Business and Finance News

If you are planned to have an apartment in Durham, NC, you must look in the right place. One of the right places is on nc-apartments.com. Either you are moving from another state, or you are a North Carolinian that just move to Durham, Research Triangle Park, or High Point areas, nc-apartment.com are the right place to get you the best accommodations that is available in the region. North Carolina has very much to offer and their apartments will make sure that you can enjoy the natural beauty, and also the cultural offerings.

When you are looking for a North Carolina apartment, you must consider many factors other than rental rates, such as the level of customer service, security, apartment design, amenities, location, and others. Nc-apartment.com has detailed information and photographs for all the accommodations featured there. They will make sure you are happy with your home and your choice is perfect. Just choose your location, or call them today to learn more about the properties. Their online application is easy, and in many case the approval will be in 24 hours.

With their apartment in North Carolina and high point apartments, you will not only get the best rental rates that you can, and also a dependable and friendly service. No matter when you have a problem, their helpful staff will always there to help you solve your problem. So now having an apartment near RTP, Durham, or High Point North Carolina will be easier with helps from nc-apartment.com.

As an owner of an e-commerce business, you must be analyzing your website visitor data regularly. Have you ever wondered why the conversion rates are low? Out of the thousands of people visiting your website, why do only a few complete the purchase process? Why do a majority of them abandon the shopping cart midway?

The answer is simple. While browsing your e-commerce website, visitors are looking for credible information that convinces them about the benefits and value of purchasing your product or service. With the short attention spans and limited time that net-users have, they just move away if they do not find what they are looking for. Of course, you cannot provide all the information at one go, and the visitors might have specific queries for which they need answers to.

Convert them when they are interested. Visitors come to your e-commerce website when they want more information about your services, when they want to compare your services with those of your competitors, or when they want to make a purchase. Whatever be the reason, the key is that they seek INFORMATION. By proactively offering the right information in the right manner, you can see positive change in the conversion rates.

The Solution: 24×7 Virtual Customer Support

How would you like if you visit an e-commerce website, and you get all the support you need, in a friendly manner through representatives of that company? Would it not impress you if you have the option of contacting them through any channel, be it live chat, telephone, or email, and getting complete support while you make your decision of whether to make a purchase or not even in the wee hours of the night?

You can also offer the same superior level of support to your e-commerce website visitors through 24×7 Virtual Customer Support. You do not need to have a complete support team in-house, as it might prove costly and tedious. You can outsource your customer support process and get all the benefits with investment within your budget.

You can hire the services of a suitable partner that can offer all types of support from a single front, with people who understand your product or service and hold-hands with your prospects while they visit your website and make a purchase.

By offering complete ONLINE CHAT SUPPORT, PHONE SUPPORT, EMAIL SUPPORT, and assisting during the purchase process through LIVE ORDER TAKING, you can make your prospects feel comfortable while they select your company for their needs. Interacting with a responsive live person is always better than automated replies. Studies have shown that cross-sell and up-sell rates, and shopping cart amounts increase if visitors can interact with the representatives of the company while they visit their website.

With professional 24×7 customer support you can get the edge your competitors are struggling for and ensure that all genuine visitors get the attention and the service they deserve.

For businesses that can’t afford to or simply don’t want to unnecessarily spend thousands on a full-time office… we offer a physical office address, phone, fax, reception and meeting space access for a fraction of the price.  A New York Virtual Office may be just the solution for you. Find out today with our July 2009 Virtual Office Address Trial Offer for only $12.50 per month.

Within one business day you can open your New York office on Broadway in the trendy Flatiron district taking our advantage of our trial office of US$12.50 per month, for 2-months of service including a physical New York office address with reception and access to meeting facilities.  

During the trial period, you receive everything you would at the standard rate.  Mail handling is available as well as meeting rooms, phone service, fax service, and all the extras!  All the benefits of having a real staffed office (not a mailbox or a fake suite number) without the overhead or headaches.

VIRTUAL OFFICE TRIAL
$12.50 per month for 2-months of Virtual Office. Virtual Office address includes:
-Physical Office address on Broadway with reception and meeting facilities.
-Mail handling privileges including mail-forwarding
-Meeting room rental privileges

For more service details, visit:  http://manhattanvirtualoffice.com/virtualoffice.html

To apply for this offer, simply click here to access the online application.

<em>Offer valid for new approved clients only. Offer may not be combined with any other offer. Not valid on renewals or reinstatements. Applicants must order and have their completed applications approved prior to July 31, 2009. After the 2-months are up, you can opt to renew service. Renewal rates revert to standard rates.

Many business owners simply set up shop and instantly start running ads. They never invest any time in designing their marketing or sales strategy. The result is that they lose thousands of dollars and usually don’t get the sales results that they’re after. We’re going to share with you a simple marketing strategy that’s time tested and business proven. It will empower you to get the maximum leverage from your marketing efforts.

Think of the overall market in your city. Your ‘potential market’ is comprised of all the potential buyers of your product or service in your city. To simplify the process, we overlay a ‘Spectrum’, called ‘The Buyer’s Spectrum’, over top of the potential market. Realize that on one end of the spectrum, 3-5% of the market have a preferred vendor (a family member, a business that they’ve been with for years, etc.) and will never buy from you.

On the other end of the spectrum, 3-5% of the market are NOW buyers and respond quickly to virtually any type of marketing. This leaves roughly 90% of the market that doesn’t want to buy what you’re selling right now yet WILL BUY at some future date.

Amazingly enough, the majority of companies focus their marketing efforts exclusively on the 3-5% of the market that are NOW buyers. They leave the remaining 90% of potential customers on the table. Their philosophy is that if a prospect doesn’t buy from them right now, then they discard them and focus on the ones that do want to buy from them. If you share this philosophy, you’re making A BIG MISTAKE!

‘Why’ do you ask? Well, think about a grove of orange trees. If you wanted to pick the ripe oranges, do you think that all of the oranges ripen at the same time? Of course not. The oranges ripen all at different times (we call this ‘The Customer Buying Cycle’). So what do you do, simply pick the few oranges that are ripe and then burn the rest of the field? Once again the answer is no. Yet this is what many companies do.

If you want to get more of the ripe oranges, then what you must do is water, fertilize and nurture the orange tree grove consistently. Bit by bit, the other oranges WILL RIPEN. And when they do, you’re there pick them. Now you may not get them all yet you’ll certainly get the lion’s share.

In the same way, you ‘water, fertilize and nurture’ the 90% of your potential market that doesn’t buy right away. And like the grove of orange trees, bit by bit, they too will ‘ripen’ or buy what you’re offering. If your marketing strategy addresses this, then you will get the lion’s share of the customers.

For you to get most out of your marketing and sales, your marketing strategy must address the phenomenon of both ‘The Buyer’s Spectrum’ and “The Customer Buying Cycle’ to be effective. Make sure to read our article “How To Increase Your Sales By 300% Or More By Effectively Leveraging Follow Up Systems”.

FHA Mortgage Loan for Florida Homeowners

Take the proper Steps to Get Your FHA Mortgage today

 Other FHA loan Advantages Include:

Minimal Down Payment and Closing Costs.

Down payment less than 3.5% of Sales Price Gift for down payment and closing costs allowed. No reserves or required. FHA regulated closing costs. Seller can credit up to 6% of sales price towards buyers costs.

Easier Credit Qualifying Guidelines such as:

Minimum FICO credit score of 540. FHA will allow a home purchase 2 years after a Bankruptcy. FHA will allow a home purchase  3 years after a Foreclosure. 

Easier Debt Ratio & Job Requirement Guidelines such as:

Higher Debt Ratio’s than other home loan programs. Less than two years on the job is allowed. Self-Employed individuals o.k.

Apply for an FHA mortgage at

www.FHAmortgageFHAloan.com

For Florida first time home buyers and other borrowers, the FHA home loans can have key advantages:

Easy Qualification – The FHA loan insures lenders against loss for loans made to properly qualified FHA home loan borrowers. So you’re likely to find FHA mortgage loans with terms that make it easier for you to qualify.

Minimal Downpayment Requirements – FHA mortgages can work with as little as 3% down and those funds can come from a family member, charity, or your employer. Although the FHA loan does not have a zero down mortgage option yet, you will find that your 1st Continental Mortgage loan officer can point you to many Downpayment assistance programs that work well with Florida FHA home loans.

Less than A-1 Credit is Okay – The Florida FHA home loan program exists to expand the pool of home buyers. Even borrowers with prior bankruptcies or mortgage lates get approved every day for FHA mortgages to buy or Refinance homes in Hillsborough County or any of the other Florida counties we serve. The FHA loan program uses credit quality, not credit score!

Lower Cost Over the Life of the Loan – The Florida FHA home loan rates are extraordinarily competitive. FHA’s lower risk to the lender means a better rate for the borrower.

Safeguards for Borrowers Who Get Behind – The Florida FHA loan mortgages also allow the lender more options in helping borrowers who fall behind keep their homes are get current again: special forbearance, workouts, even free mortgage counseling. Further, HUD can allow the lender to take past due payments and move them to the end of the loan and in some instance will actually pay your past due payments for you. Options to save your home you’ll never get from a conventional loan! In an uncertain world, this is another excellent reason for you to get an FHA mortgage.

Options for Manufactured Housing – Under certain conditions, you can even finance a Mobile Home or manufactured home using a Florida FHA mortgage loan. Call 1-800-570-0448 to get pre-approved for a Florida FHA loan for manufactured housing or just use our quick application to learn more!

FHA Loans Are Fully Assumable – When you are ready to sell your home, you can offer buyers FHA financing! All FHA loans can be assumed by qualified buyers.

These are just seven of the many good reasons to apply for an FHA mortgage. Call 1-800-570-0448 to speak with a friendly Florida FHA loan specialist now!

The FHA program has evolved since it started in 1934 and now has options for HUD insured loans that fit a variety of different borrowers and situations.

 Purchasing a Florida home is one of life’s major landmarks and for some, it is even a dream come true. At FHAmortgageFHAloan.com we understand the importance of this decision and it is our goal to make your acquisition into home ownership memorable. Regardless of whether this is your first Florida home or your third Florida  home purchase we will do our best to ensure that getting you into your new Florida home is a pleasant and memorable experience.

When you begin to seriously consider purchasing a new Florida home it is important that you follow some simple steps to make sure that the Florida home process goes smoothly.

The first thing you should do is an analysis of your debt to income ratio. This important step will let you know what type of Florida home you can afford and how much your current obligations will allow you the apply for  based on your monthly income and expenses.

The next important step in purchasing a new Florida FHA home loan is to get pre-approved for an FHA  home loan. The peace of mind that comes with knowing that your FHA mortgage loan and credit report have been approved will allow you to shop for your new FHA home with confidence. And when you find a Florida home and are ready to make an offer the fact that you have already been pre qualified for your FHA loan amount will give the seller confidence in you as a serious buyer.

About FHA Mortgage Loans

FHA guarantees eligible Florida home  loan applicants the ability to obtain FHA home loans with 3.5% down payment. FHA mortgage  loans can be fully assumable. FHA mortgage loan limits apply depending upon where the Florida home is located 

FHA mortgage loans provide for  low down payments and the easiest qualifying guidelines to make it easier for Florida homebuyers  qualify! FHA home loans are popular with Florida first time home buyers but are equally liked by  moving up buyers and Florida homeowners looking for a  Florida Rehabilitation loan. With an FHA Mortgage  loans you can borrow up to 96.5% of the purchase price of the Florida home.

The advantages of a FHA insured mortgage product to a Florida first time home buyer are many. A Florida homebuyer may apply for an FHA mortgage loan to purchase a Florida home with little money out of pocket. FHA home loan insurance permits FHA mortgage lenders to make mortgages for Florida first time homebuyers without risk. 

With an FHA home loan here are no income limitations or minimum  credit score requirements when FHA insured mortgage. This is why FHA loans are among the easiest mortgage loan to qualify for and almost  anyone can qualify as long as they have a reasonable credit history and can afford the monthly FHA mortgage payments. You can also combine FHA home loan programs with many Florida first time homebuyer down payment programs.

FHA Streamline mortgage Refinancing

The FHA mortgage has permitted FHA streamline refinances on FHA insured  home loans since the early 1980′s. The FHA streamline refinance  refers only to the amount of documentation and underwriting that needs to be performed by the FHA mortgage lender, and does not mean that there are no costs involved in the transaction.

The basic requirements of a “streamline FHA mortgage refinance”  include:

The FHA mortgage loan  to be refinanced must already be insured by  FHA. The refinance is to result in a “lowering” of the borrower’s monthly principal and interest payments. No cash may be taken out on mortgages refinanced using the “streamline” refinance process. The FHA mortgage to be refinanced should be current (not delinquent).

FHA mortgage Lenders may offer FHA streamline refinances and include the closing costs into the new FHA mortgage loan amount. This can only be done if there is sufficient equity in the Florida. FHA Streamline refinances can also be done without appraisals, but the new FHA home  loan amount cannot exceed what is currently owed, that is  FHA closing costs may not be added to the new FHA mortgage with those costs either be paid in cash or through the premium rate as described above.

After buying their first home, Debra Cohen and her husband faced the unenviable chore of finding reliable home improvement contractors. Fed up with blindly picking names from the Yellow Pages and waiting for contractors who didn’t show up, it occurred to Cohen that if she and her husband were having trouble finding contractors, other homeowners in their community must be facing a similar predicament. This bleak reality sparked the creation of a unique service that has since expanded into a profitable cottage industry across the U.S. and internationally.

After extensive conversations with lawyers, business consultants, contractors and insurance agents, Cohen, 38, started Hewlett, New York-based Home Remedies of NY Inc. from her home in February 1997. This stay-at-home mom used a $5,000 loan, a computer and a refurbished fax machine to launch her part-time business. Right away, the response from homeowners was tremendous, and after three months in business, she repaid her loan. Her gross earnings in the first year were almost $30,000.

Today, Home Remedies is a contractor referral service that matches home-owners with reliable home-repair workers. The appeal to customers is that the company takes on the time-consuming task of locating and screening qualified contractors, checking to make sure they’re adequately insured and licensed, and serving as a liaison between the contractor and the homeowner throughout the course of a job. Home Remedies provides a win-win situation for both parties: Services are provided free of charge to the homeowner, and contractors represented by Home Remedies only pay a commission for any work they secure.

At first, Cohen worked approximately 15 hours to 20 hours per week; she now works about 30 hours per week. Last year, sales for Home Remedies exceeded $100,000. Cohen earns additional income by selling manuals and packages on how to get started in the referral business.

If you are a stay at home dad, and are trying to find the best ways to manage your time with a busy schedule, or if you are working and need to find the time to take care of your kids and balance a heavy load of work each day, you are also probably looking for advice to manage your time the best. There are tips and advice available online for you to use to learn how to manage the time you need to spend at work, or at home, with your kids and still manage to find time for yourself.

Many busy dads, who are full time guardians for their children, need to try to find the balance for work and time with their kids. It is not always easy to find time to get to all the kids activities and do all of the work. If you are looking for some of the best tips to help you get start managing your time the best and have the time that you need to spend with your kids, check out busydaddy.com. This web site is a great place for busy dads to get some great advice on managing time. There are other dads who offer tips and ideas on what has worked for them in managing their own time, and you can read what others have to say.

You can learn how to make the most out of your work schedule, time off and busy days to get in all of the activities that you want to do with your kids. This web site is great if you are a dad who works outside of the home, or if you are a dad that stays at home with your kids. You can find a lot of great information that will help you learn the skills to manage your time and get a chance to be a part of all of the activities that your kids are a part of. When you are needing help to organize your time and schedule and want to get the most time in with your kids as you can, while still having some time for yourself, check out the web site and learn effective ways that you can manage your time.

When you learn how to save time with planning ahead for activities, meals and other schedules for your kids, you can learn how to enjoy the time that you spend with your kids and with work. You can find ways to manage your time and enjoy all of the things that you enjoy doing with your children by going online and learning tools to help you get organized.

How do you know if your business’s website design is good? It all depends on your website visitor. How they view your site and the purpose that it serves. You have less than twelve seconds to grab your site visitors’ attention and hold them on your site. So creative design is VERY IMPORTANT. Also you must make sure that your website can reach as far and as wide as possible. This means realizing that there are a lot of site visitors that use high-tech devices to access your website. These days, people can browse the internet using their mobile phones. Making sure that you follow the correct guidelines that we recommend will ensure that 95% or more of site visitors will be able to access your website.

Let’s start with answering a few questions. Such as: What would you like to feature? What’s your target audience? Is it kids, teens, yuppies or seniors? Married? Single? Will it be in plain text? Full color? Or would you display flashy images or videos from the internet? Perhaps a little bit of everything? So, when you’re planning the design of your website, you must take all of these things into consideration. This is essential in effective lead generation for your business.

Now to the design. You want to start with a clear design and layout. Don’t exaggerate the use of Javascripts or Flash that can affect the major functions of your website menus and sub menus. Make sure that important information is easily accessible on your site. Also, avoid using any colors that may be irritating to your visitors eyes. If you want people to visit your website on a regular basis and do business with you, you want to make sure that every time they visit, they feel soothed and relaxed. This is because loud colors and schemes may disturb site visitors and discourage them from returning to your website. You can always follow the basic primary colors when you feel at a loss. Yet most people use the color wheel.

The overall look of your website should follow the basic types of color schemes. There are 3 types: Analogous, Complementary and Monochromatic. Analogous color schemes make use of colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. Complementary color schemes are those colors that you combine that are directly across from each other on the color wheel. Monochromatic color schemes are those same colors with different hues. The colors used in any color scheme needs to be balanced with the overall design of your website. Professional advice from a good website design company will benefit you greatly in determining the effect of those color schemes on your website. This ensures that you’re able to effectively connect with your site visitors.

Next, use a uniform theme that is clear and concise throughout your web site. Themes are the overall design of your website. Every page of your website should have a connecting factor to other pages by making use of a consistent layout and color scheme. Also, each page should stand on its own, making use of images and information that would be appropriate to the product or service that you offer to your customers.

In addition, pay careful attention to your use of fonts. Fonts are the styles of lettering. The two basic types are serif and sans serif. Of the two, the san serif is being used by most websites because their content is easier to read than the serif fonts. When choosing a particular font to be used in your website, it’s vital that you know how much lettering your site will have and ensure that you use the same font throughout. Using too many fonts of different shapes and sizes can become unpleasant and overwhelming to your site visitors. As before, seek the advice of a good website design company on the best fonts to use for your site.

Another good tip is to use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) when designing your website. In this way, the content and navigation bar will have a consistent look and feel. Since the outline is arranged to take place through CSS, no matter what, it will appear as an “eye pleasing” design. The CSS design techniques also allow you to play with sophisticated layouts without making your website “out of touch”. Keep in mind, simplicity is beauty.
Remember the goal of your website design is to connect with yours site visitors, make them feel comfortable and not scare them away.

Your web site must also be USER-FRIENDLY. It should be easy to navigate, highly memorable and very useful to your site visitors. A site map is also good to use. This is essentially the “table of contents” for your site. It enables your site visitors to more easily determine what your web site has to offer. Also, you want to leverage eye catching graphics, engaging photos and flash to give your site an exciting look and feel.

Lastly, your contact information should be strategically placed above the fold (the portion of a web page that is viewable without scrolling) of each page.  Make sure that your contact information is able to viewed on EVERY PAGE of your site. This way, your site visitors won’t have to go back to the “Home Page” or “Contact Us” page of your site just to find your contact information.

In closing, the elements of good web site design are simple if you follow this advice. You can be confident that your visitors will enjoy your site and return to it time and time again.

With considering applying for a small loan, there are two kinds: business and personal.  You can small personal loans with bad credit whereas business small loans you are likely to have to put up a type of collateral, meaning if you fall to repay the suggested amount, the financial institution or lender are liable to repossess what items you put up for method of repayment.

With how the economy not being at its best, consumers are using more bad credit personal loans because a credit check is waived or net needed, though consumers understand and acknowledge that repayment dates come quicker than expected.

With various bad credit personal loans, consumers are able to borrow small increments with the acknowledgement that interest rates will be high.  The advantage many like within this type of loans is with personal small loans issued by financial institutions or lenders, they do a credit check and points are deducted.  Whereas consumers can use bad credit personal loans such as payday loans on a more consistent basis.

For instance, a customer can borrow $250, pay it back within its suggested time and wait one business day and borrow more money the next day and repeat the process as long as they pay it back within reasonable amounts of time. However, this is strongly not recommended as the interset rates can accrue very quickly if these loans are not used properly. This is especially true if you are using a payday loan, which can generate substantial interest rates and fees if it is not paid back immediately.

How to get rich the smart way? Read what some creative people did:

1. Million Dollar Homepage

1000000 pixels, charge a dollar per pixel – that’s perhaps the dumbest idea for online business anyone could have possible come up with. Still, Alex Tew, a 21-year-old who came up with the idea, is now a millionaire. 

What is the idea? (from FAQ on the site)

The idea is simple: to try and make $1m (US) by selling 1,000,000 pixels for $1 each. Hence, ‘The Million Dollar Homepage”. The main motivation for doing this is to pay for my degree studies, because I don’t like the idea of graduating with a huge student debt. I know people who are paying off student loans 15-20 years after they graduated. Not a nice thought!
So, everyone is welcome to buy my pixels, which are available in 100-pixel ‘blocks’ (each measuring 10×10 pixels). You will see the homepage is divided into 10,000 of these 100-pixel blocks (hence there are 1,000,000 pixels in total). The reason for selling them in 100-pixel blocks is because anything smaller would be too small to display anything meaningful.
You can buy as many pixels as you like, as long as there are some available (see the live stats in the top right corner of the page). When you buy some pixels, you can then display an image/ad/logo of your choice in the space you have purchased. You can also have the image click through to your own website. However, no obscene or offensive images are allowed.
The pixels you buy will be displayed on the homepage permanently. The homepage will not change. Using some of the money I make from the site, I guarantee to keep it online for at least 5 years, but hopefully much longer. I want it to become a kind of internet time capsule. So, in the long run, I believe the pixels will offer good value. You will have a piece of internet history!

2. SantaMail

Ok, how’s that for a brilliant idea. Get a postal address at North Pole, Alaska, pretend you are Santa Claus and charge parents 10 bucks for every letter you send to their kids? Well, Byron Reese sent over 200000 letters since the start of the business in 2001, which makes him a couple million dollars richer.

About SantaMail from their site

Since 2002, Santa has been helping us write over 275,000 personalized Christmas letters. Santa makes sure that we use the finest heirloom-quality, acid-free linen paper so that his letters last a lifetime.

As Santa’s helpers, we help Santa print his letters and then mail them to him in North Pole, Alaska where he affixes a Christmas stamp on it and sends it on the way to your child. From there, the letter gets postmarked and mailed. (After December 16, he has us mail them directly from Austin, Texas so they reach the children in time!).

3. Doggles

Create goggles for dogs and sell them online? Boy, this IS the dumbest idea for a business. How in the world did they manage to become millionaires and have shops all over the world with that one? Beyond me. 

About Doggles from their site

We are famous for Doggles   goggles for dogs – the first and only eye protection designed and created just for dogs!  Seen on CNN, Regis and Kelly, The Today Show, Good Morning America and many others, they are quite a hit with everyone who has tried them! We are also an environmentally conscious organization, using as much “green” or recycled fabrics and materials in our products as possible, always keeping in mind that what is good for our planet is also good for our pets. Our standards are high, and you will see this in each and every one of our products. We are market leaders in the design and manufacture of tough and durable and yes, even “green”, dog toys. Please be sure to check our offerings in the toy category as you look through our site. Our outdoor line has won the praise of many an outdoor enthusiast as we continue to grow and improve the line. And of course, our fashion sense has never ended as we are always adding and improving to our fashion harness line. We have a wide range of products that are truly functional and have helped many pets over the years as we continue to innovate in the pet products field.  As always, keep an eye on us for more.

4. LaserMonks

LaserMonks.com is a for-profit subsidiary of the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank, an eight-monk monastery in the hills of Monroe County, 90 miles northwest of Madison. Yeah, real monks refilling your cartridges. Hallelujah! Their 2005 sales were $2.5 million! Praise the Lord.

5. AntennaBalls

You can’t sell antenna ball online. There is no way. And surely it wouldn’t make you rich. But this is exactly what Jason Wall did, and now he is now a millionaire.

6. FitDeck

Create a deck of cards featuring exercise routines, and sell it online for $18.95. Sounds like a disaster idea to me. But former Navy SEAL and fitness instructor Phil Black reported last year sales of $4.7 million. Surely beats what military pays.

7. PositivesDating.Com

How would you like to go on a date with an HIV positive person? Paul Graves and Brandon Koechlin thought that someone would, so they created a dating site for HIV positive folks last year. Projected 2006 sales are $110,000, and the two hope to have 50,000 members by their two-year mark.

8. Designer Diaper Bags

Christie Rein was tired of carrying diapers around in a freezer bag. The 34-year-old mother of three found herself constantly stuffing diapers for her infant son into freezer bags to keep them from getting scrunched up in her purse. Rein wanted something that was compact, sleek and stylish, so in November 2004, she sat down with her husband, Marcus, who helped her design a custom diaper bag that’s big enough to hold a travel pack of wipes and two to four diapers. With more than $180,000 in sales for 2005, Christie’s company, Diapees & Wipees, has bags in 22 different styles, available online and in 120 boutiques across the globe for $14.99.

9. PickyDomains

Hire another person to think of a cool domain name for you? No way people would pay for this. Actually, naming domain names for others turned out a thriving business, especially, when you make the entire process risk free. PickyDomains currently has a waiting list of people who want to PAY the service to come up with a snappy memorable domain name. PickyDomains is expected to hit six figures this year.

10. Lucky Wishbone Co.

Fake wishbones. Now, this stupid idea is just destined to flop. Who in the world needs FAKE PLASTIC wishbones? A lot of people, it turns out. Now producing 30,000 wishbones daily (they retail for 3 bucks a pop) Ken Ahroni, the company founder, expects 2006 sales to reach $1 million.