8 Ridiculous Business Ideas that Actually Made People Rich

8 Ridiculous Business Ideas that Actually Made People Rich
By Ian Benedict Mia

Have you ever had a million dollar idea that you simply shrugged off because you wrote it off as too difficult or far-fetched? Well, in the business world, anything goes. If you’re a current or aspiring entrepreneur, it helps to dumb your ideas down a bit—especially if overthinking takes a toll on your creativity. After all, it’s not always the best and most feasible business ideas that can make you millions.

Sometimes, all you need is a mix of a little bit of absurdity and thinking out of the box.

8. Your very own pet rock

Via ebay.com

Imagine an event wherein you have to bring your pet and showcase it to your friends. Fret not, apparently this pet rock can be bought for only $3.95! Its creator, Gary Dahl, advertised it as a hassle-free pet that “you’ll never need to feed, walk, bath or groom.” It even has its own instructional manual on how to take care of it—there’s even a wikiHow page!

Eventually, despite how absurd it is considering you can just get your own pet rock from your backyard, it became an instant hit.

Estimated profit: $15M during the first six months

7. The yellow smiley

Via huffingtonpost.com

Don’t get me wrong, the yellow smileys are awesome, and most likely for us it’s not really a ridiculous business idea. But at the time of its creation, it seemed far-fetched that such an idea would become famous worldwide.

Well, it did, and it began in 1963 when Harvey Spain first drew the happy face for his PR company’s client. Based on that simple design, Harvey’s two sons, Bernard and Murray Spain, bought the legal rights to own the design and put up a novelty shop. From there it became famous as the yellow smiley we all love and still use today.

Estimated profit: $500M

6. A slinky engineer-turned-toy-developer

Via Source

Remember Slinky Dog from the Toy Story franchise? Well, he wouldn’t even exist in the first place without the Slinky toy we all know and love. The Slinky began in the early 1940s when a naval engineer named Richard James dropped a tension spring and watched it slink away. He created a toy later on for a Gimbals in Philadelphia, where the first 400 units sold out within 90 minutes. From there, it eventually became a childhood staple the world over.

Estimated profit: $250M

5. A brilliant mobile application… that farts

Via itunes.apple.com

Fart jokes never get old. Well, at least for some of us. Joel Comm was one of those people, so one day he had the brilliant idea to create a mobile application that makes various fart noises. You would think that the app would be free, but Comm said, “No, no, no! I’ll make so much money out of this!” He believed that people would actually buy it, and so they did. The application retails for around $0.99, and has over 600,000 downloads.

Estimated profit: $400K