Entrepreneurs often look to mentors, case studies and frameworks for clarity. Yet some of the most useful lessons can come from creators who have never read a business book in their lives. I saw this clearly while watching two young entrepreneurs, 8-year-old Noah Chebrika and his 10-year-old sister Robyn Chebrika, build a project from a bedroom idea into a fully self-published book titled Danny The Dino and His Super Senses, with its own website.

Noah is autistic, and his purpose for writing the book was personal and heartfelt. He wanted to help other children understand what living with autism feels like, but he wanted to do it in a way that was fun, colorful and friendly. Robyn supported him throughout the entire process, helping refine ideas, shape the story and navigate the practical steps of publishing.

Their journey became a real-world lesson in what it means to build something that is genuinely purpose-driven.

Related: 4 Ways a Clear Purpose Benefits Your Business

1. Purpose becomes a compass when it is personal and meaningful

Noah was not trying to build a commercial product. He was trying to communicate something important. His purpose was to help other kids understand autism in a positive way through a character with “super senses.” That purpose shaped every element of the book, from tone to illustration style.

Robyn helped him make the story understandable for children who may not know much about autism. Their collaboration kept the purpose front and center.

Entrepreneurs often choose a purpose after the product is already built. Watching this project made something very clear. When purpose comes first, decisions become more authentic and easier to make.

2. Start by making the idea visible, not perfect

Noah and Robyn began with sketches. They drew Danny the Dino, mapped out his experiences and experimented with how to explain sensory differences in a way other children could relate to. They made the idea visible long before it became a formal manuscript.

Founders often jump straight into building without testing the concept visually. Their approach highlighted how valuable early sketching and prototyping can be. It exposes weaknesses before time and resources are committed.

3. Learn the publishing system instead of fearing it

Self-publishing introduced a long list of unfamiliar steps. Formatting. Page layouts. Color requirements. ISBN numbers. KDP rules. Proof copies. Noah and Robyn learned each part through trial and correction. They watched tutorials. They exported multiple versions. They evaluated print samples and fixed issues until the book looked the way they imagined it.

Entrepreneurs often delay action because a process feels intimidating. Two young creators showed that progress comes from exploring the system step by step rather than avoiding it.

Related: How Defining Your Purpose Can Help Attract the Right Clients, Build Culture and Drive Success

4. Design for understanding, not decoration

Because Noah wanted children to understand autism from his perspective, the book needed clear communication. That meant simple layouts, bright colors and expressive illustrations. Robyn ensured each page supported comprehension rather than distracting from it.

Many businesses overcomplicate design in pursuit of sophistication. Their project was a reminder that design should serve the message above everything else. Clarity creates connection.

5. Begin marketing with simple, honest communication

When the book was ready, they created straightforward adverts. Bright visuals. Short videos. Clear explanations about the purpose behind the story. They posted consistently and grew comfortable sharing their progress.

Entrepreneurs often wait for a perfect campaign. Noah and Robyn demonstrated that momentum comes from small, authentic updates rather than polished perfection.

6. Use real-world selling as immediate feedback

They sold the book at summer fairs and local school events. Noah explained why he wrote it. Robyn described how they created it. They watched how children reacted to the character and how parents responded to the theme.

This direct feedback taught them what resonated most strongly. Live selling provides insights that digital data cannot replicate. Facial expressions, questions and conversations reveal exactly how people understand and value a product.

7. Treat online platforms as skills to develop

After selling in person, they listed the book on their website and made it available on Amazon. They learned how categories influence discoverability, how descriptions affect search and how small adjustments improve performance.

Many entrepreneurs expect rapid traction. Noah and Robyn treated the online marketplace as something to understand, not something that guarantees results. That mindset is essential for sustainable growth.

Related: Looking For A Business Idea? Start With Your Purpose

Purpose is the strongest structure a business can have

Noah and Robyn’s journey shows that purpose is not a slogan. It is a foundation. Purpose fuels resilience. It guides decisions. It keeps a project aligned with its true intention.

Their book did not rely on business frameworks or complex strategies. It relied on clarity of intention, curiosity, teamwork and consistent action.

For founders who feel disconnected from their mission, this is a powerful reminder. Return to the reason your idea exists. Build from that place. When purpose is genuine, momentum becomes natural.

Two young entrepreneurs proved exactly that.

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Entrepreneurs often look to mentors, case studies and frameworks for clarity. Yet some of the most useful lessons can come from creators who have never read a business book in their lives. I saw this clearly while watching two young entrepreneurs, 8-year-old Noah Chebrika and his 10-year-old sister Robyn Chebrika, build a project from a bedroom idea into a fully self-published book titled Danny The Dino and His Super Senses, with its own website.

Noah is autistic, and his purpose for writing the book was personal and heartfelt. He wanted to help other children understand what living with autism feels like, but he wanted to do it in a way that was fun, colorful and friendly. Robyn supported him throughout the entire process, helping refine ideas, shape the story and navigate the practical steps of publishing.

The way John Driscoll sees it, when people have trouble with their vision, they go to the eye doctor. They don’t wait to hit rock bottom. They don’t try to “tough it out.” They put on glasses. Problem solved. No secrecy or confusion about whether eyesight is a moral issue.

So why doesn’t the same logic apply to addiction?

Driscoll has spent his career wrestling with that question. As the president and CEO of Caron Treatment Centers, he believes the answer is maddeningly simple. “The number one barrier is stigma. It’s shame,” he says. People see addiction as a personal failing you should will your way out of, rather than treat. They don’t view it as what it actually is: a brain disease.

From a business perspective, the gap is staggering. “Fifty-four million Americans today suffer from substance use disorder,” Driscoll says. “But there’s only about 12 million that are actually getting any type of treatment.” And most of that treatment is little more than a day or two of services—hardly enough to shift a lifelong disease.

In any other industry, this would qualify as a massive, underserved market. “What would you do if you had a product that 54 million people needed, but only at best 20% are accessing?” he asks. “Wouldn’t you say, what can I do to lower the barrier?”

Caron tries to answer that question by offering comprehensive treatment, including medical detox, residential care, and long-term recovery support, rather than short, episodic interventions.

Releated: We Have a Substance Abuse Crisis in The Workplace. Here’s How — and Why — Employers Need To Act Now.

Finding his why

From an early age, Driscoll understood he had a talent for reading people. That impulse led him to study psychology in college. He wanted to understand why they behaved the way they did and help them lead more rewarding lives.

An internship at a homeless shelter for women on Chicago’s South Side gave him a crash course in reality. He saw firsthand the devastating effects of crack cocaine addiction. “I was working with women who were literally selling their bodies in the back alley for a dime bag of crack and had lost custody of their children.”

But he also watched unspeakable despair turn into possibility when the women entered recovery. “This simple 12-step program really transformed their lives,” he says. The realization made a strong impact. “Here I am, 35 years later, still helping people and families move from active addiction into active recovery.”

Lives that looked irreparable could be rebuilt with the right structure and support. The question wasn’t whether treatment was effective. It was how to build systems capable of delivering it at scale.

Related: Life After Addiction with Tim Stoddart: How He Went From Rock Bottom to Launching a 7-Figure Business

A different approach

At Caron, the focus is on creating conditions where change is possible. That means medical care, long-term programming, and support that extends beyond the crisis moment. “Because if addiction is a chronic condition, then short-term solutions don’t make sense,” he says.

Driscoll rejects the idea that addiction is simply the result of bad decisions or difficult circumstances. People experience trauma and stress all the time, he says, but most don’t develop substance use disorder. The difference is biological. For some people, a mood-altering substance “clicks” with the brain in a way that it doesn’t for others.

“Addiction isn’t caused by bad scenarios,” he says. “It is a legitimate brain disease in the sense that I take a mood-altering substance and it clicks with me.” Most people can drink alcohol or use low-level drugs without escalation, he explains, because their brains don’t respond in the same way. But for the people whose brains do, “the only real solution is abstinence.”

Driscoll says recovery isn’t just about stopping a behavior. It’s about reclaiming the power to direct your own life. Too many people, he argues, settle for survival rather than growth. But what separates people who succeed in recovery from those who don’t, he insists, is persistence. “Everybody fails a lot,” he says. “You get up and you keep trying, because that’s what you’ve got power over.”

Where does that persistence come from? For Driscoll, it starts with hope—believing another version of your life exists—and then pairing that hope with gratitude. Gratitude, he explains, is the practice of noticing what’s working rather than surrendering to what isn’t. “Hope plus gratitude can get you through nearly anything,” he says.

Related: How This Entrepreneur’s Deep Desire to Succeed Helped Him Overcome Addiction

A lasting legacy

The work Driscoll does has had an impact far beyond the moment someone enters treatment. Years after his time at the Chicago shelter, he crossed paths with women he had once known in their lowest moments. They were working and raising children with college degrees and careers. “It not only transformed their lives, it changed their kids’ lives,” he says. Seeing the ripple effect confirmed for him that addiction treatment echoes through many lives.

But Driscoll still believes he has more work to do. “If I could make progress in reducing the stigma of addiction, so that more people are able to access help,” he says. “That would be a major life accomplishment.

The way John Driscoll sees it, when people have trouble with their vision, they go to the eye doctor. They don’t wait to hit rock bottom. They don’t try to “tough it out.” They put on glasses. Problem solved. No secrecy or confusion about whether eyesight is a moral issue.

So why doesn’t the same logic apply to addiction?

When Sammy Nussdorf opened Meadow Lane, a high-end prepared-food market in New York City, the store immediately became the internet’s favorite punching bag. Critics lost it over Tribeca market’s $27 beef salads, $15 chicken nuggets and $12 grapes, accusing Nussdorf of being out of touch while New Yorkers lost SNAP benefits.

His response? “Controversy and trolling is actually lucrative,” Nussdorf told Fox News Digital. Lines are around the corner, and he needs to run his kitchen 24/7 to keep up with demand. Developers from Texas to Abu Dhabi are already hounding him to expand.

His advice to entrepreneurs: “You don’t need to be spending a dime on marketing. You could be doing it yourself on TikTok.”

Read more

When Sammy Nussdorf opened Meadow Lane, a high-end prepared-food market in New York City, the store immediately became the internet’s favorite punching bag. Critics lost it over Tribeca market’s $27 beef salads, $15 chicken nuggets and $12 grapes, accusing Nussdorf of being out of touch while New Yorkers lost SNAP benefits.

His response? “Controversy and trolling is actually lucrative,” Nussdorf told Fox News Digital. Lines are around the corner, and he needs to run his kitchen 24/7 to keep up with demand. Developers from Texas to Abu Dhabi are already hounding him to expand.

His advice to entrepreneurs: “You don’t need to be spending a dime on marketing. You could be doing it yourself on TikTok.”

Read more

OpenAI rolled out an App Store on Wednesday where users can browse ChatGPT tools like Spotify, DoorDash and Apple Music — all without leaving the chatbot. The company also opened its software kit for developers to build new apps that work inside ChatGPT.

CEO Sam Altman promised last month to build the “obvious features you would expect for a robust platform,” and launching an app store is a huge step in that direction. You can now create Spotify playlists, order groceries through DoorDash, or search for houses on Zillow directly in the chat window.

The big question now is: How does OpenAI make money from this? The company hasn’t figured that out yet, saying only it’s “exploring additional monetization options over time, including digital goods.”

Read more

OpenAI rolled out an App Store on Wednesday where users can browse ChatGPT tools like Spotify, DoorDash and Apple Music — all without leaving the chatbot. The company also opened its software kit for developers to build new apps that work inside ChatGPT.

CEO Sam Altman promised last month to build the “obvious features you would expect for a robust platform,” and launching an app store is a huge step in that direction. You can now create Spotify playlists, order groceries through DoorDash, or search for houses on Zillow directly in the chat window.

The big question now is: How does OpenAI make money from this? The company hasn’t figured that out yet, saying only it’s “exploring additional monetization options over time, including digital goods.”

Read more

With 2.7 billion online shoppers worldwide and more than 13.7 million ecommerce stores in the U.S., it’s harder than ever for brands to stand out. After working with hundreds of founders across Shopify, Amazon and DTC stores, I’ve learned that growing your brand online isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing it smarter.

At Everything Branding, we’ve seen firsthand how founders can boost online sales by creating a connected, data-driven approach that brings every marketing channel together.

“When PR, Google Ads and emails work together, the results multiply. PR builds trust, ads capture intent, and email nurtures loyalty,” says our client Tiffany McCasland, The Chair Blanket + City Bonfires. “That full-circle approach has driven some of our highest conversion rates yet.”

Here’s how to make your ecommerce brand not just visible but unmissable.

Related: How to Earn Customer Trust and Boost Sales Without Big Ad Budgets

1. Make every marketing channel work together

Many founders treat PR, Google/Meta ads, email and SEO like separate islands. But when those channels work together, you unlock exponential growth.

Here’s what I mean: When your brand lands a media feature, that article builds your digital footprint and sends high-intent traffic to your site. From there, pixels capture valuable data, which allows Google and Meta ads to retarget visitors with personalized campaigns.

This multi-channel synergy means your customers are seeing your brand consistently across search, social and press, a key factor when studies show people need 7-15+ brand touchpoints before purchasing.

2. The secret weapon every brand overlooks: press

One of the fastest ways to boost online sales and your search rankings is through press-driven SEO.

Media outlets pay to rank in Google’s top results. When your brand is featured in those high-SEO articles, you inherit that authority and visibility. We’ve had clients continue to make sales from a single article years after publication.

And because many outlets now use affiliate links, they’re incentivized to keep promoting your product. That’s like having hundreds of digital sales reps working for you 24/7.

3. Explore overlooked sales channels that actually convert

Founders often focus heavily on Meta and Google, but some of the most effective ecommerce sales channels are the ones that some brands ignore:

• TikTok Shop: The perfect place for viral discovery and impulse buys.
• Pinterest: A visual search engine where consumers are already looking to shop.
• Amazon Creator Connections: Lets you reward influencers for driving sales.
• Walmart Marketplace: A hidden gem if your audience aligns with big-box shoppers.

Your goal isn’t to be everywhere; it’s to be strategically present where your buyers are ready to engage.

Related: Want to Increase Sales? Start With This Weekly Report.

4. Price your products with marketing in mind

Here’s a common mistake: setting prices that leave no room for marketing.

If you’re selling a $40 product but can’t afford marketing services for it, you’re stuck. Successful ecommerce brands bake marketing costs into pricing, including digital ad spend, affiliate commissions and PR retainers.

Premium results come from a premium strategy. Marketing is the cost of visibility, not an optional expense.

5. Marketing is never “one and done”

The brands that grow consistently understand this: Marketing is never finished. Algorithms change. Platforms evolve. Consumer behavior shifts.

That’s why even when sales slow down, you should never pause your marketing but rather you should refine it. The brands that keep investing, testing and optimizing are the ones that turn one-time customers into loyal fans.

6. Before hiring a marketing agency, run this checklist

If you’re hiring an agency, choose wisely. Here are some points to consider:

• Do they have verifiable results from real clients posted publicly?
• Can they connect PR, affiliate and Google/Meta ad strategies for a cohesive plan?
• Are they transparent about metrics and ROI?
• Do they understand how brand awareness feeds sales long-term?

At my company, we believe in giving brands the visibility, data and credibility they need to scale, not just have temporary spikes.

7. Stop giving one channel all the credit

If you’re looking at a single source of traffic and calling it the winner, you’re missing the full picture.

Your customer’s journey might start with a media mention, continue through a retargeting ad and end with an email click. Each channel supports the other. When you understand attribution across touchpoints, you start seeing marketing as a connected ecosystem because that’s exactly what it is.

Related: This Is the Underappreciated Marketing Approach That Will Help You Keep Customers Longer

Common mistakes I see founders make

After working with hundreds of brands, these are the biggest pitfalls I see time and again:

• Expecting premium results without premium investment: If the expectation is great results, invest a little more for a top digital marketing agency.
• Not verifying testimonials or proof of performance: It’s easy to fake a testimonial if the company or full name are not listed publicly. Verify it’s a real person or if it’s a real client with a quick Google search when evaluating which agency to work with.
• Starting Google and Meta ads too soon: If you haven’t yet invested in more brand awareness with a successful PR campaign, it’s too soon to spend money on Google and Meta ads. First, people aren’t googling your brand yet if they don’t know it exists. For Meta, if you aren’t seeing $30,000 a month in sales yet, you likely don’t have the ad spend to make your campaign successful. Meta (Facebook and Instagram) ads can take testing and time before finding success. Plan to spend a minimum of $3,000 ad spend a month for three months until you will start seeing the ROAS.
• Ignoring Amazon’s value as a brand awareness and wholesale driver, not just a sales platform. Time and again, I hear about Amazon fees and point out that it’s often less than the discount a brand will give to a wholesaler. Having an Amazon presence is a marketing tool all in itself and is 38% more likely to capture the sale.
• Overcomplicating the buying process: If it’s not easy to find and purchase, you’ll lose the sale. Take the time to walk through the buyer’s journey. Make sure “buy now” is above the fold and very easy to do. Paste your URL in ChatGPT and ask what can be done to eliminate abandoned visitors. Sometimes, the simplest fixes like clear site navigation, free shipping and an optimized checkout make the biggest impact.
• Charging too much for shipping: We live in the age of Amazon Prime. If a shopper goes to check out on your online store and 50% of the product cost is added as shipping, they are very likely to abandon the cart. Factor shipping costs into your pricing so you can offer the all-coveted free shipping.
• Not having an email campaign in place: If press or a Google ad is driving a one-time sale, stay in front of your buyers with regular updates and new product announcements. Offer an immediate discount for subscribing to ongoing communication from your brand.
• Pulling the plug too soon: If your PR is starting to build, keep it going! So many brands want to do short campaigns, have their brand seen in some credible outlets and think that will be all they need. Consumers need to see your brand 7-15+ times in the digital age before converting. That journey might start with a press mention, continue through a Google ad and close after an email reminder. Stopping any of your channels too soon likely cancels out any investment you’ve made to date. To see the full results of your marketing spend, give it the time it needs. As long as you are seeing results climbing, let it ride.
• Not maximizing press mentions: Promote every top press mention throughout your marketing efforts. Use media quotes in your Google/Meta ad campaigns, promote them in your newsletters and showcase them on your website and social media channels. Press is a third-party, trusted source recommending your products to consumers. It’s pure gold that you should continue to remind people about.
• Being impatient: Successful Google/Meta ad campaigns often take testing to find the ad that will convert the best. Likewise, signing with a PR agency doesn’t mean you’ll have your first feature tomorrow. It takes a lot of work, reaching out on your behalf and then it depends on the media’s timeline. Hang in there and give your agency reps grace.

If you take away one thing, let it be this: Marketing is an ecosystem, not a checklist. Every click, article, ad and email plays a role in building trust and driving conversions.

The brands that win online are the ones that keep showing up, keep optimizing and keep investing in their growth. Take note that household name brands do continuous marketing to stay top of mind of their consumers.

If you’re ready to give your brand everything, start by connecting the dots between your marketing channels. Because in today’s crowded digital marketplace, strategy beats noise every time.

With 2.7 billion online shoppers worldwide and more than 13.7 million ecommerce stores in the U.S., it’s harder than ever for brands to stand out. After working with hundreds of founders across Shopify, Amazon and DTC stores, I’ve learned that growing your brand online isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing it smarter.

At Everything Branding, we’ve seen firsthand how founders can boost online sales by creating a connected, data-driven approach that brings every marketing channel together.

Do you ever long for those simpler days of the pre-pandemic workplace, where your entire team performed their jobs onsite every day? Where all-hands meetings could be called at a moment’s notice, with all your employees centralized in one spot?

Where you were forced to add more office cubes to ensure that everyone had a workstation? For most businesses and for many reasons, those days are unlikely to return. However, one of the biggest drivers of the modern office dynamic is the explosion of the remote work employment model.

While the trend toward remote work had been building for several decades before COVID-19, it was the shutdowns and safer-at-home mandates that thrust telework into the mainstay that it is today. During the crisis, remote work was the lifeline that kept people employed and business running, if not as usual, at least in a way that kept things going until things improved.

As challenging as it was, the flexibility that the remote work model afforded unlocked new opportunities for businesses. For instance, you could now hire a fully remote employee with the right skill set that you were unable to recruit locally, making your team stronger and more competitive. On the other hand, in-person time remained vital for fostering communication, building culture and strengthening collaboration.

So here we stand, with many companies now either encouraging or requiring their once-remote workforce to return to the office. Not surprisingly, there is notable pushback from many employees who adamantly prefer working remotely. And a hybrid model that tries to appease everyone, but that may also have its drawbacks.

Understanding the drivers that got us to this point and where we are headed is important as we navigate the future of remote work.

Related: Top Ways I’ve Learned to Keep Motivation High in an Asynchronous Workplace

The rise of fully remote workers

While the numbers involve some variability due to differences in data collection methods, the rise of fully remote work over the last 45 years has been remarkable. According to a mixture of reporting from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, and others, the prevalence of fully remote work exploded, as you surely know, with the onset of the global COVID pandemic.

In the 1980s, a little more than 2 million or 2.3% of U.S. workers worked remotely. That number doubled by the year 2000, mostly driven by the demands of tech-savvy millennials whose skills were highly sought after but who, in large part, rejected the 9-5 onsite employment paradigm.

In 2019, there were nearly 6 million remote U.S. workers. Then came the pandemic. By 2021, at the peak of government mandates, 27.6 million or 17.9% of the U.S. workforce worked remotely — and the office would never quite look the same. Today, that number has dropped by about 20%, with around 23 million or 14% of the jobs remaining mostly remote.

What really started as a special perk for high-demand employees has become a mainstay for many businesses and workers. We should probably thank the millennials for priming the industry to the remote employment model in the two decades leading up to the pandemic. Without that steady buildup of remote-ready infrastructure, flexible work policies and online collaboration tools, WFH mandates would have almost certainly been far more challenging and far less successful.

Where remote work stands today

While the necessity of the pandemic employment model all but faded, many workers today still want flexibility in how and where they perform their jobs. To appease employees, many businesses now offer hybrid work options in which their team is required in the office maybe two days a week and are able to work the rest of the time remotely.

According to Gallup, in 2025, between 20-25% of the U.S. workforce held either hybrid or fully remote roles, six out of ten workers with remote-capable jobs preferred the hybrid model, one-third wanted to work fully remote and less than 10% favored being onsite full-time.

Recently, some notable large corporations, like Amazon, ended their hybrid employment model and began requiring employees to work exclusively onsite. Not surprisingly, the company faced blowback and attrition from many workers who preferred the flexibility they had enjoyed for several years. However, Amazon held fast, citing improved collaboration, mentorship opportunities and company culture as the main drivers for its return-to-office mandate.

But not all companies are following suit. Businesses like Shopify and Dropbox continue to offer flexible job models, providing them an advantage in their recruiting and retention efforts.

So, where does remote work stand today? It is neither dead nor universal, but rather an option that businesses can leverage to attract and retain talent, reduce overhead costs and often increase productivity.

Related: Inside the Strange, Secretive Rise of the ‘Overemployed’

The future of remote work

Labor experts and business leaders agree that the remote work model will continue to evolve. While some employers, as mentioned, will continue to insist on a fully on-site staff, the advancements in AI and automation offer businesses and their teams a massive amount of flexibility in how and where future work is performed.

With digital jobs continuing to expand, the World Economic Forum reports that in five years, 20–25% of workers in economically developed countries will likely work remotely multiple days per week.

Looking ten years ahead, barring an unforeseen crisis that could upend expected business norms, we will likely see an increased standardization of the hybrid employment model. And by the middle of this century, the boundary between where a worker lives and where they work will likely be blurred even further, with many remote jobs being performed hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away from their respective brick-and-mortar offices.

Nobody has a perfect crystal ball, but one thing is clear. The remote work model is here to stay. And business leaders who resist offering flexible employment options will likely have a much harder time staying competitive in the modern marketplace.

Do you ever long for those simpler days of the pre-pandemic workplace, where your entire team performed their jobs onsite every day? Where all-hands meetings could be called at a moment’s notice, with all your employees centralized in one spot?

Where you were forced to add more office cubes to ensure that everyone had a workstation? For most businesses and for many reasons, those days are unlikely to return. However, one of the biggest drivers of the modern office dynamic is the explosion of the remote work employment model.

I’ve spent my career straddling the structured discipline of Fortune 500 companies and the entrepreneurial scrappiness of startups. Each side has its strengths. Startups move fast, fueled by creativity and urgency. Corporations scale big, built on systems and predictability.

But the future of leadership belongs to those who can bridge the two; leaders who think like founders and lead like CEOs.

Entrepreneurial leadership is the ability to remain agile and curious, like a founder, while maintaining the foresight and operational discipline of a seasoned executive. In an era of constant disruption, that combination is essential.

Related: I Shifted From Founder to CEO 20 Years Ago and Never Looked Back — Here’s How to Successfully Make the Leap

Treat failure like fuel

In many large organizations, failure is something to be managed rather than embraced. Metrics, quarterly targets and brand reputation often leave little room for experimentation. It’s safe, but that risk aversion can quietly stifle innovation.

Early in my career, I helped lead a new product launch that didn’t go as planned. We had done the research, built the plan and executed flawlessly (at least on paper). The market proved otherwise.

Instead of hiding from it, I brought the team together for an honest conversation about what went wrong. No finger-pointing. Just learning. That meeting changed how we worked. We began running smaller pilots, collecting feedback faster and rewarding curiosity over perfection.

Startups already know that every setback serves as important data. The difference between stagnation and growth often comes down to how quickly you can turn lessons into next steps. I tell executives all the time that failure isn’t fatal, complacency is.

Build “safe havens” for experimentation

Big companies talk about innovation endlessly. It sounds nice until you realize most innovation can’t survive big bureaucracy. Efficiency cultures tend to sideline creativity.

That’s why I believe in building “safe havens” for experimentation: small, cross-functional teams that operate with a startup mentality but have access to corporate resources. Their mission must be decoupled from immediate ROI. You want them to test, learn and translate what works back into the core business.

When I led a major retailer, we created one of these protected spaces for finding new product lines. The team experimented with a variety of product lines that at one point were considered to be very risky and not on-brand. Within a few short months, they identified several that were ready to roll out more broadly. It was a combination of quick wins, quick failure, and keen listening to customer feedback.

Innovation needs freedom before it can be scaled. You must permit your people to experiment and even fail if you expect them to create anything truly new.

Lead better by listening first

Leadership starts with listening. When I stepped into a new CEO role, I made a point to visit as many stores and offices as possible within my first 60 days. At one location, a front-line associate told me something I’ll never forget: “Our customers don’t just want faster service; they want to feel acknowledged and known.”

That important insight helped reframe our customer strategy. We moved from chasing speed to deepening connection.

It’s easy, especially when you’re expected to have all the answers, to fall into the trap of talking more than you listen. However, wise entrepreneurs know that every conversation holds valuable insights. Every customer complaint, every employee frustration, every quiet observation is a clue to your next opportunity.

Good leaders have mastered their business. The best are curious about the people who make it work.

Transform your dream into a scalable reality

Founders dream big. CEOs make those dreams scalable. Vision is essential, but without discipline, your vision is just a pretty picture.

I’ve worked with startups that burned out because they grew without structure. I’ve also seen established companies lose relevance because they clung to structure and forgot how to dream.

Today’s leaders must understand that speed doesn’t have to mean chaos, and structure doesn’t have to mean rigidity.

Entrepreneurial leadership is about knowing when to loosen the reins and when to tighten them. It’s the art of building systems that empower creativity rather than constrain it. When you strike that balance, you create organizations that can move quickly and remain resilient.

Related: Here’s What It Takes to Evolve From Hands-On Founder to Strategic CEO

Lead with purpose, not ego

As a leader, it’s often better to be a big megaphone than a big voice. When important decisions need to be made, when you’re brainstorming the perfect strategy, use your position to amplify the right voices in the room.

In retail and consumer businesses, I learned early that people don’t just work for paychecks; they work for purpose. They want to believe their work matters. When you align people around a shared mission, productivity, engagement, and even profitability improve.

During a major transformation effort, I made it a habit to meet weekly with cross-functional teams to discuss progress and address challenges. We did the stock-standard numbers review, but I also wanted to hear what inspired or frustrated them. Those conversations surfaced insights that no spreadsheet could ever provide.

Over time, I realized that transparency builds more loyalty than perfection ever could. When things go wrong, own it. When people succeed, share the credit.

The best leaders replace ego with empathy. The result is trust, the most powerful currency in business.

Reinvent before you’re forced to

Markets change. Technology evolves. Consumer expectations shift. The question isn’t if you’ll need to reinvent, it’s when.

I’ve seen companies wait too long to evolve, convinced that past success guarantees future relevance. It never does.

Whether you’re running a startup or an established brand, you have to build reinvention into your DNA. That means constantly scanning the horizon, questioning your assumptions and staying hungry to improve.

One of the lessons I’ve learned is that transformation demands a continuous posture of adaptability. The moment you think you’ve figured it all out, you’ve already fallen behind.

The new definition of leadership

Entrepreneurial leadership doesn’t care about titles or hierarchy. The entrepreneurs I’ve seen thrive have a different mindset.

They think like a founder by being bold, curious and customer-obsessed. They lead like a CEO through disciplined, strategic, and people-centered practices. The leaders who can merge those worlds will shape the next generation of business.

Because success isn’t final, and failure isn’t fatal. What matters most is the courage to keep learning and the humility to keep evolving.

I’ve spent my career straddling the structured discipline of Fortune 500 companies and the entrepreneurial scrappiness of startups. Each side has its strengths. Startups move fast, fueled by creativity and urgency. Corporations scale big, built on systems and predictability.

But the future of leadership belongs to those who can bridge the two; leaders who think like founders and lead like CEOs.

Jeremiah Gardner likes to get deep. He is one of the very few qualified underwater cave explorers on the planet, and he applies the lessons in risk-taking he’s learned beneath the surface to help leaders navigate uncertainty and thrive in business. As an innovation strategist and bestselling author of The Lean Brand, Jeremiah has worked with companies like GE, Nike, and ING to evolve in ways that deliver real customer value, not just shiny “innovation theater.”

In this episode of How Success Happens, Jeremiah shares his “Gold Line” framework for moving forward boldly without losing your way. Plus, he explains why he believes learning fast matters more than failing fast. Listen in to find out how his death-defying cave dives can help you navigate the dark caves of entrepreneurship with confidence, so your personal success can take off in three, two, one!

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Three Key Insights

1. Listen to the “Wet Rocks” in Your Life

Jeremiah describes cave diving as “a bunch of wet rocks at the end of the day,” but also as an environment that “called to me” like a siren song. He spent over two years training just to make his first real cave dive, all because he couldn’t shake that pull toward what he calls an “illogical” passion. In business, he sees the same thing: the ideas that won’t leave you alone are often the ones worth building a life and company around, even if they don’t make sense on paper at first.

Takeaway: Pay attention to the pursuits that “call to you” and commit to serious training around them, even when they look like “just wet rocks” to everyone else.

2. Be Uncomfortably Narrow

When most founders think of “innovation,” they imagine a big lightbulb moment and a huge market, but Jeremiah defines innovation as “the discovery, delivery, and development of new value in the customer’s eyes.” That starts with getting “uncomfortably narrow” about who you serve and what specific pain you’re solving, just like Facebook starting with Harvard or Amazon starting as a Seattle bookseller. He reminds us that you don’t need 1,000 customers at the beginning: “You need one customer… and then if you can do that, you can get to two.”

Takeaway: Choose a painfully specific customer and problem, prove you can help one person first, and then earn the right to scale.

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3. Learn Fast Instead of Failing Fast

Jeremiah hates the phrase “fail fast” so much that he has a T-shirt that crosses out “fail” and replaces it with “learn.” In one corporate example, he helped a company stop sinking millions into products nobody wanted by flipping from a few big bets to many small experiments, starting with the riskiest assumptions: “Is there a customer and is there a need?” For him, innovation is as much a cost-saving function—killing bad ideas early—as it is a revenue engine, because “learning what doesn’t work is as valuable to us as learning what does work.”

Takeaway: List your riskiest assumptions, run small experiments to test them, and measure success by how quickly you learn, not how perfectly you execute.

Two Ways to Learn More

1. You can explore Jeremiah’s work, take his free “Get Clarity” snapshot, and learn about his Gold Line framework at jeremiahgardner.com and pick up his book The Lean Brand to dive deeper into how brand innovation can help you discover new value and create passionate customers.

2. Check out Entrepreneur.com’s featured article on navigating the unknown: How to Unlock Transformative Growth By Embracing Uncertainty.

One Question to Ponder

When was the last time you took a risk that legit scared you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Email your answer to howsuccesshappens@entrepreneur.com. Your response just might be read on a future episode!

About How Success Happens

Each episode of How Success Happens shares the inspiring, entertaining, and unexpected journeys that influential leaders in business, the arts, and sports traveled on their way to becoming household names. It’s a reminder that behind every big-time career, there is a person who persisted in the face of self-doubt, failure, and anything else that got thrown in their way.

Subscribe now: Apple | Spotify | YouTube

Jeremiah Gardner likes to get deep. He is one of the very few qualified underwater cave explorers on the planet, and he applies the lessons in risk-taking he’s learned beneath the surface to help leaders navigate uncertainty and thrive in business. As an innovation strategist and bestselling author of The Lean Brand, Jeremiah has worked with companies like GE, Nike, and ING to evolve in ways that deliver real customer value, not just shiny “innovation theater.”

In this episode of How Success Happens, Jeremiah shares his “Gold Line” framework for moving forward boldly without losing your way. Plus, he explains why he believes learning fast matters more than failing fast. Listen in to find out how his death-defying cave dives can help you navigate the dark caves of entrepreneurship with confidence, so your personal success can take off in three, two, one!

As a Generation Xer, some would say we were 30 years old when we were 12, and today, in our 50s, we’re still 30 years old. We matured fast, but many of us remain young at heart. We snowboard, watch superhero movies and tinker with new technology, especially AI (as a leader, I’m obsessed with figuring out how to integrate AI into our business to bring more value to clients and improve bottom-line results). Many of us also now have kids who are between late high school and early career.

When speaking with this remarkable young generation, it’s clear they face challenges. At work, they’re expected to leverage AI for speed, accuracy and innovation. Yet in school, many are told not to use AI, or risk serious consequences. This disconnect leaves them trained for one reality while graduating into another.

If you’ve ever welcomed an impressive new hire who can code, research and present — yet freezes the moment you ask them to prompt an AI model or integrate its output into a project — you know this isn’t just a recruiting hiccup. It’s a collision between two worlds: the academy still navigating boundaries, and the workplace already operating at AI speed.

And when your next great hire arrives unprepared for how work actually works, that gap becomes your problem. This is no longer just an education policy debate. It’s a talent and leadership-readiness challenge every entrepreneur must navigate.

Related: 3 Ways to Prepare Your Business for an AI Future

Two worlds moving at different speeds

Companies are revamping entire workflows around speed, insight and automation. Technologies that took years to adopt now rise in months. Gallup reports that the use of AI at work has doubled in just two years, from 2023 to 2025. Leaders aren’t waiting. They’re investing in teams that can use AI to sift data, draft strategy, prototype ideas and scale execution. The statement that “one does not lose their job to AI, but to the person that knows AI” is now true more than ever.

Meanwhile, universities largely stand firm on tradition. Many ban AI tools to protect academic integrity. Don’t use it for writing, design, coding, analysis, etc., “or else!”

Provost Dr. Dave Bolman at the University of Advancing Technology (UAT), which has long prided itself on marrying innovation and education, acknowledges the challenge. “Hesitancy in incorporating AI into university learning comes in part because the technology is new and not all students and faculty have skills in these evolving tools,” he says. “Inconsistent knowledge creates barriers to designing generative AI into learning experiences.”

A 2024 survey by the American Association of Colleges & Universities and Elon University supports this, revealing that one of the biggest obstacles to generative AI adoption in higher education is faculty unfamiliarity. One reason? Many tenured professors and long‑time academic leaders are rewarded for longevity and traditional paper‑publishing, so they may lack the incentives and training to embrace AI. Another possibility: When learners rely too early on generative AI without proper scaffolding, they may miss out on developing critical‑thinking and reasoning skills, which institutions worry about.

So, you have a talent pipeline giving you graduates who excel at traditional academic skills, but are not yet fluent in the tools your team now uses daily. The cost isn’t just time. It’s slower innovation, more re‑training and a competitive disadvantage.

Consider a hypothetical, but realistic, calculation: If a new hire with AI literacy delivers, say, 20% more output in their first six months compared with one who lacks it, and the average starting salary is $70,000, then the productivity gap could amount to roughly $14,000 in lost value (or more when factoring in ramp‑up time, training costs and missed opportunity).

The employer’s dilemma: Talent that can’t keep up

On the employer side, the ripple effects are already visible. Companies are adjusting onboarding programs, increasing internal training budgets and reconsidering how quickly new talent can contribute. Graduates may arrive with strong academic credentials but might lack fluency in AI workflows: prompting, evaluating outputs and integrating generative tools into real-time problem-solving.

And students know they’re behind. According to a 2024 survey from the Digital Education Council, 58% report lacking sufficient AI knowledge and skills, and nearly half don’t feel prepared for an AI-enabled workplace. The gap is real, and it’s shaping who gets hired, who gets promoted and which companies keep their edge.

This isn’t an isolated frustration. It’s a systemic disconnect. As Dr. Bolman explains, “Industries our students are graduating into have moved quickly to incorporate generative AI into their workflow. Expectations for complexity and efficiency are rising to a point where, for employees to be hired and retained, they must have AI abilities.”

That disconnect is redefining what “prepared” means in the modern workplace.

Related: The Surprising Strategy Smart Leaders Use to Outpace Disruption

What leaders can do now with the absence of universities taking fast action

To close the AI-readiness gap, leaders can act long before universities catch up. Here are four steps you can implement today to align talent with the way work actually happens:

1. Audit your hiring lens

Traditional job descriptions rarely reflect the reality of AI-driven work. Instead of focusing only on degrees or years of experience, evaluate candidates for their ability to use AI tools to explore ideas, identify patterns and make informed decisions.

Companies such as HubSpot now ask candidates to demonstrate how they use AI in their workflow because it reveals how quickly someone can adapt to the pace of modern work. In fact, one recent HubSpot job posting for a creative director mentioned the ability to proactively test and integrate AI to advance the team.

2. Partner with higher education

You don’t need a Fortune 500 budget to influence how students learn. Consider the capstone sponsorship program at Carnegie Mellon University’s Integrated Innovation Institute, which matches industry partners, including startups and small companies, with student teams to solve real business challenges as part of their curriculum.

Sponsors participate directly by mentoring students, defining problem statements, funding or supporting project work and attending final presentations. Programs such as this give students firsthand exposure to workplace expectations while helping employers shape a future talent pipeline that’s more aligned with real-world needs.

3. Upskill internally

Even the most ambitious graduates arrive with uneven AI experience, so companies benefit from building internal fluency themselves. According to the World Economic Forum’s global employer projections for the next five years, technological skills are expected to grow faster than any other skill category, with AI and big data ranked as the most rapidly rising skills.

In response, 85% of surveyed employers plan to adopt upskilling as their primary workforce strategy between 2025 and 2030. Prioritizing short, focused training that helps employees use AI in real tasks not only accelerates performance but also reduces the ramp-up time for new hires entering AI-enabled roles.

Related: 5 Essential Skills for Building AI-Ready Teams

4. Model curiosity

Teams take their cues from leadership. When founders openly explore new tools, test ideas and talk through what they’re learning, curiosity quickly becomes part of the culture. In my own experience, simply sharing how I experimented with a new AI workflow — what worked, what didn’t and how it changed my process — immediately encouraged others to try their own experiments. When leaders show they’re willing to learn in public, it signals that exploration isn’t just permitted but expected.

As a leader, you can’t wait for education to catch up. You have to lead the learning through mentorship, experimentation and courage. Your next great hire may arrive ready to talk theory, but they also need to know how work actually works.

The next generation is ready to work. Are you ready to teach them how?

As a Generation Xer, some would say we were 30 years old when we were 12, and today, in our 50s, we’re still 30 years old. We matured fast, but many of us remain young at heart. We snowboard, watch superhero movies and tinker with new technology, especially AI (as a leader, I’m obsessed with figuring out how to integrate AI into our business to bring more value to clients and improve bottom-line results). Many of us also now have kids who are between late high school and early career.

When speaking with this remarkable young generation, it’s clear they face challenges. At work, they’re expected to leverage AI for speed, accuracy and innovation. Yet in school, many are told not to use AI, or risk serious consequences. This disconnect leaves them trained for one reality while graduating into another.

The world of contracting, construction, roofing and specialty manufacturing is not the same as it used to be. These industries have long been defined by hands-on craftsmanship and time-tested methods. But a quiet, radical change is starting to happen. Digital workflows, increased customer expectations and competitive pressures are pushing traditional industries to rethink how they do business. According to a recent analysis, digital transformation is reshaping construction and related industries at a rapid pace.

The transformation is not about discarding what works. Simply put, it’s about combining decades of expertise with modern systems that make businesses smarter, faster and more sustainable.

Related: Commitment to Innovation Is How Legacy Companies Stay Agile

Digital workflows are becoming essential in legacy industries

For years, legacy industries have depended on paper trails, phone calls and in-person meetings to function. But with the increasing affordability and accessibility of digital tools, that old playbook is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

Digital workflows solve some of the most persistent pain points in traditional industries:

• Streamlined communication means fewer misunderstandings between project managers, clients and field teams

• Reduced errors through automated tracking and digital documentation

• Faster approvals that keep projects moving without bottlenecks

Beyond internal efficiency, customers now expect real-time visibility into their projects. According to research on digital transformation in construction, companies that embrace these tools see measurable improvements in both productivity and client satisfaction.

For deeper insights on how these systems are reshaping project delivery, this industry insights article on digital project management trends offers a practical perspective from teams implementing these changes on the ground.

Key takeaway: Digital adoption is not a luxury anymore. It is the bare minimum standard for operational efficiency in a competitive market.

Customer experience is emerging as a core competitive advantage

In industries where word-of-mouth and reputation have always mattered, customer experience is now taking center stage as a deliberate business strategy.

The shift is noticeable across service-based businesses. Clients expect faster responses, transparent progress updates and clearer pricing expectations. They want to feel informed, not left in the dark.

This isn’t just about being polite or responsive. It’s about building trust systematically. Transparency has become a differentiator even in traditionally opaque industries.

Key takeaway: Customer experience isn’t just for tech startups — it’s reshaping how legacy service industries compete and grow.

Related: Why Some Legacy Brands Stay Relevant While Others Fade Into Obscurity

Product-focused companies are redefining modern buyer expectations

While service businesses have been catching up digitally, product manufacturers have been setting new standards for how customers research, evaluate and purchase specialized equipment.

Product-focused companies in legacy industries are leveraging:

• High-quality visual content that helps buyers understand technical specifications

• Interactive guides and tools that simplify complex purchasing decisions

• Educational resources that position the brand as a trusted advisor

These strategies aren’t just effective for direct product sales — they’re influencing expectations across the board. Harvard Business Review’s research on B2B buyer behavior shows that modern buyers complete significant research independently before ever contacting a vendor. This consumer behavior study on purchasing specialized equipment online reveals how digital content shapes decisions in niche markets.

Key takeaway: Service providers can learn from product brands about the power of education and visual storytelling in the customer journey.

Home-improvement businesses are modernizing through customer education

The roofing and home-improvement sectors offer a particularly clear example of how customer education has become a competitive tool.

Homeowners making significant investments in their properties want to understand what they’re buying. They’re looking for:

• Transparency around materials, warranties and installation processes

• Durability explanations that justify the investment

• Detailed breakdowns that help them make informed decisions

Savvy companies are already adapting to this shift. This report on how homeowners use educational content to make roofing decisions confirms that informative content drives confident decision-making.

Key takeaway: Legacy industries that prioritize customer education earn higher trust and stronger long-term loyalty.

Looking across these four lessons, several themes emerge. Digital transformation improves internal operations and project delivery. Transparent communication enhances the customer experience at every touchpoint. Visual and educational content — pioneered by product companies — influences buying behavior across sectors. And industry-specific education builds trust in complex, high-stakes service categories like home improvement.

If you’re running a business in a legacy industry, here’s where to start:

• Start with incremental digital upgrades — you don’t need to overhaul everything at once.

• Prioritize communication clarity in every client interaction.

• Build educational content into your customer journey, even if it’s just answering FAQs thoroughly.

• Study best practices from industries outside your own.

• Make transparency a strategic advantage, not just a nice-to-have.

Related: Building on the Past, Leading into the Future: The Evolving Role of Legacy Business Leaders

The path forward

Legacy industries are evolving faster than most people realize. Technology, rising customer expectations and competitive pressure are driving real change — but the businesses winning aren’t the ones chasing disruption for its own sake. They are the ones thoughtfully integrating modern workflows, customer education and experience-focused systems into proven business models.

Smart growth isn’t about disrupting your industry. It’s about improving it — deliberately, sustainably and with your customers at the center.

The world of contracting, construction, roofing and specialty manufacturing is not the same as it used to be. These industries have long been defined by hands-on craftsmanship and time-tested methods. But a quiet, radical change is starting to happen. Digital workflows, increased customer expectations and competitive pressures are pushing traditional industries to rethink how they do business. According to a recent analysis, digital transformation is reshaping construction and related industries at a rapid pace.

The transformation is not about discarding what works. Simply put, it’s about combining decades of expertise with modern systems that make businesses smarter, faster and more sustainable.