SWCAMBORNE

In his book Where Good Ideas Come From, Steven Johnson introduced me and now probably you to the idea of the “adjacent possible.”  The adjacent possible is the area next to what already exists.  It is the area that is ripe for the new.  Space travel in the 19th century was science fiction.  In the 20th Century it was the adjacent possible and it happened.

Wheelie suitcases were not built successfully until the last two decades of the 20th century because the high tensile strength plastics that make them possible had not yet been invented.  So as technologies advance so do the areas that are adjacent and possible.  My idea for a motion activated windshield wiper is adjacent possible to the motion detectors in paper towel dispensers and sinks.

These beautiful and functional utensils could not be built until high temperature plastics made them the adjacent possible.

The lesson:  If you want to build or create something new explore in areas that are adjacent possible to what already exists.

A review of Where Good Ideas Come From will follow.

There are more than ten million upper middle class families in the USA.  These are people who can afford gardeners, housekeepers, and pool services.  They could also afford patio maintenance services, but nobody is offering it yet.

You can fill this niche. Joe’s Patio Service (working name) would operate like a gardening service.  For a monthly fee Joe and his crew will come to our house clean the deck and the barbeque.  They will clean and refresh the patio furniture and do small repairs to the umbrellas and chairs etc.  They will even water and prune the potted plants.   Each spring (for an additional fee) they will get out your equipment and get it organized and in the fall they will stow it for you.  There is off-site storage available for your cushions etc if you don’t have a place to store them.

This is a perfect business for a young person who lives in or near an affluent area.  Get a flyer and leaflet the neighborhood and then do a good job and referrals will keep you busy for ever.

Franchising Opportunities?

“This is a tough economy,
but you can be successful
if you do these four things:  
Follow your passion,
master your craft,
study history and philosophy
for leadership lessons
and live frugally.”  

John Schlifske,
CEO Northwestern Mutual.

Dogs poop outdoors.  When it happens in your neighborhood and your dog is on a leash you scoop it up with a bag and throw it in the trash.  But if you are hiking and your dog poops on the trail and isn’t on a leash there is a whole new set of problems even for a responsible dog owner.  First you might not notice it.  Second even if you put the poop into one of those little bags what do you do with the bag?  There isn’t a trash can for miles. If you try to kick it off the trail there is a a high probability you will end up with smelly shoes.  Leaving the poop on the trail create an eye and an olfactory hazard for others.  It also reinforces the opinion of people who want to restrict where dogs can be taken.

Here is a solution that will work.  Press leaves together to make a card about the size of the cover of a small paperback book.  Think about a thicker version of the seaweed paper they use for wrapping sushi.  The cards will be easy to use and will store in a small pack. After clearing the trail the poop and the scoop will both easily and invisibly biodegrade in the bushes off the trail.

Give the product a clever descriptive name like “Mountain Scoop” and sell it through pet stores.

Photo credit Does a Bear Shit in the Woods?

Parking places are getting smaller.  Door dings are a getting worse.  And car doors are still based on 1960′s technology.  Why not make an automatic car door that opens gently and uses sensors to stop just before it touches the car in the next parking spot.

This is a simple idea that combines two already existing products.  The automatic lift gates in high end minivans and SUVs and the proximity sensors in luxury cars.

The “AutoDoor” will make it a bit easier to park and a lot less stressful getting in and out of your car.

The most important thing it will do is will give the first luxury car company to bring it to market  a competitive advantage that will help them sell lots of cars.

“You see problems, I see opportunities.”

A successful business doesn’t have to be complicated.  It doesn’t even have to last a long time.

This idea is based on solving a really simple problem.  Many people can’t seem to get their hands free phones working in their cars and they are risking crashing and tickets.

Simon’s Hands Free Service Center

will for about $10.00 (less than lunch)

make your hands free system work in your car

and we will stay support you until you are comfortable using it yourself. 

Guaranteed!

Substitute your name in the above prototype flyer and you are good to go.

It lends itself to Groupon and radio advertising

and if it works it may get support from the DMV.

This is a similar idea to the Genius Bar come to the Coffee Bar which is one of my best ideas ever.

“In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience.  Take the experience first, the cash will come later.”

Harold Geneen

CEO of ITT Corp. and author of

Managing

(one of the best management books I have ever read)

In small towns all across California, Arizona and New Mexico there are celebrations of Route 66.

While driving on I40 and seeing all of this local commercial activity I thought about where it could be reproduced.

What about US Route 17.  It runs from Maine to Florida it was at one time one of the most important roads in America and it is all been replaced by Interstate 95.

Historic Route 17 can easily become the next Route 66. 

This is an opportunity for geegaw producers, graphic artists and small gift shop proprietors.  If I lived on or near where the historic route ran I’d join or start a Route 17 historical society, get some nice graphics going and start selling “Route 17 The Orange Highway” memorabilia.  There is already some literature about it.  Praying for Sheetrock for example.

Diners and Station Wagons on Historic Route 17

I send postcards.  Both electronic and actual.  In this day of email, Facebook and Twitter I think that the Post Office (USPS) is a charming but expensive anachronism.  It will be a financial burden to our children and to their children and there is very little we can do about it. Click here to see how many times I’ve written about the problem of the Post Office’s failed business model.

But today I want to tell you about an opportunity.  Look at these two pictures.  The first is what every corner and intersection in rural America used to look like:

The second is what they are starting to look like now:

This makes perfect sense for the USPS it is much more efficient to deliver mail to the combined boxes.  But you ask: Where is the entrepreneurial  opportunity?  The answer is easy: Be the person who buys or just retrieves all of the old battered rural mailboxes, becomes an expert in mailboxes and sells them and knowledge about them on places like eBay.  Mailboxes are going to be a great collectible and you can be in it early.  Will it work? The doors of old urban PO boxes are already a collectible.

Going back to the Post Offices problem for another rant:  The USPS should admit that their business model has changed and that they are in end game.  They should raise the price of First Class Mail (currently $0.46) to a dollar and all of their other prices proportionally.  Additionally they should drop to once a week delivery of all mail that is not paid priority.  These changes would finance the orderly shut down of the service and the financing of the employees pensions and benefits.  All other changes are just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  Unfortunately it won’t happen because the Congress is an extremely conservative body and opposes all change.

If you will write either one of these books I’ll read it.

A history of the restaurant business in Los Angeles

Start with the earliest Californio/Mexican food stands and go through the beginning of fine dining with the Derby and the other famous restaurants of the Golden Age of Hollywood and finishing with the nouvelle food revolution started by Wolfgang Puck and others.  Every chapter could be a vignette of a person.

A Literate Legacy, The Building of the Carnegie Libraries

How did Carnegie decide to fund this project?   How was it managed?  By who?  How many were built?  Where?  How many are still extant?  Still Libraries?

Lots of pictures and quotes from people like me.  I grew up going to the Carnegie Library in Olean, New York.  The children’s room was on the second floor and I borrowed the limit every week. Five Books.