Keep business ideas simple and small

Filed in archive How-to on July 15, 2006

When looking for that money making idea, remember that saying about acorns and oaks.

Sometimes simple opportunities can lend themselves to small start-ups making money needed to transform an idea into a business with real growth potential.

Consider Joseph R. Hunka, Houston, TX, who turned a love of carpentry, some wood scraps in his garage and four hours of work into an 18 inch by 2 inch by 4 inch rough cedar table launching him into a homestead furniture business.

Total start-up investment? $3.56 for screws and washers to put the table together.

Imagine a primitive design studio started from such humble beginnings, perhaps marketed through a catalogue or website with other similar products by other craftsmen. Imagine a group of artisans banding together to maximize marketing and resources.

And how about the story of Richard and Angela Daily, Caldwell, ID, who took on a newspaper route for $450 a month as a supplement to Richard's horseshoeing trade?

A man once offered to sell me a small newspaper in Louisiana consisting of a pick-up truck for deliveries and a subscription list. The receptionist at his other job typed the paper up each week in between correspondence and other duties.

Imagine teaming with a desktop publisher and a neighbor with a gift for selling ads and voila, you have the beginnings of a simple rural newspaper that in time could use humble revenue streams to upgrade and expand.

Read stories of simple bootstrap businesses from these and other editions of Mother Earth News. It's food for thought, even for the entrepreneur with grander visions, about what can be done with hard work and imagination.