Neurons@Work

Artificial trees do not have to be boring and dull looking. They can be made to look cool, funky and even fashionable to suit whatever interior designs you have.

Consider Treetopia™ where innovative artificial trees are being born. Their funky Christmas trees comes in different designs ranging from “Tuxedo Black”, “Pretty in Pink”, “Winter White”, “Bedford Falls”, and “Balsam Spruce”. Imagine all other types of trees besides Christmas trees that this idea can be adopted. You might even consider creating your very own artificial flowering trees. Great way to decorate your homes without the hassle of caring for it.

Some of you may have heard of women accessories and bags made from recycled rags, papers and other discarded materials. However you may not have across accessories and bags from discarded bar code labels.  

Made from thousands of different bar code labels, Ecoist handbags and bracelets are fun quite trendy to look at both far away and up close. An innovative way of making use of waste. The only slight problem is that the barcode scanners will have a hard time locating the real label.

Website: www.ecoist.com

Living green has become increasingly important to many consumers concerned with the state of the environment.  With more and more consumers looking for environmentally friendly product, demand for such products will grow dramatically in the coming years.

Consider Nigels’ Eco Store. Their range of environmentally friendly bags includes the Ragbag 100% recycled shoulder bag handmade by the rag pickers of Delhi, and Juice Pack bags which are made from recycled juice packs. What a neat idea.

The next thing you know, all Samsonite luggage will be made of environmentally friendly materials.

Website: www.nigelsecostore.com/acatalog/eco-bags.html

Not too long ago, I wrote about a company called InQBox, a retail outlet that rent out space for minipreneurs. Another company has followed the same footpath but this time the focus is placed on fashion designers instead.

Beehive Co-op strives to nurture the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of emerging designers by providing retail space for budding fashion designers to display their work. The designers do not have to fork out large initial investment to open up their store. The retails space also comes with retail assistants that provides sales support that drives down operating costs for new start-ups. Beehive even offer online shop to attract online shoppers.

Another great idea that might just work for some of you. 

Website: www.beehiveco-op.com/

With more and more people getting into DIY, there is a growing trend in online searches looking for information on DIY (Do-it-yourself). Hardware stores and suppliers are joining in the Internet bandwagon to start capturing these online shoppers. From building materials, construction tools, solar panels and spring plungers, these online entrepreneurs tapped into a huge market without the need to physical open stores that will increase operating cost thus driving down profits.  

Consider online mega-hardware stores such as “Do It Best”. They have everything that you need for DIY making it a one stop center. So to all hardware suppliers out there, wait no more.

 Website: doitbest.com/main.aspx

In the food and beverage industry, we have many restaurants and fast food chain offering delivery services to capture more market share. However, there is one F&B business that can do more by offering delivery services. How about offering healthy food and snacks delivery service to consumers.

With more and more people facing weight issues and sales of diet pills sky rocketing, people are looking for alternatives to combat weight issues. Healthy food delivery service could be the answer for this. Consider Uptown Juice Bar, it has been in business for more than 15 years in New York City.  This business continues to receive acclaim for its holistic approach and education of healthy vegetarian living. 

Everyday, the restaurant serve sumptuous vegetarian cuisine with soy protein, gluten’s flavored to taste like fish, chicken, duck and assortments of vegetables along with brown rice and other holistic starch dishes.  They even have vegetarian pizza, fish and turkey burgers along with veggie wraps are quick meals to go. 

What a great idea!

Website: www.uptownjuicebar.com/

There are many ways you can create new businesses. One way is to use old marketing methods to sell new products.  Another way is to sell old products using new marketing methods. Take for example popcorns.

Popcorns are not new products, they have been around for ages but if you can creative find new ways to re-package, you might just create a whole new market. Consider Popcornopolis. They sell gourmet popcorns that comes in gift baskets with a wide array of unique choices such as Rocky Road, Cinnamon Toast, Cheeses and etc. What a  great way to make old things new! 

Website: www.popcornopolis.com/

They say diamond rings are a girl’s best friend. If that is true, how do you get a perfect diamond ring for your wife or girl friend.

Many wedding rings that are available in the jewelry shop come readily made and there is not much you can do to customize it. There are certain specialty shops that offers customized rings but only a few have capitalized on the world of Internet.

Consider Mondera an online diamond engagement and wedding ring specialist. They allow buyers to customize their rings online and it will be delivered to your door step or for collection. Great way to tap into the online market.

Website: mondera.com/buildring_newer/buildring_main.asp

There are many motorcycle lovers out there who collects antique parts as a hobby. If you are a motorcycle lover yourself, ever thought of opening up your own chain of specialty shop for bikers that sells all kinds of things for bikers e.g. Harley parts, seats and handles?

Take for example Antique Cycle Supply, they have been supplying vintage parts since 1974. Their products in their catalog range from genuine Harley Davidson parts and re-manufactured parts designed to restore vintage Flatheads, Panheads, and Shovelheads.

One thing that you can do differently is to provide more than that e.g. clothing, accessories and maybe even a little cafe by the side for bikers to use as a hang out place. You might end up making this idea as big as Hard Rock cafe.

There are many suppliers of wooden swing sets out there but CedarWorks offers something that is quite unique that differentiates themselves from their competitors.

CedarWorks uniqueness is in the way that the company involves the customers in the product design to create a a custom swing set that perfectly matches a family’s needs. By choosing from among their different categories of swing sets and an unmatched selection of accessories, customers can have a piece of mind that they will find the perfect backyard play set for their family. In the end, the result will be happy customers and you know very well what happy customers can do for your businesses.

Website: www.cedarworks.com/design