Business Idea of the Day

Need inspiration? Need mechanical knowledge for a project? Want money making ideas? 137 years of Popular Mechanics are now freely available online here .

Approximately 2 years ago Brian Ohnemus create a boat rack that would carry his boat so he could still pull his camper. The idea worked so well that he decided to turn it into a business, reports the Quincy Herald Whig . “While getting all the gear ready for a weekend family camping trip, I realized I had a problem,” he said.

But trash cans are supposed to be dirty. That’s what entrepreneur Warren Bishop hears nearly every time he explains how his fledgling, Point Loma-based trash-can-cleaning company turns filthy, germ-filled waste bins on wheels into sanitized receptacles, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Why bother? “Flies lay eggs in there on food and animal feces, then they go into your house and land on your utensils and food

If you enjoy the kinds of businesses we profile here on Business Opportunities Weblog, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that you’ll enjoy the book Starting from Scrap by Stephen Greer. In 1993 at the age of 24, American Stephen Greer gave up his steady back office job in Germany and moved to Hong Kong without a return airline ticket, a plan, or even a real place to stay. He’d lined up a couch to crash on from a friend of a friend and lured by the booming economy he gave up his entire life and moved. He had no idea what kind of business he was going to start once he got to Hong Kong, only that his dream was to build a great company and see the world in the process. Once there, he formed a corporation and with $500 in the bank he began faxing a letter (no email in those days) to almost everyone he’d ever met of business significance

photo credit: friedtoast If you’ve only ever eaten a Kit Kat in the United States , you’d have no idea that an entire world of candy goodness awaits you beyond our shores. Kit Kats in the USA do not taste like those in the rest of the world, because they are produced under license by The Hershey Company instead of by Nestle, like in the rest of the world. In the US they have more sugar and less milk in the chocolate. The Kit Kat was invented in the UK in 1935

When Vanessa Troyer and Chris Farentinos first hit on the idea that would change their lives, they were thinking big — a little too big, actually, according to a story in The New York Times . It was a mail receptacle/guest house,” Farentinos jokes, describing an oversize, locking mailbox nicknamed the Elephant Trunk. His wife agrees.

It all started last year when Jennifer Reyes was trying to clean the gunk out of a sippy cup straw, reports kvue.com . “I had pulled out a moldy, icky cup from in the car that had been there for probably 2-3 days that I didn’t know had rolled underneath the seat,” she said. She tried cotton swabs and pipe cleaners, but the muck stayed

For those who spend all day at screens, how to protect your eyes, by Celine Roque at Web Worker Daily. One of the more common risks of extensive computer use is eye strain.

A reader wrote: Dear Dane, Does my small business need a website, or can I just a Facebook Fan Page to promote my services? If recent big television commercials are any indication, some very large companies think that they can do business online without a website . During Super Bowl 44, for example, many of the ads didn’t include the company’s website URL, instead they pointed viewers to either a Facebook fan page or Twitter page

It’s a niche still in its infancy. According to the National Baby Planner Association, about 60 businesses in the U.S. and abroad now identify themselves as baby planning companies, reports AOL Small Business . Within the last several years, the growth of baby planning seems to have followed the niche started by the explosion of the wedding planning industry,” says Larry Stone, author of The Safe and Sound Child. “With the increase of fertility options leading to more multiple births and adoption on the rise, there are many more new businesses geared toward helping new moms with every aspect of baby planning.” “Every aspect” means just that.