I saw a picture in a magazine the other day of two boys, grinning from ear to ear. They were on a tandem bicycle with a pole on it with two 18 inch solar cells attached, much like an umbrella. They were in the countryside of India. They were making their livelihood driving around on the bike and letting people charge their cell phones for a penny or two. My smile matched theirs. I just love small entrepreneurial gigs.
It is all about the gap. If you can see a gap and figure a way to fill it, then you have a business. This, of course, applies to large and small gaps. Have you ever been walking in the streets of New York and gotten hit suddenly with a downpour? Instantly, in front of every store there is someone selling cheap umbrellas. I just love it that someone anticipates my gap in that instance. And if I have somewhere I am going and I don't want to be soaked for the rest of the day, I spend my $5 gratefully.
Of course, not everyone can anticipate my every gap. One Thanksgiving, my kids and I were in New York. I think it was the first year I was divorced and I didn't want to do the family thing. I wanted something different. We were near the Village, can't remember exactly, looking for an Indian restaurant. My son Charlie liked the formal, white tablecloth, male wait people, exotic atmosphere of Indian restaurants. Remember, we lived in oatmeal New Hampshire. We were hit by a downpour. I bought the cheap umbrella, but the rain came down so hard that the streets were flooding. The rushing water was over the curbs. So, covered by the new umbrella, we were still getting soaked from the bottom up.
Not much was open on Thanksgiving Day. We bolted across the street and dashed into a very fancy French restaurant, seeking shelter. We stood in the entrance, in front of the desk, in full view of all the patrons and noticed (my kids noticed) that everyone was staring at me, at my feet. I looked down at my pink flats (I loved pink or orange shoes) and saw that bubbles were coming out of them like a washing machine overflowing with suds. My kid were mortified. I was not so much. I had ODOR EATERS in the shoes. Apparently they have a lot in common with dish soap. When the water of the street was combined with the sweat of my feet. Oh well, no one could fill that gap for me.
One gap I see now in this country because of our lack of anything resembling public transportation in all but a few cities is the need for a cheap FUEL EFFICIENT car for poor folks. If you have a ton of $ you can buy an electric car or a hybrid. But the people who can least afford gas seem to be stuck driving the older, bigger cars that cost a fortune to run. Henry Ford, and later his friend, Hitler, both had the idea that they could build a car that everyone could afford. They built simple, smart, cheap cars. The Model A or T? and in Germany, years later, the Volkswagon. These were not charity deals. They were hugely successful businesses. Why can't we do that with an energy efficient car? Wouldn't it be one of those things that would benefit everyone?
I get big ideas that I am in no position to implement so forgive my rants, but I still smile the most at the little ideas like the kids on the bicycle with the solar panels. I also like to see kids selling lemonade in the summer. I think we used to sell something called Zarex. Was that it, you oldies out there?
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