Mannequin Madness

Henderson-Townsend’s company rents and sells mannequin body parts.

When she first started, Henderson-Townsend mostly kept her company a secret. “I didn’t tell my parents at first because I knew they wouldn’t get it,” she says. She even named her business Mannequin Madness because she knew she was “either mad for doing this–or I’d found a really crazy niche in a unique market.” Now that she’s been in business awhile, she says, “People look at you differently. Before, it was ‘What are you doing?’ Now they look at you like, ‘Wow, why didn’t I think of that?’ ”

Henderson-Townsend’s clients run the gamut, from lawyers who buy mannequins from her so they can demonstrate to juries how a victim was shot or stabbed to movie companies and museums that need them for display purposes. One customer won an Elton John jacket at an auction and wanted the upper torso of a mannequin so he could display the jacket in his dining room. She’s also sold them to clothing entrepreneurs who sell their products on eBay and want to display the clothes for photographs.

entrepreneur.com

Jennifer Grinnell, Michigan furniture delivery dispatcher turned fashion designer in cyber space, never imagined that she could make a living in a video game.

Grinnell’s shop, Mischief, is in Second Life, a virtual world whose users are responsible for creating all content. Grinnell’s digital clothing and “skins” allow users to change the appearance of their avatars — their online representations — beyond their wildest Barbie dress-up dreams.

Within a month, Grinnell was making more in Second Life than in her real-world job as a dispatcher. And after three months she realized she could quit her day job altogether.

Now Second Life is her primary source of income, and Grinnell, whose avatar answers to the name Janie Marlowe, claims she earns more than four times her previous salary.

Grinnell isn’t alone. Artists and designers, landowners and currency speculators, are turning the virtual environment of Second Life into a real-world profit center.

wired.com

DoodyCalls

They run a pooper scooper business. Let’s be real clear about this: Their company sends employees out into yards across communities to pick up dog poop.

“When we first started, ‘disbelief’ would be the way to put it,” says Jacob, “disbelief bordering on pity.” When he told his employer he was quitting his job to run his pooper scooper business full time, she told him, “If you need to come back, just let me know.” Susan’s mother was at first in denial that her daughter was planning on marrying a man whose future lay in dog poop.

The D’Aniellos have been so successful, they now have seven employees and five franchises. Their franchise fee is $20,000, and in case you’re wondering what you get for that, DoodyCalls provides computer software and call-center services as well as marketing and PR help, and everything else you’d expect to get with a franchise. Besides actually finding five people to sign on as franchisees, what’s odder still is, they aren’t alone. Poop scooping is a growing business trend, from Pet Butler and its 42 U.S. franchises to a teenager in the Seattle area who runs a part-time service called TurdsbytheYard.com.

Advanced Bio-Treatment

It’s inevitable that when you meet someone new, the first question out of their mouth is, “So, what you do?” For those of us with normal jobs, the answer’s pretty straightforward. But what if your livelihood revolves around doing something that most people have never heard of? And, once they do hear, are puzzled that someone can actually make money doing what you do? How easy would it be for you to describe your off-the-wall business?

The simple fact is, Jerry Turner’s company is a cleaning company. The twist is what they clean up. Cleaning up after murders and suicides is one of their specialties, but they also handle meth labs and fecal matter and urine, something you might find in the house or apartment of a former tenant who had a few too many pets.

How Turner got started: As a serial entrepreneur–this is his eighth business–Turner’s always on the lookout for a great opportunity. His first company, which he started when he was 18, was a landscaping firm. His last business before this was as an independent insurance agent. A few years ago, Turner read an article about crime scene cleanup and decided to start his own company because of “the money aspect, to be truthful,” he says. “I don’t like to work–or I don’t want to work my whole life. Read the rest of this entry »