Itâs no secret that you donât become successful in business by doing the same thing the others guys are doing. Being able to take calculated risks is all part of the fun of being a small business owner â" and understanding how to differentiate your business from the rest is a special skill most entrepreneurs spend their careers honing.
Thatâs why we asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an organization comprised of the countryâs most promising young entrepreneurs, the following question:
âWhat is your most unorthodox tip for becoming successful in business?â
Hereâs what YEC community members had to say:
1. Sell Joy
âStop focusing on selling your product or service; instead, focus on the joy your company creates, and let that drive your growth. Scale the joy. Systematize how you deliver the joy. Sell the joy.â ~ Corey Blake, Round Table Companies
2. Become an Expert in Something
âIf youâre an expert in one aspect of your business, youâll be able to share your expertise and drive new business because of it. Contribute to publications that reach your target audience, and theyâll come to you for more expertise and assistance.â ~ Kelsey Meyer, Contributor Weekly
3. Deliver Happiness
âI am a huge fan of the Zappos âdelivering happinessâ movement. I think that the paradigm for how companies and customers interact is changing in a big way. When I see examples of terrible customer service, it makes me shake my head. Delighting your customers is the fastest way to grow a hugely successful business.â ~ Patrick Conley, Automation Heroes
4. Befriend Your Competitors
âI meet with anyone who is or could be competitive. Competitors could be your acquirer; you could merge with a competitor, or you could buy them. So itâs best to position yourself as best as you can without revealing strategy.â ~ Sarah Ware, Markerly
5. Donât Be Afraid to Fire Customers
âYou cannot please everyone, so find the customers who fit your company, and donât waste your time on customers who donât.â ~ Suzanne Smith, Social Impact Architects
6. Remember Business Is Personal
âBusiness is personal. This is contrary to every cliché you will hear about leading an organization. But at the end of the day, all you have as a business person in the 21st century is your relationships â" not factories, widgets or pipelines.â ~ Panos Panay, Sonicbids
7. Donât Work All the Time
âWhen I was young, I used to pull all-nighters a few times a week and would average only a few hours of sleep a night. Looking back, my life was totally unbalanced. I was far less productive and extremely unhealthy in general. Now, I have dinner with my kids, work out every day, do yoga, maintain a reasonable balance and get way more done than when I âworkedâ more hours.â ~ Danny Boice, Speek
8. Do Things That Donât Scale
âThese are the words of the great Paul Graham, and we have implemented this to great effect at DJZ. At the beginning of a companyâs existence, you often have to undergo time-consuming tasks to recruit customers that wouldnât make sense on a huge scale (e.g., personal thank-you letters to customers or gathering new signups in person). These initial unscalable gestures are what ignite the flywheel.â ~ Michael Simpson, DJZ
9. Run a Half Marathon Every Year
âWhen youâre the founder of a startup, your company is on your mind all the time. In fact, you can run into some major personal issues by not being able to properly âshut offâ from business mode. Iâve found that signing up for a major athletic event like a half marathon is a great way to de-stress. It forces you to train every day and focus on something besides your business.â ~ Eric Bahn, Hustle Con Media
10. Break Rules
âSure, rules are great. They create momentary stability and processes we can all adhere to, but breaking them for the right reasons can lead to breakthroughs, unique experiences and stories that build businesses and brands in unimaginable ways.â ~ Henry Glucroft, Henryâs / Airdrop
11. Donât Try to Do It All
âGet out of your own way. Itâs easy to get caught up trying to do everything in a business when really you should be focusing on removing yourself as a bottleneck. Entrepreneurs should spend their time building systems and plans for their business and watching things happen. Being CEO doesnât mean you have to be doing all the work.â ~ Matt Wilson, Under30Experiences
12. Say âYesâ More
âSuccess is rarely, if ever, a straight line. And sometimes, the things that are slightly off track or seem a bit outside the lines are the things that may yield the biggest results. So I recommend you say âyesâ to interesting things, people and experiences. Those are usually where the action lies.â ~ Eric Koester, DCI
13. Motivate Employees
âIf you own a business, you should realize that your employees are your most valuable asset. The best way to motivate them is to allow them to share in the success of the business. You can call it an incentive for strong productivity and performance, or you can call it profit sharing. When employees have a vested interest in the business, they become self-motivated and work hard to be successful.â ~ Jay Wu, A Forever Recovery
14. Buy a Watch
âMy most unorthodox tip for becoming wildly successful in business is buying a watch (any kind!) and actually wearing it (every day!). Being punctual in business is key. No one likes to be held up or waiting on an associate who is running behind. Be early to every meeting, finish meetings on time, and never get caught saying, âIâm sorry, I lost track of the time!ââ ~ Kim Kaupe, âZinePak
Success Photo via Shutterstock