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10 Innovative Ideas From Business Leaders
What is one innovative idea or tactic that an entrepreneur can use to grow their business?
To help small business owners brainstorm fresh business concepts, we asked CEOs and business leaders this question for their best innovative ideas for small businesses. From incorporating new technologies to conducting A/B experiments, there are several suggestions that may help you lead your industry in innovation for years to come.
Here are 10 innovative ideas from business leaders:
- Grow Your Online Presence
- Lead With Innovative Technology
- Turn to Agile Project Management
- Optimize Your Efforts
- Invest in SEO
- Incorporate Automation
- Double Check Site Loading Times
- Try Flexible Coworking Spaces
- Find Efficient Processes
- Conduct A/B Experiments
Grow Your Online Presence
Innovative growth tactics should allow you to expand your market share. Some small businesses might invest in new products and services, but other companies might seek to invest in new exciting offers and experiences. We provide small business loans to help companies grow and transform their businesses. So why not invest in your online presence. One of your most valuable assets is your online platforms since everything, and everyone is now online. You can use your online platforms to differentiate your brand by creating unique online experiences on your website or on social media.
Brianna Vaughan, LendThrive
Lead With Innovative Technology
Innovation is key to scaling your business. At iFax, we have revolutionized the way businesses and people send and receive fax messages. This simple, yet innovative app technology, enables better, more convenient ways to exchange information from business to business or person to person. You no longer have to spend money on expensive, outdated fax machines that take up so much space. Instead, you can work from the comfort of your own home to quickly and easily send a fax message from your phone within an app.
Eli Patashnik, iFax
Turn to Agile Project Management
Agile is a great innovative way of doing business. As a business grows, having agile teams make the adjustment much easier when serving an increased amount of clients or producing more products and services. By focusing on making constant improvements, your team can better collaborate with new changes and developments.
Debra Hildebrand, Hildebrand Solutions, LLC
Optimize Your Efforts
With things constantly changing and growing, we find it important to be able to withstand the growth. When you are ready to grow your business or when you think it’s time to take the next steps, keep in mind automating can be a good step forward. Find ways that can help you streamline your processes. Look into integrating Business Process Management software. These tools can help you optimize your efforts and give you time back to do more complex tasks and responsibilities.
Spiros Skolarikis, Comidor
Invest in SEO
There are so many logistics for entrepreneurs to worry about when starting a business. Coming up with some kind of digital marketing strategy is always top of mind as one of the many question marks that come when trying to get a new business off the ground. SEO is one of the best marketing tools a small business can invest in. Developing visibility on search engines will take time and effort, but there is never a direct charge for each impression or click, like there is with PPC (pay per click.) It can be a cost-effective strategy for businesses just starting out that will build trust and credibility with end-users.
Kayla Centeno, Markitors
Incorporate Automation
In order to maintain consistency with the quality of your products and services, some degree of automation is key. This minimizes the potential for human error while also enabling mass production at scale for growing businesses. Our patented D.Rain system, for example, is one such innovative technology that is used to block and anchor each panel and provide continuous moisture and drainage throughout.
Todd Sriro, Be.On Stone
Double Check Site Loading Time
An innovative way that companies can optimize their websites to improve growth and conversions is passing Core Web Vitals’ three key metrics that quantify page experience: LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift), and FID (First Input Delay). One thing to do in order to pass LCP is analyzing how a page loads in a waterfall chart using Chrome Developer tools. Through this analysis, you are able to see which scripts delay loading times and which elements are non-essential. Another benefit of a waterfall analysis is that you can visually see which JS actions can be moved to the end of the waterfall without impacting render times.
Guy Katabi, Lightkey
Try Flexible Coworking Spaces
MAC6’s private office suite and co-manufacturing space are perfect for companies looking for a more innovative approach to work. At our facility we have a unique focus on health, wellness and productivity with our 24/7 mind & body strengthening fitness center, fit-trail parcourse, virtual and in-person meeting spaces and more. This is the perfect location to bring your team together for a more collaborative and innovative culture. Check out our enterprise office space solutions in Tempe, AZ.
Kyle McIntosh, MAC6
Find Efficient Processes
One innovative idea an entrepreneur can use to grow their business is to work smarter, not harder. It adds up to finding the most efficient way to get the job done. The best thing to do is to not only try to create the best product but also to establish the best process that works for you and can save you time and stress. The beauty of being an entrepreneur is that you have the freedom and the flexibility to create new processes and benefit from the results.
Ben Cook, Jr., Printed Kicks
Conduct A/B Experiments
A culture of innovation has been part of my DNA since my time at Google, and sustainable growth is one of my company’s core tenants. One example of how my company innovates is through using A/B experiments. Doing a small A/B experiment before fully implementing an idea ensures that our ideas will be received well even outside of our small bubble. Our launch and iterative philosophy have allowed us to embrace concepts that work and discard others as fast as possible for sustainable, data-driven growth.
Guna Kakulapati, CureSkin
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11 Best Business Advice For First Time Entrepreneurs
What is the best advice for first-time entrepreneurs?
To help first-time entrepreneurs in their journey, we asked entrepreneurs and business leaders this question for their best advice. From validating before building to scaling slowly, there are several pieces of advice that may help first-time entrepreneurs in their future endeavors.
Here are eleven pieces of advice for first-time entrepreneurs:
- Be All In
- Research To Stand Out
- Validate Before Building
- Define What Matters To You
- Focus On Solving A Problem
- Admit What You Don’t Know
- Build Connections
- Scale Slowly
- Start With A Passion, Not A Goal
- Stay In Your Lane
- Create Daily Business Intentions
Be All In
If you are going to do it, be all in! I think a big mistake many first-time entrepreneurs make is juggling various activities at once. They have a full-time job that pays the bills and their company on the side. If you want your company to be a full-time business, it first needs to be your full-time business. If you never invest the proper time into your company, it will never grow. It might be scary, but dive in head first!
Vanessa Molica, The Lash Professional
Research to Stand Out
I remember when I was a first-time entrepreneur. It can be exciting but also a little daunting. I received some solid advice from different sources. However, I would say the first step in building a business is researching the market or industry you’re planning on entering. By doing this, you have a better idea of what already exists and how your business can stand out. It can take a little work to transform a business idea into an actual plan. Research can help you transition from one to the other.
Henry Babicheknko, Stomadent
Validate Before Building
First-time entrepreneurs can waste a lot of time building a product, service, or features that no one wants. Before building a business, the core concept needs to be validated. My favorite validation tool is the Business Model Canvas, which requires entrepreneurs to find a product market fit by creating a value proposition for a target audience. Through customer interviews and “getting out of the building,” entrepreneurs can validate their idea after many iterations and get to work on building something people will actually pay for.
Brett Farmiloe, Markitors
Define What Matters To You
Beyond developing a new idea, product, or service that people want, first-time entrepreneurs should think about their mission, values, and company brand. What matters to them, their customers and employees, who would join them in the new business venture? What is the unique story they want to tell? First-time entrepreneurs should make it a business priority to develop a strong narrative that differentiates them from competitors — great products can fail if people aren’t inspired to buy them.
Andrew Rawson, Traliant
Focus On Solving A Problem
Many entrepreneurs get head over heels into their idea. Of course, they do; after all, it’s their own idea! But the market is brutal in what it wants and doesn’t want. Instagram isn’t the first image app, but it won the market by storm due to its innovative approach. Apple didn’t invent the portable MP3 player, but it won the market and by building a product the market wants and marketing it in the right way.
John Bertino, The Agency Guy
Admit What You Don’t Know
Figure out what thing you know the least about and find someone who knows that thing inside and out. For example, my business partner and I are absolutely horrible with numbers and finances; our brains are geared more towards the abstract and creative side. If we could do one thing over, we would have immediately brought in someone who was good with numbers to make sure our books were in order. We’ve just come out of a very messy two-year period where it took a lot of time and a lot of money to untangle our QuickBooks because we didn’t fully understand what we were doing. There is power in knowing what you don’t know, but there is even more power in admitting what you don’t know. Be comfortable not having all the answers and always be open to learning.
Justin Strandlund, 2 East 8th Productions
Build Connections
Find people that can reveal insight into the industry you are setting out in, and seek advice from others who have already achieved success. Consider finding a mentor that can advise you on what mistakes to avoid and what opportunities you should take advantage of when they arise. The connections you build can help expose you to ideas and tools that can put you on the path to achieving your goals and add exponential value to a new entrepreneur’s career.
Than Merrill, Fortune Builders
Scale Slowly
Determining the costs to grow and scale accordingly within your budget is essential. Growing too fast and not allowing the proper time to scale will affect how well a small business can manage inventory and keep up with sales. Along with having patience in creating brand awareness and establishing yourself in the competitive market, a small business needs enough cash flow to continue to grow. Budgeting for a slow and steady incline is crucial to succeeding in the end.
Katie Lyon, Allegiance Flag Supply
Start With A Passion, Not A Goal
Start a business that you’ll be excited to work on for at least the next few years. That excitement and passion will make it easier to give it your all, push yourself out of your comfort zone and deal with the many ups and downs. There’s nothing wrong with creating milestones and financial goals for your business, but make sure you also enjoy simply working on it, or you’ll burn out trying to reach them.
Johannes Larsson, Financer
Stay In Your Lane
As someone who has run my own business for over 20 years, I can attest that trying to operate in too many lanes confuses people. Do not try to be a “jack of all trades” but rather narrow down to a niche that is exclusively yours and stay in that lane. It doesn’t mean you can’t shift or pivot or even evolve, but it does mean that you have a consistent message and brand message for your marketing.
Lorraine Bossé-Smith, Concept One LLC
Create Daily Business Intentions
Too often, entrepreneurs try to do ‘everything’ in their business each day. ‘Everything’ can mean sales, marketing, product development, finance, operations…the list can go on and on. Many entrepreneurs run themselves from one meeting to the next to the next. At the end of a long day, sometimes it feels like they didn’t accomplish anything that day. Entrepreneurs can see clear mile marketers towards their goals by intentionally focusing on specific business aspects on specific days. I call it “Category Days.” As a result, they feel more accomplished and have a deeper sense of having completed something each day.
Mark Jamnik, Enjoy Life Daily
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