How crazy is your idea? Do you go forward and prove that your crazy idea has all the makings of a success future? History is littered with tons of success stories that started out as a crazy idea which people laughed and mocked from the start.
Let’s take Bill Gates whose vision of computer in every desk was a ridiculous idea where brightest and top management of IBM found crazy (we all know what happened next after that).
How about Ebay’s start of selling pesticides in the web which morphed into one of the biggest marketplace in the world?
I know we may feel these are exceptions to the rule an average joe would not achieve; I think otherwise as there are lots of people who have made with a little of craziness floating in the air.
Below are some of these crazy success stories I read via Uncommon Business found on 9rules.
One of them made me smile and also had my sister read the story showing the same reaction — this story is about Santa Claus. Why hasn’t he taught about this while I was young?
Santa Pretender Makes $1 Million A Year
Byron Reese Started his company, SantaMail.org, which sells fully personalized letters from Santa Claus all across North America (they’re even postmarked from North Pole, Alaska, to give them an authentic feeling). Reese sold 10,000 letters in 2001, his first year in business. Though holiday sales have increased every subsequent year, he still looked for ways to expand his offering. Now, parents can order birthday cards for their children from Santa as well. The strategy pushed 2005 sales to $1 million.
This is probably the craziest unorthodox idea from a fan:
TV Show Fan Finds A Unique Niche To Profit From Other Fans
So, in 1999, with $3,000 from her savings, she started what initially was a weekend hobby — the Scene on TV Tour, starring Blau as tour guide. Soon after, she renamed it the Manhattan TV & Movie Show, with tourists paying $15 to see sites from hit TV shows and movies.
Like many entrepreneurs, Blau identified a way to turn her passion into a business capitalizing on the passions of others who share her enthusiasm for the big and small screens. The pool of potential customers is deep. In 2005, New York welcomed 17.2 million tourists, each spending an average of $190 per day, according to NYC & Company, the city’s official marketing and tourism organization.
This is another rags to riches story starting from nothing:
Millionaires Who Started With Nothing, Part I
Believe it or not, IP intelligence technology provider Digital Envoy Inc. was spawned from two serious sweet-tooths. Sanjay Parekh, 31, started buying candy from Costco and reselling it to his telecom co-workers when he struck up a friendship with Rob Friedman, 38, general counsel at the company and an Atomic Fireball enthusiast. Soon, their friendship moved beyond candy cravings, and they were bouncing around business ideas.
Millionaires Who Started Out With Nothing, Part II
Tara Krapes, 33, has a business that made at least $2.5 million in sales by the end of 2004. Not bad, considering she began her company in 2002 with $1,050 from her own savings.
Vesta Executive Housing, based in Cincinnati and named for the Roman goddess of hearth and home, offers executives temporary housing for 30 days or more. Krapes has relationships with 42 top-notch apartment complexes in the area. When a client comes to Vesta, Krapes either has space ready for them, or, more often than not, she has to lease a new apartment for 12 months and hope that after her tenant leaves, she can fill it quickly. She almost always does—she currently has zero vacancies.
[tags]Personal Development, Riches, Money, Business, Success, Career[/tags]
