Darrin's Idea Book

Sometimes I get ideas that I think could really make money. Most of them I just keep to myself because it seems stupid to broadcast them on the internet for the general public to intercept. It's like when an overly excited MBA/manager type comes up to you and says, "If you had some capital and wanted to parlay that into an exciting new enterprise/idea, what would that be? What is your idea?" Like I'm going to tell you, geeze, come up with your own ideas.

So heres a freebie cause I don't see myself doing anything with it, and it has already been done to a limited extent:

Companies can't stop talking about converting your digital photographs into paper form. Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Sams, etc all offer this: Bring your memory card in and we'll give you hardcopies of your pictures for 29 cents each. Great.

Yet 85% of the pictures in this world end up forever buried in drawers, and those 15% (I think that is a very liberal estimate) that do make it to albums again sit on the shelf. So I propose a digital revival: Bring in your stack of old photographs and we'll dump them on a DVD for you. Companies could add custom features like automatic slide-shows when you drop the DVD in a conventional player, or of course you can pull the saved pictures off for manipulation or sorting on your home computer. If companies really want to get crazy, they could offer to put all the pictures online for either display or sorting before the photos get dumped to the DVD.

With a fair amount of automation, specifically scanners with auto-feeders and possibly computer software that dumps the files to DVD or the web, a stack of photos could be done in seconds. Charge 20 cents a picture, or more for value-added services, and voila, you've reversed the trend of digital to analog in your favor.

Market it as "make your photos last forever" or "revive those old photos" or some advert copy like that. I really think if Kinkos offered this in all their stores, they could kill. Or offer it as a drop-off service and mail it in to a central agency. Maybe that is how I could put it within my grasp: start it as a central business and get other companies to market it and sell it. I could pick up the photos at the various retailers, do the processing, then drop the DVD off a few days later. Give them 30%, then pocket the rest. I think in a large metro you could make some good money to start, then take it nationwide. Now my broke ass just needs investors ;)

Darrin's Idea Book

Sometimes I get ideas that I think could really make money. Most of them I just keep to myself because it seems stupid to broadcast them on the internet for the general public to intercept. It's like when an overly excited MBA/manager type comes up to you and says, "If you had some capital and wanted to parlay that into an exciting new enterprise/idea, what would that be? What is your idea?" Like I'm going to tell you, geeze, come up with your own ideas.

So heres a freebie cause I don't see myself doing anything with it, and it has already been done to a limited extent:

Companies can't stop talking about converting your digital photographs into paper form. Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Sams, etc all offer this: Bring your memory card in and we'll give you hardcopies of your pictures for 29 cents each. Great.

Yet 85% of the pictures in this world end up forever buried in drawers, and those 15% (I think that is a very liberal estimate) that do make it to albums again sit on the shelf. So I propose a digital revival: Bring in your stack of old photographs and we'll dump them on a DVD for you. Companies could add custom features like automatic slide-shows when you drop the DVD in a conventional player, or of course you can pull the saved pictures off for manipulation or sorting on your home computer. If companies really want to get crazy, they could offer to put all the pictures online for either display or sorting before the photos get dumped to the DVD.

With a fair amount of automation, specifically scanners with auto-feeders and possibly computer software that dumps the files to DVD or the web, a stack of photos could be done in seconds. Charge 20 cents a picture, or more for value-added services, and voila, you've reversed the trend of digital to analog in your favor.

Market it as "make your photos last forever" or "revive those old photos" or some advert copy like that. I really think if Kinkos offered this in all their stores, they could kill. Or offer it as a drop-off service and mail it in to a central agency. Maybe that is how I could put it within my grasp: start it as a central business and get other companies to market it and sell it. I could pick up the photos at the various retailers, do the processing, then drop the DVD off a few days later. Give them 30%, then pocket the rest. I think in a large metro you could make some good money to start, then take it nationwide. Now my broke ass just needs investors ;)