How to get rich the smart way? Read what some creative people did:
1. Million Dollar Homepage
1000000 pixels, charge a dollar per pixel – that’s perhaps the dumbest idea for online business anyone could have possible come up with. Still, Alex Tew, a 21-year-old who came up with the idea, is now a millionaire.
What is the idea? (from FAQ on the site)
The idea is simple: to try and make $1m (US) by selling 1,000,000 pixels for $1 each. Hence, ‘The Million Dollar Homepage”. The main motivation for doing this is to pay for my degree studies, because I don’t like the idea of graduating with a huge student debt. I know people who are paying off student loans 15-20 years after they graduated. Not a nice thought!
So, everyone is welcome to buy my pixels, which are available in 100-pixel ‘blocks’ (each measuring 10×10 pixels). You will see the homepage is divided into 10,000 of these 100-pixel blocks (hence there are 1,000,000 pixels in total). The reason for selling them in 100-pixel blocks is because anything smaller would be too small to display anything meaningful.
You can buy as many pixels as you like, as long as there are some available (see the live stats in the top right corner of the page). When you buy some pixels, you can then display an image/ad/logo of your choice in the space you have purchased. You can also have the image click through to your own website. However, no obscene or offensive images are allowed.
The pixels you buy will be displayed on the homepage permanently. The homepage will not change. Using some of the money I make from the site, I guarantee to keep it online for at least 5 years, but hopefully much longer. I want it to become a kind of internet time capsule. So, in the long run, I believe the pixels will offer good value. You will have a piece of internet history!
2. SantaMail
Ok, how’s that for a brilliant idea. Get a postal address at North Pole, Alaska, pretend you are Santa Claus and charge parents 10 bucks for every letter you send to their kids? Well, Byron Reese sent over 200000 letters since the start of the business in 2001, which makes him a couple million dollars richer.
About SantaMail from their site
Since 2002, Santa has been helping us write over 275,000 personalized Christmas letters. Santa makes sure that we use the finest heirloom-quality, acid-free linen paper so that his letters last a lifetime.
As Santa’s helpers, we help Santa print his letters and then mail them to him in North Pole, Alaska where he affixes a Christmas stamp on it and sends it on the way to your child. From there, the letter gets postmarked and mailed. (After December 16, he has us mail them directly from Austin, Texas so they reach the children in time!).
3. Doggles
Create goggles for dogs and sell them online? Boy, this IS the dumbest idea for a business. How in the world did they manage to become millionaires and have shops all over the world with that one? Beyond me.
About Doggles from their site
We are famous for Doggles goggles for dogs – the first and only eye protection designed and created just for dogs! Seen on CNN, Regis and Kelly, The Today Show, Good Morning America and many others, they are quite a hit with everyone who has tried them! We are also an environmentally conscious organization, using as much “green” or recycled fabrics and materials in our products as possible, always keeping in mind that what is good for our planet is also good for our pets. Our standards are high, and you will see this in each and every one of our products. We are market leaders in the design and manufacture of tough and durable and yes, even “green”, dog toys. Please be sure to check our offerings in the toy category as you look through our site. Our outdoor line has won the praise of many an outdoor enthusiast as we continue to grow and improve the line. And of course, our fashion sense has never ended as we are always adding and improving to our fashion harness line. We have a wide range of products that are truly functional and have helped many pets over the years as we continue to innovate in the pet products field. As always, keep an eye on us for more.
4. LaserMonks
LaserMonks.com is a for-profit subsidiary of the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank, an eight-monk monastery in the hills of Monroe County, 90 miles northwest of Madison. Yeah, real monks refilling your cartridges. Hallelujah! Their 2005 sales were $2.5 million! Praise the Lord.
5. AntennaBalls
You can’t sell antenna ball online. There is no way. And surely it wouldn’t make you rich. But this is exactly what Jason Wall did, and now he is now a millionaire.
6. FitDeck
Create a deck of cards featuring exercise routines, and sell it online for $18.95. Sounds like a disaster idea to me. But former Navy SEAL and fitness instructor Phil Black reported last year sales of $4.7 million. Surely beats what military pays.
7. PositivesDating.Com
How would you like to go on a date with an HIV positive person? Paul Graves and Brandon Koechlin thought that someone would, so they created a dating site for HIV positive folks last year. Projected 2006 sales are $110,000, and the two hope to have 50,000 members by their two-year mark.
8. Designer Diaper Bags
Christie Rein was tired of carrying diapers around in a freezer bag. The 34-year-old mother of three found herself constantly stuffing diapers for her infant son into freezer bags to keep them from getting scrunched up in her purse. Rein wanted something that was compact, sleek and stylish, so in November 2004, she sat down with her husband, Marcus, who helped her design a custom diaper bag that’s big enough to hold a travel pack of wipes and two to four diapers. With more than $180,000 in sales for 2005, Christie’s company, Diapees & Wipees, has bags in 22 different styles, available online and in 120 boutiques across the globe for $14.99.
9. PickyDomains
Hire another person to think of a cool domain name for you? No way people would pay for this. Actually, naming domain names for others turned out a thriving business, especially, when you make the entire process risk free. PickyDomains currently has a waiting list of people who want to PAY the service to come up with a snappy memorable domain name. PickyDomains is expected to hit six figures this year.
10. Lucky Wishbone Co.
Fake wishbones. Now, this stupid idea is just destined to flop. Who in the world needs FAKE PLASTIC wishbones? A lot of people, it turns out. Now producing 30,000 wishbones daily (they retail for 3 bucks a pop) Ken Ahroni, the company founder, expects 2006 sales to reach $1 million.
Video about online business
www.makeyourmillion.com.au What if you could take all the holidays you want, wherever you want on the spur of the moment pay off your mortgage in no time flat… send your kids to the best schools…update to a brand new car on a whim… surprise your family with generous gifts… own holiday homes in every part of the world and become the hero of your 5 favourite charities… All without breaking a sweat! …And what if you could do all this while, working less than you ever have before…Following a Proven Step by Step Home Based Business System… Backed up by a dedicated training & support team… All the while Developing the Mindset of a Millionaire… Meeting and working with some of the worlds most successful people… And Fine Tuning your own investment skills and strategies. And Helping Other People Create The Life Of Their Dreams… http
Question about online business
Online Business?I am very interested in starting a business online but need pointers on how to get started. Can anyone help? I've done several searches so please no copy & paste. I would like "real" advice from someone who knows.
Thanks!
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Tags: business ideas, Home Based Business, Home Business, online business, rich, stupid, ten, unusual, Work from HomeCategory : marketting
First you have to figure out what type of product you want to sale. Did you want to partner up with a business that's already well established or do you want to start one on your own. This will require a lot of work. You can create a web site (or pay someone to create it) had have your items on their set up like a Internet shopping mall. You can partner up with other stores and have links to their web sites and make a percentage off of saling their items. You can also get together with other business owners and sale their products from the site and take a commission out of it. So many different ways to make money in home based businesses, you just need to figure out which way works for you.
After you set that up, you need to network it so that you drive traffic to these sites. You can get together with survey companies and have your web site added on their sites for people to purchase online, and they take a percentage out of what you pay. This gets a little tricky when they pay you by cc, and you pay your distributers and you pay all the expenses. It's a tough business to get involved in. Especially when theirs so many internet malls, sites etc.
I guess because your wanting to do Internet work, your wanting a business to start out of your home, or from a lap top. Theirs a lot of different businesses that you can take a look at that are much easier to do and run and start then this business that your trying to do. You will quickly find out, what a pain it's going to be, and the income isn't like you think. You'd be better off selling things off of Ebay or something like that. Making your own things or selling your old junk.
If you'd like some business ideas to get started in. Your more then welcome to take a look at my 360 page Blog that I created on home based businesses. There are over half a dozen different ones to chose from on there to give you different ideas for different industries. Most have online web sites that you'd have, as well as phone calls and Internet work to do at home. Depending on what it is your looking into doing.
Well, I hope I've shed some light on Online businesses. If you can do the time that it takes to be successful, then I say do it. But if how difficult and the length of time required is an issue, then I suggest you look into other avenues.
Tiffany
You don't have to register with the state. When you are up and running get a business license from the city. It cost less than $200 to start an online business, so you should be able to save that in a week or two…. if not perhaps you are not the type to be success in business?
two guy's in my town just started a web site. It's actually doing very well for them. It's a yard sale web site. Where people from the town can take pictures and post things for sale ( yard sale prices) and other people in the town can go on the web site and purchase the item. THe guy's who started the site just charge people $8.00 a month to post their items. It's kind of like e-bay but they don't take a percentage of what you make. Here is the web site address, take a look at it.
hollomanyardsales.com
you might try to contact an established school and see if you can offer your course through them.
Barnes and Noble has a line of online courses where this might fit.
My suggestion is to do some research on the subject before starting. Check with your local Chamber of Commerce, the Secretary of State, the Small Business Administration. Read up on it — go to your local library, check Amazon, etc. Write a business plan — there are plenty of books available on this subject.
Prior to investing your time, money & effort into an online business name, it is strongly advised that comprehensive research be conducted to ensure that the name you're interested in is truly available.
This entails searching the pending & registered Federal and State trademark files as well as the US National Common-Law files. Then, if clear, you can decide if you would like to file for a Federal or a State trademark.
Research is needed to make sure your trade name is legally available, before opening, before expansion, before incorporation or before designing your logo. Similarities in sound, appearance and meaning affect you too!
There are 16+ million trade names in use in the United States. Similar names matter, if close in sound, appearance or meaning. Similar names in related classes, distribution channels and customer matter too. You are affected by Common Law use (14 million), State Trademarks (500,000) and Federal Trademarks (2 million).
I use both Paypal and Alert Pay. Never had a problem with either one.
Yes, I can help…
I use a step-by-step approach and it works all the time. Here you go:
1) First validate the demand (FREE keyword tool):
Are there people searching for what you want to offer?
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
2) Build your website with this FREE tool:
http://www.officialsitebuilder.com/
3) Select a URL and setup Hosting (not FREE but darn cheap and reliable – something like $4 per month…):
http://www.officialsitebuilder.com/domain-checker.php
4) Drive traffic (not FREE but you cannot do without):
https://adwords.google.com/
5) FREE Online Business Creator:
(http://www.sandrosalsi.com/tools/online-business-creator.html)
This is a list of tools and resources I use myself to build and market my websites.
Highly recommended. Hope this helps…
Hi Teddy,
I don't like very much the approach of focusing in "how much" before having a very good idea about "what", "to whom", "how", and "why".
The way I like doing this is:
1) I think about the target market (who do I want to send the message to?)
2) I think about ways to reach the target marketing: the media they use, the language they like, the keywords they use, etc.
Once I've defined the target public and the product, I can think about message options (what to say and how to say it). Each message option has its own cost and limitations and that is the point where I start thinking about budget.
As you see, each marketing action has its own cost and it doesn't have much to do with your income. This situation is even worse at the very beginning when your income is expected to be lower.
I recommend checking out the SBA, Entrepreneur, The Start Up Journal & Nolo. All 4 are great informational resources for the new/small business owner. I posted links for you in the source box. These 4 sites should get you on your way in terms of what needs to be done (e.g. licenses, permits, taxes, etc.)
Associations may be a good avenue to explore as well. These organizations will address many of the thoughts, questions and concerns you'll inevitably have as well as many you haven't anticipated yet. See the source box for some relevant links.
Research, research, research – this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can about the industry. Here are some book titles that are relevant:
* Too Good to be Threw: The Complete Operations Manual for Resale & Consignment Shops by Kate Holmes
* A Common Sense Entrepreneurial Guide: How to Open & Run a Successful Consignment Shop [DOWNLOAD: PDF] by Nancy L. Nolan
* How to Start and Run an eBay Consignment Business by Skip McGrath
* Specialty Shop Retailing: How to Run Your Own Store Revised by Carol L. Schroeder
There are plenty of free informational resources out there. Check the source box for links to articles.
Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!