Those “Crazy” Business Ideas Often Turn Out to Be the Best
By Valerie Young
When Bob Page told his friends and family he wanted to quit his auditing job to start his own business, they were less than encouraging to him. Well, that’s actually an understatement. Basically what they told him was he was crazy.
Fortunately he didn’t listen. Instead he figured that if he could devote time to doing what he loved, he could make money – even if it was less than what he was earning at a CPA. Bob was right on the first count. When you love what you do, it’s hard not to make money. What Bob didn’t realize at the time was that his “crazy” idea would wind up making him more money than he’d ever dreamed of.
You see, today Bob’s company, Replacements Ltd. is the world’s largest supplier of discontinued china, glassware, flatware, and collectibles. It all started when Bob bought a part interest in a Greensboro, North Carolina antique store. A customer asked if he could find some missing pieces for her china set. He did.
And then an interesting thing started to happen. According to his website, “as friends learned of his interest in china and crystal, they asked him to be on the lookout for particular dinnerware patterns they needed as well as pieces they had lost or broken. Bob quickly found himself devoting more and more time to his hobby, often staying up until the early morning hours to fill orders. Bob stored the china and crystal in his attic, while his bedroom served as his office.”
When the Small Business Administration (SBA) refused him a loan saying his idea would never work, Bob convinced the owner of a commercial building to rent him retail space. He got the word out by placing small ads in magazines. In his first year he grossed more than $150,000 in sales. And in 2002, sales exceeded $69 million… definitely more than he’d made in his auditing job. If you’re looking to either buy or sell china, flatware, etc. or just want to check out the result of one man’s crazy idea go to http://www.replacements.com/
So much for the wisdom of friends, family, and the even the experts at the SBA. Speaking of finding support for changing course, try to imagine what Katie Wainwright’s family and friends had to say when she told them she wanted to pick up dog poop for a living.
You read right. Last year Katie started Doggy Doody Disposal in Agawam, Massachusetts. The company provides “doody scooping” or bagged doody removal for clients in western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. In addition to residential clients, they also service commercial property owners, pet related businesses, golf courses, parks, realtors and more. The company credo is “We do doody so you won’t have to.”
These are just a couple of the countless other “crazy” ideas that have proved the nay sayers wrong and helped catapult the idea maker out of a job they hate into a life they love. The next time you get a crazy idea for a small business do two things. One, get a notebook and label it Crazy Business Ideas. In one section, collect examples of crazy idea that have worked. In another, keep a running list of your own crazy money making ideas.
Next, seek out people who will support your idea. Unless you come from a family of entrepreneurs, chances your supporters aren’t in your family or immediate circle of friends. Where will you find them? You don’t have to own a business to join an organization inhabited by entrepreneurs.
Although I have zero interest in inventing a product, I joined a local inventors group because I love the energy of being around can-do, make it happen people. Similarly, you don’t have to be a business owner to join your local Chamber of Commerce. Many communities also have some sort of association of small business owners that meet on monthly basis.
As the great actor Katherine Hepburn once said, “Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting.” Some of the most interesting means of support begin as a crazy idea. The key is to keep coming up with them, then when you find one you love, recognize that the only sane response is to go for it.
About the Author
“Off the beaten career path” consultant, Valerie Young, abandoned her corporate cubicle to become the Dreamer in Residence at http://changingcourse.com/, offering free resources to help you discover your life mission and live it. Her career change tips have been cited The Wall Street Journal, USA Today Weekend, Redbook, Entrepreneur’s Business Start Ups, and on-line at MSN, CareerBuilder, and iVillage.com. An expert on the Impostor Syndrome, she’s presented her How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to Think You Are program to thousands of people.
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