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Yelp Helps

More often than not, if you want to find a good restaurant, you’re going to Yelp it. While the individual reviewers may not be the most charming, in aggregate, they’re changing the restaurant market, creating new business for well-reviewed companies and cutting into the market share of chains.

Researcher Michael Luca at Harvard Business School analyzed data [PDF] from Yelp and the Washington State Department of Revenue to see how the online database affected Seattle restaurants. He found that Yelp had rated 70 percent of all operational restaurants in 2009, while the city’s largest newspaper had only reviewed 5 percent of them.

Luca discovered that Yelp had tangible influence on business in Seattle’s restaurants:

“A one-star increase in Yelp rating leads to a 5-9 percent increase in revenue.“  That’s a big deal right there. When consumers have information that they trust (especially from multiple users or particularly detailed reviews) it influences decisions.

“This effect is driven by independent restaurants; ratings do not affect restaurants with chain affiliation.” This makes sense: All McDonalds have Big Macs, and they’re all pretty much the same. Interestingly, people don’t appear to be paying much attention to variations between chain restaurants.

“Chain restaurants have declined in market share as Yelp penetration has increased.” The internet saving small business? Maybe. It’s certainly equalizing the information advantage enjoyed by famous brands.

I Believe in You

I don’t believe in superstars,
Organic food and foreign cars.
I don’t believe the price of gold;
The certainty of growing old.
That right is right and left is wrong,
That north and south can’t get along.
That east is east and west is west.
And being first is always best.

But I believe in love.
I believe in babies.
I believe in Mom and Dad.
And I believe in you.

Well, I don’t believe that heaven waits,
For only those who congregate.
I like to think of God as love:
He’s down below, He’s up above.
He’s watching people everywhere.
He knows who does and doesn’t care.
And I’m an ordinary man,
Sometimes I wonder who I am.

But I believe in love.
I believe in music.
I believe in magic.
And I believe in you.

I know with all my certainty,
What’s going on with you and me,
Is a good thing.
It’s true, I believe in you.

I don’t believe virginity,
Is as common as it used to be.
In working days and sleeping nights,
That black is black and white is white.
That Superman and Robin Hood,
Are still alive in Hollywood.
That gasoline’s in short supply,
The rising cost of getting by.

But I believe in love.
I believe in old folks.
I believe in children.
I believe in you.

I believe in love.
I believe in babies.
I believe in Mom and Dad.
And I believe in you.

I Believe in You by Don Williams

It must be claimed

Yet another marketer talking yet again about how brands are like people.

But they really are. Case in point:

You cannot bestow upon a brand purpose, life and meaning. You can highlight opportunities and gaps. You can point it in the right direction. But unless the brand claims a purpose of its own accord, the crew will mutiny, rations will run short, and the ship will veer from the path you drew for it, lured by short-term gain.

Loving What You Do

I don’t disagree with the idea that “doing what you love” makes you happier, but I also think it’s partially over-hyped as a symptom of society flailing in search for happiness. The truth is, work is always work. You have to work hard. There’s no dodging it if you want to do good work and it doesn’t just become “not work” in my opinion.

Also, I think at a certain level what you work hard at and become good at, you enjoy more. We enjoy being good at things, and this positive feedback from a natural aptitude can encourage us to work harder, and therefore get better, and therefore enjoy our work more. In this sense, there may be an element of “you like what you eat”, which has been shown to be true in a variety of circumstances (at least that’s what I hear.) I don’t mind hearing people say “do what you love”, but I’d also like to hear some voices in the crowd start saying “Love what you do.”

A colleague summed up what he learned from reading Thoreau’s Walden succinctly: no matter how bad you have it, someone has it worse. Keep your head up.

So yes, go find what you love and do it. But if you’re not in your dream job, it’s no excuse to not love what you’re doing, unless it’s somehow evil and destroying humanity. Love what you do. Love life. Keep your head up. Keep whistling and moving on.