Career Change and New Business
I have mentioned many times before of my need and readiness for a career change. Well, I have all kinds of business ideas, but I am having a hard time putting them onto paper. Sometimes I think it would just be easier if I just built it first and then convinced people to move toward it. Some of my ideas I am more than willing to give away. After all, this would help everyone, not just me.
Take for instance: Reverse E-Bay. Is it me, or does anyone else realize that E-Bay works kinda backwards? If I want to buy an item, I have to bid on the item, and then if someone else bids higher, I bid higher, until the bell dings and the winner pees their pants with joy. Isn't the objective to get the item for the lowest possible price? What makes you think that the seller isn't telling his friend next to him to bid higher so he can get more money?
My idea is to create an auction where you place the item you want to buy. You know what you want to buy, the 2006 Aston Martin Vanquish S. You also know how much is your top end for buying the vehicle ($149,000). So, you enter the vehicle into the reverse auction and place a timer on the item. Low bid wins. So, now the car you were going to pay $149,000 for, you got at $132,000. Doesn't this make sense?
How hard is this to make? Not hard at all. There is reverse auction software already out there. Someone just needs to put it together with a strong database backend and have some capital for marketing. This is not terribly complicated to set up and run. I just can't afford it.
Another idea is the Single Store Card. Back in the day, stores (grocery, department and other) used to accept and hand out green stamps. This stopped for multiple reasons. The stores were not getting much out of it. Stamp books were cumbersome. People often did not actually use the stamps to purchase. This is somewhat like those catalog points on the Betty Crocker boxes.
Let's bring back the Green Stamp in the form of the store card. Right now, stores each hand out a store card. This provides them with purchasing data so they can trend what you purchase and how often. In return, they will offer you the occasional discount or rebate. But to be honest, those same stores would really like more information like how often you get gas (Green Stamps were handed out at the gas stations as well). This is to help stores like Costco determine whether it makes sense to build a gas station by their new store as well.
As for the advantage to the customer, you can get rid of the grocery store, pet store, sports store, clothing store cards and consolidate it into a single card. Just think of how much simpler life would be if you didn't have to shuffle through your cards on keychains and could just use one. Green Stamps have not gone away completely. They are now called S&H Greenpoints. They are doing the same basic thing that MyPoints.com does. They do not appear to provide the purchasing cards services. I should email them this blog. This idea requires a lot of contacts in the retail market that I will never have. Oh, and capital.
Another fabulous idea was my Tea Store. Well, "my" is not totally correct. I don't have one yet. But I want one. In 1971, a little store open in Seattle's Pike Place Market. The intention was to introduce people and sell coffee. Today, Starbucks has become a brand name and we now expect everyone to know what a tall caramel macchiato with no foam is. People have been educated on the different types and regions of coffee and now Folger's or Maxwell House are outside the norm.
Well, tea is the same way. It is currently untouched in the retail market and there are about 500 different types of tea. Tea is healthy and more people drink it. That's right. More people drink tea than coffee. Half of the United States drinks tea (hot or iced) on a daily basis. Around the world, tea is the preferred drink over any other. So why in the world doesn't someone do what Starbucks did with coffee, with tea? That is exactly one of the things I want to do.
The most recent idea is in the travel business. We had a fellow blogger come visit us here in Chicagoland and it was our job to show her around. I had a blast. I knew all of the best places, sites and have a membership to the Shedd Aquarium, thus making it so I could get her a discount ticket. That is when I came up with this idea, All-Inclusive Chicago. It could really be any city, but I figured I would start in Chicago (since I live closest to it).
How would this work? Well, with arrangements and with restaurants, theaters, sporting events ticketers and so forth, the company would put together packages that include the flight, hotel, transportation, restaurant, tips, theater tickets (or golf, football, baseball, tour, amusement park) depending on the package. The customer pays the package price and that's it. The restaurant is reserved and paid prior to you even walking through the door. If you want a different restaurant, no problem. The car will drive you wherever you wish to go. You should worry about absolutely nothing.
This is like project management for travel. Who is the market? Well, everyone. Especially convention attendees and their families. Think of how big of a market is involved in conventions.
But here I sit. I really need to do something with these. I have so many ideas, and no means. Whoa is me...I am pitiful. Wallow, wallow, wallow...
Take for instance: Reverse E-Bay. Is it me, or does anyone else realize that E-Bay works kinda backwards? If I want to buy an item, I have to bid on the item, and then if someone else bids higher, I bid higher, until the bell dings and the winner pees their pants with joy. Isn't the objective to get the item for the lowest possible price? What makes you think that the seller isn't telling his friend next to him to bid higher so he can get more money?
My idea is to create an auction where you place the item you want to buy. You know what you want to buy, the 2006 Aston Martin Vanquish S. You also know how much is your top end for buying the vehicle ($149,000). So, you enter the vehicle into the reverse auction and place a timer on the item. Low bid wins. So, now the car you were going to pay $149,000 for, you got at $132,000. Doesn't this make sense?
How hard is this to make? Not hard at all. There is reverse auction software already out there. Someone just needs to put it together with a strong database backend and have some capital for marketing. This is not terribly complicated to set up and run. I just can't afford it.
Another idea is the Single Store Card. Back in the day, stores (grocery, department and other) used to accept and hand out green stamps. This stopped for multiple reasons. The stores were not getting much out of it. Stamp books were cumbersome. People often did not actually use the stamps to purchase. This is somewhat like those catalog points on the Betty Crocker boxes.
Let's bring back the Green Stamp in the form of the store card. Right now, stores each hand out a store card. This provides them with purchasing data so they can trend what you purchase and how often. In return, they will offer you the occasional discount or rebate. But to be honest, those same stores would really like more information like how often you get gas (Green Stamps were handed out at the gas stations as well). This is to help stores like Costco determine whether it makes sense to build a gas station by their new store as well.
As for the advantage to the customer, you can get rid of the grocery store, pet store, sports store, clothing store cards and consolidate it into a single card. Just think of how much simpler life would be if you didn't have to shuffle through your cards on keychains and could just use one. Green Stamps have not gone away completely. They are now called S&H Greenpoints. They are doing the same basic thing that MyPoints.com does. They do not appear to provide the purchasing cards services. I should email them this blog. This idea requires a lot of contacts in the retail market that I will never have. Oh, and capital.
Another fabulous idea was my Tea Store. Well, "my" is not totally correct. I don't have one yet. But I want one. In 1971, a little store open in Seattle's Pike Place Market. The intention was to introduce people and sell coffee. Today, Starbucks has become a brand name and we now expect everyone to know what a tall caramel macchiato with no foam is. People have been educated on the different types and regions of coffee and now Folger's or Maxwell House are outside the norm.
Well, tea is the same way. It is currently untouched in the retail market and there are about 500 different types of tea. Tea is healthy and more people drink it. That's right. More people drink tea than coffee. Half of the United States drinks tea (hot or iced) on a daily basis. Around the world, tea is the preferred drink over any other. So why in the world doesn't someone do what Starbucks did with coffee, with tea? That is exactly one of the things I want to do.
The most recent idea is in the travel business. We had a fellow blogger come visit us here in Chicagoland and it was our job to show her around. I had a blast. I knew all of the best places, sites and have a membership to the Shedd Aquarium, thus making it so I could get her a discount ticket. That is when I came up with this idea, All-Inclusive Chicago. It could really be any city, but I figured I would start in Chicago (since I live closest to it).
How would this work? Well, with arrangements and with restaurants, theaters, sporting events ticketers and so forth, the company would put together packages that include the flight, hotel, transportation, restaurant, tips, theater tickets (or golf, football, baseball, tour, amusement park) depending on the package. The customer pays the package price and that's it. The restaurant is reserved and paid prior to you even walking through the door. If you want a different restaurant, no problem. The car will drive you wherever you wish to go. You should worry about absolutely nothing.
This is like project management for travel. Who is the market? Well, everyone. Especially convention attendees and their families. Think of how big of a market is involved in conventions.
But here I sit. I really need to do something with these. I have so many ideas, and no means. Whoa is me...I am pitiful. Wallow, wallow, wallow...
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