Author Archive

Forget selling ice to eskimos, could you sell an unassembled snowman?

What about a unassembled snowman that also needed to be frozen before use?

Sometimes finding a business to start requires that you turn conventional wisdom on it’s head.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Business Week on the creation of IdeaPaint:

Sometimes a product idea is as obvious as the wall right in front of you. In 2005, three Babson College undergrads were brainstorming on a whiteboard, but had to keep erasing proposals to make room for more. Then, recalls Jeff Avalon, one of them said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could have a dry erase board that just took up the entire wall?” Over the next three years, Avalon, John Goscha, and Morgan Newman collaborated with chemists to come up with a durable, smooth, and nonabsorbing paint that could turn a flat surface into an erasable board.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Ballard News Tribune:

While most people see only bland depictions of mountains or umbrellas when perusing the seemingly endless varieties of bottled waters on grocery store racks, Ballard resident Marie Nicholas saw something else: Opportunity.

With Nicholas’ Model on a Bottle, instead of a mountain, thirsty customers get musclebound and shirtless “Pro Fitness Model Hitch.” Instead of an umbrella, “Model Jayla Murray” in a black bikini stares out from the bottle.

The new business, owned and operated by Nicholas, has replaced company logos with labels full of scantily-clad models, musicians, athletes and potential celebrities – all unheard-of, but hungry for publicity.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.