Looking for strange small business ideas? At UENI, we support all sorts of service-based enterprises all over the world.
Along the way, we’ve encountered more than a few ideas that seemed somehow totally weird but brilliant simultaneously.
Like David Bowie or peanut butter. You know — weird. But weird that works.
For your reading pleasure, here’s a thorough assembly of the strangest successful business ideas we’ve run into so far.
(Let us know if you’ve got a weirder one.)
1. Hire-a-chinchilla for events, parties or whatever
Chinchillas are very cute, very soft animals from way high up in the South American Andes mountains.
How soft are they, exactly? Well your average hair follicle sprouts 1, maybe 2 hairs. Whereas a densely coated chinchilla may have as many as 80 hairs growing out of a single hair follicle. Now that’s fluffy! And kind of weird!
If you’re anything like me, you feel that animals this fluffy shouldn’t be so far away.
But having one as a pet isn’t necessarily a good idea (chinchillas are nocturnal, for one).
So what can you (we) do? Hire one!
There are a truly shocking number of businesses that offer rent-a-chinchilla services throughout the UK and Europe.
Just ask Google.
2. ‘Anger Rooms’ to smash stuff with a sledge hammer
Unless you’re a rockstar, it’s not a good idea to start breaking things when you’re upset, either at home or at work. But the temptation is obvious – smashing things is strangely therapeutic.
But what if you paid someone to be able to smash all the things? Now you can.
The concept began in Japan before expanding to the US and then Poland.
These outfitters all supply their customers with various implements of destruction (sledge hammer et al.) and then let them loose for an amount of time determined by their price of admission.
So you can clobber, punch, pummel or completely destroy whatever’s in the room with whatever you get your hands on.
Sound fun? €35 for 30 minutes is the going rate in Poland.
Who wants to open one in merry ol’ England?
3. Professional hangover helpers that make your eggs how you like them
In the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald: First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.
Sometimes a fun evening of boozing gets away from you; things can get a bit out of hand.
Maybe you invited everyone you knew to your home because that seemed perfectly reasonable. Maybe you said using your dinner plates as frisbees was fine.
Maybe you don’t really know what happened, but you’ve got a large chinchilla-rental bill and a massive headache.
Being hungover, in any circumstances, is the worst. There can be no dispute. Fortunately, someone has turned the worst of times into a business opportunity.
Based in Australia, Hangover Helpers will come to your place after your party and clean it up for you And they’ll make your breakfast. You read that right.
So the next time you’re sick-from-drink down under, hire these guys, so you can get back to what’s important: nursing your splitting headache, and negotiating damages charges with the chinchilla rental agency.
4. Weddings-on-wheels that deliver your nuptials to wherever you are (as long as you’re in Vegas)
Planning a wedding can be stressful. You’ve got to figure out the wardrobe, the location, seating charts, the photographer, the catering — it’s all a nightmare, really.
So what if there was an all-in-one wedding solution? What if it all came to you, delivered in a van? Sound crazy? Well, that’s because it is crazy. But it’s also an (apparently) booming business in Las Vegas.
Fees start at $129 and then the ‘Wedding Wagon,’ which describes itself as the country’s first casual and affordable mobile wedding franchise, drives to a location of your choice.