Almost by accident, Andrew Mason has figured out what others wish they could: how to make money from electronic content.

Mason’s Groupon marketing company has done this through “crowdsourcing,” which uses the power of the masses on the Internet. Groupon sends out daily e-mails with a deal that offers a product or service at a discounted price. The business relies on the collective purchasing power of a group of interested consumers, hence the name Groupon. Participating merchants pay a commission, making Groupon profitable at a time when so much Internet content lacks an income stream.

For the deal of the day to work, a minimum number of people have to buy it. That crowdsourcing encourages subscribers to tell their friends, family and co-workers. As word spreads, the selected business gains exposure.

“We kind of stumbled across a model that’s clearly a win for consumers, but even more so, it’s a win for businesses. It’s allowing them to get customers in the door at a time that can be difficult,” Mason said.

But it’s not just about the money. Groupon tries to make the experience for staffers and consumers alike enjoyable. The company’s copywriters often use a humorous tone to advertise a product or service.

“Part of what makes this fun for us is trying to expose people to things they wouldn’t have done otherwise,” like comedy, skydiving, cooking classes, architectural tours, salon services or even teeth whitening, Mason said.

The Annoyance Theatre & Bar sold out one recent performance and filled several other shows to near capacity after a promotion on Groupon offered four tickets for $15, a 75 percent discount off the usual weekend fee, plus half-price drinks, said Jennifer Estlin, executive producer and president.

The Annoyance deal sold 974 Groupons, with each good for four tickets, she said. And 80 percent of those using Groupon weren’t aware of the theater before, she said. “These are people who wouldn’t have come otherwise,” she said.

In just eight months, Groupon has amassed an e-mail list of more than 100,000 consumers in the Chicago area and 350,000 nationwide, as it has spread to seven cities with 60 markets planned by the end of 2010.

“The subscriber growth has been phenomenal,” said serial entrepreneur Eric Lefkofsky, a Groupon investor and director. “It kind of feeds on itself.”

Part of Groupon’s success is its ability to bring people together through a common connection, Lefkofsky said. That was Mason’s goal from the start, though his initial intention was not to sell coupons.

Mason, who had worked for Lefkofsky at InnerWorkings Inc. before attending graduate school at the University of Chicago, wanted to bring people together for social change.

He conceived ThePoint.com as a platform for organizing social action to “a tipping point” that would make an impact. He envisioned people starting a campaign to affect political or social change and using ThePoint.com to raise interest and funds for action.

But when ThePoint.com launched in late 2007, some people started using it for group purchases to save money. “I thought, ‘How can we take the collective-buying aspect and make it interesting?’ ” Mason said.

He decided to launch Groupon in November 2008, focusing on “cool things about Chicago every day at a price that was too good to refuse.” ThePoint.com continues with Groupon’s support, Mason said.

As subscribers beget more subscribers, participating businesses, such as BriteSmile Brite Skin Med Spa, take notice. After selling 220 Groupons in February for $189 teeth-whitening services, down from the usual $600, a similar promotion a few months later sold more than 700 deals due to the larger e-mail distribution.

“It was doing so well I had to call them and tell them to stop the promotion,” said Susan Strauser, executive sales consultant at BriteSmile, which has five Chicago locations.

Groupon works with merchants to come up with an appealing deal and writes all of the content. “We’re willing to work with business owners, but ultimately we have the final say,” Mason said.

With Groupon doing the creative work, there’s little overhead for the merchant. That makes it an ideal way to market to new customers, said Sandy Dinkel Karl, vice president of Dinkel’s Bakery, which Groupon recently featured in a deal offering $15 worth of bakery items for $5.

Dinkel’s paid Groupon a 50 percent commission on the nearly 4,000 deals sold, but the exposure generated additional traffic from people who didn’t buy but saw the e-mail, Karl said. Dinkel’s Web site had 10,000 hits that day, compared to fewer than 2,000 hits on a typical day, she said.

While Dinkel’s isn’t making money from purchases made through Groupon, that wasn’t the goal.

“It’s giving people a reason to come in,” Karl said. “If they taste a really good doughnut, it’s a hook.”

http://www.yourtantrum.com/

When Adrian Portlock left his mobile phone on the tube in 2000, he was shocked at the kerfuffle involved in getting it back. “They asked me for the IMEI number of the handset,” says Portlock. “This was back in 2000, I didn’t even know what an IMEI number was.”

He finally tracked down the code and reclaimed his phone, but not before he’d found out that Transport for London recover some 10,000 mobile phones every month, which were only returned when people had their registration numbers.

“I decided to launch a service where people could register these details so that they were easily accessible if their phone was lost or stolen,” says Portlock, “But then I realised there was an even bigger potential for the idea.”

Portlock approached major mobile insurers like Carphone Warehouse, as well as the networks, global mobile databases and even the police. “It took lots of charm, persuasion and hard work to get them on board,” says Portlock. “But now we have the most comprehensive database in the world. We’ve got 30 million stolen handsets on our books.”

In 2000, the CheckMEND service was launched. The idea is simple: for £2.99 buyers and sellers of second-hand electronics can check anything from mobile phones to iPods and Satnavs against a global database to find out whether their gadgets are kosher, or whether they’ve fallen off the back of a lorry.

No other registration service can boast the kind of high level partnership wangled by Portlock. Recipero even provides the UK Police Service with a unique interface to check recovered phones and equipment. And the relationship is reciprocal: CheckMEND is informed when handsets are handed in.

Portlock is no untried businessman, he’s a serial entrepreneur. His chain of 15 restaurants, bars and leisure centres was sold in 2000. Recipero was founded after a brief attempt at retirement: “I was only 40,” he says. “I got bored.”

Takes me back to my Loseitback.com days ….

Proving once again that installation of electronic doo-dads is just too darned hard, Wal-Mart will get into Best Buy’s “Geek Squad” business by launching Solution Stations. Walmart and Dell (initially) will install and train customers how to use things like HDTV, home theater, wireless, and computer upgrades.

A dozen of the centers will open in Dallas – seemingly the home of the hopelessly inept.

In a company statement we describe Solution Stations as providing “our Dallas-area customers with added services, repair, and consultation so that they can reach the best solution and value for their home entertainment technology needs.”

We think having Dell work with us is also a true win as we are able to take a brand that customer trust to help us continue to deliver on our commitment to save people money so they can live better.

Shane Chen was getting bored with his job. For 20 years, the founder of CID Inc. had focused on his Camas business, selling electronic instruments to plant scientists. He wanted a change.

“One day I saw an exercise equipment ad,” the Camas resident said. “I thought, ‘I can do better than that.’ ”

And he got to work. The result, the Body Toner, went on sale six years ago through infomercials and QVC, the television shopping network.

Suddenly Chen, 52, was not just the president of CID Inc. He was heading a new venture, Inventist, and he was enjoying his work again.

Following the success of the Body Toner, Chen started seeing new ideas everywhere he went. The Orbitwheel, which he invented to create a smoother ride than roller skates and skateboards provide.

A willingness to fail is one secret to an inventor’s success, Chen said.

“People come up with ideas daily,” he said. “One out of 100 might work, but you have to try. You have to absorb failures and not get discouraged.”

That attitude has paid off. Born six years ago at the hands of a bored tinkerer, Inventist has grown into a business that does $1 million per year in sales and has four employees.

You have to keep being innovative when it comes to advertising:

There are different forms of advertising, and most of them are something that anyone has seen or heard of before. Billboards by the freeway or those banners that are found on websites. Those are all kinds of advertising. GoMobile Advertising is a completely different form of advertising that brings new meaning to business opportunity.

With GoMobile it is easy to see what the advertiser will receive. Large, moving, billboards. Giving a wide range of people a chance to see the ad and bring in new potential customers. A moving billboard is an investment, but chances are it’d be well worth the money.

As an affiliate this is something that has the potential to bring in a large sum of money through the advertising. These mobile ads are eye catching and demand the attention the advertisers want.

The minimum investment for this business opportunity is $25,000 but this is available to people within the US as well as internationally. It’s an opportunity that truly gives everyone the chance to break into a unique way to sell advertising. GoMobile also trains their new affiliates.

This sounds like another Simon Woodroffe venture, founder of the Yo! Sushi brand in the UK….. 

When someone passes a vending machine, what do they usually see? Probably candy bars, potato chips or other forms of not-so-healthy foods. YoNaturals is a natural, organic vending option for schools, stores or office buildings but also has the potential to be a desirable franchise opportunity.

Another thing that won’t be seen on those other vending machines is probably the option to pay for your food or drink using a debit/credit card. Customers don’t always have cash on hand, or that one dollar bill might be torn beyond repair. Their will be no losing customers when they can just use debit/credit instead.

Of course the operator can’t always be at the machine daily to take care of things. They can be handled using remote monitoring software. Checking the sales made from the machine and control the inventory is as simple as using the computer at home.

The minimum investment for the YoNaturals vending opportunity is $30,000 and that comes with full training and support for the operator.

Their program also includes a minimum of three vending machines but YoNaturals will secure the locations as well as deliver and install them. The technical training needed to run the machines will be taught to the operator in advance. It is up the operator to service the machines and refill them as needed.

Sometimes during peak hours, the phones are silent in Andy Freitas’ pizza restaurants, yet the cooks are busy keeping pace with hungry customers.

That’s because orders are rolling in through the Internet.

“It’s pretty amazing not to hear a phone ring on a busy night,” said Freitas, an operating partner with the largest Papa John’s franchisee in the Washington, D.C., market.

In the past seven years, Louisville-based Papa John’s International Inc. has made a lot of dough from online ordering, more than $1 billion to be exact.

The nation’s third-largest pizza delivery chain trumpeted the $1 billion milestone, noting that its U.S. online sales have been growing at an average clip of more than 50 percent per year. In 2001, the chain’s online sales totaled $20.4 million. Last year, its online sales approached $400 million.

“I knew it would be a big part of our business, but this has blown my expectations away, and I think it’s even going to go higher,” Freitas said.

The concept is tailored for customers like Emily Goatcher of Raleigh, N.C.

“I’m so into the Internet and the ease of doing things that way,” she said in a phone interview.

The online option lets her scan the menu and look up specials. She also thinks there’s less of a chance of getting the wrong order. But the mother of two young children said the main attraction is convenience.

SomethingStore.com, based in New York, which can be anything and the recipients only find out what it is when they receive it.

With a simple and suiting tag line “Surprise Yourself” the site promises nothing but ’something’ and explains “Your something may be a cool gadget, rare book, table game, handmade necklace, reverse clock, box of gourmet chocolates, set of shiny shower curtains, a popular video game, a big-box retailer gift card, the latest version of a software, or even a set of kitchen knives…”

The founder, Sami Bay, 30, says he is big believer in the power of the web in enabling what may seem like bizarre or obscure ideas to turn into real success stories. After watching interesting ideas such as Woot, MillionDollarHomepage, and One Red Paperclip flourish on the Net, he came up with his own.

He says when he mentioned his idea to friends and colleagues, not surprisingly, some of them were skeptical: “People will think you will just send them some unwanted, useless stuff; it won’t work”. He says he answered them “SomethingStore will always deliver value to the customers, because that’s the only way it will get people buy again and tell their friends which is lifeblood of our business. So it serves our interest to deliver value to the customers and to send them desirable, cool and fun ‘somethings’ “.

BookMooch, Buckman’s 20-month-old service that lets people trade their used books for the cost of postage, is making a small impression on a giant online retailer, Amazon.com. Even though BookMooch is free to members, the site generates an estimated half-million dollars in annual book sales for Amazon because of a browser plug-in called the Moochbar, which matches members’ book wish lists to Amazon’s retail inventory. For every 25 books swapped on BookMooch, at least one person buys a new book on Amazon through the Moochbar. BookMooch collects 8.34 percent on each of those Amazon sales.

“We’re making money by accident,” said Buckman, who spoke recently at a technology luncheon near his home in Berkeley, Calif.

Apart from still-negligible sales, what should be more of a wake-up call to the book industry is how the site is tapping into the so-called long tail of book retail with a social, free service. The long tail, as the theory goes, accounts for as much as 60 percent of the goods sold in an industry, or all those unpopular works that find a home with only a few. It’s said that the lion’s share of Amazon’s book sales come from works that have a low sales ranking.

Even if he doesn’t strike it rich with BookMooch, Buckman may do something more valuable…like prove there’s another way to tap into the book business.