Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You
http://www.couturecaskets.com/"It was just a fluke, actually," Venus Smith says of how Couture Caskets got launched.
A few years back, Smith was in California visiting her brother, a mechanic who appreciates nice cars. They spotted a 1956 Thunderbird -- her brother's favorite.
"We went and sat down and ate some pizza and started talking, and I said, `Man, wouldn't you love to be buried in something like that?'"
That was it. A business was born.
"As soon as I said it, I knew it could be done," says Smith, 42. It took her two years to develop a prototype and get a trademark. Initially Smith wanted to build the caskets out of environmentally sound products, but she ran into too many barriers to making her Couture Caskets eco-friendly.
The company officially opened for business on Nov. 29, 2010. Smith works from home, but has to outsource a lot of the productions steps. She commutes from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to have the caskets painted.
Smith started with caskets for pets, but says her next step will be designer human caskets. She understands that for some, the notion is unsettling: "It is a fresh idea, but it still affects a lot of people in strange ways." Younger people seem to be more into the idea of a Couture Casket, Smith notes.
Thus far, she hasn't sold any caskets.
Retail prices for in-stock pet coffins -- ones shaped like a bone or a house -- start at $395. Custom-made pet caskets go for $995 on up. But that's a bargain compared to a human casket, which Smith expects to sell for a $9,995 entry-level price tag.
"I believe the idea is going to catapult once I have a human casket so that people can see the visual," says Smith, who is working on a Vintage 1966 Shelby Cobra. "Once it catches on, I think it will be like wildfire."
For more unusual ways to make money, visit
this site.
[Via -
CNNMoney.Com]
The Million-Dollar Idea in Everyone: Easy New Ways to Make Money from Your Interests, Insights, and Inventions IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great IdeaHow to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan S. Kennedy 
Music fans have already been playing an increasingly significant role in the funding and management of the bands they love, but a new site aims to give brands a chance to get involved as well. Toward that end, fanatic.fm is a music sponsorship platform where brands and bands can find each other.
Rather than paying for advertising spots on music destination sites, brands participating in fanatic.fm set up a pool of funds for a branding campaign and invite only the musicians they feel best portray their brand image. They essentially bid on musical projects such as a band's new album, in other words, giving bands a chance to control which sponsors they work with. Once a relationship has been formed, the sponsor pays the band in question a set cost per play on the fanatic.fm player, which can be embedded in any site or social media page. Sponsors themselves, meanwhile, can use the band's music within their own social media campaigns as well as co-promoting directly on a band's music player. In all, musicians take 70 percent of the total sponsorship revenue, while California-based fanatic.fm takes 30 percent. Both parties also donate 2.5 percent each to the charity of the band's choice.
Remember the days when musical artists were at the mercy of the record labels? Well, those days are gone. A model to apply to other forms of art and entertainment, or to target to specific genres and niches? (Related: Bands offered a unique website for every song — Analytics tools help music bands uncover local demand — Online tool gives musicians one-stop band management.)
Website: www.fanatic.fm
Contact: contact@fanatic.fm
