Owner: Unusual Business Ideas That Work URL:http://greatmoneynow.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2007 10:21:25 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description:
Uncommon Business is a blog about people who make money online selling unusual, strange and sometimes
bizarre things or provide curious services. This isn’t “One Hundred And One Ideas For Your Homebased
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How To Turn $5000 To $25 Million In 5 Years Selling To … Babies 2007-04-05 16:43:00 Julie Aigner-Clark Storyhttp://www.babyeinstein.com/Most great ideas are born from a need. The Baby Einstein Company LLC based in Littleton, Colorado, came from Julie Aigner-Clark’s need for a learning tool for her infant daughter. In 1995, this former teacher and new mom read the latest research regarding babies’ capacity to learn. Finding nothing in stores that used the research and that was developmentally appropriate, educational and fun, Aigner-Clark (pictured with daughters Sierra, 3, and Aspen, 6) decided to create something herself. Her first video, Baby Einstein, featured intriguing pictures and mothers speaking different languages.Says Aigner-Clark, “I wanted something that was not only entertaining but stimulating and engaging that would give [my daughter] exposure to things that were lovely.”As a mom, she knew her product was good, but “nobody was returning my calls,” she says. “I knew if I could get it into the hands of a mom or an executive who had a baby, [ Read more:Years
, Babies
How To Make Money Stitching Hoodies 2007-04-05 16:41:00 http://AliMadigan.comWhen most teen girls can’t find anything to wear they ask mom for a credit card and hit the mall. But when 18-year-old Ali Madigan had nothing to wear, she decided to make a sweatshirt out of some spare fabric. She never imagined that the sweatshirt would turn into her own line of trendy casual hoodies, dubbed “Boozey” after her childhood nickname.Her handmade hoodies feature bright colors such as yellows and details such as purple pinstripe cuffs, red zippers and a floral lining in the hood.To get her clothing line some exposure, Madigan reached out to Stunna, a member of the rap group the Wolfpack, best known for the single “Vans.” Madigan did her magic with needle and thread and graciously gave one of her treasured hoodies to Stunna. He wore it, and the rest is history. Cha-ching!Since the clothing is handmade, a sweatshirt sells for $200 and up, depending on the design. “In the next few months I’m going to focus on getting my product in a store an Read more:Money
, Hoodies
20Ltd.com - Scarcity Sells 2007-04-05 04:09:00 http://www.20ltd.comOnline retailer 20ltd sells no more than 20 items at a time, each of which are highly exclusive and only available in small numbers. Goods currently on offer range from GBP 2,900 white buffalo horn sunglasses (edition of 10), to a GBP 9,000 hammock covered in cashmere and black fox fur (thankfully for black foxes, only 5 of those were made). All items are exclusive to 20ltd, and not sold anywhere else. As soon as a product is sold out, it's replaced by a new object of desire.The British retailer is backed by private investment, and will operate solely online. Calling itself an "etailer of authentic, ingenious, beautiful and unexpected things," 20ltd hopes to reach a global audience, including rapidly growing luxury markets like Russia, China and the Middle East. The website is currently available in English, Italian, Russian, Chinese and Japanese.The underlying trend and opportunities for other entrepreneurs? As regular luxury goods become available to ever more co Read more:Scarcity
Carol's Daughter - A Mom-Inspired Business 2007-04-03 17:04:00 http://www.carolsdaughter.com/Lisa Price didn’t have any formal training in mixing fragrances or creating beauty products when she started using her kitchen as a personal laboratory, but she did have a passion for experimenting with different combinations of all-natural ingredients. In 1993, with her mother’s encouragement, Price invested $100 and set up a booth at a church flea market. Her handcrafted products nearly sold out, and she spent the rest of the summer selling at more events, thereby introducing the public to her homegrown business, Carol
’s Daughter
--named after the woman who inspired her to start it.Thanks to her background in TV and film production as a writer’s assistant on The Cosby Show and other projects, Price got her products into the hands of celebrity hairstylists and makeup artists. In 1996, she quit her full-time job; in 1999, she opened her first storefront. Word-of-mouth spread, and Price was soon filling orders from the likes of Halle Berry and being Read more:Inspired
, Business
Carol's Daughter - A Mom-Inspired Business 2007-04-03 17:04:00 http://www.babylovesdisco.com/When Heather Murphy had her first child she looked forward to visiting the zoo, the children’s museum and other family friendly places. But she was concerned that the junk food, gift shops and merchandising were overly commercial for children. And while the kids-only activities were fun for her son Max, she would have also enjoyed a more “adult-relevant” experience. So Murphy created Baby Disco as a way for kids and big people to have fun together. She rented a local club for a Saturday afternoon, decorated it with balloons and equipped it with a bubble machine, diaper changing station, egg shakers, healthy treats, and a professional DJ to spin disco tunes. Two hundred people attended the first Baby Disco event.Just over two years later, Baby Loves Disco has spread from Philadelphia to eighteen U.S. cities, and will soon head over to Europe to open in London, Manchester and Amsterdam. Parents can enjoy a glass of wine while their little ones nosh on Read more:Carol
, Daughter
, Inspired
, Business
Sammy Hagar And His Cabo Wabo Tequila Empire 2007-04-03 17:00:00 http://www.cabowabo.com/Sammy
Hagar, former lead singer for the mega-band Van Halen, is renowned for his soaring vocals and stadium showmanship. However, for the past 15 years, Hagar has earned another reputation: entrepreneur. As the founder and front man of the 200-employee, Novato (Calif.)-based Cabo Wabo Enterprises, with about $60 million in revenue, Hagar is behind a top-selling line of premium tequilas, as well as a growing chain of tequila bars, aptly named the Cabo Wabo Cantina."Like many people, my first introduction to tequila was probably around the toilet," jokes Hagar, who at 59 still has the youthful exuberance of an arena rocker. "Still, I dug the salt and lime. It was a fun drink."But in 1982 he sampled the good stuff—premium blanco tequila—during a visit to Cabo San Lucas, a small Mexican fishing village on the tip of Baja California. "It changed my life. I had the true taste of tequila, and I became a blanco freak," says Hagar. Thus a businessman was born.Ten yea Read more:Tequila
, Empire
Sew Now Studio - Sewing Business With A Twist. 2007-04-03 09:22:00 http://www.sewnowstudio.com/Knitting may have been all the rage a few years ago, but today, it's all about sewing, with sewing converts eager to design their own fashions and accessories. "It's a way to express yourself," says Steven Berger, CEO of the Craft and Hobby Association.Susan Goldie, co-founder of Sewnow! Fashion Studio in Lafayette, California, is providing a place to sew as well as lessons for sewing newbies. Her diverse clients rent time on the professional-quality sewing machines, and parties and embroidery services round out her offerings. Goldie says that even before her December 2006 opening, the store garnered a lot of interest. "It's been exciting to have people just come in and check out what's going on and hear their enthusiasm for the products and services," says Goldie, 41. All the creativity is pushing first-year sales projections to $250,000. Read more:Business
, Sewing
How To Turn Tragedy To $10 Million Dollars A Year Business 2007-04-03 09:21:00 Amelia Antonetti Storyhttp://www.soapworks.comAmilya Antonetti struggled to find a cure for her son’s ailments, and found with it a successful business. Amilya had just given birth to her son, David, but her joy quickly turned to horror when the newborn would constantly cry in pain. The baby experienced shortness of breath and skin rashes. Not knowing what ails the baby, she and her husband consulted various specialists and doctors, to no avail. No one could them what is wrong with David or what triggers all the pain.Her spirit undaunted, she made a careful record of her baby’s life in the hope of finding the triggers to David’s painful reactions. She discovered that David’s pain was worst on Tuesdays, the day she cleans the house.Careful research led her to finally discover the culprits: chlorine and ammonia from her household cleaning products. The synthetic ingredients in the cleaning products caused David tremendous discomfort and pain. Amilya threw out her cleaning product Read more:Business
, Tragedy
eDimensional Story - From $500 To $5000000 2007-03-27 18:55:00 http://www.edimensional.com/Started in 2000, Startup costs: $500Michael Epstein and Nathan Newman, both 28, started eDimensional, their gaming accessories company, when they were just college students. Armed with credit cards and backgrounds in IT management, the two friends set about realizing their entrepreneurial dreams to make video games as realistic as possible using 3-D technology.Focusing on computer gaming, they found a supplier of 3-D medical imaging glasses and began buying wholesale. A software contractor helped them develop a program to make their glasses compatible with PC games, and they sold it packaged with the glasses on their website (www.edimensional.com).By purchasing their initial stock in small amounts, they kept overhead costs down. "We worked on small margins, buying very small quantities and using any connections we had from growing up in the area," Epstein says. Those connections included a fellow student, who designed their site for free.Sales began to take
Evlove Intimidates - Great Customized Lingerie Idea 2007-03-27 18:54:00 http://www.evloveintimates.com/When Chicagoan Jenny Dombroski spotted the NikeID website where consumers can customize sneakers according to their preferences, she knew it was a concept that could work for lingerie too. So Dombroski, who loves lingerie but knew nothing about the apparel industry, spent six months networking, asking lots of questions and working in a lingerie shop. Then she hired a designer and Evlove Intimidates was born. (Evlove is ‘evolve’ spelled backwards.) “A panty is a panty, a boy short is a boy short,” Dombroski says. “There isn’t a lot of variation in the design. We offer customers the opportunity to create personalized lingerie products and to have fun doing it.”Customized Evlove Intimates lingerie is sold primarily through private home parties. Invited guests sip wine while they select from a wide array of designs, samples, fabric swatches and decorative touches including ribbons, appliqués, rosettes and bows. Dombroski hooks up her laptop to Read more:Great
, Lingerie
ClubPenguin.Com - MySpace For Little Kids. 2007-03-27 18:54:00 http://clubpenguin.com/There are no plush toys to buy or entrance fees to pay. New members are offered small virtual penguins that they can adopt, name, feed, and clothe. They can also chat, play games, and even help publish the Club Penguin newspaper.Where creator New Horizon Interactive makes its money is in what it calls premium play. Any kid can have a penguin for free, but if he or she wants to decorate the penguin's igloo, Mom or Dad will have to subscribe--for $6 a month, or $58 a year. Traffic has mushroomed. Club Penguin saw 2.9 million unique visitors in January, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, up from just 705,000 in March 2006.So what keeps Crandall and millions of other kids playing for more than an hour each day?One thing that attracts them, experts say, is the sense of power that children get in a virtual world but rarely experience in real life. "This isn't rocket science," says Club Penguin founder and CEO Lane Merrifield. "A lot of virtual-reality companies look at Read more:MySpace
Valerie Peters, 43, is an 18-year resident of Ahwatukee. Peters was a metallurgical engineer for Honeywell when she had her second child. She went bac 2007-03-27 18:53:00 http://www.nikoli.co.jp/en/Will there be another puzzle craze after sudoku? Perhaps kakuro? What about nurikabe?If so, chances are it will spring from a Japanese company called Nikoli, run by the self-proclaimed godfather of sudoku, Maki Kaji.While no one knows how much revenue is generated by the global sudoku business, most agree it has easily topped $250 million over the last two years from an estimated 80 million devotees.Nikoli received only a sliver of that money. Mr. Kaji says his private company, with just 20 employees, had annual sales of about $4 million.Sudoku’s popularity in the United States caught Mr. Kaji by such surprise that he did not try to get the trademark there until it was too late. As a result, Nikoli receives no royalties from sudoku-related sales overseas by other publishers.In hindsight, though, he now thinks that oversight was a brilliant mistake. The fact that no one controlled sudoku’s intellectual property rights let the game’s popularity grow unfet Read more:Valerie
, Peters
, engineer
, child
Making Soap As A Fulltime Career. 2007-03-27 18:53:00 http://www.brambleberry.com/When her dream of working in law enforcement didn’t quite pan out, Anne-Marie Faiola decided to turn her passion for making soap into a full-time career.Bramble Berry, based in Bellingham, Wash., now offers more than 2,500 soap-making ingredients like fragrant oils, soap molds, lip-butter flavorings, assorted herbs and botanicals, and even the books and kits to teach anyone to make their own soap from scratch.I’d been making soap since I was 18 and I loved it. My husband at the time saw how unhappy I was, and encouraged me to quit my job and start selling soap. He said as long as I made $500 a month, we could eat macaroni and cheese and be happy. I didn’t have any lofty ambitions, just to sell 1,300 bars a month, which I figured would be enough to feed us and pay our mortgage.I placed a huge bulk order of supplies, set up a Web page, and waited. It didn’t take long before I sold everything to seven different soap makers on the West Coast. I was like, Read more:Career
Unusual Women Owned Businesses, Part I 2007-03-27 18:52:00 www.risingstardd.comShe has race-car driving in her blood. Kristine Gross's great aunt Greta Molander was one of the world's first open-wheel race-car drivers: a Swede who began rallying in 1929 and took the Ladies Cup in 1952. So it makes sense that Gross made the leap from marketing communications manager at AT&T to found eight-person, Chicago-based Rising Star Driver Development. The company, an all-inclusive motor sports training system that prepares and promotes young drivers, earned around $400,000 in revenues last year. Gross says it's not all about DNA: She had had the idea of starting her own marketing consultancy right around the time that NASCAR was taking off. Then she realized nothing existed for aspiring racers at the grassroots level, and her business was born.How did you, a woman, get into motor sports?I find that Viking blood runs in my veins, and I carry a bit of the Molander thrill-seeker DNA in me, just like my Great-Aunt Greta. Because of my previous career at A Read more:Women
Math Software Millionaires 2007-03-27 18:51:00 http://www.whizz.com/Richard Marett and Ron Van Der Meer believe they’ve found a solution to help fighting poor math skills. Their maths tutoring software uses computer animations to teach maths and is already active in 2,500 schools.“If a child uses the software twice a week for a year, maths age progresses by two years for 95% of kids,” insists Marett. It’s proved almost as rewarding for the founders. Inside three years, turnover has hit £1m and is set for another growth spurt with release of a home tutoring package.The idea for Whizz came from Van Der Meer, who had been toying with the idea of a computer generated maths tutor for some years before meeting Marett. Marett, fresh from running a financial advisory firm in Singapore had moved back to the UK and was looking to set-up an educational company. The pair were introduced by a mutual friend and the rest is history.Marett and Van Der Meer started by enlisting the help of two prominent academics, who between them had auth Read more:Software
, Millionaires
IT Business Idea For Folks Who Come Up With Great Domain Names 2007-03-27 18:51:00 http://www.pickydomains.com/PickyDomains.Com is a perfect example of how to turn one’s talent into a profitable business. With ever expanding Internet and tens of millions existing websites, finding an available domain name that’s not already taken by cybersquatters can be a real nightmare.But one man’s problem is another man’s solution. Rather than to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars for a domain name on the aftermarket, an increasing number of web entrepreneurs turn to professional “domain namers”.While most naming agencies charge a non-refundable fee that can be as high as $1500 for a corporate domain, one service that unites 17 professional domain namers from countries like United States, Russia, Australia and New Zealand, decided to offer a risk-free service that costs only 50 dollars per domain.After 50 dollars are deposited, clients start getting a list of available domain names via e-mail for a period of 30 days. If they see a domain they like, they regist Read more:Business
, Great
, Names
, Domain Names
How A Lady Stumpled Upon A $100000 A Year Business Working On Sundays. 2007-03-27 18:50:00 Debra Cohen Storyhttp://www.homereferralbiz.com/After buying their first home, Debra Cohen and her husband faced the unenviable chore of finding reliable home improvement contractors. Fed up with blindly picking names from the Yellow Pages and waiting for contractors who didn't show up, it occurred to Cohen that if she and her husband were having trouble finding contractors, other homeowners in their community must be facing a similar predicament. This bleak reality sparked the creation of a unique service that has since expanded into a profitable cottage industry across the U.S. and internationally.After extensive conversations with lawyers, business consultants, contractors and insurance agents, Cohen, 38, started Hewlett, New York-based Home Remedies of NY Inc. from her home in February 1997. This stay-at-home mom used a $5,000 loan, a computer and a refurbished fax machine to launch her part-time business. Right away, the response from homeowners was tremendous, and after three mo Read more:Business
, Sundays
How Unknown Designer Tricked Stars Into Taking Her Purses To Oscar. 2007-03-27 18:46:00 Lauren Merkin Storyhttp://www.laurenmerkin.com/It was Friday afternoon, two days before the Oscar
s, and Lauren Merkin, a little-known New York handbag designer, waited inside her room at the swank Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel, hoping that the $31,000 she had invested in producing a collection of 65 one-of-a-kind "Red Carpet" bags for Hollywood's biggest evening was about to pay off.Her dream: that a big-name star or her stylist would breeze through the hotel room and select a bag to carry for the Academy Awards.Bagging a celebrity endorsement is a marketing coup for any business, but a small shop like Ms. Merkin's can be catapulted to the major leagues if a star is photographed wearing the merchandise. In the frenzy of Oscar week, however, dozens of hopefuls -- from tiny shops to designers who are celebrities in their own right -- jostle each other for attention in hopes that a star will deign to wear one of their creations to one of the parties and events.Breaking into this world c Read more:Unknown
, Designer
, Tricked
, Taking
, Purses
How Sigmund Freud Helped A Man Sell Couches Worth Thousands Of Dollars 2007-03-27 18:42:00 Psychoanalysis, the treatment originated by Sigmund Freud
more than a century ago that requires patients to lie on a couch and say whatever comes to mind, has been battered in recent years by everything from antidepressants to skepticism to managed care that doesn't pay for such long-term therapy.So who in his right mind would want to launch a company that makes psychoanalytic couches?It takes an entrepreneur who believes that businesses considered antiquated are underserved niches with perhaps more staying power than trendier enterprises. Randall Scott Thomas, a Seattle furniture maker, knows psychoanalysts are a minority among mental health counselors these days. But thousands are either in training or in practice, and many have trouble finding the appropriate couch.Mr. Thomas, who makes contemporary home and office furniture, has never undergone analysis himself and didn't know what a classic analytic couch looked like until a few years ago. He was approached by Doene Rising, a Se Read more:Worth
Single Mom From Pennsylvania Makes A Living Selling Bookmarks Online 2007-03-27 18:41:00 Diane Waltman storyhttp://www.creativebookmarks.com/My business is designing and laminating bookmarks for wedding favors, business promotions, nonprofit organizations, holidays and other special occasions or projects. I design them on my computer, depending on what the customer wants. Then I print and laminate them.I came up with the idea of a bookmark business because it was a fun way to express my creativity and would require a low investment. Extensive foot surgery forced me to quit my office job a few years ago, and my doctors told me I would be out of work for more than three years. I knew I had to do something while recuperating, so I decided to look into an online business. I researched my competition and found only one Website selling handmade bookmarks.Within a week, in March 1999, I had started a business. After I researched my idea on the Web, I went to a local business supply company and bought most of my supplies -- a laminating machine, sheets of laminate and paper, ink a Read more:Pennsylvania
, Living
, Bookmarks
How A Man Makes Over 2 Million Dollars A Year... Chasing The Geese Away 2007-03-27 18:41:00 David Marcks Storyhttp://www.geesepoliceinc.comDavid Marcks discovered a lucrative business opportunity when he used his dog to solve a problem that he constantly faced working at a golf course - the proliferation of geese. Geese love to inhabit open spaces that provide them with water and plenty of food (such as short, tender grasses). While adding a "natural look" to golf courses, no one would want to play in a golf course where the grass couldn't be seen under the cover of goose droppings. Imagine wading in the middle of goose droppings to hit a golf ball. Yikes!David and other fellow golf superintendents tried several approaches. According to David, "We tried everything - sprays, pyrotechnics, flags, fences. Everything worked for a little bit and then it would stop working." Until he discovered that his dog, a Border Collie, was a natural in driving geese away. As he recalls, "It was so successful that I never looked back and we've been doing it ever since."David started Geese Po Read more:Chasing
How 18-Year Old Kid Makes Sell Bean Bags Worth $30 Million Each Year 2007-03-27 18:40:00 Shawn Nelson Storyhttp://www.lovesac.comAt age 18, Shawn Nelson was watching TV on the couch when he decided "a huge beanbag thing" might be more comfortable. He bought 14 yards of vinyl, cut it into a baseball shape, and spent three weeks filling it with anything soft he could find. The finished LoveSac was 7 feet wide, and everyone who saw it tried it out—and loved it.When neighbors started placing orders, Nelson decided to start his company almost as a joke. With free help from his friends, he made the LoveSacs in his parents' basement and sold them at trade shows, events and even the drive-in.Business was moderate at best, until he got a call on his cell phone that changed his life: a quarter-million-dollar order from Too Inc., which was looking for a back-to-school offering for its Limited Too stores. "I answered the phone and said, 'Twelve thousand LoveSacs? Sure, no problem. That's what we do; we're the best in the world at it,'" remembers Nelson.Undaunted, Nelson amassed Read more:Worth
How About A Few Million Dollars For Clubbing In New York? 2007-04-06 17:34:00 Andrew Fox Storyhttp://www.clubplanet.com/In 1995, this oft-rejected newcomer to New York
City's club scene found a way to get past the doorman of every hot club he longed to enter--start a website offering club-goers free club reviews and information. The now-savvy Fox recalls his earlier, awkward days: "I showed up at a club wearing green shorts, and everyone was in black. The bouncer looked at me and said, 'There's no way.'"Working on the website in his off hours at first, Fox chucked his investment banking job in 1997 to give Clubplanet.com (then ClubNYC.com) his all. Volunteers provided early club reviews, until Fox hired a full-time editorial staff in 1999. Then he came up with a new idea: Start a guest list on his site for access to otherwise hard-to-get-into clubs. By offering a discounted cover charge to those who both signed up on the site and arrived at the club before midnight, Fox helped enhance the exclusivity of the clubs as well as increase revenue. Club owners were
Willy Wonka Business Idea 2007-04-06 17:33:00 http://www.firstflavor.comMany dismissed the flavored wallpaper scene in WillyWonka
& the Chocolate Factory as childhood fantasy, but for Adnan Aziz, it was a revolutionary idea with real-life potential. In January 2005, he partnered with seasoned entrepreneurs Jay Minkoff, 48, and Josh Kopelman, 35, to launch First Flavor in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Together, they refined the idea of edible strips that allow consumers to sample a product's flavor before buying. These tasty marketing tools are deliverable via methods like in-store coupon dispensers and direct mailings.Using tried-and-true tactics, namely product research and consumer focus groups, the partners brought the innovative strips to market just this quarter. Companies specializing in everything from candies to alcoholic beverages want a piece of the action, and 2007 sales are projected to hit between $3 million and $5 million. Says Aziz, 24, "I had a dream; now I'm getting a chance to give it to the world." Read more:Business
An Employee Fires His Employer, Starts A Forty Million Dollar Business. 2007-04-07 17:59:00 Patrick Martucci Storyhttp://www.unitedasset.com/In 1980, Patrick Martucci, just out of high school, left his hometown of Cleveland with $300, pointing his Trans Am toward Dallas. He landed a $6-an-hour job at a company that was launching an odd, new product at the time -- "voice forward mail."When he tried to explain voice mail to his grandmother, she thought he was a postal worker. Others, however, caught on. He was soon in the sales department, where he was a natural. "I had the opportunity to watch a product go out the door and gain world-wide acceptance," he says.He leapfrogged to increasingly challenging jobs across the telecom industry, setting up distribution channels, running sales departments. A stark opportunity stared him in the face when he worked at a company that provided maintenance on Rolm phone equipment. Mr. Martucci was thrilled to pitch a sale to J.C. Penney, which, after a trial, offered him the maintenance contract for the entire retail chain's phone service. Bu Read more:Employee
, Employer
, Dollar
, Business
Fotolia - How To Make Millions, Selling Photos Online. 2007-04-07 17:59:00 http://www.fotolia.com/Oleg Tscheltzoff is the president of Fotolia, one of a new breed of so-called microstock houses--born of the Internet and Web 2.0-that are challenging the giants like Getty Images and Corbis, and could soon start cutting into their market share.While the big two offer exclusives on great photos at prices that range from a few hundred dollars to more than $10,000 apiece, Fotolia sells pretty good pictures for a good deal less--often just a dollar or two. Unlike Getty and Corbis, which compete fiercely to work with the top artists, the microstock firms get most of their photos the way Wikipedia gets its entries, by "crowdsourcing" work from interested amateurs or beginning pros.And, like Wikipedians and bloggers, the micro-stock sites are radically remaking their corner of the media business."We have a disruptive business model," says Tscheltzoff, who co-founded Fotolia in 2005. "One of us could even challenge Getty."That could take some time. Although Fotolia sold
Fotolia - How To Make Millions, Selling Photos Online. 2007-04-07 13:08:00 http://www.fotolia.com/Oleg Tscheltzoff is the president of Fotolia, one of a new breed of so-called microstock houses--born of the Internet and Web 2.0-that are challenging the giants like Getty Images and Corbis, and could soon start cutting into their market share.While the big two offer exclusives on great photos at prices that range from a few hundred dollars to more than $10,000 apiece, Fotolia sells pretty good pictures for a good deal less--often just a dollar or two. Unlike Getty and Corbis, which compete fiercely to work with the top artists, the microstock firms get most of their photos the way Wikipedia gets its entries, by "crowdsourcing" work from interested amateurs or beginning pros.And, like Wikipedians and bloggers, the micro-stock sites are radically remaking their corner of the media business."We have a disruptive business model," says Tscheltzoff, who co-founded Fotolia in 2005. "One of us could even challenge Getty."That could take some time. Although Fotolia sold
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