Monday 28 February 2011

What Do You Sell?

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You


http://www.somethingstore.com/

Back in the summer of 2007, Sami Bayrakci was surfing the Internet looking for a birthday present for a friend. After an hour of browsing, he decided it would be much nicer if somebody would just make the decision for him. The idea for SomethingStore.com was born: a customer would pay a flat price for an unknown item.

"I shared my idea with my friends," says Bayrakci, now 34. "Most of them thought it wouldn't work out -- nobody would pay for something they don't know."

But Bayrakci wanted to give it a try. After all, it wouldn't cost him a whole lot to get started. He invested $3,000 for supplies, designed his own simple website, and started off selling small, lightweight items, in order to keep shipping costs down. Fashion accessories available at liquidation prices were Bayrakci's best bet.

But he also threw in some expensive goods, like a digital camera and an iPod shuffle. The average price of all the goods had to be under $5, but Bayrakci needed to keep his customers curious and coming back for the thrill of the hunt.

Bayrakci sold about 1,000 "somethings" in each of his first few months. In its first full year, 2008, SomethingStore was profitable -- but demand fell during the recession, and 2009 wasn't so lucky. By 2010, SomethingStore was back in the black.

The key is that people are suckers for a surprise. "Curiosity gets the best of them," Bayrakci says. He keeps some pricey items in the mix: iPod touches, a Wii system, and even a Dell laptop that retails for $600.

"There is an anticipation of getting a really good bargain for $10," he says. There's that, plus -- who doesn't like getting a surprise in the mail?

For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.

[Via - CNNMoney.Com]

The Million-Dollar Idea in Everyone: Easy New Ways to Make Money from Your Interests, Insights, and Inventions

IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan S. Kennedy

101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads

Make Your Ideas Mean Business

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Zip It Up.

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You


http://www.zipzshoes.com/

In 2004, John Stefani was at a family reunion barbeque when the conversation turned to the massive number of dirt-caked children's shoes flung around. John's dad Jerry commented on how cool it would be to have an interchangeable shoe -- one where you could mix tops with bottoms and throw the dirty piece in the wash.

The idea stuck. John and his siblings left musing about mix-and-match footwear. They sketched shoes held together with Velcro, buttons, clasps and pins. After fiddling around drawing various prototypes, Jerry had the eureka moment: a zipper!

It took five years of development and three prototype iterations to bring Zipz to market. "With boots and things, zippers are pretty common place," John says. "Tennis shoe factories are not used to working with zippers."

In 2010, Zipz' first year of sales, the company grossed $1 million. The shoes, which retail for $45 a pair, are available online and through boutique retailers. Distributed in 40 countries, the shoes have drawn particular interest in Europe, Japan, and the Middle East.

Foot Locker will start carrying the brand in April, and 2011 looks to be "a far better year," says John, the company's CEO.

For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.

[Via - CNNMoney.Com]

The Million-Dollar Idea in Everyone: Easy New Ways to Make Money from Your Interests, Insights, and Inventions

IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan S. Kennedy

101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads

Make Your Ideas Mean Business

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You

Sunday 20 February 2011

Buried In Style

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You




http://www.couturecaskets.com/

"It was just a fluke, actually," Venus Smith says of how Couture Caskets got launched.

A few years back, Smith was in California visiting her brother, a mechanic who appreciates nice cars. They spotted a 1956 Thunderbird -- her brother's favorite.

"We went and sat down and ate some pizza and started talking, and I said, `Man, wouldn't you love to be buried in something like that?'"

That was it. A business was born.

"As soon as I said it, I knew it could be done," says Smith, 42. It took her two years to develop a prototype and get a trademark. Initially Smith wanted to build the caskets out of environmentally sound products, but she ran into too many barriers to making her Couture Caskets eco-friendly.

The company officially opened for business on Nov. 29, 2010. Smith works from home, but has to outsource a lot of the productions steps. She commutes from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to have the caskets painted.

Smith started with caskets for pets, but says her next step will be designer human caskets. She understands that for some, the notion is unsettling: "It is a fresh idea, but it still affects a lot of people in strange ways." Younger people seem to be more into the idea of a Couture Casket, Smith notes.

Thus far, she hasn't sold any caskets.

Retail prices for in-stock pet coffins -- ones shaped like a bone or a house -- start at $395. Custom-made pet caskets go for $995 on up. But that's a bargain compared to a human casket, which Smith expects to sell for a $9,995 entry-level price tag.

"I believe the idea is going to catapult once I have a human casket so that people can see the visual," says Smith, who is working on a Vintage 1966 Shelby Cobra. "Once it catches on, I think it will be like wildfire."

For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.

[Via - CNNMoney.Com]

The Million-Dollar Idea in Everyone: Easy New Ways to Make Money from Your Interests, Insights, and Inventions

IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan S. Kennedy

101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads

Make Your Ideas Mean Business

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You

Sunday 13 February 2011

Nonconformist Subscription

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You


http://www.weeklyindie.com/

Curation and subscription services seem to be a match made in heaven, as we've already seen in examples purveying everything from art to beauty samples to women's panties. Now, whereas music services typically bombard users with millions of songs to choose from, WeeklyIndie has opted for a curated subscription model, delivering 10 hand-picked indie songs to subscribers each week.

New York-based WeeklyIndie invites independent artists to submit songs to its site, and it screens through thousands of such songs every week. After selecting the ones it likes, it signs distribution deals with the artists involved. Then WeeklyIndie sends out links to its worldwide base of subscribers to enable them to download the 10 chosen songs. Customer subscriptions cost USD 7 per month.

With benefits for consumers — who get help wading through the vast ocean of songs out there — and artists, who get well-deserved exposure and payment for their work, WeeklyIndie may just have hit upon a new model for music discovery. One to watch!

For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.

[Via - Springwise]

The Million-Dollar Idea in Everyone: Easy New Ways to Make Money from Your Interests, Insights, and Inventions

IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan S. Kennedy

101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads

Make Your Ideas Mean Business

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You

Saturday 12 February 2011

NEW GODOY MACHINES SITE - WWW.GODOYMACHINES.COM


NEW SITE IS UP...

If you are a professional tattoo artist, go to http://www.godoymachines.com to order our book...the most illegally downloaded industry e-book of our time. The one pictured is the second edition. Way thicker and more informative than the previous edition.


Any one of our machines... the only machines in the world who's patented parts are owned by US, it's builders!!


If you are interested in a machine seminar... like this one in Italy, contact us. Over 140 people attended!!

Let's bring professionalism to tattooing, and not tolerate the mediocrity which is now widely accepted. It's overdue. No more egos, no more attitudes...

Tuesday 8 February 2011

RECENT FUN STUFF FROM SASHA



Yup, another guitar. I really like doing them. Can't get enough of 'em! I have a lot of fun with all the detailing in them. Thanx for sitting so great & letting me do my thang Adrian!


When I looked at the origional sketch of this on the back of a Binos placemat I thought, "Oh lordy, why do I get myself into these tattoos that other people turn away?" but it turned out to be another rewarding challenge. And after all, isn't that one of the reasons I work at Funhouse? Making the stencil and getting it on the skin took longer than the actual tattoo, which was pretty damned fun but it left me crossed-eyed by the end! Whatever, they're just eyes.


Just a funny painting I did for my crazy Duck-E! Mi pato loco para siempre!

Monday 7 February 2011

FUNHOUSE TATTOO / THE GODOYS IN COLOMBIA, AND CHILE...


Colombia.... such a great place. Totally stereotyped as dangerous, thanks to their drug cartels from years ago, ruled by "El Patron" - Pablo Escobar . There are still guerillas in the mountains and at night you can see the lights of camps inhabited by families which have been displaced by these guerillas. There are tons stories about kidnappings and the muggings in the major cities. Well, we didn't have any problems. The climate in this town was perfect... mid 70's to 80 degrees every day and a really good tattoo scene. Our friend Edward organized a few seminars in his town. With the help of Tato the owner of the Tattoo Shop / Bar where the seminar was held.



Here, Steve supervises 3 of the 10 participants as they take care of their machines.

The participants in the tattoo machine seminar were great. Probably the fastest learning class we have ever taught. They were really enthusiastic and eager to learn. It seems that in other countries apart from the USA and CANADA, that people are actually interested in bettering their career, bettering their abilities and furthering their education in order to better their trade. Here in North America, the egos are so big that no tattoo artists wants to admit that they "don't know". They don't see that we must educate ourselves in order to advance!

We spent a few days there in Colombia with Edward. The guy is a champion...



Art, Enrico and Steve.

We flew to Chile to do a convention. Our hosts got us an apartment on the 18th floor of an apartment building. We were guests of honor. We met our friend Enrico Colombres, who is also our machine distributor in Buenos Aires Argentina. We were treated like kings... this place was deluxe. Perfect waves out front... nice beach too. The waves were good everyday and didn't drop below 5 feet! Unreal!!


Check out the boogie boarder getting ready to pull in to a tube! And the surfers getting ready to take off on the next wave!


Here are part of the organizers. The 2 patos and their friend Gerson... such cool and generous people. They bent over backwards to make sure our stay was perfect. And it was.


Our double wide booth was situated in the middle of the convention floor. We repaired like 30 machines and sold quite a few machines!


The judging in the competitions was fair. The quality of the tattoos and the judges' understanding of skill and technique resulted in a great competition!


This is Nicolas Horning... doing what he does best.


Nice tattoo... nice machine!


This guy has been tattooing for a mere 2 years! This color portrait of Ozzy won him second place in the realism competition.

Tattoo conventions in other countries are amazing. Especially south of the U.S. border. The artist seem to have a mutual respect for one another! Totally unheard of in North America.

Now... come down to the shop and get tattooed!!

Sunday 6 February 2011

TATTOO CONVENTION IN VANCOUVER APRIL 15-17

htt://www.westcoasttattooshow.com

Here it the link... for information. We will be there. Doing what we do best... to make appointments to be tattooed at this event, contact us at the shop. 604-879-4114. You may get an award winning piece which you could enter in some of the contests and win something! Best of all, it's on you forever!

I am still offering a seminar on tattoo machines there. Price is $300.00. It goes all day.. between 4-8 hours. It's not some half assed seminar that you would receive from some amateur... if you are a professional tattoo artist.. of ANY skill level this seminar will benefit you. Contact me directly at art@godoymachines.com

See you all there!!

Game Truck Success Story

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You


http://gametruckparty.com/

It was 2006 and Scott Novis was frustrated with the pizza arcade experience at his son's 4th birthday party. Children were running around unmonitored, and the games were boring and static; most of the kids had better games and graphics on their home game boxes than what was being offered at the party. So not long afterward, he went home and, in his garage, retrofitted a truck with gaming consoles, flat-screen monitors and cool interiors, creating the first GameTruck portable gaming party. He threw a birthday party for a friend and, soon, GameTruck was a thriving weekend business. Since then, the company has grown to nearly $2 million in revenue, and is thriving with nearly 40 trucks in 20 locations across the country and 12 employees in its home office. The company also offers franchise opportunities.

For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.

[Via - Entrepreneur.Com]

The Million-Dollar Idea in Everyone: Easy New Ways to Make Money from Your Interests, Insights, and Inventions

IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan S. Kennedy

101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads

Make Your Ideas Mean Business

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You