10 Crazy Creative Business Ideas That People Said Would Never Work
10 Crazy Creative Business Ideas That People Said Would Never Work (Oh, but they did!)
The average person is said to have more than 6000 thoughts a day. In all these thoughts, there’s a bunch of practicality, a good amount of rationalization, some serious nonsense, and a generous portion of self-doubt (at least if you’re me). For this article, let's focus on the nonsense.
I can't tell you how often I've thought of an idea and almost immediately dismissed it because I thought it lacked practicality or was too far-fetched. However, the people featured here are those who have leaned into the nonsense and struck it rich. They dared to pursue a crazy idea, throwing all caution to the wind, and it paid off! As an inspiration for your own nonsense, here are ten crazy creative business ideas (at the time) that struck a chord with consumers.
The Slinky
Richard James was a naval engineer who dropped a torsion spring while working; he watched it move and had a light bulb moment. He bought a coil-winding machine, started the James Spring and Wire Company, and experimented with making the perfect slinky slink. His wife Betty came up with the name Slinky and took over the business when he moved to join a cult in Bolivia.
The Pet Rock
Creator of 'Pet rock' Gary Dahl, was an advertising executive in 1975. His idea for 'pet rock' came about when he heard his friends complain about their pets and their difficulties taking care of them. He thought of the perfect pet, 'a rock'. He packaged smooth stones from Mexico with an instruction manual on how to care for them full of puns, jokes, and gags. He sold them for $4 each, for a peak period of 6 months, and became a millionaire. With his fortune, he later opened a bar named "Carry Nations" in California.
Hula hoop
Who would have thought that bamboo hoops would be a hit?! Co-founders of Wham-O toy company Richard Knerr and Arthur 'Spud' Melin thought so when they saw Australian school kids use it for exercise. They made hoops out of polythene, named it 'Hula-Hoops' after the Hawaiian dance, and sold 25 million hoops in 4 months. They also invented the frisbee.
Queen of Trash
Zhang Yin is the wastepaper recycling queen of China. She founded the company Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Limited with her husband and brother, which buys scrap paper from the US and imports it into China to make cardboards to make boxes for export purposes. She ranks as the 24th wealthiest woman in all of China.
Billy Bob Teeth
Billy Bob Teeth happened when Jonah White met Rich Bailey, a dental student, at a football game. Rich had terrible teeth but had the attention of all the girls. White soon realized the teeth were fake and thought it was brilliant. They started a company to sell fake teeth and have gone on to sell millions of artificial plastic "hillbilly" teeth. So Fun!
Doogles
Doogles are a brand of eye protection made for dogs. They serve fashionable, practical, and medical purposes, and sales were reported to be $ 3 million in 2015. They were invented by Roni Di Lullo, who noticed her dog squinting in the sunlight and decided to do something about it.
I Wear Your Shirt
Jason Zook loved t-shirts and wore them everywhere. He decided it would be a great idea if companies paid him to wear their t-shirts, and that's how it started. Every day a company would send him a t-shirt, which he would show off on the internet. He made over a million dollars within four years. He also auctioned off the rights to change his last name, earning $45,500 from Headsets.com and $50,000 from SurfrApp, respectively. He might be the king of crazy ideas!
Ship Snow, Yo
In 2015, Kyle Waring and his wife Jess found a solution to their unwanted snow problem by thinking, 'who would want this?'. They thought it would be funny if they sent snow to their friends in California, and that's how Ship Snow, Yo began. The company is reported to be a five-figure business and is still running currently, shipping snow from Boston to different parts of the US. They have since founded ShipFoliage.com, same concept but with preserved leaves.
Santa Mail
Kids love Santa Claus, and what better way to spend Christmas than receiving a letter from Santa himself (after the gifts, of course). Since 2002, Byron Reese founded Santa Mail, which has sent thousands of letters to kids worldwide and has earned millions.
Lucky Break Wishbones
The turkey wishbone is a Thanksgiving tradition, and there is usually only one. In 1999, while having Thanksgiving dinner (which also happened to be his birthday) with his family, Ken Ahroni thought everyone deserves to have a wishbone. He went on to create Lucky Break Wishbones. The wishbones were modeled from the 1999 Thanksgiving turkey.
There are 'tried and true rules to life, and one of them is that the world is unpredictable; you just never know what will happen. That crazy creative business could take off and might make you just enough to live a comfortable life, fund another idea, or help you meet people you never woul have met. Even if your idea doesn't go the long haul, it's okay; you will have learned a few things you can pass along and won't regret the thing you never tried. Put some thrill and fun into the world; give that crazy creative business idea a solid look.
