think happened after he was done with his next song? Not only did people clap but also now he had their attention so more and more people were giving him money in his guitar case.

He was the most aggressive businessman. He demanded attention and got it. He did not say give me money (even denouncing it). Instead he said he just wanted to be acknowledged and that made all the difference.

THE WHEEL CHAIR VETERAN

This guy has to be one of the most interesting fellows I have ever met. He was an old black man in a wheel chair wearing a tattered army coat. He had a salt and pepper beard and a southern farm hat with the front flipped up. On his hat was a button that said, “God’s hand controls all.” On his lap was a sketchbook.

Intriguing.

Just his persona made him stand out in the subway tunnel. It was great. And he clearly used this to attract people. He did not have to say anything, just his appearance was enough. Then when my friends and I did approach him he did not pitch us right away. He talked to us, asking what we were out doing today. He got to know us a little and then, as it happened, we asked him to draw us.

Again, we asked him to draw us. It was as simple as that. The man did not have to speak a word for us to know what he did. His image was enough. He could talk pleasantries and really seemed like a decent human being. Business came to him because of this.

Then he just named a price when asked. Bingo. His price. He knew he had us hooked and he kept control over the entire situation without pitching us at all.

THE DANCING SUBWAY GUY

This was my favorite of the three. He wasn’t selling anything. He wasn’t trying to pitch an idea. He was just being himself. As I rode the subway, approximately under Madison Ave., a big white man in a blue parka sat adjacent to me in the train car wearing headphones. The music was loud enough to faintly hear throughout the car. It was clearly techno.

At one point the man got up, with a grin on his face, not looking to see if anyone was watching and started dancing to the music. Being a big man it was very funny to see him flailing about while not disturbing anyone else’s’ personal space. When the song finished, he just sat down, smiling. I could tell he really enjoyed himself.

I want to be the Dancing Subway Guy.

Not literally of course, but he was clearly doing what he did for the love of it and not for attention. Quite the contrary, he dismissed other’s possible presumptions about him and did what he wanted.

In creating a venture that will change the world this is, I think, how an entrepreneur should act. Not necessarily be ridiculous, but be themselves and do things how they think is best regardless of the inevitable criticism. The Dancing Subway Guy could be an inspiration to all entrepreneurs because he is simply doing what he loves.

Now imagine if he had a hat to put money into and did it on the railway. I guarantee I would have put in some money.

// Warren Greeley is an Entrepreneur and writer at Zen Problog where he writes about professional lifestyle.

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