| 200 Business IdeasMore Than Articles

Two Hundred 'quick and simple' ideas. The purpose of these ideas is to get your brain thinking. Often the ideas seem a bit crazy and unrealistic - almost too simple. But.... the intention is for these ideas to act as a trigger, making you say something like: "That idea's ridiculous, but if I change it around a bit I could..."

1. Begin an enterprise which deals in new and old American and British comics. This business might: 1) sell comics by post from a catalogue; 2) operate a comics of the month club for specialised collectors; and 3) run a comics stall at fairs and antique markets.
2. Write to overseas publishers of English language newsletters and offer to act as the distributor for their newsletter in this country. In your letter to the publishers outline the benefits they will gain if they let you distribute their newsletter.
3. Start a service which cleans wire baskets and supermarket trolleys. Wire baskets and trolleys often spend most of the day on a dusty floor or outside in a street open to the elements. This combined with the net-like quality of the wire encourage the accumulation of dust and germs.
4. Use wooden jigsaw pieces to make earrings and necklaces. Add a hand painted design to the side of the jigsaw not covered by a part of the picture. Call your goods jigsaw puzzle jewellery. Sell this jewellery from a stall at fairs or get it stocked at trendy shops.
5. Take metal rods and tubes of different diameters and cut into slices. Arrange the slices to make pictures and patterns. Mount these pictures and sell as craft work. Or produce kits for making pictures with slices of rods and tubes. Use mail order to sell these kits to craft workers.
6. Earn an income from writing articles or books about starting a business and making money. Sell the manuscripts to publishers of business opportunity books, newsletters, magazines and newspapers. For a start, the publisher of this book will welcome any manuscripts.
7. Set up a business which produces a quality audio cassette library of nursery rhymes. Alternatively, produce a series of cassettes which feature X-rated versions of nursery rhymes. Sell these cassettes by either getting them stocked at book shops, or starting a monthly club.
8. Compile and publish a monthly bulletin which informs subscribers of poetry competitions they are eligible to enter at home and abroad. Target your campaign at practising poets for recruiting subscribers to this bulletin.
9. Bring out a series of plans for woodworkers, soft toy makers, leather workers and other craft workers. Either sell printed copies of these plans at wholesale prices, or sell the reproduction rights. So now any craft worker or hobbyist can start a mail order business selling plans.
10. Publish a 'Which?'-type of newsletter about newsletters. As the number of newsletters and subscribers is ever increasing, there is a gap in the market for a newsletter which comments on and judges the value of other newsletters.
11. Begin an enterprise which makes model paper products for dolls and dolls' houses. The model products might include: newspapers, money, stationery, serviettes, paper hats, Christmas cards, etc. Sell these products by mail order to doll makers and collectors.
12. Write a non-fiction book which may, for example, be about a hobby. Pay a book printer to produce copies of the book. Sell these books to the people who would be interested in the contents. You might, for example, place ads in hobby magazines.
13. Give personal tuition in your own home on how to write good English. Advertise your teaching service by placing cards in the windows of local newsagents. In your advertising, point out the advantages of taking your course, such as getting a better job and helping children with homework.
14. Start a singles contact magazine or newsletter. Each issue might include both small ads from people looking for partners and editorial to interest single people. Use press and magazine advertising to build up a list of subscribers.
15. Set up a holiday companion introduction service. Your service matches and introduces single people who do not have anyone to go on holiday with. Place classified ads in numerous publications to attract clients. Or produce a publication which lists people looking for holiday companions.
16. Write and publish a newsletter for those who want to start a successful business. The newsletter might, for example, discuss effective ways of: selling, managing, generating ideas, locating suppliers and finding customers. Use your local library service to research these topics.
17. Begin a craft enterprise which turns out wire craft ornaments. These ornaments are free-standing, 3-D objects which consist entirely of wire: the wire makes the outlines. These ornaments might look like aeroplanes, helicopters, men, animals, boats, bicycles or people's first names.
18. Start a mail order business which promotes the craft of making ornaments and models from shaping wire. Design and make up a complete introductory kit for beginners. Include this kit in your catalogue as well as tools, design ideas and raw materials for wire craft workers.
19. Make football rosettes and get them stocked at newsagents and sports shops. Each rosette might be placed in a cellophane packet or polythene bag.
20. Produce a series of storytelling videos. An actor or actress reads classic novels directly to the camera. Hire out these videos by post. For example, a person might borrow videos of an actor reading 'War and Peace', 'Wuthering Heights' or 'Treasure Island'.
21. Start a venture which organises river or coastal boat trips for: business parties, wedding receptions, anniversaries, birthday parties, etc. Your service does things like: organises transport to the boat; books the caterer; hires entertainers and waiting staff, etc.
22. If you can play a musical instrument, earn money from providing background music at: restaurants, pubs, wine bars, tea rooms, hotel breakfasts, amusement arcades or ice skating rinks. Also play during the intervals at theatres or cinemas.
23. Sell copies of theatrical plays by post. Put together a wide range of new and second hand publications and produce a catalogue. Advertise your catalogue in both the theatre press and theatre programmes.
24. Buy and sell second hand compact discs. Buy collections of discs by post and use local ads to find sellers in your area. The discs you acquire can be sold: by post, from market stall, or get them stocked at local shops.
25. Have a stall which sells fashionable clothes. Your staff might be a full time business working at street markets, or it might be a part time venture which appears at craft and antique fairs.
26. Set up a sheet music of the month club. Each month send club members a selection of sheets of the latest popular songs. Club members will include: musicians who play at clubs and pubs, record companies and keen amateur musicians.
27. Sell by mail order Beatles or Elvis memorabilia. Conduct your own research to discover what memorabilia you can produce yourself For example, reprint photographs and duplicate press cuttings. Also buy goods from collectors and trade sources at home and abroad.
28. Put together a mail order catalogue of children's educational audio cassettes. The cassettes might cover subjects such as spelling, reading, rules of English, grammar, geography, history, etc. Produce some of the cassettes yourself and buy others from cassette publishers.
29. Do your own research to discover the secrets of conjuring. Write a manuscript about your findings and publish it yourself. The novel and sensational nature of this book means you can sell it from ads in magazines and newspapers.
30. Write and record personalised songs. Produce songs for all occasions such as engagements, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, new births, homecomings and congratulations. Use classified ads in the personal columns to attract orders.
31. Start a craft business which produces gift tags decorated with pressed flowers. Also do similar products like pressed flower bookmarkers. To make a bookmarker take two strips of clear 35 mm film. Place pressed flowers between the strips and tie the sprocket holes together with cotton.
32. Bring out an educational newsletter about 'How to Improve Your Written English'. Each monthly newsletter might be like a lesson. There are only a limited number of lessons, so you can send the same series to different subscribers for many years.
33. Open a school of rock music. Provide classes about different aspects of rock music such as singing, playing electric guitars, writing music and songs, designing stage presentations, etc. Add credibility to the school by paying practising rock musicians to give many of the lessons.
34. Devise and produce an audio cassette course about how to play the drums. Use ads in the music press to sell this course. Or get the course stocked at music shops.
35. Produce kits for schoolgirls to make bead necklaces. Package each kit in a small polythene bag and staple on a printed card. Mount these kits on a rack and get them displayed at newsagents.
36. Design your own brand of baby sling. Buy one of each of the baby slings currently on sale. Study the slings and develop one which is a composite of the best features. Manufacture and package the baby slings. Find appropriate retailers and wholesalers to stock them.
37. Make charming and attractive quilts for babies and children. Make the kind of quilts you would like a baby or child to have. Give your imagination free reign to see what ideas and designs you come up with. When you have finalised a design, go into business for yourself.
38. Turn out knitwear garments for children. Sell the garments from your own stall or through retailers.
39. Embroider attractive designs on ladies' gloves and scarves. Call on up-market retailers and persuade them to stock your embroidered products.
40. Bring out your own range of shawls. Increase the value of your shawls by giving each design a catchy name. Sell the shawls by mail order or get them stocked at retailers.
41. Make charming soft toy ladybirds which can be attached to curtains for decoration.
42. Bring out a selection of souvenir ties. The ties might feature the name or emblem of a holiday resort. Mount the ties on racks and get them stocked at shops which sell souvenirs.
43. Start a mail order business which sells books, booklets and audio cassettes about how to deal with nasty experiences. The nasty experiences covered might include: violence in the home; break up of a marriage; death of a partner; being sacked or failing exams.
44. Use ribbon to make souvenir pictures, for example: yellow ribbon can be used as the beach; blue as the sea; brown and green for palm trees, etc. Or design and produce kits for hobbyists to make pictures with ribbons. Sell the kits by mail order or through craft shops.
45. Make a selection of Balaclava helmets in the colours of popular football teams or the national flag.
46. Produce a series of videos which have titles like 'How to Give Up Smoking', 'How to Relax', 'How to Lose Weight' or 'How to Sleep Soundly'. Sell these videos by direct mail to business people. Or, try to get a leading chain store to distribute them on a national basis.
47. Have your own fabrics market stall and sell ordinary fabrics, rolls of discounted lines and remnants.
48. Earn money from doing alterations and repairs for local dry cleaning services, menswear shops, factories and offices. Visit these places and inform them of your service. Offer, for example, to collect the goods once or twice a week.
49. Produce cardboard, sightseeing, periscopes and sell them at public events. Make the periscopes yourself. Arrange for the card to be printed and shaped. Assemble the periscopes and add two mirrors. Recruit sales people so you can sell these periscopes along the route of the event.
50. Start a knitting patterns of the month club. Each month members of your club automatically receive a selection of the latest knitting patterns. Members select the patterns they want and return the rest. Or compile a top 30 of patterns and send new entries to club members.
51. Produce Christmas cards which are printed on the front with, for example, "Happy Christmas from the Smith Family". Or, instead of the name "Smith", pick one of the dozens of other popular surnames. Sell packs of these cards by direct mail to people listed in telephone directories.
52. Make money from renting out expensive children's toys. The toys you rent out will include remote control models and computerised games. Use a little van to deliver the toys to customers. The van should have a toy town colour scheme, sirens and flashing lights. Call the van a toy-mobile.
53. Introduce to your region a service which mounts maps for businesses. Keep a stock of local, national and international maps. Mount these maps in a professional manner to suit the wall space available at offices. Send out leaflets about your service to office managers.
54. Bring out a regular publication for ambitious, amateur musicians. This publication might include ads from: i) employers seeking musicians; ii) retailers selling equipment, accessories and supplies; (iii) people selling used equipment. Also print interesting editorial.
55. Design and manufacture kits for making models with cocktail sticks. For example, model churches, castles, windmills, houses, etc. Buy the cocktail sticks in unpacked form in bulk from a manufacturer. Sell your kits by mail order from ads in craft magazines or distribute to model shops.
56. Produce a directory of products no longer made. This directory might include sections on toys, novelties and household goods. Design the directory for business people and inventors who want to know both what has been made before and what ideas might be revived or modified.
57. Make cotton gloves specially designed for coin collectors. The gloves prevent the acidic grease and moisture on fingers from getting on to coins. Package the gloves and sell from ads in coin collecting magazines or distribute to shops which sell collectible coins.
58. Bring out a correspondence course about how to write cookery books. The course might include information about: how to devise recipes; how to present them in written form and what makes a successful cookery book. Produce a prospectus and advertise in women's magazine.
59. Begin a business which rents out large and expensive astronomical telescopes to householders who want to develop their interest in astronomy. Publicise your service at the local astronomy society and use local advertising to attract clients. Link up with a telescope supplier and get a 10% finder's fee for those people who go on to buy their own telescope.
60. Set up a company which produces a compendium of strip games, for example: strip poker, strip snakes and ladders, strip lotto, strip snap and strip ludo. Sell the compendiums of games by mail order from ads in x-rated magazines.
61. Paint attractive art on rocks to make souvenir paperweights and doorstops. The art might take the form of abstract patterns, traditional pictures or tourist scenery. Call your rocks 'designer rocks'. Add a rubber base to paperweights and a rubber edge to doorstops.
62. Create a mail order business which specialises in selling products which help people sleep. The products you sell might include: sleep inducing cassettes, special bedtime clothing, herbal pillows and how to sleep well booklets. Company names might be something like 'Sleepwell', 'Sleeptight' etc.
63. Paint on wood, stylish house numbers and names. These painted numbers and names will be an attractive alternative to the traditional names burned into sliced logs. Get your work stocked at shops which sell garden products or household goods.
64. Start a venture which promotes the art and hobby of window painting. On coloured acetate paper have outlines printed for painting pictures by numbers. These acetate sheets are stuck to one side of a window and anyone can paint a picture on the other side of the window.
65. Select one seashell which would be suitable for use as an ashtray, another for a pip tray and a third for a paper clip tray. Put these shells into a single packet and sell as a set of useful household seashell trays. Find shops to stock your packets of seashell trays.
66. Devise and produce a board game which simulates the experience of starting a mail order business. The usual problem of bringing out a board game is the difficulty of getting it stocked at shops. However, a game about mail order can be sold by mail order to business opportunity seekers.
67. Make an income from selling lucky charms door-to-door. Sell, for example: rabbits' feet, horseshoes and four-leaf clovers. Start this enterprise by tracking down trade sources of these lucky charms.
68. Begin a business which buys and sells oil paintings. Buy new paintings from artists and old paintings from collectors and householders. Sell the paintings from: home, a roadside site, a stall at craft fairs, or hire halls for exhibiting all the paintings you have for sale.
69. Start a manufacturing business which is devoted to making doorstops. The doorstops you make might range from humble wooden wedges to the exotic and unusual. Package the doorstops in polythene bags, staple on a printed card and get them stocked at hardware or gift shops.
70. Decorate everyday objects with pressed flowers. Add an inlaid design of pressed flowers to trays, coasters, jewellery boxes, paperweights, picture frames, wall hangings, desk sets and table tops.
71. Set up a home improvement business which modifies the exterior of houses to give them a Tudor appearance. Your service will include: fitting ornamental oak beams, giving exterior walls a white covering and adding a metal grid to windows.
72. Make wooden 'strip noughts and crosses' games (an item of clothing is taken off by the loser of a game). Drill 9 holes into a small square block and paint on a grid. Next, make 10 pegs and paint on each peg an '0' or 'X'. Put the grid and pegs into a clear bag and staple on a product name card. Sell to sex shops and mail order.
73. Bring together a range of brass ware ornaments so you can have a stall at craft fairs, antique markets and Sunday markets.
74. Publish a newsletter which has a title like 'Ambitious Person's Way to Wealth' or 'Clever People Don't Work Hard'. The contents of your newsletter might be in a vein similar to Joe Karbo's 'The Lazy Man's Way to Riches'.
75. Set up and run a school of window dressing. Organise one-day or two-day courses or seminars for established shopkeepers who want to learn more about this aspect of their business. Also provide courses for those who would like to take up a career as a window dresser. (Tip: You can run a profitable seminar on anything without knowing the first thing about the subject yourself. You merely pay a percentage of the seminar fee, say 15%, to an expert speaker.)
76. Write and publish a manual about how to make money from property. In the manual include chapters on: buying and selling land; buying properties for conversion and renovation; investing in property, etc. Use direct mail and mail order to sell copies of this manual to opportunity seekers.
77. Found and run a school of investment. Give tuition to solo students and groups about different types of investments such as shares, gilt-edged securities, unit trusts, USM, antiques, stamps, art, etc. For each area of investment prepare lesson plans and follow these closely.
78. Make a selection of children's prayer plaques: wooden wall plaques which feature popular prayers. The prayers might be painted on, or burned into, the wood.
79. Start a craft business which uses interesting foreign coins to make jewellery. Incorporate coins into pendants, bracelets, brooches, necklaces and earrings. Alternatively, make jewellery which features reproduction coins from the ancient world.
80. Use small seashells strung together to make necklaces. Find a trade source of small seashells and either set up your own production line, or employ home workers. Sell the finished necklaces from a market stall or get them stocked at suitable retail outlets.
81. Produce 'add-one' drama video cassettes for people in amateur dramatic groups. Professional actors and actresses (or even good amateurs) perform a play on video. However, there is one character missing from the video. This character is played by a viewer of the video. The viewer learns his or her part and becomes part of the play at home.
82. Create a folder of sample sales letters for all occasions. The letters might sell; advice, maintenance, products, a service which gives free quotes, etc. Sell these folders by direct mail to small businesses.
83. Earn money from selling gold chain by the inch at public events such as fairs, markets and exhibitions. Gold chain is remarkably cheap to buy in bulk and the mark-ups are huge.
84. Put together your own mail order catalogue of jewellery making supplies. Locate the sources of products by doing the routine work of a mail order trader: write to potential suppliers. Throughout the country there are thousands of craft workers who would welcome a new catalogue.
85. Earn a living from buying gold and silver jewellery from people who need instant cash. Hence, their need for cash is greater than their desire to get a good price. Only buy the jewellery you can quickly sell at a profit. Remember, the precious metal and stone content of a piece is often far below the value you get from selling it as a whole piece, so don't even think about melting down gold, or stripping the gems out.
86. Use fabrics to make soft cases for pencils, spectacles, scissors, bibles, money, and other small items which are either potentially dangerous or need protection. At first make a diversity of products until you discover a product which is popular and profitable.
87. Buy old bibles and hymn books from churches and education authorities. Have the books shredded. Use the shredded pages as stuffing material for 'bible' or 'hymn' pillows, teddy bears and other soft products. Also do 'bible' confetti and stuff bottles to make bottled bibles.
88. Cut out prints and illustrations from old books. Frame the prints and illustrations and sell through a wide range of shops and from a stall at a market or fair. These framed prints and illustrations can also be sold door-to-door.
89. Make leather and wooden souvenir luggage tags. These tags might feature the name of a holiday town and a popular scene. Get your tags stocked at shops visited by tourists.
90. Prepare a mixture of dried herbs for adding to bath water. Invent a brand name for your product like, '(your surname)'s Original Bath Herbs'. Package each mixture of herbs and get them stocked at a variety of retailers.
91. Begin a service which arranges for people to have their original pop lyrics set to music. This service is to satisfy the vanity of lyricists. Offer potential clients a complete, low cost, package. Attract custom to your service by placing classified ads in the music press.
92. Devise quizzes which test a person's vocabulary. Sell these quizzes to a magazine or newspaper on a regular basis. Alternatively, you might do quizzes which test a person's knowledge of a regional dialect. Sell these quizzes to regional newspapers or magazines.
93. Call door-to-door and offer to buy unwanted furniture. Or use local media to advertise your interest in buying second hand furniture. Sell what you buy from free ads in local newspapers, or start up your own second hand furniture shop.
94. Set up a mail order business which sells motorcycle memorabilia. Put together a catalogue of motor cycle memorabilia which includes: videos, films, posters, photographs, books, instruction booklets, old magazines and newspapers, etc. Advertise your catalogue in motorcycle magazines.
95. Start an enterprise which reproduces classic poems on postcards and posters. Also do framed prints of classic poems. Sell these poetry products from a stall in an antiques or craft market. Or get your products stocked at gift or souvenir shops.
96. Produce a cataloguing system for record collectors. This system might consist of a card index box with pre-printed index cards. Each card has a printed section for the name of the artist, record and record label. Sell this cataloguing system through record shops or by mail order.
97. Publish a monthly audio cassette for one trade such as newsagents, grocers, hair salons, book sellers, etc. Each cassette should give: trade news, management tips, suggestions for improving sales, etc. Organise a direct mail campaign to recruit subscribers to your audio newsletter.
98. Start a newspaper and magazine roadside stand. Ask established newspaper vendors how they got started.
99. Bring out a correspondence course about how to write short stories for profit. Sell this course from newspaper and magazine ads and charge anything up to the average weekly wage (paid in installments) depending on the contents of the course. (Tip: You can write a course about anything without knowing the first thing about the subject. Simply get some books from the library which cover this subject, read them, then rewrite in your own words as a series of ten monthly lessons.)
100. Produce a correspondence course about how to write good poetry. If most poets received a small amount of tuition about how to compose poems their work would improve dramatically. Sell the course by advertising in women's magazines.
101. Begin an enterprise which sells garden gates door to door. On your sales trips, take with you a smart folder which has a large photograph of each gate you are selling. Provide potential customers with a price which includes installation. Your target houses should be easy to spot!
102. Start a home based computer bureau. There are hundreds of business computer programs available such as wages, record files and accounts. Buy and use these programs to provide a computer service to local businesses.
103. Set up a business which promotes the making of lampshades. Lampshade making can be sold as either, an interesting new hobby, or a business opportunity. Produce a mail order catalogue of lampshade making equipment and supplies. Advertise your catalogue in craft magazines.
104. Begin a computerised dating service. Operate this service like a traditional dating service, but hold all your records on a computer and use the computer to aid your search for compatible partners. Have leaflets about your service printed and place them at shops in your area.
105. Be a sleep consultant. Large numbers of people have difficulty in sleeping at night. This is not usually a medical problem, but can be corrected by using a suitable method or attitude of mind. Provide people in your area with confidential advice about how to sleep soundly.
106. Start a venture which designs and manufactures portable theatrical footlights. Potential buyers of these footlights include: amateur theatre and dance groups, pop and rock groups, children's entertainers, variety entertainers, nightclubs and mobile disc jockeys.
107. Create an enterprise which rents computers to private and business users. The computers you rent out might be new and second hand. Also rent out peripherals such as printers, stands and feeders. Use local media to inform people about your hire service.
108. Buy original computer games programs from home computer enthusiasts. Find these programs by advertising in computing magazines. Produce a compilation of the programs on a master tape. Have copies of this master tape duplicated on cassettes and sell from ads in home computing magazines.
109. Produce a series of low cost audio cassettes which help school pupils revise for public examinations. You might give these cassettes a brand name like 'Personal Revision Cassettes'. Get these cassettes stocked at newsagents and bookshops.
110. Set up a firm which publishes a monthly computer cassette program for home computer enthusiasts who want to improve their program writing skills (e.g. C++, html or web design). Each cassette might give ideas, examples and tips about how to become a better computer programmer.
111. Start a firm which organises educational holidays and weekend breaks for computing enthusiasts who want to further their programming skills. The courses might be held at a bed & breakfast house out of season. Advertise your holidays and breaks in computing magazines.
112. Design and publish diaries for each star sign. The special feature of these diaries is that a star reading is given for each day of the coming year. Have these diaries mounted in a special display rack. Get astrological shops to accept one of your racks.
113. Use luminous paint (the kind used on watches and alarm clocks) to highlight features on natural ornaments such as starfish, coral, colourful rocks, pine cones, etc. Place these ornaments in a UV illuminated display case to illustrate the luminosity. Get these cases displayed at gift shops.
114. Start an enterprise which makes high quality, home-made paper. Sell the paper at a premium for use as: personal stationery, certificates, presentation scrolls, printing paper for manually operated printing presses etc.
115. Bring out a selection of lucky charms which are for hanging from the windscreens of cars, vans and lorries. The charms might be mini horseshoes, rabbits' feet, wooden or plastic number sevens, four leaf clovers, etc. Package your charms and distribute to a wide range of retailers.
116. Begin a business which manufactures kits for making mosaics. Each kit has a pre-designed mosaic and people have to complete it like a jigsaw puzzle. Use ads in craft magazines to sell the kits by mail order.
117. Set up an enterprise which sells greenhouses door to door. Buy the greenhouses from manufacturers at trade prices. Produce sales literature and recruit sales people to sell the greenhouses for you.
118. Start a postal business which rents out war gaming model soldiers and other accessories. War gaming enthusiasts around the nation can use this service to play war games of any size from any period of history.
119. If you have a spare room, take in a lodger, or start a small scale bed and breakfast business. If you choose the latter, either place a sign outside your house which reads 'Bed and Breakfast', 'Vacancies', or advertise in the window of a main newsagent. Currently you can earn £4,200 tax-free from this method.
120. Make money from anatomical charts. Use the charts to: 1) make stylish framed prints; 2) make unusual designs for T-shirts; 3) decorate household products such as wastepaper bins and lampshades; 4) make decorative or educational posters; or 5) make a collection of educational slides.
121. Make decorations for wine bottles. Each decoration is slipped over the neck of a bottle. These decorations are either wood carved or metal engraved with the name of a restaurant or family. Or make floral decorations: the scent of the flowers complementing the bouquet of the wine.
122. Start a craft business which makes unusual table lamps. Each table lamp might feature a stand made of a conch shell or Victorian bottle. If you hit upon a design which is popular, and there are no problems with obtaining raw materials, this can become a full time business.
123. Take up the craft of jewellery making and as soon as you acquire a basic skill, start selling what you make. Begin by sending for a catalogue issued by a mail order jewellery making supplier.
124. Start a mail order firm which sells equipment and supplies to weavers and spinners. An important market for your products will be those taking up weaving and spinning for the first time. Place ads in craft magazines which are directed at this group.
125. Produce souvenir children's height charts which feature postcard type views of local scenery. Or make souvenir suntan charts. These suntan charts have the complete range of skin shades. A holiday maker buys a suntan chart to make a 'before' and 'after' comparison.
126. Put together a postal course which teaches people how to cut silhouettes. The course might include instruction on how to cut all kinds of silhouettes such as landscapes, animals and people. These silhouettes can be framed or mounted to make attractive wall hangings.
127. Start a venture which organises courses about how to build your own house extension or loft conversion. Hold the courses during the weekends at the construction site of an extension or conversion. Or a bed and breakfast house could be hired out of season for a week long course.
128. Begin a craft business which makes either souvenir or normal tea cosies. Find suitable retail outlets to stock your cosies. You might, for example, make souvenir tea cosies for tea rooms and cafes to sell to their customers.
129. Earn money from selling cheap toys door to door. Visit neighbourhoods which have an above average population of children.
130. Learn how to make soft toys with the long term objective of being able to earn money from teaching others. Eventually, teach solo students, classes or use diagrams to teach by post. Also, bring out a postal course which teaches people how to design their own soft toys.
131. Become a calligrapher of poems. Earn money from calligraphy by scribing: 1) poems by commission for poets and sweethearts; 2) classic poems like 'Desiderata', 'Charge of the Light Brigade', etc., and selling them as gift products; 3) poems of local origin and selling as souvenirs.
132. If you have the artistic ability, sketch or produce ink drawings of private houses. Get work by calling on households in the nicer parts of town and showing potential customers samples of your work. Also offer customers a framing service.
133. Commission an artist to do a series of designs for saucy postcards. Arrange for the postcards to be printed. Mount the postcards on small racks and distribute these to retailers at tourist resorts.
134. Become a portrait artist and work in a thoroughfare of a shopping or tourist area.
135. Set up an enterprise which publishes a 'Who's Who of Business Opportunities'. Sell advertising space in the publication to business opportunity firms. Use direct mail and ads in newspapers and magazines to sell the finished publication to business opportunity seekers.
136. Open a small private school of art. Employ artists to teach courses about different kinds of art from oil painting to pottery. Offer potential students: holiday courses, individual tuition, and hold classes during the evenings and weekends.
137. Earn money from illustrating personal names in the style of Dickens illustrator, George Cruickshank. Do work at: tourist sites, shopping thoroughfares, fairs, exhibitions, etc. Also do illustrations by post and offer a service which reproduces your work on personal stationery.
138. Found an agency for all artists such as painters, illustrators and sculptors. Provide work for the artists and specialise in contacting businesses which might not have considered using artists. For example, arrange for murals to be painted in staff canteens and at sports clubs.
139. Begin a mail order firm which promotes the collecting of wine bottle labels. Assemble a wide selection of labels and compile a catalogue. In your catalogue also include: starter packs, albums, framed labels, etc. Collect the labels from used wine bottles at wine bars and hotels.
140. Start a business which sells custom designed drinks bars for the home. Operate this business in a similar style to firms which sell fitted wardrobes or kitchens.
141. Put together a direct mail business which sells products to pubs, wine bars and hotel bars. The products in your catalogue might include: books and booklets about making cocktail drinks; quizzes for contests; promotion ideas, pub games, etc.
142. Set up a mail order business which sells equipment and supplies for making herbal drinks at home. This could be an interesting and healthy hobby for anyone to take up. Produce a small catalogue and advertise in a wide range of publications.
143. At a market or craft fair, operate a children's lucky dip. A lucky dip consists of a box full of sawdust mixed with toys in wrapping paper. A child's mum pays a standard charge, for example, one pound, and the child takes out a wrapped toy.
144. If you are familiar with electronics, start a mail order business which sells electronics kits, components and accessories. If possible, bring out your own electronics kits. To obtain other products, get some letterheads printed and write to trade suppliers at home and abroad.
145. Begin an enterprise which makes a wide range of electrical extension leads. Make extra long leads, for people with large gardens; for businesses make industrial extension leads which are up to 1000 feet in length. Get shops and trade suppliers to accept orders for you.
146. Open a school for disc jockeys. Offer potential students different courses for radio, nightclubs, mobile discos, hospital radio and pirate radio. Give students tuition: in classes, on a one to one basis, by correspondence course and through audio cassettes.
147. Earn an income from supplying a fortune teller or numerologist to parties and weddings. A visiting fortune teller or numerologist makes a party or wedding more entertaining for guests.
148. Become a photograph agent. Sell the work of amateur photographers for a commission. As an agent, your knowledge of the best place to sell photographs at home and abroad could lead to some amateurs becoming published photographers.
149. Begin a mail order business which sells folk crafts. Pick a national group such as the Scottish, Welsh or Irish. Put together hampers of craft products which capture the essence of your chosen ethnic group. Have a catalogue printed and advertise it around the world.
150. Set up a postal enterprise which sells signed photographs of celebrities. Solicit signed photographs from celebrities. Or, if a particular celebrity is in demand, offer to donate money to charity if X number of signed photographs are sent to you.
151. Make a toffee of your own design and add a stick to make a toffee lollipop. Get your toffee lollipops stocked at newsagents or sell from a stall at markets, fairs or exhibitions.
152. Set up a school of 'self-selling'. Teach students of your school how to sell themselves and impress. For example: the opposite sex, work colleagues, job interviews, etc. Hold classes; give individual tuition, or teach people through audio cassette or correspondence courses.
153. Start a mail order firm which sells plans, books and supplies to origami hobbyists. Advertise your catalogue in craft magazines.
154. Be a professional family affairs adviser. Just as a careers adviser gives advice on career improvement and development, your service gives advice on improving the future of an entire family. The advice might be about: finance, careers, education, relationships, etc.
155. Design and make leather stamp wallets for philatelists. These wallets are for keeping duplicates and stamps for sale. The wallets might vary in size from the pocket to the desktop. Sell the wallets through stamp shops or from ads in stamp magazines.
156. Begin a mail order business which sells fund raising aids and accessories. For example: booklets about fund raising ideas, bingo calling machines, scratch cards and many others. Produce a catalogue about your goods and send it to clubs, societies, associations and schools.
157. Put together a debt collection training course for small businesses. Every small business is a potential client. A key selling point is that the cost of the course could be quickly recovered from the more efficient collection of debts.
158. Write and publish a book about betting on horses. In the book include details of betting systems and suggestions about how to assess the likely performance of horses. Sell copies of your book to horse racing punters from newspaper ads or by direct mail.
159. Produce a series of audio cassettes about how to stop or reduce vices and bad habits. The cassettes might have titles like 'How to Stop Snoring', 'How to Cut Down on Drinking', 'How to Pack Up Gambling', etc. Sell the cassettes by mail order and through a wide range of shops.
160. Put together a correspondence course about how to become an amateur magician. The aim of this course is to teach people how to do numerous basic tricks. Thus, this is a foundation course for amateur magicians. Also, sell the products that are required by the course.
161. Package selections of empty matchboxes. Distribute these packets of matchboxes to newsagents to be sold to children who collect matchboxes. Or get these packets of matchboxes stocked at other shops visited by collectors, for example, stamp or modelling shops.
162. Set up a business which produces a selection of novelty packets of seeds for garden weeds. These seeds might have the same appeal as stink bombs. Sell the packets of seeds through gift or joke shops.
163. Set up an enterprise which delivers table flowers on a regular basis to: restaurants, hair salons, dental surgeries, the offices of professional services, etc. Call on these businesses to sell your service.
164. Earn money from selling cactuses door to door. Carry your cactuses in a cinema usherette type tray.
165. Start a craft business which makes a selection of cactus products. These products such as paperweights, book ends, desk sets, etc., have live cactuses growing out of them.
166. Begin a firm which makes concrete, mini models of cows. Each model is painted to look like a real cow. These cows are for gardeners to put on lawns to evoke the atmosphere of the countryside. Get these model cows stocked at as many garden centres as possible.
167. Set up a business which sells garden fountains to up market householders. Produce quality sales literature and advertise in select magazines. Pay professional builders to do the installation work.
168. Buy ordinary plastic model kits of aircraft and boats. Construct the kits and hand paint them in their original colours. Sell the finished models from a stall at fairs and markets.
169. Bring out kits for making relief pictures with wood. For example, a kit for making a rural scene might include wooden pieces cut in the shape of: trees, animals, clouds, buildings, etc. Sell the kits either by mail order to craft workers, or through shops which sell craft products.
170. Start a seasonal business which sells bulbs door to door. This business is best operated by two people: one calls on houses and the other moves a handcart full of bulbs.
171. Sell novelty trays of English soil to expatriates. A home sick expatriate can return to English soil simply by standing in this tray. The principle of this business can be easily applied to any other nationals. Also, stick a tiny national flag into the soil of each tray.
172. Set up a company director exchange service. Your service arranges for one or two directors in different companies to swap places at board meetings. Use the telephone or direct mail to sell your service to businesses.
173. Import specialist magazines from overseas English speaking countries. For example, magazines relating to unusual hobbies or sports. Your task is to build up lists of subscribers in this country. Begin by writing to overseas publishers to ask if they will supply magazines at a discount.
174. Begin and build a weed removal and control round. Operate this round like a window cleaning round. You might do this work yourself. Alternatively, employ teenagers and retired people, and give them a round like newsagents give paper boys a round.
175. Put together a mail order business which sells products that describe the afterlife. For example, produce a series of audio cassettes which describe exactly what it is like in heaven and hell. Include these cassettes in your catalogue.
176. Write and publish a series of booklets or cassettes about how to make money from flowers and plants. The titles might include: 'Starting a Florists', 'Setting Up a Nursery' and 'How to Open a Garden Centre'. Use ads in gardening magazines to sell the booklets or cassettes.
177. Begin a firm which hires out: window boxes, bottle gardens, exotic plants, tubs of plants and hanging baskets. Your clients will include: offices, banks, pubs, hair salons, restaurants, exhibitions, etc. Also provide your clients with a maintenance service.
178. Learn about flower arranging at evening classes then earn money from teaching others in your own home. Give afternoon classes to pensioners and housewives. A major attraction of the classes is that they act as a social occasion.
179. Set up a production line which turns out mini gardens in bowls and pots. Sell the mini gardens from your own market stall, or find a diversity of retailers to stock them.
180. Design and make herb gardens for the house or garden. Produce the herb gardens in a range of different containers such as bottles, tubs, trays, large pots or hanging pots. Sell these gardens through suitable retailers or by mail order.
181. Devise a selection of scents specially designed for love letters and greeting cards. For example, the scent of roses for love letters and pine trees for Christmas cards. Set up a business which manufactures, packages and distributes the scents.
182. Bring out a range of herbal or hop filled pillows. Make pillows for different functions. For example: pillows which are an aid for people who have difficulty sleeping; siesta pillows for the garden; nap pillows for the living room and pillows which are specially designed for day dreaming.
183. Devise and organise the manufacture of cosmetics for bald heads. The vacant space on a man's bald head is not something which should be covered up, but it is a canvas for an artist. For example, a bald head might feature: wavy lines, a rainbow, sunburst, or a colour to match the eyes.
184. Begin an enterprise which manufactures old fashioned, reliable flypaper. With the current concern about the effect of aerosols on the ozone layer, it is time for flypaper to be revived.
185. Make wooden puzzles for children. For example, brightly painted wooden shapes have to be fitted into the corresponding hole in a block of wood. Or make a flat wooden animal like a dinosaur or rabbit. Cut this animal into lots of peculiar shapes so it is a challenge to assemble.
186. Hand paint pictures or witty statements on small squares of wood. For example, the pictures might feature animals and the statements might be about cooking like 'Oliver Twist's Favourite Kitchen'. Add a magnet to the back of each square so these can be stuck to fridges and other white goods.
187. Set up a mail order business which promotes the hobby of collecting seashells. Bring out a catalogue which has a large selection of seashells, collecting accessories and books about seashells.
188. Write and publish a newsletter about how to start a newsletter publishing business. Each issue of the newsletter might be a lesson about one of the various topics involved in beginning and running a successful newsletter.
189. Start a mail order business which sells health improvement books, booklets and audio cassettes. Discover what titles are available from publishers and produce your own catalogue. Also publish some of your own booklets and cassettes.
190. Earn money from selling all sorts of formulae by post. For example, formulae to DIY enthusiasts, housewives, hobbyists, craft workers and many others. Produce either a general directory which has universal appeal, or bring out specialised booklets for different markets.
191. Introduce to your area a daily home visiting morning make up service. Build up a timetable of appointments with different clients. Or work for a local hotel providing a make up service for the guests.
192. Write and produce an audio cassette course for those who want to stop smoking. Sell this course from newspaper or magazine ads or by direct mail to business people.
193. Bring out a series of booklets or cassettes which have titles like 'How to Cure Boredom', 'How to Beat Depression', 'How to Get Out of a Rut', 'How to Beat Back Pain', etc. Sell copies by mail order, to mail order booksellers, or get them stocked at shops.
194. Start a business which rents out drum kits and electric guitars. Advertise your business both in the local press and in the windows of newsagents. Provide customers with a delivery service.
195. Make money from bringing out your own happiness plants. A happiness plant is any plant which it can be claimed gives off an unseen aura or odour which humans find pleasing. Sell these plants from a market stall or by mail order.
196. Found your own institute of beauty. This institute would be the beauty world's equivalent to: 1) a finishing school (young women learn about make up), or 2) a secretarial school (provide courses for women who want a career in the world of beauty).
197. Start a walking menu board (sandwich board with a giant menu on it) service. Sell this promotional service to restaurants and cafes throughout your region.
198. Hire premises at a busy tourist site and take portrait photographs of tourists. Add a novelty to the photographs by, for example, dressing the tourists as Victorians or cowboys from the Wild West. Develop the photographs on the spot and add a sepia, aged look.
199. Reprint old photographs of a town and mount in attractive frames. Sell these framed photographs through the shops of that town. One way to find suitable old photographs is to advertise in a town for residents who have old photographs.
200. Begin a business which produces and sells a correspondence course about how to trace your own ancestry. Call your business a school of ancestral research. Advertise your course in a wide range of publications.