Nobody likes a loser, but Dr. Samuel West collects them. He’s the curator of the newly opened Museum of Failure in Brooklyn, which showcases over 150 “failed projects and services from around the world.”

Among the great fails of business history: Google Glass, New Coke, and the potato chip fat substitute Olestra — the latter best remembered for causing stomach upset. Then there was the ghastly-looking Rejuvenique beauty mask, designed to tone facial muscles by zapping them with electricity (the product lasted just 12 months on the market).

While visitors may laugh at these duds, Dr. West hopes that his exhibits will encourage businesses to embrace failure. Every entrepreneur will fail at some point, and knowing how to learn from your mistakes is a valuable skill.

Pay what you want: A radical idea for (some) radical businesses.

Tax season: The Small Business Tax Savings Podcast is here to help.

B-Corp: How this kombucha company puts social impact first.

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(Source: Shutterstock / XL Recordings)

When Radiohead first uploaded their album In Rainbows in 2007, they gave fans two options: download the album for free … or voluntarily pay any amount of their choice.

As music industry cynics expected, many listeners — specifically, 62% — paid nothing. But the group’s experiment gained so much attention that the album nevertheless topped the U.S. Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart, earning a reported $17.5 million.

As it turns out, they’re not the only rock stars who’ve experimented with the pay-what-you-want (PWYW) model. Jon Bon Jovi’s nonprofit restaurant JBJ Soul Kitchen has four locations in New Jersey; 46% of customers pay for their meals and 54% volunteer instead.

But outside of album drops and celebrity charities, is PWYW viable? (Panera Bread tried something similar to JBJ Soul Kitchen, which fizzled out.)

Numerous economic researchers have studied the model to determine what motivates consumers to pay more than they’re required. Dr. Martin Spann, a professor at LMU Munich School of Management, told b. that in his controlled experiments, most consumers pay voluntarily.

“In the studies where we had a personal interaction in the payment process, nobody paid zero,” Spann said.

DIVE DEEPER:

• Know Your Customers: How Different Generations Prefer To Pay
• Why the Cash-Only Model Doesn’t Work for Small Businesses
• Understanding Omnichannel Payments

Why then, did 62% of Radiohead listeners pay zilch for In Rainbows?

Dr. Ju-Young Kim, who has conducted research with Spann, suggests that the key is giving customers a contribution range or average for reference.

“When it comes to art, the value is difficult to estimate,” Kim said. “This may increase consumer uncertainty [about whether they are] setting a price that is either too high or too low.”

Rocket Money (previously Truebill), which helps users analyze their subscriptions, has found great success by doing exactly this. Customers can pay anywhere from $3 to $12 to unlock premium features such as automatically canceling unwanted services and collecting refunds.

Kim believes that new businesses can use the PWYW strategy to attract new customers (or get existing ones to try out a new product). Flexible pricing models are a big risk, but they also show that a business is confident that its product or service will meet consumers’ expectations.

It’s spring, which means nice weather (finally) but not-so-nice tax bills.

For small businesses that aren’t ready for their own finance department, taxes can be complicated and costly. That’s why Mike Jesowshek’s weekly Small Business Tax Savings Podcast is a must-listen.

Jesowshek is a CPA who has helped small business owners for 15 years. His topics include a wide range —  from tax-saving tips from year-end strategies and write-off maximization to how the IRS taxes crypto and credit card rewards. If there’s a tax topic relevant to your small business, Jesowshek has probably covered it.

It’s one thing to promote a business with feel-good messaging, but registering as a public benefit corporation shows real commitment. By doing so, your for-profit company has fiduciary protection to partially base its success on mission-driven social impact.

For Buchi, the first commercial kombucha brewery in the Southeast, it started with two North Carolina mothers — Jeannine Buscher and Sarah Schomber — brewing healthy drinks for friends and family. After finding success at local farmers markets, they expanded their operation from a small kitchen to a 180-acre farm. 

DIVE DEEPER:

• Can You Make a Profit and Be Socially Responsible?
• What Is the Triple Bottom Line?

Buscher and Schomber, along with co-CEO Zane Adams, are greener than green. They use carbon-neutral regenerative sugar (which leaves soil healthy) and 98% imported glass, donate to Appalachian reforestation efforts, and even supply local meal kitchens and food banks with kombucha, along with staff volunteering their time.

“As a Public Benefit Corporation, we [are] not bound by the golden handcuffs traditionally enshrined into the governance of C-corporations,” Adams told b. “We have the awesome responsibility to make choices that benefit all our shareholders and not just maximizing profits at the expense of all others.”

(Source: Twitter)

Written by Mike Berner, Antonio Ferme and Ali Saleh.

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