Forbes looks at the rise of a business most people thought was dead - the independent video store.
Big video-rental chains have been kicking small shops in the teeth for years-which makes Christine Min's feat all the more impressive. Last month Min celebrated the first-year anniversary of her store, Get Reel Video, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Better yet, she is already in the black.
"We're more of an art-house store," says Min. "We sell 'indie' films, documentaries and foreign films-movies you don't find in Blockbuster or the other independent stores around here."
That is what strategy is all about. You have to figure out what you can offer that your competition can't. If they are niching it out, you should become the one-stop-shop. If they are aggregating everything under one roof, you should niche it out. Most industries play follow the leader, so if you are willing to experiment and try counterintuitive things, you can often stumble on surprising lucrative customer groups that no one else is targeting.
Links-Businesspundit
Friday, August 24, 2007
Hatch That is for a weekly entrepreneurial interviews
Hatch That is a weekly entrepreneurial conversation, delivered every wednesday fresh to your inbox.
They interview entrepreneurs from a wide range of industries to get insight into how they do their thing.Each Wednesday they dish out a new interview with professionals from all walks of life. This week’s interviewee happens to be Jarrod Brake, founder of Atmosphere DJ’s, an Australian company that’s in the biz of what else but music. Previous featured faces on Hatch include Noah Kagan from Mint, Jason Calacanis from Mahalo and Dan McComb from the social networking site Biznik. The weekly conversation can be delivered straight to your inbox; otherwise you can check out the RSS feed and follow a HatchThat on Twitter. Get the latest business news from people who are in the thick of it, all for free.
More at:http://www.hatchthat.com/
They interview entrepreneurs from a wide range of industries to get insight into how they do their thing.Each Wednesday they dish out a new interview with professionals from all walks of life. This week’s interviewee happens to be Jarrod Brake, founder of Atmosphere DJ’s, an Australian company that’s in the biz of what else but music. Previous featured faces on Hatch include Noah Kagan from Mint, Jason Calacanis from Mahalo and Dan McComb from the social networking site Biznik. The weekly conversation can be delivered straight to your inbox; otherwise you can check out the RSS feed and follow a HatchThat on Twitter. Get the latest business news from people who are in the thick of it, all for free.
More at:http://www.hatchthat.com/
The Litmos online training system keeps elearning simple by providing you with all the tools you need to create customised interactive online training
The Litmos online training system keeps elearning simple by providing you with all the tools you need to create customised interactive online training & assessment modules.
Training programs can be created using a variety of media: videos, flash, surveys, web pages, and assessments. The Litmos interface allows you to manage all your projects from one place. Dropdown menus allow easy formation of module formations. The Slide Editor lets educators incorporate movies, images and flash slides to make learning more engaging. You can create individual accounts for multiple trainers, if necessary. All Litmos license fees are pay-as-you-go and start at $24.95 a month for up to twenty users.
More at:http://www.litmos.com/
Training programs can be created using a variety of media: videos, flash, surveys, web pages, and assessments. The Litmos interface allows you to manage all your projects from one place. Dropdown menus allow easy formation of module formations. The Slide Editor lets educators incorporate movies, images and flash slides to make learning more engaging. You can create individual accounts for multiple trainers, if necessary. All Litmos license fees are pay-as-you-go and start at $24.95 a month for up to twenty users.
More at:http://www.litmos.com/
Precious Time is a personal assistant
Student-owned and operated Precious Time is a personal assistant, errand and concierge service just for college students. Students can become members by charging pre-paid accounts with a minimum of USD 50, and money is drawn from the account to pay for services as needed, plus a percentage for Precious Time's own profit. Services include placement and delivery of take-out orders from local restaurants, grocery shopping, house cleaning, flower delivery and booking tutors.
While a concierge service for college students may seem over the top, education at top colleges comes with a high price tag. So it’s not surprising that some students are willing to buy extra time by outsourcing domestic chores, so that they can fully focus on their studies. The concept could also do well on other campuses, and Precious Time hints at franchise opportunities on their website. What about concierge services tailored to other busy demographics who struggle to find the time for all the items on their ‘to do’ lists, like working parents or small business owners?
More at: www.precioustimeny.com
While a concierge service for college students may seem over the top, education at top colleges comes with a high price tag. So it’s not surprising that some students are willing to buy extra time by outsourcing domestic chores, so that they can fully focus on their studies. The concept could also do well on other campuses, and Precious Time hints at franchise opportunities on their website. What about concierge services tailored to other busy demographics who struggle to find the time for all the items on their ‘to do’ lists, like working parents or small business owners?
More at: www.precioustimeny.com
Get Loan By Just Text Messages
Finnish Ferratum just launched its short-loan service in the Netherlands. Customers can borrow EUR 100, 200 or 300 for a term of 15 days, by texting Ferratum their name, date of birth, bank account and address. If they've pre-registered, the money is in their bank account within 10 minutes. First-time customers have to wait 24 hours. Speedy loans come at a cost: Ferratum charges a hefty 25% processing fee. Which means that consumers who borrow EUR 300 today, owe the company EUR 375 in 15 days time.
In Sweden, Estonia and Finland, where a handful of companies have started offering similar services over the past year, ombudsmen have been pushing for regulation. While critics claim that it's unwise to offer people such effortless methods of sinking (further) into debt, one could also argue that consumers should be able to choose whichever form of credit works best for them. Though the rates smell of shark, the concept is definitely quick and easy ;-) One to look into if you're in financial services or telecom. And for those of you seeking an antidote to fast credit: layaway is back.
Website: www.ferratum.nl
via-springwise
In Sweden, Estonia and Finland, where a handful of companies have started offering similar services over the past year, ombudsmen have been pushing for regulation. While critics claim that it's unwise to offer people such effortless methods of sinking (further) into debt, one could also argue that consumers should be able to choose whichever form of credit works best for them. Though the rates smell of shark, the concept is definitely quick and easy ;-) One to look into if you're in financial services or telecom. And for those of you seeking an antidote to fast credit: layaway is back.
Website: www.ferratum.nl
via-springwise
Create Free Podcast
RunStream offers free accounts and with the free account you are allowed one feed and to track its statistics, if you need more than one feed, RunStream can provide you with an upgraded program starting from only $3 a month and even if you are looking to go all out and get the biger plan with domain mapping and up to 5 feeds, you can still get this service for $5 a month. If you wish to have more than 5 feeds a month, RunStream can help accomodate that, but the prices are not listed.
With so many people starting blogs and websites every day, there is obviously a market for RSS. With RunStream, the service is either free or extremely affordable and accessible for basically any website owner.
more at:http://runstream.com/
With so many people starting blogs and websites every day, there is obviously a market for RSS. With RunStream, the service is either free or extremely affordable and accessible for basically any website owner.
more at:http://runstream.com/
Oddbark Its Different
Oddbark is helping to create the social web by offering an easy to use, free online community service. It allows users to trade their items, meet others, find an apartment, find a job, share their opinion and much more! Oddbark has many unique features that other so-called Classifieds sites do not offer. Oddbark users can post voice ads using Supcast.com phone feature. It also has a special feature where users can receive responses to their ads via SMS (text messaging) on their mobile phones and allows registered users to post audios and videos. Oddbark also informs users when their ads expire, and is currently working on an online voice recording device so users can post voice ads using a mic, directly on the site.One of the few things that make OddBark.com differ from Craigslist is that registered users can upload music and video to the site to accompany the classifieds, this obviously can be very advantageous to the marketing of certain goods and services that couldn't be represented as well without that. Another interesting addition is that you can also make phonecalls to Supcast which will translate your message into text so you can actually post to OddBark via your telephone.
More at:http://oddbark.com/
More at:http://oddbark.com/
"G-Commerce" Play Games Free And Earn Money
The Egglad store, only G-Commerce portal on the web. Here you can redeem your Egglad Chicks to get discounts on huge range of products. The more Chicks you earn, the more discounts you can get on our products. You can get upto 100% discount and can get the products for absolute free of cost. Come and experience the new Gaming Commerce(G-Commerce) only at Egglad store.With egglad play online games for free and in the process of playing these games actually earn points that they can use to purchase other things from the site with. Its a nice way to earn goods right? Play some video games and in the process make some points to buy cool stuff. Seems like a no brainer for kids. The reason that the site is called EggLad, I assume is because the points that you earn are referred to as eggs and chicks, and they can be redeemed for goods sold on the site. Now if you want to buy products with cash on the site, they will facilitate that as well, but they pride themselves on bringing to us what they call G-Commerce (gaming commerce) where the points you earn buy you goods.
More at:http://egglad.com/
More at:http://egglad.com/
Free Press International
Free Press International is dedicated to all sovereign countries and people around the world.The site brings you stories about 9/11, Martial Law, freemasons, the new world disorder, mind control, police state, Yale’s Skull and Bones, Bilderberg, Bohemian Grove, Weather Control among others. If conspiracy facts are your cup of tea, then Free Press International should be your number one destination. They’re uncovering the real truth. The site is basically a blog style news aggregator whose backgrounds and themes can be changed based on your aesthetic preference.
More at:http://www.freepressinternational.com/
More at:http://www.freepressinternational.com/
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