Sometimes all you have to trade on is your very own name, which is exactly the bait one man is setting in order to raise funds for his company. The Florida man has been wearing sponsored T-shirts for various companies for a fee, and now he’s offering up his last name to the highest bidder. [More]
entrepreneurs
13-Year-Old Aspiring Hot Dog Vendor Shut Down By City, Sells Cart At A Profit
By 7.31.12
A Michigan teen’s hot dog cart is a more complex operation than your garden-variety lemonade stand. Wanting to earn some money to help out his disabled parents, the 13-year-old saved up to purchase a hot dog cart, then set up business in downtown Holland. The city promptly shut him down. Thanks to zoning laws designed to protect downtown eateries, food carts can’t set up in the city unless they’re part of an existing restaurant operation. The young entrepreneur is too young for a street vendor’s license, which could have kept the business running. So what did he do next? After attracting national media attention, he sold the cart to a local business, but retains the right to borrow it back for special events that might require hot dogs. [More]
19-Year-Old Lives In AOL Offices For 2 Months, No One Notices
By 5.25.12
You know that co-worker who’s always there when you come in in the morning and also when you leave at night? Maybe their work ethic isn’t as amazing as you think. Maybe they don’t even work there, and are squatting in the office as a free place to sleep, eat, work out, bathe, and work on launching their own tech startup. [More]
Work At Home Without Feeling Isolated
By 2.8.12
Those who work at home tend to make office drones jealous of their supposed freedom, but there’s also a downside to telecommuting. Everyone needs social interaction on some level, and working from home severely limits workers’ opportunities to connect with others. A sense of isolation can set in and drag down the mood at the home office. [More]
Meet The Frat-Boy Entrepreneurs Who Created Four Loko
By 4.26.11
The men who created Four Loko are exactly who you would expect to bring such a strong caffeine-infused booze confection into the world: former frat boys from a large midwestern university who attended college when Red Bull and vodka was king. After a few false starts, their company, Phusion Projects, briefly owned the caffeinated alcohol market, and because of that success got the kind of brand recognition that no company wants. [More]
South Dakota Is Best State For Small Business
By 1.24.11
According to the Small Business & Entrepreneur Council, if you want to start a small business, you should head for the hills of South Dakota. The state has a low crime rate and, according to the SBEC, also has a limited number of bothersome health insurance mandates. Hey, it worked for Phillip Vandamm. [More]
Georgia Woman Plans To Win Foreclosed House Back With Cornbread
By 7.29.10
Many people, facing underemployment and foreclosure on their home, would despair. Not reader Bev. She’s determined to win her house back when it’s sold at auction, and is fighting back with… cornbread. Wait, cornbread? [More]
Self-Described Toy Tester Will Go Through Your Stuff If You Pay Her
By 12.29.09
Every time there’s a warning or recall over lead-tainted toys–and it hasn’t happened much this past year, but check out our archives from a couple of years ago–lots of people get up in arms about not being able to trust the government or big business. Well, one woman has bought herself an X-ray flourescence (XRF) analyzer and now hires her services out to worried families, reports the Washington Post. For a fee, she’ll come to your house, point her gun at your kids’ toys, your heirlooms, the fishtank, whatever you ask her to test, and then tell you whether you should throw it out. [More]
Can't Find Work In Your Field? Move To NYC And Open A Food Cart
By 9.30.09
If you were laid off from your job, or can’t find one in the industry you trained for, you can always sell food to people on sidewalks. That’s what at least two people are doing in New York, while a third has opened a cart to supplement his regular income. Update: But don’t expect to actually make any money, according to this article tipped to us by Zach.
Atheists Sell Pet Care Service To Christians Anticipating The Rapture
By 9.2.09
An atheist in New Hampshire is hiring out pet care services to Christians who believe that there will be a rapture and they will leave behind their pets. He won’t tell Mainstreet whether the business is very successful—he says his clients number “more than one and less than 175,” but it’s certainly an interesting way to bring two traditionally opposing groups together under a common (profit-making) cause.
Revolutionize Your Butt With Winkers Jeans
By 8.21.09
Move over Snuggie, there’s a new clothing-based innovation in town—and instead of hiding your curves under a human fumigation tent, this one turns your butt into fashion fuel and then sets it on fire! Best of all, if you want to be the president of the Winkers club and not just a member, licensing is available. Oh yes, of course there’s a video clip.
Entrepreneurs: Sweeten The Deal To Keep, Get, Customers
By 6.3.09
Add some additional benefits to your standard offer. Offer free shipment, extend your guarantee, or create a more generous return policy.
Two Guys In A Garage Invent Bacon Salt, Quit Their Day Jobs
By 4.23.09
They say recessions are good times for innovation and a time to start your own business, and Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow are proving both true with their invention, Bacon Salt. Building from the simple idea that “everything should taste like bacon,” these two entrepreneurs quit their successful tech jobs and started their alchemical project out of their garage. By showing up at sporting events dressed as bacon and using Facebook and Twitter, they racked up 800 orders in the first week and sold out of Bacon Salt in 6 days. An inspiration for anyone with the entrepreneurial desire sizzling inside them.
