Reader Input- Top 10 Ideas of 2009

If you have an opinion about what the top 10 business ideas of 2009 are from this blog, let me know. I'm going to work on putting that together this week.

Also, if you have any new ideas for 2010, let's get those ideas in text so we can share them.

Merry Christmas!

Flash Business Audits

Consultants are expensive, and necessary. First, if a business needs to grow, and doesn't know what to do differently, it needs a consultant. Second, if a business has great ideas, but not the staff to implement it, it needs a consultant. Because there are 2 different reasons to use a consultant, things can get complicated with the relationship.

That's where this business idea takes a competitive advantage. Audits typically take months to complete. This is a company that sells business audits that will be delivered in less than a week. It is a single moment snapshot of the company, without any nonsense. So it caters to the business that has a good execution team, but needs some outside suggestions, fast.

A team of highly qualified business experts do a snapshot analyzation of the company. There's a finance expert, a marketing expert, a human resources expert, and a technology expert all talking about a company for a day. All the important information is obtained before they meet so that the time is at maximum productivity.

The deliverable is a presentation, and document of the findings.

Charge for something like this should be in the neighborhood of $5,000 per audit. To justify this cost, there is a promise that there will be practical suggestions that will increase the business profit and cut costs by $5,000 or more in the next year.

Twitter, Facebook, Blog Consulting

There is a giant new demand in the marketplace right now. The curiosity for online marketing through Facebook, Twitter, and many others has skyrocketed in the last 6 months. Everyone believes in online marketing, but few know how to do it.

The business is simple. Explain Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to businesses and charge them for it. The tricky part is confidently making the sale to a business. Even that isn't very tricky.

I really don't want to over complicate this idea. It really is simple.

Approach a business owner (most likely someone who is a bit older and is new to Facebook in the last year). Say, "For $1,000 I will set your business up to connect with customers through these specific websites. I will explain to you how to:

1. Use your phone or a video camera to upload videos to your blog.
2. Show you how to check for messages and postings on facebook so that you don't miss any communications with customers.
3. Set up a Twitter account that will also update your status on Facebook.
4. Teach you the secret of using these resources to increase profits and customer loyalty."

The last point is key to making the sale, but actually simple. These tools are a way to give special offers to loyal customers, and to respond quickly to their needs. That is all. If a company focuses on these two strategies, they will find success.

I don't know how big the window is for this. It may be 1 year, it may be 5 years. For one length of time or another, money will be made doing this.

How-To Video Site

I noticed that there are lots of how-to videos on you tube, but most of them are not worth paying for. Asking someone to pay for a video implies that the seller believes it is worth paying for. It means they put more effort into it than Joe Schmo with his cheap video camera.

How can the seller get the buyer to believe the same? This is the business challenge, the critical success factor.

1. Sell the video host as an expert in their field (give a free lecture a local college, read the top selling books on the topic, emphasize that this material really does work).
2. Get some testimonials from people who have watched the video.
3. Start buying some google ad words related to your how-to video

To further the concept, here's my video idea: How to Get the Best Interest Rate on Your Mortgage

Here's my pitch. I've bought a house, and refinanced twice. Realtors can't be trusted completely, and lenders can't be trusted completely.

This video will help people lower their monthly payments by $50-$100 a month. It will cost $49 and would come with several related free items (How to Find the Best Interest Rate for Your Bank Account).

Thoughts?

HighSchoolTV.com

Currently, HighSchoolTV.com is not being used for high school TV. Why is that?

What if HighSchoolTV.com had a funny show with a host travelling to high schools all over the nation? They could interview students and teachers, highlight special schools, create competition between schools, anything that is entertaining. What if 200,000 high schoolers started watching?

It's risky because the show might suck, but how much would it actually cost? Here's the checklist of what the business needs:

1. Camera
2. Computer
3. A host for the show
4. Web hosting fees
5. Time

Content creators are the king of the web. The entrepreneur who is willing to become a director will find success. Small budgets can take on big networks now. Entertainment has more to do with good ideas than nice cameras.

Really this idea is about producing TV shows online. It could be anything. It could be full length movies. If it's entertaining, people will watch. If people watch, advertisements are worth money.

Car Wash While You Work

Pretty simple really. Arrange to be at different large business every day of the week. As people walk into work they give a key and $20 to the people washing cars. By the time lunch roles around, their car is washed and waxed.

20 cars per day makes $400 per day, $2,000 per week. Perhaps the pricing could be increased for interior cleaning. Premium pricing on that would help profitability.

One factor to consider is that winter months could hurt business.

Daily Cartoon Emails

Draw cartoons.

Be funny every day.

Sell ads for your email.

Increase distribution list.

Make money.

Instant Pep Talks

The business is essentially a call center with the nicest people in the world. The trick is to develop some key psychological techniques that really work. When people have a good experience with it, they start to rely on it for times when they are nervous.

This business could help people get a little more confidence in their dating life. It could help someone who is afraid of being in front of people. It could help someone find a job, and it could make money while doing it.

Sometimes, what people really need is a confidence boost. They just need someone to tell them to stop sulking and give it another try. They need someone to essentially hand them a magic pill which makes them think positive thoughts.

Before a big date, a customer calls. $20 for a 15 minute pep talk.

Before a big interview, somebody reminds you of your strengths and builds you up (for $20).

I've had crazier ideas. In a big city, this one might just work.

Small Business Development Loans (General)

I was talking to one of my college professors the other day about starting businesses, and he said something that surprised me. He said that a person can get a small business development loan for up to $900,000 at an interest rate of 3-4%. I decided I better look into it.

I found out that he is right. Interest rates are not that low at the moment, but may have been that low at one point.

• The cheapest rates in Colorado are about 4.37%, for a 10 year loan.
• The payment for a $500,000 loan would be about $5,200 per month, for 10 years.
• A person can borrow up to $1 million, with a $25,000 minimum loan.
• There are 20 year loan options with a higher interest rate (5.25% currently), but lower monthly payments ($3,400 per month).

Do you think you could do it?

If you had 500 grand for a building, equipment, and inventory, could you generate $5,200 per month in profit with your business idea?

New Hobby Shopping Service

This would be a service that finds the best deals on products. The customer makes a list, and an expert finds the best deals.

For example, a person wants to start backpacking, and needs to start buying the right gear. They tell a buyer (their personal sales representative), who makes a custom price list for the customer. If the buyer is not an expert in this area, she consults another buyer.

The costomer receives a list of the lowest priced, highest quality items. It also give a quick rundown of the logic behind each item, indicates how long the deals are valid, and advises when items will be priced better at a later time. The buyer could also look for craigslist items in the customer's area, and used items on ebay.

The cost could be a flat rate for larger items, or 5-10% of the total order. Since the buyer saved the customer over 50%, this is a fair offer.

Obviusly this service is good for all kinds of shopping, but hobbies work well because people spend lots of money when they start a new hobby and have no idea where to begin.

Home Food Inventory System

This is actually a product more than anything, but it is a way to scan your groceries when you bring them home and track what you have.

When you come home from the grocery store, you scan the bar codes of all that you bought. When you throw away a container of something you consumed, you scan it again before you do. There will always be a manual option of adding or removing as well.

Now when you go to the grocery store, you look down at your iphone (or print the list before you leave) and can see exactly what inventory you have at the house.

I think a lot of people want to be organized, they just want it to be easy.

Workforce Efficiency Consulting

There are many approaches to developing human resources for your company. Companies with good hiring practices usually do a lot of the same things (background tests, strength tests, etc.). But many companies don't have these practices. Many companies need help.

Have you ever seen those people who choose a career, or quit a job based on what they THINK they are good at? Of course this may not have anything to do with what they are actually good at.

This business would come in to do a one week analysis (I don't like drawn out consulting projects), finding out which employees are operating in their strengths. Everyone in the office takes the same "Strength Finders" test, and then the business analyzes results and does some follow up questions.

Let's say that this process takes 1-week, and might save the company thousands of dollars per year in inefficiencies. The business can charge $1,500 for up to 20 employees (or something like that) and probably do 2-3 per week.

Lending Tree for... Landscaping

The idea is simple. A homeowner goes to the website and enters into a list of options of exactly what they want done to their yard. The website could also be developed to recommend things based on a certain combination of things chosen. It would also encourage the user to upload pictures of their yard to give the landscaping companies an idea of what lies ahead.

You link the local landscapers that are then able to contact this person with ideas/quotes on the work.

I guess this idea came about when I volunteered to work in my buddy'syard and I realized that it is a painstaking process to call each landscaper and do the work to figure out if they are good or not. Plus, landscapers seem to have some of the worst websites around. When I google landscapers for Colorado Springs I get a hodgepodge list of results and none of these sites seem professionally done. It makes sense though, they are landscapers not web designers.

I think the best part of the idea would be to also have a rating system, so the more the landscaper uses the site and gets clients and the better work they do the more clients they get. Simple.

I think it would have to start out local and then you could expand it to be where you enter a zip code. I was also thinking that it would be easy to upload the picture content so the landscapers could have a portfolio page for customers to look through after they received a bid.

Google AdSense

I have been doing some research lately with Google Adsense and it seems like if you put some work in on the front end you could have a website that would generate revenue without a lot of maintenance. I think it would take a lot of research on the front end and a little bit of website design know how (Check! I have a friend that is great with Flash and HTML).

It appears that the key is finding your niche website and getting it to the top of the Google search through optimization and internet marketing. I think this is kind of similar to what you were thinking the other day Phil, but in this case you are not really delving out tasks to sell and supply a product. It is just content generation. Hopefully extremely relevant content that you can manage and have a passion for, like new business ideas for example.

For me, I have created a (www.virginiatechsports.blogspot.com) blog and am going to look into ways that I can market it... for free ideally. I think I will eventually make my own website for this blog, but in the mean time I will go the free route and develop from there. Thoughts? I think your new business ideas could do very well with this if done right. It would be kind of ironic if your new business idea blog was your business idea. The best part about your blog is it could be relevant to people 12 months later as opposed to mine which would need more daily updates and stories.

House Buying Spree

The basic idea is to buy houses and sell them in 2 or 3 years.  Here's what it would look like.

1. Borrow $3 million.
   
2. Buy 20 houses at $150,000 each (this would vary based on the city you live in).
   
3. Rent 20 houses at $1,000 a month.
   
4. Survive until you can start selling the houses off (this may be 6 months or 5 years).
   

If the business gets a loan at 6% interest or less (Barrack might have to help), monthly profit would be $5,000 over the loan payment.  It seems conceivable that you could survive on that for a couple of years, or until the market turns around completely.  

It also fills a huge need.  Banks need someone to take away the headache of these houses that they are repossessing.  

Let's say the market goes up and you can sell your houses for 20% profit on average.  That's $600,000 in profit (before taxes).

The American Single Malt

This idea comes from a few things I've been reading up on that I think add up to a good business idea.  Consider these facts:

1. Single Malt Scotch is still considered to be the best whiskey in the world by many. 
2. Single Malt Scotch is made from barley, whereas American whiskeys are made from mostly corn, and some rye and wheat.  
3. Single Malt Scotch is made from used oak barrels, but American whiskeys are made from mostly new oak barrels.

So here's the idea.  Make single malt whiskey here in the US.  It wouldn't be considered "Scotch"  because it is made here, but it could still be marketed as The American Single Malt.

Step 1: Buy cheap, used, oak barrels from bourbon makers in the US.  

Step 2: Use 100% malted barley instead of corn.  

Step 3: Sell it at a premium price point, but still come in under the imports.  

One thing I have to note is that there are some companies who are trying to do this, but I am confident that nobody has done it properly.  There is not an American Single Malt brand that people categorize with Scotch.

Mail Scanning Service

 What if you never had to open your physical mail?  What if you could just open your email box and find scanned versions of everything that was mailed to you?  

Banks already auto-process mail for large organizations, depositing checks and scanning documents for them.  This would be the same service at your house.  It would filter the junk mail for you, and send you scans of the rest of the mail.  

The challenging element of this is that certain types of mail (letters from your grandmother, magazines, etc.) would still need to arrive at your house.  

Here's how I think it would have to work.  The company gets your consent to forward all of your mail to it address instead of your house.  Then they process all of the mail and send you scans each day.   Every other day or so, the company sends you personal cards, magazines and packages.  

Even better, what if the post office started to offer this service?   Then no forwarding would be necessary.

I can see how this might be worth $10-20 a month.  

Value Priced Massages

My theory is that the pricing structure for massages is incorrect.  In terms of supply and demand, I think that the place where supply meets demand is at a lower price.   

First let's talk about the demand.  Raise your hand if you don't want a back massage right now. Enough said.  Demand is really high.  Obviously you'd have to pay for it and that's a different question, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Supply is the tricky part of this equation, and the key to this business idea. We'd have to find a way to get cheaper labor.  Licensed massage therapists would want to make as much money as possible, and are getting no lower than $40-60 an hour currently.  If they lower prices, they'd have to work harder to make the same amount of money.  I think they are missing it big time, so we'd have to find other therapists.

With unemployment rising, a job at $12 -$15 an hour could attract some applications.  Think about the person between jobs, or a high school student or college student.  They would love to have a job that would pay that kind of wage for a few hours at a time.

Certification might be an issue with this cheaper labor, but if we could skip the official certification and train them in a 2-day training session, I think it could work.

Then we get back to the question, "Would you pay for it?"  Would you pay $20-25 and hour for an unlicensed massage?  What about $10 for 20 minutes?

Can I handle the risk? (General)

I wonder sometimes if I am willing to risk it.  I see all of these ideas and think to myself, "Somebody will make a killing doing this."  But would I take out a loan for $200,000 to execute it?    Would I quit my job?  That's a different question.

I've had the privilege of working with several entrepreneurs with multi million dollar businesses.  Here's what I've noticed about entrepreneurs.  

1. They only take one idea out of one hundred.
2. They minimize the risk by bouncing the idea off of everyone they know before they jump in to the risk fully.
3. Ultimately, they do take the risk.  They take the loan, and do whatever it takes.  They act

Paperless File Cabinets

We all know that there is a major shift happening with record keeping.  It's all going electronic.  Almost all bills can be received via email and paid online.  Medical records are going electronic too. 

A few weeks ago we checked out at the Apple Store and the sales person asked, "Do you want a receipt or should I just email it to you?"

On top of that  people are beginning to accumulate photos and videos on there computers, but don't have a consistent backup of those files.

What if someone would come to your house and set up an electronic filing cabinet?   Here's what you'd get:

1. Scanning of all the files currently in your file cabinet saved to electronic folders instead
2. Electronic billing setup for all your bills
3. Filters and rules set up in your email inbox to make sure they are all filed consistently
4. A server set up to back up all of your files each day
5. Instruction  on how to stay organized
6. Instruction on how to label all of the people in your photos so that they are easily searchable

What do you think?  Could you charge enough to pay for the time?  Would it be hard to get people to trust the company with personal information?

Home Energy Consulting

Test homes for energy efficiency and sell them on improvements.  Reseal windows instead of replacing them, suggest solar panels, replace heating filters, fill attics and crawl spaces with more insulation, etc.

Concession Trailer

I'm not talking about buying an old truck that plays terrible jingles at ridiculously high volumes. I'm talking about rethinking the ice cream truck concept altogether.

It wouldn't be very hard to compete with any ice cream truck I've seen in the last 5 years.  All you really have to do is accept a credit card. 

Here's what I'm picturing.  

• Shops pulled behind Hummers
• Glass all the way around the shop so that people can see in easily
• 4 workers with 4 credit card machines to keep the lines moving quickly
• Full coffee bar functionality
• Fresh baked cookies
• Stereo system with Jack Johnson playing
• A second truck nearby dedicated to selling alcohol

It's almost summer and pretty soon there will be a lot of parks full of hungry people watching a softball or soccer game.  There is a business opportunity here. 

Honor System Vending Machines

It's a small refridgerator stocked with drinks, and a coffee cup beside it.  Prices are clearly marked so people know it isn't free. Even better if it has food, candy and gum for as well.  

It's critical to have an office environment or a common break area at a workplace for this.  Wouldn't want to try it at a mall or anything.

Another key here is using $0.25 incriments on prices.  It just needs to be easy for people to make change.

So I've actually tried this one and it's working right now on a small scale.   I actually stole this basic idea from a book, and then I modified it for my work situation.  The idea I read about was somebody who delivered bagels to a whole bunch of offices in California every day with a box for people to leave money.

I have been doing this for 6 months, and it's consistently bringing in revenue.  Cans of soda, chips, and muffins are the staples. 

Could this be done on a large scale?  Could I be the honor-system-vending-machine-guy for my entire city?

The Relaxing Tourist Shop

I know, it's hard to imagine.  But what if you were on vacation and you found a little shop?  You've been walking around with your camera paying for overpriced items left and right.  Then you walk into a store that has souvenirs at reasonable prices.  It has a places to sit and relaxing music in the background.  

The big advantage is that you find a bunch of things that are just helpful for your trip.  It could have very simple activity plans for people with directions to everything for $2.  It could have coupon books for different area attractions that they can purchase for $5, but will save them much more.  I think there are lots of products that it could stock actually if given a bit of thought.

It just might make some money.

Prepackaged School Supplies

What if you could go into a single store, or go online, answer short list of questions about each of your kids, and have school supplies shipped to your house the week before classes?

Would you pay $40-50 per child to know that they had everything they need for chemistry class, art, math, and history and that you wouldn't have to spend your entire Saturday driving around?

You might have to do some serious research on the different schools and teachers, but you could also start with one school.  A single school with 1,000 kids is still profitable.  If  you managed to get 10% of the school to use your service, that's $4,000 gross revenue.  If half of that is profit, you just made $2,000 for packaging school supplies for 100 people. 

I give this idea a 6 out of 10 so far.  It has room to improve still.   It's missing something I think, but it's a start.

Home Grocery Delivery

This business would actively keep track of the best sales on meat, fresh produce, cereal, milk, and all the main essentials.   Then it would send sales people through neighborhoods on a Saturday morning at 9:00.  Essentially the sales person would say, "Hey I'm going to the grocery store, do you need me to pick something up for you?"

They would develop relationships with the neighborhood to gain their trust, and they would deliver the groceries later that afternoon.  Delivery fee would be 5% of the total order.   Pick up $5,000 worth of groceries each week to deliver to 25 people, make $250.  Sales rep gets $200 for a day's work, company keeps $50.

Network of Chefs

This would be a service that provides a personal chef for a special occasion.  This would be in a home for a small group of people

The business side would look like this.  Let's say it costs the client $250 for a personal chef and all of the food for a nice dinner for 8 people.  The food itself only cost $100 so the chef made $100 for a couple hours worth of work, and the business made $50 to set the whole thing up and take the risks.

The client should still be happy because a nice dinner for 8 people could easily cost that much at a restaurant anyway.

A big distinguishing factor is also that this is a service for a small group.  It really shouldn't be any bigger than 8 people to feel small and intimate so that it will be a unique experience.

Vintage T-Shirts

This one has been done for sure, but still may have some profit potential.  

You go to thrift stores to look for T-Shirts that have old dates on them and look "vintage" and cool.  You pay fifty cents for the T-Shirts, and sell them for much more on Ebay.

The trick is getting a steady supply of cool T-Shirts, but the upside is the incredible profit margin you achieve.  I mean, you could mark them up at least eight times what you paid.

Retail Stores (General)

I am afraid of opening a retail store.  Long hours, hiring challenges, turnover, stocking shelves, and the list goes on.  But I've had a positive thought about them and I think it is important to think about.

Retail is simple.  It's so much simpler to sell things from a store than ideas or services that are less tangible.  It's very hard work, but not complex. 

Also, everyone seems to intuitively understand a retail shop.  You buy stuff cheap.  You open the doors to your store.  People come in and look around.  If they see something they want, they pay you the amount you printed on a price tag.   You stock stuff that sells and get rid of stuff that doesn't.  Very straight forward.   

So what am I so scared of?

Thoughts?

Vineyard & Winery In a New Location

These have been around for thousands of years, so if you start a new one, it's got to stand out as different.  I believe that the key in this industry is location. 

I say stay away from Napa Valley.  If you're going to do that, why don't you just go all the way and start one in France?  No, there's just too much competition.  It could be done, but I just don't see this as a huge opportunity for a business.

I propose a vineyard in the middle of the country.  There are tons in Missouri, and they are doing quite well, but they are still very young.  You aren't going to find 100 year old vines in Missouri, and that's why there is opportunity.  Explore new grape varieties, and compete with the young vineyards for a piece of the pie.

Another location idea is something near Birmingham, or another wealthy city in the south.  The environment of a vineyard would be perfect for weddings, so it would provide additional revenue. 

Archiving Paper Photographs

There are so many people who have boxes upon boxes of pre-digital pictures. Many older ladies who used to have a certain joy in taking pictures, now get headaches at the thought of trying to organize them. With just a thought of all their pictures, there is a sinking feeling in their stomach, a sort of wasted space, wasted time, wasted money, wasted memories feeling.

My ideas for this business go in many directions, and I think they could all be profitable, but ONLY FOR A VERY SHORT TIME, as it is possible to finish this job and have to no more to do.

Someone could create a company to take people's boxes of pictures and 1) scan them into a computer, 2) find some way to organize them, whether by year or by person? I'm not sure. Picasa has a face recognition tool now, which could be of some help, but it's not always accurate. 3) Create photo albums--acid free and lignin free, to ensure long term preservation.

Earth Equity

I have always wanted to start a business that had alliteration. Call me a nerd but I just love how it rolls off the tongue.

Ok, down to business here. Alternative energy has been widely publicized as a focus by our new president. I am not an engineer but I do know the power or percentages.

My idea would be a company that leased solar panels to homeowners and small businesses. The current price of solar panels is affordable enough that the company could buy these panels for approx. $15,000 (To completely power a 2500 sq. ft. house) after government rebates and utility company incentives in Colorado. So lets say for instance your average utility bill was $120 to $150 a month for this house, which is about what mine is. The company would charge you a 6% fee (for example sake) of the cost to provide the energy to you (essentially a solar panel lease), which comes out to $107 over a 6% 20 year lease (It would be $96 if you did a 25 year lease). That would be your new energy bill. $107 dollars a month for the rest of the time you lived in the house/however long a contract you sign and lock in that rate. You could avoid the changing conditions of the electricity market.

In case you were wondering, these systems generally have a 20-25 year warranty and are estimated to last for approximately 40 years. So after the 20 years, however long the system lasted would be gravy on top of the 6% we made on the lease. It also takes about 3 days to install the system.

A few other factoids. Energy is estimated to increase in price by 3-5% a year for the forseeable future. If you are concerned about the changing technology... don't be. As long as it powers the home completely, a new owner to the house will want to keep the panels and continue the lease and pay a fixed electricity bill and pay less for the electricity. There have been solar panel companies in business for 10 to 20 years now. The price for the panels will stay around $15,000... at least I predict based on the fact that it actually costs $37,000 right now when you take the government and utility incentives out. However, as the production increases and prices decrease the government and utility incentives will decrease incrementally, hence the reason I think it will stay around that $15,000 price range.

This would be the driving idea behind building a bank that was focused solely on providing financing to help reduce our country's/world's carbon footprint. Who knows... maybe begin to provide financing to electric cars (once these become more affordable) and have a combination pack of the solar panels and a electric car into one payment per month. Maybe geothermal applications to new houses/buildings too.

Alright. I said my peace now shred it to pieces.

Nanny Day Care

One of my ideas for school this semester was to open a daycare that specifically connects nannies to nanny needing families.

The families can take their kids to the day care as a trial to find out which day care workers work well with their kids.

It would be beneficial for people looking for work because they could be connected with many families at one time, while earning a paycheck until the perfect family comes along.

It would also be beneficial for families because they would have a place to send their children while looking for just the perfect fit for a full-time nanny. Someone who fits with their schedule and as I said, gets along with their kids.

Video Studio for Online Businesses

It's like a video or audio studio, but with tons of rooms, modern decor, and lower priced video equipment.  It's like an internet cafe for making video blogs.

You could charge for consulting, but more importantly the charge would be for the experience.  It would be the easiest place to make a video, and it would make you look good on camera every time.  It would be a huge step up from a personal camera or the camera on your mac.

Thoughts?

You Brew Shop

Yes, yes, I know that every town has a home brew shop or two, but not a good one.

It would have a classy environment. 

It would have a bar with beer and wine.

It would have regular wine and cheese tasting events, as well as beer drinking contests.

It would have the ability for people to come on a Saturday to take a class on beer or wine making.   Even better, people could actually start to make their beverage at the class and come back when it is done, or the next time something needs to be done in the brewing process.

It would also sell all the equipment people would need to make their own at home.

I think people would pay for all of these services, don't you?  Do you think it could turn a profit?

Center for Entrepreneurs

It's basically like like an upscale space designed for meetings and discussions. High quality, innovative art would be present throughout the building, and events would be held for local business owners to share thoughts, and upcoming entrepreneurs gather ideas. Those would be the core elements that I think it would have to have, besides this statue made out of money obviously.

How could it make money? Umm... we could charge for events. We can't charge for internet usage, people don't like that. We can charge for coffee, but that can't be the main source of income or it wouldn't be a new idea. Maybe there is a membership fee with certain benefits. Maybe the building is much larger than a coffee shop and we could have tons of rooms that people can use to meet, and that could be part of the membership.

What do you think? Is it a profitable idea?

Self-Powered Public Gym

What if workout machines could power the building they are in?  Better yet, what if they could power the neighborhood around them?

Would you be motivated to work out more if you knew that running on a treadmill or using a lat-pull maching was producing real energy that could be used?

That's it.  That's the whole pitch.  Thoughts?

Online Video Marketing

This is basically a consulting company that will help companies expand their online video content.  The market is heading that way already, so being the Online Video Guru could make someone millions.

I think the key here is hiring people who are marketing minded, but have kind of a movie director inside them.  They need to be able to draw out the personality of the business owners, which will ultimately give the business a personality. I think that through this type of activity, the company will build a loyal following of customers.

Other ideas that could make this work?

The Man Store

This is an idea I've been pitching for a long time, and it is the most appropriate first post for this blog.  Here's the idea.

Simple Choices, Painless Shopping.

I believe that there are certain items that people would rather not have choices on.  Especially guys.  Have you ever gone into Wal-Mart wanting to buy shampoo, some t-shirts, and some paper towels?  Have you ever shopped for 20 minutes just to get a couple very simple things?  That's why the man store would exist.

It's like a convenience store.  It only has a couple of choices for anything in the store, but they are the best choices.  They are like the consumer reports best value recommendations.  You never have to question what you are buying when you shop here.  You know it's the best because it's the Man Store.

Thoughts?

Types of Businesses (General)

Ways to make money:

Charge for your time (consulting, skilled labor)

Charge for your employees time (skilled labor shop, consulting agency)

Charge for intellectual property (write a book, record music, make and online TV show)

Buy something and sell it for more (retail, investing)

Bar none, the most amount of money will be made by the bottom two.  More importantly though, do what you love.

I've got about 10 business ideas to get this blog started.  Expect a new blog post every couple of days with a new one.