1477: Business Secrets from a Cambodian Tuk-Tuk by Chris Guillebeau on Entrepreneurship Lifestyle

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[00:00:28] Business Secrets from a Cambodian Tuk-Tuk by Chris Guillebeau of ChrisGuillebeau.com

[00:00:35] In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I met Mr. Rett, who held up a copy of my book to greet me at the arrivals area.

[00:00:42] Mr. Rett, also known as just Rett, is a professional tuk-tuk driver.

[00:00:47] The open-air taxis of Southeast Asia, tuk-tuks serve as an interesting introduction to life in the region, and I've had both good and bad experiences with them.

[00:00:56] Two years ago in Bangladesh, I rode in a death trap tuk-tuk with a driver determined to provide me with a Formula One experience on the road to the Dhaka airport at 11 at night.

[00:01:07] To no avail, I kept yelling, please slow down!

[00:01:10] Every time we rounded a corner or ducked in front of a sea of motorcycles.

[00:01:13] Almost an hour later, I arrived at my destination covered in sweat and shaking with fear.

[00:01:18] I survived, but aged at least a year in that 50-minute ride.

[00:01:22] But in Cambodia last weekend, and plenty of other places, all was well in tuk-tuk land, and I felt safe using them as my primary means of transport.

[00:01:31] In fact, I enjoyed my time with Mr. Rett so much that I decided to learn more about the whole tuk-tuk industry.

[00:01:37] Tuk-tuk Cha-Ching

[00:01:40] Informal surveys of expats and other drivers confirmed that most tuk-tuk drivers earn around $2 to $5 a day.

[00:01:47] But Mr. Rett earns up to $50 a day in Phnom Penh, a princely sum in the world of Cambodian transport.

[00:01:53] How is this possible?

[00:01:55] It helps that Rett speaks some English, although he learned on the job and didn't have access to any formal training.

[00:02:01] To understand more, I talked with Rett off and on for three days as he drove me around the city last weekend.

[00:02:07] These are the business secrets of maxing out your income as a Cambodian entrepreneur.

[00:02:12] 1. Work Smarter and Harder

[00:02:16] According to Mr. Rett, and much first-hand observation, the average tuk-tuk driver is lazy.

[00:02:21] He spends his days sleeping, drinking tea, and playing cards.

[00:02:25] While it's nice that the tuk-tuk lifestyle allows for so much leisure time, multiple naps throughout the day are not conducive to getting paid.

[00:02:33] Rett works hard, always staying busy-busy, as he explained.

[00:02:37] He gave me his number and told me to call anytime.

[00:02:39] I will come to you right away, he said.

[00:02:41] A good work ethic is critical, but Rett also learned to focus on foreigners who live in Phnom Penh, not the backpackers and other short-term travelers who come and go.

[00:02:50] The difference is important, since it allows him to get paid for more trips and also earn referrals to other expats as his client list grows.

[00:02:59] 2. Diversify Your Income

[00:03:01] Mr. Rett has a banner on the back of his tuk-tuk for a local coffee shop.

[00:03:05] He is paid $7 a month to display the banner and a small commission for bringing foreign customers to the shop.

[00:03:12] Interestingly, despite the commission, he never tried to bring me to the shop.

[00:03:15] I took this as another good sign, since he wasn't trying to push me on something I wasn't interested in.

[00:03:21] At the request of other clients, Rett also arranges trustworthy taxi drivers to ferry passengers on longer distances, for which he also earns commissions.

[00:03:30] 3. Provide Reassurance

[00:03:32] No matter your business, you should think about the reasons why people will not hire you or buy what you sell, then be sure to preemptively respond to those concerns.

[00:03:41] The concerns about riding in a tuk-tuk are

[00:03:44] A. Safety

[00:03:45] and B. Trustworthiness

[00:03:47] I am a careful driver, Mr. Rett told me when I first met him, and unlike my Death Wish driver in Dhaka, he really was.

[00:03:54] Furthermore, some tuk-tuk drivers are dishonest, cheating foreigners who don't know any better and lying about market rates.

[00:04:01] As you'd expect, Mr. Rett isn't like that at all.

[00:04:04] He sometimes dropped me off without taking any payment at all, and other times told me to decide for myself what to pay.

[00:04:11] Being trustworthy and reliable goes a long way in Cambodia, just like everywhere else in the world.

[00:04:17] 4. Be reliable

[00:04:19] If I had an appointment with Rett, he would always be there. In fact, he was usually early.

[00:04:23] In almost every developing country in the world, people talk about Cambodian time, African time, or similar.

[00:04:30] But Rett understood that silk air flights to Singapore and meetings in town operate on Western time, so I didn't feel the need to tell him to come any earlier than I really needed.

[00:04:39] If I told him to come at 4.30, I could walk outside at 4.25 and see him turning the tuk-tuk around the corner to park.

[00:04:46] 5. Get to know people and show initiative

[00:04:50] Mr. Rett was very friendly from the beginning. He asked when my return flight was and if he could take me back to the airport.

[00:04:56] I'm normally hesitant to answer questions like that, but I had a good feeling about Rett, so I didn't mind telling him.

[00:05:02] This ensured he got paid twice for airport runs, a nice wage of $7 each time since the airport is a half hour out from the city.

[00:05:09] When we said goodbye, he asked me to tell anyone I knew about his service.

[00:05:13] I don't think he expected me to tell 50,000 people, but perhaps that's another lesson on where initiative can get you.

[00:05:20] Back to the airport

[00:05:22] As we passed the King Pizza Burger Bubble Tea restaurant and the Johnny Walker on the Rocks nightclub on the way back to the airport,

[00:05:28] I thought about the divide between people all over the world.

[00:05:32] Most people spend their time playing cards and drinking tea, while a smaller group of people like Rett are hustling.

[00:05:38] Which group are you in?

[00:05:40] Then as I left Cambodia, I thought about how I could apply Rett's lessons to my own business.

[00:05:45] I think I'm generally reliable, but how can I be even more reliable?

[00:05:48] Yes, I get paid from several different sources, but what else could I add?

[00:05:53] How can I show more initiative and creativity in the projects I'm building?

[00:05:57] These business secrets may sound very simple, but the point is, most tuk-tuk drivers in Cambodia don't implement them,

[00:06:03] so they make $2 to $5 a day, while Rett earns 10 times that much.

[00:06:08] Not everything that refers to tuk-tuk drivers is universal,

[00:06:11] but I'm pretty sure that most of us could apply at least one lesson from Rett to make real improvements in the work we produce.

[00:06:21] You just listened to the post titled,

[00:06:24] Business Secrets from a Cambodian Tuk-Tuk, by Chris Gillibeau of chrisgillibeau.com.

[00:06:29] This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

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[00:07:31] And thank you to Chris.

[00:07:32] He is a New York Times bestselling author and modern day explorer.

[00:07:36] During a lifetime of self-employment that included a four-year commitment

[00:07:40] as a volunteer executive in West Africa, he visited every country in the world,

[00:07:46] 193 in total, before his 35th birthday, which is of course a huge feat.

[00:07:50] His first book, The Art of Nonconformity, was translated into more than 30 languages.

[00:07:55] And his second book, The $100 Startup, was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller,

[00:08:00] selling more than 700,000 copies worldwide.

[00:08:03] His newest book, The Money Tree, is all about finding the fortune in your own backyard.

[00:08:08] You can also check out his daily podcast, Side Hustle School,

[00:08:11] which is downloaded more than 2 million times a month.

[00:08:14] So come by chrisgillibeau.com for a lot more, and I have that linked in this episode's description.

[00:08:21] And that's going to do it for today's episode.

[00:08:24] Hope you're having a happy middle of the week.

[00:08:26] Thanks for subscribing, and I will see you back here tomorrow,

[00:08:29] where your optimal life awaits.