Surprisingly simple stupid businesses- that somehow work

[MitchC]

I'm actually curious how do these guys even get the word out there for this kind of businesses, because these are not the type of things people search for daily on Google. I assume they burn 5 - 7 digit figures a week on FB ads with investors' money, or throwing 5 - 7 figures a week at TikTok/IG influencers.

You run profitable direct response ads and scale profitably

Some burn through investor money but most don’t have that luxury, the ones who do run out of money eventually anyway

Read Breakthrougu Advertising, or some of the other Gary Halbert challenge books

You seem to have a mentality that the world has somehow changed and this doesn’t work anymore

It does

Read these books and you will see they were written 50 years ago and nothing has changed

It’s not suddenly changed in the last 6 months or 2 years or whenever you decided this doesn’t work anymore

It’s not about to change either

Ads need to be profitable or people wouldn’t run them, sure you can run on investor money for a short time, but it runs out

This will mean there’s always an opportunity to run a profitable ad

Doesn’t mean it’s easy though

 

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[ZackerySprague]

Here's an interesting one.
There's been a lot of drive thru coffee shops popping up all over the place with different kinds of positioning.
On one end of the spectrum are places like dunkin with their fast and cheap iced coffee.
In the middle you can have something like dutch bros.
At the end you'd have starbucks or local coffee shops pushing 7$ for a large latte.

One started popping up in my area called Seven brew. It's a drive-through only fast coffee place. It's not overpriced (hallelujah) and I noticed something interesting.
View attachment 53538

1) Drive thru only (you could walk up to the benches outside but it's sort of like a shake stand and not encouraged to hang around)
2) Everything seems to be automated and simplified- every time I go they have wall-to-wall bottles of different flavoring syrups (literally just off-the-shelf Torani's syrup). They have pop-and-go espresso machines that appear to grind beans, pour out the specified amount of coffee, and dump the espresso base into the cup. From there the employee just dumps in milk/ice/syrup and the drink is DONE, I've gotten a drink in as little as 45 seconds from order before. Every single thing on the menu is just a different combo of off-the-shelf ingredients that just need to be tossed into a cup.
3) Staff expertise is largely removed from the process, I'm not a simp for corporations using humans as flesh automatons but I've seen at least 3 sets of employees come and go in the past months. There's no brewing, no special espresso pours, no fancy customization or things that need in-depth barista secrets. Going with point #2, you just need someone who can run an ipad and take payments or put cups in front of a machine and spurt syrup into a cup.

View attachment 53539

Looking into their numbers, they at least appear to be doing 337k revenue/employee.
This is SURPRISING because they're essentially doing what I can do in my kitchen with a keurig and a bottle of Torani's but at SCALE and make $$$ off of it. The coffee is just okay but at it's price point and speed I see a bumper-to-bumper line everytime I pass that place.

Guess the biggest lesson here is in scale, simplifying, and looking for opportunities other people could blatantly look over- if you had asked me if I thought I could run an iced coffee cart using pre-made coffee and torani's syrup I probably would've made up a million excuses why that shouldn't work... but like we see in everything else in this thread, sometimes it does if you just try.

I've seen Dutch Bros, but never Seven Brew. Nice find. 184 total stands in the US. 5 accounted for in DFW.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Not sure if this is a business, but it is surprisingly simple.

FutureMe: Write a Letter to your Future Self

Write a letter to the future and read the public (but anonymous) letters from others. FutureMe has been delivering letters to the future for millions of people since 2002.

www.futureme.org

We might incorporate such a benefit @ GoalSumo.com -- some of the old public letters listed are quite hilarious.

 

[WJK]

I'm actually curious how do these guys even get the word out there for this kind of businesses, because these are not the type of things people search for daily on Google. I assume they burn 5 - 7 digit figures a week on FB ads with investors' money, or throwing 5 - 7 figures a week at TikTok/IG influencers.

No, they get up and go to work every day. In the past, they passed out cards and went to community meetings. They actually talked to real people! They still do.

This internet thing is a new concept. When I started in business, we used electric typewriters with carbon paper. Printing was done on presses. There was no word processing. When I was a kid, copy machines made the background black and the lettering white. Every copy was a big expense and a miracle. Only the library had a machine. We did math by hand or on an adding machine. Calculators were very expensive and rare when they first came out. When I took the RE exam for a salesman's license in 1976, we weren't allowed to use them for the test. Computers took a whole room and used punch cards that were manually punched on a machine. Microchips hadn't been invented.

We've come a long way, Baby!

 

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[ZackerySprague]

Here's an Ecom one that I found when doing research on competitors for the bag I was going to try to sale. I couldn't get in touch with the manufacturer, so I moved on.

MINA BAIE | Modern Diaper Bags

Mina Baie offers a variety of beautiful, stylish, everyday luxury baby bags for moms and dads.

minabaie.com

 

[Kevin88660]

Like any good TFF member, I spend any possible downtime listening to talks with founders. I like hearing about people getting off the ground and getting started, and how quickly (or not) they were able to take off.
A big, painful recurring theme is that there seem to be a lot of what I call "simple, stupid businesses" that execute on something I or probably any other sane person I know wouldn't think about, or write off as being dumb... but they appear to take off anyway. I don't have the time at the moment to go back and look but Ryan Moran has a lot of people from his community stepping forward reporting how their items crossed the 1m/yr revenue mark doing simple things like selling water bottles with inspirational messages on them (I believe she told Ryan she had a 3m$ exit selling these things which are just water bottles: https://www.liveinfinitely.com/)

Another case in point: These guys at Dude wipes - About Us

You can see it in plain english in their timeline.
View attachment 51104
What I read: We were absolutely blowing out our bowels due to horrendous diets. We got hooked on using baby wipes to save our tender sphincters, liked it, and decided to white label our own for men and just sell them.

Granted, that's not the full situation and I haven't listened to anything from the founders, but I almost fell off my chair reading that and exploring their offerings. Now, I'm one of those people that follow Ryan Moran's content and see people building audiences and pull it off with surprisingly simple stupid brands like "chocolate chip cookies for late snackers" or "Matcha tea for young professionals". Having read TMF /US and then looking back and seeing people do this just makes my head spin. Some of them make marginally more sense like a tool for woodburning hobby or the guy that makes extender plates porsche spoilers- but even those required barely anything to get off the ground, just an audience (or willing to try ads) and some money to directly order or have someone fabricate the first batch of product.

I guess in the end, there's probably a broader message about executing and just seeing what works- not getting hung up on the "perfect idea" or the "lifetime value" (especially if this is your first go around with a business that seems to be running reasonably well). Just picking something you feel and can confirm a need for, and getting off to the races.

What do y'all think?

Maybe the ideas are not stupid. It is just that we don’t have the domain knowledge to know it.

Airbnb initial stage fund raising was rejected by many big shots and billionaires because no way in their minds they can fathom people will risk living in strangers house risking getting murdered/raped.

Turn out that in the end it works well. Millennials are willing to save a few hundred dollars on accommodation for a less than 0.01 percent risk of something very bad happening.

If you don’t try you don’t know that your preconceived ideas could be wrong.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I couldn't get in touch with the manufacturer, so I moved on.

If that simple of a problem stops you in your tracks, you're going to struggle with anything in life.

Imagine if Sarah Blakely of Spanx fame stopped pursuing her idea because she couldn't find a phone number, or get in contact with someone. One less billionaire...

 

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[ZackerySprague]

If that simple of a problem stops you in your tracks, you're going to struggle with anything in life.

Imagine if Sarah Blakely of Spanx fame stopped pursuing her idea because she couldn't find a phone number, or get in contact with someone. One less billionaire...

I wasn't exactly killing the entire idea, I did get in contact with them via WhatsApp. They just weren't very responsive. So I was looking for other manufacturers, but I found that most of the bags were the same across all manufacturer's when looking and most manufacturer's were in China.

I was trying to buy a Sample.

Emailed three times with three separate emails, and was able to finally get ahold of then via WhatsApp. I even tried calling their number as well, the line was dead.

The feedback from Nextdoor though about the bag was great.



I was going to start out as a One-Product Store, these were one-time purchases though.

EDIT: Added emails I have sent.

 

[ZackerySprague]

If that simple of a problem stops you in your tracks, you're going to struggle with anything in life.

Imagine if Sarah Blakely of Spanx fame stopped pursuing her idea because she couldn't find a phone number, or get in contact with someone. One less billionaire...

Don't count me out yet MJ, lol. I don't want to give up on this bag, but I (currently) couldn't find it from other manufacturers.

 

[ZackerySprague]

I'll message them on WhatsApp. Hang tight again. We will have to wait for them to respond. Two numbers, will post updates in the coming days.

No Bueno, looks like they don't want to sell me a single sample...

Update #1:

 

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[RicardoGrande]

Here's an Ecom one that I found when doing research on competitors for the bag I was going to try to sale. I couldn't get in touch with the manufacturer, so I moved on.

MINA BAIE | Modern Diaper Bags

Mina Baie offers a variety of beautiful, stylish, everyday luxury baby bags for moms and dads.

minabaie.com

Reading a book from a guy doing something similar to Ryan Moran who is currently standing up his own baby brand and he made a OEKO-TEK certified stroller his keystone and a diaper bag was his next targeted item.

And again, it's wild too because you'd think strollers and bags were done to death or available from China but with the right angle and brand/community you can make something work and find a blue ocean.

Not sure if you randomly found this or if you posted it because you know but the owner of this is an Amazon guru

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

Thankfully know nothing about the owner, saw someone on twitter complaining it was "Andrew Tate in a can" and poisoning the youth or some crap like that. Anytime I run into something that seems stupid but also is selling and I have a "why didn't I think of that?" or "why didn't I bother to try that?" or "How the hell could I write that off when this guy is putting coffee and caffeine into a jug with a photoshopped dagestani muscleman onto it and making $$$" I post it in this thread to help myself and hopefully others defeat the head voice saying some things are too simple or not worth it when people are clearly making bank doing just that.

 

[ZackerySprague]

Reading a book from a guy doing something similar to Ryan Moran who is currently standing up his own baby brand and he made a OEKO-TEK certified stroller his keystone and a diaper bag was his next targeted item.

and again, it's wild too because you'd think strollers and bags were done to death or available from China but with the right angle and brand/community you can make something work and find a blue ocean.


Thankfully know nothing about the owner, saw someone on twitter complaining it was "Andrew Tate in a can" and poisoning the youth or some crap like that. Anytime I run into something that seems stupid but also is selling and I have a "why didn't I think of that?" or "why didn't I bother to try that?" or "How the hell could I write that off when this guy is putting coffee and caffeine into a jug with a photoshopped dagestani musclemanman onto it and making $$$" I post it in this thread to help myself and hopefully others defeat the head voice saying some things are too simple or not worth it when people are clearly making bank doing just that.

I "ethically" found this idea from a Friend on Facebook, she bought this brand from another entrepreneur, but she let it go. But on Instagram, you saw women/mothers making comments like "OMG I love this bag.", she even started a Kickstart campaign and raised $40,000 dollars to get inventory for the bag.

Each bag cost $150 a piece but would be sold for about $450. I took a video from Spencer Jan about creating a side hustle while working a job. Spencer was living in Shanghai and was a part of the 2008-2010 market crash. He was a manager for a sourcing company and was making 48,000 dollars a year. He had to take a pay cut and was not making enough.

So he sourced mattresses and created a company called SlumberMAXX back in the day, created the website, and hand-delivered every mattress. This was before he created Solo Stove though.

I thought it was a really cool idea considering my situation currently and thought to give it a try. I would link the video, but it reveals another forum member's store here, so I am not going to do that.

I couldn't exactly get the bag's design by the entrepreneur. So this wouldn't be a brand something like native when came to creating a MOAT.

SlumberMAAX: China’s Expat Mattress Store | A China Expat MUST!

Come see why expats in Shanghai, Beijing, & Guangzhou love our memory foam mattresses and pads. Fast shipping to all cities. Say goodbye to that hard Chinese bed!

web.archive.org

Ultra-Efficient Wood Burning Backpacking Camp Stoves & Fire Pits

Stainless Steel wood-burning stoves and fire pits designed with efficient airflow. Portable and durable, designed for adventure.

web.archive.org

 

[Keeton]

Like any good TFF member, I spend any possible downtime listening to talks with founders. I like hearing about people getting off the ground and getting started, and how quickly (or not) they were able to take off.
A big, painful recurring theme is that there seem to be a lot of what I call "simple, stupid businesses" that execute on something I or probably any other sane person I know wouldn't think about, or write off as being dumb... but they appear to take off anyway. I don't have the time at the moment to go back and look but Ryan Moran has a lot of people from his community stepping forward reporting how their items crossed the 1m/yr revenue mark doing simple things like selling water bottles with inspirational messages on them (I believe she told Ryan she had a 3m$ exit selling these things which are just water bottles: https://www.liveinfinitely.com/)

Another case in point: These guys at Dude wipes - About Us

You can see it in plain english in their timeline.
View attachment 51104
What I read: We were absolutely blowing out our bowels due to horrendous diets. We got hooked on using baby wipes to save our tender sphincters, liked it, and decided to white label our own for men and just sell them.

Granted, that's not the full situation and I haven't listened to anything from the founders, but I almost fell off my chair reading that and exploring their offerings. Now, I'm one of those people that follow Ryan Moran's content and see people building audiences and pull it off with surprisingly simple stupid brands like "chocolate chip cookies for late snackers" or "Matcha tea for young professionals". Having read TMF /US and then looking back and seeing people do this just makes my head spin. Some of them make marginally more sense like a tool for woodburning hobby or the guy that makes extender plates porsche spoilers- but even those required barely anything to get off the ground, just an audience (or willing to try ads) and some money to directly order or have someone fabricate the first batch of product.

I guess in the end, there's probably a broader message about executing and just seeing what works- not getting hung up on the "perfect idea" or the "lifetime value" (especially if this is your first go around with a business that seems to be running reasonably well). Just picking something you feel and can confirm a need for, and getting off to the races.

What do y'all think?

There's these guys I know, we talk a couple of times a month, but they run a service where they will take out, and pull back in elderly peoples trash cans for $10 a month. They target retirement communities, and older neighborhoods in general, and they're doing pretty good for themselves.

 

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[ZackerySprague]

Reading a book from a guy doing something similar to Ryan Moran who is currently standing up his own baby brand and he made a OEKO-TEK certified stroller his keystone and a diaper bag was his next targeted item.

And again, it's wild too because you'd think strollers and bags were done to death or available from China but with the right angle and brand/community you can make something work and find a blue ocean.


Thankfully know nothing about the owner, saw someone on twitter complaining it was "Andrew Tate in a can" and poisoning the youth or some crap like that. Anytime I run into something that seems stupid but also is selling and I have a "why didn't I think of that?" or "why didn't I bother to try that?" or "How the hell could I write that off when this guy is putting coffee and caffeine into a jug with a photoshopped dagestani muscleman onto it and making $$$" I post it in this thread to help myself and hopefully others defeat the head voice saying some things are too simple or not worth it when people are clearly making bank doing just that.

Ryans's course stuff has changed, and is impressive.

 

[ZackerySprague]

@RicardoGrande Check out this video though! It's kinda funny part of Ryan's material actually suggests for you to document your journey.

It's about a girl who created a company called Smart Sweets. This video was awesome! *Mind blown*

4 months to create a low-sugar candy for others, plus people can re-order the product. This was a great story.

SmartSweets - Low Sugar Gummy & Hard Candy

We’ve innovated the first delicious candy without the sugar. Our pinky promise to you is candy free from sugar alcohols, artificial sweeteners and added sugars.

smartsweets.com

Traffic stats could be more, but based on Koala Inspector 41k visits a month without retail stats.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDFv2CFL_zI&t=4s

 

[ZackerySprague]

If that simple of a problem stops you in your tracks, you're going to struggle with anything in life.

Imagine if Sarah Blakely of Spanx fame stopped pursuing her idea because she couldn't find a phone number, or get in contact with someone. One less billionaire...

I got one for you, Kara Goldin wouldn't have created Hint Water if she gave in during the 2008-2010 market crash. She went through and made it a success. She took on investors She explains in her book.

Or you probably remember how Ring (the company that Amazon bought for $1bn) and how all sharks didn't want to invest. He didn't give up either.

That's a cool product.

 

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[ZackerySprague]

Well I guess you can sell bags, check this out:

Diaper Bags: Luxury, Stylish, cute vegan leather bags for moms

We have a wide variety of vegan leather diaper bags online, stylish backpack diaper bags, designer travel diaper bags, cute tote bags. Designed for moms and babies.

lulibebeus.com

Same bag without a doubt. That's funny.

Not exactly MOAT, but you get experience.

 

[MitchC]

Remember the weird hotdog shaped beach chairs that you blew up with the wind? Was a viral dropship product back in the day, was the hit of the summer

That, but a better shape = 3.5m likes on an organic video

Easy

No idea why they made the original such a weird shape in the first place

Can anyone else remember what the viral hits back in the day of drop shipping were? I’m sure there’s more that are ready for a revival

2shoes || South Africa on Instagram: "@dailypaper X @fatboy_original chair tutorial. Available on the Daily Paper website"

3M likes, 4,194 comments - mateki2shoesDecember 24, 2023 on : "@dailypaper X @fatboy_original chair tutorial. Available on the Daily Paper website"

www.instagram.com

 

[Spenny]

Remember the weird hotdog shaped beach chairs that you blew up with the wind? Was a viral dropship product back in the day, was the hit of the summer

That, but a better shape = 3.5m likes on an organic video

Easy

No idea why they made the original such a weird shape in the first place

Can anyone else remember what the viral hits back in the day of drop shipping were? I’m sure there’s more that are ready for a revival

2shoes || South Africa on Instagram: "@dailypaper X @fatboy_original chair tutorial. Available on the Daily Paper website"

3M likes, 4,194 comments - mateki2shoesDecember 24, 2023 on : "@dailypaper X @fatboy_original chair tutorial. Available on the Daily Paper website"

www.instagram.com

A quick Google search of past viral products: I'm sure some are ripe.

"TikTok Made Me Buy It": 11 Viral TikTok Product Trends - The RangeMe Blog

Where suppliers, retail buyers, and services providers can learn about CPG trends, business best practices, and how to grow your business in retail.

www.rangeme.com

12 Must Have Products Going Viral in 2017

Must Have Viral Products. . .those words bring to mind cool products, interesting items, and wacky gizmos. Sometimes, you might be tempted to spend your whole paycheck on the amazing inventions of ...

www.lifed.com

If you searched around 2019-2017 TikTok views that got over 3m views and products, I'm sure you'd come across a load.

 

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[RicardoGrande]

ARE YOU F***ING KIDDING ME

 

[humthesongg]

Putting water in a can seems like a dumb idea you'd think wouldn't work but the people over at liquid death executed the idea brilliantly! I would recommend watching this video to see how they cleverly executed their marketing strategy. Reminds me when MJ mentioned in Millionaire fast lane how you can have a pretty crappy idea but if the execution is done correctly it could be worth millions. lmk what you guys think!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXjhNZlqexs

 

[RicardoGrande]

Putting water in a can seems like a dumb idea you'd think wouldn't work but the people over at liquid death executed the idea brilliantly! I would recommend watching this video to see how they cleverly executed their marketing strategy. Reminds me when MJ mentioned in Millionaire fast lane how you can have a pretty crappy idea but if the execution is done correctly it could be worth millions. lmk what you guys think!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXjhNZlqexs

They had an interview with startup CPG awhile back, pretty good episode where they explained exactly where they started and what they tried to do to get going. Unfortunately they already had a lot of experience in the advertising/marketing products space, it wasn't like a normal joe schmoe stumbling on an idea and accidentally creating a millions/yr biz.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN3f-727o0k

 

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[Serito]

I think this thread should be at least "notable".

 

[ZackerySprague]

I got a call back from the supplier, they are willing to give me a sample. MOQ is a minimum of 100.

They also state that I can change the bag and customize as in color, add extra pockets, change material, etc. A guy called Rohan left a voicemail, so I called him right back. So the woman's feedback could come in handy.

He's suppose to give me an email soon.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I think this thread should be at least "notable".

View attachment 53631

Done!

 

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[ZackerySprague]

Pretty Standard reply.

Not sure I'll get that sample, lol. Still shooting for it.

Asked about it for colors of black and brown.

Responded to his email, will see how much it will cost.

EDIT:
They want to know more about me and to start a possible working relationship together.

 

[ZackerySprague]

Quote will come in tomorrow, and hopefully a sample.

See you guys tomorrow.

 

[RicardoGrande]

I'll message them on WhatsApp. Hang tight again. We will have to wait for them to respond. Two numbers, will post updates in the coming days.

I got a call back from the supplier, they are willing to give me a sample. MOQ is a minimum of 100.
He's suppose to give me an email soon.

They want to know more about me and to start a possible working relationship together.

Quote will come in tomorrow, and hopefully a sample.

Hey Zach, pretty awesome progress getting off the ground and hitting up suppliers.
Didn't you mean to post these all in your own progress thread though, maybe @MJ DeMarco or @Andy Black could migrate them for you? Just want to keep the scope tight and hone in on surprisingly simple stupid opportunities that turned into big, real businesses in here.

Done!

WOOOOOOOO

 

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[uptop]

Nice post Ricardo.

It's really easy to get stuck looking for the perfect idea that "follows" everything we need, and then we see these kind of products. Good to have it refreshed on mind that people buy the value skew.

 

[ZackerySprague]

Hey Zach, pretty awesome progress getting off the ground and hitting up suppliers.
Didn't you mean to post these all in your own progress thread though, maybe @MJ DeMarco or @Andy Black could migrate them for you? Just want to keep the scope tight and hone in on surprisingly simple stupid opportunities that turned into big, real businesses in here.


WOOOOOOOO

That's fine with me. They came back with a quote of $51.40 per piece at an MOQ of 100. So starting costs $5,140 dollars for this business so far, if I were to pursue it without market validation. Haven't received a sample, yet.

100 minimum per order, per SKU, and per modification. (i.e. one color, one type of material, or one type of change)

Kara Goldin recommended markup the price by 50% for the bag or any product to cover shipping, advertising, etc when calculating your costs.

I've answered their questions in terms of the work relationship that want to have with me. So we will see how it goes next.