Since 2001, we've posted 20,581 different business opportunities and ideas, so you're sure to find something here to inspire you!
The idea, “If you build it, they will come,” may have worked in theory for a 1990′s movie, but it does not sit well for small business marketing today. CreditDonkey has pulled together a unique infographic on social media, and how it is the key to small business.
Infographic after the jump.
There has been a lot of talk about the successes women have seen in business, but are those trends really stalling? The Australian recently mentioned a comment by Meg Whitman, the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, about women in the boardroom.
“Women made tremendous gains in the 70s, 80s and 90s,” said Ms Whitman. “But the last decade has not been great. We are now almost at critical mass at the business schools and law schools. So what is driving this flatline?”
Ms Whitman’s concerns highlight statistics that show the lack of diversity at leading businesses.
A study conducted for Britain’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills this year showed that 12.5 per cent of members of the boardrooms of FTSE 100 companies were women.
The study said: “At the current rate of change it will take over 70 years to achieve gender-balanced boardrooms in the UK.”
The British figures are broadly in line with those of American businesses. In October, the not-for-profit group Catalyst found that women held just 14 per cent of senior executive positions at Fortune 500 companies.
The number has barely increased since 2005. At the time, Ilene Lang, chief executive of Catalyst, blamed “entrenched sexism” at the top of leading companies as a factor.
Photo by mirimcfly
Tony Morley is one of only about 300 full-time toy inventors in the United States, so there’s a good chance that one of his projects — beginning as a crude sketch — is now sitting on a store shelf.
“I try to come up with toy concepts that big toy companies would want to manufacture and sell to the public,” he explained.
Morley said he gets most of his ideas by tapping into his own childhood while sitting next to his wife in their basement workshop and office.
His first big idea came in 1986, after he left his job with toy giant Milton Bradley to invent toys on his own.
“The first successful toy we had was Nerf fencing, a jousting fencing game,” he recalled.
While he dabbles in all kinds of toys, most of his work revolves around stacking things. Morley has found success over and over again since, but he says the toy business tends to be touch-and-go.
“Our income is so unpredictable,” Morley said. “We’ve had some fat years, we’ve had some lean years — couple of scary years when we’ve said, ‘The party’s over — got to go drive a bus now.’”
Photo by Elena Gaillard
Christmas may be over, but many of the ornaments and their inventors will live year-to-year. John Garver is one of those people. Known to most as a twirler, his ornament lives on in Christmas history.
In 1954, he struck a deal with the Mahoning Valley-based Plakie Toy Co. to produce the ornaments. The dazzling trinkets, priced at 50 cents, were an instant hit with 1,000 sold in one day at the former Strouss’ department store in downtown Youngstown, Garver said.
The next year, there were orders for 3 million and even more the following year, but a problem arose. Garver and others had been cutting the center pin — used to conduct the heat — by hand.
“It’s just a common pin, but a machine was used and it dulled pins, and that was the difference as to whether it works or not,” Garver said.
The mistake ended the twirler ornament reign, he said.
Since the twirler heyday, Garver, a physicist, has invented numerous other products, ranging from tennis racket improvements to handles for jump stretch bands, and taught science in Boardman for 30 years. Still, he may best be remembered for the twirler ornaments.
“I get calls every year from people who want them. They’ve looked up the patent and seen my name on it,” he said. “People are still so fascinated by them.”
Photo by scott feldstein
The next time your child asks to watch TV, make them pedal their way through it with the 123GoTV. This unique device, when hooked up to the television, makes it so kids must pedal their bicycle to keep it turned on.
When a bicycle is hooked up to the 123GoTV and a television it becomes a stationary exercise machine. A kid parks himself or herself on the bike seat, turns on the television and starts pedaling.
As long as the bike’s rear wheel keeps spinning the television stays on. When the wheel stops the screen goes blank.
“It just rewards TV time so kids aren’t couch potatoes. That was the original intent,” said Mullen, 65. “It will even work for a kid who doesn’t have a lot of leg power. There is no threshold you have to achieve and a really creative kid could sit on the floor and pedal with his hands.”
Mullen’s idea dates back about 10 years, when her son Eddie was 6 years old and liked to veg out on the couch and watch television.
Forcing exercise on her child wasn’t an option so Mullen began mulling over various ways to get kids working out a bit while watching their favorite programs.
Mullen invested about $200,000 into the business that she named KidExerciser and operates out of her garage. She developed the GoTV with assistance from consultants, technical experts and engineers. The first one was delivered last May.
