Cheese Finders

Twenty Million Dollar Ideas that You Would Have Rejected

2011-06-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

I just finished an article on Forbes.com that discusses 20 businesses that you have never heard of that made one million dollars or more last year. As I looked through each of these million dollar businesses I thought: "had a friend told me this business idea or if I had dreamed up some of these business ideas, I would have had a million reasons why they would never work." I guess sometimes it is better not to "know" why something will not work. After reading the Forbes article, the Nike slogan "Just Do It!" seems like a great slogan for trying out business ideas.

Here is the article:

Twenty Million Dollar Businesses that You've Never Heard Of by Dale Buss, Forbes

"Have a nutty business idea and need some inspiration to pull it off? We went looking for small companies that generate at least $1 million in annual revenue in unexpected ways." Read More

Seth Godin: This is broken

2011-04-27T22:00:00.000-05:00

Seth Godin is a good guy to keep up with if you are looking to create a business. In this video he provides some ideas that you may just want to consider capitalizing on.

Seth Godin at Gel 2006 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

Great Article on How to Start a Business for Free!

2011-04-18T21:18:00.001-05:00

Christopher Null has an excellent article in a recent article in PC World entitled "How to Start a Business for Free". In this article, Null updates many of the answers to the basic questions explored by Tim Ferris in his best seller The 4-hour Workweek. "How to Start a Business for Free" is an essential read for anyone thinking about starting a business.

Excerpts from the article "How to Start a Business for Free" by Christopher Null in PC World:

"Everything from raising money to finding staff to getting the word out about your business has evolved with the times, even if your wallet hasn't.

How do you start a business today with practically nothing besides a good idea and a lot of free time? By following this advice."

"Writing a business plan is for suckers. Today the hottest way to raise money for your startup--provided that you don't need a whole lot of it--is with Kickstarter, a crowdsourced fundraising (aka "crowdfunding") system that can help you collect any sum from a few hundred bucks to almost a million."

"Going into the world of invention and manufacturing? Have a genius idea for a new class of product--but no idea how to get it built on the scale required for selling to the Walmarts of the world? Offshore manufacturing is now a viable option for even small shops . . . ."

Are you interested, yet? If so, read the entire article by clicking here. This article may allow you to change your life by starting your own business. This may be the Cheese you were scrambling for - Good Cheese!

This is a Good Article: Eight Ways to Make a Million

2010-03-19T17:32:00.003-05:00

This article from Kiplinger is a keeper. How can you miss with a title like "Eight Ways to Make a Million"? You can't.

I just picked up one of Seth Godin's books, Tribe. One of the things that Godin writes about that resonates with me is the thought process of why most of us do not follow up on starting our own businesses. In essence, Godin writes that a great many of us have good to excellent ideas but fear stifles us from acting on those ideas. He explains that this is not just a fear of failure or even a fear of bankruptcy. According to Godin, the fear that stifles us is the fear of criticism. The fear that others will laugh at our ideas or point out how stupid our ideas are. And ultimately we fear that should we fail then others will really humiliate us.

You should consider reading this book:

Who wants to be the guy in the movie Office Space that comes up with the "Jump to Conclusions" game idea? What a confused loser - remember he thought he was in an enviable situation after a car accident that left him in a body cast and with a halo brace screwed into his head. I'll bet a lot of our best ideas are never put into action because deep down we fear that we might be that guy.

This Kiplinger article with 8 examples of people that made a million dollars from their ideas ought to give you real perspective of what could happen when your ideas are acted upon.

Great "Cheese Finder" Article

2010-03-09T21:01:00.000-06:00

My brother Chris and I are still exploring passive ways to earn income and be like one of our heroes, Tim Ferriss. The guys at 37Signals are also an inspiration. I am posting this link because this is an excellent article by Tim Ferriss about a mindset at 37Signals. How could all Ferriss and the 37Signals people not be friends?

Here is the link to the article:

"Why Grow? and Other Wisdom from 37Signals" by Tim Ferriss

Car Insurance General

2010-02-13T09:14:00.000-06:00

I launched a new blog today called "Car Insurance General." This is not the full website that I am still planning, but it makes sense to setup a blog by the same name of the future website. I own the domain "Car Insurance General." In retrospect I probably should have researched and purchase the "dot com" first and then set up a free blog on blogger to help generate traffic and produce some support "click" income.

The "Car Insurance General" full website will promote car insurance agents that maintain higher standards and are more respected. To promote these agents that are a "cut above" I will provide website users with agent interviews and possibly post some articles with insurance agent/sponsors serving as coauthors and subject matter experts. I will also continue writing car insurance articles and will promote the best car insurance articles from other sources. That is the plan for now.

Auto Insurance Digest

2010-02-09T05:34:00.000-06:00

I am not having a lot of luck figuring out the blogging business. Last week I attempted to totally change my Wood Flooring blog and got it so messed up that I finally deleted that blog altogether. This morning I went to update my three daily blogs to find a message from blogger that my Auto Insurance blog had been deleted by blogger. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it had something to do with the number of other unrelated sites that have linked to my site or the number of links that I have to other sites. Either way, blogger's message said that the problem had been found by one of their bots (software written to search blogs and root out bad practices) and that I could appeal the blogger decision to delete my Auto Insurance blog. I appealed and hopefully will have Auto Insurance Digest up shortly. Whether I win the appeal or not I have already bought a website domain name for remaining in the Car Insurance web biz and I am working out all of the particulars with design.

Update on the "Blogging for Dollars" Game

2010-02-02T05:41:00.004-06:00

Note: I had to delete the Wood Flooring blog because of a technical problem I encountered when I attempted to totally change the CSS/HTML template.

I have launched the Wood Floor, Wood Floors, Wood Flooring blog and Auto Insurance Digs blogs. Both blogs have allowed me to research and think out loud about things that I am interested in namely: replacing the floors in my home and saving money on must have items like auto insurance. For some reason I have kind of taken a more casual - post every now and then approach to the Wood Floors blog while I have become really excited about posting daily on Auto Insurance Digs. I feel like both blogs provide a service to people looking for specific things. I hate to admit it but the excitment over Auto Insurance Digs may have something to do with the clear steady pickup in traffic.

I am all in on this auto insurance gig. I even spent a few dollars to purchase and begin developing a commercial site devoted to auto insurance. That is totally out of my nature. I do not believe in spending money. The site is not up yet and may not be for a while but the site website address will be "http://www.carinsurancegeneral.com" when I get it fully developed and launch it. For now I have purchased the domain and secured some web development services through Ipowerweb.com.

You might ask why did you choose "car insurance general"? I chose "car insurance general" by going to Google and checking on the keywords for an advertising campaign. Most of the high volume key words for car insurance were taken but "car insurance general" was still available and it has a respectable 12,100 Google hits a month. What that means is that on average 12,100 visitors to Google searched for the exact phrase "car insurance general." So, it stands to reason that when I launch the Car Insurance General website, and someone types in "car insurance general" my website should appear near the top of the first page. It is not quite that simple. There is more to it. But, I recommend that you utilize the free Google Keywords Advertising information to make a better decision in naming your domain.

I am having fun exploring how to make money blogging and I am still not passively generating enough money to brag but I think I am getting closer to that goal.

Websites that pay you to write

2010-01-18T07:53:00.004-06:00

Today's idea for making money online:

Here are a few major websites that can earn you income just for writing: eHow, Xomba, HubPages, Suite101, Squidoo, Associated Content and Helium. Payperpost is also a site where you can get paid for writing. Payperpost connects you with companies that will pay you to write an article that you post on your blog.

My Experience in the "Blogging for Dollars" Game

2010-01-17T17:22:00.002-06:00

After watching Maneesh Seti's four hour workweek video, I decided to call Chris and walk him through how to research Google's AdWords cost per click (CPC) expected payout for keyword's. I explained to Chris how to get to the free searchable data that Google offers. As we were looking through, discussing, and sometimes debating how to use this data I realized that the keyword that I used as an example "wood flooring" was a good area for those looking to write about something that is indemand. As we were talking I created the blogger blog "Wood Floor, Wood Floors, Wood Flooring" partly because I am researching buying and having wood flooring installed throughout my home and partly to explore how these ideas about focusing on a topic that is desired by advertisers and keywords might help me provide a valued service that may pay. I will let you know about my experience - good or bad. Chris found that "insurance" is another "in demand" keyword area.

Here is a link that takes you directly to Google's free research of keywords.

Suggested Websites for New Businesses from The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch

2010-01-17T16:49:00.001-06:00

"The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" is a great CNBC TV show that every new business entreprenuer needs to tune into regularly. Deutsch has entrepreneurs on his show that are achieving the dream of making a living from their original ideas. "The Big Idea" serves as both a step-by-step how to create a successful business and as a plain and simple inspiration for those who are nervous about or struggling with the idea of becoming an independent entrepreneur. When I saw Duetsch's book, "The Big Idea: How to make your entrepreneurial dreams come true, from the AHA moment to your first million", I naturally purchased a copy. Before getting to page 30 of this book, I have found some websites that Deutsch recommends for beginning entrepreneurs.
These are the websites that Deutsch recommends:

Lucky Napkin (www.luckynapkin.com): Amilya Antonetti and her team of experts help people launch their business ideas.
Edge Consulting (www.drdoug.com): Dr. Doug Hirschhorn a leading performance coach, shows how to get the job done.
Obsidian Launch (www.obsidianlaunch.com): Michael Michalowicz partners with first-time entreprenuers who are willing to give their all.
Smallbiztechnology (www.smallbiztechnology.com): Ray Ramon shows how to use technology to grow a business.

I have visited each of these sites and I do not think I am ready for these sites yet but, I have thought enough of them to include them here and I plan to keep them in mind.

4-Hour Workweek Video - An example of using the web to live life your way

2010-01-16T09:09:00.003-06:00

This guy's only source of income comes from online. You too can earn your living totally online and live life on your own terms. I am more of a materialist (not sure I am willing to Eliminate like this guy) but, this is a video that Chris has been trying to get me to watch for a long time. My only reservation is that I would try this on the side for at least a few months while keeping my day job. But clearly this system works for this guy. Watch the video. It might just change your life.

Announcing: Altimeter Webinar on Social Graphics

2010-01-13T18:36:00.001-06:00

This is something you might be interested in that I ran across on the altimeter group weblog:

"Jeremiah Owyang and Charlene Li will be running a free Webinar introducing how we are thinking about how companies can understand their customers through what we are calling "socialgraphics". To register for the Webinar:

Register for Free Webinar:
Understand Your Customers’ Social Behaviors, Hosted by Altimeter Group
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM PST

Beware of plans or proposals that start with “Twitter Strategy” or “Facebook Strategy” Instead, they should have a “Customer Strategy” that focuses in on how customers behave –not on the ever-changing toolset. As a result, companies should first understand how their customers use social technologies before they choose the tools. Socialgraphics is how to measure how customers use social technologies, where they are online, and how it influence them in the context of the customer life cylce." Click here to see the rest of the article and register.

12 Ways to Increase Online Sales from Entreprenuer Magazine

2010-01-12T21:29:00.000-06:00

I just finished an article from Entreprenuer Magazine that you may want to read. ( 12 Ways to Increase Online Sales from Entreprenuer Magazine ) . Great article. I might test out the first way to increase online sales recommended in this article. It is simple but possibly brilliant: "Offer just one product or service on your home page." On face that seems crazy but it may be just crazy enough to work. I will let you know how it works if and when I decide to try it out.

9 Businesses You Can Start in You PJs - Great Inc.com Article

2010-01-12T21:14:00.000-06:00

Just finished reading an article on Inc.com about 9 examples of great web based businesses that you can run from your home. Here is a link to this must read article:

9 Businesses You Can Start In Your Pajamas in 2010

The One Minute Entrepreneur Free Assessment of Your Entreprenuerial Strengths

2010-01-06T21:20:00.003-06:00

The online E-Strengths Assessment is designed to identify your entrepreneurial strengths and weaknesses. It contains a series of 80 statements, which are designed to identify areas of competency as well as areas where you should seek to improve.

Here is a direct link to the E-Strengths Assessment.

Evan Williams - "10 Rules for Web Startups"

2010-01-06T21:13:00.000-06:00

Evan Williams is an American entrepreneur who has co-founded several Internet companies, including Pyra Labs (creator of weblog-authoring software Blogger) and Twitter, of which he is currently CEO. He was born March 31, 1972 and raised on a farm in central Nebraska. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and son.

Here is a link to an written by Williams article on his site evhead.com: "10 Rules for Web Startups."

I have added his blogsite to my permanent blog list in the column to the left.

Link to a Podcast "A Secret to Making Money Online" by 37signals

2010-01-06T21:09:00.000-06:00

Here is a link you may want to check out. This is a link to a podcast on the 37signals site entitled "A Secret to Making Money Online." Inc. magazine listed 37signals as one of the 19 websites that you must bookmark.

Three Interesting Web Based Income Articles from WikiHow

2010-01-06T21:02:00.001-06:00

The website wikihow has three interesting Web Based Income articles that I think you may find interesting.

While all these articles are interesting, I had been considering how to start a successful web based T-shirt business after Chris had introduced me the to threadless.com business model. Threadless allows anyone to design, upload and participate in a competition to sell T-shirts. If you are not familiar with threadless, take a look and then come back and finish reading this post.

Cafepress is certainly one place you could build extra income by selling T-shirts. Vistaprint also has a pretty good trial offer on potential starting a T-shirt business.

The basic steps to building an online customized T-shirt business are as follows:

Choose a supplier like Cafepress or Vistaprint
Create a website (I would probably buy a template from TemplateMonster and choose a hosting service like Ipowerweb )
Upload photos, art, basic design for your T-shirts
Figure out pricing based on your costs (Looks like threadless sells their T-shirts for $18. I was thinking maybe $15 but I haven't ran the numbers and have no idea if anyone will buy even one T-shirt from my site.)
Run a marketing campaign. You could hold a contest for competing designs from your potential customers or pit two designs against one another but before you do that I would think you would want to build a customer base first. I am considering looking into running a Google adsense or adwords program and/or maybe seeing how the Vistaprint marketing campaign works. Once I build some traffic, then I will think about running a contest to ramp up a feeding frenzy of purchases.

This is just me thinking online. Don't try this or any of my ideas with out thinking them through for yourself.

Entreprenuership from Major Universities Free (provided by Academic Earth)

2010-01-06T20:10:00.001-06:00

Chris and I are ready to jump in on making automated online moolah. That's our cheese. Still, some of you cheese finders may find it helpful to sit through some traditional university courses designed to help you become a more successful entreprenuer. Some of the best traditional universities in the world like Stanford and MIT offer courses in a nontraditional format entirely for free through AcademicEarth.org. I have linked to the section of Academic Earth dedicated to Entreprenuership. To sample one lecture or to watch them all simply click here .

Design To Sell: 8 Useful Tips To Help Your Website Convert (From Smashing Magazine)

2010-01-04T18:00:00.000-06:00

Smashing Magazine published a strong article on building a website that converts visitors to customers. The title of this article is "Design to Sell: 8 Useful Tips To Help Your Website Convert" click here to take a look at the article.

4-Hour Workweek Recommended Links

2010-01-01T20:27:00.001-06:00

I have just finished reading Timothy Ferriss' "The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich Expanded and Updated" and on first read some of the most valuable information available in this book for you cheese finders can be found between pages 174 and 178. These pages contain links to websites that cheese finders should sniff and consider nibbling. The links Chris and I are probably most interested in are the ones beginning at the bottom of page 174 and taking up most of page 175 found under the heading "Finding Products to Resell or Manufacturing."

The first subcategory on this head is "Affiliate Networks." The three sites recommended in Ferriss' Expanded and Updated 4-Hour Workweek are:

Clickbank (www.clickbank.com)
Commission Junction (www.cj.com)
Amazon Associates (www.amazon.com/associates)

I have only tried out two of these sites, Commission Junction and Amazon Associates. When I tried out an affiliation with Commission Junction I had a brief run with a blogger blogsite call Great Getaways that was devoted to Travel. I ran several affiliate ads with big names like Travelocity and Priceline and the affiliate terms were really good in my opinion. Commission Junction was easy to use, requiring almost no technical skills, and CJ represents some big names in almost any market that might interest you. However, I did not make a single penny as a Commission Junction affiliate. Homestly, I think it was probably all my fault. Chris will tell you that he can't even get me to fly out to San Francisco for the weekend. So I am probably not the guy to run a travel blogsite. More importantly I had almost no plan for driving traffic to my site and the net is loaded with solid travel sites. (Tripadvisor.com is my fav) I am currently still trying to figure out how to make solid money as an Amazon Associate. Amazon is really easy to use and considering that you are only picking things that you think might interest people visiting your site, the percentages are OK. You start off with a 4% cut of all sales generated from your site that graduates quickly to 7% and then 10%. I have learn more about generating traffic to my site and have sold some stuff as an Amazon Affiliate but, I am still not getting rich by any stretch of the imagination. In addition to what Tim Ferriss recommends in this part of The 4-Hour Workweek, I would suggest adding Google Adsense ads to you site.

Three sites/links that are recommended in The 4-Hour Workweek that I plan on looking into are:

Alibaba (www.alibaba.com)

Tim Ferriss has this to say about Alibaba: "Based in China, Alibaba is the world's largest business-to-business marketplace. From MP3 players for $9 each to red wine for $2 per bottle, this site is the source. If someone here doesn't make it, it probably can't be made.

2. Worldwide Brands (www.worldwidebrands.com)

In the Expanded and Update 4-Hour Workweek Ferris explains that the Worldwide Brands site offers an extensive how-to guide for finding drop ship manufacturers.

Ferriss also recommends Shopster (www.shopster.com) for those cheese finders interested in drop shippers.

For those of you not familiar with the term "drop shipping" - Drop Shipping is when a manufacturer will send a product directly to your customer instead of making you wharehouse products. This is idea for most of us because who has a wharehouse for storing product?

There is a lot more in Tim Ferriss' "The 4-Hour Workweek" (expanded and updated edition). I may provide some thoughts on more of this book later but if you would like to purchase a copy here is the opportunity: