How To Make Real Money With Fake Cakes

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You

http://www.cakerental.com/

What: Whimsical fake wedding cakes
Who: Kimberly Aya of Fun Cakes rental LLC
Where: Grandville, Mich.
When: Started in 2007
Startup costs: Less than $1,000

Kimberly Aya's career choice was an easy one. When she was just 8 years old, she started designing cakes for her chocolate-loving father--and she hasn't stopped since. So, after getting married and moving to Turkey for 15 years, her first order of business upon returning home to Michigan was to open a specialty cake shop in the U.S.

Aya started showing off her cake-designing talents at bridal shows, where she was soon struck with an idea. Although most show participants use fake cakes only for display, Aya realized that a large percentage of brides actually prefer the look of fake cakes. A few months later, she turned her bright idea into a business when she founded Fun Cakes Rental. "I don't care if I do a fake cake or a real cake," says Aya, 52, "as long as I get to decorate, because that's what I love."

Aya gets that "just like the real thing" look for her fake cakes by using gum paste and fondant for the frosting and decorations. Each cake, which is mostly made of foam, also includes one edible section for the bride and groom to share before it's switched out for pieces of regular sheet cake. "I use the exact same products you'd use on a real cake," says Aya. "[They] look homemade and real, and that's important to me."

With business booming, Aya now decorates and ships cakes to brides all over the world and even designs cakes for wedding scenes in movies. This past August, she signed a deal with Macy's to make visual prototypes for its department stores. With 2009 sales projections of $120,000, Aya is busy with plans to franchise the business throughout the U.S. by year end. "I'm one person who gets to come to work every single day and absolutely love their job," Aya says. "I'm very fortunate."

Like weird business stories? Here is my story how I started making money coming up with unusual domain names.

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Making Money With Man-Skirts

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You


http://www.utilikilts.com/

In the beginning, there was the notion of just a single washable kilt. A loose, comfortable garment that, Steven Villegas says, “I could walk around naked in.”

And because you couldn’t just go out and buy a man-skirt in those days, Villegas made one. And when he saw how nicely it fit him, he wore the kilt to a Seattle nightclub. At the door a bouncer asked, “Where can I get one of those?” And before he even got into the party, it occurred to Villegas: It’s a ballsy step, wearing a dress. Like Braveheart, only more so.

Next, Villegas--who likes to be called Krash--scavenged up $1,500 for an office, sewing machine, computer, internet service and fabric. He named his man-skirt the Utilikilt, and soon enough, there was a Utilikilts store in Seattle’s Fremont Street Market, a Utilikilts website and Utilikilts across the West Coast and around the world. Incredibly, this year, Krash sold his 100,000th man-kilt since he introduced them in 2000.

A fervent constituency has supported the brand’s “Original” kilt (even now priced at $150, “the overlapping apron allows you to unsnap the waistband snaps without exposing any curious bits”). Krash’s kilts win converts through an ingenious network of snaps that offer an adjustable comfort that Utilikilt fans swear has no parallel.

From the cotton “Original” have come models made of lightweight nylon, leather, duck cloth and black gabardine. And though the bulk of Utilikilt’s orders come from warm-weather climes, the network of fans has fanned across all time zones, allowing the practical-minded “Workman” kilt ($230) and the upscale “Tuxedo” ($566) to brazenly coexist.

Krash calls his venture equal parts business and social movement. Most famously, disgraced Survivor winner Richard Hatch has worn the brand, but one might also spot one of Krash’s kilts among groomsmen at an offbeat wedding, or maybe on the streets of Prague--15 percent of all Utilikilts are sold in Europe.

Men from all walks of life, it turns out, are itching to lose their trousers.

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A Dog-Lover's Other Best Friend

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You

http://www.leashesandlovers.com/

Who: Sheryl Matthys of Leashes and Lovers
Where: New York City
When: Started in 2003
Startup costs: Less than $1,000

Sheryl Matthys was born to be in the spotlight. After graduating from Butler University, she worked for several TV and radio stations before moving to New York City to work on industrial videos as a commercial actress. But it wasn't until 2001, when she got her first greyhound dog, Shiraz, that Matthys, 45, found inspiration--and a new calling. She developed and launched a website, Leashes and Lovers, a social community for people who can't get enough of their canine friends, and hosted dog-friendly cocktail parties all across the city to help launch the site. Leashes and Lovers is designed to connect dog-lovers and provide them with a sense of community, a place where they can set up doggie play dates and find charity and sponsored events. The site also offers a social networking feature called FetchaFriend. You can set up a profile for yourself and even your dog.

"Whether online or in person, it's much easier to strike up a conversation [when you have a dog]," Matthys says. "They provide a natural icebreaker for all of us." FetchaBiz is another section of the site where members can search for dog-related products and services. Members can also set up business profiles to promote their companies and sell items on their own.

Matthys is currently working on her book, The Dog Lover's Guide to Relationships, which should be released some time this year. In addition, she plans to start selling dog leashes and develop a clothing line for Leashes and Lovers members next year.

With 2008 sales of approximately $150,000, Matthys is pleased to be doing what she loves with the perfect canine companion by her side. "It never feels like work to me," says Matthys. "It always seems like playtime, and that's really rewarding."


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Games2U Success Story

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You


http://www.g2u.com/

These days, giant hamster balls and air cannons are all in a day’s work for Stuart and David Pikoff. But when they first decided to go into business together and looked into buying a kid-related franchise, the Pikoffs couldn’t find anything they felt was both unique and affordable. They eventually decided to start a franchise of their own and, after months of development and research, launched Games2U in 2007. Now the Pikoffs are responsible for--quite literally--bringing the party to kids across the country, with vehicles transformed into mobile theaters equipped with the most popular video games.

The franchise fully incorporates the Pikoffs’ fun-and-games business philosophy. While their core business comes from kids’ birthday parties, Games2U books everything from corporate events to church festivals, and its franchise models consists of three different vehicles for various events. In addition to popular games like Guitar Hero and Halo 3--amped up with flat-screen TVs, state-of-the-art sound, fog machines and laser-light effects--Games2U also offers activities like outdoor laser tag and human gyroscopes. It even came up with a new twist on the piñata called the Game-yata. “We want the average kid to have a birthday party like a rock star for a very reasonable price,” says David, 42.

Since it started franchising last year, Games2U has sold 41 franchises, with 16 pending. And it’s on track to sell 150 to 200 more franchises across the country and exceed $20 million in revenue this year. “People are going to wait on buying a new car, but they’re not going to cheat their kids out of a childhood birthday memory for a couple hundred bucks,” David says.

And for franchisees coming from unsatisfying jobs, the Austin, Texas-based business allows them a fun lifestyle where they’re greeted with enthusiasm and positivity every day. “As a franchisee, you can count on the fact that when you go to work and show up at an event, the kids are smiling and excited,” says Stuart, 46. “The only complaint [we hear] is, ‘Don’t leave.’

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How To Make Half A Million Dollars, Writing About Parking Lots

Link of the day - I will pay you $25, if you come up with a cool domain name for me.

Who: Margot Tohn of Park It! NYC: Complete Guide to Parking Garages
What: Comprehensive guide to Manhattan parking
Where: New York City
When: Released in December 2006
Startup Costs: Five figures

When Margot Tohn decided to drive her visiting family to a show in New York City, she wasn’t expecting to have such a difficult time finding parking. Being unfamiliar with garage locations was a hassle for them that day, and Tohn knew she couldn’t be the only one frustrated with the city’s notorious parking situation. “I thought, ‘They have books on bathrooms in Manhattan; there has to be a book on parking,’” says Tohn, 45.

After spending 21 days researching and personally visiting all 1,100 parking garages in Manhattan, Tohn released the first edition of Park It! NYC: Complete Guide to Parking Garages in December 2006. Now in its third edition, the guide covers everything drivers need to know about parking in the Big Apple, with maps and information about hourly rates, accepted credit cards, clearance height and even the number of spaces in each garage.

Tohn, who worked in corporate marketing for 15 years, runs her business primarily on her own. And even in the down economy, Park It! thrives because of the steps Tohn took early on. Working from home kept her overhead low, and Tohn was careful to avoid spending on anything that wouldn’t generate revenue. In addition, she kept her sample giveaways to a minimum and only hired additional help when doing something herself was too expensive. Tohn has also successfully packaged Park It! in other ways, including creating custom editions for businesses to personalize and give out as gifts. With upcoming plans for an online version and a book for at least one other city, Tohn projects 2009 sales of nearly $500,000.

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Tiny Showcase

Link of the day - I will pay you $25, if you come up with a cool domain name for me.


http://www.tinyshowcase.com/

Providence, R.I., is becoming a showcase for up-and-coming artists, but you won't necessarily find their work in a gallery. Every Tuesday, Shea'la Finch and Jon Buonaccorsi display a new print of an original drawing or painting on their Web site, tinyshowcase.com, and sell 100 to 200 for $20 apiece. In three years, Tiny Showcase has given more than 100 artists an audience—the site receives up to 10,000 visitors on a busy night—and has made art accessible to those with modest means.

Finch, 29, and Buonaccorsi, 30, were living together in 2005, trapped in office jobs they hated. To keep up morale, they left each other funny sketches on the fridge. Then Finch, who has an art degree from Bennington College, thought of putting their sketches and other underexposed art online in limited editions. Buonaccorsi, a Web designer, created the site, limiting their startup costs to only a few hundred dollars. Revenue, which reached $250,000 last year, comes from a 20% commission on artists' sales, and the business became profitable quickly. But the two still depend on day jobs to pay the bills.

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The Domain Name Game

http://www.pickydomains.com/

PickyDomains.Com is a perfect example of how to turn one’s talent into a profitable business. With ever expanding Internet and tens of millions existing websites, finding an available domain name that’s not already taken by cybersquatters can be a real nightmare.

But one man’s problem is another man’s solution. Rather than to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars for a domain name on the aftermarket, an increasing number of web entrepreneurs turn to professional “domain namers”.

While most naming agencies charge a non-refundable fee that can be as high as $1500 for a corporate domain, one service that unites 17 professional domain namers from countries like United States, Russia, Australia and New Zealand, decided to offer a risk-free service that costs only 50 dollars per domain.

After 50 dollars are deposited, clients start getting a list of available domain names via e-mail for a period of 30 days. If they see a domain they like, they register it and notify the service about domain acquired. The individual, who came up with the name, gets $25, the other half going to the service. If no domain is registered, the money is refunded in full.

While the idea is brainlessly simple, it appears that PickyDomains.Com has no competition with its risk-free business model. But that is almost certain to change as more people find out that finding available domain names for other people can be a profitable business.

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Idea Paint

Link of the day - I will pay you $25, if you come up with a cool domain name for me.

http://www.ideapaint.com

Sometimes a product idea is as obvious as the wall right in front of you. In 2005, three Babson College undergrads were brainstorming on a whiteboard, but had to keep erasing proposals to make room for more. Then, recalls Jeff Avalon, one of them said, "Wouldn't it be great if we could have a dry erase board that just took up the entire wall?"

Over the next three years, Avalon, John Goscha, and Morgan Newman collaborated with chemists to come up with a durable, smooth, and nonabsorbing paint that could turn a flat surface into an erasable board. They released IdeaPaint at the NeoCon home-furnishing trade show in 2008 with a 3,000-sq.-ft. display and won its Innovation and Gold Awards. Since then, the Cambridge (Mass.) startup has generated $2 million in revenue.

The water-based paint, which now comes in nine colors, is made under contract by three paint manufacturers in the Midwest and distributed by MDC Wallcoverings of Elk Grove Village, Ill. The three founders, now all 25, financed their venture with money from angels at Babson until they secured $5 million from Breakaway Ventures of Boston. The trio are among the company's 14 employees, but they're no longer the bosses: Knowing their own limitations, they hired Phil Damiano, who had run two other startups, as chief executive in January.

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