Irrationally passionate

What to look for as a business owner

(2 min read)

This week we paid so much more for a battery than you might think we would.

Let’s explore why.

When you’re thinking of a business to create, it’s best if you clearly define a set of customers that are:

1. easy to reach

2. irrationally passionate

3. large in number

Our 2008 Toyota Prius dashboard started showing the “red triangle of death 🔺” warning light, among others.

The car wasn’t completely broken down.

It could drive around the neighborhood at slow speeds.

But it was in “limp mode”.

Couldn’t drive much more than 25 mph (40 km/h).

So basically we didn’t have use of our car anymore.

We got an oil change for $95 and replaced the (normal) 12V battery for $300 hoping it would help.

But as we expected (and as Toyota makes way too hard to confirm 😒), the real problem was related to the big expensive hybrid battery pack under the back seat.

It’s completely different from a standard 12-volt car battery.

2008 Prius hybrid battery pack

inside view of the hybrid battery pack

These have sometimes sold for $6,000.

Even if we were able to find one for $3k, that’s probably roughly the value of the whole car at this point.

So what should we do?

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Katie and I searched online for possible solutions.

We found a guy with great 5-star reviews and a great website domain.

Something like AtlantaPriusHybridBatteryRepair dot com.

I contacted him, and he said probably the whole hybrid battery hadn’t gone bad.

Since he knows how to diagnose which individual cell in the battery is problematic, he offers a service where he commits to getting your whole battery back in shape, but he charges $700 even if he only needs to replace one cell.

Remember:

1. easy to reach

2. irrationally passionate

3. large in number

Easy to reach

Yep, we sought him out. He just needed a findable website (note the search-engine-optimized domain name) with his phone number on it.

Then we towed our car to him.

Irrationally passionate

Until we fixed the hybrid battery, we were carless.

We needed his service since buying a new battery would be too expensive.

(In our case, maybe our eagerness was rational, but you get the point.)

Large in number

Relative to the number of mechanics who know how to work on hybrids, there are so many hybrid car owners.

Especially given the current economy and people wanting to prolong the life of their old car, there is a lot of demand for mechanics with hybrid expertise.

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Fingers crossed 🤞 that our Prius remains healthy for years to come and that our frugal approach doesn’t bite us in the butt later (especially after the 1-year warranty for this repair service expires).

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I was impressed with the design of this guy’s business.

He sits at home and receives text messages from frantic people who need their car fixed and can’t find anyone to do it.

Our Prius being towed away

Tow trucks deliver cars to his large yard out in the woods, and he works on one little task that he has become an expert at.

No office. No employees.

One small set of tools.

No complications.

And enough customers that sometimes there is a 3-week wait.

Plus, he receives the appreciation of customers that feel like they’re getting a deal relative to the alternative (and also are just relieved to have their car and their freedom back).

His business is a good reminder:

Simpler is often better.

As long as you design your business’s offer to attract a hungry crowd.

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🕙 What we learned in recent posts:

🟢 Favorite flavor of suffering

🟢 How to accumulate real wealth instead of faking it

🟢 Don’t yuck my yum

🟢 Detaching from results

🟢 [See all posts]

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👀 Caught my eye this week:

Nate Bargatze is hilarious, and I love this joke about how difficult it might be to take advantage of what you know if you were able to time travel to the past.

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