Friday, January 28, 2011

Uncle Milton Uncle Milton Giant Ant Farm Story

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Uncle Milton Uncle Milton Giant Ant Farm

Milton Levine liked to give his customers advice from the Bible: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise."

Mr. Levine, who died Jan. 16 at age 97, knew whereof he spoke. He introduced the Ant Farm to America in 1956.

A mail-order entrepreneur, Mr. Levine said he came to the revelation at a Fourth of July picnic that included the inevitable uninvited insect guests.

Mr. Levine developed the narrow green plastic case with barn and windmill that became a toy sensation of 1957-58, when two million were sold.

Mr. Levine made no claims to have invented the formicarium, as homes for ants are formally called. A patent on one was issued in 1937 to a Dartmouth professor who made and sold "Ant Palaces" from a workshop in Hanover, Vt.

But Mr. Levine, who knew a lot about ants despite lacking formal training, insisted the formicarium was older still. "They're about as old as glass itself," he told The Wall Street Journal in 1958.

The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Mr. Levine was born in Pittsburgh. His father was a dry cleaner, and Mr. Levine's main contact with ants came on visits to his uncle's farm, where he gathered them into mini-terrariums he constructed in Mason jars.

After serving in the Army in World War II, he and his brother-in-law, E. Joseph Cossman, started a mail-order business selling toy soldiers through ads in comic books. Later, they sold novelties like shrunken heads and spud guns.

The Ant Farm was initially sold by mail and later through retailers nationwide. Each Ant Farm came with a coupon for a vial of ants that was mailed separately, since ants don't have a long shelf life.

The ants themselves—red ants known as Pogonomyrmex californicus—were collected in the desert by workers armed with shovels and vacuums. At first they were paid a penny per ant, and the Christian Science Monitor reported in 1967 that the most productive of them made $3,000 weekly.

In 1965, Mr. Levine bought out Mr. Cossman, who went on to become a marketing consultant and author of "How I Made A Million In Mail Order."

Mr. Levine renamed his company Uncle Milton Industries—he said it was "Uncle" Milton because people often asked him if he was in the ant business, where was the uncle?

In a 1970 book Mr. Levine wrote, "Ant Facts and Fantasies," he explained that "this writer is of the opinion that ants are truly socialist. After all, their life is truly a communal one."

As the Cold War was winding down in 1989, Uncle Milton Industries sent representatives to Moscow to explore selling Ant Farms in the Soviet Union.

Uncle Milton Industries also offered products involving live butterflies and frogs, and other science-oriented toys.

Mr. Levine's son, Steven Levine, took over the business in the 1980s. It was sold to a private-equity firm in 2010.

"I love ants," Mr. Levine told Smithsonian magazine in 1989. "They're the greatest things on Earth. I've got three kids, and ants put them all through college. I never even step on ants, I tell you. Never."

For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.

[Via - WSJ]

The Million-Dollar Idea in Everyone: Easy New Ways to Make Money from Your Interests, Insights, and Inventions

IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan S. Kennedy

101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads

Make Your Ideas Mean Business

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Thursday, January 27, 2011

Two Ways To Profit From Pizza

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http://pizzaacasa.com/

Last year The Village Voice declared Mark Bello's pizza one of the three best in New York City. And it is sensational: a thin, crisp crust paved with the ideal balance of cheese and sauce, finished with fresh basil and a drizzle of top-grade olive oil.

But you can't buy it. You have to make it. And this in a city with more than 1,800 pizzerias.

Bello is the founder of Pizza a Casa, a "pizza self-sufficiency center" on the Lower East Side where he passes on what he's learned over a lifetime obsessing on the perfect pie. Students spend four hours and $150 learning how to make something they could buy--in cheesier form--for about $2 on most street corners. The classes, offered three days a week, sell out so fast he recommends signing up two months in advance; demand is so strong he has started offering pasta sessions as well.

Bello, who is self-taught, had been giving pizza classes around the city and in his own apartment in Chinatown for five years before he decided to literally set up shop, with a kitchen classroom and pizza equipment to sell, from peels to wheels. Student reaction to his personality and his itinerant classes had been so enthusiastic--both word-of-mouth and on online survey sites like Zerve.com--that last April he opened with a waiting list.

Pizza a Casa is a niche business, but Bello notes that more and more Americans are willing to pay to learn to cook at home, especially in this economy. And hands-on is a better way to learn than watching television or reading a cookbook. "Simple food is not easy, and aspiring pizza-makers know that," he says.

Using his arts background--he has a master's degree in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago--Bello designed every inch of the stylish 450-square-foot space. There's a trestle table down the center outfitted with a marble slab for each of as many as 16 students and a tiny station in one corner where he can demonstrate his "deejay-twist" action to stretch dough and have it telecast by "dough cam" onto the overhead screen next to the home-style ovens.

Bello opened on a Manhattan shoestring: less than $150,000 from a furniture business he started after grad school and turned over to a partner. He also says he was "not afraid to pick up a power tool" or to barter like crazy. One example: "I wanted to show you can make pizza in any oven," so he presented his business plan to the Viking appliance company and persuaded it to donate equipment.

Bello chose the right location, too, on the same block as the famous Kossar's Bialys shop and the Doughnut Plant, which draws tourists even from Japan. Then he let former students and friends in the media spread the word.

More than 1,000 students have baked their way through Pizza a Casa, turning out 2,300-plus pizzas. Friends of former students and repeat students who bring friends and family typically make up a majority of the classes.

"Most of my students have never touched flour in their lives," the New York City native says. But Bello also has taught restaurateurs, some from as far away as Turkey and Paraguay, who want to "up their pizza game."

Bello has a book proposal in the works and says expansion is a possibility, too. But for now, "the class is dependent on me," he says. "I don't want to make it cookie-cutter."

For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.

[Via - Entrepreneur]

The Million-Dollar Idea in Everyone: Easy New Ways to Make Money from Your Interests, Insights, and Inventions

IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan S. Kennedy

101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads

Make Your Ideas Mean Business

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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Solar Cinema

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http://www.thesolcinema.org/

Cinemas around the world are faced with the challenge of recapturing the public's imagination, creating a compelling experience to drag customers away from their smaller-screen rivals. The latest attempt we've spotted has taken a micro approach, creating a tiny cinema from a 1960s caravan to showcase films from the local area.

The Sol Cinema seats just 8 adults or 12 children in quirky surrounds, featuring two tiers of plush seating and an LED projector. A dedicated usher sells tickets and shows the audience to their seats. Furthermore, the entire operation is powered by a 120W solar panel and lithium batteries. The cinema is part of a non-profit project and is available to organisations wishing to showcase short films in their local community. It has already toured a number of music and arts festivals in the UK.

The Sol Cinema has been attracting a lot of attention for its novel approach in the UK. Combining an intimate auditorium with local content and an eco-twist seems to be a winning formula. What lessons can you learn and apply in your local market...?

For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.

[Via - Springwise]

The Million-Dollar Idea in Everyone: Easy New Ways to Make Money from Your Interests, Insights, and Inventions

IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan S. Kennedy

101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads

Make Your Ideas Mean Business

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

10 Business Ideas That Are Both Stupid And Profitable

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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.

2. 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. Full Story

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.

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. Full Story

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. Full Story

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. 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. Full Story

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.

To see other businesses that have not made the top 10 list but came pretty close, visit Uncommon Business Ideas Blog

More On This Subject

10+ Unusual Ways To Make Easy Money On The Internet If You Love Writing

Startups That Work: Surprising Research on What Makes or Breaks a New Company

Start Your Own Business for $1,000 or Less


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Friday, January 07, 2011

Entrepreneur scores with low-tech game in high-tech world.

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http://www.zelosport.com/

It didn't happen the way you might think. Not when children and sharp-pointed origami paper footballs are involved. No eyes were put out or even poked--despite countless dire warnings from mothers. Spud Alford simply saw some kids playing a game he remembered playing during his own childhood--finger football--and thought there had to be a better and safer way. He invented the board version of the game in 1989, but he didn't "take it to the next level." After a brief run, it died.

In 2004, Alford, 55, was wide awake at 3 a.m. and had an epiphany: He was supposed to follow through on his 15-year-old dream. "I found the material, I found investors, and I stayed the course," he says.

For a year, Alford kept his job as an investigator for the government while working on a prototype and a business plan. "I was worn out," he says. But a well-timed $100,000 check from an investor changed everything. Alford quit his job, opened an office and pursued Zelosport and Finger Football full-time.

By the fall of 2006, the Columbus, Georgia-based company, with Alford as CEO and his brother, Mike, as president, was ready to kick things off. The game, with its football field configuration, mom-friendly soft football and goal posts at either end, sold 12,000 units. By comparison, Trivial Pursuit sold zero units its first--and second--year. In four years, Zelosport has moved 80,000 games through seasonal mall kiosks, 700 mom-and-pop stores, Amazon.com and other outlets. Alford knows that big-box retailers are the way to big success in the toy biz. But for now, Zelosport is sticking to its lean-and-mean strategy.

That's not to say that growth isn't part of the game plan. Tactics include an expanded lineup. The company has already added hockey, basketball, soccer, golf and baseball, which won a toy of the year award in 2007 from FamilyFun Magazine. And plans for tennis, car racing and the decathlon are in motion. Its market advance also involves the National Finger Football League, a collection of local and statewide leagues that will compete against each other for the right to face off in the national tournament in Columbus. Fourteen states have leagues, and the first national tournament is scheduled for fall 2010. And then there is personalization; the game board can be made to look like the field at any high school or college. Coors Light had the company create games for the brewer to give to its distributors.

If you don't know, finger football is played by two people using a folded triangle of paper (the football). Players flick the football across a flat surface trying to get it to stop partially over the edge. A successful try earns a player the right to turn the football on its end and flick it in the air through a goal post made by his opponent using his hands, the tips of outstretched thumbs pushed together and pinkies sticking up--think two "hang loose" gestures connected at the thumbs. The rules for scoring and game length--as well as the width of the goal posts--varied widely as young boys tried to tilt the game to their advantage. Alford standardized the rules.

So why, in a decidedly high-tech era, did launching a decidedly low-tech game strike Alford as the right thing to do? His faith played a big role, and he knew families would like a game everyone could play together. Appearances on CNN and The 700 Club didn't hurt Finger Football's prospects, either.

With sales of $1 million over a four-year span and roughly the same pace expected for 2010, about 40 college licensing agreements, an expanding roster, a growing network of competitive leagues and word-of-mouth buzz growing, it might just be time to call Zelosport and Finger Football a 20-year overnight success.

For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.

[Via - Entrepreneur]

The Million-Dollar Idea in Everyone: Easy New Ways to Make Money from Your Interests, Insights, and Inventions

IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan S. Kennedy

101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads

Make Your Ideas Mean Business

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Monday, January 03, 2011

Homeless As Tour Guides

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http://www.sockmobevents.org.uk/

It's a well-known fact that tourists typically get a very different view of a city than locals do, but it's a pretty safe bet that participants in Sock Mob Events tours get an even more different view than most. That's because Sock Mob's Unseen Tours of London are led by none other than homeless residents of the city streets themselves.

Inspired by London's Sock Mob, which is a volunteer group that engages routinely with London's homeless, Unseen Tours offer an entertaining and poignant walk through the streets of London with trained homeless guides, giving participants a historical but also unexplored perspective. The tours interweave the guides' own stories and experiences, giving participants a view of the city through the lens of homelessness while introducing a new social consciousness into commercial walking tours. Four routes are currently available — more are coming soon, the group says — each culminating in a “merry pub trip” at the end. Pricing is GBP 5 or GBP 8 per walk, depending on what the participant can afford, and two free places per tour are always set aside for people who are unable to pay and/or are accompanying someone as a care-giver. Launched on World Homeless Day — 10 Oct. 2010 — Unseen Tours happen at 7pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 3pm on Saturday and Sunday, rain or shine.

In offering its Unseen Tours, Sock Mob aims not only to provide tour participants with a different view of the city, but also to empower the homeless and restore their confidence. The “lion's share” of the tour's proceeds goes to the guides, the group says, with any profit getting reinvested directly back into the enterprise to engage more guides and widen the scope of the offered tours. Ultimately, the group hopes to turn over the reins of the enterprise to one of the homeless guides themselves, and to spread the concept to other cities.

For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.

[Via - Springwise]

The Million-Dollar Idea in Everyone: Easy New Ways to Make Money from Your Interests, Insights, and Inventions

IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan S. Kennedy

101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads

Make Your Ideas Mean Business

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