Holiday Wish List — Experts Weigh In

Other than a booming year in business, we wanted to know what small business owners have on their wish list this holiday season. From “a full day in bed,” to asking Google to revert their 2016 decision to run up to four ads above the organic search results, we got some pretty creative answers.

Here’s what they had to say…

1. “An Apple watch. As an entrepreneur working in the arts, two days are never alike. Whether it’s a studio visit with an up and coming artist to working with my construction team on a build out plan for a new art fair, being a ‘hands on’ leader often means I cannot always have my phone on hand. As much as I appreciate the ‘tech-time out’, I do not want to miss any important communications or business opportunities. The apple watch would be a great solution! Hope you’re listening, Santa!” –Rachel Wilkins, Conception Art Fair

2. “I’d love a day with my kids and my wife, to enjoy San Francisco (we live in a suburb about 10 miles away) without needing to worry about work, order fulfillment, shipping schedules and the like. We always get to do this in January, but it doesn’t happen often enough during the holiday season!” –Mark Aselstine, Uncorked Ventures

3. “I’m an entrepreneur so what I would love for Christmas is sales sales sales that never stop for the entire year!” –Cherie Corso, G2 Organics

4. “I’d love for Google to revert their 2016 decision to run up to four ads above the organic search results. Of course, it has been wildly profitable for them, but the change has drastically devalued organic rankings and ushered in an era with less accurate information wedged above cultivated knowledge by paying to have the organic results pushed beneath the fold on many devices.” –Mike Catania, Promotion Code

5. “Getting my book, Wealthy by Choice, and new website, www.choosingwealth.com, up and running and getting lots of members signed up.” –Ilene Davis, Choosing Wealth

6. “As an entrepreneur, I would really enjoy a PlayStation virtual reality headset for the holidays. Not for helping me in business, but because I think it would be a fun activity to do when I have a break during the day. 

With VR you can briefly enter into other video game worlds, have fun and recharge. I think it would be a fun system to have for recreation.” –Alex Reichmann, iTestCash

7. “All I want for Christmas is a FANTASTIC office manager that can be part visionary, part miracle worker… Or one that will keep us growing and has the ability (and desire) to sit on several seats of the bus (aka – the business) at the same time!” –Ashley Lesko, Square Peg Solutions

8. “The main thing on my wishlist is a Kindle Paperwhite. The idea I got from Derek Sivers as he mentioned you can use it to take notes and export them so you can re-read them and continue learning from books. My previous method is to buy physical books and I didn’t like to sabotage the book by writing notes all over it. Instead I had colored sticky labels and tagged pages that way. Which for one isn’t ideal and means you have to sift through an entire page sometimes to find your note but also looks ugly on a bookshelf. Plus to be able to read instantly is much preferred to physically ordering the book and waiting for it to arrive.” –Matt Iswariah, Luxzura

9. “What do I want for Christmas? Easy. 1) 30 hours in a day. 2) Customers who pay on time.” –Mike Scanlin, Born to Sell

10. “As a new entrepreneur, my wish list definitely includes help getting a bill or two paid. I’d also appreciate a subscription to Entrepreneur or a mini desk speaker so my phone battery doesn’t get drained from listening to music.” –Lynette Pettinicchi, Lynette Nicole PR

11. “To help 1 million entrepreneurs create businesses.” –Ja-Nae Duane, The Startup Equation

12. “I want a sarcophagus and a golden idol for Christmas. Yes, really. We’re opening our third Escape Room, The Pharaoh’s Curse, and we need props! Also, a box of Legos. I like Legos.” –Tom Johnson, Hour to Midnight Room Escape Games

13. “Branded packing tape! I’m really into making our un-boxing extra special. Custom tape has been on my list for a while. It’s the kind of thing that isn’t high on the list but would add to our customer’s experience and just take things up a notch.” –Sierra Zamarripa, Lovewild Design

14. “I have a MacBook Air and portable wi-fi hotspot on my holiday wishlist. Because I am constantly on-the-go and traveling, it would be nice to have a lightweight laptop and on-demand access to wi-fi from anywhere.” –Radiance Harris, Radiance IP Law, LLC

15. “My wish list includes getting those productivity items I’ve been putting off… I’ll finally be using the 7 minute workout app, my personal trainer, an hour a week with a computer tech to keep my myriad of devices (and their software programs) synched, up to date, and doing what I want them to do. I’ve decided to treat myself like a client and schedule time in my calendar to do the things I want for myself.” –Ron Soussa, Liberty Office Suites

16. “What I really want for Christmas this season is a larger ipad for my business use. I want a larger ipad because it will help me use the device a lot better due to the larger screen. It’ll make handling my emails and business apps a smoother process. Hopefully I will be able to receive one this holiday! Fingers Crossed!” –Lisa Chu, Black N Bianco

17. “As a two time entrepreneur, during the holidays I don’t ask for anything but when I do receive a gift I love receiving anything that I can share with my team or inner circle as well. I’ve worked hard my whole life and I have a lot of the necessities that I want and need so when I get something, I love to share it. Whether that be a nice bottle of wine, a box of chocolates, gift cards or anything, I think who else would love this! How can I share this to promote good will and happiness amongst my team, my friends and my family? That is what makes me really happy and I think about the person who gave it to me while I experience the joy of sharing with those close to me. Also, I will often say who it was from while I share it so I may give them back the feeling of recognition and appreciation. Happy Holidays!” –Joshua Lombardo-Bottema, GoWrench Auto 

18. “My preferred Christmas gift is a portable wallet charger. I often forget to charge my phone when I am travelling and I have no choice but to search for an outlet. With a portable wallet charger, I can avoid this trouble.” –AJ Saleem, Suprex Tutors Houston

19. “For Christmas this year, I want new business/marketing books (especially Pre-Suasion and Beyond the Emyth) and *always* Calvin & Hobbes cartoons for some quality time NOT thinking about anything business related! Plenty of playtime is good for the soul, good for creativity and great for business :)” –Sara Grove, Raw Food Magazine

20. “As a marketing consultant, I spend countless hours each day in front of the computer. My current laptop is on the fritz, and lately I’ve been eyeing the Microsoft Surface Pro. I’m house shopping at the moment, so I’ve been hesitant to sink $1,500+ into a laptop. But after reading countless positive reviews, and hearing that a few of my die hard Mac friends recently made the switch, I’m convinced that it’s well worth the investment. So Happy Hanukkah to me!” –Brandon Seymour, Beymour Consulting

21. “As an entrepreneur, this Hanukkah (I’m Jewish 🙂 ) I want the ability to see the light, when times appear dark.

Why “appear” dark? 

Because we became used to think short term rather than long term, we become discouraged easily…this goes for humans in general, not necessarily entrepreneurs (yes, entrepreneurs are a form of humans) 

That’s why we notice more short term failures than successes as entrepreneurs. Unfortunately society has taught us to label everything, so we end up labeling challenges and bumpy roads as “failures”, rather than realizing it’s just a part of the process. 

Entrepreneurial ventures take time, and they’re rarely a straight, linear line to the top. It’s a bumpy road, and that’s ok… 

So instead of automatically labeling the micro, I wish & encourage myself and my fellow entrepreneurs to realize it’s all part of the macro. That’s the light we should focus on this holiday. 

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year” –Rafael Tikva, amenvamen.com

22. “We own an online retail store and we make handmade fashion accessories. One of the main struggles for us has been figuring out SEO. So, that will definitely be on the top of our wish list. Having access to an excellent, professional, knowledgeable and affordable SEO expert who could do the research of keywords and update our website for us. 

Second will be a full marketing team, that specializes in everything; from social media marketing to just the art of regular sales.” –Alejandra Pikulski, Allie and Orietta

23. “As an entrepreneur I am always in meetings etc. My bag to carry around stuff is trashed. I’m not too into backpacks, so I want a nice messenger bag. 

This one from Jack Spade is just the ticket. 

Apart from that, I’m wishing for continued good fortune, and for our business to continue on the growth trajectory that we are currently on!” –Scott Phillips, Rise Art

24. “My biggest wish for the holiday season would be one I could give myself a break from the daily stress and distraction of entrepreneurship and some free time for navel-gazing. This is, of course, probably too much to ask. Instead, I’ll just ask Santa for a brand new Inspire 2 drone.” –Dan Edmonson, Dronegenuity LLC

25. “We’ve just started our £1m investment round, it would be great to wake up on Christmas morning and find that Santa left me a brief case of 50s under my tree.” –Ryan Shaw, Shoreditch    

26. “As an entrepreneur, I want my employees to have a safe and happy holiday season with their families, so they come back refreshed and recharged for 2017. For me as an entrepreneur, I want a 27 inch dell monitor for my house so that I can keep from going cross-eyed when I work late at night. For me personally, and this doesn’t really have much to do with being an entrepreneur, I want a new snowboard and bindings.” –Steve Benson, Badger Maps

27. “I would love personalized cigars from Custom Tobacco!” –Jordan Mendler, The Veloz Group

28. “Since greenery is the Pantone color of the year 2017, I’d love to close our Series A early next year. Aside from that, one full day in bed is on my holiday wishlist.” –Stephanie Sprangers, Glamhive

29. “As an entrepreneur who recently reached my 3 year anniversary, what I want for Christmas is the continued RUSH and/or scurry, excitement that only new business can create. At the same time, as an entrepreneur who has not taken a full day off since Sunday of Labor Day Weekend, I would love to have 1-2 days off to relax and rejuvenate. Since I don’t know if this is possible, I have given myself a Christmas gift today, of taking 1/2 a day off to go to a spa this afternoon for a relaxing massage.” –BJ Dowlen, Bodyworks Enterprises, LLC

30. “I would like a KonMari tidying lesson calendar full of clients who are ready to declutter their homes and a story featured in a local paper or news segment in Chicago!” –Kristyn Ivey, For the Love of Tidy, LLC 

Happy holidays, entrepreneurs! We hope you get everything on your list!

Love,

MyCorporation