Is one of your financial goals to become a millionaire and make big money online, but all you have is a chockful of weird small business ideas? Well, don’t be discouraged as all may not be lost.
What this piece shows is that while a lot of online ideas may seem like a long shot, a percentage of them actually do work out and succeed. What’s interesting is that ALL online businesses, whether funny or not, need certain services and tools to get started. To help you out, here are some great resources to help you launch your venture:
Essential Online Business Resources
Web Hosting Provider
To get your idea off the ground, you’ll need a cheap and reliable web hosting provider to host your web site or blog. Some great options? Hostgator, LunarPages, BlueHost and FatCow (get $10 off). Along with great customer service, they also provide you with good deals on all-in-one tools and services including site design, templates and domain registration.
Domain Registration
There are a few ways to make money with internet domains. One is to trade them: there are people who get into the business of buying and selling domains and have made good money doing so. Or if you’re a serious entrepreneur, getting your own domain should be a top consideration in order to establish your credibility in your online space. Some low cost options: Go Daddy, Dotster, Network Solutions.
Now that you know how to get started with your business, let me regale you with some humorous ideas! I scoured the web for the silliest business concepts and have collected them here.
Do you recall Simon Cowell’s brainchild called The American Inventor which was a television series that aired last summer? If you don’t know about this show, it was a take on American Idol except the contestants were inventors or innovators and the audience was supposed to vote for the winning concept, which would then receive a huge $1 million prize. The prize money was intended to take the winning prototype to implementation and production. Boy, did they showcase some nutty inventions there.
I’ve had many harebrained designs before, each one shot down handily by people I’ve confessed them to. But there’s a part of me that sometimes wonders, well… What if? Could my ideas have a shot?
Could I be nurturing a misplaced optimism from some of the success stories I’ve come across? You see, there are those who had dumb ideas that made them tons of money anyway, such as the following (flavored words by John Deprice which I edited slightly):
The Top 10 Dumbest Online Business Ideas That Made It Big
1. Million Dollar Homepage
Take out a page with a 1,000,000 pixels. Charge a dollar per pixel. That’s perhaps the dumbest idea for an online business anyone could have possibly come up with. Still, Alex Tew, a 21-year-old who came up with the idea, is now a millionaire. Check out the original page. Because of the success of this endeavor, the expected copycats have popped out of the woodwork.
2. SantaMail
Ok, how’s this for a brilliant idea. Get a postal address in the North Pole, Alaska, pretend you are Santa Claus and charge parents 10 bucks for every letter you send to their kids. Well, Byron Reese has sent over 200,000 letters since the start of the business in 2001, which makes him a couple of million dollars richer.
3. Doggles
Create goggles for dogs and sell them online? Boy, this IS the dumbest idea for a business. How in the world did they manage to become millionaires and have shops all over the world with that one? Beyond me.
4. LaserMonks
LaserMonks.com is a for-profit subsidiary of the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank, an eight-monk monastery in the hills of Monroe County, 90 miles northwest of Madison. Yeah, real monks refilling your cartridges. Hallelujah! Their 2005 sales were $2.5 million! Praise the Lord.
5. AntennaBalls
You can’t sell antenna balls online. There is no way. And surely it wouldn’t make you rich. But this is exactly what Jason Wall did, and now he is a millionaire.
6. FitDeck
Create a deck of cards featuring exercise routines, and sell it online for $18.95. Sounds like a disastrous idea to me. But former Navy SEAL and fitness instructor Phil Black reported 2005 sales of $4.7 million. Surely beats what the military pays.
7. PositivesDating.Com
Disclaimer: I don’t exactly think this is a dumb idea, in fact I think it’s probably a good one, the premise being a matchmaking site for HIV positive people. At any rate, it’s a very well-meaning service which is mentioned as part of the original list I stumbled upon.
How about a dating service for HIV positive people? Paul Graves and Brandon Koechlin has filled a niche by creating a dating site for HIV positive folks in 2005. Projected 2006 sales were $110,000, and the two hope to have 50,000 members by their two-year mark.8. Designer Diaper Bags
Christie Rein was tired of carrying diapers around in a freezer bag. The 34-year-old mother of three found herself constantly stuffing diapers for her infant son into freezer bags to keep them from getting scrunched up in her purse. Rein wanted something that was compact, sleek and stylish, so in November 2004, she sat down with her husband, Marcus, who helped her design a custom diaper bag that’s big enough to hold a travel pack of wipes and two to four diapers. With more than $180,000 in sales for 2005, Christie’s company, Diapees & Wipees, has bags in 22 different styles, available online and in 120 boutiques across the globe for $14.99.
9. TruGamerz
Faux-suede padded covers for game controllers and gel thumb pads for analog joysticks? No one will buy that. Forget it. The product proved to be so popular, it got picked up by Target.com and Walmart.com and annual sales now exceed half a million dollars.
10. Lucky Wishbone Co.
Fake wishbones. Now, this stupid idea is just destined to flop. Who in the world needs FAKE PLASTIC wishbones? A lot of people, it turns out. Now producing 30,000 wishbones daily (they retail for 3 bucks a pop) Ken Ahroni, the company founder, pegged 2006 sales to reach $1 million.
But the reality is that most dumb ideas don’t get traction and are quickly shelved because they couldn’t get funding.
10 Dumb Business Ideas Pitched to Venture Capitalists
That didn’t get anywhere….
- Side-ejecting ejection seats
What the heck is this?- Online graveyard registries
- An in-flight magazine detailing all the noises heard during air travel, with explanations for each buzz, rattle and click
- A site for used pet toys: eBay crossed with Pets.com
Wait a sec. What ever happened to that Pets.com sock puppet?
- An electronic thoroughbred horse to teach people how to become jockeys or just learn how to ride race horses for fun. I’m guessing it’s similar to a mechanical bull.
- Lifelike robot doll that would talk and interact with others
A shame it never saw the light of day. Sounds like it would have been the best toy robot we’d ever come across. But they’re doing stuff like this in Japan already. But we’re talking androids here, not dolls! I actually went to school with this guy who’s an expert in this field.
- All about ME!
An entrepreneur wanted $10 million to fund a movie and a book about himself. Well he could just start a blog….
- How about $30 million for an original animated film?
Are you Pixar? Then yes.- Talking sneakers
- An airline with WiFi on every plane
So some ideas took off and some floundered.
But no worries, entrepreneurs still keep trying…and creating….and inventing… Perhaps by just taking matters into their own hands and striking it out on their own with their own capital and elbow grease, they may still make it anyway! Dumb ideas have made money before, as we have just learned, so who knows — sometimes, it’s a surprise what clicks with the multitude out there.
If they can do it, so can I.
If I ever come up with an outrageous concept, I may give it a second thought and not just toss it asunder. What’s ridiculous to you may actually fly with some people and have a viable market somewhere. So if I were to pursue such a crazy thought (and yes, I’ll know if it sounds stupid…), I’ll first make sure it requires the lowest effort, risk and minimal investment so I won’t feel bad if it flops.
If anyone out there has had a weird idea that made it big… or not, how about sharing?
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KUDOS to all those who still use their minds.. and GO USA for showing the we still have talent right here in the USA!
I never thought that I would audition for ABC’S AMERICAN INVENTOR SHOW and make it past 10,000 other ideas and make it into the top 12.
I think, if you believe in your idea and show how the product has a real NEED in the world, then GO FOR IT!
The CHIA PET and PET ROCK were huge hits… I HAD BOTH.. how about you?
My HEADLINE IT! will revolutionize the HAT, HELMET and WIG INDUSTRY no doubt! At first many of the judges didn’t “GET IT” until I was given the opportunity to show the NEED and the BENEFITS of wearing a light, disposable liner under your hat, helmet, or wig, to stop the perspiration for running into your eyes or from saturating the item!
My idea is SIMPLE…. yet, I was using tissue under my hats and wigs to do what my invention does WONDERFULLY…. and now, my idea is going to hit the shelves in JUNE of this year with a BANG.
If I didn’t pursue my dream and follow my heart… other would still be using pantiliners under their helmets… like they do in the military. Now, they have a HIP, COOL… HIGH TECH WICK WEAR product that will give them better benefits and more comfort!
It took a bald woman from Wisconsin to come up with this idea… go figure!
My new book is coming out in a few months…with BACK SCENES info from the AMERICAN INVENTOR TV SHOW….. and how anyone can be successful.. the book is BALD IS BEAUTIFUL, MY Journey to Becoming!
Hope that you can all read and be motivated to be your best…and succeed with your GOD given talents!
KEEP THINKING and KEEP INVENTING EVERYONE… GOD BLESS US ALL!
Smiles!
JODI…. ABC’S AMERICAN INVENTOR TOP FINALIST!
Jodi! Amazing — I remember you so well in the American Inventor! Wow. I was impressed with your head liner and saw how sincerely you wanted to help cancer survivors and people with alopecia(?) with your invention. I also saw how it would be well used by firemen and construction workers.
Kudos to you!
I’m glad you have moved forward with your idea and I am pleased you found my site to show us what you’ve accomplished since the show.
Good luck with your product and wish you much success.
It’s amazing the things that can take off. Sometimes you just have to take a chance that other people will like the odd ideas you have and just go for it.
Sure know I’d like to have a strange idea that took off.
santamail.org??? what a brilliant concept!
thanks for a great post.
Doggles just beats me…!! Eye opener !!
[...] Well, SVB at The Digerati Life wonders the same about the million dollar page and several other dumb business ideas that raked in the big bucks (or not!). Its a fascinating piece that will, at least for a short amount of time, have you dreaming of wild ideas that you’ve always had, that just maybe will make you a millionaire some day. or not.
[...]
Here’s one for you… Cow Pie Clocks, for the ones you love. I haven’t personally checked out their earnings but I’ve been told that they rake in the manure. They can be found here: http://www.cowpieclocks.com
Rick, well that’s rich! Hahaha!
I love top ten lists like these. I remember seeing that Santa Mail idea in action years ago and wishing, just like everyone else, that I’d been there first. I wonder if there’s a modern version that sends a “genuine” e-mail from Santa for (sucker) parents who don’t know how to go get their own e-mail account somewhere and fake it on their own? I don’t know, but there’s a place where you can e-mail santa if you want… http://www.emailsanta.com/ I wonder how they make money on that site?
Awesome post!
I love reading about crazy ideas that make it big. But I would venture to guess that these are a small percentage of those ideas that tried and never quite made it. I have a super cool idea (or so I thought) where with all this legislation a constituent could contact their Representative or Senator in email, via mail, and fax about an issue they supported or disliked - it was totally viral. Problem I ran into was I never found an organization that wanted to sponsor it. In retrospect I never thought of charging the customer. Lots of ideas, most depend upon execution and timing.
Dave
http://businessadvicedaily.com
hi everyone,
I love reading those top 10 Dumbest Online Business Ideas. It’s so funny.
Ideas are always in us but are some are undiscovered yet and some might don’t give it a try. There’s nothing wrong in trying though. Let our ideas be shared.
Thanks to you..
Hi everyone
Like the site. Been searching for crazy ways to earn an internet income for awhile now. Have a crazy idea myself to share.
Now we all have heard of electric cars that run on gas/electricity stored in batteries and demand that you recharge them every so often.
Imagine if you had a car that contained a small windmill within your front fender that generated electricity and stored it within your batteries thereby never having to stop and recharge your car.
We’ve all seen how slowly these (cabin wind generators) units turn over to supply power. Imagine the power you would generate from a miniature windmill in your front grill moving at 80 km hour.
Not sure if this will ever work but why not create an automobile that is “self-supplying” of power as it moves down the highway. No more plugging your car in every night and once your hybrid car gets its initial shot of gas to get it rolling it can generate it’s on power and never need refuelling.
Just a thought and before people begin knocking it down remember I have no idea of hoe electricity works - do you??? LOL
John Brewer
Planning on living long
enough to reach Retirement Age???
I heard that Alex Tew is a marketing specialist in fact.
i like your article. so there are many ways to be a millionaire.
Okay… I admit it. I went for the pixel idea - twice even!
I bought some pixels first for website promotion, and later I even bought a cheap knockoff of the pixel script on eBay.
I never put the script to use of course. It’s gathering dust with 1001 other scripts and programs I’ve bought over the years.
Maybe another dumb idea would be to set up a site where everyone can trade their unused programs for other peoples’ unused programs.
You just have to be inspired after reading through those inventions….hmmmm??!!
Great post, thanks for sharing….di
Great Post. A good one to add to the list of dumb ideas making it big was th Pet Rock. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Rock
6 month fad generating over a million
Fascinating collection. It just goes to show there isn’t one cookie cutter method for creating a successful enterprise.
Classic list of ideas. Thank you for sharing them. Just goes to show that even the stupidest of ideas can make money.
Warm Regards,
Rob Lawrence
SVB: hoho, so true!
How about a smart business to start that could make you rich? Starting a carpet cleaning business?
Too boring, maybe? Too practical? Too obvious?
Ev
Well, it’s a nice thought John, but what you are describing amounts to a perpetual motion machine. Won’t work given drag and resistance. Now, I suppose if you were driving into a hurricane, and had a big ass windmill attached to your car, it might be a different story.
Yeah, one idea I had which I wish I had mentioned about 10 years ago is that little bra holder they have now. It slides onto a woman’s bra on the back of it and holds the straps together. It keeps the straps from being when an open dress is worn…damn, someone perfected it and now its all over t.v.
Need help here. I have a couple products to market. I have one joke gift, patent will be done in a few days. It is a great idea for a dumb thing but it will make money. I am not greedy and my biggest need is the know-how of marketing it fast and effectively before the renegades start copying. I would really appreciate the help…meaning possibly a partner of sorts or if someone wants a percentage for marketing, etc. Somebody please contact me. Serious ones only. Thanks. Ohio project for the usa. Please email me at mmikee1@aol.com