Archive for November 2011
Caribbean Food Truck Promotes With Twitter
The food truck craze is really sweeping the nation. Today I received word of an authentic Caribbean food truck in Seattle called Jerk Station. The owner and chef Michael Cunningham has been using fliers and Twitter to promote his business: To promote his new business, Cunningham, who has a masters of business administration in marketing, [...]
Slate: One of my favorite parables is about a man who arrives in a village with what he claims is a magic stone. Put the stone into a pot of water over a fire, he says, add a just few ingredients—some vegetables, some old ham bones, a few spices—and soon you will have a delicious, [...]
A tree surgeon in the UK has discovered an upside to the rising energy costs; more of his customers are using the branches he trims to heat their homes. That sparked an idea: why not offer to clean their chimneys as well? Weston Mercury: Mr Drinkwater said: “My customers kept asking me if they knew [...]
Using Rattlesnakes Fight Cancer
Popular Science: An Irish company is using four American diamondback rattlesnakes in a new clinical trial that will test snake venom as a treatment for cancer. The snakes, which hail from the Albuquerque BioPark, will be allowed to bite something and have their venom extracted humanely. The venom contains proteins that will be extracted and [...]
Entrepreneurship Booming in New Orleans
Forbes: New Orleans is coming back strong. After sustaining the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, the national economic recession, and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans today shows significant signs of rebounding, thanks to key reforms in education, criminal justice, and local government policies. Among its most noteworthy accomplishments, [...]
American Food Store Franchise in Spain
Taste of America is a franchise retail chain in Spain that sells American food. From graham crackers and cranberry sauce to Betty Crocker cake mixes and Kraft macaroni and cheese the store stocks everything that a that expatriates and “American” food lovers might desire. Founded in 1994, the chain has grown from one store to [...]
When we look at all the fancy inventions people have come up with over the years, sometimes we forget to consider where many of these people got their start. It is often a problem in need of a simple solution that gets the creative juices flowing. Don Schendel would know. His latest invention, a 15 [...]
Mom-Friendly Franchising: Stroller Strides
Many parents are starting businesses, hoping to find a balance between work and family. Sometimes a good franchise is all you need. Stroller Strides is a company that was launched by a new mom, and it’s made to be run by mompreneurs looking for the perfect opportunity. We can’t make claims as to what kind [...]
UK Techpreneurs Shouldn’t Fear Failure
The Telegraph: Thirty technology experts, led by the ebullient Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and serial investor with stakes in the likes of Facebook and Zynga, are visiting Downing Street, London’s ‘Silicon Roundabout’, and universities across the country to encourage the next wave of British dotcom entrepreneurs. Hoffman thinks the UK is ‘on its way’ [...]
Vend Natural Provides Quick Snacks Without The Junk
The vending world is filled with junk food and soda. When a company like Vend Natural of Tennessee pops up to offer healthier options, it is a trend people are willing to embrace. The nation is growing in ways that are not good for our health, and Vend Natural is hoping to fight our bad [...]
Publishers Cash in On Self Publishing
The Guardian: Penguin USA will provide the service through its genre-fiction online community, Book Country, which launched in May offering wannabe authors the opportunity to post their work online and receive feedback. With 500 works of romance, science fiction, fantasy, mystery and thriller now online from 4,000 members, and “a small number” of those members [...]
Get Ready for the Senior (Citizen) Invasion
As the percentage of senior citizens in the world increase, businesses have been quietly getting themselves ready for the trend. For years supermarkets have been going crazy trying to speed up the checkout process to get people out of their stores more quickly. Self-checkouts and express lanes have been installed and then expanded in most [...]
Govliquidation.com: eBay for the Pentagon
The auction site Govliquidation.com has been called “eBay for the Pentagon”. It lets civilians bid for surplus military assets — from tanks and generators to missile guidance systems and buses. The site has also helped a number of small entrepreneurs strike out on their own for next to nothing. Forbes has some of their stories: [...]
In China, in the heart of panda country, a resourceful business has created “panda poo tea”. There’s no actual excrement in the tea, instead, the green tea is grown on a farm fertilized exclusively with panda manure. The Telegraph has more: “I have started growing the tea on around three acres of land,” said Mr [...]
The Two Builders Who Switched from Houses to Coffins
When the construction boom in Ireland went bust, two Irish carpenters, Ronan Diggin and Noel O’sullivan found themselves without a job. Lucky for them, even in Ireland, nothing is s certain as death and taxes. So, they’ve started building caskets. Ronan and Noel asked around and was keen to get someone to help him start [...]
When Charlie and Chocolate Factory premiered in theaters, Warner Bros. executives wanted to infuse the air outside the theater and inside the lobby with the rich fragrance of Wonka bars. They turned to a company called ScentEvents to do it. According to the company, they can scent any sized event, either inside or out. Two [...]
LA Times: Meet Silicon Valley’s version of Martha Stewart. Stewart may have invented lifestyle branding, but Brit Morin is determined to give it a digital makeover. Morin, a 25-year-old former employee of Apple and Google, is launching a new lifestyle brand that she describes as a cross between Real Simple and Wired magazines. She says [...]
Tackling Germs On Hospital Door Handles
If the handle doesn’t squirt sanitizer on your hand, then maybe the power of light will help keep those handles sanitized instead? “It all came to me when I was thinking about when you go to the bathroom, a lot of people use paper towels to exit the bathroom because they’re scared of the handle. [...]
After John Sprange’s father developed Alzheimer’s, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was some way he could help fight to maintain some of his memories. When his father went into a home, he made a list of cherished memories for his father to look over. Unfortunately, it was constantly set away whenever staff would [...]
When April King, a nurse anesthetist , had an idea for a device that would open up a patients airways and help elevate their jaw during sedation, she turned to the San Diego Inventors Forum. They helped her obtain the resources she needed to make her idea an actual product. Through the organization, she met [...]
The Robotic Shipping Department
Long after Webvan.com’s legendary flameout in 2001, the online grocer’s biggest problem never left Mick Mountz’s mind. As employee No. 400 at the dot-com, he knew that it simply cost too much to fulfill online orders. Labor was the killer cost. Ten years later, he’s solved the labor problem with his company Kiva Systems. Kiva’s [...]
Today, I learned that cremated ashes can be turned into crystalized beads if heated to high enough temperatures. The beads are usually blue-green but can also be pink, purple or black. In countries, like South Korea, that are rapidly transitioning from traditional burial to cremation (only 3 out of 10 South Koreans were buried last [...]
Video: 6th Grade iPhone Developer
Watch on YouTube His bio from TEDx: Thomas Suarez is a sixth grade student at a middle school in the South Bay. Since before Tom started kindergarten he’s been fascinated by computers and technology. Recently, he has been focused on the development of applications for the iPhone, and establishing his own company, CarrotCorp.
If A Homeless Man Can Make Money With Soap, You Can Too
Dennis Anderson never expected to be homeless. After all, he had a college degree. (Sarcasm) Unfortunately, that plus the money he earned at his retail jobs in Massachusetts, barely paid the bills. So, on a whim, he packed up his car and drove across the country to the Oregon. Where he found himself, without his [...]
Maisonia Deal is a group buying program (think Groupon) for building a new home in France. By negotiating on behalf of groups of individuals planning to build a new home, Maisonia Deal promises that it can save buyers as much as 30%. The system works like this: You choose one of their builders to construct [...]
Fido to Go is Chicago’s premier (maybe the only) gourmutt food truck serving hand-crafted canine cookies & doggy ice creams. You can find them and about at the city’s dog parks, beaches, and special events. They are also available to cater doggy parties and can even provide the games, activities, and photographer.
WSJ: Dingy teeth were once relatively common. But after a 1989 scientific article touted the use of low levels of hydrogen peroxide, pressed against teeth, to improve smiles, companies began producing whitening products and dentists began hawking them. Entrepreneurs jumped in quickly. The Food and Drug Administration classifies teeth-whitening products as cosmetics, and drugstores were [...]
What It’s Really Like to Run a B&B
A reader wrote: My wife is interested in starting a Bed & Breakfast. She think’s it’ll be all roses, but I’m not sure. Do you have any information about what it’s really like? I do. In fact, in today’s Wall Street Journal, there’s an article that attempts to dissuade potential bed and breakfast owners from [...]
Want to Get Rich? Move to Africa.
Wired: If you want to become extremely wealthy over the next five years, and you have a basic grasp of technology, here’s a no-brainer: move to Africa. Seriously. The internet is only now arriving, and — with a billion people on the continent still mostly offline — there exists a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build the [...]
Niche Biz: Bulletproof Clipboards
Is your clipboard bullet and stab proof? The Ballistic Clipboard from Impact Armor Technologies is. It was designed after a local law enforcement agency requested a way to protect their officers during traffic stops gone awry. According to the company, the clipboard, which weighs less than two pounds, will stop multiple hits shots from 9mm, [...]
Niche: Raincoat With Umbrella Hood
People have been inventing new ways to stay dry for a while, but Athanasia Leivaditou’s combined umbrella rain coat takes it to a whole new level. Athanasia Leivaditou’s creation is a waterproof Macintosh with a umbrella-like section that goes over your head. The hood is supported so that it sits firm and is rigid enough [...]
Not everyone can launch a ground-breaking business, but Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, has direct experience. He recently spoke to hundreds at Rutgers University on this topic. Many large companies often develop new technology, he said, only to follow up by making minor, cautious changes to the product, with a focus on market protection, not [...]
With The Right Tools, Entrepreneurs Change The World
If you give an entrepreneurs the right tools to help them start and grow businesses, they will help shape the world we live in. Of course, they are found all over the world. This week entrepreneurs around the world are highlighting their strengths. Rarely are we given the chance to address an issue that so [...]
Branding Yourself With Branders.com
Starting a company is just one step in a long list of many things you need to do if you want to succeed. Promoting yourself is another, and that is where Branders.com can help. Branders offers a variety of products for you to choose from. Once you’ve decided on the product you’d like to put [...]
Today in Entrepreneurial History: November 15
1859 – The first modern revival of the Olympic Games takes place in Athens, Greece. 1926 – The NBC radio network opens with 24 stations. 1969 – In Columbus, Ohio, Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy’s restaurant. 1971 – Intel releases world’s first commercial single-chip microprocessor, the 4004. Photo by Corvair Owner.
Exit Strategy: How to Maximize Value When it’s Time to Sell Your Company
The following is a guest post by Stephen D. Hassett. You’ve spent years building your business and for whatever reason you are ready sell it. How do you maximize value? Unfortunately, you may be too late. The value creation process needed to start years ago and short-term fixes may actually make things worse. In order [...]
For those of us in the United States, China is the place that makes the stuff we buy. What if that was to change? China, brimming with a population of over 1.3 billion, started buying with a vengeance? What if China became the place that manufacturers looked for their cues? That question is quickly turning [...]
At Hammacher Schlemmer, they’re selling a remote controlled ski boat. Before you say, “ho humm,” though, know that his RC boat is a bit different. For one, it will actually pull a water skier. And, it get’s better: the skier is the one controlling the remote! This is the unmanned water skiing boat that’s controlled [...]
Town Opens Own Department Store
In the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, there’s a hardy little town named Saranac Lake. Without a department store since 2002, and growing tired of the fifty mile commute for supplies, the 5,000 residents decided to do something about their situation: They decided to raise capital to open their own department store. Shares in [...]
Small Franchises Spreading Globally
WSJ: Before the downturn, small U.S. franchises typically wouldn’t stray far from an original location. Now economic uncertainty at home, and in other Western economies, has prompted a growing number of franchises to look farther afield. They’re turning to markets in the developing world where credit continues to flow, franchise buyers face fewer barriers to [...]
Students Trade Dorm for Suburban Luxury
NY Times: While students at other colleges cram into shoebox-size dorm rooms, Ms. Alarab, a management major, and Ms. Foster, who is studying applied math, come home from midterms to chill out under the stars in a curvaceous swimming pool and an adjoining Jacuzzi behind the rapidly depreciating McMansion that they have rented for a [...]
Instead of peeling the label off your apple, next time you might just wash it. Amron’s Vanishing Fruitwash Labels are labels that dissolve into an organic fruit wash that helps remove wax, pesticides and dirt. More features: Washing turns label into Fruit Soap No stickers to peel off and throw away No expensive produce wash [...]
Creative Coffins: Go Out in Style
A UK company called Creative Coffins allows customers to create their own personalized coffins. The coffins are made from 60% recycled paper combined with wood pulp. More from their website: Environmentally sympathetic, our cartonboard coffins are suitable for both burial and cremation. We have a large range of pre-designed coffins that are available through your [...]
Inventor Resolves The Dough Problem
Unless you make bread, you probably do not know how frustrating the process can be. Especially when you’re trying to get a ball of raw, yeasty dough to rise. Fickle, the dough demands to be held at a comfortable 80 degrees — a climate not native to most kitchens, where the oven is too warm, [...]
Inventors Digest: Here’s how you can dramatically increase your odds of success in licensing. Understand that licensing involves quantity and persistence. If one company isn’t interested, another might be. In any case, you should find out why each company isn’t interested. Don’t assume that your invention lacks merit until you have enough feedback. Submit to [...]
Slap Wraps Inventor Does What’s Right
Even though they were not his slap bracelets with the inappropriate images that elementary kids received, the inventor of the original Slap Wrap took the initiative to replace them with kid-friendly bracelets instead. Stuart Anders, who invented the bracelets, felt the defective products should be replaced. ”As the original inventor of the Slap Wraps toy [...]
Women Negotiating Workloads At Work
The Salt Lake Tribune: The study found that, in addition to being the most difficult issue for women in the workplace, negotiating workload limits is also one of the main issues that cause one in five women to leave their job. Some tips: Earn the right » Asking for fairness in work limits is easier [...]
Painting With a Twist is a national chain of franchised businesses that offers instructor led painting classes. The twist is that the students can bring their own favorite bottle of wine. All of the painting supplies are provided, including paint, canvas, and brushes. The instructor, usually a local artist, leads students through an evening of [...]
Today in Entrepreneurial History: November 14
1889 – Pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane) begins a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completes the trip in seventy-two days. 1910 – Aviator Eugene Ely performs the first take off from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia. He took off from a makeshift deck [...]
Wired UK: Mark Post, a vascular biologist at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, is about to create a proof-of-concept lab-grown hamburger. It won’t come cheap — Post reckons it’ll cost around [$345,000] to assemble from thin layers of muscle strips packed together with some lab-grown fat. “The first one will be a proof [...]
