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The Science 2012: Science, Technology, Innovations and Emotions

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Let's Sell This Idea

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Young Entrepreneurs and Office Space

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Students and young entrepreneurs count office as foremost hurdle for a startup. The office space has created a wide gap between their ambition and activity; this gap can be bridged by some of the innovative ideas being used by tech entrepreneurs like. These may be:

Virtual Office Space: VOS is one of the fastest emerging concepts for web based businesses being not only used by entrepreneurs but industry’s leaders also. Budding entrepreneurs may use it in their bootstrap period by internet based businesses. You need to have your website, email, phone number, and an address for mail receiving purpose (may be your home address). The address may be used of receiving letters, pay checks and other communication. If you have a payment gateway with your website it will be proven as an add-on.
Shared Business Office: Consider two entrepreneurial businesses viz. event management and PR management may share the resources including office and operate as a venture. In this case if one business has been in operation for a long time, other may add some good advantages and in return may use their office space. Limitation of this approach is your dependency on the parent business i.e. your target customer will reduce to the actual customer of the parent business. However you get an ample time and opportunity to prove your idea and ability before investors or venture capitalists.
Use Garage: You may use garage, spare guest room, any old office infrastructure of your own or of your friend. It will come for extremely low cost but you will have to invest a little over interior.
Off Town Office: If you are not in a position to pay for an office in main market area one good option may be to have an office space in those area where rent is comparatively lower.
Office Sharing: To reduce the office expanses the office sharing concept has emerged as en effective tool for entrepreneurs. There are some of issues must be discussed before getting inside shared office space infrastructure, viz. nature of businesses participating in such model must have different market and far different product/ services, allocation of space must be done in an intelligent way so no one have any issue, branding and advertisement must not be done at office space by any party or may be with mutual agreement only.

Before thinking about any of the above option you will have to make sure that you will reach your customers and find them at their place, and don't bother them to find you.

The original blog published on www.EntrepreneurIndia.biz on 12-Nov-2011

20 Innovative Business Ideas

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Innovative business ideas are like comets in the sky. Nobody really knows when they’ll hit you, and even if you have never seen one, you’ll know that it is one the moment you see it. It doesn’t take much talent or education to know if an idea is workable, all it takes is a little gusto, common sense and a bit of adventurism to try out things that have never been done.

Each Company is Unique

And each company also has unique experiences. The best for company A may not be the best move for company B. What works for one company might not necessarily work for the other. Here lies the problem with being a copycat. Businesses can try to compete with each other, but an innovative idea from one business might be the undoing of the other.

Know how your business works, and whether it has an idea that can take off. What is the actual context of the company’s profile, operation and financial performance? What are the risks involved in innovation, and will you be able to afford to experiment? The amount of money that could potentially be gained if you are able to launch an innovative idea should also be assessed in measurable terms. Innovation is just a word, but a good innovative business idea is one that actually produces results.

Here are a few innovative business ideas that have proved to be either really big successes or really popular wastes of money. Either way, they got traction and became popular among both mass and niche markets.

Levi Strauss sold denim pants to miners during the Gold Rush. Little did they know that denim pants would be very popular even outside of the mining community.
Naked Airlines was an airline that had nude attendants. It closed shop after one flight!
eBay was only supposed to be a small website that allows you to buy and sell everything. Now it’s the most popular auction site in the world.
Budget airlines address the need for no-frills flights. These have revitalized the airline industry, especially during these times of recession.
Dishes paired with drinks: fast food restaurants make it “cheaper” if you buy the food with drinks. This establishes a mindset that the consumer gets a better deal.
Designer gowns made out of garbage bags, bubble wrap and plastic – these are green ideas, but not really for mass market consumption.
Disneyland is a fantasy land that allows kids and adults to live out their childhood fantasies.
Social networking sites were supposed to be meant for closed groups only, like school buddies, college classmates and the like. But their popularity have led to sites like Facebook and MySpace getting millions of users, and millions of dollars in investment.
Pet salons service the grooming and pampering needs of our furry friends.
Tours of Sewers – they actually do this Paris, of all places!
Giving a group or bundle discounts gets a restaurant, travel agency, or any other business more customers.
Scripted sporting events like the WWE are not really “real,” but people watch them anyway.
Allowing advertisers to buy panels in Olympic venues. Sponsorships at sporting events give your brand a reputation of being health-oriented.
Music videos were actually originally marketing tools that meant to sell albums. But artists like Michael Jackson started using these as art forms in themselves, and companies like MTV have established a brand around their music videos.
Special packaging for special edition albums from high profile artists have turned CDs and records into collectors’ items.
Reality shows have proved that audiences love watching people in their “natural” habitats, and how fights, arguments and relationships ensue.
Pay per click advertising has changed the advertising landscape by letting just about any publisher earn money, and just about any company buy cheap, contextual, targeted ads.
iTunes has changed the music business. Who would’ve known that selling songs for 99 cents apiece would make Apple billions of dollars.
The iPhone has likewise changed the mobile phone market. Not only is it good looking gadget, but with 50,000 applications you can literally turn the phone into anything you want. Enterprising application developers are also able to earn millions from selling applications at 99 cents apiece.
Green technology is the name of the game in a lot of industries, such as the auto business. People are becoming more and more environmentally conscious, and cars like the hybrid Toyota Prius and the fully electric Tesla roadster have gained traction in the market.

These are only a few innovative business ideas that have made the grade. Now most of these are considered the standard way of doing business, and taken for granted by the market. But at one time or another, some business people probably thought of these ideas as silly and unmarketable. See where these ideas are now.

10 Business Ideas Requiring No Financial Investment to Start With

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The recession changes people attitude toward money and employment. More people are becoming frugal, more entrepreneurs are becoming bootstrappers, and more ex-employees are entering entrepreneurship.

All three of the above combined, you would want to start a business that requires minimal investment. Take heed, there are business opportunities that involve no financial investment to start with – Not even a dime.

10 business ideas to start requiring no financial investment

Online business / make money onlineBlogging, SEO/link building, online freelancing, selling goods online are some of the example of online business and make money online. Many online business requires nothing down – This is why the potential is extraordinary, despite harsh competition.
Virtual assistance (VA)Helping others to get their job done is well-sought after – You can start with zero investment by offering your services in forums, classified sites and other public domains. The best bet – Join a VA network.
Intermediary services
Intermediary services were thought to become obsolete due to the Internet. Not exactly. Product sourcing, product distribution and contracting services, and many other intermediary services are here to stay. Due to their busyness and time constraints, business people do need other help no matter how easy to DIY their search for new products or business resources.
Organising services
Event and wedding organising are two of the most common organising services. Personal assistance and personal shopping are the niche in organising services.
Tutoring
Helping school children and students to ace their school subjects or tests can be lucrative. Teaching math, tutoring English and such are simple and free to start. Get the buzz from your neighbours and you’re off the ground.
Brokerage services
Real estate brokerage, business brokerage, investment brokerage – The list of brokerage services is endless. In exchange for a certain amount of commission, brokers use their expertise in winning buyers on behalf of sellers.
Consignment products sales
Looking for the right supplier to arrange for a consignment is rather trivial – Not many want to engage in such a risky product sales strategy. However, finding one would be a great way for you to sell products without any investment involved.
Consulting and training
Experienced professionals and business owners can offer their expertise to help other individuals and organisations succeed.
Freelancing
Graphic design, web design, and copywriting are some of the example of freelancing. The competition is stiff, but the ability to create a business out of it is rewarding.
Down-payment-enabled business
I’m not sure whether to include this or not, but this is what many often overlook as one of the better business strategies. Either you offer products or services, ask for down payment (even full payment) up front. This way, you have the capital to produce the ordered products or perform the requested services – No financial investment involved on your side.

Most of the zero-financial-investment business ideas I present are service business – With that said, I recommend you to explore any other service business opportunities, as no business is thriving in today’s recession better than service business.