Sometimes the wackiest business ideas turn out to be the most profitable. Even the ones your friends and family tend to poke fun at. Remember the Pet Rock™? Here are a few great examples of some of those very businesses.
NationalTrashValet.com
The exception to being one of the wackiest best small businesses to buy is door-to-door valet apartment collection. This is serious stuff. There is plenty of money in trash valet and recycling services for multi-family communities and more. Good money. There are 600,000 apartment communities in the USA and it’s estimated that there are over 300 million individual apartment units. That’s an average of 6 million apartments in each of the 50 United States. And every one of these 300 million doors has the same need: trash valet service.
These are staggering numbers – and GREAT financial news for those who catch the vision. Valet trash franchise opportunities are available – some as high as $30,000 to start. One company has done away with the financial headache of a franchise. National Trash Valet markets a ‘better-than-a-franchise’ program for less than $500 with not additional fees required for those interested in an apartment trash recycling business.
MeetMe.com
Two siblings had a simple idea. Design a social networking site for high school kids. They raised more than $4 million in venture capital money to get things rolling. The company boasts of having some 45 employees, 3 million active memberships and some advertisers who are big hitters. Originally known as myYearbook and now known as MeetMe, they can brag about being one of the 25 most visited websites – #1 among teens. They have since merged with a publicly traded company that runs social networking sites, in a $100 million deal. $100 million deal? Now that’s really excellent money.
LuckyBreakWishbone.com
This has to rank as one of the craziest ideas of all time. Why wait around for Thanksgiving when you could get a wishbone whenever you feel like it? This company manufactures and sells plastic wishbones. Yes, plastic wishbones. So why wait for Thanksgiving to have fun? Now have fun year round. It’s good as a party favor, for office parties, and as gag gifts. They are producing over 30,000 of them a month and sales have exceeded one million dollars.
MilitaryExits.com
Karin Markley’s 15 years of work as a recruiter in an employment agency certainly paved the way for her next venture. Her new idea would be a huge success. She knew that many corporate recruiters valued military backgrounds in their employees, so she set out to provide a one-stop link between companies and military personnel. The results are impressive. MilitaryExits.com is now partnered with US military bases and can now boast of $600,000 in yearly sales.
BedbugBarrier.com.au
Have you ever visited a home or hotel that was infested with bed bugs? If you’ve had that unfortunate experience, then you know how nasty these pesky critters can be. Enter entrepreneur Tony Abrams. He has made a boat-load of cash by creating barriers to keep the bedbugs from reaching the bed sheets. His business, Bed Bug Barriers, manufactures and markets barriers that go underneath the four leg posts of the bed. When the bed bugs attempt to crawl into the bed to bite sleepers, the leg barrier traps the bedbugs where they then perish. Think it’s crazy? He’s made millions with this idea.
GreekGear.com
Joseph Tantillo decided to create an online retail marketing page after reading a periodical in his doctor’s office. The article, relating how to start an internet based store, appealed greatly to him, and that was how he made the big decision to sell Greek Gear. Back in college, Tantillo was a member of a fraternity which helped motivate his decision. He then asked several of his former fraternity members what kind of products they might be interested in purchasing. He began the entire business, setting up an internet store for just $79.95. Their sales are currently well over $1.9 million dollars annually.
As you can see, the best small businesses to buy can be fun, intriguing and wacky. But they all have one thing in common. They can make millions. How wacky is that?
