The Middle Man (Idea #53)

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.

Artistic Gardening (Idea #51)

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.

Complete I.T. Makeover

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?

The Happy Company

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.

2009 Top New Business Ideas

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.

1. Self Powered Gym
2. Nanny Day Care
3. Solar Panel Leasing
4. Photography Archiving
5. Concession Trailer
6. Twitter Consulting
7. American Single Malt Distillery
8. Lending Tree for Landscaping
9. Home Food Inventory
10. The Man Store

2010 here we come.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.