Guru Please

What is Digital Hospitality and How to Tell Your Story with Shawn Walchef

Episode Summary

Shawn is more profitable in his business during COVID than pre-COVID. Find out how. Hint, digital. Plus, get inspired (and maybe teary) by his grandfather's immigrant story.

Episode Notes

Shawn is a restaurateur and founder of Cali BBQ Media. He started operating his family restaurant Cali Comfort BBQ in East San Diego County in 2008 like a media company, and now he teaches small business owners how to master online media to thrive.

Quotes to remember:

“Once you have access to information, you choose what you want to listen to. You choose what compels you. You choose what you think about when you go to sleep at night.”

“It’s so important to be grounded in gratitude.”

Takeaways:

Digital has completely changed the full-service restaurant business model, and many other industries
Getting to know your own family history is very empowering
Small business need to go digital so that people can access their goods and services
No one has your story but you; always be branding
The magic happens in the micro and in the 1-on-1 connections, not in going viral
You come first because you need to be okay to take care of anyone else

What you’ll learn:

What digital hospitality is, and how it has enabled Shawn’s restaurant to be more profitable during COVID than pre-COVID
Why starting a business in the recession of 2008 was a blessing in disguise
About Shawn’s mentor, his grandfather, an immigrant from a Bulgarian village
What his gratitude practice looks like
About decision paralysis and how to overcome it

Mentioned on the podcast:

Links:

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