How would you like to be part of the $10,000,000,000,000 economy that doesn’t require a business license, resume or job training? Yes, that’s ten trillion.
The ten mega bills refers to an article from the Harvard Business Review discussing an informal economy of buyers and sellers. There are people all across America who are just…hustling.
I was inspired by the story of Alex McFarland, a guy who peddles candy around New York City. He makes about $150 per day and answers to no one but his customers. But all of this is just a cute story until someone makes a business of their own. So how can you make a few dollars without committing to full scale startup land?
Sell Your Profile Cover for Cash
Why the hell am I telling you this? It could be a seriously lucrative business model and I’m just tossing it out there casually:
Sell people’s Facebook cover space. Dead simple.
The simplicity of the idea is backed by a couple of very striking facts. First, Facebook is the largest social network on the web and commands more views and attention than any other website in the world. Second, the cover is located at the top of the users Facebook profile, which people see every time they view a friends profile. Third, it is a space that most people use to express their personal creativity (Just look at all the cool/crazy/thoughtful pictures people are uploading).
I have 1,178 Facebook friends (The limit is 5,000). Between these folks and the ‘friends of friends’ who view my profile each day, it’s a lot of impressions. Furthermore, these are friends, who are by definition influenced to at least a small degree by what I share. Popping your ‘ad’ at the top of my page is less of an advertisement and more a vote of confidence.
All you need is a distribution model to match up users with advertisers and the common sense not to make ads look too corny. A smart strategy would be to encourage users to interact with the product in a high quality photo and upload it as a cover.
For example, I just bought a Panasonic Lumix GX1, a 16 megapixel camera with a small form factor that I can use to shoot pictures and record high quality videos during business trips. If Panasonic came to me and asked to advertise, it would be a very natural fit.
So that’s my contribution to the ten trillion economy. What’s yours?