- Jen Glantz is an entrepreneur and the founder of Bridesmaid for hire.
- Keeping up with industry trends is essential to standing out as a small business, says Glantz.
- This year, she plans to create NFTs for her business and integrate AR technology into her website.
When I became an entrepreneur in 2014, I realized that to grow and grow my business, I needed to keep up with emerging trends and technologies. Since I don’t have a company offering professional development workshops or consultants, I set aside a few thousand dollars a year in my own business budget for conferences, workshops, and coaching.
Last year, after attending a few online workshops and conferences and carefully listening to my favorite business podcasts, I realized I wanted to implement several major trends into my 2022 strategy to stay current and have leverage on my competitors.
After a lot of research and planning, I decided this year to integrate NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and the metaverse into my business structure. Here’s how.
Using NFTs as Member Access
Midway through last year, I started looking into NFTs (non-fungible tokens). While many people in my life were buying NFTs that were just digital art, a few entrepreneurs I heard talking on a podcast talked about how they were using NFTs for business.
For example, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk has a collection of NFTs that allows holders access to VeeFriendsa private club with exclusive benefits. The official clothing company has a NFT Marketplace which gives people exclusive access to physical products.
For my business, I’m working on creating a collection of NFTs that allow people to access my course library. I will limit the quantity of NFTs in the collection, and customers who purchase one will be able to resell it whenever they want and transfer access to this course library to the new owner.
Accept cryptocurrency as payment
I started to notice that more and more companies, From Starbucks to Whole Foodsbegan accepting cryptocurrencies as payment in 2021.
An estimate 114 million accounts hold Bitcoin across the world. As more and more people invest their money in digital coins, I thought it was time to accept cryptocurrency as payment for some of my products and services.
While I still plan to only accept cash for big-ticket items over $1,000, I’m going to start accepting Bitcoin as payment for cheaper products and services using a platform like BitPay to facilitate the transaction.
Use metaverse technology for my customer experience
A major technology upgrade I want to make to my business this year is metaverse technology and augmented reality.
Some businesses use AR to create a unique customer experience. For example, Home Depot and Wayfair use AR to help people see what furniture will look like in their home, while Nike and Kohls use AR to help people try on products virtually.
While I’m still exploring options for my business, I’m tempted to either use AR to create a video game that people can pay to play in the metaverse, or install AR so people can try some products sold by my brand. Digital platforms are starting to make these features more accessible – for example, Shopify allows sellers to use 3D models on product pages to show buyers what a product looks like in AR.
Although I’m eager to implement these new updates in my business, I’m in no rush. I’m always developing creative ways to add cryptocurrency, NFTs, and metaverse technology to my growth plans.
For other entrepreneurs, I recommend learning as much as you can about the trends you want to add to your business and looking for ideas on what other brands are doing.
