Marketing
Social Engagement Boosts Quirky Clothing Line
Online fashion upstart Betabrand is on a mission to create the world's first truly social clothing company.
Business Unusual | Page 6
Building a Business
How a Surf Vacation Led to a New Niche in Women’s Swimwear
An investment-banker-turned-entrepreneur finds success in a line of bikinis designed to stay on, no matter how rough the surf.
Building a Business
How the Museum of Sex Turned a Nonprofit Snub into an Asset
The entrepreneur behind this unconventional attraction went all the way.
Building a Business
Scentsy and the Sweet Smell of Success
A couple's last-ditch entrepreneurial effort fends off bankruptcy in favor of a balmy future.
Building a Business
A Dad’s Cautionary Advice Led to a Growing Family Business
After a near-accident while training for a marathon, an entrepreneur develops a line of identification gear for outdoor athletes.
Building a Business
Framing a Business Around a Glamorous Boudoir Trend
A boudoir photographer focuses on customers' private moments.
By Matt Villano
Building a Business
Brewing Up a New Business Idea from a Coffee Castoff
KonaRed squeezes a smart business out of coffee production leftovers.
Building a Business
Idea for an Organic Potting Soil Business Hits Pay Dirt
Mark Highland's Organic Mechanics is blooming.
Building a Business
How College Sports Photos Became a Multimillion-Dollar Business
A former Duke University All-American basketball player hit on a business idea for building and managing online photo stores for college athletic departments and sports teams.
By Matt Villano
Thought Leaders
How a Craftsman Turned His Handiwork into a Cutting-Edge Business
He was definitely cut out for this business: Quintin Middleton shows off his chops with high-quality culinary cutware.
Building a Business
Ex-Ballplayers Offer Coffee’s Answer to Chew
Two former baseball players throw a curve at the consumer quest for caffeine. From our Business Unusual file.
By Matt Villano
Marketing
Savvy Marketing Turns a Hobby into a Successful Business
How the founders of the YOLO Board have glided to the front of the stand-up paddling crowd.
Building a Business
Knowledge on Tap: The Business of a Beer Sommelier
How one beer lover tanked his career in favor of teaching people about his beverage of choice
By Matt Villano
Thought Leaders
How a Young Entrepreneur Cobbled Together a Business By Recycling Vinyl into Shoes
Paperfeet is building an eco-friendly business out of discarded billboard materials.
By Gwen Moran
Building a Business
A Roadie Business: Teaching Bus Drivers to the Stars
A Nashville school trains people to get behind the wheel and shuttle rock entertainers to their next gig.
Thought Leaders
A Waxing Salon Adds Heavy Dose of Style As It Removes Unwanted Hair
A Colorado salon adds a heavy dose of style as it takes away unwanted hair
Building a Business
Eco-Conscious Entrepreneurs Clean Up with a Soap Business
A couple turns restaurants' cooking oil into soap -- and sells it back to the establishments.
By Maria Russo
Building a Business
A New Yorker Finds Success Teaching People to Make Pizza
Mark Bello perfected the pizza, then built a business teaching pizza-crazed New Yorkers how to do it themselves.
Building a Business
A 21st Century Spin on the Matchmaking Business
Jasbina Ahluwalia is making the ancient tradition of Indian matchmaking a 21st century business.
Building a Business
Get a Whiff of These Walls
Scratch-and-sniff wallpaper is just the beginning for Jon Sherman's fantastically eccentric company, Flavor Paper.
Building a Business
Drinking and Drying
Drybar will style your mane (and pour your champagne) for $35. No wonder business is booming.
Building a Business
Ultimate Flying Machine
Two L.A. entrepreneurs have dreamed up the perfect plane for the weekend aviator.
Marketing
He’s Got the World on a String
A former Wall Street analyst spins his yo-yo passion into a million-dollar-plus business.
Building a Business
Stay Hungry
How Peter D'Amato's strange obsession made him America's biggest dealer of carnivorous plants
Building a Business
Reanimators
Creepy and Eerie, the graphic 1960s horror comic books, were deader than dead--until the Braun twins came along.