An Idea For Your Thoughts?

Tell me, what do you think about the following ideas for products and/or services? Any winners? Losers?

• A website for music teachers that keeps track of students.
• A site devoted to selling CDs of sound effects.
• An application for smartphones that lets you crop photos (and that’s all).
• An educational video selling tie-dye secrets.
• A DVD of instructions for installing security cameras at storage facilities.
• Home-baked gourmet dog biscuits.
• Yoga for executive women.
• Instruction manuals for any of the modern tablets & ereaders.
• Instruction manual for Microsoft Excel.
• Instruction manual for the smartphone app Evernote.

I could lace them with Benadryl!

Any clear winners? Any of them seem like silly ideas? Here’s a hint: They all did really well. Some of them still do. Did any of them sound really out of reach? You can hire someone to program an app, and not for that much money. Can you tie-dye? Figure out good placement for security cameras? Write your own clear instructions for how to operate a new electronic device? Of course you can. And if one seems out of reach, that’s fine, bake some dang dog biscuits and call it a day! Seriously, if these ideas can help bring in money -- the Excel series of instruction manuals I read about is pulling in more than 130K a year, net -- then why not? Why not try? Yes, it’s scary, and yes, it might take some hard work, some hard thought, and yes, it may take a while before the rewards are in hand and in your bank account. But if you could, would you?

If not, why not?