10 Great Companies that Started Out Selling Something Else

Good companies start by selling what people want. Great companies adapt to what people want and start selling what they’re going to want.

As you’ll find in this post, sometimes that means completely changing your product or service. Here are 10 great companies that started as something completely different than what they’re known for today.

Companies Started by Selling Something Else

#1 3M

Formerly known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3 M’s, get it?), 3M started in 1902 as a mining company that sold a popular mineral to grinding wheel manufacturers.

From a mineral, they began selling sandpaper, then masking tape, then “Scotch Tape”, and today they sell over 55,000 different products including everything from car care products to touch screens.

#2 Abercrombie & Fitch

Founded in 1892 by David Abercrombie and Ezra H. Fitch, Abercrombie & Fitch started as a sporting goods shop and outfitter.

They didn’t become a clothing store until The Limited acquired them in 1988. Now they have over 300 stores in the U.S. and they’re expanding internationally.

#3 Avon

David H. McConnell started Avon in 1886 as door-to-door book salesman. Sales were tough at first but he realized that he could gain women’s attention by offering perfume samples.

Soon those perfume samples became more popular than the books, so he founded the California Perfume Company in New York, NY and it eventually became Avon.

#4 Colgate

Colgate was originally founded in 1806 by a soap and candle maker named William Colgate. They started by selling soap, candles, and starch.

Colgate didn’t start selling toothpaste until 1873 and they sold it by the jar.

#5 Flickr

In 2004, Flickr started as a chat room with real-time photo sharing for the web-based multiplayer game, Game Neverending. Soon thereafter, they shelved Game Neverending, expanded the uploading and filing of photos, and buried the chat room.

In March 2005, Yahoo! acquired Flickr for $35 million.

#6 Microsoft

Bill Gates and Paul Allen started what eventually became Microsoft in 1968 when a local computer company gave the 13-year-olds access to a computer. They were quickly banned after they learned how to hack the system and crash the files. But the company ultimately re-hired them to find bugs and fix weaknesses in their systems.

Over the next five years they received sporadic programming gigs until Gates enrolled at Harvard. One year in, Allen showed Gates the latest issue of Popular Electronics featuring the Altair 8800 and Allen convinced Gates to drop out so they could develop software for personal computers.

#7 Nintendo

Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo in 1889 as a playing card company. The game, Hanafuda, became very popular in Japan but they knew the market wasn’t that big. So they began to experiment in other industries. Between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company, a hotel chain, a TV network, and a food company.

Finally, in 1974, Nintendo entered the video-gaming industry and today they’re third most valuable listed company in Japan.

#8 Nokia

Nokia got its start in 1865 as a paper mill – the original communications technology. In 1868, Frederick Idestam opened his second pulp mill near the town of Nokia, Finland.

After a century of mergers and acquisitions, Nokia entered the mobile communication in the 1980s with the Mobira Talkman.

#9 Twitter

Twitter originated from a “daylong brainstorming session” between Jack Dorsey and his podcasting company, Odeo, with the goal of creating an online SMS service to communicate within a small group. It was codenamed, Twttr, after being inspired by Flickr.

At first, it was used internally by Odeo employees and they launched Twitter to the public on July 15, 2006.

#10 Wrigley

Like Colgate, the William Wrigley Jr. Company started by selling soap and baking powder in 1891. Like Avon, William Wrigley began by selling his products door-to-door and he enticed his customers by packaging each can of baking powder with chewing gum.

The chewing gum steadily became more popular than the baking powder. Today several brands of chewing gum are owned by Wrigley, including Juicy Fruit, Extra, Orbit, Hubba Bubba, and 5.

Bonus: Google

Mark my words, years from now our generation will be saying, “Remember when Google was just a search engine?” And we’ll be like, “Yeah, dude, I remember the first time I used it back in middle school.”

What’s the Point?

One of the biggest excuses young people give for not starting a business is, “I don’t have an idea yet.”

They’re just sitting back and waiting for that big idea. You know, that one-in-a-million idea. They think it’ll fall out of the sky and into their lap when they least expect it. And that’s when they’ll get started.

If you want to be successful, just start selling something, anything. Figure out what people are buying and sell it to them. Michael started his journey by selling Pokémon cards to his schoolmates as an 8-year-old.

What you’re selling will likely change over time, but the principles will stay the same.

Do you know of other companies that started out selling something completely different?

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship Tagged With: 3M, Avon, Colgate, Flickr, Google, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nokia, Selling Something Else, Top Entrepreneurs, twitter

 About Nicholas Tart

I’m a 23-year-old, full-time entrepreneur living in Colorado. My companies include 14 Clicks, JuniorBiz, and Monument Marketing. I'm the co-author of What it Takes to Make More Money than Your Parents. I graduated from Colorado State in 2010 and I'm dedicated to teaching and helping young entrepreneurs

21 Businesses You Can Run From a Laptop

Maybe you’re a young kid who wants to start a business. Maybe you’re a college grad who wants to create a job (rather than finding one). Or maybe you’re a corporate mouse who’s fed up with the rat race.

In any case, the internet has opened up a world of opportunities for the entrepreneur-at-heart. Here are 21 businesses that you can start today and run entirely from a laptop and an internet connection.

Development

#1 Web Developer

According to SBA.gov, there were 29.6 million small businesses in the US and Ad-ology found that 46% of small businesses don’t have a website.

#2 Mobile App Developer

In 2010, the International Telecommunication Union reported that there are over 5 billion cell phones in the world and 1 billion of them have mobile broadband subscriptions.

#3 Blog Maintenance Provider

As tracked by BlogPulse, there were 126 million blogs on the internet in 2010 and most of them suck. Most bloggers think they just have to write, post, and auto-tweet. So if you know how to properly post a WordPress blog post, you can offer this as a service to serious bloggers.

Graphic Design

#4 Logo Designer

Since there are 29.6 million small businesses in the US alone, that’s 29.6 million potential logo customers. But most of them already have logos… Yeah, but very few of them have good logos.

#5 Web Designer

According to Pingdom, there are 234 million websites on the net. Like small business logos, most of these websites look terrible. And even the good ones, as you’ll soon see on Retire@21, know the value of continually improving the design.

#6 Book Cover Designer

Right now, there are over 32 million books on Amazon and every one of them has a book cover. According to UNESCO, over 1 million books are published per year. This doesn’t include eBooks.

#7 Mobile App Designer

Much like mobile app developers, there’s plenty of need for mobile app designers. Companies usually contract out to both developers and designers separately to create the app.

#8 Computer-Aided Designer

CAD drawings are typically 3D mockups and virtual prototypes that companies create prior to manufacturing a product. Pretty much every product design starts as a CAD drawing.

#9 Web Theme Designer

According to WordPress.com, there are over 53 million WordPress sites and about half of them are self-hosted. This means, WordPress alone has about 26 million sites that need themes.

#10 Videographer

In 2009, Zappos reported a 6% to 30% increase in sales for products with video. Website owners realize that video converts higher than any other form of content, so they’re starting to contract out for that work.

Writing

#11 Author

According to Authors Guild, a successful fiction book sells 5,000 copies and a successful nonfiction book sells 7,500 copies. Also, Jenkins Group (a premier publishing firm) reports that 70% of books published don’t make a profit. Don’t let these stats discourage you, but it’s hard to make a living as an author.

#12 Editor

Part of the reason books usually don’t earn back their investment is because they have to pay for an editor. You’ll likely earn more as an editor than an author.

#13 Copywriter

With 126 million blogs, there are 126 million websites that need content. If you’re a good writer and knowledgeable about a niche topic, reach out to the top bloggers in that niche and ask if they’ll pay you to write for them.

#14 Transcription

According to Worldwide Freelance, some industry estimates suggest that up to 50% of all non-fiction books are ghostwritten. Often, these books start as audio recordings and the ghostwriter transcribes and spruces up the content. This is just one way to make money as a transcriber.

#15 Translation

English is the universal language of business, but there are roughly 6,500 other languages in the world. Books, websites, manuals, etc. all need to be translated to other languages.

#16 Blogger

Much like authors, few bloggers make a living strictly from blogging. To attract advertisers, you typically need a couple thousand unique visitors per day. Think of a blog as a platform to attract other business opportunities.

Internet Marketing

#17 Search Engine Optimization

234 million websites compete to rise to the top of search engines. If you know how to optimize websites, you can help website owners save a lot of money on internet advertising.

#18 Search Engine Marketer

The other side of search engines is paid search. It’s not unusual for internet marketers to have $500,000 per month budgets for PPC (pay-per-click) and CPM (cost-per-thousand-impressions) advertising.

#19 Social Media Manager

Don’t let companies outsource their social media campaigns. But a service that helps people set up their Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus profiles is completely legitimate.

#20 Email Marketing Manager

Michael always tells you that the money is in the list, but it takes a lot or work to maintain that list. If you offer to create and automate the email newsletters, it’ll take a lot of pressure off their backs.

#21 Affiliate Marketer

To date, ClickBank has paid out almost $1.9 billion to affiliate marketers. Affiliate marketing is another way to make a living as a blogger and it’s the primary way that Michael makes money.

So what…

I know I gave you lots of big stats and that can be overwhelming.

To put it into perspective, Michael has partaken in or hired out at least 14 of these 21 services; this includes over $30,000 on web design updates to IncomeDiary.

There’s a lot of money to be made on the internet. If you have a laptop, an internet connection, and a working brain, the only thing holding you back is you.

Post written by Retireat21 writer, Nick Tart.

Filed Under: Making Money Online Tagged With: Affiliate Marketing, Blogging, copywriting, internet marketing, Making Money Online, web design

 About Nicholas Tart

I’m a 23-year-old, full-time entrepreneur living in Colorado. My companies include 14 Clicks, JuniorBiz, and Monument Marketing. I'm the co-author of What it Takes to Make More Money than Your Parents. I graduated from Colorado State in 2010 and I'm dedicated to teaching and helping young entrepreneurs.

World's 10 Largest Car Manufacturers

  Toyota

Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Corporation is the world's largest car manufacturer. It has sold 3,564,105 units in the first half of 2009 compared to 4,815,442 units in the first half of 2008. Though Toyota reported an annual net loss of US$4.4 billion on May 8, 2009, it could still emerge as the world's largest car maker. The Japanese giant has been severely affected by the 2007-2009 financial crises. Toyota ventured into the automobile industry in 1934 with its first product Type A engine. It manufactured in its first passenger car the Toyota AA in 1936. Toyota Motor Corporation was established as an independent and separate company in 1937.

  General Motors

General Motors was established in 1908 by William C. Durant. It is world's second-largest car maker. General Motors was world's number one car company for consecutive 77 years from 1931 to 2007. Because of the economic conditions, the beleaguered car giant went bankrupt on June 1, 2009. On 10th July 2009, the company emerged from" Chapter 11 bankruptcy" reorganization. In spite of all these, General Motors could sell 3,552,722 units compared to last year's 4,541,125 units.

  Volkswagen

The Volkswagen Group is the world's third largest car maker. It sold 3,100.300 units this year compared to 3,265,200 units of previous years. The Volkswagen Group constitutes the car brands like Audi AG, Bentley Motors Ltd., Automobiles Bugatti SA, Automobili Lamborghini Holding S.p.A., SEAT, Skoda Auto and heavy goods vehicle manufacturer Scania AB. Recently, Porsche has united with the Volkswagen Group. The German luxury car company was founded on May 28, 1937 under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler wanted a "people's car". Volkswagen literally means 'people's car' in German.

  Hyundai-Kia

Hyundai-Kia has emerged as the world's fourth largest car manufacturer. This year Hyundai-Kia jumped up a rank above. The Korean car maker showed global sales for the first half of 2009 at 2,153,000 units. The Indian subsidiary of Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, the Hyundai Motors India, is the country's second largest car manufacturer. The Hyundai Motor Company was founded in 1967. It became the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group when Hyundai Motor Company purchased 51% of South Korea's second-largest car company, Kia Motors in 1998.

  Ford

Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. Presently, it is world's fifth largest car maker with 2,145,000 units of global sales. This year, Hyundai-Kia edged out the mighty Ford of the fourth position. In 2007, Ford fell from second to third-ranked car maker for the first time in 56 years, behind only General Motors and Toyota.

 PSA Peugeot-Citroen

The French car company sold 1,586,900 units in 2009. Last year it showed a sale of 1,844,700 units. The company was formed in 1976 and sells under the Peugeot and Citroen brand names. PSA is the second largest automaker based in Europe.

 Honda

The Honda Motor Company secures the seventh place with sales units of 1,586,000 compared to last year's 2,022,00 units. Honda became Japan's second largest car maker in 2001 by superseding Nissan. Moreover, Honda is the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines. The company was founded by Soichiro Honda on 24th September 1948. Soichiro Honda dreamed to provide a personal mobility to everyone. The first production car from Honda was the S500 sports car.

 Nissan

Nissan Motors was founded in 1932. It is among the top three Asian car companies. Nissan is in the eight position with 1,545,976 units. Last year it sold 2,013,611 units in the first half. Nissan faced severe financial difficulties in 1999 and entered an alliance with Renault S.A. of France. The Nissan VQ engines, of V6 configuration, have featured among Ward's 10 Best Engines for 14 straight years, since the award's inception.

 Suzuki

Suzuki Motor Corporation is the ninth largest car manufacturer in the world. The company began as Suzuki Loom Works in 1909 under Michio Suzuki. Suzuki started producing cars in 1955. Maruti Suzuki, the Indian arm of the Japanese car honcho is India's largest car manufacturer. The car company sold 1.152,000 units this year compared to 2008's 1,283,000 units.

 Renault

Renault is the world's tenth largest car maker with 1.106.989 units this year. Last year, it sold 1.326,164 units. Renault S.A. is a French carmaker producing cars, vans, buses, tractors, and trucks since 1899. The company was formed by Louis Renault, his brothers Marcel and Fernand, and his friends Thomas Evert and Julian Wyer. Renault has joined hands with Nissan on March 27, 1999. The Nissan-Renault Alliance is world's fourth largest car maker if their individual units were taken together. Nissan-Renault Alliance sold 2,652,965 units this year.