New Business Time

Final Post

2011-09-13T10:44:00.001-07:00

I'm going to stop posting new business ideas now. It was a good experiment, and it was fun blogging, but it doesn't seem to be a valuable addition to the internet right now.

The Concept - Keys, Wallet, Phone (Idea #54)

2011-08-09T05:53:00.000-07:00

This is a product idea. It's based on a practical need and a desire to be fashionable.

Keys, check. Wallet, check. Phone, check.

This is the checklist I have when going anywhere. These are the things that I always have with me. For most people, I'm sure it is similar. We might add chapstick, maybe sunglasses, but these are the core items.

My theory is that there is room for a high end pouch, with just enough room for these items, but without allowing keys to scratch phones. I'm not talking about a purse, or man bag. It wouldn't be big enough for a laptop or an ipad, or a Kindle. I'm talking about a very small, but fashionable accessory for keys, phone and wallet.

Price point is $100-$200. It is something that shows that you care about being organized and professional.

The business has to be built around the concept rather than the product itself. Businesses have already made pouches, bags and cases for phones, but nobody owns the wallet, keys, phone concept. It's up for grabs.

The Middle Man (Idea #53)

2011-07-28T05:01:00.000-07:00

When talking about business deals, the middle man always makes things more expensive. When a manufacturer makes a product and sells it straight to the customer, they eliminate "the middle man" which is a store or website owned by somebody else.

But sometimes a middle man is needed. Sometimes the customer would never know about the product without the middle man and the transaction would never occur. This is why the middle man gets paid. This idea is for the middle man.

Middle men don't need a store or even their own website anymore. Amazon and Ebay will do that for a reasonable fee. The trick is finding good deals with suppliers. I think this is where the market has a huge hole.

It would be a company of very small teams (2 or 3 people) who research trending or new products from other countries. The teams travel the world looking for interesting products, and find out all information about the supply chain for these products (cost to produce, economies of scale, foreign exchange fees, etc.).

A big customer would be businesses with shipping and storage expertise. For instance there could be a contract for 5 new products per month for 3 months. which they will have the opportunity to review.

Yes, they could hire people to do this job, but that's not what they do. They are a warehouse and maybe an internet sales company. They need a middle man.

Online Flexible Franchise (Idea #52)

2011-07-22T05:42:00.000-07:00

The pitch to the customer is something like this, "For $500 you can be your own boss. You will make $500 for every $1,000 of product that you sell. You choose the products that you sell, and sell on your own terms."

A customer can buy a license to sell items which they stock at their own home (renewable annually). The business supplies them with a franchise number and the ability to buy hundreds of items at wholesale prices. The business also gives them an online site with credit card transactions, shopping cart, and a basic site to sell their products. The business doesn't push specific products, just presents as many value priced options as possible.

The business is really offering the expertise in the supply chain. There are people who could sell products, but who would be intimidated by starting a business and contacting suppliers. It's a lot of work to find products that would sell and work out all of the details for internet sales.

Artistic Gardening (Idea #51)

2011-06-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

Currently gardening is a hobby for most, with little income potential or even grocery savings. A few daring people try to sell their stuff at a farmers market, but even they aren't going to make a lot of money.

But what if space could be used more wisely, and people could be paid for their artistic ability as well as their green thumb? What if art and gardening collide?

Imagine going to a wedding and picking your salad fresh from a growing spiral of art. Imagine an affluent person paying for an artistic garden to cook from, but that they don't have to take care of daily.

This idea started when I saw a product. It is called whirligrow, and you can find out more about it here.

Basically it is a spiraling tube that grows garden plants from it. It can be used in urban areas for gardening in small spaces, but it presents interesting options of landscapers, event coordinators, and wedding planners as well. It is just one idea that could make gardening more artistic.

There are a few directions this business could go. Sell event set ups. Sell ongoing gardening maintenance. Sell one-time landscaping projects. All are good I think.

Tiny Houses (Idea #50)

2011-05-18T05:11:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-05-16T05:11:00.000-07:00

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.

A quiet place to sit and read.
Wifi.
Space for food vendors.
Professors.
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.

Could Multi-Level Work?

2011-04-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

The problem with multi-level marketing is the overpriced stuff. You have to pay a franchise fee usually, but that isn't such a big deal. Sometimes you have to pay a monthly franchise fee, and that is usually a bad deal, but could be overlooked. The thing you can never overlook is the cost of the products.

Since so many people get a cut of the products price, it ends up costing way more than it is worth. Until now.

Check out what Moolala did. They are giving you a piece of the price of a coupon. Coupons are free to produce, and the business ends up paying for the commission.

The business gets a good deal because customers come in the door with a coupon, and you get a 2% referral fee for every friend that you get to purchase the coupon.

I think this might be a legitimate way to do a multi level business where everybody wins. Click here to sign up for free. It should automatically link you to my username (philmondy).

What do you think?

Complete I.T. Makeover

2011-03-30T05:42:00.000-07:00

This company gives your entire office new computers, really fast. You leave work on Friday and come back in Monday to brand new computers. All hardware and software are up to date and all of the old stuff is gone. It is a custom makeover, just for your small business.

Obviously any IT company can do this, but the key is making it simple and cost effective. What if 10 computers, wireless sync, and server backup only cost $10,000?

It is possible.

It could be painless and easy to set up, and companies would want to do this again every couple of years. The key is getting buy in up front for some changes in computer software, and file storage. Things will have to be stored more efficiently.

How nice would it be to have the administrative assistant gather everyone's information on a Friday and have a completely new solution on Monday, for a low cost?

Flipping Motorcycles (Idea #47)

2011-03-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

Motorcycles are secondary modes of transportation for most people. They typically have low miles, and will last for 20 years with only routine maintenance. People tend to sell them when they need money, and buy them when they have extra money. They also tend to sell for a lower price in the winter than in the summer.

This all adds up to a business that requires cash, knowledge of motorcycles and a keen eye on the classified ads.

I've actually watched somebody do this for the past couple of months quite successfully. He only needs to make $500 to make it worth the time usually. The major hurdles to get over are having cash on hand, and finding good deals on motorcycles. Another trick is to have the seller sign the title, but don't sign it yourself. That way it can pass directly on to the next buyer.

Seth Godin's Blog

2010-11-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

I read Seth Godin's blog regularly and saw this today. I'm just going to repost the entire thing because it is meaningful to me.

JK asks,

"It's like, how does anyone start their own business? How is it even possible? How do they deal with the crippling fear and harsh economic realities?"

Some people believe that if you have a good job, you shouldn't start your own gig, because it's foolish to give up a job you can't easily replace. And some people believe that if you don't have a great job, it's foolish to waste time (and the money you can ill afford to lose) starting something when you'd be a lot better off getting a great job or going to school until you do.

And both groups are missing the point.

The people who successfully start independent businesses (franchises, I think are a different thing) do it because we have no real choice in the matter. The voice in our heads won't shut up until we discover if we're right, if we can do it, if we can make something happen. This is an art, our art, and to leave it bottled up is a crime.

I guess the real question, JK, is, "How can you not do it?"

Small Grocery - Sticking it to Kroger and Wal-Mart

2010-10-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

Grocery shopping is changing. All over the country you see small grocery stores making big profits. Case in point, Trader Joe's. They found a way to actually beat Kroger and Sam's prices, and still deliver better products.

But is Trader Joe's taking over the country? Not yet at least. Thousands of cities don't have this fine grocery store. Whole Foods is everywhere, but a small business can kill Whole Foods with better pricing if they want to. There is opportunity here.

The new business idea is actually an old business idea with a fresh look. This idea is a bit complex, and is no easy task, but I have a few things that I think are critical to stealing grocery market share.

Take notes from Natural Grocer stores. They package their own spices and save customers big with this technique. What else can be purchased in bulk and packaged in the store to save customers money?
Take notes from Trader Joe's, they developed their own alcohol brands and deliver high quality wine, beer and liquor at insanely low prices.
Take notes from Savory Spice. They carry things that are difficult to find at big grocery stores, like dutch chocolate, but are desirable by people who love to cook. They also give out 3x5 recipe cards if you need help using a new spice.
Hire people who like to cook. Grocery stores are typically filled with people who are uneducated, and rarely appear to be a cooking connoisseur.
Teach employees and customers to cook better, and healthier. Steal the marketing space of customers who need some help with their cooking.

Can a smaller grocer store steal customers away from Super Targets, Wal-Marts, and Kroger stores? I believe it can.

Luxury Homes For The Masses

2010-10-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

This is a design studio for houses, but instead of catering to the upper class, it caters to the middle class.

The barriers to a luxury home are getting lower and lower. Things that used to embody a wealthy lifestyle have dropped in price, and they have become available to the masses.

HD flat pannel TVs, stainless steal appliances, decent artwork, weekly house cleaning service, all of these things make you think of something on MTV cribs, but they aren't very expensive.

Here are some basic packages that make cheap fixes look like luxury upgrades.

Flat screen TV in every bathroom in the house.
ipad with a recipe app installed on a cabinet door in the kitchen.
Weekly bathroom, floor, and lawn care for a monthly fee.
Updated artwork throughout the house.
Updated light fixtures throughout the house.

Important elements to success are: having a showroom, consistent supply chain, not cutting too many corners, limiting the number of packages to keep prices low.

Soccer Specialty Store

2010-07-21T07:05:00.000-07:00

So I just went to the website of the self proclaimed largest chain of soccer franchise stores in the nation, Soccer Post. Here is what they claim:

Currently there are Soccer Post stores in ten states, from New Hampshire toCalifornia
Soccer Post is the largest chain of franchised soccer specialty retail stores
Soccer Post has been in business since 1991

Anybody else think there is some room for growth? After watching the world cup this year, I'd be willing to bet that the US sports market is going to trend toward soccer for the next 10-20 years. This means more kids signed up for soccer leagues, more adults joining leagues, and more money being spent on the sport.

Yes, you can get soccer stuff at Dick's and Sports Authority and all of those stores, but expertise is valuable. Being a store that caters to a specific sport makes it easier to shop.

I think there is room for new businesses in the soccer genre.

Make Your Own Tea Store

2010-07-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is a specialty store (online or brick and mortar), that sells ingredients to make herbal teas. It would sell very basic teas, and every kind of spice that a person could need in making teas.

The key is emphasizing that you make your own tea. The customer can create any kind of flavors they can imagine. The shop provides basic recipes, but the customer knows what they like.

People everywhere blend their own tea already, but there isn't a place in every city that they can go to stock up on supplies or get ideas for new recipes.

I've been looking all over the web for a place to buy ingredients for herbal tea. I can find recipes, but where do you get chamomile flowers to throw in some tea? I found some on Amazon, but there isn't a site that sells a "make your own tea kit" as far as I can tell. I think there is a tribe of people out there who are looking for this store.

Thoughts?

Dog Matching Service (Idea #42)

2010-05-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

What if your personality, living situation, primary transportation means, and personal preferences were considered when you wanted to buy a dog? What if you could find not only the perfect breed, but the perfect temperament within the breed that is right for you?

Fill out an online survey, and get a list of possible pets for you.

Cost is still debatable. I'm thinking $10, gives you all the information you need to find the dog yourself, but maybe there is an additional fee to actually find the perfect dog that is nearest to you. Shipping a dog would have to be a whole different level of service for high end clients.

Franchises & Their Drawbacks (General)

2010-04-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I talked to a franchise broker. This is a person who represents a lot of franchise companies, and who tries to match entrepreneurs with the perfect franchise.

My thought process was something like this. "I have good business sense, and I'm creative. If I purchase a business that has all of the detail worked out for me (franchise), I could probably run it well enough to make a solid profit."

I think a lot of people probably feel the same way, and they are absolutely right. If they are good at hiring the right people, and have a keen business sense, they could easily run a business that has already been set up. This is the positive side of franchises.

However, franchises have some significant drawbacks.

There are franchise brokers. Any business that needs someone to sell it has to be questioned a bit. Plus brokers get commissions, and franchise owners get fees. So the business starts with an extra expense.
Capital requirement. They want you to have a high net worth ($100k minimum) to start most franchises. This rules out most young people.
Less control. Franchises do most of the work for you on finding a location and getting things set up, but that also means that the owner doesn't have much freedom on many things (pricing, hours, decoration, branding, etc.)
Capital requirement. They also want you to have at least $50-100k in cash or liquid assets. If I had that much money to start a business, do you think I would need your franchise?

For these reasons, I will leave franchises to Baby Boomers who have lots of cash and are in career crisis. That's who these franchise brokers seem to be targeting anyway.

The Happy Company

2010-04-12T08:17:00.000-07:00

This business would make employees happy. It would be an outside consulting company, paid to evaluate employee satisfaction at a given company, and attempt to make them happy at work every day. Key words: every day.

What if someone at your company had no other responsibility than to check in with you about your work satisfaction each day? They may not do something specific for you every day, but they at least check in with you to find out what is making you happy or unhappy at work. Then their whole job is to make work more fulfilling for you and everyone else.

Productivity would go up, and people would stay at the company for a long time. That's my pitch and I'm sticking to it.

Like Minded Matching Service

2010-02-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

There is actually a site called LikeMinded.com that seems to be on track to launch this business, but here is my idea for it.

It is a way to find business partners with a sophisticated matching process. So it is like eharmony, but for businesses. Currently, I can browse profiles and meet people face to face, but there are many questions I'd need to ask before I'd know if we could work together.

If I could fill out a 30 minute questionnaire to find 10 potential business partners that live in my area, I'd do that. Or if I met somebody that I thought would be a good business partner, I'd pay to have someone analyze our compatibility.

For an HR team, imagine that instead of searching through a stack of resumes, a computer analyzes work styles and personality styles to help them find employees.

What's the cost? Maybe $25 to have my information on file, and a $10 fee each time I request a comparison with someone else's profile.

Thoughts?

Wheeling and Dealing

2010-01-30T06:49:00.000-08:00

This business buys discounted items from large companies like costco and SAMs, and sells them online. It could buy discounted clothes, electronics, gift cards, anything.

The key here is not having inventory. The business can list the product and pick it up after it sells.

The employees of this business spend all their time looking for things they can sell online.

Another key is to constantly change inventory, and try to make money whenever Internet stores have a higher price than a local superstore.

- Posted using my iPhone

Cereal Restaurant

2010-01-27T20:16:00.001-08:00

This is a restaurant with every type of breakfast cereal on the market... And nothing else. That's right. Customers come for a bowl of cereal with milk, any time of the day. Open until 10:00pm for late night snacks.

Really this would exist for the cool factor more than practical reasons. Environment is WAY more important than the product.

- Posted using my iPhone

2009 Top New Business Ideas

2010-01-11T12:22:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this blog in 2009! We came up with 36 business ideas in 2009. I consider that a huge success, and am really looking forward to some more breakthrough ideas in 2010.

In no particular order, here are the top 10 ideas for businesses in 2009.

2010 here we come.

Reader Input- Top 10 Ideas of 2009

2009-12-22T07:28:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-09T08:23:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

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:

Use your phone or a video camera to upload videos to your blog.
Show you how to check for messages and postings on facebook so that you don't miss any communications with customers.
Set up a Twitter account that will also update your status on Facebook.
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

2009-09-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

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.

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).
Get some testimonials from people who have watched the video.
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

2009-09-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

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:

Camera
Computer
A host for the show
Web hosting fees
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

2009-09-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-11T07:12:00.000-07:00

Draw cartoons.

Be funny every day.

Sell ads for your email.

Increase distribution list.

Make money.

Instant Pep Talks

2009-09-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-08-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-26T06:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-04T12:04:00.001-07:00

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

Borrow $3 million.
Buy 20 houses at $150,000 each (this would vary based on the city you live in).
Rent 20 houses at $1,000 a month.
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

2009-05-29T06:46:00.000-07:00

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:

Single Malt Scotch is still considered to be the best whiskey in the world by many.
Single Malt Scotch is made from barley, whereas American whiskeys are made from mostly corn, and some rye and wheat.
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

2009-05-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-05-01T06:31:00.000-07:00

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.

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

Paperless File Cabinets

2009-04-27T08:23:00.000-07:00

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:

Scanning of all the files currently in your file cabinet saved to electronic folders instead
Electronic billing setup for all your bills
Filters and rules set up in your email inbox to make sure they are all filed consistently
A server set up to back up all of your files each day
Instruction on how to stay organized
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

2009-04-09T06:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-08T12:21:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-03-05T06:00:00.000-08:00

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

2009-03-01T06:15:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-25T18:54:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-24T13:19:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-23T18:50:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-21T06:03:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-18T06:08:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-16T06:34:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-13T08:39:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-10T06:01:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-07T05:58:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-02-06T06:05:00.000-08:00

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.