The term “innovation” is often associated with geniuses turning startups into gold mines — the next Google, Apple, or Amazon, with products no one even knew they needed. Private equity firms place hundreds of little bets on these startups, hoping one produces a windfall that covers the rest. These bets on the next growth engine often depend on luck more than insight.
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The quickest way to get your tax refund into your bank account is to have it direct-deposited. But the IRS will also issue a paper check or, if you choose, U.S. You can use your refund to buy up to $5,000 in U.S. Series I savings bonds in multiples of $50.
Meanwhile, every company aspires to be as innovative as these startups. Many companies invest in or buy them, unsure what they’ll yield other than the halo effect they may overpay for, made worse by the fact that most don’t align with the company strategy or meet a market insight. The same is true of ideas: Knowing which to fund without making random bets is key. But according to a series of three surveys conducted over six years by Maddock Douglas, the consulting firm where I work, while 80% of executives know that their companies’ success depends on introducing new products and services, more than half agreed that their companies dedicate insufficient resources to support innovation. (For more, see Brand New: Solving the Innovation Paradox, by G. Michael Maddock, Luisa C. Uriarte, and Paul B. Brown.)
Innovation is a word that’s been attached to finding new ways to grow, and every corporation needs to grow year over year. But the first step to generating real growth is to understand where it comes from. We believe growth has been made unnecessarily complicated, so we’ve boiled it down to six simple categories with corresponding examples from Apple:
- Tip: Get on an easy slab climb and practise making the ascent with your legs, only using your hands for balance and not for helping your upward movement. 3) Get good at standing on bad footholds Now that you’ve invited your legs to the party, it’s time to put some trust in those dancing feet.
- Sell stuff in a new way: Reimagine how to go to market by creating new revenue streams, channels, and ways of creating value. This can be as simple as moving to a subscription model, or as.
- New processes. Sell the same stuff at higher margins: Cut production and delivery costs, automate for efficiencies, cut fat in the supply chain or manufacturing, and utilize robots.
- New experiences. Sell more of the same stuff to the same people: Increase retention and share by powerfully connecting with customers. An example is the Apple Store experience, which many would argue is as compelling as the company’s products.
- New features. Sell enhanced stuff to the same people: Add improvements that drive incremental purchases. An example of this is every new phone Apple releases, with better cameras and so on.
- New customers. Sell more of the same stuff to new people: Introduce the product to new markets with needs similar to your core, or to markets where it might address a different need. For Apple, this goes back to reaching the mainstream rather than the design community.
- New offerings. Make new stuff to sell: Develop a new product — not just enhancements. Find new needs to solve within existing markets, or invest in a new category. Think HomePod or the iPod.
- New models. Sell stuff in a new way: Reimagine how to go to market by creating new revenue streams, channels, and ways of creating value. This can be as simple as moving to a subscription model, or as transformative as Apple’s creating iTunes.
Deciding which ways to grow needs to be intentional — not driven by luck. Innovation budgets are finite, so allocations of your scarce resources should reduce risk and focus on the best bets. It needs to be balanced for maximum return the same way a retirement fund needs to be balanced among high and low risks and rewards. For example, consider the following innovation budget allocation model:
The model above shows the relationship among these six simple ways to grow, in the context of the four quadrants of the portfolio (evolutionary, differentiation, fast fail, and revolutionary), each of which gets a percentage allocation of the innovation budget. Note that:
- New processes fall outside the innovation portfolio (no budget allocation).
- New experiences and new features are in the evolutionary quadrant (about 40%–60% of the budget).
- New customers are in the fast fail quadrant (about 10%–20% of the budget).
- New offerings are in the differentiation quadrant (about 10%–20% of the budget).
- The combination of both new customers and new offerings are in the revolutionary quadrant (about 5%–10% of the budget).
- New models can fall anywhere in the portfolio.
This same allocation model applies to investments in growth. Some ways to grow are easier than others. Cutting costs with new processes to improve margins is low-hanging fruit. It isn’t on the level of startup innovation; it’s just a more innovative way to do things. We don’t consider it part of the innovation budget because it doesn’t create value in the market, only incremental growth and continuous improvement.
The easiest goal in the innovation pie is to maintain relevance to your core market through enhancements — with new features for your current offerings or the experiences that deliver them. It’s easy because it focuses on a market you already know and on products you already know how to deliver. A company will seldom question allocating the largest portion of its innovation budget to these activities (40%–60%).
A smaller portion (10%–20%) is allocated to reaching new customers with what you know how to deliver. This low-investment, fail-fast, test-the-waters approach is more akin to how a private equity investor might approach innovation, making many small bets and quickly abandoning those that fail to get traction. The key is fast experimentation through lean, agile approaches.
Another 10%–20% is likely to go toward differentiation — developing new offerings before the competition does. These are things you’re not sure how to deliver, but you know the market wants them, making it worth trying to figure out. Efforts like these carry greater risks but promise greater rewards if you’re first to market.
That leaves the smallest portion (5%–10%) for focused bets on revolutionary, high-risk opportunities with new offerings to new customers. In this quadrant, you focus on a big idea, using agile approaches to break it apart to see which elements drive value through continuous assessments of desirability, since you don’t know for sure what the market values (even the idea itself). If you continue to clear hurdles, you stand a chance to launch a game-changer that fills an unmet need. You just have to test and experiment quickly.
New models — new ways of delivering — can fall anywhere in the innovation portfolio, as do build, buy, or partner decisions. Knowing the type of growth that your initiatives represent and their place in the portfolio helps determine which to pursue and how, including acquiring a startup that may hold a key to the puzzle — intentionally identified by targeted criteria, which are de-risked by researching and identifying unmet needs in the market.
Knowing how growth happens, and the best ways to focus your organization’s efforts to grow, is as critical as allocating investments across the innovation risk-reward spectrum for maximum returns. Doing so works better than placing random bets on the latest startup in the hopes of getting lucky. Or worse, betting on one silver bullet that misfires.
Quick! Can you come up with $100? I know most of you have $100 and a lot more. Some of you have that in your couch cushions, but for those who don’t, we have a ton of awesome ways to make money fast (many of which are online).
Any opportunity that promises you’ll make money fast overnight, run the other direction. The only time we’ve ever come across cash that quick is finding a $5 bill on the street. We aren’t offering get rich quick scams.
However, if you’re looking for legitimate ways to make some extra money, we got you covered.
We’ve got some money-making ideas for everyone.
Easy, free money
These are a few ways to earn extra cash with minimal effort.
Want to get paid for your opinion? Use a survey site like Survey Junkie. You can share your opinion to help brands deliver better products and services. After you create your profile, they will start matching you to online surveys you can take anywhere, anytime, and on any device.
Completed surveys earn virtual points that can be redeemed for PayPal or gift cards. Survey Junkie is great for anyone interested in earning quick cash from their couch.
If you have some spare time during your lunch break or commercials, it’s a great way to make money fast. Sign up for Survey Junkie and make some fast money online.
Most of the online surveys are pretty easy, and you are not required to signup for other services, so no annoying spam mail.
For starters, it’s completely free, and you earn 25 free points when you create your account.
Survey JunkieWant to get paid for your opinion? Survey Junkie lets you share yours to help brands deliver better products and services. After creating your profile, they'll start matching you to online surveys you can take anywhere.
What’s better than getting paid to do things you’re already doing? Getting paid to drink I supposed but getting paid to do something like watch videos, shop, and do searches online is pretty nice too.
When you join Swagbucks, you can get cashback when you buy online from more than 1,500 retailers, including places you probably already shop like Amazon, Target, and Starbucks.
Earn points for each dollar you spend and also get special coupons and deals exclusive to their shoppers.
You can also earn points when you use the Swagbucks Yahoo search engine, and when you watch special videos, Swagbucks has put together.
You can redeem your points for gift cards or get cash back through PayPal.
Do you buy stuff? I’m guessing you do. If so, why not get paid for it?! Ebates has helped its customers earn over $1 billion in cash back at their favorite stores.
They offer coupons and rebates to you when shopping at one of their partner retailers (2,500+)
Ibotta is an app that lets you earn cash back on purchases you make at select stores. They’ve paid back over $500 million to smart shoppers like you. How much can you save?
We waste a lot of money on things like subscription services we no longer use. When is the last time you went to the gym? But life gets in the way, and we can’t keep track of everything.
You might not even realize that you are paying for these things. It would be nice to have an assistant who looked through your bank statements and credit card receipts and found this kind of stuff. But you need $100, so you are too broke to have an assistant.
That’s what Trim can do for you.
It combs through your transaction history and looks for subscriptions to things like magazines, gym memberships, or food delivery services. They cancel anything you no longer want to pay for.
TaskRabbit lets you bid on jobs for things like picking up dry cleaning, food shopping, and babysitting.
Lots of little, everyday tasks that others don’t want or don’t have time to do are up for grab for taskers.
TaskRabbitTask Rabbit connects you to people who need help with their everyday to-dos. Services include moving, shopping, cleaning, and even assembling furniture. Create a profile, find jobs you love at rates you choose and set your schedule.
Some 45% of Americans go on a diet each year, and most of them give up after just a few weeks.
But money is a great motivator, so why not get paid to lose those extra pounds? That’s what HealthyWage does.
There is a calculator on the HealthyWage site.
Enter how many pounds you want to lose, how many months it will take, and how much money you want to bet per month on yourself to do it.
Enter your gender, height, current weight, and waist circumference. Based on this information, you’ll see how much money you will win if you meet your goal.
I put in some fake numbers (I don’t have weight to lose), and my winnings after my bet would be $169.40, which would be a 56.33% return on my investment in six months.
There aren’t many investments that give you that kind of return, and you get to control whether you win or not. Pretty cool!
Earny: Receiving refund checks are my favorite past-time – and a great way to make extra money.
As it turns out, stores owe you money all the time, but they don’t pay if you don’t ask. That’s where Earny comes in – they automate everything. It’s also 100% free.
EarnyEarny is a Chrome extension that provides 24/7 price tracking and gives real-time price alerts. Shop online, activate cashback and earn up to 20%. You'll get a refund if prices drop after making a purchase.
InstaGC lets you receive digital gift cards for doing things online, like completing surveys, watching videos, and searching the web. Choose from over 350 digitally-delivered gift cards.
You perform tasks to earn points, and the cards can be used online or in-store. They’ve redeemed over 1.2 million gift cards to date.
The cell phone bill is easily one of the most significant reoccurring monthly bills we have. Since it’s so much yearly, It makes sense to optimize it.
It turns out you don’t need to pay out the nose for a cell phone; it’s time to slash your cell bill. Ting will give you affordable service on the main carrier networks, what more could you want?
You get the same coverage as the big carriers with a much smaller price tag. The average Ting bill is just $23/phone/month. Damn
Fiverr is an online marketplace where freelancers can earn money for their services. You can sign up for free, set up your Gig, and offer your work to a global audience.
Make an online tutorial for something you’re good at, car repair, building a bookcase, cooking your signature dish.
Upload it to Youtube and enable monetization. This allows them to put ads on your videos. Want to learn how to get started? Check out “PolyMatter” on Skillshare.
Skillshare: Want to teach people things but don’t want to make them publically for free?
Skillshare is a platform that allows people to create online courses to help others, and if people use your course, Skillshare will pay you.
Want to learn from other creators? There isn’t a better place on the internet. Skillshare comes built-in with an audience interested in learning online.
Those ultra-competitive tiger parents want to make sure their special cornflakes get into the best schools, whether that means pre-school for three-year-olds or the Ivy League for eighteen-year-olds.
Wyzant (tutor): They’re the place parents and students shop for tutors for a variety of subjects from algebra to science to test prep.
There is a wide range of ages in need of tutors as well, from elementary age through college.
Pick up work when you want – you set your schedule and fees, and Wyzant takes a cut.
WyzantWyzant connects you with students looking for one-on-one instruction. Find ones that fit your location and schedule, set your rate, and get paid hassle-free with direct deposit.
Shopify: Selling stuff is a great way to make extra money, whether you sell things you make or re-sell things you buy.
If you want to build an online store, Shopify makes it easy. They have ready-made templates, so you don’t have to spend time designing your store.
We literally sell everything we don’t need and sometimes items we got for deals or even free. Shopify is also the favorite platform for drop shippers.
What is dropshipping? It’s creating the process of creating an online store (automated) and signing up with a product distributor that will mail products directly to your customers.
Since the products you sell ship directly to your customers, you don’t need to hold inventory or mail anything. All you need to do is find cool products and market your website. Some are saying it’s the ultimate online business.
Become the Entrepreneur of Your Block
Everyone likes puppies! Look around for the fat ones in your neighborhood. Those are the ones who have parents too lazy to walk them.
But all puppies need and deserve exercise, and you need and deserve $100.
Join forces with the fat puppies and profit from being a dog walker. Rover.com is where you’d go to find a ton of in-need, dog walker clients.
Who knows, your petsitting side hustle could turn into a small business!
Forget checking Craigslist for part-time gigs. Parents post jobs on Sittercity for everything from a full-time nanny to the occasional part-time, date night sitter.
You can apply for the postings, meet the family, and get hired. The average pay for babysitting is a little over $12 an hour.
Debt Forgiveness: Did you know that credit card companies will forgive some of your debt if you’re in trouble? Imagine reducing a $10,000 bill to $4,000 just by calling them and asking.
Not only is this a real thing, but billions of dollars get forgiven every year.
If you aren’t comfortable negotiating forgiveness than you can bring on a company like National Debt Relief to negotiate on your behalf.
They take a percentage of what is forgiven, so it’s no risk. If they don’t get your debt reduced, you don’t pay anything.
Reduce monthly debt payments: Not all of us are in such a dire situation that we can have our debt forgiven. However, you can cut your payments by up to 80% by refinancing.
Most credit cards have interest rates above 25%, and Credible’s refinance loans are as low as 4%. It won’t change the amount of your debt, but it can reduce your monthly payment significantly.
Earnest (refinance your student loans): Same idea as above but on your student loans. There is $1.4 trillion in student loan debt outstanding.
When you have student loan debt, it can make it hard to get ahead, invest, or buy a home.
If this sounds familiar, refinancing the debt can not only help you pay it off more quickly, but it can save you money on interest too.
Their interest rates are best-in-class, so we highly recommend them. An hour here can easily save you thousands of dollars.
If you’re looking for a low-risk, high interest-earning cash account, Betterment Everyday Cash Reserve, currently offers a 1.37% APY(most savings accounts average a 0.10% APY). Grow your rainy-day fund with no fees. Link your bank account and start saving.
Want to get your money under control?This is our guide to budgeting simply and effectively. We walk you through exactly how to use Mint, what your budget should be, and how to monitor your spending automatically.
Investments
Do you know the best way to make money? You don’t? Have you never listened to a single episode or read a single article we’ve done?! It’s growing money while you sleep – investing. Here’s how.
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Wealthfront is a Robo-Advisor that makes it easier for young investors to get started with the first $5,000 managed for free. They offer investors advanced features like tax-loss harvesting and automatic rebalancing.
Wealthfront also provides free financial planning, investment management, and short-term cash management, all fully automated services.
We have loved Betterment since Day One, and we love it still. It’s such an excellent gateway for people who are afraid to invest because you don’t have to know anything about money or personal finance or investing to get started. There is also no minimum, and the fees are low.
There is no excuse not to open a Betterment account and start investing now. If you have two minutes and five bucks, you can do it. If you want more information, we wrote a comprehensive review.
5 Simple Ways To Get Your Revenue Climbing Quickly Will
There is so much competition between banks that some offer cash bonuses when you open a new account as a way to attract new customers – and for you to save money.
There are usually some stipulations; you use direct deposit or pay a certain number of bills online; the account must be open for a minimum length of time or keep a minimum balance.
But most of the criteria are pretty easy to meet, and signing up can make you a few hundred bucks.
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Simply put, Fundrise gets you access to million-dollar real estate deals with a contribution as small as $500!
They get the deals and automatically invest your money based on some simple questions you answer when you first signup. Passive income at its finest.
Last year their return was over 11%! We love what they are doing so much, we’ve written a full review on them and interviewed their CEO twice!
You know how we feel about rental property. What could be better than having someone pay your mortgage and pay you? It’s intimidating to become a landlord, though.
You don’t know how to tell a good property from a bad one; you don’t know how to fix a sink, you don’t know how to screen tenants.
But here’s the good news…
Rental Properties for Passive InvestorsOur proven, data-driven approach to building a portfolio of income-producing rental properties that perform in the long-term.
I created a course focusing exclusively on this real estate investing strategy: Rental Properties for Passive Investors.
You’ll learn my criteria for finding (and closing) the right property, the foundations of a successful rental business, choosing the best property management team, and much more.
This is a turnkey approach with tenants already in place, and those tenants have been screened. Your only job is to sit back and collect a check.
Make Money Online from Home
We wrote a free in-depth guide for you that cuts through the bullshit. Specifically, we dive into how you can make money online with things like selling digital products and affiliate marketing (including affiliate programs to join).
Learn How to Start a Blog That Earns over $400k a year
5 Simple Ways To Get Your Revenue Climbing Quickly Without
Blogging is a lucrative side hustle and a great way to make extra cash. It won’t be good money right away, but with a little part-time elbow grease, it can make up a substantial income stream.
Ride and Home Share Hustles
The hourly pay after expenses varies from city to city, but you can expect to make around $10 an hour with this side hustle. In larger cities, it will often be much more and in smaller towns, sometimes a little less.
The appeal of rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft is that you can set your schedule, and there is no commitment.
You can work your regular job and make your $100 in just a few hours on a weekend or some evenings.
Airbnb: If you live in a desirable place, a big city, a charming hamlet, the chances are that someone would like to stay in your home for a few days. And they’ll pay you!
Right now, a small studio near the United Nations in NYC, so, far, far from the subway, is renting for $175 a night. If you can crash on a friend’s couch for just one night, there’s your $100 and then some.
Or, if you’ve got a spare room, rent that out.
The number of ways to earn extra money in your free time has never been greater!