The "Wine Pours, Awkward Restaurant Moments, and Packaging Your Services" Edition

30-Second Skill: What Are You Really Supposed to Do When They Ask You to Taste the Wine?

You're dining on the patio in Portofino, feeling chic in your robin's egg linen-voile maxi shirt dress.

You order a bottle of Perla del Garda “Madonna della Scoperta” 2017—even though you really have no idea what that means—before going back to gossip about the all-new pricing for your creative business.

(No, but how much do you want to be in this scene right now???)

Then the server returns with the bottle and THE RITUAL OF DOOM BEGINS. They present you the bottle Lion King style, do three somersaults in the air, nuzzle the label against your face, utter a high-pitched mating sound, peer deep into your eyes, and pour you a sample of the wine and then....it's your turn. 💁

You taste it, as prompted...but what's really going on here? (And how can you not reveal that you're actually from a small town in Nebraska where the finest wine is Cardbordeaux—AKA the correct name for boxed wine?)

A common misconception is that you're tasting the wine to see if you like it—but, the truth is, no one cares if you, me, or the Pope think it's too dry, too sweet, or too light-bodied. 🤣 The ritual isn't actually about your personal preference. (Damn.)

Rather, you're checking for two things:

1. To make sure the wine isn't bad.
   If it smells like wet dog, vinegar, cabbage, or nail polish remover...then there's a flaw with the wine. Maybe the way it was stored. Maybe it was affected by light. Maybe it was oxidized. (And that's what you're tasting for—though most of the time it's fine, so drink up, daddy.)
2. To make sure it's the correct bottle of wine.
   This might seem unnecessary, but counterfeit wine is a thing—and so are mixed up bottles. But also? It's customary to allow you to gaze longingly upon the label as you taste it—a practice that began with the nobility—so that's why your server might stand there awkwardly holding the label in your face. 😃

In sum, the etiquette isn't to say, "Eh, I don't really like it—can I try another?" But, if you do think the wine is spoiled, it's perfectly fine to ask the sommelier to take a whiff or decant it for you.

Either way, the restaurant didn't make the wine, so they shouldn't be offended. It's okay to ask for a second opinion!

The Cosmopolitan Digital Nomad is HERE. (In Case You Needed Even More Fun-Filled Proof.)

There's an all-new category digital nomad in town (if you haven't heard us shouting about it from all the Grecian rooftops).

They're the 30+ grown-up millennial creatives who now have serious earning power and a travel-friendly online business, and the all-new camp of remote professionals and families, both of which have a different standard of living than the Generation 1.0 nomad.

And they're going to affect the world in big ways.

• Airbnb's fastest-growing category is 28 days or more—more than double what it was in 2019. 😲
• This past week, upscale and upper midscale hotels saw their highest demand EVER. Like, in history.
• And we're seeing record-breaking new openings for trendy new boutique aparthotels—one of which just happens to have something called a nomad pass: "An annual membership designed for the new nomad." You'd think they'd been reading this newsletter!

Luxury Hotel Designer Rengy John recently added to the conversation:

"I think the luxury market has become a lot younger. You find a lot of younger folk in their mid-twenties to their mid-to-early-thirties who are fairly affluent, want to travel, want to experience something, and that section is one we should pay attention to. They’re not looking for what their parents were looking for — they’re after different experiences. They’re looking for satisfaction, for a story to tell. They’re expecting to spend time with their friends — that is their version of the luxury."

Yup.

Investors, keep your eyes open.

And nomads? Enjoy what you've built, and are building. Turns out, you were right for following your dreams; for taking a more interesting path; for pursuing creativity.

Soon, they'll be lining up at your feet.

Nomad Business Idea to Steal 👀

There's an interesting trend that's emerging behind the scenes—and if you're willing to get creative, this could be cool.

For some time now, we've had shoppable Instagram feeds. Shoppable websites. Shoppable emails.

But, what about shoppable houses?

The furniture design company An Aesthetic Pursuit was recently featured for turning their entire Airbnb in Kennebunk, Maine into one giant, shoppable showroom. (Pink sofa is debatable, but those Scandi bar stools are a dream.)

Then, Mint House suddenly showed up with—you guessed it—"Shop Your Stay."

"We’ve transformed our apartments into native retail environments, allowing you to shop carefully curated amenities, goods and decor straight from your phone, and ship directly to your home."

Naturally, if you happen to have a delicious house that you rent out on Airbnb, this is an easy concept to translate.

• Hang your writing all over the walls, and note that you're available for hire.
• Ditto for your photography, your artwork, your illustrations.
• You could make music and have it auto-playing when they arrive, with a special message
• You could brew your own beers and include them in the fridge

But, what if you don't happen to have a spare Airbnb on hand? 😅

Answer: partner with other local Airbnbs to furnish theirs with your creative work—and do a profit split deal.

They need to fill their walls. You need an interesting way to market your work.

Of course, you won't be a millionaire selling your work to the random traveler here and there, but that's not the point. The point is to create something remarkable, worth remarking about. It's to create a concept that you can talk about, pitch to the media, have something of interest to say. That's where this goes from "cute little backyard project" to "major talking point."

And honestly, you don't even need an Airbnb to do that: you can create entire worlds online, these days, dedicated to a theme, an idea, a campaign. You can create something that you'll be proud to talk about. You can create your own buzz. You can make something worth remarking over.

An Airbnb might just be a fun vehicle to get started. 🏡

Ask Viv: Should I Package My Services Or Offer 'Em A La Carte?

Here's the golden rule of all the golden rules:

• Packaging benefits the seller.
• A la carte benefits the buyer.

Two of the biggest benefits to selling things as a package are increasing your average order value and reducing your marketing costs (because now you're just marketing one thing, instead of multiple little things). It also avoids petty line-by-line scrutiny of your hourly rates.

If I were you?

I'd start with a package...and then break off individual offers as a downsell if you need 'em.

Voila! Strategy, solved.