Business Opportunities Weblog

November 9, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

The New York Times:

Without quite having a clear plan, Gregg Rottler began contemplating his Web empire last year on his desktop computer at his home near Tampa, Fla.

As many bloggers have done, Mr. Rottler, a state environmental code officer, followed an impulse to share stories about annoyances. He and his wife, Karen, an elementary school teacher, often eat out, and he realized that people liked to talk about restaurant experiences gone wrong.

“I’ve had my share of bad dinners, and I thought this could provide some catharsis and also be a source of entertainment,” he said. “I always wondered how people put those Web sites together. So I bought a humongous manual and worked through it” to learn how to create a site about bad restaurant experiences.

He needed a domain name. Surely, an obvious one, Dinnersfromhell.com, wasn’t available. It was.

The site went up in January, festooned with text and video links, and readers soon began posting tales of woe.

Later, Rottler saw a television commercial depicting a man trapped in a tiny airplane coach seat between two slobs who were slurping, belching, snorting, sneezing and bellowing on either side. It was an ad for Princess Cruises, to show that cruises have none of these torments.

“It clicked to me that Flightsfromhell would be a cool site,” he said. But surely, Flightsfromhell.com wasn’t available.

It was. It turned out, so were Cruisesfromhell.com and other things from hell, domain names he snatched up as quickly as the ideas occurred to him. Domain-name registration is cheap (about $9 a year).

Rottler hasn’t made any profit yet from the sites. Still, his airline site has links to a gift shop he runs in an arrangement with CafePress.com, selling T-shirts, sweatshirts, track suits and coffee mugs with the Flights From Hell logo.

It also has links to air-travel books on Amazon. (Among them are “Plane Insanity: A Flight Attendant’s Tales of Sex, Rage and Queasiness at 30,000 Feet,” by Elliott Hester.)

Photo by Phillippe Diederich.

In Blogs, Internet, Niche | 1 Comment

November 9, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

Springwise:

UK-based Ad-Air Group is taking outdoor advertising to a higher level with a planned network of flat on the ground billboards, each five acres in size. All ads in the network will be strategically placed along the flight paths of the world’s major airports.

Given their enormous size, passengers will have plenty of time to reflect on an ad’s message as their plane takes off or approaches an airfield. The company spent more than seven years securing strategically placed plots of land and will charge a reported GBP 40,000–80,000 per month based on an ad’s location.

The first of what will be 30 of mega ad sites debuted in Dubai in October. The ad for a real estate company operating in the futuristic Middle Eastern city will be seen by an estimated 14 million travellers winging overhead each year.

But its sheer size has already earned it a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records and provided the client company with plenty of free publicity.

Photo by Ad-Air Group.

In Advertising, Fun, Ideas | 0 Comments

November 9, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

BCHeights.com:

Do you have any business ideas you don’t know what do with?

Mike Michalowicz’s advice might be what you’re looking for. Recently, the Boston College Entrepreneur Society hosted Michalowicz who spoke about the nature of entrepreneurship and his experiences as an entrepreneur.

Michalowicz, a graduate of Virginia Tech, is 36 years old and has owned three companies. He started his first company at 25 and eventually sold it for hundreds of thousands. His second company sold for over $2.5 million a couple of years ago.

He started his third company – Obsidian Launch – about a year ago. According to the company’s Web site, Obsidian “invests in first-time entrepreneurs and their business concepts” and works “exclusively with first-time entrepreneurs and collegiate entrepreneurs who are passionate about their businesses, launching “entrepreneurial businesses into industry leaders.”

Michalowicz has helped start four other businesses in the past couple of months.

The most important point in Michalowicz’s lecture was understanding that “you believe what you achieve.”

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right. This is the entrepreneur’s secret,” he said.

Many people want to be millionaires or have expensive cars – they want to live the “good life.” Getting there, however, is obviously the hard part. One very important part of getting there is believing that you will eventually get there.

To prove this, Michalowicz took $50 from his wallet and offered it to anybody in the audience. After moments of silence and repeated encouragement from Michalowicz, one audience member made a move.

This, Michalowicz said, illustrates the difference between those who knew and said they wanted the $50 and those who didn’t say they wanted it.

Read more.

Photo by Michael O’Brien.

In Entrepreneurial Lifestyle, Startup, Strategy | 0 Comments

November 8, 2007 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

DesMoinesRegister.com:

Katie Koester of Grimes happened onto a business that reversed her status from working outside the home to having a home business.

Koester, a busy mother of two girls who is expecting her third child, sells hand-made blankets of soft fabrics, reversible bibs, burp clothes adorned with ribbons, baby hats, and towels stitched to resemble frogs and ducks.

Koester calls her business The Polka Dot Tot. Its most popular items are what Koester calls loveys, small 14-by-16-inch security blankets of snuggly fabrics made of two colors – one on each side. Loveys start at $25.

Blankets are made in a 29-by-35-inch baby size, 35-by-59-inch toddler size, and a 35-by-59-inch size for adults. All blankets, including the lovies, come in a variety of colors, including college team colors.

In Creations, Ecommerce, News | 0 Comments

November 8, 2007 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

e-Travel Blackboard:

BYOkids, a new online travel company specialising in family holidays, is celebrating its win as the country’s Best New Business at this year’s Australian Small Business Champion Awards.

The brainchild of Leah Squire, director of Queensland’s Tewantin Travel, a member of the Travellers Choice national retail network, BYOkids has in little more than a year established itself as the “family travel guru”.

Squire, a wife and mother of two boys, launched the site in 2006 as little more than a travel blog on her family’s journeys throughout Australia, Asia and the Pacific. But as the venture grew in popularity she began receiving requests to organise holidays.

BYOKIDS now contains an extensive range of information to help families research, plan and book fun holidays, including details on free activities, lists of restaurants offering kids entertainment, and advice on how parents can stay sane.

Squire said the company’s win recognized the quality of small businesses across the entire retail travel industry.

“At the same time it highlights the need for travel businesses to embrace Internet and email marketing techniques, and to focus on developing successful niche markets” she said. “Retail travel is no longer just about people sitting at desks – it is so much more.”

In News | 0 Comments

November 8, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

ReadWriteWeb:

Google and gas pump maker Gilbarco Veeder-Root have announced a partnership that will bring Google Maps down to earth and provide driving directions, local search, and coupons to 3,500 Internet-enabled gas pumps across the US.

“Getting directions at the pump is safer than using internet-enabled devices from the driver’s seat and far more reliable than just asking a stranger,” said Kirsten Paust, vice president of global retail systems at Gilbarco Veeder-Root in a press release. “We believe consumers will prefer convenience stores that deliver useful information and ultimate convenience. Retailers who use these tools will make themselves more valuable to consumers and gain the competitive edge.”

Google’s service supposedly won’t include ads, but retailers can offer coupons through gas pumps, which will make money for participating filling stations — you know, kind of like ads. For now, the pumps can only print directions to locations available through Google’s local search results, but Gilbarco Veeder-Root eventually hopes to allow motorists to type in destinations at the pump.

The Google-powered gas pumps should begin to be rolled out across the US early next month.

Photo by Gilbarco Veeder-Root.

In Ecommerce, Internet, Technology | 1 Comment

November 8, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

FSB Magazine:

With consumers screaming about abuses, more than 30 states have enacted laws banning gift cards and certificates with short expiration periods and requiring issuers to turn over cash from expired cards to the state. Eight states have added such laws in 2007 alone.

Caught on the bad side of good intentions, however, are small businesses that thrive on gift certificates – spas, salons, and restaurants.

Fountain of Youth Day Spa in Albuquerque stopped selling certificates when the New Mexico law went into effect in July – even though gifts account for 25% of sales – because it requires certificates to be valid for five years and forces issuers to turn over 60% of the value of expired cards.

“The new rules are obscene,” says Estelle Miller, manager of the medical practice that owns the spa. “The spa may cease to exist.”

Seth Gardenschwartz, head of business development at SpaBoom, a service for selling gift certificates online, blames the overkill on politicians trying to score easy points. “They think they’re getting at the titans of the industry, the big-box stores, without knowing who they’re really affecting,” he says.

Photo by Jesse Lefkowitz.

In Regulation, Sales, Small Biz | 0 Comments

November 8, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 2 Comments

Entrepreneur:

Most successful marketing tales begin and end with a well-plumbed niche. In other words, the marketer has found the most-qualified group of prospects and motivated them to action. You’ll rarely see a company that’s risen to the top using a shotgun approach–targeting a mass audience indiscriminately–yet this is where many entrepreneurs trip up.

Ready to expand into a new niche market? Here are three important steps to get you started:

1. Sharpen Your Focus
Take a long, careful look at your current customer base and divide it into groups with similar characteristics. Figure out what your best prospects have in common. This will define a niche market of individuals who are more likely to become customers or to make repeat purchases. Fine-tune your media buys and target your marketing messages to have the greatest appeal to the core group.

2. Fill a Need
Sometimes you have no past customer history to go on when choosing a new market niche. In that case, you must make some preliminary assumptions about your prospect base. Focus on the customer you want to reach. Who has an identified need for what you market? Who is buying something similar now? It’s easier to fill a need than to create one, so smart marketers look for potential buyers who know what they want and are buying it elsewhere.

3. Keep Entry Costs Down
There is another significant advantage to entering niche markets comprised of customers who are already buying something similar to what you provide. The fact is, it’s virtually always easier for small businesses to be second (or third, fourth or even later) to enter a market, rather than to be the first. Being first is expensive–there’s an entire educational curve to fund, particularly with new products–and it can take quite a bit of time to break through.

Photo by wlima.

In Niche, Strategy, Success | 2 Comments

November 8, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

Springwise:

With a few notable exceptions, concierge services and personal assistants are a luxury that tends to be beyond the reach of all but the most well-heeled members of society.

Not so with Sunday, a request-based service that offers 24/7 personal assistance by internet or phone.

New York-based Sunday lets busy people in the US, Canada and the UK delegate chores as they arise, with monthly fees starting at just USD 29 and no cost to join.

The site’s agents are available 24/7 by email or phone, ready to make outbound calls, arrange travel plans, set dinner reservations, enable remote access to numerous websites and take action in emergency situations—virtually anything that can be handled remotely. Messenger and errand services are also available in New York City.

Sunday was founded in 2006, and plans to expand to other major cities around the world. In this time-starved era, it’s hard to imagine a place where the concept wouldn’t succeed, especially with lifestyle gurus like Tim Ferriss promoting personal outsourcing.

Photo by Sunday.

In Ideas, Productivity, Technology | 0 Comments

November 8, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

Kiplinger:

It would seem serendipitous: Just as a prolonged labor crunch is anticipated, some of the most experienced and reliable workers around — those near retirement age — are planning to make themselves available. But companies that just assume their older workers are going to stay put indefinitely could be making a big mistake.

Older people are working past traditional retirement age for a multitude of reasons, according to Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Socking away more cash and continued access to health insurance are especially crucial, so employers hoping to lure older workers should make sure that defined benefit retirement plans such as 401(k) plans and health insurance remain attractive and affordable. And with health care a growing worry for those approaching retirement, consider extending health benefits to retirees if you don’t already do so; it’s a hard-to-find benefit attracts and reassures often-anxious older workers.

But financial security is not the only reason so many older workers are returning to — or remaining in the workforce. “There also is an increased desire among Americans to work longer, particularly among those with more education, for whom more meaningful jobs are available that can be done well into older ages,” EBRI says.

Photo by MSDesigns.

In Boomers, Employees, Retirement | 0 Comments

November 7, 2007 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

PR Web:

Online everywhere and just in time for the holiday season, virtual shoppers can now enjoy a unique and one-of-a-kind shopping experience at newly launched www.Bellaandlina.com. Bellaandlina.com is a whimsical online boutique with a harmonious atmosphere and full of something for everyone – it is perfect for families and all ages.

Bella and Lina has all the flavors of goodies that shoppers can truly appreciate. The unique gift ideas shoppers will find here are simply brilliant, undeniably fun, chic and all about style, says the site’s founder Cherry Scalise, a mom of two beautiful little girls, Isabella and Angelina.

“Bellaandlina.com supports independent designers, handcrafted items, work at home moms, and women in business,” Scalise says. “Some of the products are from local designers where items are not mass produced. Bella And Lina’s product line is very unique to what you normally see in other stores–such variety.”

Photo from Bella and Lina.

In Ecommerce, PR | 0 Comments

November 7, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

The New York Times:

Although 50 million people in the United States have some form of physical or mental disability, they spend money just as easily as others. But there are few efficient ways for advertisers to reach them, and that’s what a new Web site, Disaboom.com, hopes to change.

Disaboom is the brainchild of J. Glen House, who graduated from medical school after becoming a quadriplegic as a result of a skiing accident at 20. The site combines the social-networking features of Web sites like Facebook with information of interest to its constituency: medical news, career advice, dating resources and travel tips.

Marketing to people with disabilities may look great on paper, but it is not easy.

“We’re a very difficult group to reach,” said Eric Lipp, founder of the Open Doors Organization, a nonprofit group that consults with companies about the disability market. “People in the marketing world will say, ‘I can reach out to them,’ and I’m just telling you it’s not easy. We’re just spread out over all kinds of walks of life — from different races to different religions to different income levels and education.”

“The disability community to a large degree is trying to get more visibility as a desirable constituency, whether you’re talking about customers with money in their pockets, or a talent pool to hire from, or voters,” Andrew J. Imparato, president of the American Association of People With Disabilities, said. “To a large degree, we feel like we’re invisible as a market and a political constituency.”

The number of adults with some form of disability is by all accounts growing, in part because the population is aging. Disability rates among older people are substantially higher, greater than 40 percent of the population 65 and over, compared with 19 percent of those between 16 and 64, according to census data.

The portion of the population with a disability will rise from one in five today to nearly one in four by 2030, according to Open Doors.

“They call us T.A.B.’s — the temporarily able-bodied,” said Howard Lieber, vice president for sales at Disaboom, who does not have a disability. “If you live long enough, you will get some physical limitation. You will eventually experience some of what these people are experiencing right now.”

Photo by MSdesigns.

In Disabled, Marketing, Strategy | 0 Comments

November 7, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

Newsweek:

We humans tend to be an optimistic bunch. In fact, it’s long been established by psychologists that most people tend to be irrationally positive.

The optimism bias, as it’s called, accounts for the fact that we expect to live longer and be more successful than the average and we tend to underestimate the likelihood of getting a serious disease or a divorce.

This tendency is adaptive—many researchers have claimed that a positive outlook motivates us to plan for our future and may even have an effect on our long-term physical health.

Optimism may be so necessary to our survival that it’s hardwired in our brains.

A new study published in the journal Nature further confirms the idea that having a rosy outlook is a personality trait with deep, neurological roots.

Researchers found that the brains of optimistic people actually light up differently on a scan than those who tend to be more pessimistic when they think about future events.

While we can’t say for certain why some people respond more positively to life’s events, it’s increasingly clear that your mental outlook can have a big effect on your physical health.

Optimism motivates individuals to take control of their lives, while depression has been found to have the opposite effect. It is often linked to a sense of hopelessness. ”

Photo by starvalleydrug.

In Health, Operations, Success | 1 Comment

November 7, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

Niagara Gazette:

In the cartoons, when somebody has a great idea, a lightbulb goes off overhead. Listening to local inventors describe how they got their latest ideas, that image seems not too far off the mark.

Pete Hankinson of North Tonawanda was walking with his briefcase when he decided there should be some light to guide his way.

Hankinson, a local teacher and musician, was walking in a dark parking lot with his briefcase and thought, “wouldn’t it be neat if you had a light in you briefcase that could illuminate your path?”

Hankinson has had some success with other inventions. He invented a watch for people who love music that, instead of numbers has 12 symbols on the music scale. “I sell them all over the world,” he said.

Photo by Niagara Gazette.

In Ideas, Invention | 0 Comments

November 7, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 2 Comments

Lifehacker:

Those of us who feel we are busy all the time can experience burn out, exhaustion and fatigue from spending long periods of time in focused concentration. I like to refer to this as Brain Drain.

Here are some ways to beat brain drain:

1. Meditate
2. Take A Walk
3. Listen to classical music
4. Read something entertaining
5. Take a caffeine nap
6. Go to a movie
7. Listen to motivational CDs
8. Play a sport
9. Break down your project into bite-sized chunks
10. Play a game

The good news is brain drain means you are using your brain at maximum capacity. The bad news is you are not giving your brain needed periods of rest. Rest is important for creative thinking and problem solving.

Photo by MSDesigns.

In Health, Productivity, Strategy | 2 Comments

November 7, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

Mashable.com:

We all need to organize our thoughts sometimes, and there seems to be no better way to do it than in a visual fashion.

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.

Mashable has put together 30+ mind mapping tools to help you do just that. And since we know some of you are on a budget, they’ve got free and paid suggestions for you.

Photo by george-spencer.notts.sch.uk.

In Brainstorm, Creativity, Ideas | 1 Comment

November 6, 2007 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

Free-Backup.info:

For any computer user backup is important, but for the busy stay at home business mom it can be vital. Business moms not only need to keep their family in order but also have a home business to run, and if they use a computer for their business it is vital that they have access to the files that are essential to the running of their business. Business moms have no time to waste with the loss of important data due to a computer crash or virus, and for them backup is of vital import. Fortunately there are many possible solutions to your backup needs.

One of the growing tools with the growth of the internet is that of online backup. Online backup allows you to store your files online in reserve apart from your computer in case the worst happens. Then, you will be able to download your files just as you saved them and restore your computer to normalcy with all of your files returned.

This is a very powerful backup method, and also has the bonus feature of allowing you to access your files from any computer in the world by downloading them onto whichever system you are currently using.

New technologies are being created all the time that can prove very powerful for your backup needs. CD-Rs and DVD-Rs are two of the most powerful backup tools invented yet. While it used to be that floppy disks used to be the most common tools for backup, they are quickly becoming obsolete. After all, why bother with a floppy disk that can hold just over a megabyte of data when you can use a CD-R or a DVD-R which can hold hundreds or thousands of times as much data all on a single disk?

CD-Rs have been a round for a while, and there are now even CD-RWs which allow you to write your disk more than once. One drawback to using a CD-R or a DVD-R is that once you have written information onto your disk, the disk is finished and nothing new can be added to it and nothing can be taken away. This is not true with CD-RWs or DVD-RWs, which can be theoretically rewritten as many times as you require.

Photo from Stock.xchng.

In Advice | 0 Comments

November 6, 2007 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

KnoxNews.com:

Long before organic foods and holistic wellness were mainstream, Ann Yates was promoting alternative health care through a successful retail business that spanned three decades.

Ms. Yates, owner of Nature’s Pantry and Well By Nature, died Oct. 30 at home surrounded by family and friends. She was 59.

“She was a trailblazer. At the time, there were not a lot of people who believed in alternative health care. Because people didn’t think that way, she saw an opportunity to educate them,” said long-time friend Bill Arthur, who owns Nutraceutical Solutions Consulting.

Daughter Meredith Yates, 33, will manage both businesses, which are expected to see little change. Son Ben Yates, 30, also will continue to be involved.

Raised on a farm in Springfield, Tenn., Yates was drawn to all things natural. Her interest intensified after unsuccessfully trying to relieve her 1-year-old son from severe allergies using mainstream medicine.

In 2002, Yates expanded her approach to healthy living by building a holistic wellness center next to her retail store. Well By Nature offers a range of services from acupuncture and yoga to cooking classes and medical consultations.

“She saw no problem with starting something that wasn’t popular and moving it forward,” Arthur said. “She saw it is as a gradual process. She was very methodical.”

As a result, Yates saw her overall sales increase 30 times over 30 years, he said.

In News | 0 Comments

November 6, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 2 Comments

YoungEntrepreneur:

Here is a great story about a young entrepreneur out of Scotland named Fraser Doherty.

Fraser is an 18 year old student at Strathclyde University and his company, SuperJams, is already a million dollar business.

With his recent success, Fraser is looking to make his studies a part time endeavor while he focuses on building his company. “It’s done a lot better than I expected. It’s growing really fast. The difficult thing is producing enough.”

Fraser sells jams and preserves that target a new, younger audience. They stay true to his grandmother’s original recipe but attract more health-conscious consumers.

For example, instead of using sweetener like the other, big name jams, Fraser uses grape juice. He also focuses on the “superfoods” like blackcurrants, blueberries and ginger which are attracting buyers looking for a healthier diet.

“I think people are looking for something a bit healthier, and it’s more fun and modern. It appeals to people who might not normally buy jam.”

Fraser started the company four years ago at the age of 14, selling his jam door to door as a way to earn extra spending money.

He expanded by setting up shop at a local farmer’s market and soon found that he could not keep up with the demand for his jams.

“I think I’ve still got a lot to learn. It’s not easy to set up a business and you have to really believe in it. There were points when I thought it would never be ready to go on the shelves.”

Photo by YoungEntrepreneur.

In Entrepreneurship, Small Biz, Startup | 2 Comments

November 6, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

NC Times.com:

Rabbits eat more than carrots.

Richard Miller learned that lesson the hard way as he stood by helplessly, watching rabbits feasting on his lawn and plants, well on their way to turning thousands of dollars worth of professional landscaping into rabbit pellets.

Then he got even. He invented something he says keeps the rabbits away for good, and it doesn’t harm them.

Although the rabbits were driving him nuts, he refused to take drastic action against them. His landscaper recommended a product with the scent of coyote urine, which supposedly keeps rabbits at bay.

“I don’t want to knock the product, but I can tell you it certainly repels humans,” he said of its stench. He could not see how it was helping, and it had to be reapplied frequently after rain or watering.

As it turned out, Toya, the family’s fox terrier, turned into a muse by giving Miller the idea for a harmless way to get rid of the pests.

Miller is the inventor of Tagbak, a system that activates sprinklers by infrared sensors, which discourages graffiti at monuments, vulnerable walls and other locations. In a sense, it’s “tagging back” the taggers. Think of the watering system at a grocery store’s produce case, but with more gusto.

Photo by Tagbak.

In Animals, Invention, Niche | 0 Comments

November 6, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

Forbes:

One frozen winter morning Galen Merrell found himself without a traditional scraper to clean his ice-covered windshield and was pressed to use miscellaneous objects from the garage.

He found that a flexible, round shape was effective. A secondary factor in the concept was a desire for a scraper that was ergonomic, especially for those with carpal tunnel syndrome or the arthritic and the elderly. With the goal of a comfortable grasp in mind, the cone diameter and optimal scraping angle were set.

To complete the design, the inventor wanted a multifunctional aspect. By removing the cap, the device doubles as the ideal shaped funnel for adding antifreeze and windshield washing solution.

This new scraper rejects the traditional hard, flat plastic concept and replaces it with a soft plastic, cone-shaped design, which scrapes windows cleaner in half the time.

The Scrape-A-Round has sold 100,000 units in recent years at craft shows and out of the garage. A third of last season’s purchases were reorders. Once purchasers use the Scrape-A-Round they don’t go back to a hard, flat plastic scraper.

Photo by Scrape-A-Round.

In Ideas, Invention, Patents | 0 Comments

November 6, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 3 Comments

Springwise:

After visiting the doctor for the flu or other common complaint, the last thing consumers want to do is to make a second trip to a pharmacist and wait while their prescription gets filled. InstyMeds, a US startup, has devised a novel way to make getting medications easy.

The company’s vending machines are designed to be placed in doctors’ offices, clinics, emergency rooms and other healthcare facilities. Each holds 100 of some of the most often used medications that can range from pills to drops to creams and so forth.

InstyMeds machines require that physicians create prescriptions electronically, which are then transmitted to the vending location. (Alternately, patients can take printed prescriptions to their regular pharmacists.) The machines include several safeguards to insure patients receive the proper medications their doctors ordered.

From the patients’ point of view, however, the ordering process is relatively simple. They enter their prescription number and birthday via a user-friendly touchscreen monitor, then insert either cash or credit cards to cover co-pays, while their insurance companies are billed automatically.

Besides saving time for patients, InstyMeds machines also save pharmacists the slow and potentially error-prone process of counting out medications by hand. Indeed, relieving pharmacists from such routine tasks could turn out to be the machine’s major benefit.

With pharmacist salaries in the United States climbing over USD 100,000, the time savings can mean significant cash savings. The vending machines, which are accessible 24/7, likewise could help alleviate a growing shortage of pharmacists.

Photo by InstyMeds.

In Customers, Health, Marketing | 3 Comments

November 6, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 0 Comments

HeraldBulletin.com:

Dan Pierce gives dead trees a second life. The Middletown resident has worked the past seven years turning stumps and logs into works of art using mainly a chain saw. He’s created signs for sports teams and a whole zoo of wooden animals, but this week he spent three days on his latest project, turning a tree into a life-sized Indian.

Pierce travels to about 20 art festivals a year and promotes his work through the Web site www.spiritwoodcarving.com. He said it’s also common for people to see his work while he’s stopped at a gas station and buy a piece straight off his truck.

Pierce charges between $200 and $2,000 per piece and said the Indian was a “midrange price.”

November marks the end of Pierce’s busy season, but he’s already taking orders for March.

Photo by Don Knight.

In Niche, Self-employed, Small Biz | 0 Comments

November 5, 2007 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

Hometown Life:

Sure, fluffy bunnies and pastel-colored jammies are nice, but sometimes your baby has her own unique style to express.

So for the style-conscious baby, and her mother, there’s Titzy’s, a maternity, nursing and infant wear store that opened Oct. 1 in Royal Oak.

“We opened up the store to offer things we couldn’t find when we were pregnant,” said Itzel Jodway, who owns the store with her twin sister, Tiffany Brenner.

The store offers clothes, accessories and baby care products from local artists and stay-at-home moms. Other clothing lines are from small Michigan outlets that feature unique designs and styles.

The sisters said they seek out stay-at-home mothers in the area who may supplement their incomes with hand-sewn clothes or hand-painted baby furniture.

“Eighty percent of our merchandise is from stay-at-home moms,” said Jodway, adding they wanted to create a network where women could bring in an income without having to go back to the office after their babies are born.

“Really, we wanted to have beautiful things at a reasonable price,” Brenner said.

Logo from Titzy’s.

In News | 0 Comments

November 5, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

Philadelphia Inquirer:

Consider the problem of Alex Hillman, 23, Web entrepreneur, quasi-college student, and architect of the Philadelphia version of an international trend known as co-working.

“Three months working at my house, I was talking to the cat, and I don’t even have a cat,” Hillman said, describing what had happened after he quit his job as a Web designer in December. “I was going crazy without the socializing.”

No, he didn’t buy a cat.

Instead, he got together with a group of work-at-home entrepreneurs, found some hip space in Philadelphia’s Old City, and set up desks so he and others like him could work at work.

think of co-working as an entrepreneurial version of parallel play, with owners of their own small businesses working side by side in a drop-in place that looks like a coffee cafe, minus the barista, with all the accouterments of what’s hip: high ceilings, beer fridge, pool table and Internet access.

Paying as little as $175 a month, they mostly work on their own. But they also trade ideas, help solve problems, and move in and out of loose collaborations.

Hillman said he already had experienced one benefit, previously unforeseen. His relationship with his girlfriend has improved.

“Now I leave my work at work,” he said.

Photo by Clem Murray.

In Entrepreneurship, Networking, Trends | 1 Comment