Deviating from industry norms is one of the most common characteristics we’ve seen among highly successful brands and professionals and so we’ve asked some brilliant folks to give us real life examples of how they do things differently from the industry standard.

Kambri Preciado

Helping others feel confident and comfortable with their own skin, and smile is our passion! We believes that people have a little extra bounce in their step and exude more positive energy into the world when they start their day with internal confidence and happiness. With attention to every detail no matter how small, perfectly natural spray tans are our specialty. We believe in taking the time to get every tiny detail right to make sure our clients are satisfied with their tans and that they look flawlessly natural. Read more>>

William Bichara

I am an artist, the camera is my medium and photography is my tool. As a professional wedding photographer, if asked what I do differently from the industry standards, my answer is “almost everything”. But before diving into what’s behind this bold claim, I’d like to start by clarifying that where I come from on this subject is not a place of rebellion or antipathy. I’m not intentional about not conforming to widely accepted ways of doing business. Neither do I mean it a as statement of exclusivity. I deeply respect that common practices adopted by the industry have long been refined and established by many talented and successful photography business owners before me. Read more>>

Pablo Alfaro

I’m always on my customers side, my goal is to perfectly understand their needs and solve any issues they might have. I also educate them about instruments maintenance, preserving and adjustments possibilities. Read more>>

Brent McDonald

In 2016 , the cannabis industry was booming and cannabis concentrates we’re making it’s way to the forefront, and eating away at the market share of smokeable flower. Apothecary Extracts / Farms was looking to take advantage of the surge in concentrate popularity. As passionate concentrate users and processors ourselves , we set out to open the first “concentrate – focused” dispensary here in Colorado. What is a concentrate focused dispensary? Our menu solely consisted of concentrates , produced in house at our cultivation facility. We focused on small batch concentrates made from unique cultivars. We spent many days and nights seeking out rare and exotic cultivars to showcase in our vertically integrated facility in Colorado Springs. Read more>>

Jennifer Felmley

When most people think of a culinary experience (like a dinner or an intimate gathering), they think about a restaurant or a caterer. They are offered a preset menu that they can choose from; this isn’t the case with my services. I pride myself on customizing all of my services. When a client reaches out to me, I ask for a few basics (date of the event, how many people, style of event, estimated budget, etc.), then I request a phone call to discuss their vision for the event and what I can create for them. I am happy to share menus from past events to give clients an idea of what I can create for them, but what I love most is creating a menu and one-of-a-kind event, specific to them!. Read more>>

Emily Howard

The philosophy our school is so different from most other preschools. Our curriculum, both academic and social and emotional is fully integrated into a natural outdoor environment. We have four distinct learning areas outside to meet the needs of each age group. More climbing, more running, more jumping, more exploring, SAND id a small preschool in a very urban community. We turned an unused and covered drainage ditch into a natural wetlands. We turned a patch of dirt into a community garden with a stream, garden beds and even a airstream turned art studio. We turned and patch of overgrown ivy into woods with walking paths and and logs to climb and sit on. We use sticks and dirt instead of crayons and markers. Read more>>

Scott Edelsberg

The customer experience and their safety are extremely important to me. We make sure that we follow all safety protocols. The machines and equipment are thoroughly cleaned before and after each event. We train our employees to understand how everything works. In the event a customer has any questions my staff is able to properly communicate how every game and photobooth operate. As far industry standards are concerned, I would say what I do different from others is my vast selection. I’m always searching for the next best game and photobooth. I like to be on top of trends. For example, when airbrushing was beginning to pick up momentum, I made sure I had an artist. My airbrush artist has been a personal friend for almost 40 years. He was a famous graffiti artist and now he creates unbelievable party favors that both kids and adults love. Read more>>

Vicki Murphy

As a psychic medium, I was frustrated with the results of just looking into future potential with clients. They would return with the same problems over and over. That is when I determined that accountability would help. I offered a program for them to follow, but that wasn’t enough. I then created a “healing” method that helps clients clear what is keeping them stuck in painful relationship and work patterns and keeping them broke and out of alignment with abundance. This method is what I offer that is different from what others in my industry offer. But, here’s the real difference. Read more>>

Kelsey Brown

I am among the lucky artists who had a very supportive group around me when I started out, but unfortunately that isn’t always the case in the tattooing world. There can be an underlying feeling for clients and new artists that the tattoo artist they are seeing is doing them a favor, or that it is an inconvenience to ask questions or express feelings. This is such a personal service, often with deep meanings, and definitely long lasting effects, and how you are treated during it gets ingrained into the story of that tattoo. When it is a good experience, it can be a healing, transformative, and uplifting process, and that is always my intention. My main goal is to create beautiful art that speaks to my clients, and to make the process of tattooing as positive as I can. Read more>>

Stacy Gery

I believe in the power of social impact. It’s good for the community AND helps to grow a successful business! I learned so much by taking classes at the Colorado (now National) Institute for Social Impact in Colorado Springs. I get many referrals to both my businesses based on the fact that I try hard to do good things for my community. For my mountain biking business, the social impact components include: 1. A few years ago a local mountain bike skills park with wooden obstacles was overgrown, in disrepair, not safe for users, covered in yellow police tape. It’s a fabulous resource that wasn’t being used. I contacted the city and a local non-profit and asked how to get the park up and running again. They said “adopt and maintain it. Read more>>

Estil Wallace

Yes, we are an abstinence-based drug & alcohol treatment center. Meaning, we don’t use synthetic opioids or any other “mind-altering” substances in the long term treatment for substance use disorder. Read more>>

Samantha Glenn

We opened Funky Picnic Brewery & Café in order to try to make craft beer more accessible to the general population. We saw the majority of businesses in our industry who were only targeting the customer that was already drinking craft beer, and instead wanted Funky Picnic to be the place where someone new could discover and fall in love with craft beer. Being a restaurant that makes our own beer, we have a lot of customers that will come in for the food, and while they are there, decide to taste or try a new beer that might sound intriguing. During the reduced-capacity days of 2020 we had to make the business decision to add liquor to our menus, but we highlighted boilermakers (beer and a shot) and beer cocktails (beer, liquor, and mixers) in addition to traditional cocktails (liquor and mixer). Read more>>

Greg Preston

Most people don’t realize bone density peaks around age 30, at which point bones begin to slowly weaken for the remainder of life, even in active healthy people. The human body won’t allow muscle tissue to be stronger than the bone it is attached to, so as bone weakens with age, muscle tissue weakens as well. The natural weakening of the skeletal system after age 30 is the primary culprit that explains why people get weaker as they age, even if they are exercising regularly. Once bone and muscle tissue has been compromised, it leads to lots of other health issues including: loss of balance, poor posture, increase in joint and back pain, higher risk of fracture or injury, and even higher blood glucose levels. Read more>>

Alicia Marsicovetere

There are several things we do differently from the industry standard. First off, we really focus on our clients’ needs by communicating with them, by using a variety of pressure, and by taking a therapeutic approach to massage. We strongly believe in the health benefits of massage and our staff is excellent at what they do to help everyone in their health journey, whether it be working on decreasing pain and tension, helping after injuries or surgeries, or helping people relax and renew to reset emotionally and physically. We take client satisfaction very seriously and really ensure an excellent massage. That gives us the edge and we now have over 600+ five-star reviews. Read more>>

Lisa Moore

This is a resounding yes for us. In fact, our whole business model was created out of a desire to do things outside of the norm in our industry. The Denton Bridal Show began in 2014 when we saw a need for local show at the northern most point of the Golden Triangle in North Texas. There wasn’t another show North of the Lewisville Lake, but the North Central Texas Counties certainly had a bunch of industry vendors that could sustain and benefit from a local bridal show. But aside from meeting a need, we had a strong desire to do things differently from other shows we had attended in the past. Read more>>

Jonah Hoffmaister

Why does the moving industry make you feel so uneasy? Maybe it’s the stereotypes that are there for good reason! The horror stories are rampant and often true. From crews showing up hours late, or worse, not even showing up at all. Lots and lots of damages due to inexperienced crews and then receiving little to no compensation or resolution. Crew members that are clearly not background checked making you feel nervous in your own home. Difficulty getting a company representative on the phone or respond to an email. Or maybe you have been one of the many who received a quote and were charged 3 times more than expected!. Read more>>

Darrel Larson

Many organizations install water filters or wells around the world to bring clean water to underserved people groups. They typically do a brief training, take some photos, get some testimonies, and the ride off into the sunset with everyone feeling good. What makes Give Clean Water different is that we’re committed to tracking behavior change, which means we follow up at least 2x with every family that receives a water filter to ensure that they’ve developed the habits of using and cleaning their filters every day. By doing so, the filter systems can last 10 or more years. We are also committed to tracking outcomes, which means we collect before and after data on each family that receives a filter system. Read more>>

Marie Pantelic

We have absolutely revolutionized the experience of the home owner in the stone industry! Most stone suppliers only sell directly to fabricators, or contractors. We eliminate the middle man and sell directly to the home owner. In addition to saving them every dollar possible, we help them with their design! We encourage our customers to bring in samples of their flooring, cabinetry, and backsplash. We go above and beyond for each person that we have the opportunity to work with, knowing that our help will make their lives easier. Kitchen remodels can be stressful, and we’re so proud that we make the process and the overall project easier. We’re so proud when we read our google reviews and the people express all of this!. Read more>>

Liz Cortes

Clients come to us wanting more website traffic. However, when I go to their website homepage it’s not clear on what steps I need to do to hire them or who they help. If you confuse you lose. You need a website that converts. This starts with choosing the right words and layout. Something we do differently when a new client hires us to drive more website traffic is we do a 60-minute marketing message call. Next, we copywrite the most popular website pages so that when we do traffic strategies like Local SEO or Google ads they work! Most business coaches or marketing agencies will just do what you want. This is why most people are disappointed with the results. They did what you hired them to do but the marketing strategy would have worked so much better if you would have clarified your marketing message first. Read more>>

Patrick McNerney

I believe creativity plays a huge role in our companies’ success. Our engineering firm is known for innovation and a large portion of that comes from a company culture that nurtures and encourages creativity. We encourage our employees to bring any and all ideas to the table: new technologies, new processes, and innovative approaches to solving old problems. Prior to engineering, I came from a background of film and music, so the creative gene lives within me and cannot be turned off. I still love creating music and films (I’m in the middle of my first short film now called “The Sanguine” https://www.facebook.com/thesanguinefilm made for the Americonic.com streaming platform), but I’ve found that creative energy can be tapped and used for nearly any outlet. Even something as seemingly bland as spreadsheets! Allowing creativity leads to innovation and that is a winning formula in our industry. Read more>>

Nia Ruth

Unlike big box wine clubs, my Wine Club shares three bottles of delicious small-batch wines from a single winery each month (that you can’t find at your local wine shop!). We go beyond just giving our members the best small production wines: we host a live tasting with the winemaker and winery owners so members can learn the stories behind the bottles and get an in-depth understanding of the wine in their glass directly from the producers themselves – an experience you’d typically only have at the winery! The Club helps members expand their palate, learn about their wine preferences, and gather the skills to select wines they’ll love, all while fostering a community of wine lovers. Also uniquely, there’s a charitable component to the Club, and we donate $1 from each monthly membership to a cause of the winery’s choice. Read more>>

INA MARJAKANGAS

When I told friends I was opening a retail gift shop, they thought I was crazy! People don’t shop in stores anymore, they shop on line. I disagree. I believe that nothing will ever replace the human experience. Especially for people on vacation. So, my goal was to find a travel destination, and provide an exceptional experience that would enhance and uplift a guests overall vacation. I chose the lovely seaside village of Lauderdale By The Sea. I curated a selection of local artists, vendors, and crafters with unique and interesting products. I created a fun, warm and welcoming environment. And above all, chose individuals to work with who love people. Read more>>

Vanessa Felcman

Our vision is to provide a SPACE where pediatric treatment options are Comprehensive, Convenient and Innovative. Tired of watching families needing to make a choice between critical therapy services such as speech or occupational therapy so that their child could participate in recommended full time Applied Behavior Analysis, we wanted to bring all critical services under one roof. Parents do not have to make a choice on which treatment modality may work for their child, they can participate in any and all recommended services and do this in one place! The outcome is convenience and truly comprehensive programming. Read more>>

Mike Eastwood

There are plenty of cheese shops. But I don’t know of any other anywhere that exclusively represents American makers. which is what we’ve done from our company’s onset. Our business is 100% American brands – cheeses, cured meats and artisan products all made right here in America, and in the case of our farmer market vendors, local to San Diego. Our business started in our local, San Diego Farmer’s Markets. In fact, we’re still there every Sunday at the La Jolla Open Aire Market. The markets are where we grew our brand for 5 years before having the confidence to open our first brick and mortar store. Read more>>

Reid Carr

It is common that agencies, as they grow and attract an appealing client list, the big agency holding companies come to acquire the agency. The holding company’s story is that they want to put the agency into a larger network to “help them scale” by increasing their geographic footprint and making investments in their growth. However, it is important to recognize that those holding companies are public companies with the fiduciary responsibility to deliver financial results to shareholders. It is less about the quality of the work and more about delivering growth and a financial return to shareholders. There is nothing wrong with that, but it changes the focal point for the business. Read more>>

Brandon Petry

Having come from a background in corporate customer service, I’ve seen and exercised the industry standard of customer relations and retention. What I’ve learned is if you want to meet the customers need, you first have to be equipped to do so. A lot of times I’ve seen companies focus so much on the number of customers served instead of the quality of service each customer receives. What has been critical for us to meet and exceed the need of each client is by limiting our service options and often limiting our clients. Clients will often express their appreciation of our honesty when we turn down a project that may be outside of our scope, and sometimes those customers will adjust their needs to work with a business who shows that much care for customer service. Read more>>

Richard Taylor

Typically, when a homeowner wants to build or renovate, they oftentimes, and understandably, go right to the builders, wave their hands around in the air explaining how they want a kitchen over here, add a bathroom over there, bump-out, pop-up, so on and so forth. Even the most brilliant builders are naturally going to lose a tremendous amount of information, accuracy, and expectations right into thin air. The builder builds what he or she knows best, and the homeowner hopes that they get what they wanted. If only the homeowner had blueprints over which the team could huddle. Read more>>

Cindy Jones

We make natural skin care products. I’ve had some potential customers tell me that they will not buy natural skincare products because they just do not work or they grow mold on them. To us, making natural, sustainable skin care products that work is very important. My background in biochemistry has given me the knowledge to really understand the nature of skin as well as ingredients and what ingredients best benefit skin. Colorado Aromatics Cultivated skin care products are scientifically made to combine beneficial medicinally herbs with active ingredients made by green chemistry. These products are effective to minimize dry skin, hyperpigmentation, redness & irritation and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Read more>>