Making money on the beach: water safety business ideas can make you rich – Jhb entrepreneur

If you’re lying on the beach reading this on your phone or iPad right now, the chances are you have a lot in common with Biznews blogger Irvine Green. A small business expert, Irvine never stops exploring ways to make money – including when he’s relaxing in the sun.

In his latest article, Irvine explains how you should be looking at your world so that you too can come up with lucrative money-making ideas. He gives the example of a South African couple who came up with an anti-drowning device to protect their child and ended up making huge sums as other people started asking for one, too.

As usual, Irvine shares some business ideas that haven’t yet been tested commercially. So, if you’re ready to try a new business venture, do read this – and his other recent blogs (scroll to the end of this piece for links to more articles by Irvine Green). – JC

Making money on the beach: water safety business ideas can make you rich – Jhb entrepreneur

By Irvine Green 

Irvine Green, a small business expert who is pictured here when he was small, says you can find new money-making opportunities everywhere - even on  the beach.
Irvine Green, a small business expert who is pictured here when he was small, says you can find new money-making opportunities everywhere – even on the beach.

Jumping back to the the concept of a ‘forced entrepreneur’ – someone who never intended being an entrepreneur but had an idea for something for personal use, made one, which others saw and wanted, and suddenly a business operation was under way.

In the late 1960s Ronald Bentley got married and he and his wife had a daughter. Soon they bought a house and life was fun. Then, one day, as their daughter started crawling around they realised that some sort of safety item was needed to prevent their daughter drowning if she fell into the swimming pool. They came up with the idea of a vest with an inflated tube around it and fondly called it the ‘Bentley Belt’.

Visiting friends saw this and wanted one, as did their friends and their friends’ friends. Talk about unintended network marketing. Ronald HAD had the thought ‘..this is something every parent will want to buy..’ but was VERY surprised by how things developed.

Ronald’s daughter had already unintentionally tested out the BB (falling into the pool as a toddler) and it worked perfectly. As she grew up, and until she learnt to swim unaided and was safe in the water, new sizes had to be made. New friends from their daughters pre-school also saw the belt and wanted one.

By the early 1970s Ronald and his wife realised there was a MAJOR business in the offing here… So they sold their house, scraped some money together and went into the project full time, as by now retail stores wanted to stock it. At the beginning finances were frightening. They’d buy what they needed for 20 units, make and sell them and use some of that money for another 20, while using the profits to survive daily life.

Then, some friends emigrated to USA and the Bentley Belt went along – suddenly they were getting orders from the USA. This was getting out of hand. So the American manufacturing/sales side was licensed to a company that made them under the name of ‘Swim Sweater’.

By now over twenty countries were ordering the belts from the SA operation (based in a factory).

In 1980 plans were made by BB to open up in the USA in competition with SS, as the contract with SS made allowance for that.

I don’t know what happened thereafter as the story I gleaned this from was in the Sunday Express of August 31, 1980 (a benefit of the archiving work I do – I get to read through old newspapers/stuff I may even never have seen at all to find stories about the client whose archiving work I am doing).

But see for yourself – Google ‘Bentley Belt’ and ‘Swim Sweater’. You’ll see from where (country-wise) each name is prevalent in the search response. Look at the pics and there’s no difference, except maybe for useful adjustments or ‘oneupmanship’ modifications. It’s now used worldwide.

Again I re-iterate. DON’T say/think/believe/assume any and every thing has been considered, invented and made. Here was a need, the parents had an idea, tried it, it worked and everyone else who had never thought of a solution to children drowning in swimming pools bought a Bentley Belt. One got taken to the USA, and well, the world was the Bentley’s oyster. Heh heh – yaaaayyyy South African initiative. Yaaaayyyy for Ronald Bentley. A forced entrepreneur.

Here’s a business idea for YOU based on this. All kids learn to swim (those who have Bentley Belts and others – indeed there ARE many who never get to experience a swimming pool at all, or even learn to swim, but let’s leave that out of the equation for now; it’s just one of the unhappy facts of the economic reality of SA). Sooner or later the child/ren who have BBs will have outgrown or no longer need it. Search out these people, buy the life belt off them, add a fair fee and re-sell.

After a few years you could search out the people you sold used ones to and do the whole operation again. There will always be new kids needing one and not all these kids are from higher income areas, so the used ones could be sold in lower income areas.

Many kids drown in the sea. Probably without any lifebelt. How about getting your hands on some and hiring them out on the beach, along with a returnable deposit to cover those that may be stolen/forgotten about being returned. (Life is real – both of these happen).

You could use the slogans (my ideas): “Everyone needs a Bentley Belt – peace of mind is a great deal”, or “Keep life liveable with a Bentley Belt“. Think of your own mantra maybe.

Next time you hear of a child drowning in a swimming pool or in the sea, think to yourself “I could have prevented that if I’d kicked butt and sold them a Bentley Belt”.

Quite. With a bit of initiative you may be able to get permission to rent them out at public swimming pools. What a life. When friends ask you what you do for a living you could answer “Sit by a swimming pool and watch people stay safe with a Bentley Belt”. You’d be the envy of thousands.

Many businesses find it very hard to raise finance to get going. My bones tell me that in THIS case (whether selling or renting out) you would first face a stunned silence and then when the person you want finance from see’s the light s/he’ll realise the enormity of what’s possible. And the universal need for what you propose.

I would. People rent everything from TVs to motor cars. Why not a Bentley Belt while at the swimming pool/seaside? It’s about the most beneficial thing anyone could rent.

There are thousands of beaches and public pools in SA. What are you waiting for? Imagine, sitting idly by on the beach in Tongaat, Port Alfred or Saldanha in peak holiday season hearing the cash register jingle in your head as you run out of rental stock for the day. And ‘môre is nog ‘n dag’.

Do it. Or go hungry. Are you hungry enough ? DO IT.

 

If you found this article by Irvine Green interesting, also read:

Turning a business dream into reality – Irvine’s success started with an outrageous idea

Walls of fame: Making money for yourself, and your neighbours, from public advertising

All fired up: Small business ideas for free

How to promote small business on a small budget – expert advice

Small business advice: How to use your big mouth to make big money

Small business advice: Easy tax tips for sole proprietors

Visited 133 times, 1 visit(s) today