I have always had an interest in unusual and weird business ideas. The idea that someone can make a living doing something out of the norm has always been amazing to me. When I was a kid I had a few of these hair brained ideas (and some actually WORKED!!!) My best friend and I would scheme for hours coming up with funny and creative business ideas all the time.
When I was around 4 years old, I came up with one of my prized business plans. I decided to mass produce treasure maps that I created. With a little elbow grease, some creativity and some basic craft supplies, I had my business up and running! My parent’s friends didn’t know what hit them. How could you say no to a kid selling treasure maps with a big smile and great pitch?! I sold them for $0.50. Man that was a great profit!
Then there was the time I sold “fire starter kits” I think I was about 5 years old at the time. I wrapped up paper around dead twigs, dried grass and leaves, and bundled it all up and labeled it “fire starter kit” I sold them for a buck a piece. Sure bought me a lot of candy!
As I got older my business ventures became a little harder to pitch to adults, but no less fun to create! I had a real love for creative businesses and have always loved seeing others succeed in unique ways as well.
So what are some other unusual businesses out there?
Unusual Is Right!!
One of the first unusual business ideas I came across when I was growing up actually came from my uncle. He was a horticultural teacher just outside of Newmarket and had a passion for plants. He created a “Worm” business. He actually harvested, grew and sold worm excrement (also known as fertilizer) to his plant buddies. They paid a fortune for this “black gold”! As a result, I would try this myself. I must admit, I failed miserably; I lost interest and basically killed my worms after a few months. I guess you could say that job was kinda “crappy” haha
A while back I met someone who owned a few tourist “haunted houses”. They ran these things all year long and usually hired students to do the scaring. Since it was in a very touristy area, people would flock to these things and line up to hand over their money. The guests would pay a pretty good chunk of money just for the thrill of being scared. I heard they raked in a huge amount of profit each year! They must be screaming all the way to the bank.
I met a guy at a networking event once. He told me about a business he owned and it was another “crappy” business. He actually cleaned up animal waste. He started his company that specialized in picking up and cleaning animal waste products. He was telling us how he grew the company and had a few people working for him so he actually wasn’t doing the cleaning himself after a while. He even branched out and specialized pigeon poop and goose poop. I had no idea that animal waste could be so profitable either!
Unusual Online Businesses
The world of online has definitely created some… interesting… jobs for people. Have you ever heard about the woman on ebay (before they tightened up their rules) who sold “used” underwear? She would get her friends to wear new panties, which she supplied them with fresh pairs for free as long as they returned the old pairs unwashed. She would sell them online for $10 a pair!!! The demand was so high they were flying off the shelf. I’m not too sure what the attraction is, but hey it’s a niche market, and you know I love niche marketing!
Or maybe you have heard of the online game World Of Warcraft? (Or WOW as the fans call it) Apparently they have their own currency online where they buy and sell fantasy items. There are actually people overseas who hire people for a few cents an hour to sit and play the game and collect items in the game and then then turn around and sell the items for real currency to gamers all over the world. Hey, computer geeks can be crafty when they need to be!
And then a few years back there was a guy who came up with the creative idea to pay for his entire college tuition by selling one million pixels of advertising space on his webpage for a dollar per pixel. Minimum order was 100 pixels and you were allowed any pictures you wanted and link it to any site you wanted. He sold out a million pixels at a buck a pop in just a few short months! Pretty ingenious if you ask me!
So What About You?
It amazes me as we get older that many people move away from creative and unusual business ideas and get sucked into the corporate world where people are afraid to take risks and just go with the flow. The people who think outside the box create their own market can end up wildly successful because of it (and have a lot of fun doing it too).
So tell me, what is one crazy unusual business idea you had as a kid that you never followed through on?
To you and your success
Ryan Smith – Chief Content Creator