Free Business Ideas - Events

Even though I like to talk about ideas, generating them and turning them into profitable businesses, I tend to be a little tight lipped about my own specific ideas for obvious reasons. However, I have more ideas than I’ll ever have time to execute on so from time to time I come across ideas that I want to just throw out there for all to think about or execute on. I might eventually run with the idea too, then again I might not, but the point is that sometimes ideas are better shared, especially when you know (if you are honest with yourself) that you’ll never actually do it. If that’s the case, share it with someone, or everyone! Wouldn’t it be better to see our idea come to life than to sit on it and have it never go anywhere. Karma doesn’t get much better than giving someone an idea that makes them millions or just helps them to create a business that is fun and successful enough to provide them the freedom we would all love to have.

Recently I read an article about Sheldon Adelson who started the Comdex tradeshow and then sold it to Japan’s Softbank for $862M. For whatever reason, I had never thought about an “event” as a business but apparently it’s big business for the people who put it on, not just those who are there promoting products and services.

So why not turn any event into a business opportunity. Odds are you have been to a big event of some sort, somewhere and thought your hometown could use this, or a better job could be done of the event you went to.

Events might include:
- Film Festivals
- Food and Dining Festivals
- Seasonal Celebrations
- Holiday Events
- Trade Shows (don’t forget to target a niche’)
- Charity Fundraisers

You’ll need a couple of things to make this work, namely you need to be a detail oriented person and you must know how to delegate. Event planning is time consuming and is often more complex than it looks. In fact, a well planned event looks smooth and easy to the attendees even when it is anything but behind the scenes.

Ways to monetize: Sponsors, sell space, charge admission, sell advertising, upsell “special” parts of the event (and probably a host of others I’ve never thought of).

Got ideas for making money on an event? Share them with us in the comments….
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GeekBrief.TV

I really admire people that chase their dreams and find a way to set out on their own while doing so. A couple of months ago I ran across GeekBrief.tv, a clever podcast (in HD to boot) hosted by Cali Lewis and became an instant fan. I’m a geek at heart after all and always have been so “shiny, happy, tech news” is a good fit. The podcast covers gadgets, tech news and (dearcali.com) tech “help.” The show is about 4 minutes well spent, 4-5 times a week, and I have discovered several good links, technologies and even spawned a few ideas from things I have seen on the show.

What impressed me most was that Cali and Neal are able to do this full time (yea! no day jobs). One of their dreams is to take the show on the road hitting all 50 states in 50 weeks which they plan to begin early this summer. If you want to learn more about that visit bigtrip.tv where you can stay updated on their preparation for the US tour. While checking out bigtrip.tv I noticed that they were looking for sponsors by utilizing the script/idea from the once infamous milliondollarhomepage, selling pixels to sponsors. So, in the spirit of good karma and wanting to help them chase their dreams as I do mine, I decided to carve out my own little 10×10pixel plot and would encourage you to do the same.

Check out the show and support the cause.

To all of you who are visiting via paidbypixels.com or geekbreef.tv, or icali.tv welcome to vsellis.com where we explore, develop and execute great ideas for fun and profit.

If you happen to be in the Dallas Area and would like to join Wendi and I, we’ll be at the Dallas World Camp the weekend of 3/29, Cali and Neal will be speaking there as will the founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg.

Archimedes and Economics

Archimedes realized that you can measure the volume of an object by measuring the amount of water it displaces when submerged. What does that have to do with business? Well, I think you can measure the value of an idea by its ability to displace, or in the more common vernacular “disrupt”, existing products, ideas and services. I’m not suggesting that all ideas should be disruptive, or have to be in order to have value, but unconventional approaches today can often become the convention of tomorrow revolutionizing businesses and even whole industries as Henry Ford did with the assembly line in 1908.

When you are looking at new ideas and their ability to be disruptive here are a few criteria to consider:

1) By definition of being disruptive, the idea should challenge the ststus quo.

2) The idea must, in some way, improve upon the efficiency, economics, societal benefit (et al.) of the process, product or service. If you aren’t making it better, you are wasting your time and the idea won’t have long term success.

3) The disruptive idea should be constructive not destructive. It’s easy to be disruptive and destructive but that really defeats the purpose.

4) The means by which you are improving something should offer measurable results. It may sometimes seem “intuitive” that your idea is a better way, but if you can’t really prove it through measurable means you will have difficulty making your case and gaining acceptance for the idea. More importantly, what seems to be an obvious way (to you) of improving something may not always turn out to be better when the numbers come in. I’ve been surprised more than once by this.

Remember, if you can measure it you can test it, and if you can test it you will know if it’s really an improvement.

Disruptive ideas can be revolutionary but don’t necessarily have to be massive in their initial impact either. For example, winglets on aircraft result in about a 3% fuel efficiency on some aircraft, so I have been told by an aerospace engineer friend of mine. Either way this this should illustrate the point. If you were testing an idea and saw a 3% improvement you might not get too exited. But put into the context of the amount of fuel used daily in commercial and non-commercial aviation, the fuel (i.e. cost) savings adds up very quickly and is easily cost justified. Had winglets been your idea you would have had little difficulty making a case for airplane manufacturers to license your technology and for existing airlines and cargo-carriers to retro-fit existing aircraft with them.

Just because an idea isn’t disruptive doesn’t mean it isn’t good, in fact most ideas won’t be disruptive, but “thinking disruptive” is good for generating ideas and approaching things in new ways . Just be prepared for some of your revolutionary ideas to get shot down or not succeed and don’t get married to the idea if it isn’t a good one (again measure to find out) or isn’t a good fit for your current business. Sometimes they just don’t work but when they do, look out!

Alternatives to Help Lower the Cost Of Starting Up

Like many entrepreneurs, I have in the past made the mistake of racking up expenses before I was actually executing my business because I thought I needed those things in order to make my business work. It takes money to make money right? Well, that old saying is really only true in it’s literal interpretation. It will cost you money to incorporate, host your website, … but there are many areas where spending has become less necessary than in the past.

Communications:
Mobile phone plans are cheaper than ever and many include long distance, data and other services. Some will even give you access to wifi hotspots. I personally have not had a home phone since 1998, long before most people gave them up for only having cell phones. After the first six months of that year I realized I never used it and was spending $50-60 a month for nothing. Ditch it if you can, but if you really need a separate line, go with a VoIP service provider like Vonage.

Cable, Fiber or DSL? Whatever you chose, you’ll need net access. If you can get fiber great but unless you are in a bandwidth intensive biz, you probably don’t need it right now. Cable is better than DSL in my opinion but if you opt for DSL, don’t let the phone company convince you that you have to have an active landline for it to work, you don’t (I used to work in Telecom and know better and now you do too). You need wires there yes, but not landline service.

Technology:
Microsoft Office is a great suite of tools but it’s not necessary. Open Office or just using Google Docs can be a great alternative and both are free. I haven’t used Open Office in a while but the only down side to using Google Docs will become obvious if you do really heavy spreadsheets with lots of drop-down lists, pivot tables and other dynamic functionality. If you don’t, and that is 99% of you, then Google or Open Office are a great way to save hundreds of dollars and not worry about loosing data if your computer crashes.

Need an extra computer, consider installing Ubuntu in stead of Windows. it’s the most user friendly Linux version ever and if the majority of use for that computer happens through a web browser, all the better, it’s fast, secure and free.

Here are a few other ideas for you:
1) Buy new technology or other assets when you need them, not in advance because you expect you’ll need them later.

2) Be prepared to trade services with people when you can but expect that some will still simply want to be paid for their work and eventually you’ll want the trade thing to all but go away. still, in the early stages it can save money and you might build a great partnership.

3) Shop around, for everything.

4) Don’t go cheap on things you really need or that are core to you doing business. Spend where you need to, not where you don’t.

Starting a business is fun but expenses can run away if you aren’t careful and that first big bill will show up before the first revenue and strip the fun out if it very quickly. Starting a business isn’t an excuse to go on a shopping spree just because you can write some or all of it off.

Why New Ideas are More Important Now Than Ever

I never really got over the disappointment I expressed regarding the Behance post which suggested ideas were “an engaging, brain-spinning indulgence,” and their founder who was quoted as having said “if anything, we have a surplus of ideas. Excess ideas are our greatest cost. What we need is fewer ideas.”

What I should have mentioned in my earlier post is that ideas, the ability to filter the good from the bad, and then execute on them, is the fuel that drives the businesses of an advanced, capitalist nation forward. We have long since moved from the industrial age into the information age and without good ideas there would be no intellectual property (IP), perhaps the most valuable of all assets a company can now possess. Technological advances allow companies to adapt so quickly to changes that the only edge a company often has is their ability to exploit, protect and establish new ideas to gain a competitive edge.

A wise business owner will recognize that good ideas can flow from all of your employees, friends, associates, etc… and they can open revenue streams, expand on existing ones or give rise to more efficient ways of doing business. Idea people are immensely valuable to your success, but in order to be an effective manager you must know how to channel that energy. Failing to do so, or to simply shut down employees with ideas is proof of a failure of that manager, not proof that the ideas themselves are an unncessary distraction.

Perception = Recession = Opportunity

Perry Marshall wrote an interesting rant about the perception of a recession as opposed to the reality of one. I tend to agree with him though as he acknowledges, that perception can become a self fulfilling prophecy.

So what does that mean for us? Opportunity!

While everyone else is either pulling back or is too busy looking up to see if the sky really is falling, we can deepen our roots, expand what we are doing or start new en devours. While borrowing, due to the housing issues (which is reality), may be a little maybe a little more difficult, borrowing from an institution isn’t the only way to get things up an running. More importantly, the other vendors, consultants and people we will need to do business with may be offering their goods and services at a discount or will at least be easier to negotiate with because 1) they also believe there is a recession right now or 2) everyone else does and isn’t spending as much money with them. Either way, it’s good for us and those complimentary businesses really want our business.

I look at all the recession hype as “clearing the path” for us making it easier to do what we want to do, especially if we are efficient, have good processes and run a tight ship. This is a classic distressed business opportunity market.

It doesn’t mean a recession can’t happen but don’t get caught being a “dooms-dayer,” it’s wasted energy. Just because market growth has slowed doesn’t mean we are in a recession and don’t count on the government to bail us out if a recession does pop up. In fact, hope they don’t. Government interference usually results in longer term problems than a real fix.

No matter how you slice it, when everyone else is panicking and things look bad, there has always been opportunity. If you dive in or expand what you are doing, just manage your risk a little tighter and remember that there are plenty of goods and services that people need and want, no matter what the economy is doing.

New Business Ideas

When we get stuck trying to develop new ideas for businesses, or new revenues streams for existing businesses, we can look in the cracks between what is already known for opportunities which are easily overlooked. Yes, it sounds easier than it is sometimes but one way to think about this is to step back from what you are doing and look at two businesses which may have a natural relationship or use for one another’s goods and services but haven’t gotten together just yet and figure out how to bring them together. Now, before you run down the path of thinking this is the classing “broker dealer” or “middle man” idea, which to an extent it is, I would add a catch. Rather than just trying to bring them together, look for the critical path of money and information between the two entities.

The critical path by definition should be an essential path either by virtue of being the only path or the most efficient path or the highest volume path. If it looks like a great “middle man opportunity” but isn’t in the critical path of financial or information flow, it may be a lot more work than it is worth. In that case you might be better off brokering the deal, getting your one time fee and moving on.

Additionally, you can add a value of some sort at the natural choke point in that path. It’s a lot like collecting tolls at that point. Just let them flow through you and keep them moving as efficiently and quickly as possible.

By inserting yourself into the critical path, you can build a strong business, with good finances, which improves the efficiency with which other businesses operate while putting you in a very powerful position. You can also do considerably well by carving out a very specific niche to address so that your focus is highly targeted which should ultimately make your life easier.

I’ll admit, executing this concept isn’t always easy but that is exactly why not everyone is doing it, and why if you do, the rewards can be significant.