Business Opportunities Weblog

The Patriot Ledger:

Many people dream of being inventors, of creating something new that hasn’t been done before. Bob Monahan of Norwell is one of the few who follow through on those dreams.

Monahan created the EZ Leaf Hauler, a rectangular tarp with three sides designed to make moving large piles of leaves easier. Leaves can be raked into the hauler – which has the proportions of a large dustpan – and then the device can be dragged to where the leaves need to be dumped.

Like many New Englanders, Monahan, 43, started out as a frustrated leaf-raker. “I always used to use a wheelbarrow, but you could never put enough in,” he said. “I looked to buy something and there was nothing out there to buy. And then I just thought, well, how hard can it be?”

Monahan settled on a design that included tent-style rods to hold the sides up and large pegs to push into the ground on windy days. He ordered a few to sell in fall 2006, but the product had its big break when it was featured in Good Housekeeping last year, as “research institute-tested.” The few thousand that Monahan had ordered sold out.

He said 8,000 have been sold so far this year, including sales through a Plow & Hearth catalog and a test run in Home Depot stores in Maine and New Hampshire. Customers can also order the leaf hauler from Monahan Products, Monahan’s Rockland firm, which has six employees.

Photo by Monahan Products.

No matter what area of business you are in, if you don’t have customers than your business will eventually fail. That’s why it is so important to present yourself and your product in a way which will not only attract the demographic you seek, but inspire them to come back again.

Here are 6 examples of things you can do to ensure you will not only attract new customers, but create a regular customer base.

1. Location, Location, Location.

Everywhere you go everyone and anyone will tell you that one of the most important thing’s to making a successful business and to keep customers coming back is the location! And I’m not just talking about the correct demographic area, I also mean the exact location whether it’s on the right side of the street or by other store’s and so on. I can’t tell you how many time’s I have passed up going to a store because the side of the busy road it was on would be a pain to make a left turn out of when leaving the store, or making a left turn into the store. I’ve heard many people throughout the year’s complain about loving a certain store or place but they barely ever go there due to the traffic around the location and it being too much of a pain when entering and/or leaving the business.

2. Appearance.

It is very true what everyone say’s in terms of the first impression is a lasting impression! This is not just true in personal aspects but in business situations as well. If someone walk’s into a department store that has great prices but garbage on the floor, a bad smell in the air and items thrown all over the shelves and on the floor, what are the chances that they will return just based on the low prices? Very slim to none unless the prices are almost 100 % discounted which is highly unlikely.

Continue reading 6 Ways To Attract Customers And Keep Them Coming Back

The Modesto Bee:

Characteristics of a successful entrepreneur

GUTS– You must have the guts and dedication to be completely devoted to your goal.

BRAINS — You should have a working knowledge about the business you plan to start before you start it.

CAPITAL — Starting any business requires money of your own plus sufficient funds to maintain a positive cash flow for at least a year.

Photo by mjamesno.

Lockport Union-Sun & Journal:

It all started with a family camping trip.

Arnie Wolfe was loading up the SUV when his oldest daughter decided to go with the family. After she added what she was bringing for the trip, there wasn’t enough room for the family of four. They had to take a second vehicle.

“He was thinking, ‘Why don’t I have a trailer?’ ” Design Concepts vice president of marketing Terrence Gallagher said. “Well, I don’t need one all the time.”

But what happens when the trailer wasn’t being used? Wolfe didn’t want one to just take up space, but rather one that served another purpose. After the camping trip, Wolfe came up with the idea of the “Tow N’ Stow,” a cargo trailer that can convert into a storage unit.

The unit has 50 cubic feet of capacity, weighs about 350 pounds and can haul up to 1,000 pounds behind passenger vehicles. Once the trailer is off the road, the Tow N’ Stow can be stood up and placed against a building as a functional shed.

Wolfe discussed his idea with family and friends and soon began developing a model Tow N’ Stow. Wolfe and Gallagher went to a few trade and invention shows to showcase the Tow N’ Stow.

Wolfe had a little prototype of the Tow N’ Stow hooked up to a remote control car at his booth. Wolfe said a lot of people who came to the booth loved the idea. Gallagher agreed.

“It was all different kinds of people,” Gallagher said. “Craftspeople, people that went to flea markets, do-it-yourselfers, campers, sports enthusiasts. All kinds who said, ‘Oh yeah, I can use that.’

Photo by Tow - N - Stow.

Web Worker Daily:

A web worker’s office is her most important tool. Arranging it should be given more care and importance than setting up one’s LinkedIn profile.

Here are some tips:

• Spend time looking for a great chair. One thing we have in common with office-bound workers is the need for a good chair.

• Keep regularly used items within reach. Most of us have many physical tools we use for work, such as post-its, pens, index cards, or a USB thumb drive.

• Make sure you have sufficient lighting. The source of light can be natural, artificial, or a mix of both - as long as enough of it is available when you need it.

• Add a little variety. Whether it’s the photographs on your desk, the art work on your wall, or the plants on your windowsill, it helps to have a few elements in your office that can be changed or rearranged.

Photo by lute1.

The Wall Street Journal:

Layaway, a payment practice that was made popular during the Great Depression but nearly became extinct due to the instant gratification of credit cards, is back in fashion thanks to the credit crunch.

Only a handful of national retailers still let consumers put purchases aside until they have paid for them in full. Many of those companies — which include TJ Maxx and Marshalls; Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp.; and Kmart, — report that demand for layaway is stronger than it has been in years.

With credit-card companies tightening limits and offering fewer specialty card promotions amid the continuing credit crisis, many consumers may not be able to tap credit cards as much this holiday season, experts predict. Meanwhile, retailers report that many customers spooked by the slumping economy are either already saddled with debt or determined not to be, all of which is making layaway are more enticing option.

Demand has surged so much at Kmart, in fact, that the discount retailer decided to tout its commitment to layaway as the centerpiece of a national advertising campaign.

Several layaway Web sites sprung up earlier this decade to fill the void left after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other major retailers discontinued the seemingly outmoded service — and they are also reporting a big bump in business. ELayaway.com, which offers iPods, Hewlett-Packard laptops and clothes from the Gap on virtual layaway for a 1.9% fee of the cost of the item plus taxes, said traffic has increased 91% over last year. Customers can choose eLayaway as a payment option on affiliated Web sites or can shop at eLayaway.com, and receive the item in the mail once the payments are made in full.

Many of the site’s customers are victims of the subprime-mortgage mess or simply have bad credit, said Michael Bilello, eLayaway’s senior vice president of business development. He said that five major big-box retailers had contacted the company in recent weeks about adding an eLayaway payment option to their Web sites or putting eLayaway kiosks in stores.

Photo by eLayaway LLC.

When you enter into business, whether it is some form of network marketing or more traditional, you need to find your audience. When those needs arise, many people purchase leads.

GreatMailingLists.com sells mailing and email lists for individuals in all areas of business. However, rather than just purchase and go, Doug Sauerhaft takes the time to evaluate and determine the true needs of his customers. If a list doesn’t seem like the right option for the individual, he well help them determine what is.

The services offered by GreatMailingLists.com don’t stop at mailing lists, either. Doug also offers a long list of emarketing services, including a free high level website analysis.

Save 10% off the purchase price of a mailing list!

Doug is offering this special discount to all of our readers. Just mention that you found GreatMailingLists.com through this interview!

Why should someone consider purchasing any form of mailing list? How do they help?

Mailing lists are an excellent means of marketing to prospective buyers, subscribers, donors or users of a service. It is still the most targetable and measurable media outlet available. Unlike email list prospect marketing (which is really most effective in building brand awareness and requires multiple touches for optimal performance) effective mailing lists increase sales—both online and offline.

In what area of business do you notice most of your customers coming from?

More than half of my customers initially want to use email lists. Many are under the misconception that email lists are cheap and that they can make a killing sending out a solitary email. Not true. Email lists are typically far more expensive than postal mailing lists and have a much higher minimum order threshold than a like mailing list. I always ask email inquiries what their marketing objective is. Then, in most cases I educate them on emails versus postal lists. They either decided they want to purchase bulk mail—which I will NOT sell, they convert to a traditional postal marketing approach, or we move forward developing an email marketing campaign.

Many folks don’t realize that postcard marketing is a highly effective means of driving traffic to websites.

Continue reading Mailing Lists Are Not Just For The MLM Community

Springwise:

Demonstrating that it’s possible to profit from any human desire, Sarah’s Smash Shack was conceived to relieve people who are stressed-out.

Customers in San Diego can choose fragile tableware from the Smash Shack Menu—for example a set of three glass flowers for USD 10, or the House Special, which consists of 15 plates at a cost of USD 45. They’re also welcome to bring in their own breakables to pulverise for a ‘corkage fee’ that starts at USD 20.

After donning protective gear, smashers are escorted to one of the break rooms, where they stand behind a waist-high barrier and hurl their arsenal at a stainless steel wall. To make the process more personalised, customers are encouraged to bring their own soundtrack on MP3, and to write messages on whatever they’re about to throw. There’s also the option of flinging objects at a photo or mantra of choice. A VIP room is available for group smashes.

Since August 2008, the shack has helped quite a few customers vent their frustration and release their tension. Or just plain enjoy the process of harmless destruction without having to clean up after themselves.

It’s hard to tell whether the credit crunch has benefited or hindered the business’s success, making customers thriftier but also more stressed and up for smashing… Aware that it’s not cool not to care about the environment, the shack donates its broken glass and ceramic to mosaic art programs throughout the United States.

Photo by Smashit, Inc..

USA TODAY:

Financial insecurity is forcing Wal-Mart shoppers to change buying habits, cut credit card use and live more paycheck-to-paycheck, the CEO of the U.S. division of the world’s largest retailer said.

Economic pain is leading to what Eduardo Castro-Wright termed “disturbing behaviors” among shoppers over the past few months.

For instance, more families are buying baby formula at the start of the month when they are more likely to have money. In the past, he said, the chain hadn’t noticed such surges in formula sales.

A double-digit decline in credit card use at Wal-Mart stores in the second quarter this year sharply contrasts with the first quarter of 2007, when a vibrant economy was resulting in double-digit increases in card use.

“Credit has been declining dramatically,” said the Ecuador-born executive who has run Wal-Mart Stores USA for three years. “That decline in credit means people have to make choices about how they spend their hard-earned money.”

The observations are significant because of Wal-Mart’s massive scope, with 4,000 U.S. stores. Castro-Wright said nine out of 10 American families shop at Wal-Mart at least once a year.

Photo by JMiller.

The News Tribune:

David Haggerty couldn’t sleep. “This bed is too warm,” he said to himself, flinging aside the flannel sheets from his sweating body.

Next to him, his wife slept like a swaddled log. Perpetually chilled at night, she insisted the flannel sheets stay on the bed year-round.

The couple had argued about it that evening as they changed the bedding.

“There’s got to be something I could do to make us both happy,” he thought.

Suddenly a light bulb went on in David Haggerty’s head. “What if I bought a length of fuzzy flannel and a length of lightweight cotton and sewed them together with the warm flannel half on Jeanette’s side and the cool cotton half on mine?”

So he did.

Haggerty’s patent-pending, sheet-and-pillow-case sets, Split the Sheets, have shown up on KING-TV’s “Evening Magazine,” in a demo booth at the Tacoma Holiday Food & Gift Show and in a USA Today article. Split the Sheets had a short run of sales on Target.com.

On ABC’s “Good Morning America,” co-hosts Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts, lay in a bed fitted with Split the Sheets. The consumer editor of Woman’s Day, the magazine, went on NBC’s “Today” show and called Split the Sheets “the smartest product ever.”

Photo by Peter Haley.

The Boston Globe:

As stocks began their historic nosedive early this month, Tim McNamara and Tracey Manzi smelled opportunity.

The husband-and-wife team of certified divorce financial analysts rolled out a new service to take advantage of the sputtering economy and its inevitable stress on marriages: a flat-rate option for divorce-related financial consulting and mediation.

Since then, their phone has been ringing off the hook.

“I got five phone calls yesterday about our full-service mediation,” said McNamara, president and cofounder of two-year-old New England Divorce Solutions in Boston’s Back Bay. “The uncertainty with the economy is really testing families as never before. They’ve taken all the equity out of their homes and feel they can’t afford a divorce.”

The booming divorce consulting practice is one of several niche businesses - from consulting to outsourcing to risk management software - that have moved aggressively to capitalize on the nation’s deteriorating financial situation.

History has shown savvy companies can gain market share during recessions and position themselves for rapid growth when a recovery arrives. Some that have fared best help other businesses, or individuals, cut costs and streamline operations in tough times.

Photo by Josh Reynolds.

The Lawrence Journal-World:

Stay-at-home workers have a simple way to stay sane while working at home: Don’t do all the work at home.

“I have to get out at some point during the day,” says Robin Ward, who’s been handling freelance design projects out of her western Lawrence residence since coming to town in 2000. “I feel like I do get a lot more done, here, working by myself. But I’m kind of a social person and probably would talk a lot if I were still in an office. So I have to get out.

“If it means just going to the post office, at least I get to stand in line forever and talk to people. That can be the highlight of my day.”

Photo by Thad Allender.

suite101:

Offering free WIFI costs a cafe very little, and can attract some good business. It’s a good deal for everyone, if users are conscientious about setting up shop in the coffee house.

If you really want to be a welcome worker in the cafe scene, here are some common sense tips to try:

• Take the smallest cafe table you can fit at. It’s not fair to grab a table for four.

• Don’t Bogart the chairs.

• Don’t steal the bandwidth. If you have large downloads to make, try to do that at home.

• Don’t hog the electrical outlet, either. Use your battery if you can.

• Mute the sound on your computer. This may sound obvious, but sometimes people forget.

• Keep buying things at the coffeeshop. A purchase each hour shows good faith.

Photo by mindless.

Madhu from India writes:

I have ideas about products. I am looking for companies who are willing to listen to my ideas and make the products and pay me in return. I cannot afford to pay for Patenting. Is there any way I can find companies and make them listen to my ideas. I need your help and guidance in this matter. Help me to find a correct path.”

RICH - The fact is, brilliant ideas are just that, ideas, until they get turned into salable products.

Whether you want to produce and market your invention yourself or license it to another company, the only way to make money from your invention and to guarantee that no one will steal your idea is to file a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Simply having an “idea” is worthless, you need to have proof of when you came up with the idea for your invention. Write down everything you can think of that relates to your invention, from what it is and how it works to how you’ll make and market it.

Write your idea down in an inventor’s journal and have it signed by a witness. This journal will become your bible throughout the patent process.

Just because you haven’t seen your invention doesn’t mean it doesn’t already exist. Before you hire a patent attorney or agent, complete a rudimentary search for free at USPTO to make sure no one else has patented your idea.

Before you invest too much time and money into patenting your invention, do some preliminary research of your target market. Is this something people will actually buy? Once you know there’s a market, make sure your product can be manufactured and distributed at a low enough cost so that your retail price is reasonable. You can determine these costs by comparing those of similar products currently on the market.

You will then need to make a prototype. A prototype is a model of your invention that puts into practice all of the things you have written in your inventor’s journal. This will demonstrate the design of your invention when you present it to potential manufacturers and licensees.

You can write the patent and fill out the application yourself, but do not file it yourself until you have had a skilled patent professional look it over first. You can also file a provisionary patent (Cost $100 USD) that will give you one year to find a manufacturer and market your product. This will also give you ‘patent pending’ status.

For more detailed information, check out the USPTO web site.

Photo by rubegoldberg.com.

Karaoke has been enjoyed by nearly everyone at one point of time, or another. While some go in the bar and sing badly for a group of strangers, others enjoy singing along to their favorite song in the privacy of their own home. For that reason, no one should have been surprised when karaoke took a leap into a new medium - the internet!

Originally launched in Spain last spring, Red Karaoke has taken the country by storm. Now they’re looking to do the same in the US. Having just launched their newest version over the summer, they are looking to attract English speaking karaoke fans with this new style of social networking.

I’ve recently had the opportunity to ask Justin D. Abbott and the founder of Red Karaoke, Miguel A. Diez Ferreira, a few questions about this innovative new music social network.

What inspired you to create Red Karaoke?

Miguel:

The inspiration came to me during a party with friends and family at my house in 2005. We started to play a karaoke game on the PlayStation, and I immediately thought about two improvements for the game: first, the possibility to access a bigger karaoke database (the PlayStation game had only 30 songs); second, the possibility to record the performances and enjoy them in the future.

The next day, I thought that the Internet could be the perfect solution, and I started to search for a website that offered these possibilities, thinking that I’d use it at the next party. But I didn’t find anything similar, not one website that let you sing online! So, I started to think about the possibility of launching a website with these kinds of services for karaoke lovers. I asked my brother Richard, who is a programming wizard, about the technical challenges in creating the website, and he replied to me that it was possible. And after 2 years of hard work during free hours, holidays and weekends, we launched the site in April 2008.

Why karaoke? Did you consider any other possibilities?

Miguel:

Because we found an empty space on the Web, a huge offline market (karaoke and singing) that was not occupied by any Internet company. We didn’t consider other possibilities because we were not searching for ideas to create a business. In fact, my brother and I had then very good jobs in big companies. We didn’t want to create a company. But once we had the idea, we decided to go for it.

Continue reading Red Karaoke Takes Social Networking To A Musical Level

photo credit: Tina Keller

Nicole Bandes has been bringing natures goodness to the public all around the internet. Founded in 1994, Naturally Herbs was started to bring the highest quality of herbs, teas and medicines to the people. Many people are more and more switching over to all natural herbs, medicines and teas to cure anything from colds to sore body parts and even some terminal illness’.

While the reactions to these herbs are different for everyone, and there are many proven cases of natural products helping even the worst problem, many people time and time again benefit from these products and swear by them. Naturally Herbs have some of the cheapest prices on the market for these amazing products, and with membership’s offer even lower prices.

Nicole Bandes is currently accepting new people to sell these products. This is not a normal franchise however, there are no franchise fees to pay and you are in business for yourself but not by yourself. The commission is rather higher than most companies offering commission pay, you can collect up to 30 percent commission’s plus bonuses. But make no joke about this business, Nicole Bandes offer’s advice that this business is very difficult and requires a large amount of dedication and work on your part so make sure you have the time and effort in you to follow this through.

To check out these great products, request your free information, sign up for a membership or even just to ask Nicole Bandes some questions regarding your business opportunity visit her website.

YourHub.com:

Brett Mosley sees value in those old cell phones and music players stashed away and forever forgotten in the bottom of desk drawers - and he says you should, too.

Mosley, president and CEO of BuyMyTronics.com, is the brains behind a cash-for-trash concept that purchases used and, in some cases, broken electronics such as iPhones and iPods in exchange for money. The devices are fixed and later put up for bid on eBay or sold to other resellers.

His Denver-based business, which operates out of a small office near City Park, is preparing to expand to include more items, including digital cameras, laptops and camcorders. And in a few weeks, Mosley said he will be able to offer cash back for all Apple devices.

Mosley got the idea after a trip to an Apple store to see what he could get in return for his broken iPod. The store offered to recycle the device for free or receive 10 percent off his next purchase.

“I thought I could probably do better than that,” Mosley said. “So I fixed it on my own and was able to resell it over eBay for $150.”

Mosley decided to expand the concept from there, launching the Web site BuyMyBrokeniPod.com out of his home. The business flourished beyond his expectations and quickly expanded to include items other than just iPods — not bad for someone with almost no prior experience in electronics repair.

Mosley said the service offers additional benefits, including reducing the amount of “e-waste.” All of the items that cannot be resold are recycled, which has kept more than 8,000 pounds of e-waste out of landfills, he said.

Photo by Joseph Kirchmer.

photo credit: wEnDaLicious

In 1986 Chuck Mcmillen founded Pizzas of eight after year’s of family pizza business and pizza hut experience. Teaming up with some great chefs and ingredients specialist’s around, they are delivering a tastier slice of heaven to everyone who orders upon them.

Pizzas of Eight have the best and freshest ingredients around in the pizza business and some of the lowest prices. Pizzas of eight are currently looking for new franchises to open up in the St.Louis market. While there is no mention of any franchise fees for this opportunity, they do prove to have a well oiled method of marketing their business…word of mouth for one! Their pizza is so tasty that news travel’s extremely fast and bring’s in more and more people to experience their goodness.

As a franchise owner you can choose from opening up a compact store for a smaller location or a complete pizza galley. To check out this great opportunity and get in the market for this tasty business or to just request your free extra information regarding this opportunity visit their website.

Inc.:

Y Combinator’s Paul Graham makes the case that now is a perfectly fine time to start a company—maybe not a restaurant, he says, but certainly anything in high tech.

Graham writes: “If we’ve learned one thing from funding so many startups, it’s that they succeed or fail based on the qualities of the founders. The economy has some effect, certainly, but as a predictor of success it’s rounding error compared to the founders.”

And: “Fortunately the way to make a startup recession-proof is to do exactly what you should do anyway: run it as cheaply as possible. For years I’ve been telling founders that the surest route to success is to be the cockroaches of the corporate world.

The immediate cause of death in a startup is always running out of money. The cheaper your company is to operate, the harder it is to kill. Fortunately it has gotten very cheap to run a startup, and a recession will if anything make it cheaper still.”

Read more.

Photo by therysma.

The New York Times:

Idaho may be best known for its potatoes — it produces, after all, a third of all the potatoes in the United States. But its economy is increasingly being driven by technology and green manufacturing companies, big and small.

Yet it was the potato, in a way, that started Boise on a path to high technology industry. In 1978, the late Jack Simplot, founder of the J.R. Simplot Company, developer of Idaho russet potatoes and of freeze-dried French fries for McDonald’s, invested in a start-up called Micron Technology, a maker of semiconductors.

Idaho farmers have been backing technological start-ups ever since. Gerald R. Thompson, for example, said he raised $2 million from farmers near Boise in 2006 to start a company, Sky Detective. The company combines global positioning satellite technology with cellular phone technology from Qualcomm to produce a device capable of tracking people and cargoes anywhere in the world.

Thompson, now a retired deputy sheriff in Los Angeles, said he saw a device that added satellite surveillance to a Qualcomm system to monitor the whereabouts of commercial trucks and found that law enforcement agencies were interested in the device as well.

MobileDataforce also uses cellphone technology for tasks as diverse as enabling workers in the field to give instant estimates and insurance payments for damages to automobiles and homes to keeping track of every metal rod and bolt in the new Bay Bridge under construction between San Francisco and Oakland. The company, Jason Crawforth said, is awaiting a contract from the Agency for International Development to monitor distribution of AIDS vaccines and medicines in 13 African countries.

Photo by Idaho Govt..

BusinessWeek:

Nothing beats “mailbox money” when it comes to boosting your bottom line. That’s when you license an idea, innovation, or invention to another company in return for a royalty payment. Each quarter, magically, a royalty check shows up in your mailbox with a gross margin of 100%.

There has never been a better time to be an inventor. Big companies are desperate for your ideas. Procter & Gamble now gets more than half its ideas for new products from outside inventors. Five years ago, that number was closer to 20%.

But where you focus your creative energy has a huge impact on the payoff you can expect. If your idea is a big wow and highly proprietary—and you can show how to produce it profitably—the fair-market royalty is 25% of the gross profits generated from that idea.

Recently, Greg Lemmon, a mathematician at Eureka! Ranch, set out to find the profit margins in more than 200 industries. Those with the highest margins should provide the most fertile ground for inventors.

* Finance, credit, commercial banking, and other financial services head the list, with gross margins topping 50%.

* Next on the list are landlords, with a 47% profit margin. New ways of leasing and new concepts, such as mini-warehouses, offer great potential.

* Computer software publishing is hot, with 40% margins. It takes massive energy to create breakthrough software, but the profit per unit is enormous, too.

* Bakeries and tortilla makers have a profit margin of 31%. I guess the Atkins diet doesn’t rule after all.

* Soft drinks offer a 27% margin, which explains all those New Age and energy beverages glutting supermarket shelves.

Photo by Patti.

SearchEngineWatch.com:

A whopping 94% of moms rely on other moms during a purchasing decision. So, it comes as no surprise to learn that mom bloggers can have a powerful impact on your online marketing campaign.

• 96% of Moms value recommendations they find on Mom Blogs
• Over 78% of Mom Bloggers now review products and services
• More than 60% of Mom Bloggers consider making money important and want more connectivity with companies
• 37% of Mom Bloggers have been contacted as resources for the press

Did you see that last number? Kind of small considering how powerful moms are. There’s clearly an opportunity for you to go in there and snag some good mom blog coverage.

Need tips on how to approach bloggers?

• Send them a friendly, personalized email. Do not mass email.
• Ask permission to send them a sample of your product or free trial of your service. Do not send unsolicited!
• Offer them something to give away to their readers
• Be accessible to answer questions
• Be cordial even when you get a bad review. It’s ok to comment and defend your product (politely!). But it’s even better to take their criticism to heart and make your product or service better.

Photo by wagg66.

As the times change, so do the styles we dress our babies in. When little blue bears were common place for baby boys, that is being replaced with a Rolling Stones t-shirt. Psycho Baby is on top of the shift in these styles as they continue to stock their store, online and offline, with a variety of unique and fun items for your little one. From baby to toddler, Psycho Baby has almost everything you could possibly need for a one-stop unique shopping experience.

Anyone interested in breaking into the baby niche needs something good to help them stand out, or else they might sink. Marlo Hoffman and Lisa Starbuck not only managed to find their specific niche in this category, but have kept their business running for approximately 5 years now.

What is Psycho Baby and how long have you been in business?

Psycho Baby is the one-stop style shop for cool, crazy kids’ stuff! We carry hip clothes, funky shoes, unique toys and books, Great Gifts, and rockin’ accessories for kids newborn to age eight and the parents who love ‘em! Having everything all together in our two boutiques is not only great fun for the kids, but it makes it super easy for parents to shop for gifts and their own kids, while friends ‘unfamiliar with the joys of diapers and wipes’ easily pick a theme and run with it to create Great Gifts! We carefully select our cool, crazy kids’ stuff especially for the funkiest, funniest and most honest people we know- the kids who inspire us daily!

Our brick and mortar store opened its doors in Chicago’s hip Bucktown shopping district in 2003 and psychobabyonline.com successfully followed soon thereafter.

What inspired your business and the name you chose?

Our friendship was the inspiration for Psycho Baby. When we met, we got to talking about being Moms and realized we had so much in common, especially the highest regard for the happy chaos that is parenthood! The love of the happy chaos is the ’spirit’ behind our storefront and the online. Our children in their angelic moments, their naughty moments and all those moments in between, are a constant inspiration to us, and our store truly is an ode to families everywhere! We have 5 kids between our two households, and our dream was to bring all this awesome stuff-practical, fun, silly, rock, sweet, retro- to one place to make it easy and fun for families and friends to shop all together. It’s a time saver in this busy world, as well as a fun family experience, and, honestly, it is better than we ever even dreamed it could be because of our cool clients!

The name “Psycho Baby” comes from the very beginnings of our friendship and a situation every parent is probably very familiar with! We were acquaintances, and we would set dinner plans for us and our husbands to get together, and then right as we were about to leave, one of us would have a seriously melting-down, purple faced human on the floor crying that resembled the sweet babe we gave birth to (sort of!). When we called to reschedule, only one word came to mind- and that was, “Psycho Baby!” When it came time to name our business, Psycho Baby just felt like the right fit!

Continue reading Psycho Baby Takes Baby Style To A Whole New Level

photo credit: timtom.ch

A product that has been well known and backed by the BBB for a long time is the Miracle Polishing Cloth. We all remember as little kids seeing ad’s with that pretty lady using one of the cloth’s. This cloth has proven time and time again to be so good at it’s cleaning job that it is even used by the U.S. Armed forces, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Army. This time tested cloth work’s great on just about any product or surface you could imagine such as metal, wood, glass, tile, silverware and guns to name a few.

Miracle Polishing Cloth is currently looking for people in all areas to sell this product and rake in the cash flow. With an amazing 630% profit base, you can make endless income in no time at all. With the suggested retail price being $4.98 you keep $4.19 of that as your profit and many people do alter the price to be $8.99, 2 for $15 and so on. Imagine the income level’s that one could reach with this amazing product that sell’s itself

The dramatic 10 second demonstration that you do for your customers is sure to bring a sale every time. To request your free sample and money making kit, visit their website.

photo credit: schoschie

Imagine walking through your house one day noticing all the belongings that you have obtained over the year’s such as furniture, family heirlooms, antiques, your childrens toy’s and drawings and all the little thing’s from clothes to shoes and appliances. Now imagine coming home one day to find that a fire has claimed your house and all of those belongings are completely destroyed Your talking to your insurance agent who is wanting an itemized list of everything that was in your home, the price and value of it, do you have such a list? Do you at least have receipts for these items? Most people don’t.

KC Home Inventory has been in business since 1993 providing complete and confidential home inventory services to the public. They make an itemized list of everything in your home from top to bottom as well as a list of the square footage your home and out buildings are and even take pictures of such precious items as jewelry, antiques and collectibles. This is the type of information that all insurance companies request in order to process your claim and get you reimbursed promptly for the amount that you deserve.

Now imagine being one of those people providing a young couple or elderly couple with this type of service knowing that you just saved them a lot of time, hassle and possible heart ache of not being able to replace their belongings. KC Home Inventory who is backed by the BBB is currently looking for new home inventory agents to provide this service in their city. For a low start-up cost of just your software $195- $395 depending on the kit you choose, you can be on your way to this great opportunity and truly soul rewarding This software is tax deductible at the end of the year and offers a 30 day money guarantee is you are not satisfied which they are confident you will be.

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