We are not failing, we are successfully iterating
More or less than a bar —
a tiny SipSin case study
The other week, I met with Heather Garlick, the owner of SipSin — an alcohol-free bar in Liverpool city centre.
SipSin is a brilliant new idea whose time has come, but Heather is offering it in a tough, old market; measuring success using traditional metrics in this competitive space was proving futile. She knew she needed to change her perspective and pivot the business accordingly.
We talked about her past 18 months of hard work to get the business up and running. I watched her energy drain as she recounted everything she’s tried so far.
However, through her retelling of events, the energy changed as we talked through ways in which she is offering something far greater than an improved version of an existing thing.
It’s the kind of perspective shift that changes everything. She eventually landed on a new possibility; an opportunity to play much bigger.
How it started vs. how it’s going
In Theory, there is no difference between Theory and Practice, while in Practice there is. — Author unclear
So often we move forward, categorising our progress as failure, when it’s anything but. It usually happens because we’re evaluating success using outdated or ineffective measures — metrics that make sense when we’re making our plans, but don’t help us much in practice.
How it started
Like anyone at the beginning of a great adventure, Heather lacked a critical piece—what actually happens out there in the world. Over time, she found out.
She started out with her best, informed guess about what would work and how to prove it. If a traditional bar is measured in drink sales, why should this be any different?
How it’s going
Despite SipSin’s extensive menu of alcohol-free cocktails, spirits, and beers, the average guest at her establishment doesn’t stay as long or drink as much as they would in a traditional bar. Turns out, alcohol is the key ingredient to sales-by-volume. By this measure, her business was failing.
But she and others leading this new alternative nightlife revolution know that something’s not quite right or true about that.
Success by a new measure
Heather has tried many things and had lots of successes along the way. She’s learned what works and what doesn’t, what’s hard vs. what’s easy, the events that draw a crowd and the reasons people keep coming back. One-by-one, she is bringing together her 1,000 true fans.
I see it, too. SipSin’s success isn’t measured in bottles, cans, or cocktails. It’s much bigger than that.
She is not simply running an alcohol-free bar. She is reimagining what it means to have a wildly fantastic night out, in a safe and inclusive space that provides an impressive range of alcohol-free drinks.
That success is measured by experience, not volume.
The job of a bar
There’s a framework employed in Experience Design called Jobs to be Done (JTBD). It provides a different way of looking at things; specifically, at how we view competitors.
A key premise of the JTBD method is that we “hire” products and services to do various “jobs” for us. Using Clay Christensen’s classic example, we might “hire” a milkshake to keep us company on a long commute to the office. This is preferable to hiring the bagel (too difficult to eat), Snickers bar (too much guilt), or banana (unfulfilling).
Notice that the landscape of competitors changes once you understand the problem that the milkshake solves, e.g. the job it’s been hired to do. The competitors in this case are not other drinks, but rather ways to get a lasting, filling, easy-to-consume breakfast during a long, boring commute.
It’s similar for SipSin. Its competitors are also not other drinks. Or even other bars. In fact, people “hire” bars for very different reasons than they’d “hire” SipSin. Bars are the solution for when people want to party, to escape their worries, to hook up, to be part of a scene where something wild might happen. And on.
SipSin and other alcohol-free bars are being “hired” to do a different job. For the health-conscious person looking for an exciting time out in a safe environment, the competitors might be escape rooms, movie theatres, special interest events or classes, community centres, parks, lounges and hired meeting spaces. Most of those options — SipSin’s real competitors — are time-boxed, costly, sporadic, boring, or deeply uncool.
What an amazing opportunity to build a thriving community in that space.
One for the road ahead
When we start out — with a hot idea and eager plan — we don’t know things. And then we learn. And with that knowledge and experience, we discover we need to do some things differently. That’s what progress looks like.
Failure happens when we’re not learning, despite all the opportunity. Or when we’re ignoring and denying the experiences we’re having; blindly following the original plan at all costs.
That’s not happening here. Which is why it’s so exciting to witness — the process of learning and continuous improvement. To spot an opportunity for something truly new and different to emerge.
From insight to opportunity
It is incredible to be able to follow along as Heather and other owners and leaders try things, learn, and try some more. It’s informed what I do, too. It’s also how I know that, for whatever challenge we’re working on, we are not failing, we are successfully iterating. This is what that looks like.
If your business isn’t going quite how you imagined, maybe you could use a Sense Check?
