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Business Opportunities Weblog

Business Opportunities Weblog

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Do You Have a Google Plus Account? Want One?

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 04:41 PM PDT

Google Logo Plus 0fbe 8f 0119f 4a 902429a 5991af 5db 563

Do you have a Google Plus account yet? If you do, I’d love to connect with you, so add me with this link.

If you don’t have an account, leave a comment below and I’ll send you an invite.

Your Biz Is Not Your Hobby: Why Many Small Businesses Fail

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 07:57 AM PDT

Photo by Kevin McShane

A reader wrote:

What business should I start? I have lots of hobbies and am sure I can find something, but how do I narrow it down to one that I will really love to do day in and day out.

Many people start businesses because they enjoy doing something a recreationally. Since we’re all told to do what you love, what makes more sense than to start doing as a business something that you love to do as a hobby?

The most obvious example I can think of, are people who start restaurants because they love to cook. Unfortunately, there’s much more to the restaurant business than just cooking. Marketing, staffing, inventory, and customer relations all take up more time than cooking for new restauranteur. So do the unglamorous jobs like cleaning the toilets. Unfortunately, I think that many small business entrepreneurs are not prepared for this reality and this is reflected in the failure rate for small businesses.

Before you jump into something as a business, think it through as a business.

I don’t recommend that you over plan everything before you begin, though. When you’re starting up, you have to figure out whether or not anyone will actually buy any of what your company will offer.

Readers, what do you think? Is my advice spot on, or am I off my rocker?

Photo by Kevin McShane.

Camel’s Milk is Going to Be Big

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 07:38 AM PDT

Photo by jessamyn

As mentioned before here in 2009, camel’s milk might someday be a huge product, even if it’s origins seem dusty and remote:

For the tattered-clothed young men in this remote community, milking a camel’s stubby udders at sunrise is not a novelty, but a daily chore to get milk valued by their tribe for generations.

But camel’s milk, long-cherished by the Cushite people of central Kenya, is now enjoying a renaissance in the capital Nairobi and could, some say, become an internationally coveted health food product worth 10 billion dollars a year. “Camels are better than cows because they can survive when there is drought, but the cows cannot, so I can make a profit even during dry season,” said Halima Hussein, 45, whose 84-strong flock makes her a local camel-mogul.

“I’m going to sell to sell some of my cows to buy more camels,” added Hussein, whose family also owns 120 cows.

Why is camel’s milk going to be huge?

Photo by jessamyn.

Today in Entrepreneurial History: July 22

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 07:17 AM PDT

Photo by spaceninja

On this day in 1952, Frank Zybach patented his center-pivoting rotting irrigator.

If you’ve flown across the country, you’ve undoubtedly seen green circles of irrigated land, typically clustered together in the middle of brown to the horizon.

Zybach grew up in Nebraska but was farming in Colorado in 1947 when he saw a demonstration of modern movable irrigation. Workers were moving and connecting pipes fitted with sprinkler heads from one part of a field to another. Sprinklers could beat a couple of problems: uneven, hilly terrain and the tendency of water to run into sandy ground before getting to the end of the ditch.

But Zybach, a lifelong tinkerer, saw something more: Why have humans set up, take down, move the equipment and repeat? Why not have the equipment move itself?

Within a year, Zybach had built his first prototype, and the rest, as they say is history.

Photo by brewbooks

Photos by brewbooks and spaceninja.

Space Race: There Are Dollar Signs on the Moon

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 05:43 AM PDT

Now that the last space shuttle has returned to Earth, NASA can get out of the way, and let the entrepreneurs race to the moon:

"It's probably the biggest wealth creation opportunity in modern history," said Barney Pell, a former NASA computer scientist turned entrepreneur and now a co-founder of Moon Express. While Moon Express might initially make money by sending small payloads, the big fortune would come from bringing back platinum and other rare metals, Dr. Pell said.

"Long term, the market is massive, no doubt," he said. "This is not a question of if. It's a question of who and when. We hope it's us and soon."

SBA Reaching Out In Michigan With Tour

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 05:00 AM PDT

Crain’s Detroit Business:

Starting Aug. 10 in Mt. Pleasant, the tour aims to connect small business owners to help and resources.

The tour is the first of its kind to be conducted by the SBA and will offer experts on financing, government contracting, social media, human capital, and financial management, along with success stories from small business owners.

“The tour is a coalition of small business resources working in collaboration to provide information and assistance that directly impacts small businesses and their opportunity for business expansion,” Gerald Moore, district director for the SBA’s Michigan office, said in a statement. “Each day’s program is intended to highlight the resources available through the federal, state and local agencies, as well as business organizations.”

The events are free, but you must register to attend.

Crack A Cold One… With Your iPhone

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 04:45 AM PDT

If you’re a beer enthusiast with an iPhone, Opena has created a unique phone case you will love. All you need to do is slide out the bottle cap opener and — pop — your beer is ready to drink, reports Inventor Spot.

Now, thanks to some enterprising young beer-swillers from Down Under, you can open your bottled beer with the same iPhone that you used to get to your destination station. The Opena iPhone case makes it easy to remove bottle caps from bottles, beer bottles specifically, with a sliding, stainless steel bottle opener.

Those of you more cynical martini types will likely ask, “But what about the beer that gets all shaken up before being opened? Won’t it ruin the iPhone?” Shame on you for even thinking about shaking the beer… that is so immature! After rigorous testing under the most stringently controlled laboratory conditions, the inventors have more than proven to the investors that the suds will not reach the circuitry if the device is properly applied.

Video after the jump.

Photo by Opena