Business Opportunities Weblog

Dine-In Delivery
Clean Coal Technology
Drivable Pothole Patching Machine
Niche Biz: Private Islands for Sale
Miradry: Microwave Your Armpits
Immersive Theater
4 Businesses to Start in a Down Economy
Supersizing The Rubik Cube
Niche Biz: Trash-Free Lunch Boxes
A Tailor-Made Business
Test Tube Burger Coming Soon?
Niche Biz: Rolling Alarm Clock
Entrepreneurs Turning To 3-D Printing
Today in Entrepreneurial History: February 21
Dine-In Delivery

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 09:20 AM PST



The Dine-In Delivery restaurant meal delivery business is offering a new opportunity for those wanting to get into the food business. In major metro areas they now offer the opportunity to be a multi-unit owner and even secure the rights to an entire metro area – if the area is still available.

Since the Dine-In Delivery model is as a license, not a franchise, operators are able to get open for as little as $12,500 and pay no royalty on their sales. Compared to a food franchise our operators get open for a fraction of the cost and have up to 50% more gross profit due to not paying royalties on sales.

For more info, visit dine-in-delivery.com or call 303-604-6840.

 

Clean Coal Technology

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 09:13 AM PST



A team of students at Ohio State University have developed a system to burn coal cleanly:

For 203 continuous hours, they operated a scaled-down version of a power plant combustion system with a unique experimental design–one that chemically converts coal to heat while capturing 99 percent of the carbon dioxide produced in the reaction.

This new technology, called coal-direct chemical looping, was pioneered by Liang-Shih Fan, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and director of Ohio State’s Clean Coal Research Laboratory. (Fan is a Distinguished University Professor and a 2012 Innovator of the Year.)

Typical coal-fired power plants burn coal to heat water to make steam, which turns the turbines that produce electricity. In chemical looping, the coal isn’t burned with fire, but instead chemically combusted in a sealed chamber so that it doesn’t pollute the air. A second combustion unit in the lab does the same thing with coal-derived syngas, and both produce 25 thermal kilowatts of energy.

 

Drivable Pothole Patching Machine

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:13 AM PST



The Python 5000 a self-propelled pothole patching machine. One person can easily carry out the entire patching operation — without ever leaving the comfort of the operator’s cab. Python 5000 will repair some of the biggest potholes you’ll encounter — but it is so economical and so easy to use, you’ll be able to tackle those potholes long before they get big enough to be a problem.

Popular Science has more:

The new pothole-filling machine, from Python Manufacturing, mends holes in just 30 to 60 seconds. A single operator drives the machine to the repair site, parks, and then uses a joystick to deploy the machine’s four-foot tool-equipped arm. First, an air jet blasts debris and water out of the hole. Next, it’s sprayed with tack oil, which helps the finished patch stick to the surrounding road. Finally, the operator uses the truck’s tool arm to fill the hole with an asphalt mix, rake it, and pack it down with a roller. The roller applies the same amount of force as a standard road-paving machine, so the patches the Python makes often last until it’s time to repave the entire road. The company estimates that over five years, owners of the $290,000 Python could save $125.61 per ton of pothole repair—or about 40 percent over the standard method. So far, road crews in California, Colorado and Virginia are using the machines.

Video below.


 

Niche Biz: Private Islands for Sale

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:13 AM PST



LA Times Times:

Private Islands Inc., a Toronto-based island marketing firm, lists about 500 islands worldwide from less than $50,000 to more than $100 million, Chief Executive Chris Krolow said.

U.S., Canadian and British buyers make up about 80% of the market; far-flung locales such as the Caribbean have a more international buyer base, he said. The Bahamas and Belize are hot, as is Panama. In the Mediterranean, Greek islands are popular.

“Before the recession, a lot of islands were priced by owners who had what we call Coke-bottle glasses,” Krolow said. “They put crazy price tags on their islands.”

Price drops in areas such as the Bahamas and a sense that values have bottomed out have brought increased interest in island ownership.

“It has opened the door to people looking,” Krolow said. “They are more comfortable now.”

Ego, extravagance and identity play roles in some high-profile trophy purchases, experts say, but others are motivated by privacy and security.

“These types of people are looking to create something for themselves, to put up a flag and say, ‘This is my own little country,’” Krolow said. “They all tend to be very entrepreneurial. Not just the wealthy, but those who are determined to do something different.”

 

Miradry: Microwave Your Armpits

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:13 AM PST



Wall Street Journal:

During one of the hottest summers in recorded history comes a new way to never let them see you sweat: Microwave your sweat glands.

The procedure, called miraDry, from Miramar Labs Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif., was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year and became available in January to treat hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating. The procedure uses microwave energy to destroy many of the 22,000 to 30,000 sweat glands in the armpits, Miramar says. Unlike other nonsurgical treatments for excessive sweating, it appears to last long term. Overall, the volume of sweat is reduced by an average of 82%, says company scientist Kathryn O’Shaughnessy.

At least 3% of the world’s population suffers from hyperhidrosis, in which the sweating is considered excessive by medical standards, according to the International Hyperhidrosis Society, a Quakertown, Pa., nonprofit. Even powerful prescription antiperspirants don’t always keep people dry, and quality of life can be affected, doctors say. The condition is commonly treated by Botox injections, which block chemical signals that cause sweating. But the effect is temporary and typically must be repeated twice a year.

MiraDry involves hourlong sessions of microwave energy applied to the armpits in a doctor’s office. According to Miramar, the approximate amount of energy delivered to an average size underarm is 4,000 joules, a fraction of the 80,000 joules required to boil eight ounces of room-temperature water.

 

Immersive Theater

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:13 AM PST



Cassandra Daily:

Habit, an immersive production self-described as “The Real World meets No Exit,” opens this fall not at a theatre but at Manhattan’s Essex Street Market. Director David Levine conceived of the faux cinéma vérité show while transitioning from theatrical performance to visual art exhibitions, a change that motivated him to create a work that’s as accessible for spectators as perusing a gallery. The result is a fully furnished and functional ranch house where three actors will perform for 90 minutes on a continuous loop for eight hours a day. Though the dialogue stays the same, behavior is improvised—meaning roaming spectators may see anything, and everything, from cooking to showering.



 

4 Businesses to Start in a Down Economy

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST

The following guest post is by Michael Herder.



When the economy is down, times are difficult for all of us. History has shown that it is often the small businesses that end up bringing the economy back up to speed, but starting a business can prove to be difficult. What type of business should you start? How do you get the funding? These are all great questions. The good news is that some of the biggest businesses in Corporate America were started during recessionary times. Plus, you benefit from lower rent and utility payments and reduced salaries. Everything is a little less expensive in troubled times. There are, in fact, some solid business ideas that work well in a down economy. These recession proof business ideas allow you to start a business that could thrive even when most markets are down. Here are four solid business ideas that will do very well in recessionary times:

1. Bulk Foods

When times get difficult, people start growing more concerned about food than they do about some of the more flashy gadgets they are typically interested in. Families can save a great deal of money when the buy bulk foods rather than individual, prepackaged, pre-produced foods. Bulk foods that a family can buy in large quantities and use for a long time tend to sell well when the markets are down. As recession proof business ideas go, getting into the bulk foods industry may be the way to go.

2. Debt-Related Companies

If you want to start a business that is about as recession proof as it gets, a debt collection agency is one of the best options available. Of course, there are other debt-related industries that you could get involved in. Perhaps you could offer debt counseling services, or get into the debt consolidation industry. Whatever option your choose, companies revolving around debt in one form or another will almost always do well during a recession.


3. Affordable Luxury Items

The term affordable luxury is something of an oxymoron, but it has the odd effect of working during a recession. When the economy is down, people start to feel as though they are deprived of the things that they feel they deserve. Selling “luxury” items and services like inexpensive jewelry, cheap vacations, small portioned fine dining, and so forth can be an excellent business idea when times are tough.

4. Accounting Services

It might seem strange, but accounting firms seem to do very well during a recession. Business owners feel more confident during a recession if they have an accountant to help with their financial decisions. A study conducted by Intuit in 2009, during the heat of the financial crisis, discovered that 80% of small business owners felt more confident knowing that they had accounting services to help them with any potential problems that they could face.

5. Any Business That Saves Businesses Money

And actually, any business that saves businesses money is a good idea, whether its discount printer supplies, cheap office furniture, an internet marketing firm, or other cost cutting type companies.

The bottom line? Just get in the game. Your customers will eventually tell you what business you are in and help you grow it and because you own it, you’ll have the passion to take it all the way.

This was a guest post from Michael Herder of InkFarm.

Photo by Leo Reynolds.

 

Supersizing The Rubik Cube

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST



If you thought a normal Rubik cube was hard, Oskar van Deventer has created one so big that even he cannot solve it. Metro.co.uk states that the dimensions for this “Over the Top” product is 17x17x17.

He said: ‘The puzzle has never been solved, although people have solved virtual versions of it on the internet. If you can solve a regular Rubik’s cube you could work out how to solve my version but it would take a lot of work. It’s quite nice to make pictures from all the colours on the cube.’

The Dutch scientist had the puzzle’s movable pieces cut by laser, then spent 15 hours colouring them.

Mr van Deventer said: ‘I’ve been designing puzzles since I was about 12 and I thought it would be nice to go over the top and build an even larger Rubik’s cube.

There’s a video of the cube after the jump.

Photo from Shapeways

 

Niche Biz: Trash-Free Lunch Boxes

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST



For people who want to offer their children a better selection of food at school, there is the traditional lunch box. Although it helps parents decide the best meal for their child, it does not help the environment. Between juice containers, ziplock bags, napkins, and plastic utensils, we are contributing tons of trash to landfills needlessly.

Kim Castner noticed the problem when it came to sending lunch to school with her own children. She tried a variety of ways to reduce the amount of waste with each lunch, but it just didn’t seem to do the job. Kim went to work and created her own solution, the Go Green Lunch Box, reports Manhattan Beach Patch.

Patch: So you thought to create your own lunchbox?

Castner: Well, we found one that may have been a solution, but my older daughter refused to carry it because it was so ugly. And the pieces were still getting lost. I just thought, ‘Gosh, there has got to be a way to do this. One lid, 5 sections for fruit, cookies and other things.’ So I started calling around to plastic companies. I quickly learned that to get someone to sketch this and build a mold, it was going to cost $75 for me to sell. That wasn’t going to work.

Patch: Has the lunchbox been well received in the community?

Castner: The schools save money on trash pick up. Grandview cut their trash substantially, I think it was from 25 bags a day to 4 bags a day. Waste Management [comes less] often. It all trickles down. From trash bag liners to paying the trucks, to saving on emissions from the trash trucks, everybody wins.

Patch: What makes your lunch box worth the extra money?

Castner: The biggest “aha” was the white board on the back. That’s the “I’ve got to have it” feature. I’ve never seen another product with that.

Photo from Go Green Lunch Boxes

 

A Tailor-Made Business

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST



Patrick Grant never realized that a discarded copy of the Financial Times would change his life. However, that is exactly what it did.

He was an MBA student, eating his lunch alone at University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. While he sat there munching, he was drawn to an ad in the “Businesses for Sale” section of the discarded paper. What business was it? It was the well-known, 200-year-old Savile Row tailor business, Norton & Sons. He always had an interest in clothing, and this opportunity piqued his interest.

Mr Grant completed his EMBA in October 2005 and tied-up the purchase of Norton & Sons in December of the same year.

“The first two years were pretty darn difficult,” he confesses. “We had one tailor and one part-time cutter and I did everything else – the chopping out, trimming, bookkeeping, payroll, marketing, ordering and changing of the light bulbs.

“We tried to go back to doing the simple things very well, but it was slower to turnabout than I expected. However, since we’ve turned the corner it has grown much more rapidly than I had hoped.”

At the end of 2008, Mr Grant decided to reinvest profit in ready-to-wear business E. Tautz, another brand in need of resurrection, and he now manages a team of 12 across both enterprises. “It hasn’t been the most lucrative five years of my life, but certainly the most satisfying” he says.

Five years later, Norton & Sons – once tailor to Edward VII and Winston Churchill – has been restored to financial health and Mr Grant picked up the 2010 Menswear Designer of the Year accolade at the British Fashion Awards for reviving another men’s wear brand, E. Tautz.

Screenshot from Norton & Sons

 

Test Tube Burger Coming Soon?

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST



USA Today:

Using cow stem cells grown in a petri dish, the researchers have created small strips of muscle that will be mixed with blood and artificially grown fat to make a hamburger, the BBC writes. Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal is being courted to cook “a golf ball-size of this stuff,” physiologist Mark Post of Maastricht University said at a news conference Sunday in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Proof of the concept isn’t cheap: about $330,000, provided by an anonymous investor. As with all inventions, the costs would drop dramatically once commercialized.

So-called test-tube meat is being developed to slash the environmental impacts of factory farming, improve consumer health and lessen the suffering of animals.

 

Niche Biz: Rolling Alarm Clock

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:11 AM PST

Do you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning? What if you had to chase your alarm clock around the room? Would that help?


 

Entrepreneurs Turning To 3-D Printing

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:11 AM PST




USA Today:

Matt Sullivan, a retired soldier, still has trouble explaining his right leg to strangers.

The shiny chrome surface, embossed with the lightning bolt logo of his beloved San Diego Chargers, covers the calf area of his prosthetic leg, the result of a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2010.

At the naval hospital where he was recovering from his wounds and the resulting surgery, Sullivan ran into entrepreneur Scott Summit, who suggested a solution to covering the metal rod that protruded conspicuously from his knee.

Summit’s firm, Bespoke Innovations, uses an obscure process known as 3-D printing to make durable thermoplastic leg coverings, or fairings. By digitally scanning the surviving leg to match its shape and form, Bespoke produces curved panels resembling soccer shin pads that cover the artificial limb. You can often tell a person has a prosthetic leg by the way the pants leg flaps, Sullivan says. “Having that symmetry now, you can’t tell the difference.”

How could you create a business using 3-D printing?

 

Today in Entrepreneurial History: February 21

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:10 AM PST



1804 – The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.
1842 – John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
1878 – The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
1947 – In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first “instant camera”, the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
1948 – NASCAR is incorporated.