Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2012. The company details it gives for UsedCardboardBoxes.com, such as purchase and sale prices, the initial debt, the Walmart contract and boxes sold, and the creativecoffins.com buyer count describe 2012.
In a previous article we looked at 4 absurdly simple ideas that ended up bringing in more than $100 million. Now, if there were a ranking of the worst business ideas, I’m sure the ones we’re about to cover would be on it. Of course, that didn’t stop them from turning these entrepreneurs into millionaires.
Before you say out loud that these ideas are nonsense, remember that they brought in millions in record time.
1. The pet rock
The Pet Rock was born in 1975. Its creator, Gary Dahl, came up with the idea after listening to his friends complain about their pets: they had to walk them and feed them, on top of all the expense involved. The United States was in a mild recession at the time, so he thought of a pet that didn’t need to be walked, fed, washed, groomed and so on.
The pet was just a rock. Of course… who’s going to pay $4 (the price it sold for) for a plain rock? He had to make his idea fun, so he wrote a care manual for the new pet. In other words, a set of instructions that were rather funny, something like: if your pet doesn’t obey the second time you tell it to lie down or sit, please don’t insist.
The rock came in a nicely presented box, as if it were a real animal. The box even had air holes so the pet could breathe.
Nobody knows exactly how on earth that idea worked, because in 1975 nothing was sold online and there was no online marketing, social media or anything like it. It was all word of mouth from lots of people who found it funny in some cases and, in others, I imagine, gave it to someone as a joke.
The business had a very short run: in 1976 it stopped selling for lack of demand. Gary Dahl is said to have sold more than 1.5 million pet rocks that year, clearing more than $4 million.
As with Silly Bandz bracelets, I don’t think anyone will ever be able to explain this success.
Then came the Tamagotchi
Later, the idea of a “not real” pet led to another invention, the famous Tamagotchi, a digital pet that also became a worldwide hit: it’s said that 76 million units were sold.
The Tamagotchi divided psychologists. On one side, some praised the invention because it helped children develop the responsibility of caring for something; on the other, some felt the pet’s death could traumatize some children. Honestly, the Tamagotchi was as absurd an invention as the pet rock, but… it was without doubt a great business for its creator.
2. Selling used boxes
When Marty Metro told his friends and family about his business idea, they said: “What a stupid idea“. And the truth is, buying a used box for less than 10 cents and selling it for $1 makes you wonder: “Who would pay for that?”
At first, it seems, nobody would. On his first attempt Marty failed and ran up debts of around $300,000, because he had set up his business on a grand scale, with employees, a big warehouse, a logistics center and so on.
Once again they told him: “See how silly your business is?” That’s when he realized that nobody would pay for a used box, but plenty of people would pay not to destroy forests. He launched an aggressive marketing campaign, built his website, UsedCardboardBoxes.com, and the business took off.
Today it sells millions of boxes. Its customers range from individuals who order them for moving house, students and offices all the way to the giant Walmart, with which it signed a supply contract. The entrepreneur is proud to be a millionaire, although he recently said in an interview that what he’s proudest of is having saved hundreds of thousands of trees in that time.
3. Death in your own style
Who would pay for something they’ll never get to enjoy? We already saw that customizing death was a profitable business. One of the first companies to get into this business was creativecoffins.com, which gives the soon-to-be departed the chance to be sent off into eternity in a coffin shaped like a guitar, a box of chocolates, an airplane and so on. Depending on your passions in life, you can choose the decoration you’ll spend the rest of your days in.
Going back to the question of who would pay for this service, we have the answer: more than 200,000 people from 2008 to the present, and the business is expected to keep growing in the coming years, since the culture of “dying in your own style” doesn’t really exist yet.
And in the ranking of the worst ideas, we could also include:
- Selling tap water: Craig started selling tap water at a dollar and a half a bottle, about 35 cents cheaper than mineral water. Before long he had 75 businesses signed up.
- Online funerals: the last goodbye on the internet, where a company organizes a send-off (a funeral) with your fans and followers. I don’t think this idea has had much success so far.
- Risk tourism: more than bad or absurd, this idea is dangerous. In fact, I think the customers who go for it must have a screw loose, though there must be plenty of loose screws out there, because this kind of tourism is in strong demand and very well paid.
See also: How much a business should grow each year to be profitable
Further reading
Featured image: CarolSpears, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
