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.

Jared Haas

The planning and designing of our current built environment is a broken system that rewards a “bigger, faster, cheaper” mentality. Mid-century mass production gave us access to the automobile which caused us to plan and design networks based on vehicular transportation. Instead, we should be focused on planning at the pedestrian level, which in turn, allow us to create more healthy and socially engaging communities. This concept is the crux of what we refer to as authentic living design and have articulated into 6 different principles (see https://www.blackrabbit.co/authentic-living). These principles are counter to what I refer to as the “fast food” approach to planning and design that we have been experiencing in the US for many decades. Read more>>

Riz Moosa

Most other wedding DJs will play the same music at every wedding. Something we do different than most DJs is really understand the style and tastes of our couples. We help them with sharing popular music from other couples and ask them to tell us some of their favorites songs. Once we have that, we build everything around their vision. It’s very time consuming on our part but the end result is magical. No two weddings are ever the same and the couples always love the music they hear on that day. We don’t do cookie-cutter weddings and want the couples to have a unique, personal and fun experience. Read more>>

Barry Overton

When you’re a real estate agent in a state where there’s over 30,000 licensed real estate agents, the chances are very strong that most people know one, two, or five real estate agents, and they definitely have options in regards to who to work with. So, it becomes very important that you set yourself apart from the masses. Branding and marketing are an essential aspect to a real estate agents business. Read more>>

Leanne Holitza

A lot of healers get trapped into thinking they should be a non-profit or just give their time and energy away. I started off that way and quickly found that made no sense, nor did it help my clients to think that way. What I offer is valuable and I can do wonders for your life (even more so than that expensive hair treatment)! Once I embraced that, I started to take responsibility for really hosting my clients in my business and space. Read more>>

Kasey Ciesiensky

I believe we do several things differently from the industry standard, but 1 sticks out the most to me. We focus on making products that are healthy and good for people. Most of the green cleaner companies on the market today focus on being eco-friendly and good for the environment. And while, I want our products to be good for the earth, first and foremost I want our products to be good for our customers. Read more>>

Chrysta Miller

As the owner and baker/decorator of my own cookie business I have been able to basically do whatever I want, and it has been fun! I remember when I first started this business I told my husband I really wanted this to be unique and completely my style. I specialize in naughty and inappropriate cookies. I love to make a design that makes people talk and laugh. In this industry a lot of cookie artist play it safe and only get too do what the customers want, I have been so lucky to be able to design all cookies too my style. Read more>>

Melissa Stynski

In a world that seems to be going up in prices with everything around us. I believe being able to offer affordable photography is important. I believe that capturing the smallest of days of your newborns life, will be photos you will treasure forever. I believe that capturing the milestone of a pregancy, a childs birthday, or a family photo, will truly all be moments that you will never regret capturing those times. I have been in business for almost 12 years. In that time, it has always been near and dear to my own heart for families to have photos of their children and of all of them together. Not only is it important but I believe it should be affordable. Read more>>

Laura Anderson

Most Brands will either do their digital marketing in-house or use an agency, these two options are the current industry standard. Both have pros and cons – Hiring someone in-house means you have someone dedicated full time to your account but you have to pay them a hefty salary along with expensive benefits, with an agency, you have a team, but that team has a handful of other clients who they apply the same strategies to regardless of how different each brand is. Read more>>

Anthony Vipond

Absolutely! At Artichoke Dinner Club, we wanted to be completely different than other prepared meal businesses. Most of the industry focuses on diets and individuals, which we completely understand and respect. But, for our family, heating multiple individual servings detracted from the family dining experience and did not feel like the right option. Although I believe in a healthy and balanced diet, I love pasta and rice far too much for diet-focused options. Read more>>

Bob Reish

The purpose of The Caveat Institute is to come along side aspiring and seasoned business leaders, who are successful and know they are successful, but know there is another level of success and are stuck. We help them get to the next level, from success to significance. What makes us different from the industry standard? We help people think different about time, networking, money, and business. We don’t focus on thinking out of the box. Thinking out of the box stems from the perspective of the status quo. We focus on thinking from the perspective of a soaring eagle. Read more>>

Ozzy guragac

Yes, of course, as Barbarossa Coffee, we do a lot of work outside of industry standards. As a company, we take care that everything we produce is of very high quality and that there is an excellent knowledge behind it. The main ones are: Coffee: It is a standard for us that all the coffees coming to Barbarossa Coffee have a cupping score of 85+; we try to buy these coffees directly from the farmers themselves, and we want the farmers to make the coffees they produce better by increasing their living standards, education and welfare levels without any intermediaries. Read more>>

Jalyn Gordon

In our consulting firm, we move away from packages, high prices, and being the most popular nonprofit and business in the world and we support our Partners (clients) in moving closer towards customized pathways for success, an equitable and culturally informed cost structure, and manifesting their divine purpose. The Afrocentric Communiversity is a consulting company that helps folx keep culture in mind as they develop their institutions. We offer strategic coaching and consulting services to nonprofits and businesses who are culturally conscious. Read more>>

Jess Washington

The one thing that separates Dallas Weekly from most other traditional newspapers is that we operate as a full service media outlet. We not only have a newsroom with reporters that take content to print. Dallas Weekly has a visual arts team that can produce a commercial, a content series or even dynamic coverage of a particular event. We also understand the use of social media as a marketing tool to not only share our content but also track feedback from the audience on what we should be focusing on. One hand feeds the other, and that’s why we are proud to say you can find DW everywhere. Read more>>