Doing things your way is one of the best parts of being your own boss and when done right seems to be highly correlated with outsized success. So, we wanted to gather real-world examples to shed more light on how the best artists, entrepreneurs and leaders differentiate themselves from others in their respective industries.

Kayla MacArthur

When it comes to business, I value service first, profit second. It is not unusual for me to meet with a potential client several times before they commit to working together. This might look like getting to know each other over a virtual coffee, offering them a complimentary coaching session to experience how I work, or supporting them to move past an obstacle that stands in the way of them investing into one of my programs. I value creating real relationships where heart and generosity are centered. Read more>>

Rachel Rumker

I’m not afraid to get involved with tasks on a wedding day that may be considered “not my job.” I have a few goals for myself when starting a wedding day. First and foremost, to capture a complete gallery with beautiful images, that really capture the true emotions of the day. Images that capture all the love between the couple, their friends, family, and guests. Read more>>

Jennifer Burr

My business was actually founded on this topic! Before I started Royal Road Coaching, I had a small business. I was seeking support but couldn’t find what I was looking for. Most coaches that I met with wanted to work 24/7 and be millionaires. I was looking for something different, so I became it. My business is all about people over profit, quality over quantity, and getting to know people instead of being a walking commercial. I wanted to bring it back to basics. Read more>>

Amanda Wrafield

More often than not, in the marketing sphere, the advice you find is all geared towards the “best practices”. And those best practices are all about how to make the algorithms happy, and how to do the absolute most in order to see results with your content and marketing. Read more>>

Sanjay Bhasin

We started this organization Culture Holidays with a vision to help transforming the people’s lives through travel. It started with a tiny thought bud which now has turned into a flourishing tree which is now transforming many Travel agents lives with our work. It’s been 22 years since the inception of our organization. We started it with arranging travel within the country. Read more>>

Dante Marino

When we set out to launch Ethos & Able Creative (EA Creative or EAC), it wasn’t just a hobby, or something my brother and I came up with to make money. We love, LOVE, local business. A lot of agencies, teams, freelancers, whomever in our industry that cover any sort of marketing need, I’ve always found to have some means of disingenuity, lack of flexibility, Read more>>

Tim Maides

Almost every facet of our business is differently than the industry standard. Being professional chefs by trade, we started making soaps but first looking at what ingredients we have around us. Nebraska is inherently farmer country and I knew that we should be using products local to us, and not having them shipped from all over the world. Read more>>

Suzie Marty

I either don’t know what the industry standard for Art Galleries is or I intuitively broke the rules and just made it my way.. When I first opened, people walking by would peak in the front door and quietly say, “Oh…it’s a Gallery”. They wouldn’t step in to check it out. I can only assume that their assumption was that “galleries” are snooty, high end, and intimidating. Everett & Charlie is none of that. Read more>>

Mike Reisel

Love a lot of these questions you offer, but picked out this one as I feel we still are more of a “Secret Society” type company because of what we do & how we market our business. My firm, Redwood Financial Strategies, spends a lot of time in the private equity/alternative investment space, which the majority of financial advisors can not access or do not understand how to implement into their practice. Read more>>

Tiffany E. Brockington

Yes! I have a fine niche: creating access to the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in a state (Michigan) that does not have any traditional HBCUs. Most organizations and schools address this by hosting HBCU Fairs for their school community. Read more>>

Nadia Mossburg

At Mossburg Farms, everyone deserves an opportunity to play in the dirt. We believe everyone should have access to nature, regardless of their disability status or where they’ve been. There are many ways we can directly serve our region—from offering fresh, organic produce to the community to engaging with historically underserved groups, including Black, Indigenous, people of color; justice-involved youth and adults; individuals with disabilities; and people in recovery. Read more>>

Andrew Jensen

We love working with couples that have a theme or strong artistic vision for their events floral design. Flowers are an incredible medium to work with, and we thrive with clients that want flowers to convey an emotion or feeling at their event. I find that many floral companies would rather pump out the same wedding flowers week after week as opposed to really focusing on the customization of a clients vision. Read more>>

Julia Daniel

I feel like I conduct my photography session differently than other due to two factors. First, I’m an engineer fulltime at the worlds largest marble mine. Everyday I look a processes and find ways to make them more efficient. Work smarter not harder. I also ensure that the software’s that are used are working for us not against us. I take this approach to my photography business. Read more>>

Darcey Shank

Honestly, what don’t we do differently from the industry standard? We offer so many different programs for the benefit of our clients. Many trainers have one area of focus, whether its obedience, rally, agility, behavioral rehabilitation, what have you. We try to offer a multitude of programs; this gives our clients options and the opportunity to keep coming back to trainers they know and trust – and ultimately love. Read more>>

Rebecca Yuhasz Smith

We are a luxury manufacturer/seller of equestrian inspired handbags, belts, accessories, stationery and home goods. All of our leather handbags and accessory products are benchmade in America by our teams of Master Harness Maker Artisans, The balance of our products are supplied by Made in America artisan firms. Read more>>

Danielle Tucker

A recent study revealed that in the speaking industry, white speakers make up to 78% of voices being seen on stages, while only 22% of experts identified as Black, Asian, and Hispanic/LatinX decent. (Source: https://speakerflow.com/resources/ssi-report-2022/) Read more>>

Brittani Harris

As a small business owner of both a yoga community and an ecommerce business selling physical goods, I’ve tried to challenge a lot of the norms you might find in these two spaces. At Eight. Yoga, for example, instead of having folks pay for classes that can get extremely pricey and ultimately exclude folks, we operate on a pay-what-you-can model (sometimes called donations-based model) where everyone, regardless of their ability to pay, can take class and benefit from a yoga practice. Read more>>

Kristen Kreft Mayalou Banatwala

Mixologists seek to create a well balanced cocktail and often include tutorials on how to construct the cocktail partnered with bar training. Some also like to include cocktail history so that you can get a better idea of how mixology began and has transformed.. We like to take all of that and honor musicians as well. Read more>>

Stacy Strobl

EXIT Realty was founded on the concept of exiting the traditional way of doing business within the real estate industry. At EXIT Southeast, we are passionate about offering solutions to help grow businesses, mentor and develop leaders while serving our community as well as offering agents an additional stream of income – a definite positive disruptor for our industry. Read more>>

Tracy Henry

Yes! At Tenni Love Houston we individualize, and our clients become our friends, not just customers. We are constantly striving to create experiences for our clients, both in the boutique and through curated events to meet other like minded tennis enthusiasts. Read more>>

Robert and Robin Sanzi

WELCOME TO SANZI PERFORMANCE ORGANICS WE WANT PEOPLE TO ENJOY – THE BENEFIT OF OUR PRODUCTS HAIR WISE AS WELL AS HEALTH-WISE BECAUSE IT’S NOT ONLY WHAT’S IN
OUR PRODUCT THAT MAKES IT GREAT IT’S WHAT’S NOT IN IT THAT MAKES IT SPECIAL
ROBIN SANZI, CO-CREATOR Read more>>

Tracy Kirkland

I’m a boudoir photographer and photography business coach who specializes in helping other photographers book more clients but spend fewer hours working. In 2016, I really figured the business side out and grew my photography business to multiple six-figure annual revenue while only working 30 hours a month. Read more>>

Alexander Komet

The one major thing I do differently then the industry standard is the amount of unfettered access I give clients to me and their dogs while in my care. I have had one client take full advantage of it and made sure to facetime their dog every night before bed time! Which is awesome! The biggest challenge is follow through from owners when we bring their dogs home so by giving them that access and level of attention it helps to motivate them and feel more apart of the training journey. Read more>>

Kris Graham

Being on the packaging side of the beverage/alcohol industry there is not a lot of experience coming from the sales side that most of our clients success relies upon. It is one thing to look at packaging/marketing as this essential tool to selling your goods to distributors, retailers, and consumers and another to really understand what moves the needle. Read more>>