The "Whisky, Pasta, and WTF Should I Charge???" Edition

30-Second Skill: How to Eat Spaghetti in Fancy Places Without Slapping it All Over Your Chin

Picture it: Plate of pasta. White pants. Your chin. You know where this is going.

You try and be all sophisticated, twirling pasta onto your spoon (EEETTTT! ❌), or if you're from the kind of place I am, you might try the sinful move of actually cutting it (BIG ❌).

Nevertheless, you still feel like you need an entire roll of Bounty paper towels because no matter how hard you try, you still end up with a gallon of sauce on your face.

Enter: THE TRICK.

It's a simple trick, really. One little tweak that'll change your life forevermore. [Insert evil laugh!]

Ready for it?

Here it goes:

Twirl your fork into the pasta *counter* clockwise.

Now, the pasta strands will end up away from your face, instead of dangling down your chin like little Italian booby tassels (which is exactly what happens when you twirl clockwise).

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS.

Vivette Drink: Small-Batch English Whisky is Having a Moment

Poor England: overshadowed for so many years by Scottish whisky—spelled intentionally without the 'e' as they do in Scotland—and Irish whiskey—spelled with the 'e.'

But now, England is having a whisky moment of its own. 🥃

• Recently, 40 active distilleries have popped up all over the country—one of which, The Oxford Artisan Distillery, is the only one in the world that uses ancient heritage grains.
• This past May, The English Whisky Guild was created (yup, spelled without the 'e'! Maybe the first time the English and the Scots have agreed on something???) to promote English whisky as a globally recognized choice.
• The volume of whisky produced by English distilleries is forecasted to grow 189% through 2023. (Interesting investment opportunity, FYI.)
• They're having an absolute ball because, while they share a climate similar to Scotland, they aren't bound by all of the rules and regulations of Scottish whisky. (And therefore can employ neat techniques, like The Lakes Distillery does by using the élevage process associated with Cognac, where they transfer the whisky between different barrels to create intriguing layers of flavor instead of just letting it sit.)
• Cooper King Distillery in Yorkshire does something even more wild: they use a 900-liter Tasmanian copper pot still that is insulated with paint developed by NASA (usually used to coat the tips of space rockets).
• P.S. Order your whisky neat at room temperature, then add a few drops of water to enhance the aromas and soften the finish like a pro. None that ice business, Barb.

Nomad Business Idea to Steal 👀

On the flip side of the whisky coin, alcohol-free bars are popping up everywhere. You've got Sans Bar in Austin, Awake Bar in Denver (whose Spicy Metta Marg looks heavenly), Listen Bar in New York City, 0% in Tokyo, and The Virgin Mary in Dublin (DEAD over this name).

And plenty more hitting the scene every day.

Fueled by a growing movement of sober curious living, these bars are focusing on conscious socializing, human connection, and really great drinks—without the booze.

They definitely have a lot going for them, but like any industry in its infancy, they're going to need help.

And that's a business opportunity. 💥

For all of my nomads out there who are marketing pros, copywriting pros, packaging pros, social media pros, newsletter pros, photography pros, partnership pros, and beyond...

Why not hit send on an email to any one of the growing number of bars & businesses and see how you can help?

If you're really committed, you could even lean into this industry and brand yourself as an expert who specializes in marketing alcohol-free businesses.

Proactive outreach might sound painful, but that's only until you get a "yes." Then, it's magic. 😉

Ask Viv: Should I Charge Monthly or Yearly?

Monthly versus yearly—which should you charge?!

You're probably inclined to want to start small and charge a monthly fee as a way of offering easy access to your product. (And not having massive anxiety over asking for, um, money.) But, here are a couple of other data points to keep in mind:

• Annual subscriptions are 65% more likely to renew after Year 1 than monthly subscriptions
• Customers feel pain every time you charge them—and by charging monthly, you're inflicting that pain 12 times throughout the year
• You can't offer beautiful bonuses for new subscribers, because you run the risk of the monthly subscriber subscribing and then cancelling after receiving the bonus
• Customers may make premature decisions about the value of the subscription if they haven't been subscribed long enough, and then cancel before getting the benefit
• Small businesses need cashflow to invest in their programs and ideas: monthly payments will give you 1/12th of a drip at a time, while an annual payment will give you the full investment at once

Pretty strong case for annual, right? (I said annual, smart alek.)

That said, you can also run the risk of out-pricing would-be customers—so your price point has a lot to do with this decision. If your service costs $300 a month, asking a stranger to spend $3,600 up front is a hard sell. (Though certainly not impossible if you know how to sell.)

If your service costs $25/month, however, asking someone to spend $300 for the whole year is a pretty reasonable request—so long as your messaging is on-point, your promise is solid, your copy is great, and your website is hella good.

Whatever you do, just remember that it'll take you 10x longer and cost you 5x more than you thought it would...so if you do decide to charge monthly, make sure the revenue can actually support the business—and you aren't making bad business decisions just because you feel bad asking for money.

P.S. Did You Know?

No All-Yellow Bouquets in France—Or Else. 🙈 While Americans think of cheerfulness when they see the color yellow, in France, an all-yellow bouquet implies unfaithfulness. To the French, yellow symbolizes divorce, separation, cheating, or a breakup. So, um...maybe stick with cheese? 🧀