Have you considered writing a book to help expand your business?  I have lots of innovative ideas to grow my own business and provide valuable information to assist small business owners.  One of my objectives for the coming year is to publish several books related to innovation and small business.  I have already outlined one book that I expect to publish within the next month.  And, I have scheduled more books to write in the coming year.

Have you considered writing a book to expand your own business?  Here are some reasons to consider publishing a book:

1. A book positions your business as a leader in its market or industry.
2. A book establishes you as an expert in your field and a credible business leader.
3. A book is the ultimate business card.

In the past, publishing a book has been time-consuming and expensive.  However, with today’s electronic publishing systems, publishing a book can be quick and inexpensive.  The Kindle platform has a huge following and provides a great mechanism for publishing books.

My first book is for small business owners who want to learn techniques for applying innovation to build their business.  I was able to outline the entire book in a weekend, and now I’m writing the content for the various sections of the book.

Watch for my book in the next few weeks!  Please leave a comment below and tell me about your book plans for the coming year.

Based on my experiences with over a thousand innovators during the past 20 years, I understand that innovation includes both success and failure.  Many good ideas are difficult to implement or are “too early” for public acceptance.  In some cases, the development of an idea into a working product is a lengthy process.  This process typically includes multiple tests and a significant number of failures.  However, successful innovators learn from these failures to modify their approach and prepare another test.

I recently read a great article by Geoff Hoff discussing failure as the secret to success.  Geoff mentions Thomas Edison’s many attempts to create a working light bulb.  Edison did not view his thousands of experiments as failures.  Instead, Edison characterized those unsuccessful experiments as continue reading…

Successfully leveraging innovation can affect all areas of your business.  Learning and applying innovation skills can help you develop new products or services, solve problems, and improve the efficiency of your business operations.  Here are a few examples of how you can use innovation to your advantage.

1. Distinguish your Business from Competitors.  Businesses (regardless of size) can distinguish themselves from others in the marketplace by identifying and developing creative ideas.  Rather than simply following “industry standards” and creating more of the same products, apply an Innovation Strategy to develop products that set your company apart from everyone else.  Look for ways to make your products faster, more efficient or more fun to use.  Set a goal to identify problems faced by your market and create solutions to those problems.  When you implement a solution to a problem faced by everyone in your market, you will definitely stand out from the crowd.

2. Get Free Advertising.  When you distinguish yourself as an innovator (or innovative company), you attract media attention.  Think about all the free advertising today’s most innovative companies receive.  When you develop innovative products that solve industry problems or simply improve the lives of individuals, you will receive media coverage.  Additionally, you can benefit from continue reading…

Many small businesses rely on internal personnel to generate ideas and procedures to grow the business.  While internal people are critical to the success of any business, an innovative business will seek the ideas and input of individuals outside the company to accelerate the growth of the business.

Unfortunately, many business leaders fall into the trap of believing that the business founders and other business personnel are best suited to identify all ideas related to growth of the business.  In many situations, these business leaders fail to seek (or simply ignore) input from people outside the company.  However, people outside the company’s day-to-day operations typically have a different perspective.  They are not caught-up in the systems, procedures, and other activities that dominate the lives of individuals working within the company.  These outside people look at the business with a fresh view and don’t bring with them the “baggage” collected by working within the business.

I recently took this advice in my own business.  I worked with an outside business strategist, Jeanette Cates, to look at my existing business and give me new ideas.  Although she knew nothing about my business before we started, she gave me a long list of great ideas to take my business to the next level.  Being an outsider to my business, Jeanette was unaware of continue reading…

Many new fitness products are released into the marketplace every year.  A couple months ago I received an innovative new fitness device as a gift.  I love this little gadget and I’m amazed at the innovative features offered by this fitness tracker.  Since I’m always watching for innovative products and services, I was excited to try out this new fitness tracker.

The device, called a fitbit, is a 21st century pedometer (see picture on the left – click the picture to visit the company’s web site).  The old-fashioned pedometers measured the number of steps a person walked each day.  I had one of those old devices many years ago – I used it for a while, but the novelty wore off quickly.  I often had to adjust the device to be sure it was properly registering my steps.  Counting my steps each day was useful, but the device had no other features.  Also, I had to record my steps each day and then reset the pedometer each morning.

But, my new fitbit is a completely different story.  Yes, it counts my steps – but that’s just the beginning.  This device counts the number of stairs climbed each day, the number of calories burned, sleep patterns, and more.  The fitbit wirelessly communicates with my laptop, which automatically stores my daily steps, stairs climbed, and other data.  Also, an app for my smartphone displays this data and lets me enter other information, such as the glasses of water I drink, the food I eat, and more.  I recharge the device about once a week by connecting it to a docking device that connects to my computer.

The small size allows me to easily carry the fitbit in my pocket or clip it on a shirt sleeve or belt.  I find myself looking at the device many times each day and it helps motivate me to go for a quick walk or climb an extra flight of stairs to meet my daily goals.  And, you can “compete” with your friends that also have a fitbit to see who climbs the most stairs in a day, etc.  This social aspect of fitness provides new motivation to be active every day – and lets me participate with friends all over the world.

I love innovative products like this – taking an existing product (pedometer) and putting a new “twist” on the design that completely changes the functionality and usefulness of the product.  Think about the products/services in your own business.  Can you “update” those products/services to create a whole new user experience?  And, if you have a fitbit, let me know so we can have a friendly fitness competition.

Brainstorming is an important tool for developing new ideas for your business.  Brainstorming activities are also useful in solving problems faced by your business or your industry.

Here are three tips to help you get the most out of your brainstorming sessions.

1. Schedule Brainstorming Time – Put this activity on your calendar so it is not forgotten or pushed aside by another project.  Schedule as much time as you can, but even a 10 minute brainstorming session can generate a long list of creative ideas.
2. Record Everything – During your brainstorming activities, write down every idea that comes to mind.  Do not filter out any ideas and never continue reading…

Following business trends (both general trends and trends in your particular industry) is important to the health and long-term success of your business.  Staying aware of trends does not mean that you need to be on the “cutting edge” of every trend.  But, you need to watch those trends so that your business does not become obsolete as your competitors leverage those trends to their advantage.

There are many examples of businesses that failed, at least in part, because they did not recognize trends in their own industry.  Blockbuster Video is one example.  There are many stories and theories regarding the reasons for the downfall of Blockbuster.  But, most business analysts agree continue reading…

Innovative ideas can occur at any time.  If you’re like me, some of your best ideas “pop” into your head at the most unexpected times.

I was talking with a friend recently who mentioned that he often comes up with his most creative ideas in the shower.  I found that interesting because I also have innovative ideas while in the shower.  I also have many creative ideas when I’m driving.

Since we all have creative thoughts at unexpected times, it is important to be prepared for those innovative ideas ahead of time.  To me, being prepared means having a way to record the innovative idea before it “disappears”.  Here are a few ways to be sure you are always prepared to record your innovative thoughts:

1. Carry a pen/pencil and paper with you at all times – get a small pad of paper and a short pencil that easily fit in your pocket or purse.
2. If you have innovative ideas in the middle of the night, keep a pad of paper next to your bed to record those ideas.
3. Use an audio recorder to quickly record your thoughts.  Or, carry a portable video camera, like the Flip video camera.  Since these video cameras also include microphones, you can use them to record your thoughts – just ignore the video.
4. Use your cell phone.  If you have a smart phone, use a note-taking application or a voice recording application.  If your phone does not have those abilities, send yourself a text message or call your voicemail and leave a message for yourself.
5. Keep a pad of paper and a pen in your car.  If I’m waiting in my car for an appointment or to pick up one of my kids, I will often use that time as a mini-brainstorming session and write down all of my ideas.
6. Put a white board in your office or other location just for creative ideas.  I have a white board in my office that is used exclusively for innovative business ideas related to my current projects.

I realize that the above ideas for recording your thoughts probably won’t work in the shower.  So, here’s an opportunity for you to innovate:  How can you record ideas while in the shower?  A water-proof white board?  Leave a comment below with your ideas.  Also, let me know about other systems you use to record your innovative ideas.

I was recently shopping for new lunch boxes for my kids to carry their lunch to school.  If you have not shopped for lunch boxes/bags lately, you may be surprised at the number of options.  Hard-sided lunch boxes made of metal or hard plastic.  Soft-sided bags of varying shapes and sizes.  And, of course, a huge variety of colors, designs and cartoon characters.

With previous lunch boxes, we have included a re-usable ice pack to keep the contents of the lunch box cold.  This approach works pretty well, but sometimes the ice pack “crushes” the food or the ice pack begins to leak blue liquid all over the contents of the lunch box.

As I reviewed the vast selection of lunch boxes at a local store, I noticed a new type of soft-sided lunch bag that had “built-in” ice.  The advertising materials for the lunch bag said “No Ice Needed!  It’s Built-In!”.  This innovative design includes a freezable gel in the sides of the lunch bag.  So, instead of putting an ice pack into the lunch bag to keep the contents cool, you put the entire lunch bag in the freezer overnight to chill the gel in the sides of the bag.  In the morning, you take the lunch bag out of the freezer and put the lunch inside.  The frozen gel keeps the contents of the lunch bag cool until lunch time.

I love this idea.  The lunch bag does a wonderful job of keeping the contents cool until lunch time.  I believe it does a better job than the old ice packs we used in the past.  Now I don’t have to worry about leaking ice packs or a shifting ice pack that slides to one end of the lunch bag and only keeps part of the lunch cool.

This creative product is an innovation example that combines two existing products to generate a new product providing new benefits to the customer.  This innovation adds a new feature that simplifies use of the product, rather than making it more complicated.  When looking for ways to provide more value to your own clients, don’t forget to consider simplifying your product or service for the benefit of your client.