The 10 business ideas I had after quitting my old job
It’s strange how the fear caused by not having a 9 to 5 job turbo charges your thinking on how to make your money. Below are 10 ideas that I have been a part of. I have given a snippet of why I thought they were workable ideas. Feel free to comment.
1. Advertising agency - The Russian market is far from saturated with specialist agencies. If anything there are not enough. There is always room for an agency that is ready to work hard to find efficient simple solutions to complex business tasks. It is also what I know and where my experience is…simples.
2. Mini Hotel - In fact the original idea here was to set up a Hostel. The number of hostels in Moscow number approximately 25. This is a very small amount considering the number of people travelling to Moscow looking for cheap accommodation. Foreign tourists also have slim pickings when it comes to budget accommodation in Moscow.
3. Travel Agency - The main idea here was promoting travel within Russia. A possible reason why some foreigners do not perceive Russia as a possible holiday/travel destination is because of the lack of a concise and simple online resource where you can plan both your trips and buy tickets for public or private transport. Also many of the online resources that do exist simply look terrible while the international resources only skim the surface.
4. Audiobook distributer - This is an area that has yet to kick-off in Russia. Although audible.com is huge in both the US and UK, a similar site on the Russian market does not yet exist. Although the market does not quite yet exist, students and traditionalists who listen to Pushkin and Tolstoy’s stories through their earphones could be persuaded to make audiobooks their first choice for consumption of all literature.
5. Erotic Audiobook publisher - I know I know, a strange one, but come on! Think about it! No one knows what you’re listening to on your mp3 player…as long as it’s not too loud.
6. Self help author - I have read such a huge number of business, marketing, self help and inspirational literature, I am very confident that with the right structure I could compile the ultimate self help book. It would take methods adapted from everything from the Quit smoking book by Alan Carr to methods used by certain religions. (Yes, I consider some religions to be self help)
7. Professional swimmer - Following Tim Feriss’ lecture at TED, where he ‘hacks’ swimming, I have been following the same instructions and am getting pretty good. I feel the natural next step is to compete in the London 2012 Olympics.
8. Freelance Agent for freelancers - Having suddenly become a freelance Account Manager, I had to think of some kind of value that I could provide to agencies and advertisers, apart from my unique ability to make timing plans and cost estimation excel spread sheets. If I could become the middleman between freelancers and agencies then there would surely be a fee made payable to myself for a decent percentage of what is paid to the freelancers for ‘hooking the whole thing up’.
9. Concentration Pill Supplier - This was an idea for the UK market. Given that a person belongs to certain groups of consumers throughout his life, each of us is an expert in the consumer groups that he has participated in. I have been a young advertising professional, an amateur sports lover, a jogger, a tv sitcom watcher - I therefore understand the wide range of barriers, drivers and needs of the people that are part of each of these groups. I was also a student that couldn’t concentrate for long enough to revise efficiently for exams. That was until my mother read that a combination of 2 natural Chinese herbs helps you concentrate for long periods of time. I figure I just put these 2 natural herbs together and market them to students and their mothers.
10. Startup Consultant - Having gone through all the thought processes required to bring the above ideas close to launch and in 3 cases to the stage of ‘stable income’ I may be able to give others a few pointers, for a fee of course.
