Succeeding in the modern world often requires more than just a good idea; it also requires the know-how to bring that idea to fruition. That’s why some of the most successful businesses come from individuals wearing multiple hats, such as being both an inventor and an entrepreneur. To help our readers see how this idea can help them in their own endeavors, we turned to the case of David Schmidt, CEO and founder of LifeWave, a top health and wellness company.
About the Company
LifeWave was founded in 2004 and has become known for its philosophy of looking to innovation to help solve pressing health and wellness problems. Through the use of technology, the company seeks to help people feel better, look younger and experience more vibrancy. Its products seek to tap into the body’s natural resiliency and intrinsic capacity for creating energy.
The CEO drew on a long history of product development and business leadership to create the health and wellness brand. That history saw him working on a range of innovative projects, such as designing and prototyping multi-fueled, bladeless-turbine power generation systems, and constructing metal-combustion rocket engines. He was also brought onto a project with the U.S. Navy’s miniature submarine program, where he explored methods of improving energy levels without the use of potentially harmful pharmaceuticals. This body of experience gave him the background necessary not only to create the products for which his company has become known, but also to organize the company in a manner that left it well positioned for success.
An Innovative Mindset
The basis of most companies is some new or unique way of solving a given problem. This is where one’s ability to innovate can be a crucial part of success. The process of innovation can be difficult to visualize in a methodical fashion. It often requires a mindset of looking into the unknown for solutions or new concepts. It can also be a process that draws on the example of others, such as a well-established inventor from the past or present.
This was the mindset that led Schmidt down the path to becoming a professional inventor. A lifelong fan of Thomas Edison, he knew from a young age that he wanted to walk in the inventor’s footsteps and create products that could benefit the population at large. This mindset helped him look at the world with an eye toward “how can I make this better?”… constantly seeking ways to improve on existing designs. That point of view helped him develop some of his company’s earliest offerings – products that took the age-old concept of phototherapy and made it unique through a number of novel applications.
Business Details
When thinking about a business as a whole, it is helpful to focus on more than just the power of the product that an entrepreneur has created. It’s also important to look for the best way to get that product out into the world. The history of business is littered with innovative companies that never found prolonged success because they were unable to bring their ideas to the wider world. This is one reason that inventors can be far more successful when they are also able to engage in effective entrepreneurship.
An example of this concept comes from the work of LifeWave’s CEO, specifically regarding how the company has set up its retail operations. The company’s phototherapy patches are its core offerings, but they aren’t necessarily the kinds of products that can be sold in a traditional retail environment. Since the technology differs significantly from what many consumers are used to, the CEO made the decision early on that it would be helpful to have these products presented by individuals familiar with their effectiveness in a face-to-face, direct selling manner. This is why the company partners with individual distributors worldwide speaking more than a dozen languages to tell the story of LifeWave and share the technology. In this way, consumers can become more informed about the company’s unique offerings so they can make an intelligent decision to try LifeWave technology.
Putting It Together
At this point, it’s hopefully clear how a combination of both innovation and business acumen can be crucial for achieving success in a new endeavor. However, it’s also important to touch upon the process of combining these two elements and leveraging them into a cohesive business operation. This process often requires a dispassionate look at one’s assets and how they can be used to serve the overall goals of a business. In the case of innovation, this might entail looking at the strengths of an invention and making sure that it is indeed fulfilling the goals for which it was designed.
Looking once more at the work of this health and wellness company founder, we can again see this concept illustrated in his efforts. In this case, we see a consistent legacy of research, development and testing to ensure that his products are fulfilling their promise and are as well designed as possible. This has manifested in a strong reliance on clinical studies at his company, which partners with researchers from around the world to test the efficacy of new and innovative designs. By constantly testing its own concepts and bringing in outside 3rd party, well-established researchers to engage in these efforts, the company ensures its ability to be a functioning business entity while also delivering proven, innovative, high-quality products to market.
Though we often have an idea of an entrepreneur as either a brilliant inventor or star businessperson, in reality, it often takes a combination of both of these skills to find success. An impressive product can be weakened by an insufficient business plan, and a well-oiled business operation can crumble if its product is poorly designed. The efforts by LifeWave CEO, David Schmidt, exemplify how one person can work to embody the best of both of these worlds. Studying these examples can be helpful in the journey of any businessperson or inventor seeking to bring a new idea to market.