Neurons@Work

Some of you may have heard of women accessories and bags made from recycled rags, papers and other discarded materials. However you may not have across accessories and bags from discarded bar code labels.  

Made from thousands of different bar code labels, Ecoist handbags and bracelets are fun quite trendy to look at both far away and up close. An innovative way of making use of waste. The only slight problem is that the barcode scanners will have a hard time locating the real label.

Website: www.ecoist.com

There is a new trend in town. Little kids, baby boomers and seniors are coming back to the knitting craft but the upswing in knitting is fueled by college-age people. It is becoming the hip thing to do now. The retro movement is on the rise bringing back elements from the 60s and 70s. More and more people want to do something with their hands and have a finished product. People are claiming that knitting helps to distress while having fun at the same time.

With new trends come new opportunities. Combining a retro art and modern day Internet technology, entrepreneurs can take this opportunity to create something unique for themselves.

Consider Ravelry, an online knitting community that provides information to their members and also provides hobbyist an online meeting place.

Website: https://www.ravelry.com

Not too long ago, I wrote about a company called InQBox, a retail outlet that rent out space for minipreneurs. Another company has followed the same footpath but this time the focus is placed on fashion designers instead.

Beehive Co-op strives to nurture the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of emerging designers by providing retail space for budding fashion designers to display their work. The designers do not have to fork out large initial investment to open up their store. The retails space also comes with retail assistants that provides sales support that drives down operating costs for new start-ups. Beehive even offer online shop to attract online shoppers.

Another great idea that might just work for some of you. 

Website: www.beehiveco-op.com/

With more and more people getting into DIY, there is a growing trend in online searches looking for information on DIY (Do-it-yourself). Hardware stores and suppliers are joining in the Internet bandwagon to start capturing these online shoppers. From building materials, construction tools, solar panels and spring plungers, these online entrepreneurs tapped into a huge market without the need to physical open stores that will increase operating cost thus driving down profits.  

Consider online mega-hardware stores such as “Do It Best”. They have everything that you need for DIY making it a one stop center. So to all hardware suppliers out there, wait no more.

 Website: doitbest.com/main.aspx

As more and more company becomes more reliant on the public information to contribute  ideas, crowdsourcing has become a very real and important business idea. The basic idea of crowdsourcing is to tap into the collective intelligence of the public at large to complete business-related tasks that a company would normally either perform itself or outsource to a third-party provider. Whether it is to get ideas for a new business idea, a new product or the design of the next laptop memory, crowdsourcing has become a source of innovation.

Consider Cambrian House, an organization that focuses on developing companies that emerged from their crowdsourced discoveries. Their portfolio includes Gwabs™, Greedy or Needy™, FilmRiot™ and the Chaordix™ crowdsourcing platform. So the next time you hit a road block, try crowdsourcing.

They say diamond rings are a girl’s best friend. If that is true, how do you get a perfect diamond ring for your wife or girl friend.

Many wedding rings that are available in the jewelry shop come readily made and there is not much you can do to customize it. There are certain specialty shops that offers customized rings but only a few have capitalized on the world of Internet.

Consider Mondera an online diamond engagement and wedding ring specialist. They allow buyers to customize their rings online and it will be delivered to your door step or for collection. Great way to tap into the online market.

Website: mondera.com/buildring_newer/buildring_main.asp

What do you get when you combine, Internet, User-Generated and Licensed Content and On-Demand Manufacturing? You get Yerzies.

Yerzies is an online marketplace that allows anyone to create, purchase or sell their own customized tee shirts and other apparel items. By combining advanced new manufacturing techniques with an innovative approach to crowd sourcing, this company provides users a wide array of creative options including printing, metallic foils, flocks, glitters, glow-in-the-dark materials and stitched processes. When the design is complete, users can purchase as little as one piece or sell their creations to the Yerzies community and keep the profits. The t-shirt makes a very good personalized gifts.

For those who have dreams of becoming a fashion designer, this may be a good place to start.

Website: www.yerzies.com/

Sometimes, it pays to be specialized in something instead of trying to be good in everything. Consider Quantum, the world’s largest supplier of tape drives.

Founded in 1980, Quantum is the leading global storage company specializing in backup, recovery and archive solutions. All of Quantum’s resources are dedicated to providing backup, recovery and archive solutions such as tape drives. Quantum offers focused expertise and customer-driven innovation to increase its competitive advantage against storage generalists such as system OEMs and primary storage providers. In addition, Quantum has the global scale and scope to support a worldwide customer base along with a comprehensive portfolio of systems, software, devices and services.

So the next time you are starting a business, make sure that you don’t end up spreading yourself too thin.

There are many entrepreneur communities out there that caters for a large audience. However, “IN GOOD COMPANY” offers opportunity mainly for women entrepreneurs. They offer members the opportunity to meet, network, and learn fellow community members.

They of business-building seminars, workshops and business bites lunches expand your expertise while delivering ideas and tools for success.Cocktail minglers and salon forums provide fun and flavorful networking opportunities. A fun way to building up your business.

Talking about specialty shop, this company sells everything under the sun for horse care. JeffersEquine.com aims to provide the best discount horse supply and horse care product selections available anywhere. Products range from horse supplements, equine products, tack, vaccines and medicines.

With their centre of operations in Dothan, Alabama, they are one of the largest privately owned catalog and eCommerce animal health supply retailers. Even if you can’t find the horse product you need, you can put in a personal request and their customer service representatives will do their best to meet your needs.

There are many horse owners out there in this region as well that may need this kind of one stop centre. This may be your next breakthrough.