Rob Mannion is the chief executive of b2b.store
That ‘lightbulb moment’ can sometimes hit you from nowhere – and it doesn’t discriminate on what you’re doing, where you are or who you’re with.
My best ideas often come when I’m out for a run, when they just jump out at me.Since first stepping into the world of entrepreneurship, my life has been all about innovation.
I started with an idea and £100, but, through creative thinking and learning how to bring my vision to reality, I’m celebrating 15 years as a business owner in 2024.
One lesson I have learned in that time is that having the idea is often the easy bit, but making it happen is much harder.
Many a great idea has failed for a combination of reasons, from bad luck or wrong timing, to poor execution. When that happens, all you can do is be resilient and keep learning – they’re traits all the great innovators have.
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The heritage of the business that’s now b2b.store has always been grounded in technology. Therefore, dealing with constantly evolving ideas is something I’m familiar with.
I’d considered myself to be an innovative thinker before I started my business, but I quickly realised it was a different challenge entirely to bring my new employees along on the ride. I didn’t always get it right at first and I soon learned that simply saying we were an innovative company didn’t mean that was true.
I had to make people feel comfortable to share ideas without inhibition and empower them to constructively challenge others. Being an innovative company is as much about culture as having the sparks of an idea in the first place, and is a philosophy that’s transferable between businesses, whatever industry.
It takes a specific sort of person to be part of that. An ever-changing, innovative environment doesn’t suit everyone, and long-term success can only be achieved by recognising and acting on that.
Focus is also key. You need to know when to stop innovating and stick to your strategy because too many ideas can lead you off piste. In b2b.store’s realm, there are a lot of funding streams and grants available to help aid innovation, but they can lead you down a different path with various rules and hoops to jump through, potentially distracting you from your core business.
This sort of thing can emerge in many different guises for businesses, but it’s important to stick to your innovation strategy and keep focusing on your original plan despite the noise – otherwise your ideas will be scattergun and take you in different directions. It’s too easy for that mindset to become detrimental and it’s important to make sure you know when to stop innovating and begin to recoup that investment, while still aligning with technological development and the strategic needs of your customers. It can be a minefield.
We’ve had some successes as a result of innovating, with a recent example being the launch of our WhatsApp Business Platform. Although we’ve also explored other ideas, such as including in-depot navigation or installing iBeacons in depots, that were arguably too ahead of their time.
Many successful businesses operate with a risk-averse mindset and only adopt new ideas once the concept has been proved by others. Innovating isn’t an easy option, as it by definition introduces business risk as you enter the unknown, but if you have a team culture where innovation is allowed to prosper, the rewards can be significant.
