How Can Entrepreneurs Leverage Pain Points and Create a Sustainable Business?
Team Branex
“Successful business is grown by entrepreneurs who recognized a need and provided a solution that solved a pain point for others.” ~James F. GrebeyIf you take a look at your room and pick up anything at random, you’ll realize that the contraption is merely the result of necessity which someone felt and did something about. Most of the inventions of the modern world came into existence from the immense pain that the founders felt & took action to overcome. Think about the mom who grew weary of cleaning after the mess her little ones made in the toilets and invented Tinkle Targets to make potty training a more enjoyable and definitely a cleaner activity for parents with interesting themes like transportation, construction, and sports to keep the little guys rooted to the spot or the idea for a footless pantyhose and the convenience it would provide pushed Sara Blakely to come up with Spanx. The goal of a successful Entrepreneur is to understand the pain of an individual and provide a feasible solution in the simplest form. Usually, when people plan on starting a business, they usually flush out. They fall short of ideas. If you’re someone who is confused about how to start a business, you can always look for inspiration. Here are a few stirring tales to jump-start your creativity:
Blah Airlines
The pain point: Airlines suck, everyone knows this. When Richard Branson, the CEO of Virgin, felt discontented with his experience with various airlines, he intended to show them how to do it the right way. He created the idea of a fake airline, known as Blah Airlines, complete with booking information, flying deals, social media pages, and even a rather tedious 6-hour video showing a Blah Airlines flight from Newark to San Francisco, in an attempt to bring to the fore how awful standard airlines are and how Blah stands a head and shoulder above them! Upon establishing an Entrepreneurial mindset, you’ll be able to find a viable solution to problems that no one ever tried to solve. You’ll have to take things that are nagging at people and make it simple for them.Warby Parker Glasses
The pain point: Eyeglasses are expensive and eye exams are a drone. If you ever went to a run-of-the-mill optometrist to grab a pair of glasses, you might have experienced this all too exasperating scenario. You’re presented with a shiny lineup of glasses that leave you wondering if anyone ever buys. But, then you finally come across this one signature piece that catches your fancy. And when you flip the price tag, your eyes pop open and you clandestinely place it back to where it was nested.It's noisy out there. Make your voice heard.
Warby Parker just leveraged this pain of going through various glasses and being bombarded by exorbitant costs. The eye-pieces provided by Warby Parker seem to be luxurious and chic but the good part is that they are affordable for a common man. In fact, they also donate a handsome amount of all proceeds to non-profits and eye-care facilities which makes the brand even more respectable. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw6EdzcJqdM[/embed]Majora Carter
The pain point: She couldn’t resist the toxic trash near her neighborhood. When Majora Carter, an occupant of the South Bronx, saw that her neighborhood was being damaged by the waste that people all over New York were creating, she took the pain to heart and actually did something for it. She founded Sustainable South Bronx.
The company changed the economics of New York City. Sustainable South Bronx offered green job training, put forward environment-friendly policies, and became a voice against toxic fumes and toxic chemicals that come from factories.
Amazon Lockers
The pain point: Not being home when an online delivery arrives Amazon lets you buy anything that you can possibly conjure up, and delivers right at your doorstep, but here’s the catch: what if you are not home when your parcel arrives? Amazon understood the pain and created a way out for its customers with a bevy of conveniently located lockers. When ordering from Amazon, you can opt to have your package sent to an Amazon Locker instead of your home address. Choose an Amazon locker in your vicinity to have your product delivered to and pick up your package at a time that's convenient for you. As an Entrepreneur, you need to discover a pain point which is irritating your customers, figure out a way to overcome that pain point and establish a business around it.
Virgin Money’s Jayne-Anne Gadhia, in her interview with The Guardian, reveals that she mostly starts her day at 6.30 A.M. By checking her emails, and if she does come across an interesting one or one that needs her utmost attention, she replies back right away.
"I do it because I always like to be on top of work so I can enjoy the non-work stuff, like having breakfast with the family and talking to my daughter on the way to school, rather than being distracted by work,” she says.
“So it sort of helps me have a normal life.” - Jayne-Anne Gadhia
Replying to emails is essential. According to one of the most successful Digital Marketing Specialists, Neil Patel:
“the start of the day – before I even get out of bed in the morning, the first thing I do is grab my phone to check all my missed calls, text messages, and emails that I need to respond to. I usually respond to everything while lying in bed.”
For the better part of the day, big-shot entrepreneurs are caught up in the throes of schedules which are pretty hectic and out of their control, such as building strategies, organizing workflows, establishing businesses, and whatnot. So when exactly do they get a window to be themselves? In the early first two hours of the day! Successful entrepreneurs jump on this opportunity to get social and feel connected on a personal level with their fan club.
While Jack Dorsey is busy jogging down a track Neil Patel is sweating it out in the gym, musing over their thoughts, somewhere on Earth. Ursula Burns, the CEO of Xerox, is busy pushing all limits in her daily exercise regime with her personal trainer.
Parliamentary representatives, such as Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Former US President Barack Obama, believe that exercising can be a key driver of motivation and lead to an active lifestyle. In his book, 
Buzzsumo founder Noah Kagan gouges on a healthy breakfast every morning. He usually starts his meal with a cup of green tea and often finds himself digging into waffles or a helping of oatmeal drizzled over with nuts and a hearty sprinkling of nuts. While he takes his breakfast, he makes sure to keep all traces of technology at bay.
So what does Kagan do while he enjoys a hearty breakfast?
“During my breakfast time, I won’t use a computer and instead read a book or magazine. I like reading free CB2 / West Elm catalogs for design inspiration.”
We all know Richard Branson, the CEO of the Virgin Group of companies and one of the most popular entrepreneurs from around the world. To Branson, life is all about staying healthy and active. Therefore, he prefers to start his early hours by consuming fruit and vegetable salads. Occasionally he would’ve a side of kippers and muesli along. On the other hand, Two hard-boiled eggs with a dipping of soy sauce are all the gastronomic pleasures that Jack Dorsey needs.
Some revel in breakfast in the comforts of their homes, while others prefer to grab a quick bite on their way to work. Payal Kadakia, the founder and CEO of ClassPass, chomps on fruits on her way to the office. She usually makes a pitstop and picks up a Starbucks venti citrus green tea on her way. If you want to read a complete post on what most entrepreneurs eat for breakfast.
Rand Fishkin, the Founder of Moz (the leading SEO knowledge base), spends most of his afternoons reading GeekWire daily email digest, Moz blog, Everywhereist, SearchEngineLand, Inbound.org, Hacker News, Techmeme, Metafilter, True Reddit, and The Slog.
Somebody asked why Rand. Why do you read so much? He tweeted:
“You have to ask yourself, whenever you are producing any type of content, who will amplify this and why?”
David Cush, the CEO of Virgin America, is also open in expressing his fondness for reading. After he is done with replying to Emails, breakfast meals, and his daily exercise drills, he spends his afternoons reading The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Financial Times.
Some people work round the clock! Reading & research becomes an important task for them. The leading content marketer & CEO of Buffer, Leo Widrich, explains his professional day in a nutshell,
“In general, I write in a 2-step process. The first step, normally in the morning starting at 6:30 am, is the sourcing process. I find lots of research studies on a topic, write a few sub-headings, and basically make a big mess in a Word document. I intentionally jot down lots of things that don’t flow well. This helps me to break the ‘blank page’ syndrome. I do this for around one hour or so.
Then I go and do other tasks (mostly business development and some admin tasks that I’ve taken over.) Then in the afternoon, around 3-4 pm, I get back to the post. The great thing is that my brain has by then normally made sense of all the different sections. I then edit and write the actual content in a concise form. In this 2nd phase, I’m much focused on the actual wording, the flow, and ordering all the research I’ve collected.”
Entrepreneurs don’t want to turn into Jack and they have a strong reason for that; the survival of their dream. When it’s time to hit the bed, don’t walk straight to your comfort zone! Give yourself some time to unwind.
Michael Lewis, the famous journalist, finds his peace in writing during the late hours of the day.
“That is the way I used to write. I liked to get ahead of everybody. I'd think to myself, 'I'm starting tomorrow's workday, tonight! Late nights are wonderfully tranquil. No phone calls, no interruptions. I like the feeling of knowing that nobody is trying to reach me.”
While this is the way the cookie crumbles for Michael Lewis, it goes southwards for others. You can choose to spend time with your family or you can simply have a stake out with friends at your favorite food joint. You can go watch a movie or play online games with your friends. The choice is completely yours! One way or another, don’t walk straight off to bed without giving your mind a breather. Or you’ll always find yourself lost amidst the haze of confusion.
Who are these kids? These are ordinary kids with an Entrepreneurial mindset drilled into them. Just like adults, some kids are destined to make it big. Curiosity, self-confidence, and creativity are just a few traits that turn ordinary kids into prodigies.
Can your child be a budding Entrepreneur? Well, that depends on how serious you are about teaching your kids to think and act like one!
Here are 8 skills that you need to inculcate in your kids to help them become boss babies!
Kristen Hadeed in her book, Permission to Screw Up talks about her relationship with her father. “When I discussed my company name with my father, he told me to check if anyone else is registered with that name.”
“I chucked his warning out the window and registered my company anyway. One week later, I was holding a notice in my hand, with an order to dissolve my company name, as it was already assigned to someone outside our state. At that moment I looked towards my father to hold me and comfort me with warm nothings. But, my father strictly told me to “learn to deal with my demons on my own.“
As parents, it falls on us to teach our kids to get back up on their own after each fall. Instead of acting like a shield, let them become self-sufficient. Let them fail and learn things on their own.
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"I spent all my summers on his ranch, from the age of 4 to 16, and [Jeff's grandfather Pop] was incredibly self-reliant. You know, if you're in the middle of nowhere, in a rural area, you don't pick up the phone and call somebody when something breaks, you figure out how to fix it yourself. So, as a kid, I got to see him solve all these problems and be a real problem solver... We learned a lot of things from watching him because he would take on major projects that he didn't really know how to do and then figure out how to do them." ~Jeff Bezos
Most Entrepreneurs didn’t know what to do at the onset. But, one thing they all had in common was an inherent sense of wonder and curiosity to innovate and find new ways to do old things.
As an Entrepreneur, you’ll be forced to solve multifaceted problems on a day-to-day basis. And if you don’t teach your kids to move away from their comfort zone and get their feet wet with something new, you’ll not be able to bring out the best in them.
Instead of rushing to jump in every time you see them struggling, let them play, let them burn the midnight oil figuring out how to do something until they get it right. You’ll be surprised by the amount of energy these kids will put into unraveling out-of-the-solution solutions.
To build a solid work ethic, kids need to learn the value of hard work. Nurture a sense of independence among kids by assigning them certain responsibilities, even as small as drying out the dishes daily or mowing the lawn. Instead of showering them with needless gadgets, give them podcasts to listen to or success stories to while away the time, to inspire and motivate themselves.
Ensure that your kids learn to do the day-to-day activities well so that when things go south, they can always surface on top of the wave.
With kids, don’t just wave off their ideas on-spot, no matter how silly and child-whimsical-fantasy they may sound. Listen to them, discuss with them, and teach them about the pros and cons of their ideas like grown-ups. If you listen to your kids with full attention, it can help build empathy in them, right from a tender age.
Teach your kids to help their friends and neighbors for a start. Pass on to them the habit of giving out a charity or helping the elderly while they are crossing the street. This will develop in them the spirit of giving back. And once this habit is well-established, kids can use it in their ventures to deliver the impossible.
In the end, even if your kids don’t succeed as Entrepreneurs, these skills can help them in different areas of their lives. As parents, you must train your kids well. Even if your parents didn’t train you, it is your job to ensure that your kids grow with the right Entrepreneurial outlook.
Brenda believes in being a perfectionist. In her intuition, success comes when others follow in the same footsteps as she did.
“A design isn’t finished until somebody else is using it.” - Brenda L.
Brenda is a Ph.D. and a scholar. She is also a consultant, designer, and a firm advocate of diversity. Also, she has significant contributions to her name in some of the most renowned firms of our time, such as Apple, Citibank, Sony Pictures, Atari, etc. She truly earned her position as an expert in UX design. Brenda is also the proud co-founder of Purple Moon and the author of “Computers as Theatre.”
In one of her pieces about game development, she revealed some of the social challenges faced by modern girls. Here’s what she has expressed:
“We looked at play in general and we looked at social structures and how girls and boys might differ a little bit in achieving social status and same-sex groups. We looked at social problems girls that age were having, self-esteem issues, etc. But the other thing we learned from talking to girls, really, was that they had many, many needs and issues that we could address even more by representing characters who were like them, looking at situations that were like the ones they looked at, including their fantasy lives.”
Not many can claim to be as lucky as Christina Wodtke, as she successfully managed to juggle myriad executive roles in a wide array of tech industries. Having worked across multiple renowned platforms such as Zynga.com and LinkedIn, she has earned her position as one of the most respectable women in the field of design and development. Leading an enthusiastic team, she also redesigned the Myspace platform!
Today, Christina stands tall as a business prodigy in the empire of women entrepreneurship. She holds a credible amount of experience in designing UX elements within the digital realm.
“You ask about the important things to keep in mind: same as ever, with a task-based twist: what are the users trying to accomplish, what does the business need them to successfully accomplish, and what will the technology allow? If you can balance these three forces, you'll have a solid product.” - Christina Wodtke
Christina has served as the co-founder and president of the Information Architecture Institute. She has also authored at Boxes and Arrows. She takes pride in educating vast masses on the 
Her name resounds within Silicon Valley, and if you are oblivious to Catherine Courage, you don’t know the real emblems of tomorrow. She has made it to the top by becoming a well-established author and an articulate speaker in the world of UX. Most UX developers draw their inspiration from her views on how one can enhance the virtual presence of their digital product.
In an interview with Adobe, she revealed her secret to success by saying;
“If I’m looking at a job description and I go, ‘Oh boy, I’m not sure this is quite the right job for me’, then that’s probably a sign that it is something that I should be applying for,” - Catherine Courage
Courage is a name to contend with in Silicon Valley as she has been listed in the “40 under 40” in 2011’s Business Journal and the “Women of Influence” in 2013s.
When she was asked about how she responds to the modern-day challenges that women are facing with each passing day, this is how she chose to respond:
“Too often I see women, in particular, have this sense of accountability that there must be something I’m doing wrong. It’s a great job — there must be something I can fix. Sometimes that’s not the case,” she said. “You should cut your losses and do something else as opposed to wasting years that aren’t fulfilling to you. My area of expertise in the tech market is design, and it’s strong and thriving. People are very sought after, and often forget that.”
Google has achieved a name beyond exception. It stands today as one of the most resourceful search engines with offerings that tell you just about anything that you are eager to search for. But what makes Google stand out among similar competitors on the market? It’s the seamless UX that adorns its façade and leaves the users in a state of euphoria. Being the Director of UX at Google, Elizabeth Churchill is the hand that creates that magic.
Her belief in the strength of her persona far outweighs any other person on the market, and she strongly states;
“You should never work for anyone who does not have your best interests in terms of career growth at the center of their interaction with you.”
Elizabeth is professionally a social scientist and excels at polishing the human-computer interaction process. She has previously contributed to a significant number of programs at eBay Research Labs, Yahoo! Research, PARC, and Fuji Xerox’s Research Labs. She aims to create a gender-equal environment for all female entrepreneurs.
In an interview with Fabricio Teixeira on the International Women’s Day, she says,
“There are always challenges when one is a member of a minority. And that is doubled when that minority is not the one which has had the institutionalized power for generations — i.e., sorry yes I have to say it….. Men.”
If you are wondering who designed the Internet’s first commercial web browser, the name is Irene AU. Irene started her design journey with some of the most prominent names on the market. She has served as a lead designer at Google, Yahoo! And Udacity. She has invested most of her time in optimizing how the internet works and how she can offer the most appealing appearances to websites.
Irene is a staunch believer in diversity. In one of her statements, she claims:
“Embrace diversity, not necessarily by filling quotas, but by really seeing the qualities that each individual can bring to the table.”
Starting off her journey at the Netscape, Irene designed the Internet’s first commercial browser as an interaction designer. She has literally helped in mentoring more than hundreds of designers, and with her designs, she has successfully influenced and covered an unprecedented chunk of the market. She has also authored, “Design in Venture Capital: How Design Drives Investment and Company Success”, which is a great book if you want to learn all about the robust design processes.
When she was asked about how she feels when it comes to gender discrimination in women's entrepreneurship, she responded by asserting,
“The same day that UX Magazine published a 
O'Reilly Media is an American media company founded by Tim O'Reilly, which has been named “the Oracle of Silicon Valley” by Inc. Magazine and “The Trend Spotter” by WIRED.
The internationally recognized, multi-faceted company delivers online learning and publishes books and websites. The technology and business learning company runs many conferences in an attempt to motivate business owners to create more value for their customers. O'Reilly Media’s experts always strive to transform the world by spreading and amplifying the knowledge of innovators. You can learn about emerging technologies and business trends at O’Reilly Media and hone your entrepreneurial skills. O’Reilly’s Safari online platform offers live comprehensive training, videos, and books from more than 200 of the world’s best publishers.
Vinod Khosla is the founder of Khosla Ventures - a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that assists entrepreneurs in running technology-related businesses. He is a great entrepreneurship resource that is the hub of the latest insights about artificial intelligence, big data, leadership, marketing, product, sales, enterprise, and other important topics that can help small business owners launch and grow their businesses.
If you are looking to kick-start your restaurant business, the 
Sallie Krawcheck is the CEO of Ellevest, a digital investment platform for women entrepreneurs, launched in 2016. The sole reason for Ellevest’s existence is to serve women’s needs by capitalizing on an algorithm that keeps women’s incomes and lifestyles in mind. The blog helps women entrepreneurs gain valuable insights on financial planning, investment tips, guides, and other important business strategies a woman might need to run her business successfully.
Eric Ries is an American entrepreneur and author of the New York Times bestseller, ‘The Lean Startup’. His blog, Startup Lesson Learned, is one of the finest entrepreneurship resources for small business owners that helps them navigate the choppy seas of launching a profitable business. Leveraging his out-of-the-box techniques and winner strategies, entrepreneurs can also come up with winning ideas to make their startups successful.
BizWarriors is a great platform for business owners, operated by two serial entrepreneurs, Matthew Toren and Adam Toren. The blog shares stellar tips and tricks for small business owners, the latest technology trends, effective business strategies, and useful information that enlighten entrepreneurs to stay ahead in this digital age.
Daymond John is a businessman, investor, author, and motivational speaker. His blog is abounding in the best practices and strategies that help business owners expand their brand reach, increase sales, promote their business, and other valuable pearls of wisdom that help them grow and take their venture to unprecedented heights of success.
Barbara Corcoran is a businesswoman, speaker, consultant, and investor. Her blog helps entrepreneurs, business managers, and salespeople learn about the how-to’s of building a successful business. She shares team-building tips, the latest business trends, and essential guides on how entrepreneurs can stay on the right track, in addition to useful snippets that almost every business person is keen to learn about.
Do you want to know what put Zuckerberg to the top of the echelons, and different from the rest? What traits does he possess that separate him from those he has long crossed over? How has he successfully crafted a billion-dollar empire for himself?
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Here we have selected a few people who cannot get enough of traveling and have come up with stellar blogs for helping travelers and entrepreneurs experience cultures across the universe by just taking out a little bit of time from their busy schedules.
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Cameron Conrad, CEO of KonSocial, has shared his experience with diversity in the business.
“Since getting into drop shipping, I could work from anywhere at any time and earned the freedom of turning my useless free time into unconditional profit. Over a short period, I've managed to build, scale, and sell multiple 6-figure drop shipping stores and produce powerful results.”
The year 2018 will bring along more eCommerce-based entrepreneurial opportunities to the marketplace.
There is also a new breed of businesses, for instance, Cointal, a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange that is helping consumers purchase products in countries that currently don’t offer digital services. Consumers can buy and sell coins via a simple web interface. This allows engagement and helps business owners create a loyal community in exchange for some bounty and time.
You can expect more startups soon that will do crowdfunding with blockchain technology.
