Archive for June 2011
Inside The Mind Of An Avon Sales Leader
As one of the original door-to-door direct selling companies, it seems like Avon has been around forever. However, the brand has managed to stay fresh, and the Avon lady you remember from the past may be your friend or neighbor today. The United States is not the only country enjoying the opportunity that Avon has [...]
A part of an online presence for any business is maintaining awareness of your own popularity. Are you influencing the people who follow you or does your business need a new look? Business Standard recently reported about a system that a search engine marketing firm has created to help determine Internet influence. Wondering just how [...]
Paypal: The End of the Wallet By 2015
Paypal believes that the time of the wallet is ending. By 2015, they predict that digital currency will be acceptable anywhere, including your corner store and Walmart. They’ve also announced that more than 100 million people have active Paypal accounts. Does your business take Paypal? Maybe you should. If you’re not familiar with Paypal, it’s [...]
Billing Your Doctor for Your Wasted Time
There’s a great business idea in here, somewhere! CNN: Elaine Farstad got antsy as she waited for her doctor, who was late for her scheduled appointment. Then she got downright impatient. Then, as nearly two hours passed, she got mad. Then she came up with an idea. “I decided to bill the doctor,” she says. [...]
Who do you call when your dress begins to slip? Elaine Popove, of course. She is the founder of Miss Fix Fashion Products, which is the home to Fashion-Aid. Her roll-on adhesive helps keep strapless dress from slipping too low, reports Campbell River Mirror. Popove’s Fashion-Aid product is a liquid fashion adhesive designed to secure [...]
Farewell To Weed Eater Inventor
Ever wonder about the origins of the weed eater? What the device does is pretty basic, but it helped change the way that people cared for their lawns. The man who started the brand, George C. Ballas Sr., recently passed on at the age of 85, but not before he could leave behind his one-of-a-kind [...]
Today in Entrepreneurial History: June 30
On this day in 191, inventor Paul Edward Yost was born. He was the inventor of the modern hot air balloon and is called the “Father of the Modern Day Hot-Air Balloon.” In the 1950s, Yost’s own interests turned toward reviving the lost practice of manned hot-air ballooning. This technology had first been invented in [...]
Amazon Associates Program Ending in California
Amazon today announced that they are ending their affiliate program in California in a high stakes game of chicken with the state of California’s in response to the new proposed internet sales-tax law. Just received this note from Amazon: For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of California residents. [...]
CompostNow: The Garbage Man Picks Up and Drops Off
With CompostNow you can home compost, without composting at home. Members receive a small bin to keep in your kitchen or on your back porch. Fill it with all you organic waste. This includes all food waste, paper products, and anything else compostable. As a CompostNow member, you are entitled to receive the final results [...]
Cub Scout’s Lawn Mowing Empire
MyFox9: It may seem a bit old-fashioned, but one 11-year-old Cub Scout is financing his new dreams by turning into a lawn-mowing mogul. Despite his age, Bill Breitenstein seems beyond his years and hasn’t gone by “Billy” since kindergarten. Now, he’s going into sixth grade and was yearning for a new mountain bike. So, his [...]
Motorcycles Kill The Elderly, More
In 1975, 80% of all deaths on a motorcycle occurred in people 29 years and younger. Today greater than 30% of all deaths are in people 50 years and older. The 29 and younger crowd only account for about 25%. What’s this mean? If you’re trying to sell motorcycles, or motorcycle-related accessories to the youth, [...]
Water Filter For Any Water Bottle
A few companies in existence offer a unique water bottle with a filtration system included in the bottle, but what if you want to use a variety of different bottles? There is now botlfilter. Created by Canadian entrepreneur, Emily Wilkinson, all you have to do is put the filter back inside the botlfilter case and [...]
Mompreneur Helps Brands Reach The Mom Market
The National Association for Moms in Business says that moms have $1.3 trillion in spending power, with 80% of them making most of the household decisions. So, if a company chooses to ignore the mom market, they face hurting their income. Stacy DeBroff noticed many of the issues these companies seemed to have trying to [...]
Monetizing Your Platform Strategically – Go Beyond the Book
The following is a guest post by Peter Winick. Everybody is doing it. With easy-to-use, off-the-shelf publishing software, even producing a good looking book isn’t that difficult. Books are being written and published at the highest rate in history. It’s selling books that is the problem. Many authors write a book and simply expect the [...]
Are Gov’t Contracts Really Reaching Small Business?
Central Valley Business Times recently reported findings from the American Small Business League (ASBL) that the SBA is lying about the actual number of contracts reaching small businesses. Last week the Small Business Administration said that the federal government narrowly missed its congressionally mandated 23 percent small business goal. The SBA announced the government awarded [...]
Today in Entrepreneurial History: June 29
1927 – First test of Wallace Turnbull’s controllable pitch propeller. 1956 – The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System.
$50 Per Month, For All the Movies You Can Watch, In a Theater
The Consumerist: MoviePass is a new in-beta service that lets movie buffs watch as many movies in theaters as they want for $50 a month. There’s no need for tickets, just show your smartphone at a participating theater and you’re in. The service, which is in trials in San Francisco, is trying to shake up [...]
Men With Pens asked: When was the last time you cleared up your clutter? I don’t mean office clutter (though you should probably take care of that; it’s been a while since the last time you tidied up). I mean mental clutter: ideas you’re never going to action. I bet that over the past months [...]
Damn Cool Pictures: A controversial zoo in Argentina allows tourists to have extremely close encounters with some of the most dangerous predators in the world. Here at the Lujan Zoo near Buenos Aires visitors can ride lions, cuddle bears, stroke tigers and feed cheetahs. Cages are accessible to everyone who paid $50 and signed the [...]
Thai Restaurantneur Reaches From The Kitchen To Store Shelves
If you ever find yourself in the mood for Thai food and you’re in the greater Victoria area of Canada, Rod Jiang owns a couple of restaurants you do not want to miss. Not only have customers ranked them number one for their food in the area, but some of their more popular meals have [...]
Americans are not the only people falling in love with social networking. In the UK, Facebook has taken control of Microsoft’s 2nd place position of the most popular websites visited, reports MSNBC. Even more surprising is the age group many of these visitors fall under. Facebook attracted a record 26.8 million visitors in Britain in [...]
Artist Transitions Into Auto Repair
It’s not every day artists decide to go into auto repair, but that is what makes Donna Curtin’s story so unique. She always had an interest in cars. Unfortunately, the gender divide kept her from doing anything with her dream. She went on to graduate from Binghamton and Harvard University in the fields of art, [...]
Becoming A Social Entrepreneur
It may not seem like a good time to start a social business when the economy is struggling, but The New York Times believes the time is now. So, what does it take to be a social entrepreneur? Don’t feel guilty if you make money. If you choose the profit-making model, stick with it — [...]
Today in Entrepreneurial History: June 27
1846 – The saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax in Paris, France. 1859 – The first conformation dog show is held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. 1883 – In Milan in Italy inaugurated the first central European electricity power station. 1902 – The U.S. Congress passes the Spooner Act, authorizing President Theodore Roosevelt to acquire rights from [...]
A company called ConceptShed is marketing their newest invention, the AutoWed vending machine. The AutoWed is a novelty wedding machine offering a quick hitch, a couple of rings and a personalized certificate for just $1. Audio prompts, specially produced music, a bespoke retro keyboard and VFD display, ring vending and ticket printer all wrapped up [...]
Opportunities in Air Conditioning the Desert
According to NPR:, the US Military spends more than $20 billion annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan. There has to be a way to profit from this. The amount the U.S. military spends annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan: $20.2 billion. That’s more than NASA’s budget. It’s more than BP has [...]
For Don Edwards, it began with a need to move furniture on carpet with ease. In 1993, he designed a product called EZ Moves Furniture Slides. When placed under the edges of a couch or chair, it could move around a carpeted room with ease. What came next he never expected, reports Your Norwin. Edwards [...]
Social Media: Building Businesses and Relationships
The following is a guest post by Kristen Bradley. We’ve all been pitched the social media hype about how setting up a business profile will miraculously make our businesses more popular or successful. The unavoidable media frenzy proclaims, “Your business needs to be on Facebook and Twitter NOW!” Although sale conversions on social media sites [...]
Mompreneur Sells Products With A Purpose
Entrepreneur, Kat Nouri, describes herself simply as a mom. However, she is much more. According to The Oakland Tribune, her steps in eco-manufacturing help put her in a whole new category. As founder and creative director of Modern-twist, she’s taken the idea of a home-based business to levels that could serve as a guidebook for [...]
Social Entrepreneurs Fall Behind Impact Investors
When Aron Jakab started Fruit of Care a few years ago, he was a great designer but had no experience business management, marketing research, or finance. Even though his social enterprise was viable, his business was too young for impact investors, reports Triple Pundit. Fruit of Care instead tapped into an organization named NESsT, which, [...]
Lucky Dog Films is Looking For Inventors for TV Show
Lucky Dog Films is currently casting for a new television show featuring inventors and their food-related innovations. If your invention is connected to food and the food life cycle, they’d like to hear from you. If selected, you may have the opportunity to pitch your product to a top housewares manufacturer. Their three requirements: Your [...]
FireIce: Like Water On Steriods
Peter Cordani, a serial inventor, discovered the FireIce gel in 2006, when he was experimenting with protective coatings to defend homes from hurricanes. CNN Money has more: Peter Cordani is trying to set his hand on fire. The 2,000-degree blowtorch he’s holding clearly works — it just incinerated a piece of wood — but when [...]
Popular Science: The fastest human butchers can fully debone about 150 chickens per hour. That’s a lot of chickens! But the new Mayekawa Automatic Chicken Deboner easily bests it, masterfully breaking down a whopping 1,500 chickens in the same amount of time—which, if our math is correct, is ten times faster than a flesh-and-blood butcher.
Will Agritourism Save Family Farms?
NY Times: For all the talk about sustainable agriculture, most small farms are not self-sustaining in a very basic sense: they can’t make ends meet financially without relying on income from jobs off the farm. But increasingly farmers are eking more money out of the land in ways beyond the traditional route of planting crops [...]
What’s Next For Mr. Jelly Belly?
David Klein always regretted selling his invention, Jelly Belly. However, he believes there are more successes to come. While he currently offers $5 tours through his small candy factory, he has some big ideas brewing, reports Los Angeles Times. Now, years out of the limelight, he’s convinced a comeback is right around the corner, arriving [...]
The newest pet craze sweeping China involves pet pandas… or are they? Nope, these little bundles of joy are actually just chow chow dogs that have been dyed black-and-white to look like pandas. How soon before this takes off in the west, and will you be at the forefront?
Here’s update to my posts about robot cars Govt Regulation Roadblocks Driverless Car and Self-Driving Cars Coming to Nevada: The State of Nevada just passed Assembly Bill No. 511 which, among other things, authorizes the Department of Transportation to develop rules and regulations governing the use of driverless cars, such as Google’s concept car, on [...]
A Japanese company called Kiko is now offering wooden sandals called Ashiato for kids that leave animal tracks in the sand as they walk. The website is in Japanese, but here’s what I’ve been able to figure out via Google’s translate tool: Ashiato are children’s clogs with animal footprints. Shapes available include a cat, owl, [...]
Tecca: [Jack Eisenmann] built an 8-bit computer out of microchips, a plastic Tupperware case, and tons of wires. Eisenmann’s computer, which he is calling the DUO Adept, runs a small operating system he coded himself. … He made it so he can play the classic game Pong, as well as a side-scrolling adventure game he [...]
Urban Breakthrough: Pervious Concrete
Normally, when rain water lands on concrete, it pools or runs downhill until it reaches a storm drain that then pipes the water far away from the site of the initial downpour. This has a negative impact on the local groundwater, since rain is the primary way that groundwater stocks are replenished. A new concrete [...]
Faster Cooking On Charcoal Grills
Unlike propane grills where the temperature can be easily set, charcoal grills can be a little temperamental. No matter how hard you try, it can be tough trying to get those coals to reach the right temperature to start cooking. So, a UK inventor, Paul Dorracott, has come up with a device to help increase [...]
Pixie Printz Imprints Jewelry With Personality
If you want to remember someone you love, creating a personalized treasure is the best way to do that. Pixie Printz helps people create that treasure by making personalized jewelry and charms imprinted with a fingerprint from someone you hope to remember. For Carrie Stanley, it all started with her daughter. Her young daughter is [...]
A new store in the tiny town of Elma, NY has turned the town into a tour bus destination. The store: Made in America, where everything is manufactured in the United States of America. Shop owner Mark Andol climbs aboard a bus and tells the riders that shopping here is a patriotic act. “When you [...]
Direct selling can seem like a dirty word to a business that is afraid to reach out for their customers. However, sometimes that is exactly what you must do. The Globe And Mail recently considered a dillemma that The Network Hub had to face when it decided it wanted to expand. Are you afraid to [...]
George Weiss has seen around 80 of his inventions fail, but at 84 years old he has finally hit gold. Dabble is a word game that requires fast thinking, and is a lot of fun. It is now found in 42 stores across the country, and recently won the 2011 Game of the Year Award [...]
What Kind of Business Would An Anthropologist Start?
Just because your area of expertise is something exotic like anthropology, doesn’t mean you can’t make a business out of it. A forensic anthropologist from North East England has started his own business to help police identify human remains: A Senior forensics and crime scene lecturer at Teesside University is launching a new digital business [...]
Autistic 9 Year Old Starts Soda Business
Kent’s Soda: Nine year old Kent ran a typical lemonade stand in the summer of 2010. He had fun and earned enough to buy some things he had really wanted. At the end of the summer he said, “Dad, I made a lot of money this summer. I got everything I wanted.” Kent then asked [...]
How Are You Profiting from “Climate Change?”
AlertNet: Businesses see an opportunity to turn a buck just about anywhere – even in climate change. According to a report released Monday by the UN Global Compact, the UN Environment Programme, OxFam and the World Resources Institute, companies are very aware of the financial boost global warming could have on their businesses. Eighty-six percent [...]
StartUpYours.com – Family Friendly Business Start Up & Grant Program
StartUpYours.com describes itself as “The only family-friendly business startup course & grant program made especially for freedom-seeking parents & their awesome kids.” It’s a new program that’s coming online but the idea is interesting. What they teach: You dream of a family-centered life, but you also have to support your family. Which is why it’s [...]
Door-To-Door For Men’s Clothes
The Wall Street Journal: Somewhere in Dallas, there’s a woman driving around in a $1,000-a-month Lexus selling J. Hilburn dress shirts. She’s one of more than 1,000 commission-based “style advisors,” J. Hilburn LLC’s traveling band of fabric swatch carrying, collar-and-cuff experts that are expected to push the company’s revenue to around $25 million this year. [...]
