A speciality food store in Brisbane Australia, recently made the headlines by announcing that they were charging $5 for customers to come into their store and browse.

I’m not sure whether it was it was a publicity stunt, or a genuine protest against the number of people who were coming into the shop to check out products before ordering from someone else online, but it raises an interesting question – could you charge customers in a different way?

With more purchases being made online, is it impossible that ‘shops’ become showrooms that you pay to enter in the future? And that’s just one alternative source of revenue for retail businesses aside from product sales.

For example, we recently featured a coffee shop where the coffee was free, but you paid for the time you spent in there – perhaps a reaction to the number of people taking an hour over a filter coffee while taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi. Given the number of people ‘browsing’ magazines in places like WH Smiths, how long before they provide seating and become a paid-for library?

If you can come up with an innovative way to charge for what you do, it could separate your business from the crowd and generate valuable free publicity. Something to think about.

Brown Toilet Paper

I’m not sure whether it’s a colour issue, or the fact that people are sensitive about what they apply to their more delicate areas, but recycled toilet paper isn’t as popular as you might expect.

Cascades Tissue Group in the US hope to change that with a toilet paper called Moka that is made from recycled cardboard boxes. People are accustomed to brown napkins and paper towels, but how receptive they’ll be to brown toilet paper is unclear. Without going into detail, there may be issues.

This is further proof though, that thinking outside of what is traditionally accepted is worth a try. Is your product always a certain size, shape or colour and are there good reasons for that?

A little critical thinking might lead you to the conclusion that there is no logical reason why you can’t do something very different, and doing that will help you stand out from the crowd.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL GET OUT OF THE DOG HOUSE DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

  Dear Streetwise Customer,

I hope you’re keeping safe and well.

This offer is limited, so we are only make it available to our most valued Streetwise customers at the moment.

  Back in the autumn, we alerted a few of our customers to a course, created by a guy making what seemed at the time to be an outrageous prediction.

He predicted the world would soon be gripped by a unprecedented crisis which would create a huge financial opportunity. Crazy eh?

Anyway the course revolved around a strategy which would enable anyone to make £2,803 a month to ‘tick over’ in normal times, but would then transform into a massive fortune maker once the implications of the predicted crisis hit.

Not many people (including me!) believed the prediction, but £2,800 a month is certainly worth having and a number of our customers got on the bandwagon and started doing well with it…and then the crisis came…sooner than anyone thought.

   The big opportunity he planned for is about to hit, and I want as many of our customers as possible to benefit…but there’s a hitch.

  For reasons explained when you take a look at the details here, I can only help NINE people at the moment. But those nine people are going to get something nobody else has been able to get up until today…

     The full programme in one package and at a huge discount!

  For full details take a look here.

www.streetwisenews.com/secret

     
    Very Best Wishes,

John Harrison

Do you think you could start a car repair business for $15. Sahid Khan did, and the way he did it could provide a template for creating a business in many fields. 

SK Motor Syndicate is a one stop shop providing vehicle inspections, servicing, body repairs, interior fabrication, exterior add-ons and everything else the motorists might need. It does none of the work itself, but claims to be a value-adding intermediary between the customer and about 18 authorised service-providers in different parts of Karachi.

Why would a customer involve an intermediary and not deal with the companies themselves?

According to Khan, the company provide a pick-and-drop service along with a seven-day workmanship warranty. They charge customers strictly the going market rates, absorb all risks and get the repair work done from a select group of service-providers at discount rates.

So there you have it, they market the service, pick up the cars and get someone else to do the work – taking a percentage for their trouble. Could you copy something like this in your area? Or how about taking the model and applying it to another market? As a middleman, you can let someone else worry about start-up costs.

Local Video Reviews

Here’s an idea which combines two trends…people love to access reviews and they love to watch videos on You tube. It seems like these are perfect conditions for online video reviews becoming a viable business opportunity. But what do you review? 

It could be anything, but my thought here is that a You tube channel featuring reviews of businesses in a specific locality could build up a regular audience, while being something that a lone entrepreneur could run.

Your channel could be called something really imaginative like ‘Rotherham Reviews’ and feature video reviews of restaurants, cafe’s, pub take-away’s, shop and service providers. Revenue would eventually come from advertisements on the channel.

Whilst I wouldn’t expect one local review site to make a fortune, it could be great fun, combining business with pleasure. And there’s excellent expansion potential. If you can make the ‘Rotherham Reviews’ channel work, why not extend the idea out to ‘Sheffield Reviews and so on.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL COFFEE CAKE  DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

  Dear Streetwise Customer,

I hope you’re keeping safe and well.

This offer is limited, so we are only make it available to our most valued Streetwise customers at the moment.

  Back in the autumn, we alerted a few of our customers to a course, created by a guy making what seemed at the time to be an outrageous prediction.

He predicted the world would soon be gripped by a unprecedented crisis which would create a huge financial opportunity. Crazy eh?

Anyway the course revolved around a strategy which would enable anyone to make £2,803 a month to ‘tick over’ in normal times, but would then transform into a massive fortune maker once the implications of the predicted crisis hit.

Not many people (including me!) believed the prediction, but £2,800 a month is certainly worth having and a number of our customers got on the bandwagon and started doing well with it…and then the crisis came…sooner than anyone thought.

   The big opportunity he planned for is about to hit, and I want as many of our customers as possible to benefit…but there’s a hitch.

  For reasons explained when you take a look at the details here, I can only help NINE people at the moment. But those nine people are going to get something nobody else has been able to get up until today…

     The full programme in one package and at a huge discount!

  For full details take a look here.

www.streetwisenews.com/secret

     
    Very Best Wishes,

John Harrison

Perhaps you thought that your relationship with your partner was something that would just grow, develop and evolve naturally. Well that’s not going to work in today’s busy and high pressured dual-career world according to the people at www.unboxlove.com

The company sells a monthly subscription to couples. It’s a box designed to give them the inspiration and tools to create an evening of unorthodox activities. They say that the ideas will “allow couples to learn about each other, experience something new together, and make memories that will last”.

Couples can open the box together on the night of the date in order to create some excitement and surprise about what they will be doing. Each box costs $50.

The service is only available in the US at the moment, so it could be one to keep tabs on with a view to copying if it becomes successful. As an additional thought, if this ‘relationship-help’ market sector continues to grow, it could be worth thinking about what other services you could provide to enhance personal relationship.

An Unexpected Use For A Sweaty Sock

I’m not sure what I expect you to do with this information I’m about to impart, but I found it fascinating. What would you use if you wanted to trap or kill mosquito’s? Well you could use an expensive device or preparation off the shelf… or you could use a sweaty sock! 

It turns out that mosquito’s are attracted to the smell of sweaty socks. Once African inventor Fredos Okumo discovered this, he set about developing a synthetic chemical which mimics human foot odour and incorporated it in a commercially available trap.

Once lured inside, the insects are poisoned by a powerful insecticide. Before manufacturing his synthetic compound, Okumo baited his prototype traps with dirty socks collected from locals in Isakara, Tanzania. That can’t have been a pleasant job.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL SIMPLICITY DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

  Dear Streetwise Customer,

I hope you’re keeping safe and well.

This offer is limited, so we are only make it available to our most valued Streetwise customers at the moment.

  Back in the autumn, we alerted a few of our customers to a course, created by a guy making what seemed at the time to be an outrageous prediction.

He predicted the world would soon be gripped by a unprecedented crisis which would create a huge financial opportunity. Crazy eh?

Anyway the course revolved around a strategy which would enable anyone to make £2,803 a month to ‘tick over’ in normal times, but would then transform into a massive fortune maker once the implications of the predicted crisis hit.

Not many people (including me!) believed the prediction, but £2,800 a month is certainly worth having and a number of our customers got on the bandwagon and started doing well with it…and then the crisis came…sooner than anyone thought.

   The big opportunity he planned for is about to hit, and I want as many of our customers as possible to benefit…but there’s a hitch.

  For reasons explained when you take a look at the details here, I can only help NINE people at the moment. But those nine people are going to get something nobody else has been able to get up until today…

     The full programme in one package and at a huge discount!

  For full details take a look here.

www.streetwisenews.com/secret

     
    Very Best Wishes,

John Harrison

There’s no doubt that there are big savings to be made by shopping at warehouse style outlets like Costco, but it’s not for everyone. A lot of people live too far away to make travelling viable, and the shopping experience can leave a lot to be desired. It’s this juxtaposition that formed the basis of Monstersaving.com, a New York based business recently set up by Michael Eberstadt. 

The company promise is simple; order from the website by 10.00am and they will pick up your order from Costco and deliver it the same day. No travelling, no mixing with the great unwashed, no worrying about your car in the car park, no contending with the grumpy checkout assistant.

Of course, for all this convenience, there’s a penalty. Eberstadt works out what a customer would typically pay for, say a bumper pack of toilet roll in Manhattan, looks at the Costco price, and splits the saving. But for people who can’t go to somewhere like Costco, or don’t want to, it’s a very valuable service.

Could you do something like this in your area? With people being increasingly both time stressed and cost sensitive, I can see a need for this sort of service in many areas of the UK

No Blood No Dress

You often hear people say they’d give their right arm for this that or the other. They don’t mean it of course – it’s just a figure of speech. But if you want to get hold of one of the limited editions created by Dutch fashion label, The Red Rail, you’ll need to give blood! 

The company will only sell their creations if you become a registered blood donor. The programme was created to draw attention to the shortage of young blood donors in the Netherlands, but it seems to have a wider commercial application.

Is there some way you could link your product or service to a worthy cause, and perhaps restrict sales to people who display a sympathy for that cause? If there is you’ll not only help the cause in question, but also attract a whole new group of buyers who want to be associated with the initiative.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL GET TO KNOW YOURSELF DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Dear Streetwise Customer,

  Imagine if your betting profits were a nailed on 100% certainty…that you were guaranteed to never lose a bet…and that there was a totally fool proof system you could deploy that would only ever win or break even at worst. Well thanks to a rule which every bookmaker in the UK is forced to follow, you don’t have to imagine it.

                 Because It’s The Loophole To End All Loopholes! 

And for reasons I’ll explain fully, it’s a loophole that’s open to anyone and everyone with an internet connection…and it will be open forever.

 Here’s your chance to find out about this secret loophole for yourself, because Nick has come up with a unique offer that will put almost £300 in your pocket…even if you prove him wrong!  

For full details Visit:

www.streetwisenews.com/loopholes

   Take a look now. You’re going to love this one!

     
    Very Best Wishes,

John Harrison

Before the internet came along, opportunities to work in journalism were limited. The only way to find an audience for your words was via mainstream media. The online arena has opened up a whole new world for would-be journalists with myriad opportunities.

One such opportunity is being exploited by Tennessee-based Thomas Scott, whose company Brand Journalists provides online blogs and content for local companies.

Brand Journalists offers blog and web content, ghostwriting services and reporting on the human stories that make companies interesting to their customers. For example, for an insurance broker, Scott’s team blogs about issues related to city life, such as what to do if the bath in the apartment upstairs overflows through your ceiling.

“If you try to sell renter’s insurance as an agent, people tune out,” he says. “But when you talk about the coffee they drink and neighbourhoods they like, and how important it is to have renter’s insurance as part of that story, it connects with people.”

Every company, these days, has a website; many have blogs and social media interaction with their customers. The majority are boring.

Is this an area you could specialise in – providing interesting content for companies in your area, who have neither the time nor inclination to do it themselves?

Buff Mom’s

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how lucrative the weight loss market has become. If you’re in the “all you need to do is eat less and move more” camp, you’re probably at a loss to understand why people spend so much money on it. But they do. So how do you cash in? 

Well you need an angle. One business we came across recently is targeting the ‘new mothers’ market. It makes sense when you think about it. By definition, every woman gets out of shape in pregnancy.

Most want to get their figure back. Go to www.buffmom.com and they’ll help you do it. It’s a clearly defined market niche and a catchy name, so I can see it doing well.

So is there a market you could create a programme for? Companies like Weightwatchers are all encompassing. It seems to me there have to be opportunities for niche businesses targeting particular groups-perhaps based on age, (The 40+ programme) lifestyle, (The couch potato programme) occupation, (The Office Worker Programme) or reason for being overweight (The Beer Gut Programme).

I’m not suggesting these are ready to go concepts, but hopefully you get the idea. By narrowing your focus, the target market will feel your programme is exactly right for them.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL CHEER UP THE LONELY DAY!

PUBLISHERS NOTICE

Dear Streetwise Customer,

  Imagine if your betting profits were a nailed on 100% certainty…that you were guaranteed to never lose a bet…and that there was a totally fool proof system you could deploy that would only ever win or break even at worst. Well thanks to a rule which every bookmaker in the UK is forced to follow, you don’t have to imagine it.

                 Because It’s The Loophole To End All Loopholes! 

And for reasons I’ll explain fully, it’s a loophole that’s open to anyone and everyone with an internet connection…and it will be open forever.

 Here’s your chance to find out about this secret loophole for yourself, because Nick has come up with a unique offer that will put almost £300 in your pocket…even if you prove him wrong!  

For full details Visit:

www.streetwisenews.com/loopholes

   Take a look now. You’re going to love this one!

     
    Very Best Wishes,

John Harrison