Filed Under Unusual Products
It all started with a bad hair day.
When a friend styled Alex’s hair with dreadlocks, it didn’t turn as planned. Frantically, Alex searched the Internet to find a way to improve his hair. But after hours of searching, he realized there was little information available on the Internet about dreadlock care and not many suitable products for sale in Great Britain.
Alex bought two pots of dreadlock wax from the US. He used one pot for his hair and put the other for sale on eBay. In less than a few minutes the pot sold, and he was immediately prompted to launch his business.
The Web site has been such a success that Alex quit his job in a call center so that he could focus on his business full time. Sales are increasing and orders are coming in from across Great Britain and Europe.
Initially his Web site just specialized in dreadlock hair care, but then he expanded it to offer more.
Eventually he would like to expand the salon side of his business and start selling his products at festivals.
Alex has shown that with a little determination and correct advice, it is possible to go from trading a few things on eBay to full-time work and a growing business.
We’ve seen this formula before: turning a problem or personal frustration into a business idea.
For more details on this story and other business ideas go to:
http://businessfastlane.com
Written November 18, 2009, 10:30 pm by Ron
Filed Under Publicity Success
Planning on paying for your pizza dinner with your credit card? You might want to make sure you’re not close to your limit. A Manhattan restaurateur has just introduced his slice of heaven in the form of a luxury pizza.
It’s the crème de la crème of pizza; toped with crème fraiche, chives, four types of caviar, Maine lobster tail, salmon roe and a bit of wasabi for a little a little kick. How much? That’ll be $1,000.
A slice will cost you $250, if that’s a little easier for you to swallow.
It won’t be cooked either because that would spoil the fish.
The restaurant owner claims that his luxury pizza might become as famous as a night on Waldorf Astoria.
This strategy is bound to create a buzz surrounding his business whether on not he sells any pizzas!
For more details on this story and other business ideas go to: http://businessfastlane.com
Written November 11, 2009, 4:35 pm by Ron
Filed Under Unusual Products, Offline Success Stories
Maya has always had a talent for cooking up Indian food. At one office job, her co-workers were willing to pay her $4 a plate for dishes she started whipping up for lunch.
In 2002, she decided to try her hand at creating a line of sauces she could sell. She does all the hard work like “the grinding and blending of spices,” says Maya. Costumers just have to simmer the sauces with veggies or meat.
It took Maya 6 months of working in her kitchen to perfect her first sauces. She modified each recipe up to 30 times to get just what she wanted. Then, the next step was to figure out how to take her recipes and modify them to work in a 200-gallon steam kettle. It took a lot of tweaking, but with the manufacturer’s help, she got it just right.
Business really started booming when a distributor started selling the sauces to Whole Foods Markets. In the summer of 2005, a fourth sauce was released. Shortly after that, Williams-Sonoma reps had her create two sauces exclusively for their stores. The sauces sold so well that the stores tripled their orders.
Sales now are expected to be over 1.5 million.
For more details on this story and other business ideas go to:
http://businessfastlane.com
Written November 7, 2009, 12:04 pm by Ron
Filed Under Pets, Inspiration
In the 1980s, Karen worked as a property manager throughout the week and showed Himalayan cats at weekend cat shows. At shows, she saw a lot of money being spent on cat-themed products.
She invested $700 in specialty cat shampoos and sold them at the shows and in cat magazines, going from her day job to filling orders at home. Then, she created a unique catnip mouse to add to the product line. Karen says they stuff the mice with the freshest catnip instead of using cotton fillers. The mice were a hit. “People dangled two mice by the tails in one hand and a $5 bill in the other, all day long,” she says.
Karen was able to make $3,000 a month in sales with little overhead, no employees and not much time involved. She left her day job to be a stay-at-home mom, and since then has raised four children and succeeded in getting her products in pet stores across the United States.
There are few things more enjoyable than making money while doing something you love.
For more details on this story and other business ideas go to:
http://businessfastlane.com
Written October 29, 2009, 9:04 pm by Ron
Filed Under Unusual Products
16-year-old Daniel loves to show off the variety of features available with one of his custom outhouses. The basic model made of plywood and spruce and sells for around $300. They can include some extras like a toilet paper holder, a moon shape cut into the door or moose antlers hung on the front for a small fee.
Daniel aims to please, and is even willing to add features such as candle holders, bookshelves and can make a two-seater with a divider if interested. A cushion toilet seat is almost necessary because it reduces the shock of the cold temperatures.
While Daniel’s new enterprise may seem nutty to some, it’s not, said Harry Walker, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-raised photographer now living in Anchorage whose 1996 book Outhouses of Alaska is in its 11th printing. The author explains that Alaska is one of the last places in the US where there is still a market for outhouses.
In an effort to sell these outhouse to a wider audience, Daniel says that people don’t really need an outhouse to buy one, it can be a novelty type feature to make your yard look more Alaskan.
For more details on this story and other business ideas go to: http://businessfastlane.com
Written October 15, 2009, 9:06 pm by Ron
