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.

Tessa Arias

At Handle the Heat we fully believe that baking is a science. For this reason, we’ve created a rigorous recipe development process unlike most other independent recipe publishers, bloggers, or influencers. Each of our recipes is not only tested multiple times before publishing. Each is tested by different people in different kitchens across the country. Our top priority is to create trusted recipes that actually work for anyone who follows the directions. We go to great lengths to ensure that our recipes work AND that our recipes are easy to follow. Read more>>

Beth Romer

I started L&L specifically to run things differently. L&L Collective was born out of frustration. As a working mom, I was constantly having to pick between my work and my kids. One day work would win, the next day my kids would win. I had this constant feeling of failing at the two things I wanted to rock at. It is so easy to accept that working in a creative field, fire drills will happen, deadlines will be tight, and life will always be crazy but truthfully that wasn’t sitting right with me. Read more>>

Mercury Stardust

In the industry often led by the notion that there’s only one right way to do something. When you enter the space and declare and alternative method, it can perceived as radical. I believe that renters and the people who are not granted access to DIY, maintenance, and trades knowledge, are worthy of my our attention. The standard in the construction, maintenance, and DIY spaces are often targeted towards those who “know” or those who “have”. Read more>>

Ashley Johnson

Most US eyewear is designed for a narrow, Eurocentric face, leaving millions of women used to wearing glasses that are too tight, too narrow, slide down face, hit cheeks, or touch lashes. Mohala Eyewear is the only inclusive eyewear brand that offers three unique nose bridge fits, various widths, and adjustable frames made with your face in mind. These custom glasses won’t slide, fall off, indent cheeks or touch lashes—and they look great, too! Read more>>

Meg Schlabs

At Wizardly, my business partner Josh and I have intentionally created space for *all* our employees to find true community. During covid, there was a massive growth of 1099 employees on the market, coupled with a basic human need to connect in new ways. In our world of design, we began to notice how lonely contractors were. Read more>>

Sam Veeramachaneni

As a Director working out of Los Angeles, I’ve had the opportunity to produce films, documentaries, music videos and more. Unlike many of my peers, I did not go film school, receive formal training or grow up wanting to become a filmmaker. My training comes from either being self-taught or working various roles on different productions. It’s a “Swiss-Army Knife” kind of experience that’s only served to strengthen me as a collaborator, director, and leader. I’m never too esoteric for my crew, too technical for artist or too estranged for business. Read more>>

Riley Smith

MakeGood Creative Network is, essentially, a coaching business. Our goal is to help indie and amateur creators live a more fulfilling and creative life. There are a lot of people who do something similar, but I’ve noticed they’re missing something crucial. Read more>>

Courtney Malengo

Anytime you say the word marketing, branding or public relations, it conjures up lots of definitions, but those definitions are different depending on the individual and their experiences. Before launching Spark + Buzz Communications, I spent 16+ years as a strategic communications professional, serving in a variety of roles from journalism, marketing, branding, public relations and more. Because of that experience, it has given me a unique perspective as to how all of these disciplines can be leveraged for maximum success. Read more>>

Amy Hitchcock

We try to be a little different from the industry standard brewery or tap house. We want to encourage social gatherings among people that know each other and also among strangers who share a passion for delicious food and drinks. Our concept is similar to a European Beer Hall. We have long pallet tables and lots of colorful artwork. Customers have two options for ordering food. Read more>>

Gretchen Mueller & Scott Warner

Our Snacks and treats are different and unique from everyone else due to the fact we incorporate our signature dry Rub into Most items giving them some “SASS – or a KICK” . Nothing HOT/HOT – we are not trying to “melt your lips” but gives it enough of a kick to know you are eating something different. Read more>>

Debra Halprin

I am an Artist and I look at the work that I am reproducing with an Artist’s eye. In most cases, giclée printing establishments will take the original artwork, photograph it, color match it and call the client when the work is finished. What I do is much more customer oriented. Read more>>

Brodie O’Connor

We are a Canadian based clothing company specializing in high quality, elevated basics that are 100% made here in Canada. The clothing industry is infamous for being one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation and our goal is to show it is possible to be a responsible garment manufacturer. Read more>>

Suzanne Breistol

We have a trade-marked proven process for career matchmaking which mirrors dating for jobs. We provide sound career advice and do not ever sell a candidate on taking a position. When they follow the process, and it is meant to be it all comes together including money and timing. We specialize in Construction Management and Real Estate Development for the Career Matchmaking side and for Career Coaching it is open to all industries. Read more>>

Coby Chatwin

When it comes to supporting agents, we believe that real estate brokerages should never take a one-size-fits-all approach. Every agent varies in experience level and has different questions, specialties, and goals. Link Brokerages builds technology that dynamically supports agents and caters to individual needs in order to maximize career growth. Read more>>

Cristie Norman

I started in the wine industry already going against the status quo. Before I even reached the legal drinking age, I knew I wanted to be a sommelier. But in my journey toward becoming one, I quickly realized how inaccessible and closed off this world was – unless you had the right connections. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to be working with a sommelier, Shaun Prevatt, who agreed to be my mentor with the goal of helping me pass the final exam and become a certified sommelier by the time I was 21. Read more>>

Nicole Vieau

When I launched my business I told myself I would never increase my prices so much that I wasn’t affordable for families. My husband and I had our first child very young. We were just 20 years old and still tying to figure our careers out but of course we still wanted to be able to have pictures taken of us. Unfortunately, there weren’t any photographers that had prices within our budget. So for the first few months, we couldn’t afford to have any done. Read more>>

David Wu

The trade sh0w industry has been around for a long time. Many industry giants still run their businesses the same way they started. Joy Displays separate itself from the competition by doing the following: 1. We leverage product innovation to our advantage. Our products save our customer time and money. The trade show booths we offer are lightweight structures that are portable and easy to install. Read more>>

Rebecca White

As an educator and entrepreneur, I have been studying the skills and competencies of successful entrepreneurship all of my life. My mother was my first entrepreneurial role model. So it is important to me to share the message of the power of an entrepreneurial mindset for virtually everyone, regardless of whether a person is a business owner or not. Read more>>

John Mrazek

I started my non-profit/ministry coaching service at the strong recommendation of a good friend and to answer the question of a new customer. I was happily serving in a local college helping the students find employment and coaching them about next steps. Then I received a call from the pastor of a church in Parker that was stuck at 500 and suffering from staff burn-out and broken systems and processes that were not scaling up to match their growth. Read more>>

Bridget Haught

Everyone says if your business can make it five years you have built something solid. We’re right at the peek of year three and our costs are ever rising. A lot of the businesses that survive are racking up debt. The truth is often times bigger is not better. Growth is part of the equation but the other half is maintaining costs. One of the ways that awesome blossom manages that is to set aside profit first. We set aside our small plate first so our overall habit is “sales – profit = expenses” and then we keep a super close eye on everything that goes in and out of the business! Read more>>

Zah Morgan

That momentum of wanting to work for yourself and having your own business sometimes feels impossible especially when it comes to costs of things. We want perfect, effective, great quality meanwhile we don’t have the budget for it. This is why I love assisting people with their business and offer them a low fee but still get epic results. I feel that it’s so important to keep costs at minimum especially when your starting off. Read more>>

Michele Fields

Since 1989 I’ve practiced matchmaking as an old-fashioned matchmaker. I meet in-person, even through COVID, with each and every client to interview them. I have had a protocol in place since the beginning of the pandemic that I still adhere to for safety. Recently after an interview the client came down with meningitis and another came down with COVID. Read more>>