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RESOURCE: More small business ideas

By Becky McCray

60 Second Ideas blog has an outstanding idea today: Quick Study Money.

Here at 60 Second Ideas, we strive to find simple yet brilliant start-up ideas that do not cost an arm and a leg to get started. Information is a hot commodity these days. Today’s idea shows us a new twist on selling and packaging information and it has nothing to do with ebooks or other online distribution methods.

There’s gold in them there hills…or at least in mining information and presenting it as laminated reference guides.

Bobbie Ford created a simple flow chart of what she had learned in her Constitutional Law class – telling husband, John, that it gave her an a roadmap of the course. Bobbie also told John some of her classmates wanted copies. Could Bobbie’s quick reference study aid and others like it be sold in law school bookstores? John thought so and six months later, the Ford’s published 6 law school study aids. Today, BarCharts is the largest provider in the world of quick study reference materials, selling over 21 million copies on over 250 subjects.

At 250 topics, BarCharts has not even come close to scratching the surface of available information perfect for laminated guides. Get yourself a $250 laminating machine, create a handful of useful subjects and you could be seeing some Quick Study Money.

Laminated reference guides is a wide open idea with endless possibilities. One could even offer custom guides to a variety of businesses, schools or other organizations.

What a terrific concept for recently graduated students, current students, teachers or ex-teachers, etc.

So keep an eye on the 60 Second Ideas blog. It’s a great resource for ideas.

small biz rural entrepreneurship business startup ideas

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
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May 18, 2006 Filed Under: ideas, resources

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