If you are full of entrepreneurial energy and don’t yet have an idea where to begin, here are some ideas worth trying. And none of them are like selling Ferraris to the middle class. First, let me tell you where the inspiration came from – the million dollar home page. Making money calls for some effort, so I am not going to waste your time and mine, on something that you could easily find out on Google or Wikipedia. Just search for “Million Dollar Homepage” – it could really be enlightening. You may ask me a very legitimate question - why am I not exploring one of these ideas myself – the answer is simple. Once you get hooked on advertising, sticking to one is extremely difficult. It’s like an addict trying to stay off drugs - rarely succeeds.
On the net, the trick is to develop a business model which gives potential subscribers something worthwhile to do, absolutely free, like on youtube and facebook. Or if it offers a particular benefit to a smaller audience, you could charge a bit – but not too much. Since the web is an addressable media, targeting could be simple, unlike in traditional business models. With the vast audience that is constantly on the web, almost anything becomes possible and one should always aim to develop a concept that has the potential to overcome all kinds of boundaries like geography, language, etc. Let’s say you want to be a millionaire. Chances are, there are several million other people too, who want to be millionaires just like you do. If you could get one dollar from each such wanna be millionaire, congrats to you, you have made your first million. You may wonder whether this is possible – yes, it is. In fact, someone already has. And that’s why I suggested you check the million dollar home page.
Without further bragging, here are the ideas;
Start an online grave.
For pets, of course. This is my favorite idea. I don’t know whether there are graves for pets, anywhere in the world. If the pet is lucky, it might get a burial site in your garden, while in really crowded cities like NY or Tokyo, even this isn’t a reality. But I do know two things. One, people really love their pets, and yes, sometimes a little more than they do their own kith and kin. In the US alone, the pet industry is a billion dollar business. Some pet networking sites have more than one million subscribers with a phenomenal growth potential. Two, we can ill afford to have pet cemeteries in city vicinities, as we need space for ourselves. So, the pet grave could be nicely branded to invoke loving memories, along with a customized tomb stone and stories like how the pet left a tattoo on your BF’s butt. The site should be able to pick up email addresses of the subscribers’ friends lists, to inform them to wish on the B’days, Death Anniversaries and other special days.
If you don’t like the idea of being the guardian of a grave yard, try being the gate keeper of a palace like the Taj Mahal. Here’s the second idea. Build your own Taj Mahal.- A site committed to making affairs more serious. So the modern day Shah Jahan (which apparently means king of the world!) can erect his own version of the Taj Mahal for his very own Mumtaz. The site will provide the necessary space and tools for him to design and display his structure to the love of his life. Since love is supposedly blind, hopefully he will spend a few bucks for the facility. If not, even if you can just make lovers frequent the site, there will be a zillion other ways to earn money from such traffic. A spin off of this could be to target aspiring architects to show off their talent. People could vote for the best structure and build a business cycle around it.
The third idea capitalizes on the efficacy of ebay, given the fact that people have sold air guitars and broken laser pointers for $15. So it is time to launch www.iownit.com - a site that sells online versions of people, places and just about anything that is controversial. The “I Own It” site will be used to build up these characters by soliciting user comments. The site will release one or two characters daily, for online bidding on ebay. For example, Hitler, or the White House, could be auctioned off - chances are, you will have people fighting to own it. The winner will be given several incentives - the authority to rechristen the structure as he sees fit - someone could easily rename the White House as the Black House or the mental asylum, or even canonize Hitler to be “St. Hitler”, provided he/she is able to outbid everyone else on ebay.
If the site catches on, when someone enters the White House, the “I Own It” site should appear at least as the third or forth site, with the details of the owner. I think it could be cool. And now, what do I want to own? May be Mariah Carey – if only I could make her stop singing!
On the net, the trick is to develop a business model which gives potential subscribers something worthwhile to do, absolutely free, like on youtube and facebook. Or if it offers a particular benefit to a smaller audience, you could charge a bit – but not too much. Since the web is an addressable media, targeting could be simple, unlike in traditional business models. With the vast audience that is constantly on the web, almost anything becomes possible and one should always aim to develop a concept that has the potential to overcome all kinds of boundaries like geography, language, etc. Let’s say you want to be a millionaire. Chances are, there are several million other people too, who want to be millionaires just like you do. If you could get one dollar from each such wanna be millionaire, congrats to you, you have made your first million. You may wonder whether this is possible – yes, it is. In fact, someone already has. And that’s why I suggested you check the million dollar home page.
Without further bragging, here are the ideas;
Start an online grave.
For pets, of course. This is my favorite idea. I don’t know whether there are graves for pets, anywhere in the world. If the pet is lucky, it might get a burial site in your garden, while in really crowded cities like NY or Tokyo, even this isn’t a reality. But I do know two things. One, people really love their pets, and yes, sometimes a little more than they do their own kith and kin. In the US alone, the pet industry is a billion dollar business. Some pet networking sites have more than one million subscribers with a phenomenal growth potential. Two, we can ill afford to have pet cemeteries in city vicinities, as we need space for ourselves. So, the pet grave could be nicely branded to invoke loving memories, along with a customized tomb stone and stories like how the pet left a tattoo on your BF’s butt. The site should be able to pick up email addresses of the subscribers’ friends lists, to inform them to wish on the B’days, Death Anniversaries and other special days.
If you don’t like the idea of being the guardian of a grave yard, try being the gate keeper of a palace like the Taj Mahal. Here’s the second idea. Build your own Taj Mahal.- A site committed to making affairs more serious. So the modern day Shah Jahan (which apparently means king of the world!) can erect his own version of the Taj Mahal for his very own Mumtaz. The site will provide the necessary space and tools for him to design and display his structure to the love of his life. Since love is supposedly blind, hopefully he will spend a few bucks for the facility. If not, even if you can just make lovers frequent the site, there will be a zillion other ways to earn money from such traffic. A spin off of this could be to target aspiring architects to show off their talent. People could vote for the best structure and build a business cycle around it.
The third idea capitalizes on the efficacy of ebay, given the fact that people have sold air guitars and broken laser pointers for $15. So it is time to launch www.iownit.com - a site that sells online versions of people, places and just about anything that is controversial. The “I Own It” site will be used to build up these characters by soliciting user comments. The site will release one or two characters daily, for online bidding on ebay. For example, Hitler, or the White House, could be auctioned off - chances are, you will have people fighting to own it. The winner will be given several incentives - the authority to rechristen the structure as he sees fit - someone could easily rename the White House as the Black House or the mental asylum, or even canonize Hitler to be “St. Hitler”, provided he/she is able to outbid everyone else on ebay.
If the site catches on, when someone enters the White House, the “I Own It” site should appear at least as the third or forth site, with the details of the owner. I think it could be cool. And now, what do I want to own? May be Mariah Carey – if only I could make her stop singing!
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