Online business ideas for the taking

jsherloc said:
lol the funny thing is, if that service worked it would become TOO popular in most areas of the US, so many people don't have adequate transportation it is almost horrific. especially younger kids, most midwestern rural areas etc.
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My bias towards enlightened environmental anarcho-capitalism, or "star trek fantasies" is what makes it appeal to me. In the US every state with traffic problems has experimented with things like HOV lanes and toll discounts to encourage carpooling, but that approaches the problem by creating a problem that defeats the purpose of having a car. On the other hand, when I look at other cars the passenger seats are generally empty, as is the case in mine, and when I drive by a bus stop with 3 people at it I think to myself "in a more efficient society I would pick those people up because we're all probably going more or less the same place, or at the very least they'll be closer to whereever they're going instead of waiting 20 minutes for a bus, and I would be rewarded somehow for using my vehicle responsibly, using natural resources responsibly, and helping 3 people do what they need to do bad enough to take a bus."

The irony is it's illegal everywhere I've lived for private vehicles to pick up or discharge at public bus stops in spite of the thousands upon thousands of private passenger miles that drive by a bus stop between bus pickups.
 


JCash said:
Here's one: a mobile app based service where people who don't have cars pay say $.35 a mile to get a ride with nearby people in cars going near their destination and people with cars get paid say $.25 a mile to drive those people. Sort of a peer-to-peer hitchhiking service with a standard rate without the "ass" or "grass" options. A good name for it would be peerrides.com. Oh look the domain is available!
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I know someone who has a really solid business doing something similar to this, funnily enough. It's not public peer-to-peer though, it's selling car-sharing incentive schemes to corporates.
 
Ok, another one.... niche delivery services.

Ex: my wife has to use UPS to ship her lab samples. She hates it so much, she ends up getting one of her post-docs to deliver things by hand. Otherwise she gets some clueless UPS delivery dude who thinks it's OK to leave $30,000 worth of cells which need to be kept at -40c (dry ice) with the receptionist because he can't get hold of her on her mobile.

There ARE companies who do specialist biological materials shipping, but they are stupidly pricey (like $4k a shipment), plus I bet there are other industries who have a similar problem.


Oh, and a note about business ideas - none of them will make you wealthy, and it doesn't matter if you think they suck. MOST businesses start with ideas that are deficient somehow, and only refine them into something profitable once they have customer feedback. They're intended as inspiration, nothing more.
 
greenleaves said:
What is the difference between gambling and a legal sweepstakes?

1- That the sweepstakes is based on an existing product or service. So you can't start a sweepstakes based on people buying a ticket to the sweepstakes, but you can do it based on buying a product or service.

2- That the prize is based on pre-defined events, not at random. So you can have a prize where the winner is client #87493, or who made purchase #87586 or who had a tag in his product. But it can't be something dice, or spinning a roulette wheel.


So set up a gambling house that where there isn't any gambling, but instead, people pay for an 'internet cafe'. Then, they can do anything on the computers, including play 'casino type games'. Make it so that you give 'prizes' from a 'sweepstake' to certain clients at pre-defined times. So for example, Machine #654 will go off with a '$500 sweepstake prize' @ 3:15pm.

Make it clear to clients how it works, and that it is NOT gambling, but rather a sweepstake. Then offer free food and drinks, and target the elderly who need socialization. Even offer transportation to and from the old folks home to your business for free. You'll have hundreds of regulars. If you can make $5-10/hour/machine, you could scale it like crazy and get $$$. Then spend half of it on lobbying to make sure the AGs don't fuck with you.
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I've seen places like that start popping up everywhere. They're usually just small stores within strip-malls that have a big "Sweepstakes" banners on top. Inside are a shitload of computers and a ridiculous amount of cigarette smoke.
 
JCash said:
Here's one: a mobile app based service where people who don't have cars pay say $.35 a mile to get a ride with nearby people in cars going near their destination and people with cars get paid say $.25 a mile to drive those people. Sort of a peer-to-peer hitchhiking service with a standard rate without the "ass" or "grass" options. A good name for it would be peerrides.com. Oh look the domain is available!
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Couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic or not, but similar, there's:

Getaround - Peer-to-peer car sharing and local car rental

Peer-to-peer car sharing startup Getaround raises $3.4M — Cleantech News and Analysis

$3.4M seed round for an AirBnB for cars, go figure. If that was done on typical terms with seed round investors getting ~25%, that gives it a seed-stage valuation around $13.6M - and they weren't even the first ones to execute on the idea, it was these guys:

http://relayrides.com

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20093543-48/relayrides-raises-$10m-to-expand-service-attract-members/

Looks like they too have a similar valuation.
 
lose lose win said:
I don't give a fuck if I have a guaranteed million dollar idea and I'm serving life in prison... that's my fucking idea. No stranger is going to bank on my idea... get your own fucking ideas. Now, inspiring someone to have their own ideas is another story... guess im just a selfish, greedy little hatin bastard.
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Totally disagree with you. I doubt I would ever try the idea I posted and I'd love to see someone make cash from it and it's probably much the same for all the contributors here.

It's unlikely anyone is going to go ahead with any of these ideas exactly like they are - some of my best thoughts have been a culmination of various other things I've seen, or I'll see something and think of a completely different way it could be used. Therefore, even if someone is doing something mentioned here I doubt its going to be exactly the same business.

In college I had to sit through some successful marketer from London's 'marketing workshop'. He basically tried to get across the difference between creativity and innovation, saying innovation is bringing something brand new to the market and creativity is taking other ideas and modifying them.

Sharing ideas is healthy, stop being miserable.
 
amateursurgeon said:
Ok, another one.... niche delivery services.
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Medical marijuana industry here in California is currently using a lot of these specialty shipping services lately too. I believe they are using medical/lab shipping companies similar to the ones you're discussing. Not talking about the actual dispensaries that offer delivery as that's just some employee driving around, but there is now a handful of state-wide all online discrete delivery services doing overnight delivery of meds, interesting stuff.
 
JCash said:
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CharliePinglass said:
Couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic or not
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CitizenSmif said:
Totally disagree with you. I doubt I would ever try the idea I posted and I'd love to see someone make cash from it and it's probably much the same for all the contributors here.

It's unlikely anyone is going to go ahead with any of these ideas exactly like they are - some of my best thoughts have been a culmination of various other things I've seen, or I'll see something and think of a completely different way it could be used. Therefore, even if someone is doing something mentioned here I doubt its going to be exactly the same business.

In college I had to sit through some successful marketer from London's 'marketing workshop'. He basically tried to get across the difference between creativity and innovation, saying innovation is bringing something brand new to the market and creativity is taking other ideas and modifying them.

Sharing ideas is healthy, stop being miserable.
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I do see the value in sharing ideas.. was just being pissy bc I literally just ordered all the gear necessary to set up a payday kiosk, then clicked to WF and saw this thread. U mad jpg would've described my mood perfectly...of course, there are many ways to execute and that does make the difference.

BUT there are such things as unique and valuable ideas that you wouldn't want to post on an open forum. Not sure how anyone could deny that.
 
lose lose win said:
I do see the value in sharing ideas.. was just being pissy bc I literally just ordered all the gear necessary to set up a payday kiosk, then clicked to WF and saw this thread. U mad jpg would've described my mood perfectly...of course, there are many ways to execute and that does make the difference.

BUT there are such things as unique and valuable ideas that you wouldn't want to post on an open forum. Not sure how anyone could deny that.
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Good luck with your kiosks, perhaps you could drop some tips to the other members setting kiosks up in completely different parts of the country/world.

I agree with you if someone has an absolutely fantastic idea that they shouldn't share it publicly if they think there's a chance they might run with it in the future, if they do then they deserve to have their idea stolen for being so foolish.

Saying "don't share idea's as that might already be someone else is using that idea" is stupid and counter productive.

Although JCash was trolling - it turns out somebody else is already doing that business. Do you feel sorry for 'Getaround' for someone outing their idea on here or would you prefer if someone here used that idea (modified or not) and made some cash with it?

Dreamaches idea was something which he isn't going to bother with which would benefit a lot of members of this forum. Someone might make a little cash from it and the rest of us would benefit from it. Someones already doing it? Tough shit now they have competition, that's life.

Even just contemplating Guerillas contribution can get you thinking about business models which you perhaps wouldn't have considered previously.

If I had a fantastic idea and it turns out someone else had the same idea and posted it on a public forum it probably wasn't the best idea in the first place.

I do understand your stance, IM is full of a 'no outing' mindset but being against sharing idea's because someone else might already be doing it can't really be defended IMO.

A quote from the article posted above

STEP 3: IDEAS HAVE SEX JUST LIKE PEOPLE DO. AND ITS VERY PORNOGRAPHIC

I bet you didn’t know that ideas have sex. And they have children.

The more ideas you have running around in your little rabbit cage, the more rabbits you will get. And generations evolve fast.
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No ones posting million dollar ideas, but the posting of these idea's could result in someone having that one great one.
 
This is a refreshing thread for wickedfire, + rep OP.

Here's my idea (and the domain's available):

24hourclowns.com - a site where you can hire clowns for shows or parties (sky's the limit really) 24 hours a day.

.- You're welcome (ACT FAST)
 
Sharing makes you valuable to the tribe. Hoarding does not.

I have a ton of ideas, some are good and some are bad, but I will give away every idea except the one I am working on.

Until it is time to sell it.

Then I can't tell enough people about my great idea. ;)
 
jsherloc said:
lol the funny thing is, if that service worked it would become TOO popular in most areas of the US, so many people don't have adequate transportation it is almost horrific. especially younger kids, most midwestern rural areas etc.
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Except you would be sued after the first person got robbed, raped, or killed. That would probably take about 72 hours.
 
Ok so here's one of my more random ones.

Create an iPhone App for Zoos where a kid can download it when they get there. Have them select and take pictures of all the animals. Then, when they are exiting the park, they can go to the gift shop and have all the photos printed out on a collage (for $29.99-$39.99) to take home with them. You give the Zoo a licensing fee and then get a commission on each photo collage sold.
 
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