How To Make Money From Latest Craze Products

June 30, 2008 at 11:04 am · Filed under make moneys

In August 1975 Gary Dahl, an advertising executive, came up with the wacky idea of having a ‘rock’ as a pet. He just didn’t want the hassle of looking after traditional pets like dogs, cats and birds etc., which Gary considered to be too messy, expensive and hard to look after.

After the initial weird looks and grunts from his friends, they soon came round to the idea, and thought the concept of ‘Pet Rocks’ was quite fun.

Gary spent a couple of weeks creating a ‘Pet Rock Training Manual’ and designed a small box to look like a miniature pet carrying case. The manual contained tips on how the owner should look after their new Pet Rock. The tips included how to teach your Pet Rock to ‘roll over and play dead’ and how to ‘house train’ them.

A Leap Of Faith

He really felt he was onto something, and decided to exhibit his Pet Rocks at a gift show in San Francisco, later in the year. He also wrote a press release and sent it out to all the major news agencies.

As news of this latest fad began to get round, a number of local newspapers ran articles on the story, and the Pet Rock phenomenon started to really gather pace.

Gary enjoyed an almost overnight success, which saw Pet Rocks being sold all over the world, and culminated with Gary being interviewed as a guest on Johnny Carson’s ‘The Tonight Show’.

Ever since the success of the Pet Rocks in the 70’s, many a would be inventor/entrepreneur has tried to emulate the success of the Pet Rocks. But so far, nothing has done quite so well. At least not something as wacky as a pet rock.

My Childhood Memory Is A Bit Faint, But…

I was about 7 or 8 when I first saw the Pet Rocks, after my mum bought one as an ornament. I’ve always had this memory of these little rocks with painted on eyes, staring at me from on top of the television.

If my memory serves correctly, my mum bought a few different ones, but I never remembered seeing a manual or a Pet Rock carrying case. In fact, we always called them ‘Pebble People’, not ‘Pet Rocks’.

I would hazard a guess that the ones we bought we just a copy, or a ‘knock off’ of the original Pet Rocks. That said, my mum enjoyed having them around the house, and I know my sister and I found them amusing at the time.

This does show you though, that you don’t necessarily have to come up with a totally original idea to be successful. Sure, you have to be careful that you don’t get accused of copyright or trademark theft, but ’spin offs’ from ‘fad’ products can often prove very profitable.

Consider This Viewpoint…

Lets say things had started off differently. What if Gary Dahl had invented the ‘Pebble People’ and not the ‘Pet Rock’? You could have seen them and then taken the idea a bit further by adding the manual and carrying case to your own version.

What I’m saying to you is thisInstead of just looking at the latest craze and saying:

“Why didn’t I think of that?”

You should be saying to yourself:

“What spin-off product could I create, which would be the perfect compliment to this new ‘fad’ product that everyone is buying?”

This ‘reactionary’ method will give you a much higher chance of success. For every successful invention/inventor there are probably thousands of unsuccessful ones.

Let the inventors pioneer a new game or invention. Then, once you see something that looks like a hit, that’s the time to jump in and take advantage.

Let’s suppose there’s a new board game for adults. Everyone seems to be talking about it, AND buying it (very important).

You could look at creating spin-off info products. For example, just fill in these blanks:

* 7 Secret Ways To Win At _______

* 21 Successful Strategies For Playing ________

* How To Play _______, A Quick Start Guide

* ________ A Beginners Guide

* ________ An Advanced Players Guide

* Alternative Games To Play With ________

* Members Only Website For ________ Board Game Enthusiasts

Obviously, as I said before you have to consider copyright issues. However, you might be able to strike a joint venture deal with the new ‘craze product’ owners, or buy an exclusive license for your spin-off.

My Closing Advice

Creating your own craze product or even a spin-off from one can turn out to be extremely lucrative. However, by their very nature, craze products usually have a short shelf life. If you don’t capitalize on it early, the craze could be over before you are out of the blocks.

Just keep your eyes open, and regularly look into different markets and products outside of your usual focus. Make a note of the spin-offs that are being created for products in these markets.

Then, when a new fad does hit the marketplace, you might be able to borrow an idea from an unrelated niche, and use a similar method to create a spin-off product or service for the new craze.

It all about getting your brain in-tune, so that when an opening does present itself - A: you will spot it, and B: you will know how to take advantage of it.

I hope you found this useful.

Jason Lewis is a product developer, publisher and author of ‘The Business Brainwaves Newsletter’. Uncovering new business ideas, unique concepts and marketing strategies. Claim your free subscription here: http://www.BusinessBrainwaves.com

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How To Make Money With Garage Sales

June 29, 2008 at 8:03 pm · Filed under make moneys

Drive through almost any neighborhood in any city or town on
a weekend, and you’re sure to see garage sales scattered
throughout.

These homeowners are spending their weekend time off making
money. The average profit is $600 for a one-weekend garage
sale.

It’s time to get your share of the pie. Organization is the
key.

Step one: Check with the local officials to see what the
local laws and regulations are on operating garage sales in
your area.

Step two: Spend a few weekends going to garage sales in
your area. See what is selling, what people are buying, how
the items are priced, how the sellers advertise. Observe
how the sellers display their items. Take notes.

Step three: Clean house and take stock of what you have and
what it’s time to get rid of. Be sure to pick out at least
one interesting and unusual item to call
attention to your sale; some large ticket item you can set
up in front of your home during your sale.

If you find older items such as dishes, a painting, an old
flower urn etc. that you feel it’s time to dispose of have
it appraised. You don’t want to sell something for 50 cents
only to find out later it was an antique valued at $500.00.
You can be sure there are garage sale shoppers who are on
the lookout for just this kind of treasure.

Step four: Pick a date for your sale. The best time to
have a garage sale is twice a year in May or September.
People will be out shopping for summer items in May and
winter items in September.

Never pick a holiday weekend such as Mother’s Day or Labor
Day. Holiday festivities will get the attention of most
people.

The best days for your garage sale are Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday.

Step five: Advertise, advertise and advertise some more.
Place ads in the local newspaper, shopper guides, on
bulletin boards and even online. Place signs all over the
neighborhood with brightly colored letters, attached
balloons, etc.

Step six: Organize your sale. Put price stickers on your
items. Have a wide variety of clothing and jewelry and
arrange them in a rainbow of colors. Make sure jewelry and
appliances sparkle! Hang clothing on racks arranged in
sizes. Imagine that you are opening a retail store and copy
what the stores do.

If you have items that are hard to price and you think they
will not sell, put them in a penny box. And be sure to mark
the box “Penny Box” or “All items just 1 cent each”.

Step seven: Timing. Consider starting at 7:00 a.m. instead
of 8:00 or 9:00. And close no later than 6:00 p.m. And
positively NEVER shut down for the noon hour! There are
people who work on weekends and will stop on their way to or
from work and shop during their lunch breaks.

As most customers will have come and gone by 1:00, noon hour
being the most active, you can start lowering prices after
1:00 p.m. On items you think will not sell at all, put them
in a box marked “Free”.

And lastly, what doesn’t sell take to the local Good Will or
other organization of your choice.

More information available at
http://www.apluswriting.net/garage/garage.htm.

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Author: Marilyn Pokorney
Freelance writer of science, nature, animals and the
environment. Also loves crafts, gardening, and reading.
Website: http://www.apluswriting.net

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The #1 Secret to Money Making Success

June 28, 2008 at 1:13 am · Filed under make moneys

I’m about to share with you the common thread that ties together all successful entrepreneurs. This single trait launched the businesses of Microsoft, Intel, Hershey, JP Morgan, Amazon.com, Nike and so many others. It’s not anything you’ll be taught in Business School, it has nothing to do with accounting, and it doesn’t even have anything to do with what you’re selling or how you’re selling it. I’ll sum it up in two words:

GET STARTED!

That’s it! It’s laughable at first, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. It’s the missing “million dollar” idea, hiding in plain sight. We hear variations of this all the time: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Think back to your first writing classes in school. How were we taught to write a paper? First we start with a basic outline - that’s our money-making idea, whatever it may be. Next, we make a rough draft - that’s right, we start working on something that we know for a fact will be imperfect. Finally, we use our rough-draft as a basis to begin revisions, eventually ending up with a final draft, the “perfect” version.

Planning for tomorrow is a sound business strategy. It’s good to spend time thinking about the future, and how to handle the challenges it will bring. But, if we want to succeed, we must create the future by taking action today. We can’t possibly predict everything that might happen once we start doing business. Microsoft started out selling programming software. After a few years, an opportunity presented itself to sell a computer Operating System to IBM, and they took it. The result was MS-DOS (which they didn’t even create themselves, they bought it from someone else when they saw how much money they could make!), followed by Windows; quite possibly one of the most lucrative products ever. If Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the founders of Microsoft, had sat on the sidelines of the growing computer industry thinking “programming software is an OK idea, but it’s not perfect, there really isn’t a big enough market for itwe need something better”, would they be where they are today? Would IBM have given them that golden opportunity? Not likely.

Did Michelangelo’s sculpture of David emerge from a single tap of a chisel upon a block of marble? No, it took Michelangelo over 3 years of effort to release his masterpiece from the stone, one tiny chip of marble at a time. It probably wasn’t very pretty after only 1 month, or even a year. But years of careful improvement resulted in a classic work of art.

I hope I’ve made my point. Do something. Do anything! If you do something, and the result isn’t what you wanted, what’s the worst that could happen? You either have something to improve upon, or you have a very good idea of an approach that doesn’t work (think of it as addition by subtractionthe process of elimination). Either way, you’re one step closer to success than you were before you started.

Go for it! Give it a shot! Your financial success is waiting for you, go and get it! Get Started Today!

Good Luck!

Jeff Watt

For more FREE insights into money making success visit: http://www.internetprofitmentor.com
Get a free 120 page e-Book and over 12 hours of video!

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