Creative Business Ideas-Think Outside The Box

Times are tough - jobs and money are in short supply. You have just about exhausted your unemployment benefits and your savings are about gone. You and your family are already eating wieners and beans - what can you do to make a living?

How about starting a Hot Dog Cart Business? If you're thinking that the world doesn't need another tacky tube steak vendor downtown, that all franks taste the same and there's no way to make any money -you'd be wrong. The fact is 10% of all hot dogs sold in America are bought from hot dog carts, and like any business your avenue to success is only limited by your own imagination. In my opinion your success comes down to 8 words: "sell a quality product at a fair price."

You need to think outside of the box and come up with some creative business ideas... such as setting up your wienie wagon at the city dump, the local flea market or next to the DMV. Also introduce your customers to a brand new grilling technique - spiral cut your wieners/sausages/kielbasa and then grill them. The spiral cutting will increase the surface area of your tubers and allow them to acquire more caramelization by browning the natural sugars in the meat, which will give them the extra flavor, aroma and visual appeal.

In 1989 my wife and I decided to hit the road in our motorhome and make a living with our hot dog cart. We sold Hebrew National kosher franks and set up at the entrance to the land fill in Phoenix, Arizona. We sold tubers, kielbasa, potato chips and canned soda for about 3 months and averaged about $200 a day gross. Then the Phoenix 110 degree summer days hit and we moved over to Bakersfield, California. We made a nice living selling our kosher franks at the local swap meet on the weekends and downtown during the week - we averaged about $300 a day gross. We stayed for 8 months, but tired of living in the motorhome and decided to sell our hot dog cart to one of our steady customers, Kim, who turned it into and egg roll cart and set up for business in downtown LA. He may still be there for all I know.

I'm retired now, or I'd start a new vending cart business. I'd sell well known quality frankfurters, spiral cut and grill them and watch the amazed and happy customers line up and fill my pockets with money.