Offline Niches
A Bad Trade
A BAD TRADE
by Bill Bonner
The present period in financial history favors ducks and undertakers. On the banks of the Thames and the Hudson, every day they fish a couple more cadavers out of the water. And then the medical examiner opens them up so we get to see what caused them to go under. What a sight! It is amazing that any sane investor ever had anything to do with them in the first place.
Starting a business wasn't in the cards for Jason Osborn -- until he lost his job at an ad agency.
Even though he grew up baking brownies with his mother, French toast with his father and pizza with his grandfather, the last thing Jason Osborn expected to do was launch a food company. After September 11, when Mr. Osborn lost his job at an advertising agency, he found work as a model. It was during that time that he started baking healthy granola snacks for himself at night. He and his roommate started handing out samples. Soon, he had a partner, a business plan and a growing -- and increasingly competitive -- natural food company. Amy Palanjian spoke with Mr.
Why Cracks Are Good For Business
The Crack Team is a home-service franchise, specializing in concrete crack repairs. Started in 1985 by Mike ‘The Ray Kroc of Crack’ Koder, The Crack Team was developed to address repetitive concerns of homeowners who were faced with the inevitable leaking cracks often found in basements. Koder, a homebuilder for over 30 years, began working with technology that was both a permanent and cost-effective solution to these leaky concerns.
Small Businesses Offer Alternatives to Gang Life
In Los Angeles, a corporation that runs several small businesses is demonstrating that the training and discipline of working in a small company can make a big contribution to changing the lives of former gang members.
A Bank With No Tellers Or ATMs
http://www.servisfirstbank.com/
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. (FORTUNE Small Business) -- As an entrepreneur, Tom Broughton finds most banks pretty annoying.
BoxMyDorm - How Three Students Started A Successful Business While In School
Link Of The Day - Coupons For Godaddy
Who: Joe Leary, 21; Peter Handy, 21; and Dan Abrahamsen, 22
What: Moving and storage company aimed at fellow college students
Year Started: 2005
Startup Costs: $30,000 self-funded
As the mortgage-lending crisis spreads, business is booming firms specializing in "property preservation."
Three weeks ago, 50-year-old Mimi Norris strapped on black steel-toe boots, packed a face mask and a digital camera in her bag, and headed to work. Her assignment: inspecting a foreclosed home in a blue-collar neighborhood of Akron, Ohio.
Sandra Boynton - The Woman Who Sold Half A Billion Cards
SANDRA BOYNTON’S studio, in a converted barn next to her Connecticut home, bears the milestones of her singular career: a long rack of greeting cards featuring quirkily drawn animals; a room full of small, sturdy children’s books, with names like “Snuggle Puppy!” and “Barnyard Dance!”; and, upstairs, where she does much of her work, old-time radios and jukeboxes representing her more recent foray into music CDs for children.
Ray The Popcorn Inventor
http://www.raythehandyman.com/
Ideas can come from the strangest places.
Consider the case of Ray Comeau and his wife, Wanda. The avid moviegoers were growing ever more frustrated with popcorn. They’d order their popcorn at the movies, then go over to the condiment counter to salt and butter the popped kernels. That’s when frustration would set in.
The popcorn was seasoned properly near the top. But the seasonings and butter never reached the popcorn in the bottom half of the box.
Pic Nic Stic Invention
There are many guilty pleasures in life. Should wine really be one of them? After all, it's a featured drink in the Bible and heart healthy to boot.
