Finding Hot New Niches
GreatArtist
I read with envy the story of Dineh Mohajer and her company, Hard
Candy. All she freaking did was mix a pale blue shade of nail polish
because none existed. Then everybody told her how much they liked it.
Then she mixed more colors using store-bought nail polish and the
whole thing blew up huge in no time and she sold her company for $30
million a few years later. I wish success were that easy for me.
Anybody know of any other similar stories of unexploited niches that
blew up huge, or was this just a one-in-a-million opportunity that's
as rare as winning the lottery?
Cyli
Easy? Yah, shure, I bet. She had to recognize the market existed
for more than a few of her friends. She had to get manufacturing
facilities and pass the government harmless requirements. She had to
get salespeople to place the product. She had to expand the business.
She had to recognize a good offer and negotiate it.
There were doubtless hundreds or thousands of places she could have
blown the whole thing and been left with a facility and some
disgruntled ex-employees and, possibly, a large debt.
I've known someone who started a business that later others claimed
had been lucky and easy. It wasn't. I've known several others who
tried to do the same thing and it didn't work.
The niche is nowhere near enough. One has to be able to fill it
solidly.
--
r.bc: vixen
Minnow goddess, Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher.
Almost entirely harmless. Really.
Wayne Lundberg
"GreatArtist" <wiz...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:130qg89...@news.supernews.com...
Thousands.
The secret is to be observant, curious and aware. The key is to always have
a piece of paper and pen in your shirtpocket or a miniature recorder. When
you see something interesting, like something that fits in a round hole, and
the next week you see how a round hole in something is made, you cry Eureka!
and pursue the flash of genius.
The best example I can think of is the audacity of the McDonald brothers
back when all they had was a traditional sit-down little burger and hot dog
joint near Los Angeles. Had they not been observant that day they were
enjoying their tacos at a standup stand by the Tijuana bullring, you would
not have the benefits of fast food. One brother observed how quickly the
taco guy heated the tortilla, cut the meat and filled the taco and another
collected the money and sold the sodapop and the third kept everything clean
and tidy. He wrote down "one cutting/filling, one money, one cleaning, one
every 20 seconds".
And continued frolicking and having fun. When they were back on Monday
starting a new week they reviewed their notes and the one every 20 seconds
hit them like a ton of brick. The rest is history.
Be observant, think outside the box, swim upstream against all odds, WRITE
IT DOWN, have pen and paper next to your bedside as the best ideas may hit
you at 2:30 in the morning and if you don't grab it on paper it will be
forever gone. Then take action.
It's really that simple. But because it's so simple and requires no Cray
computer, few people believe in it's power. I'll spend hours teaching my
clients/students this secret along with Tony Buzon's Mind Mapping and out of
30 only 2 or three will actually change their way of doing things and start
with the pen/paper in the pocket. Hardly any will try the Mind Mapping
magic.
Wayne
www.pueblaprotocol.com (free, non-commercial site sharing experiences)
GreatArtist
I'll try that mind mapping and stuff. I have some recordings by Tony
Burzan. I had one good idea so far and that's the only one that made a
profit. It was so easy to make money once I had a good idea (until it
ran out of steam). With all the other ideas I did much more work and
only broke even. That's very discouraging.
Wayne Lundberg
"GreatArtist" <wiz...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1312ciq...@news.supernews.com...
My experience in helping over 60 startups over some 40 years experience, is
that only 16% come out ahead, 66% break even or lose a bit, and 16% go
bankrupt including the loss of their home. Which kind of follows the
statistical normal curve. But the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow of
16% is enough to keep most of us going. Also, ,many innovations are done
without the slightest idea of potential market. They invent and do things
for the satisfaction of having done it. Look at the Wright Brothers. They
never commercialized their invention spending most of their time in court
fighting patent infringements by the likes of Curtis.
NC
On Mar 30, 9:55 am, "GreatArtist" <wizz...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I read with envy the story of Dineh Mohajer and her company,
> Hard Candy.
> Anybody know of any other similar stories of unexploited niches
> that blew up huge, or was this just a one-in-a-million
> opportunity that's as rare as winning the lottery?
There is really no way to tell. Moreover, people come up with the
same idea over and over again, but some fail while others succeed.
Today, almost every car company has a crossover SUV, and crossovers
generally sell like hot cakes. The "crossover SUVs" of the previous
generation (Subary Legacy Wagon and Volvo XC 70) were only moderately
successful; the original "crossover SUV" (AMC Eagle) was a near-
failure.
Cheers,
NC
NC
On Apr 3, 9:14 am, "Wayne Lundberg" <Waynel...@worldnet.att.net>
wrote:
>
> Look at the Wright Brothers. They never commercialized their
> invention
But of course they did. They've signed an exclusive contract with the
U.S. Army, but it was contingent on successful public flight
demonstrations that met certain conditions. Those conditions blew in
their faces on September 17, 1908, when the airplane crashed due to
split propeller. Orville Wright broke left leg and four ribs, and
Army lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, who rode with Orville as official
observer, died. Orville went to Europe to join Wilbur's successful
demonstrations there; the U.S. Army contract was renegotiated and in
1909, the brothers were able to deliver the first airplane to the U.S.
Army, which the Army bought for $30,000...
Cheers,
NC