Weird Business Ideas That Actually Worked :Thinking Outside the Box as an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs are one of the most creative and risk taking people in the world. They create the foundation of the economy in every corner of the world. The country with the most efficient and hardworking entrepreneurs has the ability to grow wider as an economy. In this blog, I intend to convey the importance of entrepreneurs in our society and share some real life examples which will help you to expand your business ideas if any.

As a student of commerce stream with keen interest in finance and economy, the creativity of entrepreneurs has always been a fascinating concept for me. The fact is that each one of us has either dreamt or imagined ourselves being an entrepreneur, by listening to many successful business stories. We all have an idea but either we think it is weird or we are not confident about its execution.

Thus, I am writing this blog, to share the stories of some of the weirdest business ideas that turned out to be successful and made the entrepreneurs millionaires!!

1. CROCS

This is one of the most popular brands among the Gen-Zs. Crocs were first released in Florida in 2002. Scott Seamans, Lyndon Hanson, and George Boedecker Jr founded Crocs to produce and distribute the shoe, as they recognized its potential and utility for consumers. The Crocs are inspired from the dutch “clogs” which was the traditional footwear of dutch people.

Initially, Crocs faced a lot of criticism due to its unusual look which affected their sales. The year 2007, was a turning point where the stock price of Crocs peaked from around $1 to $68.98. But in the year 2008,the company faced a financial crisis due to the depression.

In the year 2020- 2022 the sale of the company boomed due to a shift in consumer behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many people looking for footwear that they could wear while working from home.For the year 2023 the net income of the company is $792 million.

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2. DOGGLES

What would be your reaction if someone pitched you an idea about Goggles for dogs? I bet it will make you laugh as it is very weird to imagine a business started to sell goggles for dogs. But believe me this weird business idea initially marked its sales of $100 thousand and $3 million in the last year.

Doggles were invented by Roni Di Lullo after she noticed her dog, Midknight, squinting in the sunlight. Experiments were made with human sunglasses and sports goggles before a pair was developed to fit the shape of a dog's head. Doggles were ranked No. 6 in a list of "10 ideas that shouldn’t have worked – but made millions”.

3. THE SLINKY

Do you remember the toy name slinky? Which had a simple design - a wire (or plastic) coil, perfectly designed to walk end over end. We used to play with it in our childhood which typically looked like a spring. It was invented by marine Engineer Richard James just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and nearly 400 million people have purchased Slinky till now , which is a proof of its popularity.

Slinky is so well-known and beloved that in 2000 it was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. You would be shocked to know that a toy company, in the year 2021, sold over 300 million slinkys worldwide. Imagine that a toy company marked such a huge sale record.

4. PET ROCK

Yet another weird idea initiated by Gary Dahl in 1975. While having a drink with friends, they joked about how low-maintenance it would be to have a pet rock. Dahl took the idea and ran with it, creating a product that was literally just a rock in a box with air holes and a manual. With a less span of time quickly became a sensation. People were buying them as stocking stuffers which hiked their sales. The company made $15 million by their sales and turned this idea into million dollars.

Conclusion

All these stories are a perfect reminder that the most weird and ridiculous ideas can be one of the most successful ideas. No matter how weird your idea is or how people criticize your ideas but your innovation is ultimately yours. People laugh during your entrepreneurial journey and in the end will praise you for your success. This is the ultimate reason for writing the blog, to convey you the message that everyone is creative in their own way. Your creativity may seem weird to the world, but you must have the courage to execute it in the most graceful way..

So buck up, do not feel ashamed of your idea, whatever it is, work on it and ensure that the world will write an article on you.

Disclaimer:

ED cell serves as a student-led community focused solely on educational purposes. We do not intend to hurt emotions of any kind, and the articles are not intended to hurt political or religious sentiments. They are based on various sources, opinions, and secondary data. We give credit to all the sources used in the information provided in the above article.