Speaker 1: Welcome back to On the Job. I'm your host, Avery Thompson.
Speaker 1: Can you believe we're already at the end of another season? Geesh,
Speaker 1: where does the time go? But don't get too upset,
Speaker 1: because we've still got this episode to enjoy, and I
Speaker 1: figured why not end things on a fun note. So
Speaker 1: today we're headed to Austin, Texas, a city known for
Speaker 1: its music, barbecue, and laid back lifestyle. And really there's
Speaker 1: no better way to check out this vibrant city than
Speaker 1: on a bicycle, so come along for the ride. Each year,
Speaker 1: millions of people visit Austin, Texas, and many of those
Speaker 1: folks choose to explore the city on two wheels, and
Speaker 1: rightly so, because Austin boasts some beautiful bike trails and
Speaker 1: when people want to rent a bike in Austin, that
Speaker 1: usually means talking to this guy.
Speaker 2: My name is Devin Lantman, and I am the co
Speaker 2: owner of Barton Springs Bike Ground, all Austin's longest running
Speaker 2: and largest bike rental in tour company.
Speaker 1: You've probably heard the city's motto keep Boston Weird, Well,
Speaker 1: Barton Springs Bike Rental certainly abides by that ethos.
Speaker 2: We got aren't made from bike parts. We got wire
Speaker 2: sculptures with dogs made by former employees. Yeah, it's definitely
Speaker 2: not like a corporate bike shop. We're more of like
Speaker 2: the vibe of Austin, trying to keep Austin, you know,
Speaker 2: the way it used to be just kind of funky.
Speaker 2: You know, everybody has their own flavor, everybody has their
Speaker 2: own character, so we try to keep that a big
Speaker 2: part of our company.
Speaker 1: But despite the shops bohemian vibe, Devin runs a tight ship. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean when you walk to the shop, you might
Speaker 2: see a bunch of guys with long hair and mustaches
Speaker 2: and tattoos. But we're also hustling really hard, always moving,
Speaker 2: and we got to do it with smile on our face,
Speaker 2: keeping the customers happy.
Speaker 1: And that begins with making sure that he and his
Speaker 1: staff greet every potential customer who walks in with a
Speaker 1: hearty Texas welcome. Guys are going, y'all looking to rent
Speaker 1: some bikes? Uh?
Speaker 2: Yes, oh you're looking to do e bikes or regular bikes?
Speaker 1: E bikes perfect.
Speaker 2: So part of the job is just me showing enthusiasm,
Speaker 2: saying the same thing over and over again. But also
Speaker 2: a lot of times it's great to joke with the
Speaker 2: customers where they're from, and make jokes with them and
Speaker 2: play up the Texas stereotype for them, and they laugh
Speaker 2: and I laugh, and it's a great time. So where
Speaker 2: y'all coming from, We're coming from Denver, Colorado. Oh nice,
Speaker 2: that means you all gonna melt in the seat out there.
Speaker 2: We rent thousands and thousands of bikes, and I want
Speaker 2: to make sure it's a memorable and positive experience for them,
Speaker 2: even if I'm tired of telling everybody the same thing
Speaker 2: over and over again. I want them to have a
Speaker 2: good time.
Speaker 1: Devin knows just what a good time you can have
Speaker 1: riding a bike around Austin, because for years of his
Speaker 1: life that's pretty much all he did. Though I should
Speaker 1: explain he was riding a BMX bike doing this sort
Speaker 1: of impressive and dangerous looking tricks you might see on
Speaker 1: the X Games or as of twenty twenty, in the Olympics,
Speaker 1: and back then, as a carefree teenager in twenty something,
Speaker 1: Devon treated work as a means to an end, an
Speaker 1: annoying duty you had to put up with to ride
Speaker 1: another day, And in Devon's case, work meant making sandwiches
Speaker 1: at subway which he admitted he didn't totally hate, though
Speaker 1: some of the customers could be rude, but being there
Speaker 1: dressed in a uniform, sliding sandwiches down the line of
Speaker 1: ingredients felt like such a departure from the rest of
Speaker 1: his life. So when he heard that Barton Springs Bike
Speaker 1: Rental was looking for a bike mechanic, Devon slapped together
Speaker 1: a resume and biked over to the shop. So I
Speaker 1: walked in.
Speaker 2: I asked they were hiring, and he asked me if
Speaker 2: I knew how to work on bikes, and I said, yeah,
Speaker 2: I know to work on bikes, and he said start tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Though Devon was hired to be a bike mechanic, it
Speaker 1: quickly became apparent that the owner saw something in him
Speaker 1: and started giving a more responsibilities.
Speaker 2: So I've been very lucky the owner saw potential in me.
Speaker 2: He really has trusted me, and he has really guided
Speaker 2: me through the years. Without like a formal education, I
Speaker 2: essentially got a business education while doing the job.
Speaker 1: Devin will admit that sometimes it wasn't easy to step
Speaker 1: up to the new responsibilities being thrust upon him, but
Speaker 1: looking back, he's really grateful to the owner who saw
Speaker 1: his potential and molded him into the person he's become today,
Speaker 1: or should I say the co owner he's become today,
Speaker 1: because in twenty nineteen Devin was offered a partial stake
Speaker 1: in the business.
Speaker 2: That went from being a bike mechanic to kind of
Speaker 2: being the manager. Now I'm the co owner. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it's changed quite a bit.
Speaker 1: And Devin has changed through those years as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah. When I first came, I was just a young
Speaker 2: kid trying to ride BMX all the time and have
Speaker 2: a good time all the time. As I got older,
Speaker 2: I had a daughter and I had to really focus
Speaker 2: on my career, my future and put in the work
Speaker 2: to make it happen.
Speaker 1: But what's that phrase, heavy as the crown. When we
Speaker 1: come back from the break, our former BMX bro learns
Speaker 1: what it takes to be the boss.
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Speaker 1: We're back with Devin Lantman, who for the last fourteen
Speaker 1: years has been helping people enjoy the fun and sun
Speaker 1: in Austin, Texas. My day to day is come.
Speaker 2: In, unlock the shop, put all the display bikes out,
Speaker 2: the reservations, and essentially try to get everything ready for
Speaker 2: the day.
Speaker 1: And once that day gets going, it tends to be
Speaker 1: a busy one. In the last ten years or so,
Speaker 1: Austin has become a major tourist destination. On most days,
Speaker 1: their little bike shop can feel like Grand Central Station
Speaker 1: or maybe lax flowing with people from all over the world.
Speaker 2: We've got a world map here that we let customers
Speaker 2: put pins in where they're from, and we got most
Speaker 2: of the world covered, pretty much all the continents. That's
Speaker 2: actually our second map we've gone through one. I had
Speaker 2: too many holes in it, so I had to get
Speaker 2: a fresh.
Speaker 1: One to keep up with demand. Devon will usually have
Speaker 1: four people working on the busy days, and even more
Speaker 1: if they've got lots of tours, which brings us to
Speaker 1: the hardest part of the job for him, and it's
Speaker 1: not fixing flats or explaining how to shift gears. It's staffing,
Speaker 1: making sure he's got the right team to keep up
Speaker 1: with the shops often crazy demand.
Speaker 2: So the challenges of somebody are Weekends and holidays are
Speaker 2: our busiest times, and that's when most people want off,
Speaker 2: so that's a huge challenge for us. Also people who
Speaker 2: are going to stick around. I don't want to waste
Speaker 2: a lot of time training somebody and get them them
Speaker 2: to know the whole system and then we're only just
Speaker 2: want to stay for two three months and then leave.
Speaker 1: Over the years, Devin has tried all sorts of methods
Speaker 1: to finding new team members.
Speaker 2: So I've tried everything everything from Craigslist to word of
Speaker 2: mouth to referrals from other bike shops. We've really explored
Speaker 2: every avenue of finding employees.
Speaker 1: One or two guys he's hired just showed up at
Speaker 1: the shop with a resume in hand, the way he
Speaker 1: did fourteen years ago. Other times he's asked his better
Speaker 1: employees if they know anyone that might be a good fit.
Speaker 2: So I have hired one guy and I really liked him,
Speaker 2: he was really good. I asked him if he had
Speaker 2: any friends or knew anybody who needed a job, and
Speaker 2: actually his brother started working for us.
Speaker 1: Another longtime employee got his cousin working there, So Devin
Speaker 1: will take his good employees anyway he can get them.
Speaker 1: But it can be hard to figure out who will
Speaker 1: be a good employee based on a resume alone, because
Speaker 1: unlike more traditional jobs where there's a very defined set
Speaker 1: of tasks requiring specific skill sets, work at the bike
Speaker 1: shop is varied.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it might seem like an easy, care free kind
Speaker 2: of job, but you do have to wear a lot
Speaker 2: of hats. You have to do a bit of everything. Ideally,
Speaker 2: they're able to ride bikes, they're able to take reservations
Speaker 2: over the phone and on our website, and they are
Speaker 2: our tour guides. So they do need to know the city.
Speaker 2: They need to know the history, they needed to know
Speaker 2: all the cool spots, and they need to be able
Speaker 2: somewhat of a concierge for these people, and that can
Speaker 2: be a challenging thing to find in one person to
Speaker 2: be able to do all those things and.
Speaker 1: Do them efficiently. But if someone doesn't know how to
Speaker 1: fix a derailer or replace a bike chain, that doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily disqualify them from the job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when someone hands me a resume, I do look
Speaker 2: for prior tour got experience or bike shop experience, but
Speaker 2: it's not the end all, be all if they don't
Speaker 2: have either of those things. I more ask them questions
Speaker 2: and try to find out who they are as a person,
Speaker 2: how they handle being around people.
Speaker 1: Hiring is hard for any business, but for small operations
Speaker 1: like the bike shop, it's especially difficult. In fact, sixty
Speaker 1: six percent of small businesses across the country report hiring
Speaker 1: being a significant challenge. At Barton Springs Bike Rental, there's
Speaker 1: no HR department, no recruiters scrolling through resumes, just Devin
Speaker 1: casting out nets however you can and trying to get
Speaker 1: a read on those that apply.
Speaker 2: I've had people with rough paths who have been great.
Speaker 2: I've had educated college kids who didn't work out. I've
Speaker 2: had people from all walks of life, and it's really
Speaker 2: more about what clicks and and what works for the shop.
Speaker 1: And maybe just as difficult as hiring people is letting
Speaker 1: them go, something Devin never expected he'd have to do
Speaker 1: when he first took the job as a bike mechanic.
Speaker 2: When I first took this job, I didn't expect to
Speaker 2: have to be reprimanding people or firing people even and
Speaker 2: I'm very anti conflict and it's been a challenge for
Speaker 2: me to have to do those things.
Speaker 1: But as Devon rose up to manager and then co
Speaker 1: owner of the shop, he had no other choice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally have to get in the right mindset
Speaker 2: to you know, this isn't anything personal, but sometimes their
Speaker 2: actions have made it to where there's no other.
Speaker 1: Options for me. Learning at a fire someone was one
Speaker 1: of the many skills or life lessons you might say
Speaker 1: that the owner of the bike shop taught Devon over
Speaker 1: the years an unavoidable and necessary part of running a
Speaker 1: healthy business.
Speaker 2: Sometimes sometimes it's sometimes they give me a reason to
Speaker 2: fire a minute, and that's that's still hard, but it's
Speaker 2: got to be done.
Speaker 1: But thankfully these days, Burton Springs Bike Rental is running
Speaker 1: smooth with a team that Devon can depend on.
Speaker 2: Mike, I'm gonna have you do the nine am e
Speaker 2: bike tour, Rob will have you do the ten am
Speaker 2: Nutshell and the one o'clock Pece.
Speaker 1: Devin never set out to own a business. He didn't
Speaker 1: write a five year plan or chase some grand vision.
Speaker 1: He just wanted to ride bikes and pay rent.
Speaker 2: I never saw myself owning a business. I really had
Speaker 2: no solid plans. I was always just trying to have
Speaker 2: as much fun as I.
Speaker 1: Could, But sometimes the job we take to get by
Speaker 1: becomes the job we're meant to do.
Speaker 2: I'm very proud of my job. I feel like, you know,
Speaker 2: it's allowed me to live a life that I enjoy.
Speaker 2: I get to go to work and I don't hate
Speaker 2: my job every day. It's a fun place to work.
Speaker 2: It's a fun environment to be in showing people good time.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm very proud of it. For on the job,
Speaker 1: I'm Avery Thompson.