Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You
Two years ago, Eli Reich was a mechanical engineer consultant for a Seattle wind energy company when his messenger bag was stolen. The environmentally conscious Reich, who rode his bike to work every day, decided that instead of buying a new one, he would simply fashion another bag out of used bicycle-tire inner tubes that were lying around his house. Soon compliments on his sturdy black handmade messenger bag turned into requests. “That was the catalyst,” says Reich, who obtained a business license, gave up his day job, and quickly launched Alchemy Goods in the basement of his apartment building. The company’s motto: “Turning useless into useful.”
When Marty Metro and his wife added up the number of times each of them had moved over the years, it came out to an astounding 29 times. Metro knew they weren’t alone in using massive amounts of cardboard boxes and was convinced he could help movers, businesses and the environment by creating a solution to the cardboard quandary. For now, BoomerangBoxes.com offers an online exchange for those outside the delivery area to link up and exchange boxes with others for a nominal fee. With annual sales projections exceeding $750,000, the company boasts 75 percent-plus gross margins.
Eugene Gromov is a domain wizard. Software developer by trade, he has accidentally discovered that software companies are having a hard time finding available domains for their new products and services. But coming up with unique, memorable domain names was his hidden talent. After naming domains for others part-time for three years, he was literally forced into going into domain name business full-time. āWhen I started getting multiple orders a day, I realized that I canāt do it on my own any longer. I needed helpā. So he launched PickyDomains.Com a site that aggregates orders for domain names and shares 50% of the profit with people who name domains for him.
While golfing with his brother one day, Andy Yocom saw prime advertising space on the flags on the course. He and his brother Timmy reasoned that any marketing messages would get prominent attention if they were placed on the flags, since golfers focus on them when they take their shots. Today, Invision Golf Group has expanded its advertising and marketing services beyond just flags to include whole golf course sponsorship-from banners in locker rooms to advertising on golf carts. The strategy is working: At press time, the sales were standing at $300,000 a year, and the company now has a presence on 142 golf courses in 26 states.
Ten years ago, The Great Throwdini (David Adamovich), now 59, retired as a physiology professor, bought a billiard hall and took up knife throwing. Adamovich now holds six world records and performs about 20 solo shows a year. He has performed on Broadway, at corporate events and weddings and on TV shows such as “Late Show with David Letterman” and ESPN’s “Cold Pizza.” He makes around $100,000 a year for his knife-related ventures, but for $75 an hour Adamovich also offers private lessons at his Long Island, N.Y. home.
http://www.lemonaidcrutches.com/
Leg casts decorated with Sharpie markers are so five years ago. Whatās the new must-have item for the injured fashionista? Designer crutches, of course. For Laurie Johnson, founder of LemonAid Crutches, the idea of adding a little pizzazz to the drab world of medical supplies was born out of terrible tragedy. In 2002, a small-plane crash took the lives of her husband and 2-year-old son, and left her with a broken femur that wouldnāt heal. A year later, still in emotional and physical pain, Johnson decided to take lifeās lemons and make lemonade. It all started when her sister spray-painted Johnsonās crutches and fabric-trimmed the handles. āI sat there thinking, āOh my gosh, this is so silly, but they make me feel better!āā says Johnson, 46. āI said, āIf I feel this way, someone else is going to feel this way, too.ā And though the designer-crutch business may seem like a small niche, Johnson has big plans for several new projects, such as offering crutches to childrenās hospitals. Last year Lemon-Aid brought in just under $150,000.
http://www.recycledseatbelts.com/
Betty Funk’s purses, made from used seatbelts, are so strong you can pull a truck with one, as a customer found out when a tow rope proved too short. The purses are so strong, you could whack a purse snatcher into next Tuesday. The strap won’t rip, either, if you get into a tug-of-war with a pilferer. After all, the purses are made from material designed to save your life. Some people balk at the prices, which range from $40 to $130, depending on the size of the bag, and can rise to $160 for custom-made bags. But the business is booming. The company has sold close to 1,000 bags so far.
Like so many great business ideas Katie Olverās eureka moment came to her out of a desire to buy something that didnāt exist. She was on the look-out for a personalized novel as a present for a friend, but the only ones she could find were for children. With a little persuasion, she convinced her partner of seven years, Jon Reader, to help her turn the idea into a business, and got to work on setting up U Star Novels, a series of personalized romance novels where the reader is the protagonist. The 2007 revenue is expected to be around $140,000.
Ralph Trumbo is neither an athlete nor a celebrity. Nevertheless, he has a bobblehead likeness of himself sitting on his mantel. Bobbleheads, those shaky-headed 3-D caricatures, have jiggled free of their mass-produced roots of an earlier generation. Once merely featureless figures decked out in team colors and handed out on game day, they now depict just about anyone who wants one. Ralph, who graduated from the University of Iowa with a fine arts degree in 2002, has been drawing caricatures since he was a child. He turned that interest into a job making bobbleheads after graduation. He won’t say how many he makes beyond ”quite a few.” Prices range from $150 to $200.
http://www.gaming-lessons.com/
Tom Taylor never expected to be a player in the business world; he just wanted to play video games. But as he got better and better, his passion for competitive gaming–and his desire to share his expertise with others–grew. Last year, Taylor, a top-five rated player in the pro-gaming circuit, started a video game coaching business to help others who wanted to improve their games. “I wanted to offer them a shortcut so they didn’t have to go through what I did to learn,” says Taylor, who started playing video games at age 7. Running his business, Gaming-Lessons, out of his Jupiter, Fla., home, Taylor draws dozens of clients from middle-school kids to middle-aged parents and from college students to celebrities. His fees? A whopping $65 an hour.
Money for Nothing: Real Wealth, Financial Fantasies and the Economy of the Future
Maximum Marketing, Minimum Dollars: The Top 50 Ways to Grow Your Small Business
IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea
How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur’s Guide by Dan S. Kennedy
101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads
Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You
Link of the day - I will pay you $25, if you come up with a cool domain name for me.
Steven Wright - When the Leaves Blow Away
Dave Chappelle - Inside the Actorās Studio
Underground Comics - Neil Hamburger
Doug Stanhope: From Across The Street
Sarah Silverman - Jesus Is Special
Link of the day - I will pay you $25, if you come up with a cool domain name for me.
Link of the day - I will pay you $25, if you come up with a cool domain name for me.
The film chronicles Philippe Petit’s 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center. It is based on Philippe Petit’s book, To Reach the Clouds, recently released in paperback with the new title Man on Wire. The title of the movie is taken from the police report that led to the arrest (and later release) of Petit, whose performance had lasted for almost one hour. The film is crafted like a heist film, presenting rare footage of the preparations for the event and still photographs of the walk, alongside reenactments (with Paul McGill as the young Petit) and present-day interviews with the participants.
Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
10 Examples When Stupid Business Ideas Worked Online
Your Guide To Underground Economy
Peter Schiff Talks About The Coming Economic Collapse In US (2006 Video In 8 Parts)
Link of the day - I will pay you $25, if you come up with a cool domain name for me.
Link of the day - I will pay you $25, if you come up with a cool domain name for me.
Chris Hedges, the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of “War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning” and “I Don’t Believe in Atheists“, is back with another diatribe about our morally-bankrupt society. Whether you agree with all of his assertions or not, “Empire of Illusion” is a necessary, thought-provoking work on the role of entertainment in American culture.
Particularly fascinating is Hedges’s take on professional wrestling. Whenever an academic brings up wrestling, it is usually as an example of low-brow culture. Hedges doesn’t snub his nose, however: He merely observes and reports.
His thesis that wrestling storylines have “evolved to fit the new era…by focusing on the family dysfunction that comes with social breakdown” is on the money: Gone are the simple bouts of good vs. evil. “Morality is irrelevant,” he writes. “Wrestlers can be good one week and evil the next. All that matters is their own advancement.” The “illusion” here isn’t that wrestling is fake. The “illusion” is that the wrestlers are idealized versions of what we want to become. He asserts that this mirrors a fundamental change in society.
Hedges traces this change through other American institutions (reality television, celebrity culture, the adult industry, universities, psychologists), arguing that we are “unable to distinguish between illusion and reality”. We forgo morals for an elusive and unattainable happiness. He states that we “will either wake from our state of induced childishness…or continue our headlong retreat into fantasy”.
The subtitle–”The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle“–is somewhat of a misnomer. Even with the alarming illiteracy rate in this country, it’s a stretch to say that literacy has literally come to an end. “The Triumph of Spectacle” is a more accurate description of the book’s contents.
“Empire of Illusion” is a snapshot of America, circa 2009 AD. Some of the precepts that it touches on–such as universities churning out morally-dubious graduates–are already coming under populist fire due to the banking crisis. WWE, wrestling’s most popular promotion, has toned down the sex and violence in recent years. The once-popular Jerry Springer Show limps along on basic cable, its cultural relevancy having long since expired.
Hedges believes that the financial crisis “will lead to a period of profound political turmoil and change.” In a recent Truthdig article, he wrote that “Those who care about the plight of the working class and the poor must begin to mobilize quickly or we will lose our last opportunity to save our embattled democracy.” “Empire of Illusion” makes a strong case to be the much-needed cry for arms.
Christmas Decorating As Business
Link of the day - I will pay you $25, if you come up with a cool domain name for me.
Get paid for coming up with cool domain names? This is exactly what this online business is about. With all good and obvious domain names long registered, the demand is high for quirky and easy to remember names that will stand out. Full story
Somebody steals your sandwich from the office fridge. This keeps happening again and again. Could this be a start of a great business idea? You bet! Full story
Sell skirts to MEN? This has got to be the dumbest business idea ever. Well, this guy sold ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND man-skirts (kilts, really) and I am sure this is a story you’ll want to read. Fullstory
Why would you want to rent a fake wedding cake? Isn’t is a special occasion? Well, with prices for wedding cakes sky-high this crazy little niche business is booming and something tells me that recession is only going to add new clients. Full story
As the name suggests, this service is for contacting the dead. Terminally ill patients memorize messages and deliver them when opportunity permits.Ā And no, I am not making this up. Full story
Jason Sadler has been selling the upper part of his wardrobe ever day of 2009 to companies that want him to wear a t-shirt with the logo on it. His pricing structure is very interesting though. Heās sold January 1st for $1 and is selling December 31st for $365. Every day in between goes for the price of itās day of the year. I wasnāt to excited about that until I calculated (using Gaussās method) how much money heād be earning for the year: $66,795! Full story
7. Wallstreetprisonconsultants.com
Believe or not, there is a firm that specializes in helping bankers and stock analysts do time: Welcome to Wall Street Prison Consultants. My name is Larry Levine, and Iād like to take this opportunity to introduceĀ Fedtime 101, a revolutionary new program tailored specifically for white collar offendersĀ entering the Federal Prison System. Full story
8. RunPee.com
You’re sitting comfortably in your plush chair at the multiplex, when suddenly you feel a twinge in the back of your neck. A quick glance down at your 136-ounce cola and you instantly realize that nature is calling, and it’s urgent. You don’t have time to wait this time, but next time you can plan ahead for your restroom breaks with RunPee.com. Full story9. Cuddleparty.com
Runs events at which adults “explore communication, boundaries, and affection” by donning pajamas and getting physical. Ix-nay on the naughty stuff. Cuddleparty got so big and successful, they even got their own Wikipedia page. Full story
Trash some crappy software AND get paid for that? If you are a software lover then here is a golden opportunity for you make a few bucks every months for reviewing software at softwarejudge.com. They pay you anywhere between $1 - $50 for each software reviewed. You are not supposed to advertise any software by making a positive review. You can review the software the way you like it. You will be paid whether you make a positive or a negative review. Souns good to you? Full story
Want more examples of crazy business ideas? Here is a list of books you are sure to enjoy. And don’t forget to submit this story to your favorite social network.
IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea
How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur’s Guide by Dan S. Kennedy
101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads