So while you are trying to figure out what the next big thing is this year or concluding that blogging isn’t quite what you had in mind, you may want to start planning for how to take advantage of the changes in our economy at both the national and international level.
Money for the immediate future, despite government’s best interests, will tend to be tight. People who are trying to crawl out out of debt will be watching what they spend money on, they may not have a steady income stream and they may actually be between jobs or need extra money.
So what can you do to make money or stay profitable? Think smaller scale. People will not be spending as much for items. The cliche use to be “Well the rich can always afford big items no matter what the economy is”. True, but are you set up to sell super yachts to the Sultans? If not my suggestion would be to aim for the stars but be content if you get off the earth or even out of your neighborhood.
Think of what people who are trying to save money might want to buy or use and fill that niche. It doesn’t have to be big, it can be small. If you can come up with one small labor saving idea that you can market or package or manufacture, you will be on your way to starting your business.
One way to make money or at least get an income stream is to come up with something small and affordable that fills a niche. Here in Southern California we have had implemented hands free cell phone devices to comply with driving law changes. Companies have exploded with Bluetooth compliant devices to help drivers comply, because let’s face it, once you start yakking and doing business on the phone you probably won’t stop – though personally I think you should and that is the subject for another blog. One nice item that made it to the market was a handle that fits universally behind any cell phone and it can clip by itself on your belt or inside of a purse. There is a self sticking hook that can fit in your car and you can set it to be hands free. The problem is that you still need to hit a button and that may not make it as compliant as a headset but you still need to remove one hand from the steering wheel to hit the earpiece button to turn on the cell that way.
It can’t cost that much to manufacture, after all, it looks like a plastic hook and plastic mini-lasso. It retails at places for US$9 so there looks to be a lot of room for mark-up and profit for everybody. If the manufacturers eventually get the price down so it is in the dollar stores, there might be a lot more sales than at nine bucks.
Anything to save time or comfort people is also a great business idea. People who have to care for the elderly or special needs need inexpensive items in their lives to help them out. They are gouged to begin with because a lot of companies hope for insurance reimbursement. There is a huge and growing niche for anything that can help special needs people or the elderly communicate, walk, talk or take care of themselves inexpensively. Trying to take care of cleaning needs for special needs people is like trying to take care of infants. There is a lot of diaper changing and that gets to be tiring and messing. Special needs and elderly people who need to be lifted can be aided with hoists and special chairs but currently they are expensive. Anything that can hit a lower price point would be accepted by the market with open arms and open wallets!
So the take away from today’s blog is aim for the stars but if you just land on the roof of your house or apartment, you have done okay.
Stay healthy and sane!
Kim Isaac Greenblatt
You are reading Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable, and he is saying that the next big thing is small.