Archive for February, 2007
How I spent $200 MIllion
NOT ME but the guy that won the powerball lottery .
(Fortune Magazine) — Brad Duke, 34, a manager for five Gold’s Gym franchises in Idaho, pocketed a lump sum of $85 million after winning a $220 million Powerball jackpot in 2005. He spent the first month of his new life assembling a team of financial advisors. His goal: to use his winnings to become a billionaire. Here’s what Duke has done with his money so far.
- $45 million: Safe, low-risk investments such as municipal bonds
Brad Duke won a $220 million powerball jackpot in 2005. More from FORTUNE Video 
More video
Some states are looking to sell their lotteries to private firms. CNN’s Lisa Sylvester reports. (February 14) Play video
- $35 million: Aggressive investments like oil and gas and real estate
- $1.3 million: A family foundation
- $63,000: A trip to Tahiti with 17 friends
- $125,000: Mortgage retired on his 1,400-square-foot house
- $18,000: Student-loan repayment
- $65,000: New bicycles, including a $12,000 BMC road bike
- $14,500: A used black VW Jetta
- $12,000: Annual gift to each family member
See the full story
Add comment February 28, 2007
WeWin.com
WeWin.com has joined the rush of startups hoping to follow YouTube’s success by building its own niche: giving away prizes.
The Pleasanton-based Web site faces challenges, including funding, copyright issues and problems surrounding user-generated content. But the motivation is strong.
Brian Carrozzi, who founded WeWin.com and has built a 10-person shop, said finding a niche is essential when going up against giants like YouTube, whose advantages includes huge financial backing.
The concept behind WeWin.com goes back to the late 1990s when “the battle of the portals” was in progress – when Yahoo, Lycos and other portals fought for dominance, Carrozzi said.
One portal, iWon.com, found a way to build and retain loyalty: give cash prizes to users. That company is now owned by Oakland-based IAC Search and Media.
That inspired Carrozzi’s idea: “incentive-based video sharing.” On WeWin.com, registered users are awarded points for uploading and watching videos. Winners receive prizes ranging from video-game consoles to jewelry. WeWin named its first sponsor for prizes on Feb. 7, the online jewelry retailer Mondera.com, which is giving away $5,000 in gift certificates to WeWin users each month.
See Full Article http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/othercities/eastbay/stories/2007/02/26/story6.html?b=1172466000^1422477
Add comment February 26, 2007
Perfecttableplan.com – Interesting Idea
The software helps you plan your tables for events like weddings or confereneces
Add comment February 25, 2007
Responsibletravel.com – $40 Million a Year
In 2001 he set up responsibletravel.com, an online travel company offering eco holiday ideas. The company itself does not run the tours. Instead, it lists the available green choices and puts the customer in direct contact with the tour operators, who then pay a commission for any business passed through to them.
“We were the first to use the term ‘responsible travel’,” says Francis. “And now governments and journalists around the world are using the term.”
The business is now one of the fastest growing travel agencies in the UK according to The Times, and is currently turning over £20m a year, doubling sales in the last 12 months. The company started 2006 with six members of staff – there are now 16.
Francis says he couldn’t afford to pay his staff in the early days, so he compensated them with shares in the company – something he was advised not to do. “One of your main skills as an entrepreneur should be recruiting good people. If you have to give them part of the company like I did then so be it.”
The business was funded with an initial £5000. “I started by putting some of my own savings in,” says Francis. “The idea was to show people I was serious about what I was doing because we came after the dot com crash so nobody wanted to invest.”
See http://www.startups.co.uk/Responsibletravel_com.YVxwIe9oyivadQ.html
Add comment February 21, 2007
Website Flippers make millions
We’re seeing some smart people create very targeted web applications and flipping them just a couple of months after launching. First was MyBlogLog, which launched in October 2006 and was acquired by Yahoo just three months later for a reported $10 million.Confabb may on an almost identical path. The company, which has created a social network around conferences, launched just three months ago. And from what we’re hearing, they are very close to being acquired in the next week, for $5 million or so. Look for founder and Chairman Salim Ismail to make an announcement about this at the Stirr event in Palo Alto tomorrow evening.
This is good news for Confabb’s angel investors, including Dave Winer and Andrew Rasiel, who put a total of $75,000 into the startup. And it’s even better news for Ismail, who needed a win after his last startup, PubSub, imploded due to founder conflicts.
Dubbed from Techcrunch.com
1 comment February 21, 2007
Sell The Shovel – Don’t Dig For Gold
Sam Brannan was a merchant in San Francisco who lived during the Gold Rush days. Everyone in the city was going absolutely bonkers over finding gold…
It was nuts!
So, one day, Sam came up with an astonishing idea that would form the basis for the most lucrative lesson ANY entrepreneur should learn…
He went out and bought all the shovels in San Francisco and set up shop. After he was done hoarding all the shovels, there wasn’t a single shovel to be found in the entire city!
Then he grabbed some gold-dust, and ran through the streets like a crazed lunatic yelling…
“There’s gold in the American river!
There’s gold! There’s gold!”
Believe me, this created mass hysteria in the city! Everyone rushed out to buy shovels to dig for gold!
Well…guess who had all the shovels?
As you can imagine, Sam Brennan made a killing selling shovels to this insane mob… way more that he would have ever made if he set out to dig for gold himself!
And that’s how Sam became San Francisco’s first millionaire…by selling the shovels!!
Now, there is a powerful, powerful lesson behind this story:
Despite Popular Opinion…
You Want To Become A “Shovel Seller!”
Recently one of my favorite guru’s Dan Kennedy coined this term for people who become rich by “teaching people how to get rich.”
Because of this it’s received a negative connotation.
BUT…
If you look outside of the “get rich quick” realm, you’ll see that in almost every industry, the people making the MOST money are making money selling some types of shovels!
Let me show you a few examples:
| Industry | Shovel |
| Dieting | How To Lose Weight |
| Golfing | How To Increase Your Drive |
| Real Estate | How To Flip Properties |
| Gardening | How To Grow Your Own Food |
| Bowling | How To Have A 300 Game |
| Potato Guns | How To Shoot A Spud 300 Yards (Yes – this is one of mine) |
And the list could go on and on and on forever…
You see, there is a LOT more money in teaching people HOW to do something than there is actually doing that “something”!
There are thousands of markets who are thirsty for “how-to” information that can be tapped into in a heartbeat!
Don’t believe me? Here are some examples of a few “shovel sellers” who have made it big:
See More Info http://www.dotcomsecrets.com/homestudy/
2 comments February 20, 2007
Venture Magazine’s Top 40 under 40
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See the Whole list http://www.americanventuremagazine.com/top40under40/40under40list.php
Add comment February 20, 2007
Hitchsters.com lets you share a cab .
hitchsters.com is an easy-to-use web-based system which conveniently connects travelers so they can share taxis (and thus split the fare) to and from an airport. In many places taxis are the most convenient form of transportation between metropolitan centers and airports, but they are expensive, too. The hitchsters.com matching system (patent pending) makes riding in a taxi more affordable, more environmentally friendly and more fun.
You first look for a potential co-rider by checking out the list of users who have already signed up. If you don’t see anyone with whom you can conveniently connect, you can enter in you own information and wait to be matched. Once a match is made, you will be notified with both a text message to your cell phone and an e-mail containing the first name and cell phone number of the other co-rider (nothing else is shared with the other co-rider). As an additional safety feature, we preserve the phone numbers of all of the successful matches. You then contact each other to arrange to meet to share a cab.
See Hitchsters.Com
Add comment February 18, 2007
Golf Gym – driveclubs.com Launches
None of the services come cheap. Membership, which is limited to 500 people to ensure a rarefied air, runs $5,000 a year. Personal trainers cost $100 to $150 an hour, while golf instructors run $125 to $350 an hour. The entire golf center can be rented out — as it has been already, often by financial-services firms for corporate events — to the tune of $6,000 to $7,000 an evening.
Some might call that pricey, even by Manhattan standards. “We thought there was only one way,” says Don Saladino, sitting down for an interview in Drive 495’s lounge area. “Golf isn’t necessarily a cheap sport.”
Still, for two guys in their 20s starting their first business together, the upscale nature of the club and the amount they have invested — $4 million, from their own savings and family contributions — seems risky. Not to them. “My brother and I have never once turned to each other and said, ‘What if we fail?’” Saladino says. “We’d hit each other over the head with a golf club if we said that.”
To date, 200 members have signed up. One is David Bossalina, an investment banker who has stopped down from his midtown-Manhattan offices on this winter day to relax and practice his swing. “It’s kind of a country club vs. a gym,” he says. (Indeed, the owners say fewer than 10 patrons are usually there at a time — a stark contrast to the city’s crowded gyms.) Bossalina, 36, has tried out personal training, but is even more enthusiastic about the golf studio’s AIM-3D technology. “It’s exactly like hitting a ball on a golf course,” he says. And that $5,000 membership fee? “It’s on the more expensive side, but I think it’s worth it.” 
See Full Article http://www.smartmoney.com/smallbiz/inthetrenches/index.cfm?story=20070118
Add comment February 18, 2007
Checktonight.com – Std Verification Site
If you’re in need of a more social solution – CheckTonight
is a new service which purports to offer online verification of negative STD test results from your doctor.
CheckTonight users print up a medical release form, take it to their doctor’s office and presuming your test results are negative you can become a CheckTonight member. (For a $25 annual fee – that’s like the cost of 5 drinks at a bar!) Members must be retested every 6 months and positive test results are never stored in the system. Then, when you’re getting frisky with someone you’ve just met – you can get a text message from CheckTonight verifying that you’re Doctor-certified STD free! (For an additional $3 fee per text message.) If you don’t make the cut at CheckTonight, see our coverage of Prescription4Love.
Dubbed from Techcrunch
Add comment February 17, 2007
Cangooglehearme.com – How to Pitch to google
Add comment February 16, 2007
Silly Idea becomes Multimillion Dollar Business
Many amateur inventors dream of creating a million-dollar product in the garage, but usually the only thing that ever comes out of that garage is the family car. Roger Adams, the creator of a new kind of skate-shoe, beat the odds.
Mr. Adams founded Heelys Inc., a Carrollton, Texas, company that makes sneakers that work like skates when the wearer shifts weight to the heels. The company has sold more than 4.5 million pairs of Heelys, as they are known, world-wide since they debuted in 2000 and they keep rolling: In the six months ended June 30, 2006, sales rose to $44.6 million from $16.1 million a year earlier. (more…)
Add comment February 16, 2007
Ten Riskiest Businesses To Start
The numbers aren’t pretty.
While some two-thirds of small firms make it past the two-year mark, just 44% can hack it for four years, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And by “hack it,” we’re just talking survival rates here: Plenty of those “survivors” are choking down ramen noodles to keep the lights on.
If those odds don’t scare you off, consider too that some industries may be inherently tougher to crack than others. Your friends might think that you rival Mario Batali in the kitchen, or that you can go sole for sole with the likes of Kenneth Cole (nyse: KCP – news - people ). But the sober truth is that it takes more than talent to run a restaurant, a clothing boutique and a host of other ventures. Sadly, some of the most enticing industries are also the riskiest.
In Pictures: 10 Riskiest Businesses To Start
Good data on business failures are hard to find. At first blush, BLS figures suggest that failure rates are consistent across industries. Yet those industry groupings are very broad, capturing the entire universe of small companies in just 10 general buckets. For example, restaurants are lumped into the larger “leisure and hospitality” bucket, including more stable outfits like hotels. Some economists chalk up failure rates to other factors, such as location, the experience level of management teams and whether companies are able to nab venture funding.
But a closer look by the folks at Fair Isaac (nyse: FIC – news - people ), a business research firm and father of the FICO credit score, suggests that some industries are indeed riskier than others.
To assess an industry’s inherent risk, Fair Isaac collected reams of financial data from various internal and other proprietary sources, including credit-tracking agencies such as Dun & Bradstreet (nyse: DNB – news - people ) and Equifax (nyse: EFX – news - people ). “The weird thing about industry classification is that, depending on the sources we look at, there are varying rates of risk,” says Cordell Wise, a Fair Isaac product manager. See full story http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/18/fairisaac-nordstrom-verizon-ent-fin-cx_mf_0118risky.html or
See Slide show
Add comment February 15, 2007
How to lose all your clients and your business too
Because my company employed family members, I never dreamed I would need to protect it from internal theft. However, that’s just what I had to do when I discovered that four key staff members, who were also family members, were leaving my IT support company and stealing intellectual property to start a rival business.
My story involves an operations manager, a top salesperson, two senior engineers, and the abrupt departure of several clients. When we lost the first major client, I met with the engineer who serviced the account to discuss it. The engineer told me the client hired internal IT staff and no longer needed our services. Soon after, another client working with this engineer left. And then another. In each instance I followed up but did no additional research since sometimes clients do leave for reasons I was offered.
Then suddenly and much to my surprise this engineer resigned. In an exit interview, he said he was leaving the IT field altogether and entering into a new venture with his wife. While his resignation was abrupt, there was no reason to doubt him.
Just days later, a second engineer resignation. Again, I conducted the exit interview, where this individual claimed he was “burned out” and leaving his IT career behind to open an import/export business. The two resignations seemed odd, particularly so close to each other, but I had no reason to be suspicious. While key players in the organization, they were, after all, family.
One day, I stopped by the office of a client who had recently left my business to say hello. To my surprise, I found one of the engineers who resigned from my company working there. I returned to my office and shared what I had seen with my top sales person and operations manager. Neither claimed to have any idea why that prior employee was working for the lost client.
For Full Article Click Here
Add comment February 10, 2007
Sewing cafe like internet cafe but for sewing
Images from NRC Handelsblad and Deutschen Presse Agentur.
Founded by 29 year old Linda Eilers, Linkle is the first dedicated sewing cafe we’ve come across. Knitting clubs have spread like wildfire over the past few years, with men and women gathering in pubs to stitch, bitch and get their craft on. A sewing machine, however, is rather more cumbersome than knitting needles and a bag of wool, leaving less room for social sewing.
A year ago, Eilers was teaching sewing classes in The Netherlands. Noticing a huge increase in the number of people interested in sewing their own clothes, Eilers spotted a gap in the market and left for Berlin, a city with low rents and plenty of crafters. Her sewing cafe, Linkle, is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 1 – 10 pm. Like internet cafes, people just walk in and install themselves behind a machine, and are charged by the hour (5 euros).
Besides 10 sewing machines, customers have a cutting table at their disposal, as well as Eilers’ extensive knowledge. She helps replace broken zippers and advises on tailoring a vintage dress or stitching a handbag. Linkle serves a wide range of customers—from teenagers customizing jeans, to a woman creating her own wedding dress.
For entrepreneurs with a knack for sewing (or carpentry, or almost any other kind of craft), now’s the time to make the most of the craft revival as it continues to expand. Set up a working / being space, and maybe combine it with a fabric or supplies shop. It might not be the most lucrative business, but at least you’ll be doing what you love.
Dubbed from Springwise.com
Add comment February 9, 2007
Domain Name Realestate.Net Sells for $300,000
RealEstate.NET Holdings Pty Ltd, a new company established by the team that operates Rooms.NET and Local.NET, has officially acquired the domain name realestate.net. The company plans to extend its market reach and develop RealEstate.NET into a worldwide agent solutions network, focusing initially in the U.S.
“We think realtors and consumers need access to a greater range of services on the Internet without the headaches of maintaining memberships at several websites to achieve the one result, and we believe we can meet those needs with one brand – RealEstate.NET,” said Mason Fok, RealEstate.NET Holdings CEO.
The RealEstate.NET brand will be marketed to consumers as the ‘go to’ website to securely contact realtors online, and will incorporate the many features visitors have come to expect from a real estate website along with a few innovative tools that will advance the presence of realtors online.
The final purchase of the domain name RealEstate.NET comes after a thirty-month contract with a Washington based organization. “The acquisition of the RealEstate.NET domain name brings greater value to agent membership and allows agents the opportunity to use @realestate.net e-mail addresses,” said Mason Fok.
The company paid $300,000 for the domain name. The RealEstate.NET site will be launched late February and is currently accepting pre-registrations. To learn more about RealEstate.NET’s services or to register your interest, visit http://www.realestate.net (registrations may be completed on-line).
Seehttp://www.domaininformer.com/news/press/070201RealEstateNET.html
1 comment February 8, 2007
Primetimetables.com – Specializing in Impossible tables
Just when you think you seen it all ..You haven’t .
PrimeTimeTables.com, which opened for business earlier this month, works differently. Its charge for snagging a reservation off its list of New York City’s finest restaurants is sizable, and customers pay it, not operators.
No upfront fee is required for a basic membership. However, users have to pay:
• $35 for reservations purchased up to 48 hours prior to the reservation date/time;
• $40 for reservations purchased the day before expiration; or
• $45 for reservations purchased the same day before 1 p.m.
Premium memberships require a $450 annual fee up front, with the following fee schedule in effect:
• $35 for reservations purchased up to $48 hours prior;
• $25 for reservations purchased the day before expiration; or
• FREE for reservations purchased the same day before 1 p.m.
See Full Article http://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/article/16175/
Add comment February 7, 2007
Playittonight.com Wins Business plan contest
And the winner is 22-year-old Capilano College business degree student Sean Gallagher, who won first place at BDC’s regional Enterprize competition on Jan. 27.
Approximately 100 students from British Columbia had initially entered the contest in November 2006, with all but one coming from a university. That upstart entrant was Gallagher, a third-year student currently enrolled in Capilano College’s business administration degree program.
He took home a cheque for $15,000 and won the right to represent British Columbia at BDC’s national complement competition, being held in Vancouver Feb. 15-18. Winners at that competition will receive a business grant of $75,000 and will meet with BDC venture capital representatives to obtain feedback on their business projects.
In a recent press release, Gallagher stated that he was cool and calm when he was presenting in front of the 500 spectators and judges, but when he found out he won, he lost all the feeling in his hands. He notes that he had to walk down about 40 stairs to get to the stage and he could barely keep his feet on the ground. He said he kept tripping and felt as though he was floating.
See Full Article http://www.nsnews.com/issues07/w020407/022107/work.html
Add comment February 7, 2007
Ass-Vertize.Com …. Adverts on Asses
Nothing much to say . A picture is worth a thousand words
Homepage http://ass-vertise.com/
1 comment February 4, 2007
Entrepreneur is a Lice Exterminator
http://www.louseynitpickers.com/
For M. Evan Parker and Frank Campos, business is pretty lousy these days — and that’s just fine.
The firm fields an average of 10 calls a day, some days as many as 25. Most are direct referrals from past customers.
“People don’t tend to book us in advance,” Parker said. “By the time they call, their child’s been sent home from school and they want treatment that day.”
Accommodating as many as 90 itchy customers a month can keep Campos, the firm’s chief nit-picker, another full-timer and three part-time employees busy from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m., shuttling to homes across the Los Angeles area. The two men, who have known each other for a couple of years, found their nit niche after years in the hair care business.
See Full Article http://www.louseynitpickers.com/press.html
Add comment February 4, 2007
