Archive for April 2010
Unique products to amuse and inspire. Cardboard Box Beer. First wine, now beer. Say it ain’t so! Post Pillow. So you can wake up in the morning with ‘Loooooooser’ written on your forehead. Measuring Tape Toilet Paper. What are you’re gonna measure in there? Uh-oh. Backtacular Gluteal Cleft Shield aka Plumber’s Crack Covers. Ya sees [...]
The Little Square That Changed Lives Turns 30
VHS tapes and walkmans may have been firmly cast into oblivion but another 1980s invention, the Post-it Note, is marking its 30th anniversary this month as popular as ever, reports AFP. The little yellow square of paper that changed lives was actually the product of an engineering mistake by 3M scientists who accidentally stumbled upon [...]
New in the Directory This Week
One of the often overlooked sections of this website is our directory. Over 2300 different bizops, franchises, dealerships and online opportunities are listed there. Here are the new companies from this week: Franchises Benetrends BP ampm Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop Incredible Pizza Planet Smoothie Online Business Resource Services
Reader’s Digest reports the forecast from Dan Sturges, chairman of IntraGo, a transportation-solutions company in Boulder, Colorado: “Fifty percent of Americans can’t access public transit without a car now, but the average car is driven only one hour per day. Soon you’ll drive yourself to the train station, and someone else will pick up the [...]
Doc Holloway is hoping that his latest invention will turn him into a “Brazillionaire”, reports BCLocalNews.com. “Go lie on a beach in Rio and collect royalties,” he explains of the term he coined. The Penticton businessman/inventor is hoping his invention, the Cloud Flyer, will impress the panel of ruthless Canadian business moguls from the television [...]
Before You Lose Your Cell Phone
TechNewsDaily reports that Disneyland collects about 300 cell phones a week, along with various personal digital assistants and iPods, and cab drivers collected more than 8,700 mobile devices left behind in taxis in the Washington-Baltimore area over a six month period. Losing a phone can cost more than the price of a replacement. It can [...]
Mompreneur Says No To Unhealthy Kid Drinks
At a time when more people are making the switch to a healthy living style, more businesses are sprouting up to accommodate them. One of these businesses, Flavrz Drink Mix, is being guided by one mompreneur in the fight against those not-so-healthy drink alternatives on the market. Karen Barth, a Harvard Business School graduate and [...]
Have you ever added a pack of gum to your cart while waiting to check out at the grocery store? lf so, you’ve been a victim of impulse shopping. Unplanned purchases not only help drive the economy, but also put shoppers in a better mood by relieving negative emotions such as stress and anger. So [...]
Inventor Of Hovercraft To Be Honored
Sir Christopher Cockerell, the man who invented the hovercraft, will be honored in the Somerleyton village where it was created reports AllVoices. The column will be unveiled by Sir Christopher Cockerell’s daughter, Frances, on the centenary of his birth at 2.30pm on Friday 4th June. The hovercraft was invented by Sir Christopher Cockerell whilst he [...]
Why the retailing giant brought in over 400 billion dollars in revenue for 2009. Stephen Wilkes – Time-Lapse: A Day at A Walmart Store from BERNSTEIN & ANDRIULLI on Vimeo.
Using Photos In Your Small Business PR
photo credit: Mitra Mirshahidi- When dealing with PR issues there are so many things that most of us business owners wonder about and may even struggle with. One of the biggest things that business owners struggle with is how they can go about incorporating photos into their PR for their small business. I have included [...]
Dinosaur Amusement Park for Sale
A fifteen acre dinosaur theme park in Irish Hills, Michigan is for sale. Formerly known as Prehistoric Forest, the park originally opened in 1963. According to AgilityNut, “Prehistoric Forest had a safari train that took visitors around the 8-acre property, past a rumbling and smoking volcano and a 35′ waterfall. There were dinosaur bones, serpents, [...]
With the rapid development of media and promotion, advertising is almost impossible to avoid. Simply put, advertising is everywhere. The Graphic Design blog showcases some creative print ads that are backed by a powerful concept and effectively deliver the message. To see the complete showcase, go here. Photos by Graphic Design blog.
5 Tips for Quick Social Media Success
Susan Gunelius at Entrepreneur has five tips that anyone can apply to their social media marketing efforts today and start seeing positive results almost immediately. 1. Make it easy and non-threatening for your audience to participate. Not only does your content matter on the social web but your personality matters, too. 2. Write share-worthy content. [...]
Quadriplegic Builds Dream Truck & Biz
According to NPR, Steve Kitchin, who was in his 30s at the time, became a quadriplegic. His legs were paralyzed, but he still has some use of his arms. More than anything, Kitchin wanted to drive again. He got a minivan with hand controls for the gas and brake. The only problem was, he’s the [...]
We know that quitting smoking is tough. Even tougher: quitting for good. Readers Digest reports a new vaccine holds promise for the 90 percent of quitters who relapse. After six monthly injections, users of NicVax build up antibodies to nicotine, just as they would to a disease. If you smoke when you’re on it, your [...]
76 Year Old Entrepreneur Pens Autobiography
Back in 1941 in his home city of Detroit, Bill Phillips was in 3rd grade. At that time they gave children milk in bottles rather than the cartons that schools use today. There was always one bottle of chocolate milk that would be saved as a special treat for the one student that stood out [...]
Remember what it was like to navigate an MP3 player for the very first time? Now imagine that challenge multiplied by the hurdles of old age: arthritic fingers, weak vision, the works. CNNMoney asks, in the age of so-called digital democracy, with technology leveling many playing fields, why should the elderly be left out? Enter [...]
The smell of wheeled garbage bins was bothering Daniel Woolman so he decided to do something about it reports the Telegraph. Woolman, 27, invented Binifresh, a device that sits permanently inside the bin and every four hours releases a spray that kills bacteria and germs and eradicates odours. Now Binifresh – complete with UK and [...]
New Legal Protections For Social Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs who want to put principles before profits—even after their companies go public—may soon have the legal cover to do just that, reports BusinessWeek. On Apr. 13, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed a law creating legal entities known as “benefit corporations” and giving them greater protection from shareholder lawsuits. California and Vermont have similar bills [...]
New Bizop Classified Ads This Week
New listing this week on the Business Opportunities Weblog Classifieds. Blogger Wanted: Blog Job Free Unlimited Wireless With Voice-text-data Mind Blowing Opportunity Profitable Plant Secrets Do You Love To Drive? Here’s How To Make Money Driving Around Town Moms Are You Considering Being A Romance Party Consultant? Www.passionreps.com Www.freeadultparties.com Free Did You Know Passion Parties [...]
Help Me Interview John Battelle
Later today, John Battelle, who is the co-founder of Wired magazine, author of The Search and now CEO of Federated Media Publishing, is going to be interviewed live on the web from 1 to 2 PM Pacific Time. John will be interviewed by BigThink as part of the HP-sponsored Input/Output series, and I’ll be providing [...]
Armed with just a dream and the determination to make it come to life, Simona Faroni & Guido Tremolini came from Italy and settled in the US 14 years ago. Their dream? To show Americans just how good Italian gelato really is. If you’re not aware of what exactly gelato is, it’s an ‘evolutionized’ version [...]
photo credit: Paulo Brandão Most of us have a long list of goals that we set for ourselves every year, especially in our business adventures. However, most of us don’t quite know how to go about setting goals in such a way that we can actually reach them, before we know it the goal is [...]
photo credit: Eustaquio Santimano If you still haven’t made your New Years Resolution yet, a good one in business may be to become more creative for the new year. We are at the very bottom of an economic crisis so there is only up for us to go, and this can actually be a great [...]
Keeping Your Start-Up Supercharged
photo credit: Robert S. Donovan Small Biz Bee: When you start a new business, there is a certain “energy” in the air. Although there is a lot to get done, you and your team are excited about the work. How do you keep that energy going? Here are the 7 secrets to keep your start-up [...]
New Healthcare Biz Snags Big Investors
A Seattle, Washington based health care startup has received funding from Michael Dell and Jeff Bezos, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Their business model is unique and could radically change health care in this country. More from the WSJ: Qliance operates three clinics in the Seattle area that offer primary care treatment to patients [...]
An inexpensive but effective way to hide your valuables is a diversion safe. These safes do not look like the typical steel lockbox safe. Instead, diversion safes are disguises like a hollowed-out book or soda can. Diversion safes look like containers designed to hide your valuables in plain sight. BuyASafe.com sells safes that are made [...]
Boy Scouts Bring Back Entrepreneurship Merit Badge
Huffington Post: For nearly four decades, Boy Scout merit badges have been awarded for the qualities, principles and virtues society most values in young people. Though an Entrepreneurship merit badge was quietly introduced in 1997, this year the Boy Scouts are updating the badge and re-introducing it with greater prominence. The new Entrepreneurship Merit Badge [...]
CNNMoney.com: Mario Batali decided last year to install a garden between his adjoining West Hollywood restaurants, Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza. But a plain old backyard patch wouldn’t do. Batali wanted something more visually striking, something more … vertical? So he turned to Jim Mumford, the owner of Good Earth Plant and Flower Company in [...]
Niche Biz: WeddingPaymentPlan.Com
Yahoo Finance: A wedding is one of the most important days of your life. It can also be one of the most expensive, running $28,000 on average, according to some estimates. For those who don’t have that much, there’s a new company out of Norwell, Mass., that could help: Wedding Payment Plan will finance your [...]
Mom’s Quest Turns Into Multimillion-Dollar Biz
Kim Ormsby was supposed to be a corporate executive or a veterinarian. What she was not supposed to be was the inventor of a new kind of cloth diaper that has catapulted the growing industry forward or the founder of a natural-infant-care company that has grown explosively each year since she started it in her [...]
The Young App-rentices: Andrew Rauh
Fast Company takes a look at four App developers with major ideas. All age 16 or younger, they’re part of a generation raised with multi-touch and social media, and they’re cranking out profitable ideas for new devices and platforms as fast as manufacturers let them. Andrew Rauh, 16, Dearborn, Michigan When did you get started? [...]
Three Important Questions For Entrepreneurs
Scott Anthony recently wrote at Bloomberg.com about three questions that all entrepreneurs should ask themselves when they’re just getting started. One of the first lessons taught to me by my Harvard Business School finance professor sticks with me to this day: The only reason a business fails is that it runs out of cash. As [...]
Selling Quirky Products To Retailers
According to Inc.com, Laura Silverthorn runs Mother Ink, a company that makes temporary tattoos for expectant mothers. Her online sales are great, but retailers aren’t buying. She wants to know how to get stores to step out of their comfort zones? Product packaging matters less on the Web, but in stores, life-size products jam the [...]
‘Cutey’ Diapers That Moms Love
By combining her passions as a mom and her love of cloth diapers, Ada Vaughan has created what is a booming diaper business reports the Bolingbrook Reporter. Q How did this all begin? A In 2008, I started sewing diapers in my basement. I had tried different things such as illustrations, and I even made [...]
Simple Tricks To Remembering Names
According to Forbes, few situations will make you cringe more than standing next to someone you’ve met several times and drawing a blank on his or her name. Plenty of business deals and romantic rendezvous have been foiled because someone failed to recall the right name at the right time. In the Web age e-mail [...]
When was the last time you rode across a lake using a tricycle that floats? Those of you who’ve experienced this unique adventure know exactly what I am referring to. For those of you that are unsure it is time to take a look at the Aqua-Cycle. In a world where you want to stand [...]
Readers Digest reports that blasting through a decaying tooth to reach a cavity can involve “drilling out healthy parts of a tooth to get to a small area of infection,” says Wayne Flavin, director of scientific affairs for DMG America, a dental-materials company. Enter Icon, the company’s new treatment for early cavities, which works by [...]
Twitter Uses For Small Businesses
photo credit: 7son75 Almost all small businesses are associated with Twitter in some way, and if you are not, then you really need to jump on the bandwagon. There are so many useful things about Twitter for small business, many of which will make your life as a business owner so much easier. Look below [...]
Startup Costs For A Virtual Assistant
photo credit: William Hook We have done a lot of talking on this site about businesses hiring a virtual assistant (VA) and how beneficial this step can be for businesses outside and inside the home. I think it may also be of some importance and significance to talk about the costs of being a VA [...]
Saving On Your Small Business Website
photo credit: re-ality Often times when having a small business website, a lot of owners are forced to let go of their website due to too many fees that they are paying out every year or even every month just to have the site. I read an article recently located on Small Biz Bee that makes [...]
Five Ways To Make Great Social Games
Mark Pincus, chief executive of Zynga, runs the most successful social game company on Facebook, with more than 252 million monthly active users for games such as FarmVille. According to Venturebeat, his company has nearly 800 employees and is worth, by one educated estimate, about $5 billion. So his advice counts when it comes to [...]
YourAM: Free Biz Appointment Manager
If you are a self-employed person with not so many resources, scheduling and managing appointments can be tough. MakeUseOf.com takes a look at YourAM, an online business appointment manager that aims to help you by letting you organize your appointments. When you are adding a new appointment, YourAM will automatically resolve time slots for availability. [...]
Fresno Bee: To hear the folks at Organic Pastures dairy tell it, Louise and McQueen were all but bound for the slaughterhouse or an industrialized farm. The two organic dairy cows were living in crowded, cold conditions, and their financially troubled owner needed to get rid of them. They faced an uncertain future. Organic Pastures [...]
The Young App-rentices: Stephen Huber
Fast Company takes a look at four App developers with major ideas. All age 16 or younger, they’re part of a generation raised with multi-touch and social media, and they’re cranking out profitable ideas for new devices and platforms as fast as manufacturers let them. Stephen Huber, 14, Chicago, IL When did you get started? [...]
Wok Robot Can Cook 600 Chinese Dishes
Popular Science reports that lovers of cashew chicken can rejoice. A joint effort by students at Yangzhou University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and a business in Shenzhen have created a fully-automated robot that can cook 600 classic Chinese dishes with a simple touchscreen selection. Although details of the invention process have yet to be released, sources [...]
Invention Aids In Plant Growth
An inventor has recently proved that anyone can make a difference when it comes to the environment, reports Greenfudge.org. Pieter Hoff, a former flower exporter turned invetor, has created the Groasis Waterboxx. This nifty invention makes it possible to grow trees and bushes in the most unlikely places, such as on rocks, across deserts, throughout [...]
PayPal Creates Startup Mentoring
According to Strategy Eye, PayPal is creating a ‘startup accelerating program’ that will provide direct competition to Microsoft’s BizSpark mentoring and support program. The program was announced by PayPal product development VP Osama Bedier, who says the program will focus on allowing companies to make the right connections. PayPal will introduce startups to venture capitalists [...]
