Since I started my first business when I was 16.... I have heard this phrase ALL my adult life.

Most people use this phrase when they want to offer up an excuse as to why they are not interested or do not want to start a similar project.

However....whenever "I" learn that a business idea is "already being done"...it SPURS ME ON!

Why? Because somebody ELSE also thought it was a good enough idea to go ahead and implement it. Further justifying MY initial feelings that the idea is feasible and workable.

Also...I know that with MY MIND and MY experience, I knew I could come up with some creative ways to market that would "blow competition out of the box!"

This reminds me of my latest program;
When I learned there was a new product that would "Make Decks Look Like New For Years!"....I jumped in and took a closer look. I love UNIQUENESS!

What I found was a lot of Decks, Fences, Cedar Shake Roofs and Wood Sided Houses turning gray and ugly and only a handful of people servicing the market.

With this new product I said, "Whoa Nellie!"...let's take a REAL CLOSE LOOK HERE!

I did and...just as with many of my other business programs over the years, I heard the old phrase, "It's ALREADY being done!"

Well...that may be true...BUT...it's NOT being done MY WAY!

So...I found myself in the "Deck Renewal" biz and having a ball. (I needed a break from the "Ad Biz" anyway)

When I started my first BIG business (Burglar & Fire Alarms)....MANY people told me, "That is already being done!"...or, "The market is already SATURATED with alarm cos!"

(Over the years I've also heard the phrase, "The Market is already "SATURATED")

I remember what someone told me about equating a given market with the game of Marbles.

If you place a bunch of marbles in a circle and drop YOUR marble on top of the bunch of marbles...SOME of the marbles will leave the circle.

The fact that the market was "already saturated with burglar alarm cos"....was great motivation for me. I went out and built my company (Securitronics Corp) into the LARGEST alarm co in the suburbs of Chgo.

Re: the reference to "Ads in Washrooms";
I did this in 7 restaurants in 1985 in Aspen, CO after I read an article in the Wall St Journal about a company called "Johnny Boards" that had started in NYC.

When I got a "hot-flash" about "Ads around MIRRORS in LOCKERROOMS"....THIS did NOT have the same "aura" around it as "Ads above urinals" had...therefore would be easier to sell...and I had never before considered ads around full length mirrors in "lockerrooms" until the other day.

So...even though this may "already being done" in other areas of the country...it is NOT being done in MY local Country or Tennis Clubs.

So...when I get tired of my present "Deck Rebewal" venture...I'll have something to do.

Don Alm

> On a short jaunt into Canada last year I saw
> this concept being done.

> Also there were ad boards on the inside of
> the doors of all the bathroom stalls, and my
> male companion mentioned them also installed
> over the urinals along with doodle boards.

> Another thing we noticed were business card
> boards in heavily trafficed stores and
> restaurants - it seemed to be a franchise
> from what we could gather.

> Tammi




$800 A Day Renewing Wood Decks!