Fri, November 20, 2009 - 10:40:28

The Best Innovations Start Small

Yesterday on Twitter, we came across an article from one of our favorite blogs, The Conversation Starter, which instantly caught our attention.  “Entrepreneurs,” the headline read, “Stop Innovating, Start Minnovating.”  In his post, Daniel Isenberg discusses how many of today’s greatest business successes aren’t born out of innovation, but out of minnovation, a term he defines as “mixing small parts of novelty and creativity with huge helpings of flexibility, scrappiness, and a generous portion of hard-driving execution.”  And we couldn’t help but be reminded of one of the key points we assert in our book, THE POWER OF SMALL: Why Little Things Make All the Difference.  Many times, the biggest business ideas are sprouted out of the tiniest seeds.

Unfortunately, many potentially successful entrepreneurs go out of business before they even start because of one fatal misstep: they allow themselves to become overwhelmed by the grandeur of striking out on their own and forget to think small.  Intimidated by the nearly impossible prospect of becoming the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, these entrepreneurs forget about the innumerable others who have had big successes just by making little changes to a preexisting product.  Or as we like to say, “Adding a little glitter.”

That’s exactly how Sheri Schmeltzer stumbled across what became a multimillion dollar idea.  The stay-at-home mother of three decided to spruce up her daughters’ Crocs by filling their trademark holes with buttons, rhinestones, and other sparkly doo-dads.  The result?  A couple of thrilled kids and dozens of unsolicited compliments from strangers.  Sheri knew she was on to something and began churning out what she called Jibbitz ® from her basement and before long she had contracted a production facility in China to help her keep up with the soaring demand for her little product.  Amazingly, just one year later, she was contacted by the people at Crocs and sold her business for the not-so-little sum of $20 million.

And Sheri Schmeltzer isn’t the only one who has made it big by thinking small.  Many others, like Judy Zimmer, the founder of the 60-store franchise operation Bath Junkie, and Jen Groover, the inventor of the Butler Bag, have triumphed by improving on already existing concepts. Their secret wasn’t a revolutionary new idea or a technological breakthrough; it was their ability to forget about the big picture, zero in on the tiny pixels, and start small with their ideas.

So, if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, stop worrying about creating the next BIG thing. Get small and get going!  You never know what you might achieve when you minnovate.

Posted by Linda and Robin