Have you got an idea that seems just too crazy to catch on? There are many small business owners in the world who have succeeded in making a living doing unconventional things – and most often they’re inspired by financial necessity or adversity in their own lives.
According to a recent study by the Kaufman Foundation, touch economic conditions tend to inspire creativity in higher dosages than when times are prosperous. For example, following the banking crisis in 2009, entrepreneurs achieved the highest startup rate in 15 years.
There is nothing to stop your pursuing an idea that has potential, even it is seems crazy. Here are five of the craziest-seeming ideas that were resulted in huge success:
I Do, Now I Don’t
A prime example of a business founded from emotional turmoil, Josh Opperman’s fiancée left him after a three month engagement, heartbroken, and with an obscenely expensive engagement ring to sell. When he tried to return it to the original jeweller in New York, however, they offered him $3,500 when he’d paid more than $10,000 originally. In response, Opperman started I Do, Now I Don’t, a kind of eBay for classy jewellery, and since then the site has been featured on CNN, The Today Show, Fox News and The New York Times (to name a few!).
Masters of the Hunt
Jane Lipps participated in scavenger hunts since she was a little girl and she competed with her parents in charity hunts. She soon started planning hunts for her friends, and fast forward a few years, she met her husband when they were both working for a team-building company. Put two-and-two together and the result is a team building company that organises hunts: DIY, promotional or personalised scavenger hunts!
We Do Lines
The owners of this business started from a place many have been in: a gap in the marketplace. When three business owners from Connecticut tried to get the lines painted in their office parking lot, they couldn’t find a company to do it. So they took up the buckets and brushes themselves, and now have franchises across several states.
S3geeks
There is not only room for growth for those in developed countries, however. In Egypt, for those who go the startup route, there’s plenty of government support and it makes banking sense as entrepreneurs receive tax custom duty exemptions. s3geeks is an entrepreneurship community founded by Mahmoud Ahmed, “gathering programmers, designers, developers and all the creative young people dreaming of a better upper Egypt.” For more information on banking on the Egypt, have a look at HSBC in the Middle East.
Positivedating
There are also light-bulb moments that happen when people meet with adversity. Two students at college in Ohio put together a dating service for HIV positive people, to help those who are affected by the disease cope with social stigma that’s attached to HIV/AIDs. In their first year they signed 2,500 members and advertised extensively, generating revenue well into six figures.
Do you have a great idea for a startup? Tell us about it in the comments.
