Tiny Houses (Idea #50)

This is like an apartment complex, but much trendier than that. I was inspired on this idea by my friend Bryan's video share about people who live in 100 square foot houses. It was originally a Gizmodo post, if you want to check it out.

The thing is, single people can live in tiny houses. On top of that, it can be a bit of a novelty to live in a really small place. My thought is to build these in college towns very close to each other, and then put a common area in the middle where people can barbecue, sit by a swimming pool, have parties, etc.

It's not dorms. It's not an apartment complex. It is your own house. I think it offers something new. I think it appeals to an off-the-grid type of person as well.

So let's say it costs $30,000 per tiny house. You buy 2 acres of land, build 20 of these houses, and common areas. You've spent $600,000 on houses and whatever the land costs. So you're paying $6,000 per month on your debt maybe, but you're renting 20 houses. So you charge $400 per house, and clear $2,000 per month.

The key is making it look amazing. You have to make it look completely unique so that people just drive to see it because it is a novelty.

Below are some photos from google to give you an idea of the vision.

The University (Idea #49)

It is a center for kids and families, with education at the core. It is what the library used to be, but in a relevant age. It may be for profit, but it may be a 501C3, difficult to say.

I was inspired on this idea by Seth Godin again (see that blog here), but I think an actual business model is emerging here. I can see a franchise-like, modern day "library" as he describes it. I want to call it something else (university is my first try) because it needs to appeal to the target market.

The target market is people who want to find knowledge. People who want to improve themselves. People who want to be surrounded by others who are driven to succeed. This branding is really important. Going to this place needs to make people feel elite, smart, inspired.

It is a physical building, and it offers these services.

1. A quiet place to sit and read.
2. Wifi.
3. Space for food vendors.
4. Professors.
5. Community Events.

The first 3 are pretty straightforward, but it would need to be quieter than the average place with wifi, and food vendors pay for space to quietly sell food.

Let's talk about the Professors. These are people with masters degrees or higher, who are passionate about helping people to learn.They help people learn and reach their goals.

People pay a monthly fee to be a member of the library. They can have business meetings in the library for a fee if they are member.

Community events are very important, and are always free. The Professors would be responsible for a certain number of hours helping people find things, people, and information about their research, but they would also need to coordinate community activities once per month. They would also need to have weekly events such as classes on how to save energy and money, or how to improve health, or other things that are of interest to the community.

This reminds me of the Center for Entrepreneurs idea from 2009, but I think it improves on that idea a lot. It is still appealing to the person who wants to improve herself, and I think that is a new market.