Here’s something I can really relate to. The men’s fashion market is growing at a faster rate than the women’s, but men are lazy shoppers. They’ll spend money, just so long as the process isn’t too difficult or time consuming. And once they’ve found something they like, they’re loyal – probably because they’re too lazy to look for anything else. This is me!

Edit Suits is attempting to take advantage of these facts, Through the company website, you can book an appointment for a representative to measure you up at your home or office. There’s no obligation to buy, but afterwards you can browse the styles and designs online and then use your account to get exactly the right fit.

So now you know that men are lazy but loyal shoppers, how can you take advantage of this? What can you do to make it easier for men to give you their money? Get it right and you could have a customer for life.

Luxury  magazine Veryfirstto has created a holiday with a difference. It’s a trip that takes in 12 locations of famous paintings from around the world. Everything from the mountains of Saint Victorie painted by Cezanne right through to Garrowby Hill in Yorkshire, painted by David Hockney. The trip gives art lovers an insight into what inspired the great artists they admire. And perhaps the trip itself will inspire you to come up with an interesting business idea.

The demand for bespoke and personalised trips is growing. If a trip for art lovers is viable, how  about one aimed to cater for other enthusiasms and interests. Might well-heeled football fans enjoy a tour of the great stadiums of the world for example? Or how about a tour of famous film locations for movie buffs? The possibilities are almost endless.

For most of us, exercise classes are no fun, and they’re even less fun if you have to do them in silence. But not everyone is a fan of the thumping dance music which is standard fare in most gyms these days. The Fit Sessions offer an alternative. For £6 a session you  can take part in a guided fitness class to a playlist that includes indie  music from The Happy Mondays, Oasis, New Order and The Smiths.

There are a couple of things to take from this I think:

1 There are always groups of people for whom the standard offering in a market isn’t quite right. Correspondingly, there are opportunities to make money by catering for these groups.

2. The fitness industry is constantly evolving and people are hungry for the ‘next thing’. That could be a new exercise programme, but equally it could be a change to some other aspect of the service on offer. That could be the music, but it could also be the location, the lighting (or lack of it!) the temperature, the clothing, the type of instructors – even the smell of the premises.

Give it some thought!

I’m in two minds when I see a family or other group sitting in a restaurant, each member engrossed in their own mobile phone. On the one hand, I think they should have their phones confiscated for the duration of the meal, but on the other I feel they should be physically dragged out onto the street and then hosed down with water cannon.. You may guess from this that I find it a little irritating, which is why I was interested to read of a temporary initiative at the Chinatown experiment in Vancouver.

The Faraday café has been constructed in such a way that all phone and wifi signals are blocked. I don’t understand the science, but the name is a clue  – a  Faraday cage has been constructed which blocks the signals. The hope is that the lack of  mobile access will encourage people to talk to each other for a change.

I’m not suggesting you go to the trouble of creating a physical barrier to mobile signals, but I do believe we will soon experience a significant backlash to the presence of smartphones in every area of life. By taking the lead, and banning mobile devices from your  shop, restaurant, café, bar or other premises, you could get some valuable free publicity and be surprised to find that a lot of existing and prospective customers find it to be a desirable development.

If you’re going to sell products on eBay, the first rule is to make sure that you’re selling the right thing. And what’s the right thing? Well that’s a complex issue, but the starting point should be…something that people actually want. That sounds obvious, but it’s amazing how many people get excited about an idea or product and don’t stop to think about the market. But how do you know for sure?

Well here’s a list of the Top 10 items searched for on eBay…

1.    Big Brand Consumer Technology (Apple, Sony etc)
2.    On Trend Fashion Items
3.    Watches
4.    Vintage
5.    Lego
6.    Chest Of Drawers
7.    Garden Furniture
8.    Bikes
9.    Shoes
10.  Curtains

While watching the recent World Cup in Brazil,  it was evident that grass on some of the pitches, which was in poor condition a few days before the tournament, was miraculously transformed come kick off. The media were quick to expose the secret – the grass had been painted!

I did a little research into this and found that it’s pretty big business in North and South America, where long dry spells can leave grass looking brown. There are franchise opportunities in the United States which help people get started in the grass painting business, but how hard can it be?

I know we don’t have the same climatic conditions here in the UK, but there are plenty of situations where greener grass would be desirable, and where weather, animal urine or footfall has rendered the surface less than perfect. I’m thinking about sports stadiums, golf courses, public parks and gardens, and even private gardens where there is a party, wedding or other event. I wonder whether there’s a market for an ‘Emergency Grass Repair’ Service?

If you want to look into this, the following company seem to offer the paint products you need.

http://www.naturalgreengrasspatch.co.uk/

I hate both flying and aeroplane food, so I’m probably not a good person to judge the potential of A380 In-Flight Kitchen, a restaurant based on the layout and cuisine of the A380 Airbus – the largest airliner in the world.  The waitresses are dressed as stewardesses and the interior looks just like the inside of a plane.

It’s not somewhere I would frequent, even if they gave me a free sick bag, but it’s an interesting concept which might appeal to a lot of people. Perhaps something to investigate further with a view to either copying the idea in your location, or using it as a mental springboard for discovering other viable restaurant concepts.

Companies of all types and sizes are under pressure to create social media content, but many have neither the time nor inclination to do it themselves. That’s where Emphatic (www.emphatic.co) come in. It’s a new service that  creates custom social media content for small businesses. They write Twitter tweets and Facebook updates for companies without requiring much in the way of time and energy from the companies themselves. Emphatic is a U.S based service and prices start at starts at $99 per month for 50 tweets or Facebook updates and goes up from there.

The potential market for this is obviously way beyond what any one company can hope to cater for. Might there be an opportunity here in the UK? I see no reason why not.

One of my favourite films ever is Kes, the story of a working class boy , Billy Casper, who adopts and trains a Kestrel. I was therefore interested to hear about Peter Wright from Denbighshire who has become the youngest professional falconer in the UK after receiving  government  grant to start his business. Peter was just 15 when he received the grant.

Falconry isn’t something to be taken lightly, but there are a surprising number of opportunities. Birds of prey are used in pest control, in falconry displays and have even been trained to deliver wedding rings to the best man at outdoor ceremonies. If you like animals and would like a business with a difference, this could warrant further investigation.