Tuesday, October 31, 2006

With This Device You'll Always Make Your Payments On Time

Jake Frank and Stan Schwarz Story

http://www.passtimeusa.com/

When they first introduced their product, PassTime creators Jake Frank and Stan Schwarz received a lot of opposition to the car starter-interrupt devices, which they tried to sell to new-car dealerships as part of a payment plan offered to customers. Once they’re installed, PassTime’s products immobilize the car after a certain number of days if the owner does not make car payments on time.

“On the surface, we look like bad guys, trying to shut people’s cars off,” says Frank, 53. “But essentially what we’re doing is changing people’s behavior. Their car payment becomes a high priority--they can’t put [it] off for a day, or they lose one of the most important things to them: their mode of transportation.”

“We help rebuild their credit,” Schwarz adds, citing that the average delinquency on a loan in the sub-prime market drops from 30 percent to under 5 percent when a PassTime product is installed. The number of repossessions drops from 15 percent to less than 2 percent.

Schwarz, 51, speaks of his target market from personal experience. In the ’80s, he was unable to buy a car due to bad credit. Today, PassTime enables people in situations like his to qualify for car loans. By incorporating one of four devices, car dealerships and finance institutions can negotiate payment periods and offer higher-value vehicles while tracking their assets.

In early 2007, the company, which projects 2006 sales of over $15 million, will introduce a new product that incorporates GPS tracking into the standard starter-interrupt, code-based payment system.


Big Money In Small Houses?

Monday, October 30, 2006

How To Become A Millionaire Digging Caves

David Provost Story

http://www.bacchuscaves.com/

David Provost, has ably tapped the market for those channeling their inner Fred Flintstone. His Napa, California, business, Bacchus Caves, which he bought in 1997, builds actual caverns--underground and in hills. Initially, he was constructing them for wineries that needed climate-stable places to age their stock. But in 1999, he received his first request to build a private home cave, which can range from between $150 to $375 per square foot to create. Private caves now make up approximately 65 percent of his company’s market.

This isn’t to suggest people are moving their entire homes into caves; Provost has only one client who has elected to do that. “They don’t really live in them,” explains Provost. “People use them for other things, like a place to store artwork or have friends over. One customer wants to put in a yoga studio; another wants to store his golf cart.”

Provost estimates annual sales are between $5 million and $10 million. It’s a niche market, but a profitable one, and why not? Who hasn’t wanted their own personal den? “One client said it really brings him back to his primal roots,” says Provost. “Some of my clients are very busy people, and they describe their caves as the eye of the hurricane. They go in there, and their cell phones don’t work. It’s a beautiful retreat and a quiet place where they can just get away.”


Mind Gaps: Or, How Word Illusions Can Improve Your Sales


The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or Anything Else) from the Inside Out

Saturday, October 28, 2006

How To Make Money Flipping Websites

THE ANGLE: Improving and Reselling Web Properties

Jermaine Jones Story

http://411hype.com/

The 20-year-old aspiring producer is a hip-hop fanatic. Yet even though his locale is far more about Tennessee twang than beats and bling, Jones has found a way to pursue his rap passion and earn some easy cash without having to leave home--thanks to his clever exploitation of yet another method of making money on the Web.

Last August, Jones paid $1,000 to buy 411Hype.com, a website about all things hip-hop. He beefed it up--added some forums about fitness and health, for example--and managed to boost traffic by a couple thousand unique visitors, to 7,000 a month. Then, in late March, Jones put the site up for sale on a marketplace called SitePoint. He was bombarded with offers, quickly closing a deal for about $13,500. "I spent less than an hour a day on the site," Jones says.

For obvious reasons, the big acquisitions by News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch, the Yahoo brain trust, and the boys at Google get most of the media attention. But every day, scores of small-scale Internet entrepreneurs are buying and selling simple-to-make, simple-to-run sites for thousands, even tens of thousands, of dollars. These aren't just domain-name plays. The strategy involves spotting the potential of an existing website and then rehabbing it for your own portfolio or flipping it to someone else--and it's taking off, thanks to the froth created by high-priced deals like News Corp.'s $580 million acquisition of MySpace. "The feeling is there's massive growth to come," says SitePoint CEO Mark Harbottle, "that it's all just starting to explode."

While several places exist online to buy and sell already-built websites--eBay has a section, for example--SitePoint, a tech-focused publishing company, is the favorite of Web-savvy entrepreneurs. A year ago SitePoint added a market-place where, for a minimum of $10, people can list their sites for sale or auction them off. Demand has soared: In April, SitePoint added about 400 new listings, a figure that's growing by about 25 percent per month.

All sorts of sites are available--blogs, game sites, dating sites, entertainment sites--requiring varying degrees of expertise to run. You can build a site from scratch and flip it, or take Jones's route: Buy an existing site you think you can improve and resell. The key is to understand what you're buying. Start with the basics: See where the site pops up on a Google search. Amazon's Alexa.com ranks traffic. The seller will provide revenue stats, and you can scan message boards at SitePoint to assess a seller's credibility. And, of course, you need a plan.

411Hype.com, for instance, was a basic message board with various topics related to hip-hop when Jones bought it from a college kid who had never bothered to seek advertisers. At the time, the site was getting about 1,000 unique hits a day. To broaden its scope, Jones added topics he thought would appeal to his demographic, mainly guys in their teens and 20s. He spent time on the forums at SitePoint and DNForum, another popular site for small Web entrepreneurs, and posted threads saying he was looking for advertisers. That generated inquiries, and Jones sold some ad spots for $100 a month, quickly recouping his investment. He also used Adbrite.com, which sells space for many websites, to place ads.

Traffic steadily improved. Jones further boosted his ad revenue by signing up with Yahoo's Publisher Network and CasaleMedia.com, an ad network that works with publishers whose sites have no more than 10,000 monthly unique visitors. When he sold the site, it was earning $900 to $1,000 a month. Best of all, for Jones, nurturing the site was a blast. "The key is to be into the topic," advises Jones, who is now at work on an e-commerce site and will start college in the fall. "Then it's easy to figure out what your audience might want."

Adult Website Money: How to Build, Start, and Market an Adult Website Business for Little to No Cost in 30 Days!

Friday, October 27, 2006

How To Sell Wine Directly To Consumers

Josh Hanson, Doug Fugate and Kay Syrrist Story

http://www.svimports.com/

Most wine importers get their vino into the marketplace through what the industry calls the “three-tiered system”—the importer strikes a deal with a distributor, who then markets the product to retailers and restaurateurs. Not Seattle-based Small Vineyards LLC, an importer specializing in hand-harvested wine from family-owned vineyards in Italy. Co-founders Josh Hanson, Doug Fugate, and Kay Syrrist, developed a concept virtually unheard-of in the wine industry: a direct-to-consumer approach in which employees host in-store tastings, wine dinners and other events.

“No one is in a position to train the salespeople and develop the brand like the importer,” says Hanson, whose unorthodox business model has paid off to the tune of $5 million in 2005 sales—an 85 percent increase over the previous year. The 5-year-old business continues to mature, with year-end sales projected to increase by another 50 percent.


A New Way to Evaluate the Marketing Potential of Your Book - Before You Print It

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Vintage Clothing Milionaire Story

Andy Hyman Story

http://www.distantreplays.com/

Startup: $30,000 to $45,000 in 1998

Annual sales: between $4 million and $5 million

In 1998, Atlanta bar owner Andy Hyman boarded a plane for a New York City vacation, hoping for some relaxation and new possibilities. Tired of the late hours at his bar, he was ready for a change. Little did he know, inspiration would hit before the plane even touched the ground. While browsing through a catalog, he spotted a replica of a Montreal Canadiens hockey sweater. Confident that a store selling reproductions of retro sports merchandise from famous and sometimes extinct teams would be a hit among sentimental sports fans, Hyman decided to open a kiosk, dubbed Distant Replays, in Atlanta, where no such stores existed.

The kiosk overflowed with jerseys, hats and dugout jackets for a year and a half until Hyman was able to expand into an 800-square-foot store. Now he has enough space to welcome visiting teams and host special appearances by athletes like Magic Johnson. Though his store, with its hundreds of logos, has become a must-see location for sports fans, he does all he can to further develop the business. He sponsors local teams, forms partnerships with sports agents, and even sends limousines to transport players from their hotels to the store.

Hyman found his niche on the upswing when rappers like Big Boi (from Outkast) inadvertently doubled the company's sales by sporting jerseys in their music videos. Distant Replays may be making millions, but there's nothing more valuable than keeping sports history alive. Says Hyman, "I get pleasure from seeing people get excited about buying [the apparel of] their favorite players from when they were little."

How To Make $20 Million A Year With Manicure

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

How To Sleep Your Way To A Million.

Lee Loree Story

http://www.sleeptracker.com/

Working as a stock analyst in Atlanta, Lee Loree, was bored. While reading dull reports at night, he noticed his slumber-ing wife was more alert at certain times. Curious, he started studying sleep cycles. His research and the desire to rouse his workaday routine led to the Sleeptracker, a watch that beeps to wake you during an optimal period of light sleep so you arise less drowsy. It took Loree five years of working with sleep experts and engineers to ready his product.

Sleeptracker monitors your body and continuously looks for your best possible waking times. It wakes you up at just the right moment - during a window of time that YOU set. Worn like an everyday watch, Sleeptracker is ideal for anyone who wants to wake up alert and ready to start the day, such as frequent travelers across time zones, business people looking for an extra edge, students with fluctuating schedules, or busy moms who need to wake up easily.

The invention immediately spoke to a population tired of waking up tired--and 8,000 visitors flooded his site on its second day. “We got bombarded,” says Loree, founder of Innovative Sleep Solutions. Time named Sleeptracker one of the year’s top inventions in 2005, and the product even made an appearance on Dr. Phil. With projected year-end sales of $1 million, Loree hardly ever has slow days anymore--but he still wakes up energized.

Read More On Polyphasic Sleep

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

For Parents By Parents

Sharon Mullen Story

http://www.inventiveparent.com/


In 1997, Sharon Mullen made the decision to leave the "real" world of employed and began to work on several projects. One of these projects was the development of her Cozy Line, attachable blankets for car seats, joggers, bike seats, wheelchairs, etc. Says Sharon, "This cozy was made because we were made crazy by our son's blanket-- blankie, actually-- slipping off the stroller, falling off the car seat, coming untucked, blowing in the breezes, etc. No one else made what we wanted, so I made one myself!"


As she was doing research to protect her intellectual property, she came across a number of other parents who had developed products and built businesses around their products. At this time, Sharon was only selling her own product on her website and thought that if she could sell other parents' innovative products, she could bring more traffic to her website and she could help other parents develop their businesses. Thus, http://www.inventiveparent.com was born in June 2000. She started with 4 product lines and today she has over 100 parent-invented products for sale on her her site.


The vast majority of the products that Sharon carries were discovered at the Juvenile Products Manufacturer's Association (JPMA). She holds most of her products in inventory to ensure the best customer service and fastest delivery. She recently started adding some drop-ship items, items that are too heavy to reasonably ship from the manufacturer to her, and then out again. However, the drop shipping arrangement must meet her regular policies (shipping out within a day, tracking number, etc).


Sharon's site is unique in that it doesn't simply sell the products. Her products provide solutions to problems in parents' everyday lives and her site helps parents find the right products. She has a "Problem Solved" section where she lists problems like, "I finally found sunglasses for my kids, 4 mo & 3 yrs, but they always fall off. What can I do?" and the answer to this problem is a product invented by a parent.


Perhaps the most popular service on her website is a listing of car seat regulations across the country. Her November newsletter includes an article on why babies need to be rear-facing. Sharon is most often asked why a baby needs to be rear-facing, then why an older child still needs to be in a car seat (NHTSA now recommends that kids stay in seats through 8yrs/80lbs, or to 4'9"). Her next newsletter challenge is to offer tips for getting a kid back into a "baby seat!"


Sharon has helpful advice on her website for aspiring inventors and a number of useful links. She offers the following advice to our readers who may have an invention on the horizon, "Essentially, you need to protect your intellectual property and be ruthless in your evaluation of its ability to make it in the marketplace...Be prepared to do your own research, if only so you can communicate with your attorney. Do not use one of those invention submission companies. Inventors are headed down a road of hard work and expense. Often the road leads nowhere, sometimes it leads to great rewards and riches, many times it just keeps going."


Sharon runs most of her business online, but she does attend various consumer events, such as Baby Fairs. Sharon says the key to online success is to be found and to be trusted before you can sell anything. You do this the same way you do with any brick and mortar business, she explains: "You join the Better Business Bureau and other such services, connect with other complimentary businesses, employ programs to create repeat customers and provide excellent customer service."
Sharon rises every morning with her husband and son and they always have breakfast together. After her son goes to school, Sharon and her husband "go off to work".


They are both home based business people and they have their own home offices. Sharon says she makes every effort not to mix work and parenting. Her office is a converted garage space and is very separate from her home. So, when she is at work, she is not also at home and vice versa.

10 Reasons Target is Better than Wal-Mart

Monday, October 23, 2006

Liquid Armor

Richard Palmer Story

http://www.d3o.com/

Five years ago, snowboard-mad engineer Richard Palmer was hit with an avalanche of an idea. After one too many painful tumbles, the 39-year-old Brit reckoned there had to be a better way to avoid bruising than the restrictive, uncomfortable, and often ineffective gear available.

"I looked at protective products on the market and thought this is a load of crap," Palmer says. "I thought I could do something better."

Palmer quickly proved he's not just talk. His company, d3o Lab based in Hove, England, developed a futuristic liquid armor that hardens on impact. Today, the shear-thickening (a term that refers to a fluid's viscosity) material—called d3o—is used in a range of sports equipment and apparel ranging from soccer goalkeeper gloves to skateboarding shoes. The U.S. and Canadian Olympic slalom ski teams used d3o-enhanced Spyder racing suits in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

"Marketing new sports products today is all about enhancing performance," says Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at NPD Group. Performance-enhancing brands such as d3o, he says, are a bit like steroids. "Every athlete wants that extra little edge and the brands that can deliver it have a huge leg up on the competition."

Palmer's ambitions go well beyond sporting goods, however. With potential applications ranging from protective gear for the military, police, and firefighters to safety seats for cars that protect against high-force impact to soundproofing, the feisty upstart is attracting the attention of big-league players such as NASA and Boeing. The company is currently in discussions with the U.S. Army to develop a protective suit to soften the impact for troops when they hit the ground to dodge bullets. "We're going to be the next Gore-Tex," Palmer claims.

But for a tiny startup with limited funds, building a big brand from scratch is challenging. Initially, Palmer thought the material's innovative qualities would market themselves. But he soon discovered that having a good idea and patenting it isn't enough. Even his impressive demonstration routine, hammering his elbow while wearing a shirt with d3o panels sewn inside, failed to convince many potential buyers and investors.

"At first people don't trust their own judgement," he says. "It's like leaving a bar of gold in the middle of the street: No one will pick it up because they don't believe it's real."

Palmer, though, never doubted his own judgment. To get d3o off the ground, he quit his job as a design consultant, sold his house, cashed in his life savings—even auctioned off his belongings on eBay—and spent 18 months crashing on a friend's couch. That friend, fellow engineer Adrian Hampstead, became the company's first investor, ponying up $50,000. By 2003, Palmer had standardized samples, a Web site, and a staff of three—but no customers, no products and no money.

He made the rounds of the trade shows, and in 2004 through word of mouth d3o started to gain attention. Cortland Schurian, footwear director of California-based Globe, a maker of skateboarding shoes and apparel, immediately saw d3o's potential. "I was sure it was too late for me to be on the forefront of this technology, but to my surprise no others had ever pursued it." Globe did, and launched its Icon range of skateboarding shoes, embedded with d3o in the heel to absorb shocks last October. It sold 12,000 pairs last year alone.

Palmer quickly learned the importance of strong product design in wooing new customers, as he began manufacturing prototypes of everything from shoes to clothing to equipment all embedded with d3o's trademark fluorescent orange logo. Then, borrowing a page from Gore-Tex, Palmer set about convincing athletes to give it a go. His big break came when the U.S. and Canadian Olympic ski teams convinced members to try out a d3o-enhanced Spyder racing suit. "Originally, the athletes didn't even want to try it," Palmer says. "Now they aren't racing without it."

It's part of d3o's strategy to work directly with both professional and amateur athletes to develop and test products. Jerzy Dudek, goalkeeper for Liverpool Football Club and Poland, uses d3o's Contour glove made by Sells, while British alpine climber Kenton Cool dons a d3o beanie when climbing Everest.

"Athletes give the brand a very strong and sexy image just by their association with the product," says Rita Clifton, chairman of Interbrand UK. With its unique material, high-profile endorsements, and its fluorescent orange logo, d3o has "the potential to be the perfect ingredient brand," she says.

World downhill mountain bike champion Helen Mortimer says her d3o suit is much lighter weight and less restricting than previous protective gear. "It's almost like a natural extension of my body." The company has updated Mortimer's suit three times, free of charge, in exchange for her acting as an ambassador for the fledgling brand and providing feedback for product development.

By the end of this year, Palmer hopes to have added a production site in China—to be closer to the manufacturing sites of many of its partners. The design of prototypes will be done via computer back in Britain with the material shipped to China for assembly into prototypes.

While the potential for rivals to copy the technology exists, Palmer believes the process behind it is difficult for others to replicate. The key to protecting the technology from low-cost competitors, says NPD's Cohen, is creating "a brand association that's so strong that competitors will not legally be able to copy the formula."

These days, d3o has more opportunities than it has time. The company is in discussions with 300 companies. "It's a product that has so much versatility that you have to stay focused," Palmer says, "otherwise you'll follow all the opportunities but deliver none of them."

P.S. Folks, you've got to read this awesome post by Steve Olson

10 Reasons Target is Better than Wal-Mart

Liquid Armor

Richard Palmer Story

http://www.d3o.com/

Five years ago, snowboard-mad engineer Richard Palmer was hit with an avalanche of an idea. After one too many painful tumbles, the 39-year-old Brit reckoned there had to be a better way to avoid bruising than the restrictive, uncomfortable, and often ineffective gear available.

"I looked at protective products on the market and thought this is a load of crap," Palmer says. "I thought I could do something better."

Palmer quickly proved he's not just talk. His company, d3o Lab based in Hove, England, developed a futuristic liquid armor that hardens on impact. Today, the shear-thickening (a term that refers to a fluid's viscosity) material—called d3o—is used in a range of sports equipment and apparel ranging from soccer goalkeeper gloves to skateboarding shoes. The U.S. and Canadian Olympic slalom ski teams used d3o-enhanced Spyder racing suits in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

"Marketing new sports products today is all about enhancing performance," says Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at NPD Group. Performance-enhancing brands such as d3o, he says, are a bit like steroids. "Every athlete wants that extra little edge and the brands that can deliver it have a huge leg up on the competition."

Palmer's ambitions go well beyond sporting goods, however. With potential applications ranging from protective gear for the military, police, and firefighters to safety seats for cars that protect against high-force impact to soundproofing, the feisty upstart is attracting the attention of big-league players such as NASA and Boeing. The company is currently in discussions with the U.S. Army to develop a protective suit to soften the impact for troops when they hit the ground to dodge bullets. "We're going to be the next Gore-Tex," Palmer claims.

But for a tiny startup with limited funds, building a big brand from scratch is challenging. Initially, Palmer thought the material's innovative qualities would market themselves. But he soon discovered that having a good idea and patenting it isn't enough. Even his impressive demonstration routine, hammering his elbow while wearing a shirt with d3o panels sewn inside, failed to convince many potential buyers and investors.

"At first people don't trust their own judgement," he says. "It's like leaving a bar of gold in the middle of the street: No one will pick it up because they don't believe it's real."

Palmer, though, never doubted his own judgment. To get d3o off the ground, he quit his job as a design consultant, sold his house, cashed in his life savings—even auctioned off his belongings on eBay—and spent 18 months crashing on a friend's couch. That friend, fellow engineer Adrian Hampstead, became the company's first investor, ponying up $50,000. By 2003, Palmer had standardized samples, a Web site, and a staff of three—but no customers, no products and no money.

He made the rounds of the trade shows, and in 2004 through word of mouth d3o started to gain attention. Cortland Schurian, footwear director of California-based Globe, a maker of skateboarding shoes and apparel, immediately saw d3o's potential. "I was sure it was too late for me to be on the forefront of this technology, but to my surprise no others had ever pursued it." Globe did, and launched its Icon range of skateboarding shoes, embedded with d3o in the heel to absorb shocks last October. It sold 12,000 pairs last year alone.

Palmer quickly learned the importance of strong product design in wooing new customers, as he began manufacturing prototypes of everything from shoes to clothing to equipment all embedded with d3o's trademark fluorescent orange logo. Then, borrowing a page from Gore-Tex, Palmer set about convincing athletes to give it a go. His big break came when the U.S. and Canadian Olympic ski teams convinced members to try out a d3o-enhanced Spyder racing suit. "Originally, the athletes didn't even want to try it," Palmer says. "Now they aren't racing without it."

It's part of d3o's strategy to work directly with both professional and amateur athletes to develop and test products. Jerzy Dudek, goalkeeper for Liverpool Football Club and Poland, uses d3o's Contour glove made by Sells, while British alpine climber Kenton Cool dons a d3o beanie when climbing Everest.

"Athletes give the brand a very strong and sexy image just by their association with the product," says Rita Clifton, chairman of Interbrand UK. With its unique material, high-profile endorsements, and its fluorescent orange logo, d3o has "the potential to be the perfect ingredient brand," she says.

World downhill mountain bike champion Helen Mortimer says her d3o suit is much lighter weight and less restricting than previous protective gear. "It's almost like a natural extension of my body." The company has updated Mortimer's suit three times, free of charge, in exchange for her acting as an ambassador for the fledgling brand and providing feedback for product development.

By the end of this year, Palmer hopes to have added a production site in China—to be closer to the manufacturing sites of many of its partners. The design of prototypes will be done via computer back in Britain with the material shipped to China for assembly into prototypes.

While the potential for rivals to copy the technology exists, Palmer believes the process behind it is difficult for others to replicate. The key to protecting the technology from low-cost competitors, says NPD's Cohen, is creating "a brand association that's so strong that competitors will not legally be able to copy the formula."

These days, d3o has more opportunities than it has time. The company is in discussions with 300 companies. "It's a product that has so much versatility that you have to stay focused," Palmer says, "otherwise you'll follow all the opportunities but deliver none of them."

P.S. Folks, you've got to read this awesome post by Steve Olson

10 Reasons Target is Better than Wal-Mart

Saturday, October 21, 2006

How To Make Money With Sign Language

Diane Ryan Story

http://www.kindersigns.com/

Diane Ryan received her undergraduate degree in Speech and Language Pathology from Nazareth College of Rochester and worked with children with communication disorders in New York State schools for six years.

Two years ago, she saw there was a great interest in teaching sign language to hearing babies. "The benefits are extraordinary," says Diane, "A baby who signs is less frustrated, speaks earlier than a non-signing baby, becomes a better reader and has a higher IQ".

She started her business, Kindersigns, by offering workshops in Orlando, Florida. All the workshops were continuously fully booked. "If I could be successful locally," thought Diane, "Why not go worldwide?". She then decided to take the materials and adapted them to online learning. Thus, her website KinderSigns.com was born.

Once she had achieved success with the online sales, she decided to share her knowledge and expertise and recently created a business opportunity so that others could make a living teaching sign language to babies. She started marketing a Kindersign instructor business opportunity for $149 and had great success with it.

40+ Ways to Make Money on the Internet

Friday, October 20, 2006

How To Make Money Hacking Hybrid Cars

Pete Norman Story

http://www.edrivesystems.com/


Rising gas prices and booming sales of the Toyota Prius mean a big opportunity for Pete Nortman. A year and a half ago, the Monrovia, Calif., engineer hacked his Prius by replacing the battery with a lithium-ion version and adding a system that plugs into an ordinary 110-volt socket.

After charging in the garage overnight, the souped-up Prius gets about 100 miles per gallon--roughly twice what a regular Prius gets at best. "This is just the beginning," Nortman says.

Now EDrive, the startup Nortman co-founded is set to turn such tinkering into cash. The EDrive kit will debut by December with a price of $12,000, installation included. Hymotion's kit, also due later this year, will cost $12,500, a figure that co-founder Ricardo Bazzarella plans to drop to $6,500 by this time next year. He estimates profit margins of 20 to 25 percent and says the success of his business hinges on public awareness.

In that, the hybrid hackers get an assist from nonprofits like Palo Alto-based California Cars Initiative. The group holds public PHEV demos and predicts a market for as many as 100,000 plug-in vehicles (260,000 Priuses have been sold in the United States).

"The goal is to make carmakers build these cars," says the group's founder, Felix Kramer. Toyota's response: "We admire the entrepreneurial spirit of the people making conversions," says spokeswoman Cindy Knight. "This is something we're seriously investigating ourselves."

40+ Ways to Make Money on the Internet

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Making Money By Finding Extras To Shoot In A Movie

Wayne Berko Story

http://www.universalextras.co.uk/

Working as an extra in a movie: It's a quick, easy way for students to make cash, and you can't deny the glamour of being in a film. But, it turns out, production companies don't always have an easy time finding extras, especially in off-beat locations. And many people interested in being extras don't know where to look for jobs.

Enter Uni-versalExtras, a matchmaking Web site launched a year ago by Wayne Berko. The site has now signed up 30,000 students who want to work as extras. Film companies find them there, and Berko takes a 15% cut. He has recently expanded as well into professional extras, who pay a one-time $20 fee to post their profiles. Already the site gets 800,000 hits per month, and Berko aims to start selling ads to sponsors who want to reach his attractive student demographic. Lights, camera, startup!

The Truth About Being an Extra: How to Become a Good Background Actor

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

How To Sell Something You Know Nothing About

David Carter Story

http://www.asbestossurveys.com/

One of the many remarkable aspects of the Internet is how easily people can use it to pretend to be something they aren't. There are, of course, terrifying results, such as when crooks pose as your bank.

But David Carter has taken that capacity for misdirection and made it into a legitimate way to make money.

For instance, Carter didn't know a thing about asbestos when he launched AsbestosSurveys.com - yet it sure looked as if he did. He wrote about regulatory changes in his native England by culling data from a government website. He explained what property owners needed to do to comply. He even posted local phone numbers for his "business" in London, Manchester, and Birmingham, each of which was forwarded to an answering service.

When inquiries flooded in, Carter steered them to an acquaintance who really was an asbestos surveyor. The requests were far more than one surveyor could handle, but Carter continued to book new customers.

"I told them there was a big backlog," recalls Carter, who is 47 and lives in Birmingham. "Then I said, 'Oh, God. What do I do now?'"

To Carter, there was really only one answer: Become a surveyor himself.
So with eager customers, Carter turned his site and follow-on properties into an actual business, called AsbestosServices.com. He took a half-week course, got certified, and teamed up with his friend. Today, once or twice a week -essentially whenever he feels like getting out of the house - Carter surveys a property, armed with a digital camera and notepad. The effort, he says, will net the pair about $350,000 this year.

Carter set up the site three years ago as an experiment to see what would happen if he dressed up a website to reflect a more serious and professional operation than it actually was. In doing so he stumbled across what turned out to be a clever way to cash in on the power of Internet search and marketing. The basic strategy: Build the customer base first, and then figure out how to sell to it.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Sleepover Business For Dogs

Maggie Brown and Tina Myers Story

http://www.sleepoverrover.com/

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Phoenix residents and pet-industry veterans Maggie Brown and Tina Myers did just that when they launched their canine-care business, Sleepover Rover, in early 2005. Not exactly your father's dog-sitting service, Sleepover Rover operates a network of host families who open up their homes--and hearts--to clients' pooches, providing personalized care in a safe environment.

"It began like most good business concepts begin," Myers says. "With a need." The idea was fueled by an ad Brown placed in a local paper, asking for someone to take her dog into their home when Brown traveled. She found a retiree who gave her pup the attention, space and security she couldn't find in kennels and other boarding facilities.

"I thought, there have to be other people out there like me who need a better solution for care for their pets," Brown says. "And certainly, there's got to be people like Gale, who would enjoy the company of another person's dog, and maybe could benefit from making some extra money doing this on the side."

Brown brainstormed the idea with good friend and fellow dog-lover Myers, and Sleepover Rover was born. In less than two years, the business has already produced quite a "litter," with five new locations in four states and more plans for expansion.

Each location launch starts with, well, a dogged search for host families--through ads, networking and referrals from animal-care professionals. Hosts must have a yard and be available full-time, making it a perfect sideline gig for dog-loving retirees, stay-at-home parents and home-based workers. Those who meet the rigorous criteria are added to the company database. Customers interested in booking sleepovers are matched with the best home-away-from-home for their pets.

Sleepover Rover seems to be barking up the right tree. "The hosts love the customers, the customers love the hosts, and everybody loves the dogs," Myers says.

"The repeat business is phenomenal," Brown adds. "Once they use us, they never go back."


101 Home-Based Businesses for Pet Lovers


More Weird News:

Half Americans admit to re-gifting

Sunday, October 15, 2006

World's Most Unusual Moving Company.

Shawn Lyons Story

http://www.rabbitmovers.com/

Rabbit markets itself as an anomaly in an industry with a bad rep, capitalizing on a staff of artistic types, word-of-mouth referrals, and a Web site that posts positive customer testimonials and descriptions of extra services traditional moving companies don't usually offer.

So far, Rabbit's bare-bones sales and marketing strategy—except for maintaining its site, the company spends no money on advertising—is working. Rabbit's founder, former itinerant writer Shawn Lyons, who started the moving company in 2004 for $1,500—the cost of a 1981 Dodge Ram cargo van—estimates revenues will be around $300,000 in 2006. This is up one-third from a year ago. "Originally, I was just going to do the 'man with a van' thing and have time to write," Lyons says.

But about nine months into helping friends move their furniture in his spare time, Lyons decided he was onto something because demand kept increasing. So he pursued the licensing and insurance required by New York City and State and started to build Rabbit into more than just a traditional moving company, carving out a niche with young urban dwellers.

Today Rabbit, apart from making residential and commercial moves within the New York metro area and renting storage space, also offers massages ($80 per hour) and feng shui ($200). Clients normally take advantage of these extras after the move. Moving prices range from $100 an hour to a flat $1,500 for a complicated, labor-intensive move that includes packing.

Toby MacPhearson, a 31-year-old information-technology worker in Manhattan, paid Rabbit about $650 to move from the neighborhood of Chelsea to Hell's Kitchen, and is glad he took advantage of the feng shui service. "I was mostly in it for the practical aspect: It helped me reduce my stress by helping me set up the apartment in a logical manner," says MacPhearson, who has since referred two friends to Rabbit.

Still, Rabbit is a tiny presence in an industry that generates approximately $7 billion a year in revenues and employs an estimated 450,000 workers. David Sparkman, a spokesperson for the American Moving and Storage Assn. (AMSA), an industry advocacy group with 3,400 members, estimates that there are 5,000 to 6,000 mostly small, family-owned moving companies, with just a handful of large van lines.

With so much competition out there, concentrating on a unique group of customers has helped Rabbit establish a strong reputation. Apart from Rabbit's positive plugs in its Web site's testimonials section, sites like Apartmenttherapy.com and Brooklynian.com include posts such as: "Rabbit Movers are awesome. I've used them and passed them on to friends as highly highly recommended."

That seal of approval lends multiple benefits to Rabbit. "The notion of community in an urban setting leads to positive word of mouth, customer loyalty, and branding, and it seems like Rabbit has all of those," says Heidi Neck, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College.

Those who hire Rabbit to help them move shouldn't expect stereotypical movers. "Most of our guys are artists or in some creative field; they're just a really creative bunch," says Lyons, who counts chefs, painters, musicians, and writers ranging in age from 23 to 43 as his employees. "We're trying to move away from the perception of movers being supermacho creeps. Movers kind of have a bad rep in New York, and for good reason. There are a lot of scams, so we try to combat that," he says.

Aside from wanting to work with people whom he liked on a personal level, Lyons says it was easier to communicate the tone he's trying to create for the company to people who already intuitively understood it through their own experience. Trying to nurture friendly interactions with clients further sets Rabbit apart from the competition.

Since good employees are the key to creating a good moving experience, Rabbit pays fair wages across the board. Lyons says most of his movers make between $13 and $15 an hour, while many other companies pay workers under the table or at minimum wage. Keeping morale up, he says, is a necessity when your primary selling point is alleviating stress for the customer.

Also atypical of a moving company: Rabbit's community of young movers and customers is forming around the Brooklyn art scene. Lyons studied literature and writing at Temple University in Philadelphia and wanted to have his career fit with his creative background. So he recently bought and renovated a space in Brooklyn's Dumbo neighborhood (Dumbo stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge), where he now rents space for artists to display their work.

Not directly related to Rabbit's moving business but intimately connected with its people and its style, the studio will host exhibitions at this year's Dumbo Arts Festival, and some of the artists will be Rabbit's own movers. Lyons says most of the people he expects to attend the exhibition are former customers who asked to be added to the Rabbit mailing list.

The company also specializes in moving art for galleries. Lyons says the movers' appreciation for the work establishes a trust between them and the client. "What's really great is that they're not just movers, they're really smart guys. In a business you need things that are malleable—people who are quick and able to adjust to what you need," says Priyanka Mathew, gallery director for Gallery Arts India, one of Rabbit's clients, and a former banker at Goldman Sachs. Mathew says Rabbit has moved scores of contemporary Indian paintings and sculptures without damaging a thing.

The company also employs a design aesthetic on its Web site, trucks, and T-shirts that appeals to its target demographic of young urbanites. "I just went along with what I would want in the aesthetic of the designs, the character, and quality of the movers. So far it's working, I think," says Lyons.

Rabbit's faithful clients—Mathew included—agree that the company's got staying power. "I really think this is the way that business is going to be moving—especially small business. You have to be sound fundamentally, but to create a niche and an edge, you've got to try and differentiate yourself, and that's what Rabbit does very well," says Mathew.

Plus, Ben Stein explains Why you'll never get rich studying African feminism in the 19th century

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Flavor Magic That's Worth A Million Bucks


Alan Segel Story

http://www.realchef.com

Plastic sheets placed beneath meat - containing preblended spice mixes that soak in before cooking - have been used in the food service industry for years. But it took former restaurateur Alan Segel, president of Real Chef, to bring them to the consumer market. A trial run on QVC gave him a database of buyers. It also taught him a key ingredient to sales: Customers need to see a sheet in action to really get the concept.

The company is already selling sheets on its website ($6 for a box of 12) and is in talks with several national retailers. It estimates 2007 sales of $1.2 million.


Unrelated to this story but still worth reading:

Is Hef really having a better time at the Playboy Mansion than you are at home?

Friday, October 13, 2006

How To Make Millions With Fishing Tournaments

http://www.bisbees.com/

Brady Bunte was trolling for marlin off the coast of Cabo San Lucas in Mexico when he saw what looked like a "submarine coming out of the water" - a 565-pound monster had just hit his line. It was the final day of the Bisbee's Black & Blue tournament, held each fall.

The marlin stripped out 800 feet of 130-pound test line in a few seconds, Bunte's reel spinning so fast that it gave off steam when sprayed by seawater. When he finally brought the marlin close to the boat after a half-hour of dramatic leaps and runs, the crew called it a "money fish" - 12 feet long, with a rear tail fin spanning nearly six feet across.

They were right: Bunte, now 41, the founder of Trust One Mortgage Corp. and Cabo Foods, both in Irvine, Calif., had just won the first-ever million-dollar prize for a blue marlin.

That was back in 2003, and Bisbee's Black & Blue has since taken its place among the richest fishing competitions in the world. Last year it paid out $3.8 million in prize money, including $1.3 million for the top fish, a 531-pound black marlin.

This month, the 25th anniversary of the tournament, some 800 anglers will vie for more than $4 million. ESPN plans to shoot an episode of the show "Wanna Go Fishing?" during the competition, and a TV production company in Los Angeles is creating a series of televised fishing events incorporating what competitors refer to as "the Bisbee's."

Not bad for an event that was dreamed up in hopes of creating a little extra revenue for a small, humdrum business. In 1982 founder Bob Bisbee owned a fuel dock and fishing store, and his original vision for the tournament was merely to sell some tackle and have a good time fishing with his friends. Instead, he conceived a marketing event so successful that it replaced his original company.
Starting out small

Bisbee launched his Marine Fuels & Sportfishing Headquarters in 1975 on Balboa Island in Newport Beach, Calif. The island was one of the last stops in the U.S. for boats heading south to fish off Cabo San Lucas, so the store specialized in big-game accessories and boat parts.

A few regulars were at the store one night in 1982, talking about contests in which anglers would bet on whose boat could land the biggest fish. "It sounded like fun," recalls Bisbee. "So I said, why don't we try it?"

Each man kicked in $3,000, and seven boats headed down to Cabo to catch black and blue marlin, majestic fish that can weigh more than 1,000 pounds. (They are far bigger than the striped variety found off the coast of California.) The world record is a 1,560-pound black marlin caught in Cabo Blanco, Peru, in 1953.

Marlin are incredibly strong, with razor-sharp bills. It was a marlin that nearly killed the fisherman Santiago in Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea." This summer an experienced charter operator in Bermuda was speared in the chest and carried into the ocean by a leaping 800-pound marlin. The man survived but needed emergency surgery. (The marlin escaped.)

In his first tournament, Bisbee offered total prizes of about $10,000. "Everyone won something, but it wasn't much," he says. (Bisbee took first place, a prize of about $2,000.) The prize money and number of entrants grew fast, though, up about 25 percent a year through the mid-1980s.

"We'd go into a hotel in Cabo, and there would be this mound of cash on the bed, $40,000 or $50,000 in pesos and dollars," recalls John Doughty, Bisbee's store manager at the time.

By 1990, prize money was close to $750,000, all from entry fees. That was the year Bisbee's lease for the store and fuel dock expired and he retired. (John Doughty decided to lease the property and opened J.D.'s Big Game Fishing Tackle, a business that operates today.)
Passing the torch

Bisbee continued running the tournament until 1995, however, when his son, Wayne, took over. His daughter, Patricia, joined as a minority stakeholder and vice president. Both now work on the tournament year-round, along with a third employee in Mexico, who helps with logistics, and a part-time staffer who handles public relations.

Wayne's first task was finding creative ways to market the event and lining up corporate sponsorship; the Black & Blue now has about 20 such sponsors, bringing in several hundred thousand dollars a year. The biggest pay what Wayne describes as "a little over a six-digit commitment" each year.

The rest of the company's revenue comes from tournament entry fees (as much as $5,000 for each boat; about 200 will participate this year) and separate fees, ranging from $200 to $10,000 a day, for daily jackpots. The company takes 30 percent of the main entry fees, 10 percent of the daily jackpot fees and all sponsorship money. With two warm-up tournaments and the main event, the company will net between $300,000 and $400,000 this year.

The growth of the Bisbee's mirrors a nationwide surge in sportfishing. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's most recent survey, the number of anglers in the U.S. increased by 130 percent from 1995 to 2001, to 34 million, nearly twice the rate of U.S. population growth. Cable channels now televise salt- and fresh-water fishing competitions, and ESPN, which owns the Pro Bass tour, runs a fantasy-fishing league with about 40,000 participants.

As the prize money has soared, the rules have evolved. During its tournament, Bisbee's retains a biologist to examine every fish that comes in, looking for signs that it may have been frozen or its windpipe blocked, which would allow water to be pumped in to boost the fish's weight. (Competitors can also enter a catch-and-release version of the tournament.)

Anyone who wins money must also submit to a polygraph test, a rule Wayne Bisbee instituted in 2000. Only one fish has been disqualified since then, when an angler received help on the boat and initially lied about it. (The rules require that the person holding the rod when the fish strikes work alone to bring it in.) "People are people, and there's a lot of money on the line," Wayne says.
Big spenders

These days, the Bisbee's is dominated by entrepreneurs. "Most of the people I know who fish Bisbee's and other tournaments are business owners - very competitive, successful people," says Donnie Seay, 66, a founding partner of Entera Energy Trust, an oil and gas production company in San Antonio. "You have to be able to take time off, and you have to be able to afford to compete." This year will be Seay's third Black & Blue tournament.

Anglers such as Seay often spend tens of thousands of dollars on basic equipment such as rods, reels, lures and lines, and high-end accessories such as line testers, fish-finding sonar, radar and infrared night-vision cameras.

Brady Bunte, the Bisbee's winner three years ago, just bought a 2003 tournament-rigged 61-foot Viking worth about $2.2 million. His equipment - rods, reels and lines - is worth more than $40,000. The boat's custom-made fighting chair cost $19,000.

But it doesn't take an expensive lure to win the Bisbee's. Or night-vision goggles. All it takes is a boat, a rod and some bait. "Sport fishing is probably 80 percent luck and 20 percent skill," says Seay. In the early 1990s a 21-year-old from Southern California won the first prize, about $350,000. "It was the first time he'd ever fished for marlin," says Wayne.

When Brady Bunte won his million-dollar purse, security guards had to clear the crowd away as he and his teammates brought the marlin to the weigh station. Bunte compares it to the feeling he imagines professional athletes get after winning the World Series or Super Bowl. "Only the thing is, I could never win the World Series or Super Bowl," he says. "Yet there I am, up there all sweaty in my flip-flops and swim trunks."

My Fishing Business

Thursday, October 12, 2006

USB Coupons.

Vijay Chetty and Fred Paul Story

http://www.scanaps.com/

Do you clip coupons? If so, you're in the minority. Fewer than 1% of coupons ever get redeemed, according to coupon-processing firm CMS.

Vijay Chetty and Fred Paul, co-founders of ScanAps in Los Angeles, think they've figured out how to change that - and save manufacturers and grocers money and time.

ScanAps makes a USB scanner that fits on a keychain and lets shoppers scan paper-coupon bar codes at home and download them in the store.

"We're taking the paper out of the cycle," says Chetty, 45, adding that today's coupons pass through eight pairs of hands between the consumer and store reimbursement, a process that can take four months and costs an average of 24 cents a coupon.

In a late 2004 test at the Green Hills supermarket in Syracuse, N.Y., shoppers who used the device spent 8.3% more and used 26% more coupons, Chetty claims. ScanAps, which has raised $2.2 million, is discussing larger pilots with one national and two regional grocery chains.

More On This Subject

Greatest Secrets of the Coupon Mom

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Amazing Furniture That Is Made From Old Bicycles


Andy Gregg Story

http://www.bikefurniture.com/

Andy Gregg may not have reinvented the wheel, but he has reinterpreted it. Gregg, 40, owns Bike Furniture Designs, which transforms recycled bicycle parts into sleek, eco-friendly furniture. Combining skills developed in art school -- he is fascinated by early-20th-century furniture design -- with mechanical chops he began polishing at age 10, Gregg sells his pieces on bikefurniture.com and through a smattering of retailers.

Creations such as the Milano lounge chair (pictured), $400, blend steel hardware and rubber upholstery -- made from inner tubes -- with swooping, organic curves. Gregg has been making the furniture since 1991, but it wasn't until 2004 that revenue picked up enough to allow him to quit his carpentry job and focus on his business, based in Marquette, Mich. (Last year, he says, revenue hit the "low five figures.") While the growing demand has spurred him to explore new designs and materials, he maintains that his favorite piece is his first and simplest barstool. "It's so pure," he says. "Just made from a wheel."

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Buzzing Millions

Tina Wells Story

http://www.buzzmg.com/

Happening movies, hot TV programs, cool clothes, hip music--it all sounds like a lot of fun, but keeping up with youth culture and advising companies on how to market to young people is also a lot of hard work. “I work when I’m not sleeping,” says Tina Wells. “Sixteen-hour days are the average, but I have a rule about getting eight hours of sleep.” In a world where she is constantly traveling, taking business classes at Wharton and keeping her finger on the pulse of pop culture, the only constant in Wells’ working day is a morning cup of coffee at Starbucks. Yes, Starbucks is still hot and happening, according to Wells.

Wells has been blazing a trail in youth marketing for a decade, founding her company, which was initially called The Buzz, in 1996. Do the math, and you’ll discover she started the company at 16 years old. She wasn’t your typical teenager. “I’m a big daydreamer, but I didn’t have a clue that people would actually pay me to tell them what I thought about their cool products,” she says. Once Wells figured that out, she didn’t look back. What began from her parents’ home as writing product reviews for a newspaper for teen girls grew into a multimillion-dollar business. Says Wells, “I was a teenager, so it wasn’t like I had incredible startup costs.”

Buzz Marketing Group extends well beyond its 10 employees. A BuzzSpotters network of more than 9,000 teens and tweens helps feed the company’s research and keeps Wells in touch with what’s happening. “I talk to young people every day,” she says. “I also spend a lot of time talking to parents. I really think that’s the key to my business success. [I keep in mind that] with every child comes a parent.”

In 2005, Wells launched a youth marketing magazine called BuzzEd and is looking to branch out from there. “I’ve marketed other people’s products for so long that I’m going to start creating a lot of my own stuff,” says Wells, adding that she can see herself still doing what she’s doing 20 years from now. When it comes to a love of pop culture, age is just a number.

The best way to know your market is to dive right in and find creative ways to keep in touch with the people who can provide you with knowledge.

Monday, October 09, 2006

How Death Of A Patient Gave One Doctor A Multimillion Dollar Idea.

George Lopez Story

http://www.icumed.com/

In 1984 physician George Lopez was working in an intensive care unit when a patient arrived with an infection that impairs the heart's ability to pump blood. Lopez began giving medication intravenously and told the patient's wife, "He's coming home soon." But later a nurse called to say that the patient's IV tube had slipped out of the needle port, pouring medicine onto the bed. "I worked for hours," Lopez says, "but he died."

Lopez went to make a difficult phone call to the patient's wife and, noticing the phone jack in the wall, gave the cord a tug. "This is crazy," Lopez thought. "If this comes out, all I lose is a call, yet it's more secure than the IV." That night he sketched out a new system with a locking device to keep the tube in place. After raising $1 million from doctors and nurses, he launched ICU Medical in San Clemente, Calif., in 1986.

ICU Medical has captured nearly 10 percent of the global IV market, which does about $2 billion in annual sales, says analyst Robert Goldman of KeyBanc Capital Markets. ICU's Clave Connector locking IV system holds a 40 percent share in its category, and the company's 2005 profit hit $20.3 million on revenue of $157.5 million. With 2006 sales expected to reach $195 million, ICU's prognosis is excellent

Saturday, October 07, 2006

A New Twist On 'Used Car Salesman' Story.

http://www.carmax.com/

A small team of Circuit City execs met in 1991 to formulate a plan for a top-secret new business, code-named Project X. For nearly a year, the group worked clandestinely, finally pitching a proposal for a revolutionary new big-box retail chain with the potential to earn tens of billions of dollars in annual sales.
The industry to be tapped? Used cars.

Right about now, you're probably conjuring up images of white shoes, smarmy smiles, bait-and-switches - or William H. Macy's morality-challenged character Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo. The Circuit City board, however, had a different response, doling out $50 million to test-drive Project X.

It hasn't always been a smooth ride - CarMax bled money for its first seven years-but today the company stands as an unlikely American success story: Its supercenters, which now number 71 and are concentrated in the Sun Belt, sold 290,000 used cars in the last fiscal year, ringing up $6.3 billion in sales and $148 million in profit.

Through a blend of technology and an inspired reimagination of how to treat customers, CarMax has managed to outsmart any credible competitors. Now it has Hummer-size ambitions, with plans to build at least 300 more stores in the next 12 years.

How it works

When the first CarMax Auto Superstore opened in Richmond, Va., in 1993, it immediately encountered skepticism from insiders and analysts alike. First there was the ambitious size: The lot was stocked with more cars than some dealerships sell in a year.

Then there was CarMax's nonnegotiable sticker price and the fact that commissions were flat, so there was no incentive to push the priciest models. That, says CarMax CEO Thomas Folliard, was the most crucial element: "When you set up incentives that align your salespeople with the customer, everybody wins."

Customers haven't stopped flocking to the lots since. CarMax says sales reached nearly 5,000 cars per store last year-five to 10 times the industry average, according to Manheim, a provider of wholesale auctions and other services for the used-car industry. "Customers go for the choice, the nonthreatening environment, and the obvious price," says George Hoffer, an economics professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who has followed CarMax since it opened.

But it's the operation's high-tech backbone that truly differentiates it from competitors. In the same way that Wal-Mart revolutionized the logistics of retailing, CarMax set out to nail the perfect mix of inventory and pricing through exhaustive analysis of sales data. Its homegrown software helps CarMax determine which models to sell and when consumer demand is shifting.

Each car is fitted with an RFID tag to track how long it sits and when a test-drive occurs. Showroom computers give customers access to CarMax's nationwide catalog of 20,000 cars, so if a customer in Tampa, Fla., is set on a green 1999 Camry sitting on a lot in Los Angeles, CarMax can transfer the car cross-country for a fee. "The analytical strength has led to its success," says Sharon Zackfia, an analyst with Chicago-based firm William Blair.

Without the data, stocking CarMax lots would be a logistical nightmare. Each store carries 300 to 500 cars at any given time, and unlike Wal-Mart, the company has no vendors to stock its "shelves." Instead, CarMax depends on 800 car buyers, who draw on the company's reams of data to appraise vehicles. Trade-ins represent half of CarMax's inventory; the rest arrives via wholesale auctions.

The buyers are people like Mike Decker, who on a recent morning emerges from CarMax's showroom in Hartford, Conn., to appraise a 2005 Ford Escape with 27,000 miles.
After taking the SUV for a spin and checking out recent sales, Decker returns with an offer of $15,000. It's less than the Kelley Blue Book value but more than the customer would get on a dealer trade-in. A glance at CarMax.com reveals comparable Escapes priced well over $15,000, making it likely that Decker will meet the company's average gross of more than $1,800 per vehicle.

While natural disasters and gas prices could stall the company's growth, Hoffer, for one, doubts that outcome. "Sept. 11 should have been the end of CarMax," he says. But because the stores empty their inventories every month, the company got rid of its high-priced cars in time.

Another risk could be the recent retirement of founding CEO Austin Ligon. Zackfia was initially concerned that the new CEO might attempt to alter the model, but now she says she's happy with the choice of Folliard, who previously headed operations and thus far has made very few changes. "I've already made my mark on the company over the last 13 years," Folliard says.

Given that CarMax currently controls less than 2 percent of a fragmented but huge market-U.S. used-car sales totaled $367 billion in 2005-most analysts share Folliard's confidence that the company can expand to 300 stores, maybe more.
"They have an extremely profitable model," Zackfia says.

Folliard, meanwhile, sees potential for CarMax to become a $20 billion operation within a decade. That is, as long as the new chief remembers the mantra Ligon laid out in Project X: "If you don't offer the customer something special, then you're just another used-car dealer." Jerry Lundegaard couldn't have put it better.

For more, visit NicheGeek.Com

Thursday, October 05, 2006

How To Franchise PR

Mike and Kathy Butler Story

http://prstore.com/

On a rainy morning in Charlotte, Mike and Kathy Butler, founders of the PRstore, are hunkered down in a conference room, teaching the intricacies of logos, letterheads, and lamination to some new franchisees. "Let your customers know that you'll help them look like a big company even though they don't have a lot of money to spend," Mike tells his audience. The goal is simplicity, a theme that extends to almost everything the company does. The PRstore is a growing national chain that aims to demystify marketing for small businesses.

The Butlers both spent careers in advertising agencies and in public relations firms before they launched the PRstore (prstore.com) in 2001, so they knew how those businesses worked and how they could be streamlined. Instead of the retainers or hourly billings that a typical marketing firm demands, the PRstore offers a menu of basic services to walk-in customers (almost all small-business owners) and charges flat rates. A press release runs $295, while ten press kits cost $975. On the higher end, a 30-second television commercial is $8,000 - about half what a typical ad agency would charge.

That savings is made possible by the company's hub-and-spoke business model: Franchise owners take orders from customers, but the creative work, such as designing brochures and copywriting, is generated at the company's 12-employee headquarters in Charlotte. "We provide small companies a level of service that big companies are accustomed to," says Michael Butler. In the five years since they started the company, the Butlers have been expanding using a franchise model.

Recently that effort has gotten a boost from Ira and Linda Distenfield, whose background and skills match the PRstore's needs. Back in the mid-'80s, the Distenfields ran We the People, a national franchise that helped customers handle basic, do-it-yourself legal tasks without hiring an attorney. That unique enterprise brought the Distenfields national exposure - and several lawsuits claiming that their firm engaged in the unauthorized practice of law, most of which were settled in their favor. Late last year the Distenfields sold We the People to Dollar Financial for $17.5 million and planned to retire. "We were supposed to be on a beach right now," says Ira, 59.

Instead, the couple heard about the PRstore within a few days of cashing out and called the Butlers to see how they could get involved. Since then the Distenfields have purchased 20 PRstore franchises in California, and they opened their first two in Santa Barbara in January. The remaining 18 should open within the next five years.

"I wanted more skin in the game," says Ira (who does not own an equity stake in the parent company). "I wanted to be the guy who really helps grow this franchise." He has also assumed the role of national franchise director and heads a strategic-planning committee focused on growing the company in a hurry. His first decision: In an effort to attract more experienced, wealthier franchisees, he increased the fee from about $40,000 for a location to $59,000. The plan is to open as many as 350 across the country between now and 2011. "Within six years, we'd like to take PRstore public," Ira says.

Some advertising agencies hold that while the PRstore offers cheaper prices, small-business owners seeking topflight marketing strategies should splurge on agency expertise. "It's a stereotype that advertising agencies care only about big companies," says Kelly Major, a partner with 70-employee Brogan & Partners, a 22-year-old agency in Birmingham, Mich. "That's not us at all - we can be small and nimble, just like PRstore. But often the ability to provide lower-cost solutions means a less customized solution. Our agency does a lot of research so that we understand our client's audience and can craft the best message for them."

Scott Batey, owner of a Bloomfield Hills, Mich., law firm called Batey-Turkelson, is one small-business owner who now considers himself a PRstore loyalist. A few months ago he wanted a logo for his firm and talked with three agencies that requested retainers of as much as $5,000. "The bigger agencies couldn't just do a logo, and that's all I needed at the time" says Batey, 40. His local PRstore franchise designed a logo for the firm for $1,500. Batey has since turned to the PRstore for press releases, as well as coffee mugs and pens for clients, and he credits the franchise with helping to double his caseload from 60 to 115 since July.


Unleashing the Power of PR: A Contrarian's Guide to Marketing and Communication

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Sticker Junkie

Andrea Lake Story

http://stickerjunkie.com/

At one time in her life, Andrea Lake tossed fiery sticks through the air at concerts to help her pay rent. Now she makes her living running several different businesses, but the balancing act is just as impressive. Delinquent Distribution, which she started in 1999, sells T-shirts and stickers printed with hip phrases in bulk to large retailers. StickerJunkie.com, started in early 2001, lets customers order small batches of stickers and T-shirts printed with any phrase they want. Between the two intentionally different business models, Lake covers all the bases and can ride through business upturns and downturns in style. StickerJunkie.com alone is on track to sell more than 3 million stickers this year.

You’ve got to have a bit of your own ’tude to think of selling shirts that say “I’m not a stalker, I’m just persistent” and “I used to have superhuman powers, but my therapists took them away.” Lake hearkens back to her teenage years to explain her company’s hip edginess. “I was your typical suburban girl who was mad at the world for no good reason,” she says. Now in her early 30s, she’s happily settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s not the first town you’d think of as a hub of industry. “For my own personal quality of life, I wanted someplace cool and laid back but also very creative.”

You might recognize Lake from her appearance on Donald Trump’s The Apprentice earlier this year. She didn’t win, but that doesn’t bother her in the least. Says Lake, “It was the most fabulous experience for me in that I realized how lucky I am to be doing exactly what I’m doing.”

These days, Lake is hoping to get funding for her companies, including a new venture called Luxury Wedding Packages. With so much entrepreneurship going on, the best way to keep up with her is through www.andrealake.com. “One day, Andrea Lake Enterprises will dominate the world!” she says, perhaps only half-jokingly. After all, she already makes $5 million a year.

How to Print T-Shirts for Fun and Profit!

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

How To Start Your Own Cosmetics Business

Maureen Kelly Story

http://www.tartecosmetics.com/

Projected 2006 Sales: $15 million

Maureen Kelly was working toward a Ph.D. in psychology when one of her pet peeves inspired an entrepreneurial endeavor. Each time she visited makeup counters in search of the right products, the makeup artists selling the makeup would leave Kelly looking beautiful, but also poorer and entirely incapable of recreating the look.

Feeling that the beauty industry was in need of a reality check, she set out to launch a line of simple and easy-to-use cosmetics in equally stylish and portable packaging for real women, who lack the time and expertise to spend hours primping.

The end result? Kelly dropped out of the Ph.D. program and launched Tarte Cosmetics in 1999 from her one-bedroom, rent-controlled apartment in New York City.

Entering an industry with no experience proved to be just the edge she needed. “If you come into an industry when you don’t have a lot of experience, you have more of a fresh perspective and you can think a little bit more outside the box,” says Kelly, who wraps Tarte compacts in leathers and fabrics. “You’re not bound by the typical tenets of what you can and cannot do.”

She scouted out laboratories and chemists to work with, relied on previous interior design experience for packaging ideas, and learned through trial and error how to market and sell her line.

She didn’t advertise, but after countless phone calls and careful selection of the right exposure, Tarte Cosmetics soon graced the pages of numerous fashion and women’s magazines and landed on the shelves of retailers such as Henri Bendel, Nordstrom and Sephora. In 2005, popular shopping network QVC offered Kelly the opportunity to officially launch her line in homes across America. The first hour-long segment resulted in the sale of more than 13,600 items and translated into an 8.5 percent increase in the company’s annual sales from 2004 to 2005.

Tarte Cosmetics has turned heads in the U.S. and Canada and will be hitting Europe next year, but Kelly believes slow and strategic growth is key. “You see companies that grow so quickly, and they’re here today and gone tomorrow,” she says. “I wanted to make sure I did the opposite of that.”


Natural Beauty Basics : Create Your Own Cosmetics and Body Care Products

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Who's Your Daddy?

Edon Moyal Story

http://www.whosyourdaddyinc.com/

Back in high school, Edon Moyal simply loved to yell “Who’s your daddy?” on the football field, at parties and when greeting classmates, but enterprising buddy Dan Fleyshman saw business potential in the popular phrase, suggesting in 1999 that they emblazon it on T-shirts. The venture seemed promising when their first 100 shirts sold out in just hours at school. After graduation, the pals found a manufacturer and set out to get their line carried at major retailers. When a big-time deal fell apart in 2001, Moyal and Fleyshman were forced to halt the business temporarily so they could work to pay back the family and friends who had invested in their idea.

In 2002, a bit older and wiser, Moyal and Fleyshman were ready to pursue Who’s Your Daddy again--this time with help from a friend’s father, who had a background in the apparel business and agreed to come onboard as director of development. He successfully landed their Who’s Your Daddy-branded clothing line in Kohl’s and Mervyn’s stores, and even inked a three-year licensing deal in Europe.

“We saw [that] the name has much more brand recognition than just apparel,” explains Moyal, who oversees in-house licensing of the trademarked Who’s Your Daddy brand on hundreds of products ranging from greeting cards to barbecue grill sets. The company’s commitment to building brand awareness has the Who’s Your Daddy logo popping up just about everywhere--from the logo-wrapped car they sponsored on the Nascar speedway to the phone booths adorned with Who’s Your Daddy advertisements in and around Orange County, California. Sponsoring events like car shows and rodeos also helps them promote recognition of the brand.

After a friend suggested they look into the growing energy-beverage market a year ago, the partners’ business took a new turn. Moyal and Fleyshman developed a special concoction: a cranberry-pineapple formula that’s outsourced to production facilities. Dubbed “King of Energy,” the drink, available in grocery and convenience stores nationwide, has since become a major focus of the business. A green tea flavor has even been added to the mix.

License to Deal: A Season on the Run with a Maverick Baseball Agent