Making Different Work

When my 6’4″ athletic son came home with a multicolored silly bandz around his wrist, I knew the newest trend had truly penetrated the marketplace. Having never worn any type of adornment before, I was astounded to see the latest fad making its way so brightly into his life. Of course intrigued by what shape the silly bandz would make, I asked him to take it off and show me. After a lot of prodding and reluctance on his side, he took it off and it said, “I Love You” – a gift from his girlfriend. In that moment I realized the impact an innovative creation like the silly band can have on a naïve mother.

Through the ages “making different work” has been fruitful for entrepreneurs and consumers. You can see it demonstrated extremely well in the latest television commercial showing the domino effect of inventions through the ages. A visual timeline of inventions from the buggy to the car; to the airplane to the rocket ship; to the big computers to the hand held ipods; knock each other over as the inventions progress through time. Innovative thought, design and creation have paved the way for the next best product to be formulated. I’m not quite sure the silly band naturally follows the ipod but it is a money making invention that works.

When women entrepreneurs start their businesses they intend to make different work. We don’t set out to start a company just like one we’ve seen before. We don’t want to duplicate someone else’s success. We want to create a unique product or service aimed at being different enough to be noticed and similar enough to be understood and accepted. It’s a fine line.

When I created the first annual Women TIES Retreat last year, I aimed at producing a conference that didn’t feel like a typical convention. It was meant to have a strong educational core with excellent presenters but the essence of the event was different. The speakers were asked to make sure they delivered the educational content in an inspirational way. Knowing how much women entrepreneurs love to be inspired, I knew making this conference different by basing it around business inspiration would work – and it did. Today we launch the exciting lineup of the Second Annual Retreat with the same essence and spirit – learning through inspiration. I hope you’ll attend find out from our Denver, Colorado keynote speaker, Julie Pech, The Chocolate Therapist, LLC, why “different has worked” for her.

Today’s blog is to inspire you to feel fantastic about the unique business you have built. I hope it’s a different type of company than you originally envisioned. I hope it’s bigger and better than you thought it would be. I hope being different in your marketplace has worked for you.

If not or if you feel like your vibrant company has become a static enterprise, I hope you’ll open yourself up today to be inspired to be different or to learn from women who have created unique businesses and are making it work. Find them at our September Retreat, at tomorrow’s luncheon or within our directory. We all need inspiration from time to time and that’s just what women entrepreneurs love to give and receive.