Weird Idea: Chicken diapers!

April 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I find some weird ideas for micro businesses, and here’s one that may actually work!!!

Chicken diapers!

Ruth Haldeman moved to rural Hot Springs, Ark., in 2002 and promptly took in a couple of orphan chicks. She soon discovered chickens poop–a lot.

According to Entrepreneur.com, in the interest of keeping her house relatively clean, Haldeman broke out her sewing machine and designed a roomy cloth diaper with a disposable liner.

As time went on, she made them in several sizes. Chickens, it seems, outgrow their diapers.

The first diapers were made from fabric scraps. When orders started pouring in, Haldeman ordered a few bolts of cotton blend and tricot, and built a website where a small, hand-sewn diaper sells for $9 ($14 for big birds).

America is having a chicken moment. The ranks of pet-chicken owners are swelling (to more than 60,000–up from 35,000 just a year ago, according to BackYardChickens.com).

The diapers let owners spend quality time with their birds without having to deal with major stain removal afterward.

Haldeman is looking to hire extra help. Right now she can’t keep up with the back orders

Weird, but the lady is making money selling somthing that meets a need!  If she can do it, so can you!!

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Micro Biz Idea:Piano lessons

January 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

One great micro business idea is giving piano lessons.

My daughter, Emily taught piano for three years while in high school. She had up to 8 students at one time and was turning away more students, as I write about in my book Starting a Micro Business. She charged $8 for a half-hour lessons. That’s about half what other piano teachers charged, but double what she could make working at the mall!

Emily could have benefited from this book, Talent to Treasure: Building a Profitable Music Teaching Business by Marcia Washburn.

Here’s my review of the book,

I read Marcia’s book with interest because my daughter gave piano lessons when she was a teenager and, as a CPA, I advise small business owners in running a successful business. In Talent to Treasure Marcia covers the technical aspects of teaching piano, such as practicing techniques, sight reading, and recitals.

Additionally, she also covers many business aspects including how to find students and how much to charge. She includes a series of questions which I consider to be a business plan. By answering questions such as ‘when will you teach?’ and ‘how will you handle childcare?’ Marcia helps a potential teacher avoid pitfalls and problems. Marcia generously shares her experiences in many areas so the reader can learn from her and launch a successful business teaching piano.

The book is well done, enjoyable to read and full of helpful information. I highly recommend it to anyone wishing to start a business teaching piano.

Marcia shared a digital copy of Talent to Treasure with me, but I received no other payments or commissions for reviewing this book.

If you are considering starting a micro business offering piano lessons (or any music lessons), you’ll find Talent to Treasure: Building a Profitable Music Teaching Business very helpful.

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Mobile Dance Academy

August 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

What a great idea and a great teenage micro business!

Amiya Alexander was only 10 years old when she started a dance studio in a pink school bus!

The Amiya Mobile Dance Academy’s (AMDA) mission is to further the art of dance in an extended cultural community which will provide dance training and community programs for all youth.

Watch her story:


Watch CBS News Videos Online

http://www.amiyasdancebus.com/newsandevents.htm

If she can do this, you could so something like it too! Offer dance lessons from your house or go to a neighbors house and teach what you know!

My book Starting an Micro Business will get you started!

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Chess into $$

June 4, 2010 By 1 Comment

Turn a hobby or passion into a money making micro business.

I heard about Jonathan Hilton at a graduation party where I met his mother.  She told me how Jonathan made money from chess. “Do you mean prize money?” I asked. “No,” she explained, “by writing magazine articles and books.”

Jonathan is selling his knowledge about chess and people are willing to pay for what he knows!

The 19-year-old college freshman holds the title of National Master from the United States Chess Federation.

He writes articles relating to his experiences at playing chess abroad and has co-authored  “Wojo’s Weapons: Winning With White,” with International Master Dean Ippolito.

For those who might be interested in learning about chess but fear it just isn’t “cool,” Hilton has these thoughts: “Chess is something that transcends all ages and cultures. I’ve been in situations where I didn’t speak the same language as the other player, but yet I was still on such good terms with them because we could play, we could analyze and we could learn some things. Chess unites people because you have a common experience and a common passion.” http://www.uc.edu/spotlight/student/jonathan_hilton.html

You may not hold a national title, but you may know something about some thing, right? Start writing it down!  Start a blog, write some articles and see if magazines are interested in paying you for your knowledge and perspective on life. Maybe even consider writing a book. Other teenagers have done it, why not you?

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Idea: Virtual Assistant

May 19, 2010 By 1 Comment

One great micro business idea is to be a virtual assistant (VA)-someone that helps a business with bookkeeping, administrative tasks (scheduling, responding to e-mail,etc.) or creative tasks (editing, graphic design, etc) all from a remote location.

Here’s a book that could help you get started.

http://entrepreneurialfreedom.com/

Be warned in Chapter One, that you can read online, the author states that you’ll need $3,000 to get started. Ouch!

She doesn’t know about micro businesses!

A micro business can be started with no debt! Use what you already have like a computer, what’s between your ears (i.e. your brain) and your personal experience.

To learn how to be a VA, you might consider Rhea Perry’s class 8-Week Administrative Virtual Assistant Course

http://rheaperry.com/entrepreneurial-education/?page_id=723

It’s an 8 week online class that teaches you how to be a Virtual Assistant.

Check it out!

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How to Make Money on Craigslist

December 10, 2009 By 1 Comment

Here is a  great site to help teenagers use Craigslist to start a micro business.

How teens can make money on Craig’s List

Find “Services” and put an add under “Small Biz” or “Household services” and you can soon be another teen making money thanks to Craig at Craigslist.

For example…You could put an ad for “carpet cleaning” on Craigslist, get people emailing or calling you about carpet cleaning, go to the “rental center” nearest you and rent a carpet cleaning machine, do the job and get paid right away. (Be sure to know what the rental and supplies costs before you place the ad so you cover your expenses!)

You can also check the section on “Gigs” for fast jobs.

But please beware not to give out personal information online.

Young women especially need to be cautious in answering ads for potential marketing and promotion ads seeking attractive girls.

Respond with a friend and cell phone. Let your parents know exactly where you’re going. Drive by where you’re supposed to meet your “employers” and if the least suspicious, drive off! Better safe than sorry!

I logged onto Craigslist for my local city and discovered that my local public school needs tutors to work with students for 2-9 hours a week.  The ad says “great pay and flexible schedule.”  They want a resume and a background check.

Try Craigslist for your city, but be sure to follow the guidelines above and on Craigslist to avoid scammers.  Keep your parents informed about what you are doing. They can see suspicious activity that you may not see. Let them help you!

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Micro Business Idea: Sign Spinning

November 13, 2009 By 3 Comments

Here’s a unique idea for a micro businesses: Sign Spinning.


Have you ever seen a group of kids advertise their youth group’s car wash by holding up a sign on a street corner? It’s a pretty good way to get attention.  Two teenagers, Max Durovic and Michael Kenny, were hired to be teenage sign holders.  But they got bored and came up with stunts where they spin and throw their signs like batons, strum them like guitars, paddle them like canoes and ride them like horses.  Sound like fun?  Maybe, if you are part clown, athlete and actor! It’s like earning money doing an extreme sport.

“Sign spinning is a lot like ballroom dancing, except your partner has no life of its own,” Brown says. “Giving the sign its life and personality is a spinner’s true task.”

Read the Entrepreneur magazine article about  the business these teenagers started here.

You have got to see the videos of the guys spinning signs!  AArow Advertising.com

There’s also several videos on You Tube

It’s no longer a micro business. They have 18 franchises (copies of the business in several cities) and have 500 employees!

I think that you could find a local restaurant or store that needs some more customers. See if they will hire you to be a sign spinner for an hour or two and you are in business!


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Business Ideas from College Humor

November 1, 2009 By 1 Comment

Need some business ideas for your micro business?

Do not get these guys to help you-they’re pitiful!  But at least they’re funny.  I hope you enjoy a couple of good laughs at their lame ideas.

Hardly Working from College Humor A series of million dollar eBusiness ideas. Write these down if you’re looking to become really rich.

What is on-line paper?  You can do better than Jake & Amir, right?

To get some micro business ideas, sign up for my newsletter and I’ll send you an article “New Biz on the Block,” that has 16 ideas for a micro business a teenager can start right in their neighborhood.

Carol Topp, CPA

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Teen T-Shirt Entrepreneur Wins $10,000

October 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I love this story of a teenage micro business owner took a simple idea, screen printing T shirts, and made himself unique by putting catchy sayings on the T-shirts.

The T-shirt reads “Caution: Educated African American Male.” Kalief Rollins thinks it will be his next best-seller.

The 17-year-old from Carson, Calif., near Los Angeles, took home a $10,000 grand prize from the National Youth Entrepreneurship Competition this week for his business selling custom T-shirts with inspirational designs. Rollins competed against 27 finalists and 24,000 initial high school entrants for the award, given by the nonprofit Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. (read the rest…)

There are a couple of things that micro business owner, Kalief Rollins, said that I think are worth noting:

Kalief has a business plan. He started small and manageable and is now expanding his business one step at a time:

In the next year, he says, “we plan to get our shirts into events like fairs, swap meets and farmers markets. … We want to get our shirts into different stores

He didn’t go into debt to upgrade his business. He waited until the money came in-in this case, $10,000 from an entrepreneur  contest!

With the $10,000, Rollins says he plans to make some business upgrades, including stepping up from a heat press to a silk-screen machine to improve the shirts’ quality.

He got professional help from his mother, an accountant. Smart guy!

“I hired my mom as my CFO,” Rollins says. “She worked as an accountant, so she’s good in that field of work.

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Picking a Micro Business Idea

September 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Picking a micro business idea is not difficult if you follow a guided plan. Begin by brainstorming what you already know and then check those ideas with a mentor or adviser. Finally test your idea by doing a simple market survey.

Do What You Know

  1. List all your former jobs, hobbies, volunteer efforts, experiences, passions, interests and classes you have taken. This is a brainstorming session, so put everything on the list. You can evaluate the merits of each item on the list in the next steps.

  2. Mark those areas with potential money-making ability and a market for your knowledge.

  3. Cross off those that you do not have a passion for doing. If you cannot see yourself spending 10-20 hours a week on the task, cross it off.

Mentor Check

Take you idea list to several trusted advisers or mentors who know you well. Ask at least three people who will be helpful to you. Ask for honest feedback. You might ask an accountant, a current business owner or a business instructor.

Market Check

After your brainstorming and mentor check, find a your market and ask several people their opinion on your business idea. Ask a potential customer,

  • Would you buy this product or service?

  • How much would you pay?

Meet a Need

Another approach: Some micro business got their start because someone saw a need and decided to fill it. Consider Dream Dinners, the first meal assembly franchise, that was started by two busy working moms that needed an alternative to take-out food and restaurant dining. Jeff Campbell, founder of Speed Cleaning, took a mundane chore and build a business teaching people how to clean a house quickly and get on with enjoying life. Your idea doesn’t have to be revolutionary; it can just be a new way to do the same old jobs like cooking and cleaning.

Carol Topp, CPA

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