Archive for June 2010
If you’ve ever been to a music festival, or see one on TV, you know that people who their children to these muddy affairs sometimes end up struggling. Twenty-four hours of music might be fun, but with a toddler, it’s easy to turn into a nightmare. British nanny Selina Cope saw this as an opportunity [...]
San Diego Inventor Has Game Plan
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, to Jack Degnan, everything is a game. An insult — someone told him he was talking drivel — became a board game of nonsense words. The word “trash” stuck in Degnan’s head, and he began wondering what one might find in a celebrity’s garbage. He turned that idea into [...]
Shark Tank to Return for One Episode
The following is by Brenden Sherratt of In The Shark Tank. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Shark Tank will return for one episode on Thursday, July 15, at 8 p.m. ABC has one episode that has yet to air in the US, it has how ever already aired in Canada on Global. The episode [...]
Yesterday we presented a photograph of a gold medal winning product design at the 2010 International Design Excellence Awards. But we couldn’t figure out what it was. It looked like a flower vase or a wine caraf and was called OneDown. Just one reader, Sharon B. guessed that OneDown is a humane rat trap. (I [...]
Preparing For Growth And Success
photo credit: iChaz There are so many different aspects of business that one needs to plan for but all too often business owners don’t properly prepare for the two most important aspects, which are growth and success. It’s almost as though they don’t want to count their chickens before they hatch, so they wait to [...]
How To Build Your Self Confidence
photo credit: jcoterhals Self confidence is one of the greatest attributes that you can have on your side, whether it is for business or personal life. The more self confidence you have the more likely it is that you will succeed in life and the more people that will look up to you as they [...]
photo credit: ( Torsten ) Have you ever heard the phrase “are you working hard or hardly working?”, this article that I recently read on Open Forum talks directly about how you can actually work less in order to do better in your business. Now it’s not that we are suggesting you don’t work at all [...]
Entrepreneurs Trying To Revive A City
According to The New York Times, Bizdom U is an intense boot camp for aspiring entrepreneurs who aim to start high-growth businesses in Detroit. It is the brainchild of Dan Gilbert, a Motor City native who is founder and chairman of the online mortgage lender Quicken Loans. Bizdom U, however, is unique in its focus [...]
While instantly gratifying, buying ice cream from a vending machine isn’t as fun as it could be, says trendspotter Springwise. Which is why SapientNitro and Unilever created the world’s first smile-activated ice cream vending machine. The underlying technology is sophisticated, but the concept is simple: consumers walk up to the machine, smile and are rewarded [...]
This Post Will Self Destruct In…
While reading Blood on the Street: The Sensational Inside Story of How Wall Street Analysts Duped a Generation of Investors, Joseph Collins had a unique thought reports DenverPost.com. “I was reading Charlie’s book and I thought it was very unfair that Eliot Spitzer could just walk into companies and demand their email,” Collins recalled. Spitzer [...]
William Rosen at The Wall Street Journal hails these books about inventions. Longitude By Dava Sobel The story of the first marine chronometer, invented by the self-taught British clockmaker John Harrison, had a remarkable number of dramatic elements. Thanks to the Longitude Act of 1714, the protagonist’s goal—a £20,000 prize for a method of determining [...]
2010′s Best Designed Products…
This design was one of 38 gold medal winnners at the 2010 International Design Excellence Awards. Can you figure out what it does? I’ll give you a hint, it’s called the OneDown. Put your guess in the comments and I’ll reveal the correct answer on Friday. Photo by DSK ISD International School of Design.
Optical Designer Succeeds With New Telescope
Journal: Lifelong astronomer Peter Wise, of Dundonald Avenue, Abergele, collected a coveted gold medal at the 38th Geneva Inventions Fair in Switzerland after his product stood out from entries across the world. The optical designer, who has been making telescopes for 30 years, drew upon his in-depth knowledge of the industry to design the refracting [...]
Trendspotter Springwise says cash may be increasingly rare as a method of payment in most transactions, but tipping remains one of those areas where it’s still often the standard. Therein lies a problem for international travellers, who must juggle multiple currencies; Where’s My Tip, however, aims to offer a solution. Wait staff and bartenders should [...]
According to a story at Reuters, targeting a very specific audience makes marketing that much easier, said Michael Philibrick, a director of wealth management and associate portfolio manager at Richardson GMP, who mainly deals with dental professionals. People talk about niches,” he said. “‘Oh, I deal with this or that,’ but you’ve really got to [...]
New Bizop Classified Ads This Week
New listing this week on the Business Opportunities Weblog Classifieds. How To Start A Dry Cleaning Delivery Business Make Money Selling Used Cars From Home Looking For 21 Serious Business Partners Healthiest Coffee Ever And Nothing Is Added! Property Preservation Directory- Directory Of Property Preservation Vendors/ Contractors You Can Laugh At Money Worries-if You Follow [...]
Essential Ingredients For A Great Online Comment
photo credit: Crystl Those of you who operate an online business or often comment on other online businesses are sure to find this post very useful and important as we will be going over the crucial ingredients of a great online comment. Remember that once you hit that “post” button there is no going back, [...]
photo credit: ottonassar As the pace of change quickens and business planning becomes more vital, untruths and mythology about the subject keep coming up. I’d like to clear them up. Entrepreneur.com. When people in business tell you that investors don’t read your business plan, this is about the biggest myth out there! Not only do [...]
How To Tell If Your Price Is Right
photo credit: estraire Pricing has always been one of the greatest games in business. In times of scarcity, this is ever so true. The price you offer has to reflect value, convey trust and cover costs of sales, delivery, and unfortunately, collections. And you have to be able to get your price. As stated on [...]
Here are a few links that didn’t warrant their own posts, but I wanted to share with you today: Five Lessons Your Kids Will Learn By Starting A Business Prosthetic Flipper Turns Amputees Into Mermen How To Determine If Your Online Business Idea Even Has a Chance Wine Is a Better Recession Investment Than Stocks [...]
Attracting Customers with YouTube
Google sells a lot of advertisements on their site YouTube. Many businesses use the site to promote their products and services. Sometimes, though, the best way for a small business, like yours, to use the site to attract new clients and customers is to just create great videos. The Google Blog recently invited Terrence Kelleman, [...]
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Square is a new start-up that was co-founded by Jack Dorsey (the guy who created Twitter and was their original CEO). According to Fast Company, Square is a “is both a foolproof and attractive experience” that will appeal to small businesses.
Convince Them In 90 Seconds Or Less
Nicholas Boothman talks to Maggie Rodriquez on the Early Show on CBS about his latest book “Convince Them in 90 Seconds.”
Inventors Digest is reporting that at the Association of University Technology Managers annual meeting, two medical innovators unveiled a draft of the “Academic Inventors’ Bill of Rights.” Although billed as a “collaborative work in progress,” the initiative highlights ongoing tension between academic and student inventors on one side, and university administrators on the other. At [...]
Inflatable Buildings Could Earn Millions
In New York, the most glaring signs of the Great Recession are the stalled construction sites littering the city–boarded up, dusty, and desolate eyesores. The architecture mega-firm Woods Bagot may have a solution, which they’ve just unveiled: Temporary, inflatable buildings that let the developers make money while they wait for their finances to shape up. [...]
Annie Hilliard didn’t leave her dream for a business on the backburner but the name she gave it was placed there. Three months ago Annie launched The Backburner, a kitchenware consignment shop reports HometownAnnapolis.com.
Launch A New Product On Twitter
Until last year, NAP, Inc.’s best known product line was its Sleepy Wrap baby carrier. But when the company launched the Boba Baby Carrier last year, it focused its efforts on social media, especially Twitter, according to a story at Inc.com. Prior to that, we were just using traditional online and print advertising,” says Ashley [...]
Mom’s Multi-Pronged Home Business
Missoulian: Home is where Nici Holt Cline nourishes her heart and her business, both of which seamlessly commingle in her busy life as a mother, entrepreneur, writer, designer of kids’ clothing and gardener. Other labels would also define this fourth-generation Montanan, among them, wife and risk taker. Flexible and imaginative, Cline, 32, quilts together an [...]
Google Voice Now Open To Everyone
BetaNews reports that Google Voice, the popular and often controversial VoIP, voicemail, and messaging service from Mountain View search giant Google is now open for anyone in the U.S. to use.
The Cash Poor World Of High Tech Entrepreneurs
As one of the co-founders for Paypal and the mind that helped create the Tesla, no one really expected to hear that Elon Musk was out of cash reports The New York Times. Mr. Musk is a member of the PayPal Mafia — those serial entrepreneurs who, for a time, looked like the Brat Pack [...]
Phone Scam Targets Your Bank Account
The FBI is warning consumers to be on the alert for scammers who tie up their phone lines while emptying their bank accounts, WalletPop reports. High-tech criminals are now using automated dialing programs and multiple accounts to overwhelm the phone lines of unsuspecting consumers and small- and medium-sized businesses. The denial-of-service calls, which can include [...]
Great Marketing Flyer for Dentists
Dr. John Mullally promotes his dental practice in Muskegon, Michigan with these innovative fliers. If you’re not in his neck of the woods, feel free to mimic his idea.
Boston.com: “Literally, this market is just exploding,” said publisher Upendra Mishra. In the Indian culture, marrying off a child is a matter of pride, and parents spare no expense to throw a traditional wedding, said wedding planner and decorator Shobha Shastry. The weddings, she said, typically range from $50,000 to $150,000 and can go as [...]
Entrepreneurialism Driving Drug Legalization
American entrepreneur Adam Dunn built a $3 million “pot empire” in Amsterdam, and has now returned to the US to do the same thing here: Small businesses have become the latest engines for medical marijuana advocacy in the U.S., according to Dick Cowan, the former director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana [...]
According to Crain’s New York Business, until Planet Pepper, options were very limited for drag queens who needed outfits and dresses. Well, just think: dresses that are proportioned correctly for a size 14 man.
Why We Should Train Kids To Be Entrepreneurs
Cameron Herold, the Backpocket COO, explains why we should encourage kids to be entrepreneurs. via HolyKaw
Defending Against Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
CBS 12 News: Just last year, Caitlin Brondolo and Amber Wilson died when [Amber's] mother … left a car running in the garage both of these tragedies were accidental. One local inventor says he’s come up with a new device that can actually prevent such incidents. Inventor Michael Cristoforo says, “this is a prototype of [...]
Salesman Finds Niche With Wizard Wall
According to The Washington Post, Mike Fogarty has been working in the printing industry for the last 25 years or so, mainly selling paper. He’s an affable guy and a born salesman. The skills he has picked up along the way include knowing a good thing when he sees it. So when Fogarty happened upon [...]
Agri-preneur, Roberto Puentespina, recently told the BusinessMirror that he is hoping to spark “agriculture tourism” as a way of life. Puentespina said the livestock industry of local farmers in Calinan district in this city can be an attraction for other farmers coming from the nearby provinces of Bukidnon, Davao del Norte, North Cotabato and other [...]
Swype Makes Typing Easier On Touch Screens
According to The New York Times, there is a new challenge to typing on phones. More phones are using virtual keyboards on a touch screen, replacing physical buttons. But pecking out a message on a small piece of glass is not so easy, and typos are common. Cliff Kushler thinks he has a solution. His [...]
Inventions Flow To BP And Stop There
The worst oil spill in U.S. history has inspired a deluge of ideas to contain the ooze, cap the geyser or keep the sludge from staining more shorelines, reports Tampa Bay Online. Rudimentary blueprints have been sketched on scrap paper. Contraptions cobbled together in home garages. Computer-animated clips posted on the Internet. Plans have called [...]
Is The King Of Free About To Help News Providers Get Paid?
The New York Times is reporting that Google will soon unveil a one-click payment system for content called “Newspass.” According to the newspaper La Repubblica, Google, a brand built on free apps for consumers, is creating the infrastructure for a system that would allow publishers to charge readers for content. “Later this year, Google will [...]
Inventor Eliminates ‘Crumby’ Situations
The first thing that any child just starting solids will do is smear the food in their hair. It is inevitable. No matter how clean your child starts, the moment they finish supper you will most likely find that their food has been smeared on their clothing and made its way into their hair creating [...]
A Demonstration of the Audioanamix Vuvuzela Remover
Venture Beat: Retailers have been using the Web as a way to let shoppers customize their products for a while now, most notably in the jewelry industry with companies like Blue Nile. A German startup called Chocri is taking a similar approach in a less obvious market — chocolate. And now it’s looking to expand [...]
Upcoming Book Review: Cash In On Your Inventions
Later this month, I’ll be publishing my review of the second edition of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cashing In On Your Inventions. Look for it.
Ideas from Twitter: Vuvuzela Alarm Clock
@siah: [business idea] A vuvuzela alarm clock. It can get you (and your neighbors) out of the bed on Mondays.
Hands-On Garage: A Do-It-Yourself Garage
Hands-On Garage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a do-it-yourself auto repair garage. People can rent their indoor bays and repair their own cars using Hands-On Garage’s tools. The really interesting part of the business to me, is that Hands-On Garage sells a business opportunity to local mechanics called “Fleet Crew Mechanics”: Fleet Crew Members are independent [...]
U.S. Is Home To Most Millionaires
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the economy may not be as vibrant as it was a few years ago. Yet by some measures, wealth is back. Global wealth has returned to 2007 pre-crisis levels, largely because of the recovery in stock and bond markets, according to a new study by the Boston Consulting Group. Assets under [...]
