Innovation is a scary word because it makes us think of groundbreaking medical discoveries or futuristic technological breakthroughs that change the way we live forever. But that’s not always the case.
Quite simply put, Innovation = making life easier, and this can relate to the tiniest of changes, the one’s you didn’t even think needed changing. The pre-sliced bread, the tins of tuna that no longer need can openers, the plastic ketchup bottles you no longer need to wack 6 times and stick a knife in to get some ketchup out.
In October 1993 while the whole nation sat with dry tongues desperately drinking water to get enough moisture for the last stamp, one person decided there must be a better way. Thus self adhesive postal stamps were introduced.
Don’t Re-invent the Wheel
Innovation doesn’t have to be new to the world, it just has to be new to your business. You don’t have to be a creative genius to identify where you may need innovation. There are certain signs that indicate your business needs innovative changes:
- You find certain processes difficult “the students are on the mats before I have chance to log their attendance”
- You spend too much time on certain tasks “it takes me forever to collect grading fees”
- Your students/parents will tell you! “I wish there was somewhere for me to sit and watch the class”
Rather than let these issues annoy you, they should be triggers for you to ask yourself “how could I change this process and make it better for everyone?” and the answers are never too far away.
How Innovative should I be?
There are 3 levels of true innovators:
- Do the same things better (Re-design printed student list for attendance tracking)
- Do new things (Transfer the printed info to myMA so you can start seeing attendance reports)
- Do new things that make the old things obsolete (Track attendance directly on the App, Nest ProAttend, and lose the paper completely)
So from now on, if something about your business is making your life harder, get excited because that is your time to innovate!
Take inspiration from other successful School owners
NEST Client Conferences and Business Boosters are a perfect place to network with successful business owners and find out what other Instructors do. Book your place now for the next Client Conference
