Dave’s story shows that really, you can make a business out of anything.

Dave started a dog waste clean-up service, in 2004 when he decided he was burned out on his career. He read a story about a woman who’d done a similar thing, and the idea clicked.  It combined three things that he loved: dogs, the outdoors, and working on his own.

While his friends originally gave him a hard time about his new line of work, Dave says that they eventually came around.

Business is good and it helped Dave to step away from a career that he said was becoming too stressful.  He’s found that he can relax more when he acts as his own employer, performing a task others aren’t very willing to do themselves.

Self-employment carries all kinds of benefits, and if Dave can pick up dog feces for a living, then there’s certainly something out there for you. There are all kinds of tasks and chores that others may not enjoy doing, but need to be done.

For more details on the story and other business ideas go to: Business Ideas

Several years ago, Melissa’s life hit rock bottom. She found herself with nothing. She was living in a homeless shelter, jobless, without a car and raising her teenage son.

 

It was while she was in the homeless shelter that things started to turn around for her. 

Melissa took a class on how to start a business offered by Maui Economic Opportunity.

 

Starting a business was something Melissa had always wanted to do but was scared. She was scared of success and of failure. She was paralyzed.

 

The class gave her new confidence to go for it.

 

After deciding that she wanted to start a floral business her instructors suggested she find a job in a floral business to see if she really liked it.

 

Melissa got a job in two different flower businesses. She later received a grant from the State Department of Vocational Rehabilitation to attend the Southern California School of Floral Design.

 

Today Melissa’s business is grossing $100,000 in annual revenue.

 

This business success story is truly an inspiration to us all. A homeless woman who had nothing was given some guidance and encouragement. Her can-do attitude and passion for her business idea propelled her into the successful business owner that she is today.

 

For more details on the story and other business ideas go to:

http://businessfastlane.com

Here’s a story about a woman who became hooked on a hobby and turned it into a profitable business.

 

When Dawn’s two boys dragged her to a family-style karate class in 1984, a passion was born.  “I got the hang of things quickly,” she says.  Soon the single mom was taking private karate lessons.  Four years later, she became a freelance instructor as a first-degree black belt.  In 1995, Dawn was ready to open her own shop.  So she borrowed money on her credit card, rented a 1,000-square-foot-studio, and started her own karate studio.

 

Because Dawn had made calls to former students, the club already had 60 members when she to parents.  Within months, enrollment almost doubled. After six months, the business became profitable and she hired an instructor and a desk attendant to help out.

 

In 2006, revenue reached $3 million. But she still finds the time to teach classes and says the real reward is helping kids.

 

“I don’t just teach them kicks—I teach them about mind, body and soul” she says.

 

There are few things as rewarding as turning a hobby you already enjoy into a successful business.  Who wouldn’t want to get paid doing what they love all day?  And chances are, if you love something, there are others who do too.  Many parents are willing to pay a lot of money for their kids to take lessons to learn a new hobby or skill.

 

For more details on the story and other business ideas go to:

http://businessfastlane.com

Howard had his morning routine down. It took thirty minutes to carefully plaster his comb-over across his shiny hairless head. For over ten years the meticulous procedure, which involved a special comb and plenty of hairspray, became a tedious art. One hot humid Florida summer day his comb-over met it’s doom.

 

“I went to the barber and said, ‘Cut if off.’ Who am I fooling? I’m a bald guy, and I’m going to be proud of it.”

 

Howard now has his own company. It took 12 years to develop the products, which came as a result of talking with other bald men. Howard’s goal with his products is to help restore pride to those without hair.

 

“The people speaking to bald guys are Hair Club for Men, Rogaine, hair transplants. They’re all saying it’s not cool to be bald,” says Howard. “It’s a market no one’s speaking to.”

 

Turns out, that market was large. According to Howard’s research, there are 35 million men in the U.S. who are either balding or going bald.

 

His message and products are different from what’s out there.

 

His hair products will soon grace the store shelves of Wal-mart and CVS. They are already in 16,400 stores across the United States.

 

This is a great story about going against the grain. Here you have a line of men’s products that say, “Hey, you’re bald. Here’s something for you.” There definitely is a neglected market out there. With the term, metrosexual, becoming more commonplace, men are more likely to use more grooming products like these.

 

For more details on the story and other business ideas go to:

http://businessfastlane.com

Have you ever opened a jar of food only to later wonder, “How many days ago did I open this?”

 

Now you may never have to ask that question again. 

 

Kathleen and Deborah have created a product where a small counter attaches to containers through either a magnet for metal surfaces or a suction cup.  It has a digital LED screen that starts counting the days when activated by the touch of a button. It can track food products, such as baby food, salsa, pasta sauce and other leftovers that spoil in a short time. But the product has other uses too. For example, it can be used to track days between household chores and taking medications.

 

Kathleen and Deborah met years ago. Deborah worked for the same nonprofit company as Kathleen’s husband. The two women worked together on several functions for the nonprofit organization and became good friends. When Deborah decided to be a stay-at-home mom, she and Kathleen thought they could come up with a creative business niche.

 

The idea for their product was born when Kathleen and Deborah met at Deborah’s home to discuss a product that they were working on. Kathleen saw several jars of opened baby food in the refrigerator and didn’t know which one to grab. When she asked Deborah how young moms kept track of all the opened food, Deborah said it was a problem and that she was throwing out food and wasting a lot of money in the process. The two women got to thinking . .

 

This story is a fantastic example of turning life’s ordinary frustrations into a business opportunity.  Kathleen and Deborah took an everyday frustration, and instead of just complaining about it, came up with a solution.  Are there every day frustrations you could turn into a business opportunity?

 

For more details on the story and other business ideas go to:

http://businessfastlane.com