Cool Business Ideas
STRIDER Running Bikes
Say goodbye to training wheels! The StriderTM running bike is a two wheeler that teaches kids age 1-5 years how to balance and steer without the use of training wheels. The low seat height, at just 27.9cm, makes it possible for any size rider to have their feet flat on the ground. This gives the rider complete control, and builds their self-confidence. For the more advanced rider, the StriderTM offers frame-integrated Launch PadTM footrests ergonomically located below the saddle. Launch your child's skills to the next level: gliding with feet rested up on the footrests, riding while standing up, jumping and bunny hopping. The optional foot brake will add even more fun to your child's StriderTM experience... Can you say skid mark? Weighing less than 3.2kgs the StriderTM is easy for your child to handle in any situation. The EVA polymer tires require little maintenance, and allows for off road adventure through the bush, over dirt hills and through mud puddles. This truly is "The best toy you'll ever buy for your youngster"... www.stridersports.com.au
Fru Fru
Many businesses in the CBD will purchase cakes to celebrate special
occasions, farewells as well as many individuals gifting cakes to a
partner, friends and or associates. One business in London has already
tapped into the sugar needs of this lucrative market. Fru Fru
www.frufru.co.uk specialises in delivering homemade cupcakes decadently
decorated with butterflies, daisies and stars, and packaged in black
boxes tied with fuchsia ribbons.
This is an excellent business concept, given you could operate it
online, it would also be relatively easy to get started in any country
or state. Fru Fru
Cycle 2 City
Today, there are a lot more cyclists making there way to work, on two
wheels instead of four. Governments have even commitment large sums of
funding to improving bikeways. Sadly, however working environments have
not kept pace with the needs of their employees, few provide the
necessary facilities to help their employees swap driving to work to
cycling to work.
This was the catalyst behind the business concept Cycle 2 City,
founders John Hack and Andrew Onley were frustrated commuter cyclists
putting up with inadequate facilities within their workplace. Andrew's
office, on a number of occasions, had been described as looking more
like a motel room with his clothes and towel hanging everywhere.
Teaming up with Brisbane City Council and Queensland Transport to fund
construction of the facility, which gives cyclists a place to store
their bikes and change into business attire.
Since opening last June, Cycle2City has signed up 400 members who have
access to secure bike parking, air-conditioned locker rooms, showers,
laundry service and free bike maintenance classes at the in-house
maintenance and repair workshop.
As the number of cycling commuters grows around the world, so will the
need for products and services that help make a smooth transition from
four wheels to two. www.cycle2city.com.au
Issuu
Do you dream of delving into the world of publishing, but find the
horrendous start up and production costs send you packing? For most
wanna be publishers the biggest barrier to realising their publishing
dreams is print costs. Thanks to Issuu, you can publish your own
online magazine, and generate money through online advertising
revenues. Issuu can turn your documents into beautiful online
publications. Publish to an audience of millions and get your message
across to anyone, anywhere. Best of all its free and only takes a
matter of minutes. You can even embed your online publication to other
online communities such as Facebook, MySpace, Blogger and increase your
online readership.
Issuu, which is actually pronounced 'issue' launched in 2007. Issuu
says ‘our product and services are based on providing instant
gratification for people, businesses, and publishers. In essence, we
reduce some of the frustration associated with publishing on the
Internet’. www.issuu.com
VibrantBrains
Studies show that regular mental workouts, emphasizing reasoning, memory, language, quantitative, visual, and spatial skills can improve the quality of our lives. Nintendo understood the necessity to maintain the brain, they introduced the world to Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?
VibrantBrains, located in San Francisco, also understands exercise is the key to good health, both for body and mind. They also provide a brain fitness community for people dedicated to improving their cognitive skills with scientifically developed cognitive exercises.
The normal effects of aging, such as memory loss and slower processing speed, no longer have to be inevitable; with services like those provided by VibrantBrains, people can take steps to maintain and improve certain cognitive skills. VibrantBrains
JET4Kids
Almost all products and services can be improved. Take for example kit
furniture, you usually need at the very least an Allen key, screws and
a screw driver. Whilst ready to assemble furniture is meant to be easy
to put together, more often than not this is far from the reality.
JET4Kids, a brand of Exquira, have taken the pain and frustration out
of DIY self assembly furniture. Dutch design and made in Holland,
JET4kids make furniture that is safe and stable using only
child-friendly materials. Best of all the range of furniture can be
assembled without glue, screws or nails, and can be put together or
taken apart in less than 1 minute much to the relief of any parent. www.exquira.com.au
The Green Hanger
Are there tones of old wire hangers lurking in the backs of your
wardrobe? They can certainly accumulate over a year, especially if you
regularly use dry cleaning services. The three founders of the Green
Hanger have set about changing the way we hang our clothes. Motivated
by the hundreds upon millions of wire and plastic hangers that end up
in landfills around the world each year, The Green Hanger provides an
environmentally friendly solution to hang your clothes.
In Australia, Green Hangers are distributed through Bunnings Warehouse
and now Howards Storage with supply into QuikSilver and some hotels and
drycleaners. The founders say they see The Green Hanger as a vehicle
with the potential to make the fashion, dry cleaning and retail
industries more environmentally conscious.
Here is another great example of budding entrepreneurs who are have
successfully started a business, in response to the growing need for
more environmentally sound products. The Green Hanger
Bakers Edge
Are there fights for the crunchy end of the brownie in your household?
Well thanks to three inventors behind the Bakers Edge, fight no more.
This simple redesign of a conventional baking pan will eliminate
un-cook middles, and burnt edges, as well as ensuring everyone gets a
double crunchy edge.
This smart design evenly distributes heat while cooking, and because
the Baker’s Edge has more edge baking surfaces than most pans, it gives
each serving of delicious brownie two chewy edges which is a great deal
if you especially like the edges.
These creative inventors prove it is never too late to take a tried and
tested product and improve its design and functionality. Bakers Edge.
Handbag Hanger
I actually saw this little gadget in action at a café. I couldn’t help
but ask the lady, what the gadget was all about. It’s crazy I thought
what a great idea, how come someone hasn’t come up with this one before
now? So here it is, a handbag hanger, through this innovative gadget
you can hang your handbag from a table or bar, where your handbag is
clean, off the floor and more importantly close and secure.
It makes sense; we spend hundreds of dollars on the latest and greatest
handbags then dump them on the dirty floor at some café, or leave them
exposed to potential thieving hands. Handbag Hanger.
Inmod - design your own pillow
Trying to locate matching furniture accessories, like pillows can be incredibly frustrating. Even when you find a somewhat ok pillow, chances are it’s not the right size, or not the right colour. Now a leading provider of contemporary and modern furniture has introduced a brand new service to allay the frustrations of the DIY interior designer. The Pillow Design Studio transforms each consumer to designer, through their one-of-a-kind interactive application, where visitors can design single pillow or create entire pillow collections for their homes.
You can let your creative juices flow through the website, Inmod.com to date this is the only website to offer custom pillow design. This is another great example of the trend in customisation. More and more consumers are seeking products and services where they can add their personal touch. www.inmod.com.au
Quirky
Everyone has a product idea. If only I had a dollar for the number of
times I have heard the phrase, ‘I have this idea for a product or
service, but I don’t know where to start’. Quirky is hoping to be the
platform for product ideas that are originate on a café napkin or
doodles on the office note pad, these unorthodox originals now have a
direction. Quirky is a great example of the use of crowd sourcing to
develop a product, by engaging participants in collaborating on every
aspect of the product from creation to, design, naming, manufacturing,
marketing, to sales. It’s like a social network for product development.
Founded by serial entrepreneur Ben Kaufman, Quirky lets users submit
their product idea for $99. Users can also vote, rate, and influence
other people’s product ideas. Every week users can post ideas on quirky
to be rated by the quirky community. After a seven-day evaluation
period, the quirky community chooses one product from the pool of
submitted ideas to move forward through the process. quirky’s community
engages and contributes to every part of the product’s development,
weighing in on everything from naming to logo selection to packaging.
The product is pre-sold at the quirky online store. Once the product
hits a pre-sales threshold, credit cards are charged, and the product
graduates to production and delivery. $0.30 of every dollar generated
from the sale of a quirky product goes back to the creators, and the
people who voted, commented, and rated the project idea along the way,
giving the community an incentive participate and engage in each
product’s development. The creators are given $0.12 of that $0.30. www.quirky.com.
Foodize
Foodize, take the concept of food and combine it with the growing demand for home made and authentic products. Foodize is a US online marketplace where you can discover and buy food directly from small passionate food producers and growers. There mission, to help change the way people eat whilst helping small food producers across the country find customers and grow their business. Foodize claim “We’re a bit obsessed with good food and passionate about connecting those that like to eat it with the people that make it”. www.foodize.com
Flip & Tumble
Here is a new spin on environmental bags. Flip and tumble have taken the bulky environmentally friendly bag and transformed it into a portable hand held ball. The bag is different than most other reusable bags because of its unique design and clever features. The bags are designed to fit closely to the body and work equally as well for grocery shopping as they do running other errands. They fold into a tiny pouch and are durable enough to hold up to approximately 10 kilos. The bag features a felted area on the reverse of the strap so it doesn't slip as easily when worn over the shoulder. It is the ideal "go-to" bag so you always have a reusable bag on hand preventing the need to plastic disposable bags. What an awesome idea given a majority of Australian retailers forgoing the use of plastic bags to pack consumers purchases. Flip and Tumble.
Teddylux
Brooke Cernonok, designs custom recycled cashmere and fine knit bears
for teddylux. Brooke sources “previously loved” cashmere sweaters and
redesigns them into the softest, most deluxe teddy bears available.
Each bear is hand cut, hand sewn and totally unique. This business idea
is right up there with the growing trend for unique hand made products.
Hand-picked cashmere sweaters are given new life as unique teddy bears,
bunnies, and elephants to be treasured for years to come. Brooke has
been designing and handcrafted each one-of -a-kind stuffed toy since
2004, she combines the softest colored cashmeres with modern grosgrain
ribbons, button or recycled suede/leather noses. The vintage cashmere
is extra soft, luxurious, and earth friendly. Best of all this is a
great example of how you can recycle used goods and start your own
business. Teddylux.
Gumboots
Gumboots come fashion statement, here is an excellent example of how
you can make over an existing product and create an entirely new
demand.
Shanda Jerrett is the founder of GumDrops, a we weather bounitique.
Shandra says after moving from Australia to Vancouver, she realised it
constantly rains in Vancouver. ‘The novelty of puddle jumping here in
Vancouver far outweighed the practicality of having the appropriate
rain gear to stay dry. After many days of getting soaked the novelty
eventually lost its charm, I too began to dread the long grey rainy
days’ says Shandra.
Determined to not let the weather get her down Shanda set about
designing a range of fun boots, through a kaleidoscope of vibrant
colours and designs. From boots that adorn rockin-inspired skulls,
guitars and roses, to the candy like daisies and cupcakes, and these
are just the ones for adults. Children's footwear includes ones with
cows, dogs, bears, frogs. www.gumdrops.com .
Rentachook
Why buy eggs when you can rent a chook. Similar to a try before you
buy, you can buy a fully equipped chook pen, along with hens, food and
straw and have up to 6 weeks to decide if chooks are for you or not.
Best of all if you decide to return the chooks and coop, you get your
deposit returned and it has only cost you $100. Longer trial periods
can easily be negotiated, but we find that 6 weeks is usually about
enough time to come to a decision.
Even though Rentachook is Sydney based, they do sell flatpack chicken
coops around Australia and can hook you up with a local supplier of
hens (and in many cases organic feed locally as well). Rentachook
follows the growing trend in try before you buy. Many of today’s
consumers prefer to rent than actually make an investment and buy. Rentachook.
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