Innovation plays a large role in operating a successful business, and it isn’t just the ability to invent something, but to improve upon a process or a product, said business management professor Lynn Neeley.

For the entrepreneurs who started TicketFace.com, this lesson holds true. Nick Conteduca, Eddie Paloian, Joe Amabile and sophomore communications major Michael Banks started up the ticket-selling website several months ago after becoming frustrated with the ticket prices for a Bulls game they wanted to attend. Since the beginning of the website, Conteduca said he and his friends had focused on making their business “exactly like how we would like it if we were customers.”

The entrepreneurs must balance working full-time jobs and operating the company. Banks is also a full-time student at NIU and said that his hours are sometimes “crazy” but he wants TicketFace to be a success.

“It’s something we plan on lasting forever,” Banks said. “That’s not to say that if some company offers us millions of dollars, we wouldn’t sell it. As far as we’re concerned, isn’t that what the guy from Facebook did?”

Neeley said that this kind of determination is an important aspect of being able to run a successful business.

“Work in something you enjoy, be determined, try to look for opportunities of all sorts, be open-minded and be willing to work hard because it takes a lot of work,” Neeley said. “There are very, very few people who are overnight successes.”

Banks said he and his co-founders “all do equal parts” but they also all have specializations. Banks’ specialization is finance.

“I’m more about the money, the finances, as well as marketing,” Banks said.

As part of his goal to make TicketFace stand apart from other ticket retail websites, Banks said he and co-founders have taken a unique approach to customer-business interaction. He alone does not come up with ideas to improve the company, but said it was a joint effort.

“The main part we are focusing on are customer service; [customers] can see it. We have 24-hour customer service, and we offer full refunds,” Banks said.

Currently, TicketFace.com features a live feed where Paloian, Conteduca, Amabile and Banks can interact with their customers. They also maintain a Facebook page for TicketFace where fans of the site can participate in challenges to win free tickets. Conteduca said they strived to make TicketFace user-friendly and have plans for the future.

“Our next goal is to actually allow a chance for fans to put their tickets up there if they ever need to get rid of them,” Conteduca said.

Banks and Conteduca said they currently are focused on advertising, marketing and getting TicketFace more widely known. They have tried to spread word of their business through Facebook, Craigslist, Google and word-of-mouth. Banks said he and his co-founders wanted to see TicketFace “blow up, [be] huge.” The four founders are planning on hosting a live event at a bar and restaurant in Elmhurst, their hometown, in the near future. Banks said they wanted to give away free tickets every hour, but they are currently unsure what day the event will take place.

“It’s not like we’re backed by a big company,” Conteduca said. “It’s basically just us trying to make it.”