Quick question: how big a niche do you think "software for elementary schoolteachers who want to use bingo as an instructional tool" is? Got a mental image? OK.
Now what if I told you I'm probably only the, oh, call it fifth largest player in the space?
I look at "tea" and think "Aww heck how would I ever compete in a market that big?!" Seriously, tea is a multi-billion dollar industry. Of course its going to be big enough to support an extra person or three. The surprising bit is that, at Internet scales, businesses you would never have expected to be viable are big enough, too.
My personal favorite Internet anecdote, from the Dot Com days: there exists a farm which sells tumbleweed. Because if you need tumbleweed, and who doesn't, where are you going to get it? A tumbleweed farm, of course. Most of the Dot Coms have since Dot Bombed, but the Prairie Tumbleweed Farm is still going strong. The address is, naturally, http://www.prairietumbleweedfarm.com/ .
My favorite Japanese Tex-Mex place is a little shop in Gifu City called El Paso. They have tumbleweed, for the authentic Tex Mex feel. Stop laughing, the owner thought it was important to look the part. And where did they get their tumbleweed? Well, where would YOU get your tumbleweed -- they went to the acknowledged Tumbleweed experts at the Prairie Tumbleweed Farm. Which, helpfully, has pages in Japanese because El Paso is far from the only Japanese establishment that craves the authentic Western look.
You can read the short version on my About Us page at the site and the long version on the About page at my blog. Both are linked from my HN profile.
[Edit: incidentally, I agree, "charge money for value" will almost always be my #1 suggestion for a business model. In this case, value probably means "a tea I have never had before". Nobody says you have to grow or ship it yourself.]
You should try other teas, like green, white or even red. I always hated the normal black tea and had to use sugar or milk with it, but now I drink several cups of green tea a day.
Did you think that there was enough of a market for one firm to make $30,000 in sales? Yeah, really. http://www.bingocardcreator.com/stats/sales-by-month
Now what if I told you I'm probably only the, oh, call it fifth largest player in the space?
I look at "tea" and think "Aww heck how would I ever compete in a market that big?!" Seriously, tea is a multi-billion dollar industry. Of course its going to be big enough to support an extra person or three. The surprising bit is that, at Internet scales, businesses you would never have expected to be viable are big enough, too.
My personal favorite Internet anecdote, from the Dot Com days: there exists a farm which sells tumbleweed. Because if you need tumbleweed, and who doesn't, where are you going to get it? A tumbleweed farm, of course. Most of the Dot Coms have since Dot Bombed, but the Prairie Tumbleweed Farm is still going strong. The address is, naturally, http://www.prairietumbleweedfarm.com/ .
My favorite Japanese Tex-Mex place is a little shop in Gifu City called El Paso. They have tumbleweed, for the authentic Tex Mex feel. Stop laughing, the owner thought it was important to look the part. And where did they get their tumbleweed? Well, where would YOU get your tumbleweed -- they went to the acknowledged Tumbleweed experts at the Prairie Tumbleweed Farm. Which, helpfully, has pages in Japanese because El Paso is far from the only Japanese establishment that craves the authentic Western look.