Uncommon Businesses

Unusual Ways Newsletter
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As promised, this week I cover some more uncommon businesses. All but one of these are real businesses that have worked for someone. The last is just my own idea.

Dog Rentals

I saw the story on the news one night recently. I believe the business is in San Diego (it could be Los Angeles). There is also a similar business in London, England. These companies essentially rent dogs to those who are too busy for a full time commitment of owning a pet. Customers pay a one-time fee to join, and then pay by the day as well, when they take a dog home with them.

This is not cheap. In addition to the one-time membership fee of about $150, customers pay a monthly fee of about $50, and that's before they get a dog. The mutt costs another $25 to $35 per day. There are delivery fees and other options as well.

This may seem very expensive, but for some it makes sense. It is easier than actually searching for, buying, vaccinating and caring for one's own dog. No worries about veterinary bills either. No kennel charges when traveling away from home. If a client has a dog for a weekend every month (two days) it means it will cost him or her about $1,200 to $1,500 per year total. Some regular dog owners spend that much on their pet.

Oh, and don't refer to this as "rent a pet" around the owners of these businesses. They like to refer to it as "shared pet ownership." I haven't heard anything yet about "shared ownership" of goldfish or birds or monkeys, so maybe those are areas to explore.

Shed Installation Business

Have you ever thought about buying a shed for the yard, but you weren't sure how to have it delivered and assembled? Places like Home Depot will deliver pre-assembled sheds. They may even have the phone number of some handyman who will put together sheds for you. When we lived in Tucson, Arizona we were looking at businesses for sale, and saw one that did nothing but shed installation. It only netted $50,000 or so per year, but you got to work outdoors.

This isn't really an uncommon business, especially if you consider those who do it as a sideline to their primary business. The reason I include it, though, is because it suggests some other possibilities. For example, perhaps there is a need for a doghouse delivery and assembly service, or deck-building service. To take this idea further, just think of all the things that people would rather not build or assemble by themselves at home.

Basic Training Camp For Civilians

I saw this business on the MSNBC program, The Big Idea, with Donny Deutche. He was interviewing a woman on her "boot camp for civilians." The idea was that many people wonder what it takes to go through basic training for the Army or Marines, but they don't want to enlist to find out. Now they can pay for the experience without the military commitment.

The owner of the business had experience, of course, and her employees are men who had trained enlistees in the various services. She had a rough start, but business is booming now. Apparently there are a lot of people who want to suffer through weeks of rough treatment.

Survival Tours

This one is my own idea, which I had after watching the program mentioned above. If people want to be ordered around and forced to get in shape, maybe they would also like to be thrown into a wilderness survival situation as a "vacation." Of course, we know that some will pay for survival courses. There are already several schools that do this. I have something different in mind.

The idea here is that customers are put into a survival situation immediately, without training, but with a guide who is an expert (perhaps Les Stroud from "Survivorman"). This is a "full immersion" experience, designed for those who have limited time or too little patience for classroom instruction before getting out into the wild. It could be a group or just the client and guide. With heavy reliance on the guide - unlike traditional survival schools - this would be more like stepping into a reality show on survival and watching (and participating) from the inside.

The locations and times would be chosen according to the customer's desires. Do you want an arctic winter survival experience or a jungle trek? The guide would show clients how to survive. For an extra fee, they can bail out and call for a helicopter to take them back to civilization.

To make this more unique, you might film the whole thing, so the customers get to star in and take home their own reality survival show.

Note: This is part of the "Unusual Ways" Newsletter.
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