1. Caterer
Like to cook? A lot of people don?t, or prefer not to when they?re hosting
a special event of some kind. That?s when they can call you ? if you decide
to start a catering business. There are lots of different gatherings you
can prepare food for: weddings, baptisms, funerals, birthday parties, graduation
parties, anniversaries, business meetings, reunions and so on. A newer
twist in this business is the family dinner caterer or meal provider. Busy
families or people with particular food preferences will seek you out to
prepare their meals in advance, either in their homes or at your kitchen.
Meals can then be delivered and refrigerated or frozen to be eaten during
the coming week.
2. Personal Service Go-fer
Personal service businesses have taken off in recent years because so many professional people have more money than time: It just makes sense for them to pay someone else to do the little errands that eat into their work day or free time. Online and personal grocery shopping services, in particular, have seen a lot of growth. But you can also start a gift- shopping business, dry-cleaning pickup and delivery service or all-around go-fer service. Your fee: usually a percentage of the client?s total tab. Your target market: business executives, doctors, celebrities and other well-paid but time-starved professionals.
We've come a long way from the days when Cantonese take-out was the
most exotic food many Americans ate. Today?s tastes cover a veritable U.N.
of flavors, but the ingredients aren?t always easy to find in mainstream
supermarkets. Here enter the specialty food entrepreneurs: hot-sauce specialists,
wild game jerky-makers, microbrewers and vegan fast-food preparers. If
you?ve got a knack for whipping up unique treats that your friends rave
over, or have kept alive an unusual family recipe handed down the past
10 generations, you could find your niche in the modern food marketplace.
You can enjoy success either by selling to local specialty markets, or
by pursuing the catalog or Internet marketing route.
4. Creatist Marketing and showcase Store
One thought towards that is:
creatist.com (or whatever virtual store/site) online.. but also.. a local real store.. in keeping with a touch of your cyber-cafe/bar concept.. sorta..
A store with little to no merchandise.. maybe a bit when an artist is being showcased or there's a special theme in the store. The point being, we don' have a lot of merchandise.. we do 'just in time' inventory and if nothing else.. we notify the artists of orders of their STUFF they need to send out and bill them the percentage or commission or WHATEVER they we negotiate out of them. There has to be a higher element of trust or we end up doing ALL the work. Dig?
The store would be to get non-computer owners looking at the online store. And they get a 'high touch' effect from coming INTO a real store.
The real store could be a gathering place, drop off of merchandise place.. theatre/performance, restaurant/art gallery, event place.. gathering place.. that sort of thing.
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I've been thinking about a store where everything is essentially 'brokered.' I read about a Tom Peters encounter where some guy was doing exactly that. For his WHOLE business.
We have an online store. We don't try to make everything, we 'broker' it to the experts.. our suppliers.. dig? We simply coordinate, and sell ads and market the products/artists among other things. And keep the sites running smoothly.
So in this real store.. with the computers using the just-in-time inventory concept - that non-computer users come into the store to use.. increasing traffic to the site.. we broker the stuff that is IN the store. And we can change the contents daily, if we want. All we do is make like project coordinators.. coordinating all this shit.
And eventually, we don't HAVE to do it with just the locals. We could have 'fairs' with products brokered from other places. Like a convention. People from outside the community could use us to 'try on' the town, even.. use it as a real-time market survey of sorts.. maybe even attract business to the town that way. And if they don't COME to the town, we could always simply build them a Web site and they could use the store to market the Web site.. the same way WE are doing.
Our two objectives being.. pay the rent.. make a little money on it. And build traffic to the Web site which is where the REAL money will be made. A store used as a marketing vehicle. Completely. And by anyone who is interested in marketing their product.
For example.. one week, we can broker a pizza chef. That is on the menu that week.. showcasing and marketing a food business. I could go up and down this street I've been talking about and ask the store owners if they wanted to buy into this.. They could do a 'special' kind of menu for a day or a week or a special function.. the focus being on MARKETING that business.. most important. Or they could SUPPLY us.. how we'd price that, I don't know.. but they could SUPPLY us with food dishes for our store.
We'd get quality food, not being served by indifferent McD types but people who are interested in expanding their business. They could try different things... perhaps even outside the realm of their usual fixed menus. And we create yet another NOVEL exchange for our customers.
I really think this store will be called either creatist.com.. that covers everything.. really.
Or Novel Exchange.. cos that is what this store will be about.
Situations that aren't working.. we try the next food dealer.. or whatever.. supplier.. and we do this with up-and-coming food types too. I saw a sign the other day for a woman who does desserts.. "In a hurry? I can do them for you.. for parties, dinners.. whatever."
Think of it as a rotating 'food gallery' instead of an art gallery.
With a firm intent to make money.. Not just be artsy fartsy.. stuff.
And as I think of this.. seniors would eat up this concept. The constant fair/demo/special days.. they love going to all these fairs and sampling food and listening to demos.. that sort of shit.
This.. is a seniors marketing idea.
I think it would be cool. All we need to do is market it and coordinate it probably. Event planning was one of the businesses I saw on that SOHO site. I think this ties in with that.
What stuff WE can't do.. event planning.. audio visual, special displays wise.. we broker.. again adding more suppliers and potential Web site buyers to our list.
Other aspects of this concept
Courses at creatist.com
Remember I mentioned that nicely situated space for lease downtown? Okay.. extrapolate on the artist products/showcase and art performing idea. Have kid and adult art, literature, science mini courses/classes..on the weekend or weekend nights or in the summer for a full week like they do at Brandon university
See Brandon University Mini-University concept at this url:
http://www.brandonu.ca/MiniU/mu99/default.html
They have added QUITE a few courses this year... andI bet in my area or you in yours.. we could find a few willing artists, students, fanatics or enthusiasts in their field to teach them. They may not get paid much at first but we could trade store space or product placement/advertising on a online store for their services if need be or SOMETHING... I'm still heavy into this concept of building relationships with people.. even if I've struck out a bit lately.. I still believe they are out there and want to be seen, heard and understood.. as WELL as doing something they are passionate about, yanno?
Oh.. and did you KNOW? In five years a hell of a lot of teachers will be retiring? In ten years a whole lot more? In Ontario and in the states. I read articles about this. There could be teacher shortages with the advent of the 'boom echo' kids. I think that's what it's called. there will be a large population of kids in school, is the deal, and a lot of the boomers will be retiring in five years, is the statistic.
Thing is.. school won't be the only place for learning
That's aNOTHER thing I wanna work on - learning on the web.
It's a hard thing to do.. in a way.. but I think there's a damn good market for it? And being the non-structured type _I_ am.. I like the different ways one could learn on the web, yanno?
The idea here is teaching could attract some revenue as WELL as us being able to start to see who's out there in our respective towns and what they are up to or interested in trying to do.
I still feel the biggest issue for artists is marketing. I remember talking to a lady at a small art gig down the street and it didn't even occur to me til she mentioned it: a lot of artists in small towns aren't even getting a chance to SHOW in a gallery.. even the small art gallery we have here.
Dave says the guy at the art gallery.. though i can understand his viewpoint... shies away from locals. his actions make him a bit of a snob in a way. he wants the BIG artists.. supposedly..
Small fish in a small pond wanting to be a big fish, I guess. That isn't going to stop me from trying to do business with him but it makes me realize, simply, he has a slightly different agenda.
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>I _like_ the concept. And yes, as far as teaching-for-space (touch or web), I think there'd be people just about everywhere who'd do it. But what about supplies?
Good point. I think, depending on the course, we can figure that out as we go along. If the cost of supplies, materials was included in the fee for the course or we simply bought a good rasher of supplies to start up.. thus reducing cost by buying in bulk.. OR.. depending again on the course.. suggesting that people 'bring their own ' -- there's a way to manage this issue.
And people 'bringing their own' could actually lead to interesting diversity and perhaps even open a path to people sharing or exchanging supplies. I haven't thought on this much, but I like the user input, the interactivity, the contributing to the course involvement that this might lead to. The more you can get people involved in the course they take, the more fun, I think. And that isn't just a platitude, to me. I ENJOY getting involved in the things I take.. courses.. exchange.. whatever. I imagine a lot of people are the same way. Just.. no one ever ASKS them.
Underline that point. The more unique exchange we offer people, the
more people will buy INTO it.. as they are molding their OWN course of
study in a sense.
5. Flowers for sale - straight from the grower.
But not a professional greenhouse, and we aren't a flower shop. We simply act as the broker / conduit / exchange post for the growers to display their wares.
We set up an application similar to the auction format that any person..
I mean ANY person with flowers, fresh garden vegetables, trees or bushes
or interesting plants that they grow in their backyard can submit a picture(s)
of. They can either 1) set a fixed price for the flower purchase /delivery
or 2) they can offer a collection of flower purchases for sale by auction
6. Seed gift baskets
For people, like myself, who don't believe in chopping up flowers to send to people, have gift SEED baskets that they can order and send to anyone, anywhere. We could have garden utensils, containers, etc. as the other elements of the gift basket.
I like the fact that I'm not chopping up flowers.
7. A seed exchange
A lot of people collect flower seeds from year to year. Some of them
exchange seeds. A Web site would expand the quantity of seeds they could
get to. I imagine some people are already doing this. The main point being
every one of these ideas could attract advertisers.
8. Seed Seedtificate (certificate)
Send someone a digital postcard and include a paid for certificate of some dollar value that they can go to a Seed Web site and 'select' their own choice of seeds. One to five packages only. More a marketing idea to get people to a gardening or whatever Web site. They can go heavy duty into purchases once they get to the site.
9. An online bake sale. Or craft sale. From professionals AND amateur creatists.
We would organize it JUST like the virtual bake or craft sale. We could have them on a number of occasions to go to any number of causes. We take a percentage of the sale for our troubles.
We don't worry about taking pictures of 'fresh' baked goods. We do the following:
Someone tells us they want to become involved. We register them perhaps a fee. We take pictures of their standard repertoire of baked goods. (of course they'd have to BAKE some for us to do that. Maybe even some sampling or rating system could come out of that--and not just by US... we could get a club going where people offer comments..critiques of the the baker's wares) Then, when the bake sale is slated, we find out how many food items are available at a particular time. A flash auction (24 or 48 hours) might be a good method to use. Or even a standard "Saturday the mall is having a bake and craft sale from 9 - 5" concept.
We could even organize a few REAL bake and craft sales just to get our
name out there, and press some flesh. And turn those kinds of sales into
some PERHAPS a little more engaging than old dudes sitting at tables in
the middle of the Brandon mall. There must be a slightly more engaging
way to sell baked goods.
10. Big screen club
We could have people with big screen tvs and videos and we'd host the gathering for a special film of some kind.
We'd get at the cocooners that way.
11. Used bookstore in a theatre
I like this idea:
Alabama Bookstop (2922 S Shepherd at Alabama, 713-529-2345). A large branch of a growing discount chain. Located in what used to be an old movie palace, it's a fairly good general bookstore, particularly popular non-fiction. Fiction genres (especially SF and mystery) can be mediocre. One poster says, "Elegant high-inventory store-- well-organized and split into many categories, big science and computer section, broad selection of periodicals, excellent section on lesbian/gay/bisexual culture, good in religion/mythology/history/ sociology, good all round. Especially handy for picking up guide books for Houston and for traveling in Texas
I was a fan of the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' at the Alabama Theatre,
and went to all the anniversiary parties of the midnight showings, not
to mention seeing such classics as ALIEN there on first release, so I was
crushed when I heard they were converting it into a bookstore. But ...
they did a super job. All they took out was the seats; they kept the entire
architecture of the theatre intact, and in fact, have maintained it much
better than the theatre owners did. Lovely carpeting, murals, high ceiling
(of course!), stairways, etc. You purchase your books at what used to be
the concession stand. It works. If Brazos Books is the classy literati
version of Houston book culture, the Bookstop in the Alabama Theatre is
pure Texan bravado: bigger than life, better than it needs to be, and hugely
satisfying." However, the SF collection still lacks. Has an espresso bar
in the balcony. Open til midnight.
12. Online New/Used clothing store
Accessory type stuff would be good. Getting clothes to fit could be a pain. But yes, a clothing line would be a nice idea too. Let me know if you see any interesting places where you are. Perhaps we could ask them to act as suppliers to an online store WE could create. I imagine we may sell more of other people's product than create any of our own. But it's not beyond the realm of possibility, mind you. Perhaps even have a SMALL supplier who can't make a lot of stuff all at once.. to supply items to our auction. They'd be less pressured to have to continually have stock. They could auction/sell only the stuff they've already made.
I bet there are a FEW people who would go into the clothing business
if they didn't have to worry about rent or having HUGES amounts of inventory.
They could sell WHEN they want, and WHAT they want.
13. Theatre bus service
This is cool. You could do this in Bisbee or Cranbrook or Brandon.
http://www.pgharts.org/page/press/frameset_press.html
The main thing _I_ like is the non-profit organization doing this. Film series are nothing new. But the non-profit aspect might buy you a buy-in that you normally wouldn't GET from a standard repertory theatre. And we could use our other businesses to fund it as needed. But it would make for great public buy-in, I think.
We have Evans Theatre, run by Brandon University here. That's about as close as it gets.
Their advertising is absolutely cheesy and the films are current but the demographic presentation encourages kids/students NOT adults and seniors.
14. Antique Bouquet - a delicious altenative to flowers.
14. 100 dollar store
15. Motorcyle site/store/channel
16. Financial services/ seed companies for women/ women
owned businesses
17. I'm online but I can't get my male
Women still complain they can't find suitable male companions. What to do? What to do? Intelligent conversation on this. NOT Cosmopolitan mentality.
18. Seed concept - businesses
20. Stored value card
We could offer our own. (Coupon+)