business idea

Business Idea #2: City Naps

I came up with this idea while 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 Yorkers are often derived of rest, which means people often has less sleep than necessary. Insufficient sleep causes fatigue, tiredness, hallucination, and increases chances of mistakes at work.

Business Model
My idea is to create a comfortable environment with nap stations where people can lie down and take a nap. The napping stations will have a variety of “sleep” music and a “smart” alarm to wake the person. The “sleep” music will help relax the person’s mind and body, help remove the stress and ease the person to a soft gentle rest, and when the sleep time is over, the “smart”  alarm will wake the person with small vibrations or soft music.

Scenario
John is very tired at work and did not get enough sleep last night. During his lunch break, he walks over to City Naps 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 sleep. Fifteen minutes later, the alarm sounds gently and wakes him up. John feels recharged 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 priced 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).

Business Idea #1 – SEND-A-TUNE

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.


SEND-A-TUNE is a service that lets you send a song to someone’s voicemail.What is it?
It’s basically a service that incorporates music into phone messages. The service is targeted towards people who like to pick songs to express an emotion or to say a congratulation.

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.


Hey, it’s me. I want to wish you a happy birthday.
[Music beings and the song plays]
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to YOU
Happy birthday to you.
I hope you’re having a great time at the party.

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.