Selling Ideas...Developing a different business model...

Is it possible that people want success so bad, that they will buy an idea from someone they don't know on ebay?

We wanted to find out, take a look at our Ebay Listing.

Tell us your thoughts on this...
Is it worth while?
Is it wrong/right?
Could this be a profession?
Would you need to establish credibility with ebay members before you could become successful?
Could this be a new type of service?
Will ebay leave it as a listing, or will they remove it?

buy me a chai tea, I'll do more...

If a manager or leader in charge, asked their employees what made them more motivated during the day, and fulfilled those things (within reason...), would it be worth the expense?

If a boss asked me that question, I would say, "I am more motivated and productive when I have my morning chai tea", which is $4.01 with tax. It would more than pay for itself in my productivity, for me it's the surge of caffeine in the morning that I need, and my day is golden and on track.
If they only knew to ask...

Network Contacts...

In order to have good network contacts, what is needed? Do we need to personally know them? Should we do a favor for these contacts before we ask something of them? Does a network contact know that in your relationship that is their role? Is there anything wrong with that?
`chais

Exclusivity and Low Quantities...

What would happen if a random company, department, or business chain were to offer products that were a limited quantity (a real limited quantity, not like Reeses coming out with a limited peanut butter and banana candy bar that is all over the US). Would they be able to sell the products at higher margins or be able to control what time of day people came in their stores by stocking the products only at certain times. Supply and demand is an amazing thing, certain products are more expensive because there are less of them or they are located in fewer locations. But why?

Could a business survive if they were open only half the time of their competitors, and they offered products that were limited quantity and exclusive to them? It would have to be an extremely solid product. But, if the quality was there, I would be tempted to go and spend more money to have something different, something that very few people have.

What could be one SD (supply and demand) thing that you can do/sell to either make people excited about your store (online or physical), or to push your buying traffic to your store at a specific time. Be creative...

`chais

Giving, Getting and Selling

I just got back from Texas today after visiting my in-laws. We decided to fly on American Airlines there and back. Along the way we learned a lot about companies, marketing, and employees.

The first flight we took went from Omaha, NE to Dallas Fort Worth, this flight was your standard AA flight with your choice of a complimentary beverage. The second flight from DFW to Odessa, TX was on the American Eagle Airlines (owned by American Airlines). This flight was very interesting to me, it was the first flight that I have been on where instead of offering you a pillow (when your tired), a blanket (when your cold), or a bag of munchies (when your hungry), they would only sell them to you. Now I can understand the munchies, that probably does add up with 80 people on a plane at a time, but the pillows and blankets? If I'm cold and tired however, tough luck. I am not a master at business or marketing, but I know my point of view as a customer. I would rather be offered the pillow and the blanket and spend my money on something else, like a portable DVD system (that you can rent for the flight) with 10-20 DVDs to chose from (limited quantity of each disc, first come first serve). I would spend $5 on the player and $3 on a disc to entertain my self and my wife for 2 hours. I realize that not everyone would utilize this service, but I believe it would be a much better option than a pillow and a blanket that you can "Take with you!" for $5. I also would rather spend an extra $3 on my plane ticket for munchies (and feel like it was complimentary) then have to buy it while on the plane.

Take a look around you, if you see something that looks out of place or doesn't seem to flow very well with that businesses commitments, think about what they could do to change it or make it better in some way. This will help all of us be more creative and look at any future business from different eyes (the end customer's eyes). ~Chais