Mike Burnett is an expert at jumping on business trends. He helps people start a reliable side hustle with his company, SmartMarket Solutions. (Courtesy Mike Burnett)
Successful entrepreneurs can’t predict the future, but learning to watch fundamental shifts in behavior, culture or technology can help them act on an opportunity before it passes them by.
Mike Burnett has learned to recognize those shifts. After 27 years in business, his experience has taught him when to trust his gut, when to pivot, and how to develop the ability to spot a trend.
In 1999, Burnett purchased tabletop vending machines as a side hustle. Within a month, those machines had generated $20,000. That number doubled by the third month. Over the years, he’s grown his vending business, adapting as consumers’ needs evolved.
“We started to notice around 2007 that customers were starting to ask for healthier products,” he said. “We noticed an explosion going on with healthier snacks and drinks coming out of the market, and it wasn’t just in our industry.”
Before cramming his vending machines with granola bars, he did some research. Burnett found stores that offered healthier foods, like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, were becoming more popular; specialized fitness and exercise programs were taking off; and, overall, Americans seemed to want to feel better and make healthier choices.
Once he identified the trend, he did some market testing in his machines, offering fewer sugary treats and including more healthy options. His customers asked for more.
“We shifted slowly into that, and that was a big thing, but at some point you have to trust your gut,” Burnett said. “You can analyze something to death … but the best feedback is from your customers.”
He’s afraid that many business owners don’t connect with their client base in a way that brings in helpful feedback, but he said it’s only through constant listening and observing, and asking the right questions, that a business can adapt as shifts occur.
As a co-founder of SmartMarket Solutions, Burnett has learned that jumping on every trend doesn’t serve customers, but there’s also a sweet spot between being too early and too late to a trend.
Waiting too long can mean the biggest opportunity has already passed. If the market isn’t quite ready for a change, going in too early can mean slow returns or failure. He said the ideal moment to jump in is when a trend shows staying power but’s still offering room for growth.
“We would always test it; we wouldn’t just guess,” he said. “We would guide a person to a different landing page on the website and see how the response was. We would sell a little bit and get going before we knew for sure we had something. You have to test; that’s how you try to mitigate your risk.”
He cautions entrepreneurs not to let perfectionism become procrastination, and not to reinvent the wheel.
Rather than creating a new product, find something customers already love and make it 20 percent better. That could mean making it a little faster, easier, cheaper, more reliable or more convenient. Doing so can make entrepreneurship feel attainable, especially for someone considering a side hustle.
“What holds people back is the overanalyzing, overthinking, over-trying to get ready to launch. You’ve just gotta go and do it. Then, you get feedback. Then you can change and innovate. You start, you do something, and then you notice what happens, and you adjust.”
Burnett said that when entrepreneurs can take feedback and criticism without letting it tank their energy or motivation, they have the best chance of success. He said the most successful businesspeople he knows have humility and admit they don’t know everything.
Being willing to learn from mistakes, take advice from other entrepreneurs and understand the true meaning of “wealth” can help any business leader move forward with confidence.
“To me, true wealth is not about making a lot of money. For some people, that’s all they're focused on. But to me, true wealth means every part of your life is enriched,” Burnett said. “If you’re way out of whack, out of balance, then are you really successful? I don’t think you are, unless you’re rich in every part of your life.”
Visit smartmarts.ai to learn more.
