Today on the merch to the dirt podcast episode number 13. This is the 1st episode of 2017, and I am dedicating lucky number episode 13 to my cohost. Mister Murphy. This will be the first of 4 cautionary tales dedicated to topics Mister Murphy wants to talk about. Which means the month of January 2017 is focused entirely on the Murphy's law of racing.
And how we deal with topics like management, disaster recovery, and how to bounce back when everything goes wrong. Because when you're dealing with Mister Murphy, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Right? Oh, by the way, Mister Murphy just called, your race just got canceled.
Happy new year. I'm your professional engineer, your teacher, your merchant of dirt, your host and the man who once tried to pedal canoe with all his teammates. Facing the other direction, Kyle Bondo. Oh, come on. This is the greenboard of entryways. Our website, it's merchants and dirt.com.
If you're new to the Virgin and dirt podcast, welcome aboard, this is your personal trail guide through the complex world of recreational engineering. Where I help you simplify the business of Off road Grace corrosion, and make the art and science behind building, promoting, and directing off road races understandable,
which is a very good thing. Along with me, is the man of the hour and for whom the whole month is dedicated to, the bringer of pain, the bringer of rain, the feller of trees, and someone who always comes away from a race with yet another pair of forgotten $100 sunglasses. I don't know how he does it. My cohost and the 1 everyone hates to love Mister Murphy. You Yay.
Yeah. He's not very happy about this. And together, we're on a mission to teach you how to build better racism. Hey, come on, Mister Murphy. What's the smile. He's not smiling because he's looking forward to making races, and we're gonna teach you how to not to do that, and that's what we can do.
But before ring it and all that. Welcome to season 2 episode 13. Lucky number 13. It's dedicated to my cohost, Mister Murphy. It's gonna be the 4. The first of 4 cautionary tales dedicated to topics Mister Murphy doesn't want me to talk to you about. He wants me to tell you the things that are fluffy and flowery and forget all the little details that he likes to get in there and wreck your race. We're not gonna do that. The month of January is all about making Mister Murphy very uncomfortable.
And just a tease you little since Mister Murphy love surprises, the whole month is gonna be about his wheel of woe and we're gonna explore the key points you need to know to defeat Mister Murphy. Can you imagine that defeating him? It can be done. But you can imagine this. This is episode 13 and the Merchant Center podcast. I can't believe we've made it this far. This is the 1st podcast in January. 2017,
and I'm really excited. It's gonna be a great year. A lot of things planned out. And I think this is gonna be just just a fun. This podcast in particular is gonna be lots of fun. So before we can get into defeating Mister Murphy though, we need to first understand him. And to do that, you need to understand his laws. Because remember, Mister Murphy, he's a lawyer. He's part of the law firm, Murphy, Murphy, and Murphy. You've probably
met their lawyers when they've shown up to your race. And wrecked it, dropped rain on it, forgot equipment, had racers get hurt, all sorts of bad things happen. If there's a bad thing happening, Mister Murphy is usually the cause of it. So you need to understand his laws and how they impact your race promotion strategies. So what obstacles has Mister Murphy put in your way? Has an introduction to the way of thinking, I'm going to help you explore probably the top 10 Murphy laws of race promotion
and we're gonna do that today. Just the top 10, there are many, many, many more. But trust me, 10 will be enough. Okay? Are you ready? Let's start with number 1. If something can go wrong with your race, it will go wrong with your race. Okay. This is the classic Murphy's Law of Race Promotion. Is a classic movies law in general. Right? This law points to the universal nature
that a lack of skill results in a bad race. But instead of looking at this law, there's some sort of, like, certainty. Like, if you have no skill, the racially bad, let's just instead take this as a word of caution, don't overlook the small things and don't accept winging it as good enough because
for getting the details is enough to cause a huge problem later. So that's that's Murphy's Law number 1. That's very essential right there. Okay? We're off at a good good start. Number 2. You never find a lost piece of equipment until you replace it. Now, I know you've all experienced this 1. In racing, it's like the stay camera and the cable that connects your iPad to the sound system
or the power strip you need from your computers. Only when you give up and order a new 1, you discover the storage box it was hiding in. A good way to keep this law for coming true. Is having designated storage boxes and all your equipment, and an inventory list taped to the top. That's not a bad idea. That way, you and your staff know what box contains what, and it will help you leave a venue with everything you came with, but it will also help you put all the right boxes
in the storage container, and all of them out. Like, when your garage or maybe you've got it, you've got something like U Haul storage or u storage or whatever. You're gonna put them all in there. You're gonna pull them all out, and you know how many boxes that is. That's a great way to do that. That way, you can avoid doing that. What's number 3? Gear will be damaged in direct proportion to its value. This is a painful law to experience. Generators,
pop up tents, computers, and sound systems. All of the most valuable gear is impacted by this. They are gunners long before your shovels, your steaks, and your tables. This means you need to take care of your equipment. That's the most essential it's most sensitive, most expensive, and difficult to replace. But this also extends to something else you might not think of a value. Like your family, your staff, your friends, your racers.
Those are irreplaceable too, and it doesn't always have to be about gear with this law. Valuable relationships can be impacted if you don't take care of them. So extra time with those things and people, you value the most are things that you should be thinking about. This is that law where you need to be thinking about things is what is valuable to you, and do you care about them enough
And if you don't, maybe you should rethink that. Okay? You know, January is the year of, you know, the month of reflection when we start baking coals. We start thinking about what we're gonna do for the rest of the year. Well, this Murphy's law talks about that. Of what is the value? Who is value to you? Because I can't get the stuff that's most important to you can be damaged easily. So you need to treat with some care. Right? Alright. Number 4. Smile. Your next race will be worse.
Do you believe your next race will be easier? Chances are it won't. You never will be able to predict if tomorrow's race is gonna be better than today's. So why are you worried about it? Make today matter. You need to enjoy your race no matter how difficult it is and you need to keep smiling even when it gets hard. Remember, You could be in a cubicle right now pushing TSP reports or TPS reports. I don't know. The worst day racing is still better than the best day in a cubicle. I promise you.
Alright. Number 5. Left to themselves, races tend to go from bad to worse. This 1 should be a no brainer, yet every year I see race directors leave their staff and go race their own course. If you're gone, who's watching your race, and if you you're listening to the merchandiser podcast, you know I made a rant about this at podcast.
So this is 1 that's very near and dear to me. If you're gone, who's watching your race, even worse, if there's a problem or someone gets hurt, does everyone know what to do? But the lesson here is not to make everything more complicated by ignoring problems. Problems get worse with time. That's why you need to be on top of issues before they get out of hand. And don't ever leave your race unattended. Don't go race your course. Don't do it. Don't do it.
Number 6, enthusiasm and last minute motivation can always be overcome by lack of planning. Okay. This one's a little tongue in cheek. Jake, This speaks directly to the procrastinator as well. Enthusiasm is great, but if you don't do any planning, No amount no amount of it will save you. Does it mean that a race cannot be pulled off the last minute? No. But the chances of you actually succeeding are highly unlikely. And the less time you have, the worse your plan will be.
So the enthusiasm of last minute and last minute motivation does not overcome a lack of planning. But Murphy Murphy would love for you to use enthusiasm or come in your planning because then he'll just destroy you. So don't do it. Don't do it. There we go. See, these are Murphy's laws. Don't break them. Right? Number 7, eraser invariably gets hurt when they are the furthest, most inaccessible point on your course. This is so true. So true that Mister Murphy
brought a lunch and a camping chair for this 1. How many times does an injury take place at the start or finish line? Just about never. I mean, every now and then, there's that crash at the beginning, right, where people trip over their feet. But chances are, they're gonna be way out there when something bad happens. Or leave with the racers to find the hardest locations
to get to you before they hit a tree or trip over rock. This speaks directly to your emergency response plan, and why you need to have course marshals about out and about everywhere. This is never it's never the matter of if. It's always a matter of when with that 1. Number 8. The first 90% of race planning takes 90% of the time. The last 10% takes the other 90% of the time. Alright. Are you getting done in cheap then? Right? This time,
we're talking about time. The time it takes to plan a race, can expand beyond the time you're given, and you will and you will overshoot the deadline more than once. It's just gonna happen. As the saying goes, you will never have enough time. But then again, Einstein proved that all time is relative. This means that the time you spend on planning your race will seem like enough time right now.
However, as the race day approaches, you will suddenly feel like there's too many things left to do, which leaves us with another saying, which is work expands to fill the time available for its completion. Yeah. I mean, that the truth. Plan the big things now before you are overtaken by work, family, health, bills, life, and the next season of Game of Thrones. Because all these things will derail you. And by the time you get your focus back, it'll be race day. Number 9,
If you are short of everything by racers, it's race day. Hey, that's a nice 1. This is an important 1. When it comes to making sure you have enough of everything. Paper pins, ink for the printer, power, paper, wavers, water, bib numbers, you need to keep a list and check it twice just like Santa Claus. This is also true when it comes to staff and volunteers. You need to recruit, recruit, recruit, because you will never have enough volunteers.
And if volunteers are too hard to come by, then you need to hire some staff to fill the gaps. Always expect to be short. Remember, 2 is 1 and 1 is none. That's a very it's a very navy thing right there. 2 is 1 and 1 is none. And, of course, number 10. The important things in a race are always simple. The simple are always hard. That's a pretty deep. Strategy is hard. Planning is hard. Insurance policies are hard. Canceling a race is hard, but you know you need to have all of them.
You know they are important to a successful race without them. No 1 comes. You don't make any money, and you'd probably get sued. This is this is why there's a wrecking year.com. And why the merchandiser podcast exists. Learn the important things. Even if they're hard and you will be successful in this business. So go to the readings. Listen to the podcasts. You're gonna learn these things. These hard things because they're simple. Everyone knows you have to have them.
Every race has them, but they are not easy to implement. So get yourself educated. You should also get a good cup of coffee. Now, if you're a fan of the mergers for podcast, you know that I'm not much of a straight up black coffee drinker. It's not a normal US Navy veteran stereotype. I blame the Navy. I drink gallons of coffee that tasted like it was strained for a sailor's sock. And the sailors aren't well known for clean socks either. I mean, long days on their feet. It's probably mixed for
great sock. Right? Yeah. I think that went through. But it was the navy coffee or nothing. So it was the greatest beverage to drink when I was out sea. Even if you eat the curl off a trailer hitch. Now my best girl, she can drink any coffee street. I wish I can do that. Wish I could enjoy my coffee that way, but I like to double the taste of the coffee with creamy sugar and a little bit of cocoa. Now, this doesn't make take away from the coffee flavor. I can tell what's going on in coffee.
I can tell what's a good coffee and what's a great coffee. So today, Coffee reclosures segment is a shout out to fellow veteran owned bricks roasters coffee company in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It's the only coffee I drink.
And who's Rex Rossers? Well, if you're if you're a fan of the podcast, you already know this. But if not, let me need need to introduce you to race roasters. This small coffee roaster located just outside Fredericksburg and Stafford is at their actual location even though they're all over Fredericksburg as well. They have dozens of blends that choose from, but my favorite blend is what's called the 4 horsemen. Why the enforcement. But first off, it's called the 4 horsemen.
Who could turn a coffee like that down? I mean, you almost just you have to drink it just to go, I have to drink that. I mean, that has to I have to put that in my cup. I have to know what that's like. 2nd, it has a taste that is shiny in your home. Like Voila in a cup. If you don't know what that means, it means there's really good coffee. Right? Little mad max there. And the creators of this, Sean and Kelly Ricks,
they have really created something special to this company. I I drink a ton of this stuff. I mean, a practice show in stock in this company. So please support my local favorite ricks roasters coffee company by visiting their website ricks roasters.com. That's ricks with an s and roasters with an s.com. You can find everything about their new blends, where to find their coffee, even had order online. So if you're a merchant as a dirt podcast listener,
not in the Virginia area? Hey. You just go to rixristers.com? They'll send it to you in the mail. They've got everything. Full bean, ground, even got those little k cups. I saw a little cake cups the other day. I mean, my Keurig is like going, hey. Let me try some of that. Alright? So you can find them in Stafford, Virginia. Northern Frederickburg, you know, ricks roasters.com.
Tell them Kyle sent you. If you do, maybe they'll send me some coffee. Right? Because that'd be cool. I'm a fan. I'll drink the heck out of it. Right? Ring. Ring. Hello? Hi. It's Mister Murphy. Hello, Mister Murphy. What can I do for you? Well, I just wanna let you know that I've canceled your race. Now what? Bump bump bump bump bump. Rain is a great at getting her race canceled. Let's face it. The weather is an unbridgeable force.
As a race for honor, you'll have to deal with more than this once in your life. If you ask 5 people what the weather will be like tomorrow, you will most likely get 5 different answers. This is true with modern technology and weather prediction as well. 1 weather reporter will tell you it's gonna be sunny while the other whether reporter will tell you it's going to rain. Who's correct?
It won't matter. When the rain clouds start to appear overhead and the sky gets dark over your video on race day? What will matter is when the rain ruins it all. Rain not only impacts visibility, but too much water can saturate trails, create mud, make every surface slippery, all bad things to have during a race. Meanwhile, rainwater will make creeks and rivers swell, creating hydraulic forces that can flood roads, swamp trails, flip canoes,
and even drown racers. Never mind. The park managers need to protect their trails from 200 pairs of trail shoes or mountain bike tires to drawing everything. And if you don't if you don't take this to heart, here's a here's a personal story from a race we did in Northern Virginia where they rebuilt the freeway to create a better draining system, only it never rained super hard.
So when it rained so hard that it created gallons of water to overflow to the park that runs just just beside the freeway, we had racers swept away. We had racers, 1 lady, had to be taken out by fire department because she saved a guy who was about to be sucked through a convert. That went from a little tiny and dribble, dribble drownpour to 10 feet flash flood in a matter of minutes. You can't predict that. Mean, that's a true Mister Murphy event.
So as a race per owner, when it comes to bad weather ruining your race, you need to have 3 things ready to survive. Right? So we're all about Mister Murphy this week, for this whole month. So let's talk about those 3 things you need to survive. First, you need a bad weather policy. 2nd, You need to plan your ring dates. And third, you need to put some money aside
if you have to get refunds. And we're gonna talk about these things. K? This is this is today's major topic. Right? Mister Murphy is called and he just canceled your race. So we're gonna we're gonna protect ourselves from that. Let's do that. Number 1, always have a policy. There's a point during race planning, their refunds become a problem.
Usually, it's right around race day. Racers will suddenly realize they have other plans and want a refund. I have my sister's wedding. I forgot to go, the plan, whatever. Yeah. Here's the question though. Should you give it to them? Now, there's a lot of debate in that. The answer is like, maybe. The answer is thinking maybe. Well, you should be straight up with your racers from day 1.
And how do you do that? Well, on your website, your registration registration site, your newsletter email, anywhere you communicate with racers, you should tell them when it's too late to get a refund. This does 2 things for you. First, it draws a very big line in the sand. Refunds are possible up to this date and then they are not possible. Because as a race promoter, sometimes that pre raid registration money is has a purpose.
Well, this line of the sand gives everyone an understanding of the rules, refunds stop at a certain date. And if you waited too long, that it's either too bad or there's a penalty. You're thinking a penalty. Well, it's your policy. You decide. If you want to provide a portion of the registration back on a certain date, you can. I mean, there's a customer service
thinking to that, but make it clear what your policy is. The second thing is it that it does is it gives you a clear understanding of when certain funds are available. If no 1 asks for a refund after the deadline, you can now use those funds for your race. That's a kind of important, that's a little important freedom for that money because you don't have to set it aside anymore, worried about whether or not people are gonna want it back. And that frees you up from having to process refunds.
Number 2, Always have a rainy day. You could call this a snow day or a black flag Sunday. You know, whatever your environment has, that you need to be careful of. Because in hot and hot environments, too hot is too hot. You can't race when it's a 112 degrees outside. You can try, but you also can't race if you're towing. Maybe you're doing mountain bikers. You can't race when there's, you know, 10 feet of snow outside. Let's face it. Rain is the biggest threat to your race. Snow, sun, sure.
Rain is the big 1. And I don't care what environment you live in. Rain will ruin your day. And as your biggest threat, you need to plan for its arrival. Because Mister Murphy loves rain. And a race you plan without a rain date is the day Mister Murphy's plans on showing up, you need to pick a rain date and make sure it's part of your permit. Most park managers will even require you to have a rain date. Some won't, but it's a good it's a good policy to have.
They don't want to wreck their park, but they also don't want to lose the revenue. Parks will be very generous when it comes to rain dates and often work with you to pick the next open date. It's your job to make sure you can deliver the same race on your rain day when a park manager offers that. Because remember, a lot of this stuff gets canceled too, and there are a lot of events, especially at parks that don't get rain days.
There are baseball games and soccer games and football games and all sorts of other events that when it rains, that's it. That's the only time the event ever takes place. And they never reschedule it. Oh, racing is a little different because the sometimes the race is connected to a series, is connected to a championship event, it's connected to things where if that race doesn't happen, there's a hole in that series, in that event when it comes to points and awards.
So it's kind of a it's kind of a you know, bracing has this this ability to think forward where if I don't have an estate, I'll have it on that date and advertise it early. Have a race day already available to you. It's your job to make sure that you can deliver the same race on that race day though. So don't plan a race, and then plan a rain date if you can't deliver. So have it the next day? Never a good idea. Because who's to say that the rain's gonna go away?
A week later, maybe is a little better, but You might be thinking, why not have the next day? If it rains enough to shut you down, the water's not gonna be gone in 24 hours. Save the trails, but give them time to dry out. A week is good. During some seasons, the following week is already booked. Your rain day might not be for months.
You could go from worrying about rain to worrying about sun or snow in the time between when you have your actual to redo This is why you need to build your race schedule alongside your rain day schedule. But the point is always to have at least 1 rain day planned, announce it, and easy to find on your website. Don't make people guess. You're saying at least 1 rain day? Maybe you could have 2. Why 2? Because it'll hurt more? No. No. That's a spoon. Right? Why a spoon? Sorry.
By planning for 2 rain days, you prepare yourself with the possibility that your 1st rain day will not work. Oh, hey, Mister Murphy. 2 is 1. 1 is done. Right? That's the US Navy again. This is 1 of those few time tested principles known as the Marchenko rule of warfare. If that 2 is 1 and 1 is not, by having 2 rain days, you can overcome the potential of your 1st rain day. To be reigned out as well.
It's not a perfect system, but it gives you 2 possible days to hold your race and still make your annual revenue targets. If you end up not using those rain dates, you could always think about including an additional race in your schedule that does use those days better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Yeah. Kinda thought you heard that coming, didn't you? Okay. Number 3. Always plan for refunds. This is having that money available. Right?
And if this is not your 1st race, then hopefully, you have some money on hand to work with. Because why have money on hand? Because you need to save back at least 50 percent of your preregistration fees in case you need to provide refunds. If a race goes off without a hitch, then those funds can go on to paying the park or be profit. However, you need to have a portion saved aside for contingencies.
If 50% saved back, means you cannot hold your race, then you need to evaluate your situation and find additional funds. This may be this is not really designed for the bootstrap element of it, but it also might be the motivation to find sponsors. Not every race is going you know, every race is gonna wanna refund. If you have a rain day, many of the original racers will move the registration to that day without complaint.
They know races get canceled. This is no surprise. That's not their first rodeo. And if you that do ask for a refund, Give it to them. Remember, customer service comes 1st, second, and third. Profit comes forth. Right? You need to make money but you can't do that if you don't have any customers. So I believe they call that the catch 22, you know, the rule of the vicious circle. It's not worth it to argue with customers regarding refunds.
If this sounds like a foreign concept to you, you might wanna read my article about how to retain customers for life, the Disney Way, which is also is podcast 12. And get yourself a head start. If your policy is not to give refunds even after a certain day, You may still wanna give them a refund on a case by case basis, especially especially if you have a rain date. However, if you do not have a rain day and you never hold the race, you should always give everyone their money back.
Even if it goes against your policy, no refunds after a certain date. Period. Why give it all back? Think about it. If you pay for race race state registration and the race never happened, How would you feel? You'd be angry. Would you ever register with that racing company again? If you never deliver a race, You never deliver a service. In this in this case, you're a race. You do not deserve that revenue.
This is regardless of the reason. Your problems are not your razor's problems. It sucks to have to give a full refund, but it's the right thing to do. And it will benefit you in the long run too. When you think about how does a refund benefit you, racers respect ethics.
They may not all come back to your race, but they will remember that you gave everyone their money back because the race didn't happen and the rain date got reigned out, and there was nothing you could do. And you gave everyone their money back. Those that remember will potentially become fans for life. Take the hit do the right thing, and you will sleep better at night for it. That's how you survive, Mister Murphy. And now you know. And just as a a final thought,
the secret to stopping Mister Murphy is contingency planning. Contingency planning is probably the most important event manager process there is. It's also the thing Mister Murphy hates the most I think you didn't sing it. I I saw his face go, oh, this whole squish up there. When you're prepared to deal with issues before they happen, you minimize the impact Mister Murphy will have on your race. Even if you never have to use it, contingency planning goes beyond the potential risk.
When you have already prepared for the most likely problems, these plans can protect your reputation, and more importantly, your customer's faith in your business. Let's face it. Nobody wants to find out that the race that they've been looking forward to has been canceled or postponed. I mean, that's just the worst. Fortunately, offered racers are rugged lot that understand that weather, park officials, natural disasters, and events beyond your control do happen.
By treating them like the valued customer they are, They are very likely to forgive you for events beyond your control. Remember that honesty is always the best policy. If you are always telling your customers the truth, Most of them will follow you to the new date versus asking for a refund. But when in doubt, just give them their money back. Chances are you will see that money come back to you. Yeah. We survived our first 4 Mister Murphy cautionary tales.
But lucky number episode 13 only starts this entire month dedicated to risk management disaster recovery and how we're planning on bouncing back when everything goes wrong. Everything my cohost, Mister Murphy, loves to see everyone ignore just before everything goes wrong with your raise. Right? But in our next episode, we're gonna cover the 2nd of 4 cautionary tales, and we're focusing on the need for emergency response plan. And plot twist It's not 911.
Until then, thank you so much for listening to the Virgin Earth podcast. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me on Twitter at merchant'sadirt. If you wanna subscribe and make sure you never miss an episode, merchant'sadirt.com is how you do it. 1 click gets you every single episode for free and get all last season, all 12 last season, and we'll start with the season 2 here. And if you you've got an Android, iPhone, whoever gets your podcast,
1 click gets it for you. Thank you for helping me build the merchant's a dirt community, and telling your friends and how they can build better races too, and I'll see you on the next episode of emergency room podcast. Happy New Year, and thanks for listening.