Thanks Dien.
I'm about to transport myself back to 1996, when Time Warner came down the street and put up cable. For 10 years prior, I used a 9 and 14 baud modem and the telephone line to get online.
Then, RoadRunner, beep-beep and a blazing fast Internet, albeit, not much of an Internet up til then. From 93 to 96, it went from thousands of web sites, to a million and then BANG, started the run.
I had a brand new, state of the art computer, and a lot of time to be surfing the Internet, one of my first reports was on the FIVE great lakes, as well as the Oceans of ****, Education (.edu at that time far surpassed .com)...
It was cable, and satellite to some extent, that really attracted the Mail Order guys to online, the big hope was being able to sell electrons, and for those Information sellers, the elimination of "paper and ink".
I was among the hopefuls.
Those early days saw the rise of many FORUMS, they sort of became the vogue centerpiece of web sites. And along with the mail order guys came their courses. Some, such as Dan Kennedy and Gary Halbert among them, argued the idea was to get them offline to buy your courses and such.
I participated in dozens of forums, although some heavily opinionated and tightly controlled, which was fine, their property, their rules. In the mid and late 90's I was writing for several vehicles, one was for Ben Suarez and his newsletter. I covered BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY, something I have covered since the early days of Chase Revel and his "Insider Reports"...I subscribed to many newsletters; Howard Ruff, Jim Straw, Hubert Simon and many others.
Against this backdrop knowing of and investigating, and in doing some crazy ones, like OFF KEY singing telegrams, mascots, etc. I feel I have a keen sense of business models.
So, my first opinion is:
YOU don't get paid for doing nothing.
Which then leads to my next question, what do you want? In the making of money, there are lots of ways to go, so if you want to get paid,
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO GET PAID FOR?
I always wanted to get paid for my writing. So I looked at business opportunities which were writing oriented. And having met some pretty, pretty successful Mail Order guys and having operated a side hustle for years in the circular pubs and mail order venues the most attractive thing was
no face to face selling, although I was good at it by forcing myself, I found I was better suited to WRITE sales pitches than to spend the time delivering them.
The MODELS.
Direct, face-to-face consumerism. Cars. Real Estate. Cookies in a Mall. In fact all things MALL, even books and I frequented the several book stores in the area, now only 2 left standing, Books a Million and across town, the Barnes and Noble.
Today, still the vast majority of car and real estate buyers conduct face-to-face business, as do the big box stores left standing, Walmart, and grocery stores, although home delivering is soaring.
REMOTE marketing is the opposite of Face to face. And is younger generations de fault, they BUY online.
Now, I'll cut to the ranch, and share my ideas of the ULTIMATE business model.
An inexpensive consumable, with a high markup, huge profit margin and one that could be REMOTELY sold and delivered by a third party
This has to be one of the top 10 businesses to start. Be it soap, shampoo, milk, vitamins, supplements, oil...some of the biggest companies in the world are built on CONSUMABLES, think Proctor and Gamble or Johnson & Johnson.
With old world paper and ink, these would be newsletters and there are still many a tree being felled to get them out in the mails. Online version is a newsletter, like Dien's
http://www.hiddenbusinessideas.com/
Information is consumable, renewable and my personal choice to get paid doing something (writing). But real, specialty products work too...
Harvey Brody's Zoom Spout Oiler with 100s of millions sold since the late 1950's is an example of a consumable which gets reordered like clockwork.
There are so many choices these days, I see folks taking YEARS, you'll find some at the Warrior Forum who have been at it a decade without success...and the reason is:
They don't know where or how to start.
You have to get started and stay on course. We've been doing SowPub for over 20 years now, and may continue for another 20.
Over the years I have had my favorites, like:
Steve DiMarco's Nut Carts at stadiums and later his Nut Warmers at Bowling alleys and golf courses.
A great consumable, high mark up, NO SELLING, they line up to buy, and can be done as an absentee busiess.
Bud Riggs' Headlight Cleaning. Daily money maker whenever that fat old bastord wanted to work. A simple concept, quick to do, little cost, high markups cash in your hand. If you want to DO, it is hard to beat a get cash right now, today, for a needed service.
CHATTELING. Buying and selling stuff. My bread and butter.
REPORTS. Jim Straw showed me the way, and create "peanuts on the bar" that people can't resist.
Now, maybe, perhaps, there is the guy who has spent the last 5 years developing his widget or app and is about to reach critical launch mass, and he'll never have to work again. Good for him, I admire his persistence.
I have always liked FAST RESULTS, maybe due to my ADHD, and need for Instant Gratification. So, long range ideas which require months and years are not in my wheelhouse.
But they may be in yours, which is the point of this...you set the success in the right direction at the GO square. Too many are playing a game of snakes and ladders (chutes and ladders in US) and climbing up and then sliding down, whereas, they should be playing Monopoly, acquiring assets, building up your business and using a strategy.
OK, what is your favorite business make a buck MODEL?
Gordon
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dien Rice
Thanks Gordon,
As I've mentioned many times before, I think the Square One Workshops are very, very valuable!
I'm excited that you're bringing them back into the public eye...
And I'm looking forward to seeing the evolution of the site! 
Thanks!
- Dien |