Editor’s note: This article was first published in January 2011, at the height of the Silly Bandz craze; “currently sold all over the world” and “the last decade” refer to that time.
Designers all over the world are no doubt working away trying to create a product that will sell everywhere. The search for the perfect, profitable business idea leads some people down a road of misery, but lo and behold, along comes an entrepreneur with no design training and an idea, and in less than two years his product, which anyone could have thought of, is being sold all over the world.
We’re talking about the entrepreneur Robert J. Croak, 47, and his business idea, Silly Bandz: rubber bracelets in different shapes that have won the affection, and above all the demand, of children and teenagers.
Robert went on a trip abroad and saw some rubber bands shaped like animals. That was when he came up with the idea of turning those bands into bracelets. He knew that once the product was made, children would love the bracelets, but he wasn’t sure how to start getting the word out, so at first he decided to use the internet.
Robert set up a website for the bracelets where people could buy a pack of 24 for about €3.
He used social media to promote his product, and in less than a month strong demand began. Within three months he was getting orders from other countries, and after ten months his product was already being sold in more than 70 countries.
Today you could say that Silly Bandz bracelets are sold all over the world. We don’t know exactly how much they bring in, but if we use common sense and bear in mind that the product is in every newsstand, stationery shop, toy shop and so on, we’re talking about hundreds of millions of euros in profit in less than two years.
It’s probably one of the simplest and most profitable business ideas of the last decade, which shows once again that you don’t need to invent a cure for cancer to become a millionaire. Any business idea, however absurd it may seem, can become a success.
Other unusual but profitable business ideas
- Getting rich selling tap water
- The million dollar homepage
- Saying the last goodbye online
- Bodog: a server of vice
Featured image: Lauren Coolman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
