Idea: Be more than a coach, be a taxi

The latest business idea comes from a different source. Let me quote rather extensively from Robert Fulghum. Yes, Fulghum the author of All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. This is from his series of short Tango Chronicles.

At most large events, there are Tango Taxis.
Not for a cab ride home if you have had too much alcohol.
(Tango dancers don’t drink much, actually. A drunk is unwelcome.)
No, a Tango Taxi is a member of the community – experienced dancers – usually identified with a name tag – who will gladly dance with the less experienced to help them learn. As one explained to me,
“Sitting on the sidelines and wishing is not dancing.”
It is a passionate dance, but also a compassionate community.

I am told that in Buenos Aires Tango Taxis are available for Tourist Tango wannabes like me. Essentially, they are instructors who will take you out on an evening to a milonga, dance with you at your level, and help you advance a little in your skills. You pay a teacher’s fee, buy the food and drink, and that’s all. Woe be unto you if you think this is a cover for an escort service.
It simply means going out of the dance studio into the real world with a teacher. Because Tango is more than a dance. It is a way of life.

What a concept. How utterly sane!

Imagine the possibilities.
A Ballet Taxi. An Art Museum Taxi. A Jazz Taxi. A Baseball Taxi.
The list is unlimited. A Horse Racing Taxi. A Singing Taxi.
I know. There are personal trainers, and computer trainers, and music teachers. But this Tango Taxi thing is different. Not in your home or office, not in a studio, but out in the world, making you feel at home in it. Not about a dimension of life, but in it.

More than wanting to employ a Tango Taxi, I want to be one.

“Whatever happened to Fulghum?”
“He’s a Taxi now.”

And that’s the new business idea. Take your own specialty, and be more than a coach. Take others out in the real world to experience it. In small towns, we take our way of life for granted. Cowboys, fishermen, traditional musicians, crafters, farmers, and more all have a valuable way of life. Taking guests out in the world, helping them enjoy the deeper dimensions of the experience, must be enormously satisfying work.

This is the type of experience we had on in Africa, on safari with Vaughan Fulton’s Classic Safaris. These opportunities are truly global.

Are you a “taxi” in this sense? I’d love to hear about it!

By the way, Fulgham’s latest book of essays, What On Earth Have I Done?, is being released today, Sept. 18, by St. Martin’s Press.
Photo credit: Free Tango Lessons, ZachKlein, Flickr.

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.