Archive for 2007
Inventor Solves Age-Old Mystery Of Missing Socks
PR WEB: You’ve completed the weekly wash and as you’re pairing up socks for the drawer, you discover one or more have mysteriously disappeared. Sound familiar? Well, worry no more because a clever entrepreneur from San Francisco has devised a creative solution to this irritating phenomenon. Edwin Heaven is the inventor of THROX, the first [...]
I was running some errands today when I passed a public storage business. On their sign out front they offered “Santa Clausets” for customers to hide/store gifts until Christmas for just $10. I thought to myself, what a fantastic idea! My guess is that the storage business is a little slow in the month of [...]
Video: Here Comes Another Bubble!
Sung to the tune of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” this music video by the San Francisco-based Richter Scales is pure genius.
Fortune Small Business: Isaac Daniel will never forget the call alerting him that his 8-year-old son had disappeared from his school bus queue. Daniel was in New York City on a business trip and immediately jumped on a plane home to Atlanta – only to learn that his boy had sneaked back into school. “He [...]
Press Banner: Jerry Toste is only 21 and seems to have a perpetual smile on his face. He should — his low-tech startup, Cheap Hauling, is on everyone’s lips: Those trucks are everywhere. Toste is grossing $800,000 per year after 1½ years in business, not bad for a guy who decided that “college and I [...]
Valerie Khoo at MySmallBusiness: When I first started out as an entrepreneur, I worked out of home. One of the best pieces of advice I received was: “Get out of your pyjamas as soon as possible.” In other words, even though you are working from home, you need to change your mind-set and start the [...]
Kitsap Sun: Barbara Reininger is baking up a business, and she hopes this holiday season will be the starter. The Bainbridge mom, operating My Kids’ Cookies, is beginning to sell her cookies not only online, but here at home, too. She produces eight varieties of chocolate chip cookies, each as big as her dream to [...]
Two Moms Redefine Security Blanket
RGJ.com: A solution is on the way for babies who have unsafe and temperamental sleeping habits. Two Washoe Valley residents have spent the past few years developing the Guardian Sleeper for infants who get too warm or too cold at night or have habits of rolling onto their stomachs or kicking bedding over their heads. [...]
Budapest-In-A-Bag Shop Opened By Artistic New Moms
Caboodle.hu: Travelers and locals in search of an “authentic” Hungarian souvenir can now confidently pass-up kitsch trinkets in favor of something more artistic, contemporary and usable with the opening of Bolt on Kertész utca 43-44. While it isn’t for everyone – geared to those who’d prefer a recycled Hungarian bicycle-tire-belt to a flowery doily – [...]
This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is up at One Man Band. My favorites: Why Starbucks Doesn’t Franchise The Future of Media and Advertising 4 Tips For Becoming A More Productive Entrepreneur The Single Most Important Question For Any New Business Idea
Poll: Why Are You An Entrepreneur?
Which of the following most closely explains why you are (or want to be) an entrepreneur? You want to make more money. You have no other alternatives. You want to work fewer hours. You want to have flexible work hours. You believe you can create more interesting work for yourself than others can create for [...]
iPod Nano Giveaway, Plus Survey
In addition to all of the books I’m giving away this month, I’ve also teamed up with goWholesale to giveaway an Apple iPod Nano this week! goWholesale wants to better understand how you use the internet to source products and services for your business. The iPod Nano will go to the person who leaves a [...]
Rhonda Abrams in USA Today: Chocolate is more than just my favorite food group. Chocolate, as an industry, is booming, sweet with opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Like most food specialty businesses, there are few barriers to entry for a chocolate company. Start-up costs can be low; in some states, you can even start [...]
A Retired Executive Wants to Help You Start A Business
NY Times: The saying that nothing good in life is free may be true most of the time. But Martin R. Lehman’s little office in Manhattan is one of the exceptions. Mr. Lehman, 84, is a volunteer for Counselors to America’s Small Business, or Score (it used to be called Service Corps of Retired Executives), [...]
My Favorite Books of 2007: Lies Startups Tell Themselves to Avoid Marketing
I have this friend who’s been trying to start a business for years. It’s sad, because he actually think’s he’s in business. He’s incredibly smart, and has developed a very interesting technology, but try as I might, he won’t follow my rules and just get out there and try to sell his product. He still [...]
People are always asking me for new ways to make money online, and I’ve recently come up with a new answer: Sitepoint’s Established Websites for Sale. Everyday people post large and small web businesses for sale. I don’t necessarily recommend looking for something to buy, though. I suggest that you read it for ideas! Here [...]
New Options in Small Business Health Insurance
WSJ: Small-business owners who concluded a few years ago they couldn’t afford health insurance for their workers may want to take another look. Insurers are offering more varied plans that include less-expensive options. Nonprofit groups and legislators have paved the way for small companies to band together in purchasing cooperatives to get lower rates. A [...]
According to the Wall Street Journal, the US government is going to begin offering army recruits startup cash: The Army has been enlisting youths for decades by promising them money for college. Starting in January, it will try out a different sort of pitch in selected cities: offering up to $40,000 toward the purchase of [...]
NY Times: There is a rising reaction against management theory, according to The Economist. A new book by the management expert Gary Hamel, “The Future of Management,” notes that several well-known executives of hot companies — among them, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google and John P. Mackey of Whole Foods Market — did [...]
ABC7 Chicago: Jackie Simoni: Puplight PupLight, is an LED flashlight worn on a dog’s collar. Endorsed by the American Canine Association, American Kennel Club and Pet Weekly Magazine, PupLight makes your dog visible to traffic, lighting your way so you can see potential hazards ahead. PupLight features rugged, water-resistant construction, with three ultra-bright, white, wide-angle [...]
Magazine Publisher Goes Out On Her Own
Kansas.com: Changing careers wasn’t easy, but Susan Hund-Milne said it was the right thing for her to do. For 13 years, Hund-Milne co-owned Advanced Publishing, which produced Spotlight on Wichita and Wichita Hi-Lighter magazine. This summer she sold the publications to Mid-States Publications and began an independent venture — AP Creative. AP Creative provides graphic [...]
My Favorite Books of 2007: McIlhenny’s Gold
One of my favorite business book of 2007 was McIlHenny’s Gold: How a Louisiana Family Built the Tabasco Empire. Few products are as immediately recognizable as the bottle of Tabasco sauce. In the book, author Jeffery Rothfeder tells a fascinating story about the remarkably long history of the distinctive bottle and the family business that [...]
Blogging Detrimental to Offline Income?
Scott Adams, the author of the comic Dilbert is going to start blogging less because of the negative impact his blog has had on his income: I hoped that people who loved the blog would spill over to people who read Dilbert, and make my flagship product stronger. Instead, I found that if I wrote [...]
Yesterday, PFBlog explained a nifty trick for making a risk-free investment with the US government and receiving a return of 8% from the Internal Revenue Service. How’s it work, you ask? In a nutshell: You make a large estimated tax payment for 2007 in March 2008. When you file your 2007 return in April, you [...]
Survey: Which 2008 Presidential Candidate Would be Best for Small Business Entrepreneurs?
Which 2008 presidential candidate would be the most friendly to small business entrepreneurs? Joe Biden Hilary Clinton Christopher Dodd John Edwards Mike Gravel Rudy Giuliani Mike Huckabee Dennis Kucinich John McCain Barack Obama Ron Paul Bill Richardson Mitt Romney Tom Tancredo Fred Thompson Duncan Hunter View Results
Car Magnet Business Opportunity
Although young drivers represent only 6.6% of the nation’s licensed drivers, they are involved in 14.8% of fatal crashes. The Rookie Driver Car Magnet, a brainchild of Corinne Fortenbacher and her teenage son Austin, is an easy way to alert other drivers that a novice driver is behind the wheel. The magnet comes in three [...]
Six years ago this month, this website was born. Today, it’s the number one business blog in the world. Thank you for all for reading.
An Online Magazine For Work At Home Moms
24-7 Press Release: In the day of the Boomer, women worked and dropped their kids off at the sitters. Today more women are choosing to stay home and “BE THEIR KID’S MOM.” When you have the financial means it is an easy decision to stay home to raise the children. However, when you don’t have [...]
Momprenuers Alive And Well In Today's Business World
EMediaWire: Saige Nicoles on-line boutique at www.saigenicoles.com, caters to today’s modern moms and their children and is listed as a “hot spot” to shop on sites like Greer’s OC. Since 2006 Saige Nicoles has built their design lines to include an impressive list of today’s hottest and most sought after boutique fashion designers for babies, [...]
Entrepreneur Gives Birth To Her Creative Side
DurhamRegion.com: Susanne Watson-Bongard offers art and wellness programs for all ages with her company, Art and Soul Express. The studio is home-based with a focus on new and expectant mothers they can also give birth to their own creative abilities. In addition to the art, the workshops offer a variety of honest perspectives and experiences [...]
This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is up at SEO ROI.
Yahoo News: All Linda Katz had to do was step outside of her house to make thousands on the Internet. Now the Midwestern entrepreneur is building a business selling a piece of the old west online: tumbleweeds. Linda started her online business, the Prairie Tumbleweed Farm, as a joke. It was 1994 and she wanted [...]
Wall Street Journal: By far, the most common element among successful videos is comedy. Rather than offering airless advertisements or canned commercial messages, these videos deliver laughs as well as pitching a product. Case in point: Blendtec, a division of K-TEC Inc., of Orem, Utah. In the past year, the high-end blender maker has drawn [...]
A Business Opportunities Weblog reader has $1,000 to invest, and wants to invest in another reader’s holiday business: I would like to partner with a seller and invest 1k in their venture for a hot holiday item. Please let me know if you have any leads. Thank you. Do you have a hot holiday business [...]
A reader named Mark wrote: I don’t know how “green” minded you are, but every time I see the incandescent bulb used in a logo to to represent “new ideas”, I think, ‘I wish they would use the new Fluorescent screw in bulbs instead.’ Mark, interesting observation. The lightbulb has long been the classic symbol [...]
Parade To Honor Earmuff Inventor
Morning Sentinel: Chester Greenwood Day, Farmington Maine’s distinctive claim to fame, is not just for local earmuff aficionados. The local display of ear coverings — from big and fluffy to comic to fashionable — can be inventive and quirky, and organizers say this year they hope to expand the Dec. 1 event. “This is an [...]
Navy Mom Turns Beads Into Business
The Times West Virginian: Tammy Nathan took up jewelry making as a hobby and now has her own business, Belle A’Mour Bead Designs. Nathan, originally from Philippi, has been in the Navy for 19 years. She’s a health care administrator and does a lot of work with medical education and training. She graduated from Fairmont [...]
A New Wine From Four Generations Of Women
Napa Valley Register: New wine brands are released just about every week, it seems, but one brand that made its debut last weekend is quite different from others. It’s made by a company that has four generations involved. And they’re all women. Leo Joseph Estate Cellars in St. Helena produced the wine from the Lawrence [...]
Gatorade Inventor Dr. Robert Cade
Houston Chronicle: Pick a flavor — Rain, Frost, Lemon-Lime, Fierce, AM, Xtremo — and drink a toast today to Dr. Robert Cade, inventor of the concoction once nicknamed “Cade’s Cola” and now known as Gatorade. Cade died Tuesday in Gainesville, Fla., from kidney failure. He was 80. Cade and three colleagues developed Gatorade in 1965 [...]
It Doesn’t Have to Be All Business
The New York Times: As work is increasingly making inroads into leisure time, many business travelers are finding ways to turn that equation around — combining their travel for work with time for cultural and historical sightseeing. “Cultural tourism can be an extension of business, it’s not just fluff,” said Patricia Martin, a marketing consultant [...]
Entrepreneur Creates Doggy Java
Marketing Daily: An entrepreneur in Phoenix is looking to combine the growing craze for coffee and coffee products with increased discretionary pet spending, through a new product introduction: Doggy Java. “Everybody drinks coffee and tea,” Mari Justin, creator of the drink, tells Marketing Daily. “I thought that it would be a good time to share [...]
5 Ways to Profit from Good Ideas
Lifehack.org: Turning a good idea into a successful innovation requires the glass to be full. A half full glass simply isn’t enough. There are many things involved in bringing a product to market successfully or turning an idea into reality and each one of them needs to be right, or at least close enough. Here [...]
Starting Your Own Homebased Business?
Entrepreneur: They roll out of bed in the morning and head off for work–still in their pajamas. They work from their dining room tables, stock inventory in their cupboards and arrange meetings in the lobbies of their local hotels. They set their own schedules, jog on the beach during their lunch breaks and give out [...]
Business Week: Does your toddler wear perfume? Should your newborn eat organic? And has your four-year-old been to the gym lately? Moms and dads a generation ago might have laughed at these questions, but today there is a booming market for products and services targeting affluent parents willing to spend freely on their kids. Armed [...]
Woodside Moms Selling Eco-Friendly Bags
Palo Alto Daily News: In the summer of 2006, two Woodside mothers shared a realization as their sons played in the park: They wanted to do something positive for the planet. Stephanie Ashworth and Kerri Stenson have since co-founded Olive Smart LLC, which has created an environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic bags that can take hundreds [...]
The Windsor Star: Inventing a scarf that fastens with Velcro instead of a traditional knot may not seem like a breakthrough — but for one Winchester, Ont., woman, the simple creation has become a booming business. Diane lefebvre is the originator of the no knot scarf, which is designed to fit snugly around a child’s [...]
The Discovery Channel is casting a show for artists, scientists, inventors, engineers, architects and designers to build extremely elaborate Rube Goldberg machines: Super Rubes is a weekly one-hour show that follows a band of talented creators as they design, build, and set off a massive Chain Reaction Machine in front of a cheering crowd. The [...]
Business Week: It’s the stuff that many people find addictively fun to pop after opening a fragile package. But for a group of young inventors, Bubble Wrap is more than something to stomp on, it’s a source of inspiration. To 11-year-old Kayla Weston, it’s a building material for shock-absorbing flooring for dancers; 11-year-old Max Wallack [...]
Invention Puts Squash On Germs
Springfield Business Journal: Mike Sewell isn’t alone in his bathroom habits. He and many other people use paper towels to grab bathroom door handles to avoid germs. “They don’t want to touch the handle, so it leads to trash on the floor, it leads to excessive consumption of paper products, and it seems like there’s [...]
Niche Biz: :10 Minute Manicure
Springwise: In this perpetually time-crunched era, it’s no secret that finding time for personal grooming services like haircuts and manicures can be a challenge. We’ve already covered a few examples of the quick haircut solutions that have emerged—HairPODs are the most recent one—and now there’s :10 Minute Manicure for those whose nails need some speedy [...]
