More Interesting Businesses
This is yet another small collection of ideas for interesting
businesses. Some of these have been tried, others perhaps not
(i never really know with some ideas - people have tried more
things than we know). Some are small enterprises, others have
the potential to be very big.
To start, I saw an report on the news the other night about
a young man who started a business to pay his expenses while
living in Thailand. As in many poorer parts of the world, long-distance
phone service in the home is not as common as in wealthier countries,
so people typically go to phone stands where they pay to make
their calls. The problem is that they may have to walk a mile
or more just to make a call.
This man's idea was to put a couple phones in a bicycle-powered
cart and take them to the people. He was making a living at it
according to the report.It's a small business, but that doesn't
mean that it has to stay small. A person might eventually hire
riders to bring phone services to all parts of a city. Making
just $10 per rider in daily profit would be a $100,000 per year
if you had 30 routes.
The other thing to remember when you hear about a business
like this, is that there are principles involved that may be
even more profitable when applied in other ways. In this case,
you might ask what other things can be brought to people by bicycle.
Or you might ask what things and services we take for granted
in wealthier countries that aren't so common in poorer ones,
and then look at ways to provide those things and services.
Video Yearbooks
The idea here is to have an hour-long video that shows a bit
of the events of the school year. It would be sold alongside
the regular school yearbook. Those who have done it charge between
$20 and $30 per copy I believe. A student might even do this
one, and with a large enough class size could make a few thousand
dollars. An outside entrepreneur would need to talk to school
officials to film at events (and to sell to the students), but
he or she could work on videos for five or six schools at a time.
Free Ebook Website
Giving things away to make money online is a proven strategy.
With free ebooks the idea is that you give something of value
to a person, and encourage them to buy something more. That might
be a course you sell, a more comprehensive ebook on the same
subject, or some other product. It can also be a product that
someone else created, which you get a commission for selling.
That leads us to the bigger idea here.
The business would go something like this: Line up products
you can make a commission on - the more the better. For each
one, you create a four or five page ebook on the subject, providing
some limited information, but something of real value. Of course
you have your affiliate links in each book, which promote the
various products you make money on. You then set up a site and
give away the ebooks. Everyone likes free things. Ideally you
would want to have 100 or more ebooks eventually, and you could
have others write them for you.
Just to throw some numbers out there, suppose you can give
away 200 books per day. Now, if 3 of those readers buy something
that made you an average $25 commission, this free-ebook website
would generate over $2,200 per month.
Home Insurance Inventory Service
Many insurance companies recommend or require that their policy
holders have photos or video of their possessions in order to
file a claim. This service business basically involves walking
through the client's home (or office) with a video camera and
filming everything, possibly with the owners spoken notes about
each item and the original cost. The client then keeps the tape
in a safe deposit box or other safe location. It's a very simple
business, and requires only a small initial investment.
Ideally you want an insurance agent or two to recommend your
service to clients. For this you might pay them a referral fee
of $50, out of the $200 to $250 that you charge the customer.
Mobile Oil Change Business
The idea here is simple; some people will pay extra to have
their oil changed in their car at home or at the office or wherever
they are. They don't want to wait in line at a regular oil change
place. A busy business person might have to take more than an
hour out of her day to drive to the facility and wait for the
job to be completed.
There are some of these businesses around already. Assuming
you already have a suitable vehicle (a truck or van are probably
best), the startup costs could be as little as a few hundred
dollars. A few tools and supplies are all that is needed. Whether
this could be a decent business depends in part on the size of
the town you live in and the income level of the people living
there.
This isn't one of the more interesting businesses, but it
could be grown larger. You might hire others to run out and do
the oil changes while you man the phones. A small profit from
each employee (or independent contractor, if you can structure
it that way) could add up to a large profit for you.
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