Growing Money

Background
In the city that never sleeps, there are taxis roaming the streets at all times of the day. There are always taxis stopping at every corner of the street and often holding up traffic. Once, on my way home, there was this taxi that stopped right in front of the bus I was sitting on. The bus honked but the taxi driver didn’t move. The taxi driver was closing a transaction with the passenger. It took about 30 seconds, but 30 seconds is a long time in a fast pace city. So I thought, “How can we speed up money transactions in cabs?”

Business Idea
The idea is to allow the customer to pay with a debit card and have the payment processed instantly on the spot. The goal is to speed up the payment transaction time and implement a central payment processing system for taxis. The user will have an option to select an additional amount for tips. For security purposes, the user will have to punch in a pin number to approve the payment.

Debit Card Interface
The machines will have numeral keys zero to nine, a pre-defined 10%, 15%, and an ‘Other’ tip button, an ‘Enter’, and a ‘Cancel’ button. The pre-defined tip buttons are set for the customer’s convenience.

Implementation
There will be two debit card readers in the taxi, one in the front passenger seat and one at the back seats. The readers are linked to the taxi meters. The card readers will sync with a central server on a pre-determined period to keep the local card reader database up to date. The sync process can be done with wires or over a wireless network.

Scenario
Customer enters a taxi. The taxi travels from Point A to Point B. Before arriving Point B, the customer swipes his/her debit card on the machine. The machine now has the card number stored. Once the taxi reaches the destination, the total fare is displayed to the customer. The customer enters the tip amount by pressing the pre-defined 10% button and then enter his/her pin number to approve the transaction. The payment is processed instantly and the customer leaves the cab. No bills, no coins, no hassle.

Benefits
The debit cards will save time for both the customer and the taxi driver, plus speed up traffic. The taxi drivers in New York City frequently double park on busy streets and block traffic. The debit card system can help speed up the payment transaction times and allow the cab to move with traffic sooner.

Tracking
The machine will also log detailed information and the information can be access via a website. The taxi driver will be able to get reports on how many customers have ridden over the past day, week, or month, as well as fare earned, average fare, etc. The customers can also get similar reports on his/her number of cab rides over the past week, month, or year, as well as the amount spent, average cost, etc. The website will also allow customers to refill their debit card balance.

Additional Features
The taxi payment system can be integrated with credit card systems to allow more types of payments. This also makes payments more convenient for customers who do not have taxi debit cards.

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I have submitted my business idea and it’s posted in The 13th Carnival of Entrepreneurs.

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The sleep economy is a $20 billion business. MetroNaps had implemented my business idea and capitalizes on the sleep-deprived office workers who would pay for some shut-eye.

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Interesting article:

Lessons from the “Million Dollar Homepage”

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The idea is to allow city people to take a nap in the middle of the day.

I came up with this idea when I was walking to work one day. I was tired and half asleep, and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if I could just take a nap here?” Then I said, “Hey, may be if we have a place for people to take a nap in the middle of the day, it would be great!”

In some countries, companies have what they call a power nap. Employees can nap for around fifteen minutes during lunch break and the nap helps them refresh themselves. The nap time may be short but it is potent. Fifteen minutes can help go a long way.

In the city that never sleeps, New York City people often has less sleep than necessary. Insufficient sleep causes fatigue, tiredness, hallucination, and increased chances of error at work.

My idea was to create a comfortable environment with nap stations where people can lie down and nap. The napping stations will have soft music and a gentle alarm. The soft music is to ease the person to sleep mode and the alarm wakes up the person gently.

Scenario:
John is very tired at work and did not get enough sleep last night. During his lunch break, he walks over to City Nap and picks a Nap Station. He sets the alarm for fifteen minutes and lies down for a nap. The soft music helps him ease into his nap. Fifteen minutes later, the alarm sounds gently and wakes him up. John feels refreshed and returns back to work.

Business Implementation:
This business would require a lot of retail space and equipment. The price for each Nap Station use has to be low enough to attract customers.

Update:
I did a search on Google and saw that someone else has already implemented this business idea. It’s called MetroNaps (http://www.metronaps.com).

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My parents always tell me not to do business with family and close friends. It is interesting how most people, including myself, would want to do business with best friends, but the wise would suggest it is not a smart choice. After hearing stories and explanations I can see from their perspective.

In business, everything comes down to money. And where there’s money, there’s human conflict. I have heard many stories where families members get together to start a business and end up in nasty fights, which tears apart family relationships. My mother told me about a story of two sisters who nearly killed each other. Their business went sour and one of the sisters thought the other one took the money. So, believing the other sister had betrayed her, she almost burned down the other sister’s apartment. These stories sound extreme, but I have heard several of these and they were people I have met before when I was younger. And some of them were my relatives.

Certainly, there are success stories. When there are profits and no conflicts, there are happy faces. But what if things don’t go well? What if your best friend/relative does not like the way you run the business and associates that negativity in your relationship. Here’s a question to ask before starting a business with a close friend or relative. Is it worth putting the close relationship at stake?

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http://www.nycgarbage.com

Every thought of picking up garbage from the streets and wish you can turn it into cash? Well, this guy brought his dream to reality. He picks up trash from the streets of New York City, wraps them up, and sells them on the Internet. It costs $50 for a sealed transparent box of trash and over 700 cubes has been sold in 19 countries.

It’s an idea that takes virtually no start up fees. The products are free - straight out of the trash. The biggest onus is on marketing. An attractive web design is important. I would think finding customers would be hard, but they seem to be doing a pretty good job.

Pros: Super low cost.
Cons: Who would pay for garbage? (I pass by NYC garbage everyday.)

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I was talking to my coworker, Kas a few days ago and she told me she made $18,000 in the past two months. I asked her what she was doing. She said that she had this side business in addition to her day job. I learned that she was selling Christmas ornaments in the mall. It was her friend’s business, but because she had been working with her friend for a while, her friend trusted her with the merchandise and gave her 20% profit-sharing. If her share was $18K net, imagine what her friend’s was. According to my calculations, her friend made $72,000 in two months.

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I’ve posted this idea on MMI #8 - Send A Tune. I really like the idea and I’d like to know how I can suggest this to a music/phone company.

For example, I want to wish my friend a happy birthday and play her the song. It would be nice if I can record my message and play a happy birthday song over her voicemail. When she checks her voicemail, she would hear something like this.

The service allows a great selection of songs. You can pick a song for your girlfriend, wife, friend, or family member.

How does it work?
You call a company that hosts the service, SEND-A-TUNE (for example). You pick a song from the selection. The selection should include a wide range of music, genre, and artists. You enter the destination voicemail number. You are allowed to record a personal message before and after the song. The song and message will be delivered to the targeted destination number.

Why send a song?
Sometimes a song can express your feelings and thoughts. Send a song to confess your love. Send an apology. Send a congratulation message. There are many reasons.

• Example #1: John has feelings for Rebecca for a long time but never had the courage to tell her. He sends the song, “Right Here Waiting.”

• Example #2: Maggie appreciates the five years she’s been with her boyfriend. On her anniversary, she picks “Thank God I Found You” and sends that to him.

• Example #3: Joe wants to apologize to his girlfriend for the mistakes he has made but it’s hard to explain his situation, so he sends, Az Yet’s “Hard To Say I’m Sorry.”

• Example #4: Jimmy just graduated high school. He picks “That’s What Friends Are For” and sends them to two of his best friends.

Who would pay for this service?
Mostly teens and young adults, but people of any age can use the service. I imagine mostly lovebirds and people who like music. But parents can send songs to kids to express their love and care. That gives parents another way to tighten the gap with their kids.

How much would it cost for users?
The service has to be inexpensive for people to use it. One-time payment and memberships are available as well.

Methods of Payment

• A charge directly to the phone account
• Credit Card/Debit Card
• Membership Account
• One-time charge, deducted for each use (like a phone card).
• Unlimited monthly usage (for high volume users)

One easy way for customers to pay is to have it charged to their phone bill. The music company can talk to the phone company about this. If the customer doesn’t like adding to their phone bill, they can sign up for a membership account where they enter a short account # and a pin#.

Great expansion idea for existing music stations.
I think this would be a great opportunity for existing music stations like Yahoo! Music to incorporate in their expansion plans. They already have all the licensing and it would be a great thing to add to their agenda. This service should help them boost revenue.