How often do you come up with "brilliant" ideas on which you can earn a lot of money? How about a glow-in-the-dark tennis ball or a dog headlamp?

Does it sound stupid? Don't rush to say that until you read about ten really stupid ideas that brought millions to those who came up with them.

For now, let's look at an idea that's more annoying than stupid: the smiley face. In the 1960s, a commercial artist from Wurster, Massachusetts named Harvey Ball designed a smiley face for a local insurance company that was running a "friendship action." For 10 minutes of work, he received $ 45, BUT he did not register copyright for his creation. In the 1970s, two brothers from Philadelphia, Bernard and Murray Spain, created the same emoji and came up with the slogan "Have a nice day!" (English Have a nice day!). They profited from the sale of "smiling" T-shirts and coffee mugs with their own wishes. But most of all on the "happy face" earned a London company with a telling name Smiley Faces ("Smileys"). They, unlike their predecessors, registered ownership of trademark in the form of a bright yellow smiling face in more than 100 countries around the world. Representatives of the Wal Mart company tried to challenge this, but lost. Smiley Faces made $167 million in 2012...

1. Wuvit pillow

Kim Levin was an ordinary housewife and mother of two small children. One day, she was watching her husband feed deer in the backyard with grain from a linen bag, and at that moment she had an unusual idea - to sew a pillow stuffed with corn and heat it in the microwave. After conducting such a mini-experiment, Kim found out that corn kernels can retain heat for a long time. And voila: a beautiful warm pillow with which, instead of a toy, you can sleep hugging small children, is ready. At first, Levin sold her pillows in local stores and at arts and crafts fairs. After she concluded with the network shopping centers Saks Fifth Avenue is a lucrative contract that brought her a lot of money. Kim has written a book called "Millionaire Mom" ​​and launched a website where you can find "profitable ideas" thought up by people from all over the world.

2.Icanhascheezburger.com

Do you want to create your own Internet project, but don't know where to start? Launch a website, post a picture of a funny cat with the words "I can has cheezburgers" and invite people to share their own pictures with funny animals and comments with other users. This is exactly what Erika Nakagavi and Kari Unebeasami did in 2007. The site rapidly gained popularity; the number of page views reached 10 million per month. Ultimately, it was sold to a group of investors for $2,000,000.

Today, Icanhascheezburger gets around 100 million page views every month and is one of the most popular websites in the world.

3. Balls for car antennas

Balls for car antennas first appeared in the 1960s thanks to the Canadian company Union Gas. In 1991, Disney released Mickey Mouse antenna balls, and since then has developed hundreds of other types of these unusual gizmos. In 1995, the American fast food chain Jack in the Box launched a campaign to create antenna smiley balls: with deer antlers for Christmas, and in protective helmets for the start of the football season. Then they sold more than 17 million cute circles. Even Wal Mart has its own line of car antenna balls.

4. Milliondollarhomepage.com

Imagine that the year is 2005. You are a young man from Wiltshire (England) who wants to earn money for his college education. What to do? Get a job at McDonalds? Ask your parents? Alex Tew found a better way. He launched the website Milliondollarhomepage.com, whose homepage is a 1 million pixel image. The idea was simple. Anyone could purchase a block on the site ( minimum size- 10x10) at one dollar per pixel and place a tiny picture in it with a link to own resource. Sounds stupid? Maybe. But in the end, Milliondollarhomepage.com made $1 million for its founder.

5. Pet Rock

This was in the 1970s. Gary Dahl, an account manager for a California advertising agency, was talking with his friends about which pet is the most unpretentious and easy to care for. One of them jokingly said: "Stone is a pet." There was loud laughter among those present. However, Dahl took the idea seriously and found a couple of investors willing to lend a hand. financial support in its implementation. The development of the project lasted several weeks. The result was not just a stone, but a real creature with a box-house and a training manual, which explained how to teach a pet to “sit” or “shake hands.”

The pet stone remained at the peak of popularity for only six months, but this was enough to bring Gary Dahl a million-dollar profit and fleeting fame acquired through television and public appearances.

6. Wacky Wall Walker toy

In the early 1980s, Ken Hakuta, a Washington resident, took some soft, stretchy material (elastomer) and made something that looked like an octopus out of it. When an object was thrown against a wall, it slowly "slid" down. Hakuta decided to set up the production of cute little octopuses, which quickly won the sympathy of both children and adults. Sales were stunning; in just a few months, Hakuta's wealth grew by $80 million.

7. Billy the Big Mouth Bass

Billy is a plastic fish that can turn its head and sing "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and "Take Me to the River" in an obnoxious voice. The employees of the stores where the Largemouth Bass entered went crazy at the end of the first day of sales. Singing fish, invented in 2000 by Joe Pelletiere, a salesman for Brass Pro Shops, brought huge money to the manufacturer - the American company Gemmys.

8. Flowbee

The Flowbee is a hair clipper connected to a vacuum cleaner by a hose. It was created and patented in 1987 by California carpenter Rick Hunts. At first, he demonstrated his invention at fairs, and then switched to commercials. By 2000, Hunts had sold about 2 million of these machines.

9. iFart

IFart is an iPhone app that plays various "fart" sounds that annoy everyone around. Developed by Infomedia, iFart was the most popular app of 2008.

10. Wishbones - plastic "bones for making wishes"

In 1999, Ken Aroni, sitting with his family at the Thanksgiving dinner table, watched his sisters argue over who would get a single turkey thymus bone. And then an unusual idea came to his mind: why not create such bones out of plastic? This is how Lucky Break Wishbones was born. As Aroni himself said, everyone needs luck. It took him several years to create the perfect plastic forks that would break in right place.

Lucky Break Wishbones are $9 a pack. During the holidays, Americans buy them in the millions, bringing Ken Aroni incredible income.

1. Wax the ceiling. When there is absolutely nothing to do, take the wax and smear the ceiling with wax. At least do something

2. Sharpen your teeth.

3. Braid your dog's hair. Poor animal, but what do you do when you don't know what to do?

4. Wash and clean your bell button. Useful entertainment!

5. Wet your dog. What could be more fun than making fun of someone? A dog, a cat, a hamster, it doesn’t matter who you come across, but it’s worth mocking him. The main thing is not to torture this poor animal or person.

6. Wash the tree. From idleness, you can not only do this ...

7. Knight yourself. What could be more pleasant than to understand that now you are a real knight. Most importantly, forget that you baptized yourself as a knight.

8. Scare someone. FUN! The main thing is to find worthy prey so that you don’t have to be scared yourself later ...

9. Sleep on a bed of nails. You will not only have fun, but also take care of your health.

10. Don't move. Imagine that you are frozen, frozen like a dinosaur in ice. The most fun will be if someone is nearby.

11. Boil the ice cream. Silly, but interesting. Try to drink it later.

12. Run around the car. Entertainment not only for yourself, but also for others.

13. Drink water with stopars. How to have fun at a party? Pour 10 cups of water and 10 cups of a strong alcoholic drink, such as vodka. Call everyone. Invite someone to a competition to see who drinks the most. But don't say the fluids are different. And of course drink water, and the opponent will drink vodka. The main thing is not to give yourself away. Fun is guaranteed.

14. Throw a heavy brick. Just don't hit anyone in the head.

15. Pretend to be a ghost. Do you remember the cartoon where Carlson threw a sheet over himself, drew eyes and began to scare the thieves. Try to do the same! Suddenly, you scare someone.

16. Paint yourself an unusual color and go outside. Be Shrek!

17. Just turn around.

18. Tell a joke at the funeral.

19. Get up

20. Walk around

21. Jump

22. Crow

23. Think for yourself what to do after this.

24. Splash with ice water.

25. Eat an onion in 1 minute and eat garlic. After this, you will definitely find what to do and how to have fun.

26. Make an electrical circuit. And lock the door tight.

27. Bang your head against the wall.

28. Donate your brother's body for scientific purposes after death.

29. Ask a stupid question and answer it yourself.

30. Spit. And then wipe it off.

31. Be a monkey all day.

32. Dress your family with hearts and dirty socks to your wedding.

33. Ignore people.

34. Throw gum at the wall.

35. Inflate the balloon until it bursts.

36. Open everything you see.

37. Hold the pencil on the tip of the nose for 1 minute.

38. Pour milk into your shoe.

39. Paint your teeth.

40. Find words that start with Y.

41. Erase the eraser completely.

42. Talk to your leg.

43. Throw the cat off the last floor. Check if she really lands on all 4 legs.

44. Go to the airport and scream BOMB. You will remember this day for a long time...

45. Scare people with your eyes. Buy unusual contact lenses in the store and pay attention to people's reactions.

All that is needed is originality and active promotion of a new idea to the masses. statesare earnedtodayon stupid, stupid and ridiculous ideas. Maybe grief and poverty really come from the mind? Maybe the dumber the better? You have stupid ideas similar to these...

1. Million Dollar Homepage

1000000 pixels, you have to pay one dollar per pixel is probably the dumbest online business idea that a person could think of. However, 21-year-old Alex Tew, who came up with the idea, is now a millionaire.

2.SantaMail

And now this is a good idea. Find a mailing address at the North Pole (city in Alaska), pretend you're Santa Claus and take $10 from your parents who want their children to receive a letter? And what do you think? Since starting his business in 2001, Byron Reese has sent over 200,000 letters, making him a couple of million dollars richer.

3. Doggles

Develop goggles for dogs and sell them? Dumbest business idea. And how could they become millionaires and be able to sell their developments around the world? That beats me.

4 Laser Monks

LaserMonks.com is a profile branch of the Cistercian Abbey of the Virgin Mary, a monastery of only 8 monks located in the hills of Monroe County 90 miles northwest of Madison. Yep, real monks refill your cartridges. Hallelujah! The level of sales for 2005 was 2.5 million dollars! Praise the Lord!

5. Antenna Balls

You can not sell antenna balls online. No way. And of course it won't make you rich. However, that is exactly what Jason Wall did and is now a millionaire.

6 FitDeck

Make a deck of cards with pictures of different exercise, and start selling them for $18.95. In my opinion, not an idea, but a disaster. However, former Navy SEAL and fitness instructor Phil Black posted a $4.7 million income last year. Of course, this is more than paid in military service.

7.PositivesDating.Com

Would you go on a date with an HIV positive person? Paul Graves and Brandon Koechlin decided that yes, they could, so last year they created dating site for HIV-infected people. Profit for 2006 amounted to 110 thousand dollars. They hope to have over 50,000 users on the site in the next two years.

8. Designer Diaper Bags

Christie Rein is tired of carrying diapers in a separate portable bag. The 34-year-old mother constantly suffered from the fact that she had to fill her bag with diapers for her young son so that they would not crumple in her handbag. Rain wanted something compact, pretty, and stylish, so in November 2004, she and her husband sat down and decided create a custom diaper bag, which would be roomy enough to fit the entire traveler's set and 2-4 diapers. With 2005 sales of over $180,000, Christie's Diapees & Wipees designs bags 22 various styles, which can be purchased online at 120 boutiques worldwide for $14.99.

9. PickyDomains

Hire another person to invent for you beautiful names domains? People will never pay for this. In fact, the process of looking up domain names for other people has become a booming business, especially when there is no risk involved. PickyDomains currently has a waiting list of people who want to PAY their hard-earned money for cool and easy to remember domain name. The company expects PickyDomains to hit six-figure sales this year.

10 Lucky Wishbone Co.

Fake plastic wishbones from chicken. Looks like this stupid idea is destined to fail. What sane person would buy FAKE CHICKEN BONES? As it turned out, a lot of people are ready to buy it. The company currently produces 30,000 bones a day (they cost $3 each) and its founder, Ken Ahroni, expects 2006 sales to hit the $1 million mark.

Business is, first of all, an idea. AT modern world conventional commercial schemes do not work due to the oversaturation of the market with goods and services. Most often, original, never used business plans turn out to be effective. Some ideas turn out to be so extraordinary that, at first glance, they are perceived as frankly delusional or completely inadequate. Surprisingly, many of them work and bring considerable income. As practice shows, even the most stupid business ideas can produce an economic effect, despite the skepticism of others.

Sale of air

Daniela Dorrer, an entrepreneur from the Bavarian village of Adlkofen, came up with the idea of ​​selling her customers intestinal gases of cows, packaged in cans. The appearance on the shelves of such an unusual product was favorably received by buyers. Not only that - the cans with barn flavors (that's what Stall Duft was the name of the product packed in plastic containers) were snapped up at a record speed.

Daniela opened her website to sell cow gases worldwide. Often unusual goods bought by Germans, Australians and Chinese

Life in a modern city is filled with the smell of gasoline, rubber and plastic. For some, these smells are familiar, but for people who have moved to bustling cities from a quiet and peaceful countryside, this is not so. According to user reviews, the opportunity to breathe in the country air returns to childhood, awakens nostalgic memories. The mixture of smells of straw, rotten wood and a cowshed is so familiar to the village dweller that many pictures of childhood are pulled out of the subconscious.

According to Daniela herself, such a product is a therapeutic and prophylactic agent that can cure, for example, a headache. The entrepreneur recommends not poisoning yourself with pills, but inhaling a natural rural aroma, which, in her opinion, is much more effective than pharmaceuticals. When a portion of the "medicine" runs out, you can buy another, the price of a liter jar is a little more than $ 8.

The plans include the expansion of the assortment - packaging of aromas of the poultry house, goats, pigs and other rural living creatures. In the future, Daniela Dorrer hopes to launch fragrances from different regions of Germany and other countries, expand the geography of her products, start selling air historical sites, tourist attractions. Her plans are far from empty projects, since sales are going on with enviable stability, goods are not stale on the shelves.

Daniela even plans to launch barn-scented shower gels and other beauty products.

Socks for outsourcing

This is the name of the famous BlackSocks service, founded by Samuel Lichty. The idea is simple: a user buys an annual subscription for $89, which gives him 9 pairs of socks twice a year. The project started back in 1999 and during this time managed to cover 79 countries. Income declared in 2009 amounted to $5 million, which indicates a high demand for this service.

The service saves a person from having to look for the same socks every day

The point of the idea is that the user stops wasting time looking for clean socks (according to Mr. Lichti's calculations, each man spends 12 hours annually on this). In addition, a person is completely relieved of the concern for acquiring this toilet item - socks will be sent on time and in sufficient quantity.

The idea was born in rather curious and unpleasant conditions for Samuel. Working as a junior consultant in advertising agency in Zurich, he once took part in negotiations with Japanese partners. At the end, everyone was invited to a tea ceremony. Tradition dictates that everyone should be without shoes. Samuel, who did not expect such a turn of events, found himself in an unpleasant situation - in the morning, getting ready for work, he habitually chose two identical socks from a pile and mechanically put them on, not paying attention to the hole. At the ceremony, he was ready to fall through the ground - it seemed that everyone was just looking at his big toe sticking out of the hole.

The young man was very worried, thought a lot about what had happened, and an idea began to form in his head about solving such problems once and for all. Practice has shown that the situation is really serious, and there are a lot of people who want to get the opportunity to forget about the search for new and whole socks once and for all. People are always willing to shift their problems onto other people's shoulders, and household chores are no exception. The BlackSocks company was created, which solved this, at first glance, insignificant, but in fact a very important problem for its subscribers.

Life situations can push a person to a crazy, at first glance, idea, which over time will bring good profit. Sooner or later, each of us has such "revelations", and it is important to properly dispose of them.

Balls for car antennas

Decorate car antennas with various ribbons, balloons and other trinkets started a long time ago, but the American entrepreneur Jason Wall brought this business to perfection. As he himself claims, the whole snag is in strong balls that can withstand the pressure of a headwind.

The most popular antenna toys are balloons and flags

In fairness, it should be clarified that the idea does not belong to Wall completely, but it is hardly possible to find its true author over the years. Jason only slightly transformed the idea, brought it into line with today's realities, technologies and fashion. He founded In-Concept Inc, of which he is both President and CEO.

The company opened an online store Antennaballs.com, where you can order a lot of interesting antenna tips - in the form of smiling faces, predictor balls, pretty girls in cowboy hats, etc. All products are made very skillfully, allow you to decorate the car in an elegant and positive style.

This is not to say that the path to success was strewn with rose petals. In parallel with the increase in the range and volume of products, there were litigations with competitors who accused Jason of copyright infringement and even unfair competition. The problems began almost from the first steps of the start-up company, but, in the end, the parties settled their relationship and reached an agreement. As a result, In-Concept Inc merged with the well-established company HappyBalls.com, which brought great benefits in terms of design and advertising.

Today, In-Concept Inc sells more than just antenna tips. Wall expanded the range to include key chains, pencil tips, Christmas decorations, and car mirror toys.

The company's positions are stable, growth prospects are quite optimistic. Jason himself declares that the idea is not the main thing, he owes his success to perseverance and the ability not to give in to the difficulties, which in any business there are too many.

Pixel per dollar

British resident Alex Tew needed money to study at the university. The search for funds prompted him to a strange, but very original solution. Alex bought the site for £50 and named it milliondollarhomepage.com. The title is speaking. It consists of a million pixels (1000 in length, the same number in width). For each of them, Alex set a price of $1. The sale was made in blocks of 10 by 10 (100 pixels each). The meaning of this was that everyone could buy a certain section of the page and place their advertisement with an active link to their own resource.

Alex himself wrote on his blog that this idea seemed crazy enough to him, so it could work

In the first 3 days, 400 pixels were sold, and this was the easiest money in the life of a young man. The popularity of milliondollarhomepage.com grew by leaps and bounds, even such giants as the Times newspaper and Yahoo bought a place on the page. The initial purchase of the site cost less than $100, but then an additional cash injection of about $40,000 was required. A press secretary was needed. The last thousand pixels were put up for sale on January 1, 2006. It was sold for $38,100, and the site brought in a total of $1 million and $37,100.

Hoping the idea could help him with his tuition fees, Alex received $37,000 in his first month, enough for a three-year business management course. The site was launched in 2005, but in 2006 Alex interrupted his studies after 1 semester.

Alex Tew's site had a lot of clones, but they didn't get as much success as the prototype. The idea was based precisely on novelty and could not be reused with the same success. Today, 22% of the pixels on a site are redirecting users to non-existent sites.

It is noteworthy that Alex did not stop there and at the end of January 2006 launched new project- Pixelotto website. The idea was to get double the profit - each pixel was already valued at $ 2. However, prize pixels were assigned as a "bait" for users. Whoever gets them was supposed to receive a prize equal to half the proceeds. But this time there was no such success, the site was closed in early 2008. The winner got 153 thousand dollars.

Currently, Alex Tew is working on new Internet projects, but such success is no longer expected for them.

Sell ​​your destiny

One of the most strange and shocking projects can be called the act of Mike Merrill. At the age of 30 (2008), he "divided" himself into 100 thousand shares and announced the sale of each for $ 1. Today, there are about 160 shareholders who "own" Mike and collectively decide his fate by voting. All important decisions are made by the board of shareholders, although Mike also has a vote. He initially announced the futility of acquiring shares, which, according to his plan, were to be distributed among acquaintances. Mike needed some tools to develop his projects, and he decided to get them in such an original way.

Mike started by selling 929 shares for his friends, and after 5 years he sold more than 3700 " valuable papers”, while their price increased by 20 times

As a result, it turned out that shareholders are interested in "playing Mike". Together they decided to refuse a vasectomy, decided to vote for the Republicans, developed rules for the relationship with a girl for their ward, and so on. Mike wears clothes from the same brand - Brooks Brothers, goes in for sports 7.5 hours a week. Mike's life is governed by the community and subject to collective regulation.

When Merrill made such a decision, he did not think about what it would result in. Mike tends to see it as a kind of performance, allowing people to get a specific pet that they are responsible for. The fact that the ward is himself does not bother Mike at all, although it brings some inconvenience. Stocks rise in price, life goes on and is managed by collective efforts. The initial cost of "securities" has grown from 1 to 20 dollars. At the same time, 3 shares belong to two former and one current girlfriend of Mike. The future of the idea is unknown and rather vague. Mike's idea is recognized as the most strange and unexpected, although quite interesting.

What conclusions can be drawn

Analyzing the above examples, one can note one common property: they are of great interest to potential users. According to psychologists, when faced with such proposals, people consistently experience several feelings:

• astonishment;
• interest;
• Adoption;
• desire to purchase a product or use a service.

When planning to start a business based on a non-standard idea, it is necessary to determine exactly how useful or interesting it can be to people. Often a situation arises when there is no obvious benefit or need, but there is a certain element of the game that involves and keeps the buyer. An example is the story of Mike Merrill, who, in fact, does not offer his shareholders anything tangible or significant, but the interest successfully replaces them with a material acquisition.

If the idea captivates the buyer, makes him think about it, even with a fair amount of irony, then the result will be impressive. At the same time, you should not consider your undertaking as a solid and long-term business. Rather, it is a good way to make yourself known, to ensure fame and recognition. These elements of publicity can bring much more income if they are properly managed.

There are enough stories about the successful implementation of frankly crazy entrepreneurial ideas. They confirm the point of view that not only logic and exact calculation work in business, but also unexpectedness, originality of direction, which amuse the consumer, attract his attention, forcing him to purchase strange goods or services.

The examples given should not be considered as a direct guide to action, this is just an illustration of a creative approach to solving the issue. The main task is to be able to stay on the verge of extravagance and outright idiocy, so that potential consumer formed a positive image of the proposed product. There are many examples of stupid business ideas, and all of them have suffered a predictable and well-deserved failure. Therefore, having planned to carry out a plan that is risky from the point of view of philistine logic, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between frank stupidity and non-standard thinking in order to get the desired effect at the end.

According to VTsIOM, 60% of Russians would not like to start their own business. 37% of respondents said that they simply do not have money for this.

But you don't have to have a big business to start your own business. start-up capital. You can earn money on anything and without investments. We have collected examples of the most idiotic working business ideas. They can be implemented even today.

Daniela Donner from Germany sells bottled mountain air to city dwellers. Air from different cities is sold on the Internet: London, Paris, New York. In Russia, they also do this - all resorts are filled with banks with mountain and sea air.

friend for rent

The Japanese have a very popular rental service for relatives and friends. At Hagemashi Tai, they rent out friends they go to parties with or spouses for family reunions. The roles of friends and relatives are played by actors.

listen to others

The American company Vent By Phon helps relieve nervous tension. For $2.99 ​​per minute, you can call and blow off steam over the phone. The operator does not give advice, does not provide assistance. He just listens and occasionally puts in "Yes" and "Mmmm."

Throw loved ones

The Breakup Shop helps customers break up with their loved ones. Clients write the text of the breakup letters, arrange them in the form of postcards or gifts. There is a service of a personal visit to the “victim” by an employee of the company or an explanation by phone.

catch cats

The Catch Your Cat company helps to catch cats and cats. When it’s not easy to get your pet out from under the couch, you can call a specialist for $ 80: he will come, catch the pet and put him in a cage.

Adopt bulb

At adoptapickledonion.com, you could adopt a pickled onion. For $8, it was offered to choose a bulb for adoption from several photographs. The "guardian" was sent an adoption certificate and a photograph of the bulb.