Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
CARES Helps Take The Pain Out Of Flying With Kids
If you’ve ever been on a plane with a young child, then you probably understand what it feels like to travel with a child and their car seat. When Louise Stoll saw her own daughter having to fight her way through the airport with a toddler and a car seat, she had to wonder if [...]
French Entrepreneur Creates Green Website for Drivers
Sina.com: “Due to high fuel prices, people are being forced to take a second look at how they move from one place to another,” said a Paris-based car dealer. “Fuel efficiency has become the buzz word.” Seizing on the urgency of an environment-friendly economical fuel, a French entrepreneur has launched a website www.2et4rouesvertes.com, which will [...]
Entrepreneurs Reinvent Funeral Industry
BusinessWeek: These trailblazers come from all sorts of businesses—automotive, design, technology—unburdened by the conventions of their new industry. They introduce products some consider shocking. Traditionalists scoff at them. But these outsiders are revolutionizing one of the world’s oldest professions: the funeral industry. It’s a good time to deal in death. The first baby boomers are [...]
Entrepreneur Helps Spouses Create Businesses
BelvoirEagle: An entrepreneur who has moved around with her Marine Corps husband and now calls Camp Lejeune, N.C., home is using her small-business success to help other military spouses get started with businesses of their own. Roxanne Reed, a mother of two whose Marine husband was her high school sweetheart, has decided to help other [...]
Entrepreneur creates DIY ethanol machine
SFGate: A Silicon Valley entrepreneur is betting that drivers stung by rising gas prices will be eager to make the switch to ethanol for their cars — and that they’ll want to make it at home in a $10,000 refrigerator-sized machine. Thomas Quinn, founder and chief executive of Los Gatos-based E-Fuel Corp., is selling what [...]
Known for their chicken, El Pollo Loco is also a franchise opportunity for someone very serious about starting up in the restaurant business. Did you know that their name means “The Crazy Chicken” in Spanish? It’s a description that fits well with the food they specialize in; grilled chicken. The business was started in 1975 [...]
Hillvertising: A New Innovative Type of Hull Advertising
Yahoo Biz: Thomas Kager, an Austrian entrepreneur, has recently developed the idea of “Hillvertising”. A marriage of the two words ‘hill’ and ‘advertising’, Hillvertising is a new and innovative way of selling advertising space both online and outdoors. Kager’s idea is to market squares of virtual advertising space on his website to companies and individuals [...]
From a Bottle of Wine to Wine Restaurant
STLCommerceMagazine: It’s been said that “Necessity is the mother of invention.” But apparently not all great ideas are born out of necessity. Sometimes all it takes is a group of friends and a good bottle of wine. Take for example the The Vine Wine Bar and Bistro in St. Charles, the brain child of Chad [...]
Turning Kitty Litter Into a Million Dollar Business
Boom Articles: Back in the late 1940s, it was usual for cat owners to keep a pile of sand in the yard from which to fill the cats litter box. But, because of the extremely cold temperatures in the winters, this was not a very practical method, and so ashes hauled from the fireplace were [...]
Small Business Gets Online Booking
USAToday: Your clients still must call or e-mail to schedule an appointment. And you probably can’t handle client requests 24/7. This means wasted time calling back clients for scheduling. New sites are offering solutions to the problem. They make it possible for clients to schedule appointments online. HourTown HourTown’s site handles your personal and work [...]
NPR.Org: Elixir, located in the Mission District, is the first bar to be certified by the city as a green business. In addition to serving local beers and wines, Elixir specializes in environmentally friendly cocktails like the Country Thyme, a sort of blueberry lemonade made with fresh thyme and Square One vodka. Square One is [...]
College Buddys Form a Rental Website
AZCentral.com: Three college friends who grew tired of paperwork hassles while leasing property to renters have developed an online site that modernizes the age-old deal between landlords and renters by making it electronic. The 20-something entrepreneurs working on the fifth floor of a rented Brickyard office in downtown Tempe flipped the switch on their site, [...]
Is Small Business Week Important For You?
Money.Cnn.com: Monday marks start of National Small Business Week (NSBW), a five-day event intended to spotlight the accomplishments of America’s entrepreneurs and draw policymakers’ attention to the challenges confronting them. But after more than 50 years, the annual Small Business Administration-run event still remains off the radar of many small business owners. Started in 1963 [...]
The Web Turns Singer into Entrepreneur
TheDailyAztec: Kina Grannis, a 22-year-old singer and songwriter, found her claim to fame as she appeared in a 60-second commercial on Super Bowl Sunday. She won the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl Challenge, which promised Super Bowl commercial time as well as a record deal with Interscope Records. Now, what’s so amazing about this? She [...]
Love of the Remodeling Business Pays Off
Democratandchronicle: Richard Doyle just returned from the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show and Conference in Chicago, and when he talks about all the new cabinets, tiles and bathroom fixtures that were on display, his eyes light up. Passion for the job has never been a problem for Doyle, 53, of Irondequoit, who says he got goosebumps from [...]
NZHerald.co.nz: A Christchurch-based energy efficient lightbulb seller has raised $10 million from two Australian investors and is about to open its own lightbulb factory in China. Energy Mad, started by a pair of university mates just four years ago, has now expanded into Australia and the United States and has developed a product that it [...]
From Stick On Labels to Bottled Water
biz.yahoo.com: Mark Sikes was selling $700,000 a year in stick-on labels to manufacturers all over the country. But one day it hit him that he could turn his label-brokering expertise into a whole new business: selling bottled water with a custom label plastered on the front.Sikes promptly set up Personalized Bottle Water in a warehouse [...]
Should You Pursue an Invention?
Smallbusiness.logoworks.com: You have been thinking about an idea for months or maybe years. You feel like you have a good idea, your family and friends have told you that you have a good idea and you are passionate and optimistic about the success possibilities. Regardless of your excitement, you would still like to know if [...]
Can blogging be considered a full time income? Some blogs are cashing in making over 6 figures. BusinessWeek reports: 1. icanhascheezburger.com Launched: January, 2007 Revenue: Estimated $5,600 a month based on ad rates and self-reported traffic data This blog, consisting of silly photos of cats, and even sillier captions, rocketed to the top of the [...]
Niche Biz: Painting Goalie Helmets
Duluth News Tribune: Jeff “Pappy” Early of Hermantown started putting pinstripes on buddies’ cars on weekends in the 1970s, admittedly, he said, to earn a little beer money. Now, most of Early’s work isn’t done on hot rods, but on hockey goalie masks. “That’s primarily because of geography,” said Early, who never played anything more [...]
Detroit Free Press: In this bleak economy, here’s an option that allows you to work at home and do something you love. If you have sewing expertise, a cooperative family, a space for equipment, and a large dose of self-discipline, consider sewing for profit! Marianne Balogh, 48, of Troy has enjoyed her home-based business for [...]
CNN: Until two weeks ago, Ruth Ebert never had the slightest interest in the video games favored by her one and only granddaughter. “I’m 82 years old, so I missed that part of our culture. Soap operas, yes. Video games, no,” chirped Ebert, who recently started playing a tennis game on Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s new [...]
PC World: Internet auction fraud remains the most frequently reported online crime, but complaints over online purchases that are never delivered are on the rise, according to data released by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Auction fraud complaints made up about 45 percent of the 207,492 complaints received by the [...]
downloadsquad: Spring is just around the corner that means it’s time to start cleaning out the garage, and getting rid of all the excess junk we’ve all accumulated over the past year. JunkDepot is a new Google maps mashup that makes buying and selling your stuff a little more interesting. The free service allows sellers [...]
Entrepreneurial Skills Conference For Women
Inc.: Small-business owners from across the country are being invited to take part in this year’s Entrepreneurial Skills Conference for women to be held at the Microsoft Conference Center in Mountain View, Calif., on Feb. 8 – 9, organizers said. The two-day event, sponsored in part by the Small Business Administration and the Forum for [...]
Not Your Mother’s Hunting Clothes
When Sheila Zmigrosky left Dallas for her first African safari, she searched far and wide, but was appalled at the “little boy” hunting attire she had to settle for. So she promptly created The Foxy Huntress, a line of safari chic and hunting apparel, a collection of curvy chic clothes sans bulky fabrics for serious [...]
DailyPress.com: Last weekend Nia Dotson hit the streets for about three hours. “I stopped,” she says softly, “when my feet started to hurt.” She’s a small girl with small feet. But she has a big goal and an impressive track record. Nia, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at Forrest Elementary School, sold more than 1,100 boxes of [...]
2007 Success Strategies for Businesswomen Conference
Office Depot is expanding the 2007 Success Strategies for Businesswomen Conference from one location to six cities, including Orlando, FL; Dallas, TX; Orange County, CA; Chicago, IL; Washington, DC; and Philadelphia, PA. The conference, recognized as one of the nation’s most prominent events for women business owners and corporate female professionals, has been restructured into [...]
Springwise.com: New York’s Denim Therapy restores, rejuvenates and injects life into worn-out, tattered jeans. Playing on the fact that many consumers have an emotional attachment to their jeans, the service repairs jeans with unwanted holes, denim that’s worn, tattered or just plain falling apart. Using a unique reconstructive technique, Denim Therapy places existing denim fabric [...]
The Washington Post: The gift card made its mark as the all-purpose present: functional but not that much fun. Until now. This holiday season, retailers are rolling out gift cards that can light up like video games, laugh like Tickle Me Elmo, play music like MP3 players and double as DVDs. And did we mention [...]
Everything Starts With A Click
ConversationMarketing.com: What’s a click worth? On the internet, everything starts, somewhere, with a click. So theoretically, you should be able to figure out what each click to your site is worth. Pick the worksheet you want to use to figure out the value of a click. Then compare it to what you’re spending, and see [...]
Inventor’s Home Sanitizer Sparks International Interest
The Windsor Star: Patience and ingenuity has led a Windsor man to invent a home sanitizing system that was named this week by Time Magazine as one of the top inventions of 2006. Using an electrical charge to infuse tap water with ozone, the system acts as a natural powerful sanitizer and removes the need [...]
Free Classifieds May Open Windows for Online Sellers
AuctionBytes.com: Microsoft’s recently launched Windows Live Expo bills itself as “a dynamic social listing service.” It is a free classifieds-style site with categories including Autos, Events, Housing, Jobs, Merchandise, People, Pets and Services. The two categories of particular interest to eBay and online sellers are Merchandise and Services. eBay Trading Assistants can place a listing [...]
Web Overtakes Newspapers In Europe
AFP: The Internet has overtaken newspapers and magazines as Europeans’ main source of news and feature-type information, according to a new study. On average, Europeans spend an average of four hours per week online, compared to three hours reading newspapers and magazines, it added. In 2003 they spent only two hours a week online. “The [...]
Scripps Howard News Service: Q: As the owner of a small retail business, there’s just no way I can match the lower prices my customers can get at the giant retail outlets. I’m feeling the squeeze, and don’t like the thought of losing a business that’s been in my family for two generations. Can you [...]
Young Entrepreneur Turns Trash into Cash
PR.com: 20-year-old Phillip Tapia is the Founder and President of a new & unique company he calls, Tray Display Advertising Inc. This young man has transformed an ordinary 8 ½? x 11? regular piece of white paper and turned it into a full time business. Phillip Tapia launched Tray Display Advertising Inc. into a business [...]
Robert S. Hurley at NFIB: Many consumers may be confused by health savings accounts, high-deductible health insurance plans coupled with IRA-style savings accounts. In reality, they’re pretty simple and are getting more and more popular. HSAs were developed to maximize your savings on health insurance while providing you with a valuable tax break. Online health [...]
Staples Invention Quest Starts Today!
Staples Invention Quest invites inventors to submit inventions for easy and innovative office products for a chance to win $25,000, plus royalties if Staples develops and sells your invention. Since the inception of Invention Quest, Staples has received more than 22,000 entries and ideas. Last year’s contest drew the largest number of submissions to date. [...]
How Many Companies Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?
FastCompany.com: Sitting humbly on shelves in stores everywhere is a product, priced at less than $3, that will change the world. It is a fairly ordinary item that nonetheless cuts to the heart of a half-dozen of the most profound, most urgent problems we face. Energy consumption. Rising gasoline costs and electric bills. Greenhouse-gas emissions. [...]
Associated Press: Summer means a slowdown in business for many small companies, with customers and clients going on vacation. That gives many business owners a chance to catch up on some of the tasks they keep putting off, such as redoing Web sites or just getting the office painted. It takes just a quick look [...]
30 Second/One Question Interview with Ty Tribble
My next participant in the 30 Second/One Question Interview series is Ty Tribble. I asked: One man’s trash, is another man’s treasure. What product or service have you imagined would be a good business opportunity, but you’ve rejected because it’s too off the wall? Ty’s response: About 10 years ago, I was having lunch with [...]
How Can I Earn a Living by Online Bookselling?
Chuck Huckaby: I found this interesting as someone who purchases dozens of used books on Amazon.com and to a lesser extent Half.com. I find that many of the books can be purchased for the price of media mail shipping $3.49 + a few bucks making my average book purchase $6 to $10 and most of [...]
Business Journal: In a market overrun by taxis and limos, Seth Riney’s livery business is taking the road less traveled. As gas prices continue to soar, Riney’s 3-year-old enterprise, PlanetTran LLC, is carving out a niche for itself in the public ground transportation market by offering the nation’s first car service using an all-hybrid fleet [...]
Jeff Cornwall: [LLCs] offer no real tax advantage for most entrepreneurs, and since they tend to be more expensive, one might wonder why. But, key in on two words from the last two sentences, attorney and expensive, and you get a clue as to one possible reason. Lawyers make more money from pushing LLCs. There [...]
More On Tiny Businesses Like SingleStat.us
I had an interesting exchange with developer and entrepreneur Jackson Miller this afternoon about about SingleStat.us. He said: I have talked about businesses based around MySpace with several people, and I may be the only one who thinks it is not a good market, but here are my reasons why: MySpace doesn’t even break even [...]
Last Week in the Business Opportunities Weblog Network
The Business Opportunities Weblog Network is made up of eleven niche business blogs. Here’s a selection of popular posts from around the network: Tracking Phone Orders and Keywords Buying a Car on Ebay Is Your Business Franchiseable? Bioperformance Update and My Opinion An Interesting Use of Google Adsense & Craigslist Franchises for Mom Bioperformance Shut [...]
The Joy of Self Employment: Entrepreneurship and Education in a Changing World
Amazon: Business writer and consultant Todd Leigh Mayo’s The Joy of Self Employment: Entrepreneurship and Education in a Changing World is designed to show readers how satisfying it can be to work for oneself and to help those interested in giving it a try. Written in an unabashedly proselytizing style, it is divided into four [...]
Gas Crisis Is Good News for Fuel-Efficient Businesses
Entrepreneur: Gas prices this high for this long? It’s downright uncomfortable. In fact, it’s enough to get consumers to change their behavior. Rising prices have many consumers turning to alternatives– from car-sharing services to scooters–and entrepreneurs are reaping the rewards. Take Scott Griffith, CEO of Zipcar Inc. based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The $15 million car-sharing [...]
Matt Weston: Jason Fried says make tiny decisions. I’ve been thinking around this a lot recently. The problem with small business owners I know is that we can’t seem to put down the urge to make big decisions. Photo by Whatknot.
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