While in college, one of my roommates came up with a great business idea.  What he noticed was that a lot of students have problems writing their dissertations and usually not enough time to do them.  He figured that he could do them a service (and make some money) if he could provide them with a way to solve this problem.

After little bit of research, he decided that he should offer custom term papers for any class that a student required.  It would be a fee-based service, based on the word count and research required to write the thesis.  This sounded all well and good, but he had to figure out some way to advertise his service without alerting the faculty.

It ended up that he devised a tactic to advertise his business and stay away from the prying eyes of the University.  I’ll go into any details here, but it ended up being a very lucrative business for him, and paid his way through college.

He continued to business after college and now has ghostwriters to do the writing for him.  He is definitely one of the smartest business minds that I know.

I am interested in getting a job as a paint contractor. I have spent the past few months painting house exteriors and I am now interested in setting up contracts. I would like the job to be a little bit more secure and permanent and I do not have to worry about where my next job is coming from.

A colleague of mine suggested that I register myself with BestHousePainter.com. He informed me that he found tons of work this way and that he was actually to the point where he had to start turning down jobs because he was too busy.

He told me I could go in and register myself as a Phoenix paint contractor and that if someone was searching for that than my name and contact information would come up. I figure that it can’t hurt to give it a try and I am currently in the process of registering to do this. Hopefully I will also get to the point where I have to turn down jobs.

I am interested in the business of car rentals and I am looking into doing a little bit of research in Florida. I looked into Miami car rentals and I was happy to see that the market is not too saturated and that there is room for more. It is something I have been interested in for a long time.

The Tampa car rentals market is a little bit more saturated, but there is still room for more and I would like to have various offices in various parts of the state. Tampa will definitely be one place that I look into and I am hoping that is where I will actually open up the first shop.

The best location may very well be open for Orlando car rentals. It is very touristy and many people fly in there and look to rent a vehicle for a week or more. I would like to open there as well, but am still thinking that Tampa may be best for a first timer like me.

I was going through some business reviews the other day, to find out exactly what was and was not needed in our community. No, I am not starting a business, but am curious as to what is needed out there.

There are, I deduced, way to many eating establishments here. I figure that there are no real profits to be made by opening any more of these, unless it is a well-known franchise. They are the only ones that could even hope to survive this market.

The reason for this is that franchised restaurants have completely different profit systems than privately owned ones and it takes fewer customers to make a profit, as you have a big company backing you.

In my opinion, franchises are the best investments that one can make right now, if they want to own an eating establishment. I know that is the only thing I would even consider.

I found a stainless steel jewelry wholesale store that I became interested in. I like to go to trade shows and am always looking for new products to sell. It has become my means of making a living and it is always something I love to do. I do, however, like to change my product often, as I tend to get less bored with new things.

I knew at the prices of the wholesale stainless steel jewelry, it was definitely something I could mark up and make quite a profit. I thought it would be the perfect product for one of my upcoming trade shows that catered especially to women.

I made an order and am now trying to put a mini catalog of stainless steel jewelry together to hand out at the trade show. I think that teenagers will love the product, as it will be in their price range, and is very fashionable, as well.

I have been looking for awhile for a home business.  You see, in just a few months, I will have a year off on maternity leave, which is paid, and I will have some free time to work on a business.

There are many different types of home businesses that I am considering investing in, but before I invest my hard earned money, I will be reading as many home business reviews as I can to better educate myself before I make a purchase.  Perhaps my biggest reason for reading more than one review is to make sure that the business information one review presents is the same as another - if there is consistency, I know that the information should be accurate.

I am also following the advice I found in a business guide that I read:  from the information I found in the reviews and the main home business site, I am making a folder for each one to keep track of what I have found.  This means that most of the online business information for each opportunity has been printed out - which uses a lot of paper.  But, it will be easier for me to arrange that information on the kitchen table and read it away from the computer.

I do have some time to decide before I pick one, so I am making sure that I educate myself on all the opportunities before I make a purchase.  But, with my organizational system in place, I think that I will be able to pick a winner - and hopefully not have to go back to work after my maternity leave is over.  I have always wanted to be a stay at home mom - and this is my chance.

For the past few days we have been learning about the new services our company is offering this year.  In previous years, we have learned about SIM Applications, video editing solutions and server management.

This year, the owner decided to move us into a couple of areas that have little competition and good opportunities for us to grow.  We have purchased a machine that will allow us to do card encoding for financial institutions and for gift cards for local retailers.

We have also started distribution of chip card readers.  These devices allow businesses and individuals secure their financial transactions and protect themselves from identity theft while online.  Currently, we are pursuing the online shopping market, providing secure solutions for the shopper at home.  Later we will be targeting businesses for the same sort of service.

New year, new services, new challenges - that is what I love about my job.

I am going to be taking my first out of country business trip in a couple of months and I am wickedly excited about it. I will be spending five days at an expo in Spain. As my flights and holiday rentals are all being paid for by the company, I had little say in where I stayed or how long. I went to talk to my boss about taking some holiday time and extending my return tickets, allowing me to enjoy the country. He agreed that this would be a great opportunity for me.

I would like to find a place that does motorhome rentals, so I could travel to different towns and see more of the country. This would save me a pile of money and I love being able to take my leisurely time.

I am also going to be looking into some villa rentals in Barcelona, where I hope to meet up with a few friends for a few days. I expect to take a couple of extra weeks after the business trip and I can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t wait.

This past year, our business has been plagued with numerous problems.  Whether it was a staffing shortage, or logistics problems, there has been a flood of never ending headaches.  So, just as the year is ending, it is time to make some changes.

I just sent out a memo yesterday letting the human resources department go.  You see, I found that I could take advantage of human resources outsourcing and save our firm some money.  Cutting expenses wasn’t the only option I was looking at, but it would help save our bloated company some money.

The E-commerce services department was also let go because they had the highest sick rate (an average of 30 days) this past year.  The level of absenteeism was totally unacceptable, and we needed a change there anyway - our website had become stagnant.

Lastly, I have decided that the management team we have sucks.  There has been a lack of control and direction from the management and if we continue down this path, our company will disappear.  Instead, I have  enlisted the services of a professional management recruitment firm to find us some management candidates - I am hoping to have a new management team in place to start the new year.

So, next year will see a radical change to our business.  Though it may look smaller, I think we will see bigger possibilities next year.

Have you ever worked at a beverage company?  Well I have.  Just a few years ago, I worked at a local bottling operation for a small soft drink company.  In fact, we just sold a few types of soda including root beer and cream soda - but we did have a large following.

A large part of our success was our constant use of promotional products to market our brand.  Much like beer, our soft drinks came in a cardboard box of six bottles in one pack.  This allowed our company to pack promotional items in the boxes which in turn helped us to grow our brand.

Something new that we tried a few years ago was personalized koozies.  The way that promotion worked was the customer could log on to our website, enter the pin that was found in their box, and request a koozie with their name on it (and the company logo of course).

It was a big hit, and actually generated enough sales to allow the company to open a second bottling plant.  I learned from the promotions that we had there how something as simple as a koozie or a shirt could be very influential in brand marketing - in most respects, it was more powerful than television advertising.