Waxing To Go
Idea #8 – Ski Waxing…To Go
The ski tuners that come to you
In honor of the first snow falling on high, mountain peaks in the Rockies this week’s idea will be one that can be used during the upcoming ski season. For those of you in not-so-cold areas of the world that don’t have ski areas, I apologize you may not be able to use this one but think of similarly popular things in your area you might be able to cash in on.
I snowboard…a lot. Usually I am on the hill 30 days each season. Most people don’t wax their skis and boards, even experienced riders that I snowboard with. In fact, some friends of mine go full seasons without doing any type of tuning. The dumb thing is they know they should and when I am gliding smoothing their boards are sticking to the snow like glue; yet they still don’t wax. I also had a season pass for three years to a ritzy resort where 75% of the skiers were from out of state. They come and spend $300 a night on a fancy hotel room, eat at $30/meal restaurants, and ski on amazing skis that haven’t been waxed or tuned since they bought them. Here is where you come in.
Waxing is not very hard to do but it does take some practice and training. The best part is how little equipment you need to do it well. An iron, scraper, diamond stone, wax, and work bench are all you need; all of this will cost about $50. To learn how to wax I would recommend doing some internet research at the following sites...
http://www.montblanclodge.com/wax.asp
http://www.sgmag.com/snow/waxsnowboard/
Or call your local ski shop or outdoor store and see if they do any classes on waxing or will let you come sit in and watch them work.
For advertising, go to hotels and motels near the local ski area and let them know about your service. For a list of hotels to go to first, visit the ski area or their website, often they will have a listing of nearby lodging that they recommend. Tell them that you will come right to the hotel, pick up their skis and have them ready for them by the next morning when they hit the slopes. Charge a little less than the local ski shop will wax for and then split the profits with the hotels that let you offer your service. Make business cards and leave a stack at the front desk. Ask them if they will mention your service each time someone checks in and perhaps even have the room cleaners leave another card on the table in the room.
So that is it. You pick up the skis in the evening, work through the evening, drop them off in the morning, pick up your cash, stop by the hotels and give them their share as well as drop off more business cards, and then, if your like me, you grab your own stick and take for a few runs before you head back home.
The ski tuners that come to you
In honor of the first snow falling on high, mountain peaks in the Rockies this week’s idea will be one that can be used during the upcoming ski season. For those of you in not-so-cold areas of the world that don’t have ski areas, I apologize you may not be able to use this one but think of similarly popular things in your area you might be able to cash in on.
I snowboard…a lot. Usually I am on the hill 30 days each season. Most people don’t wax their skis and boards, even experienced riders that I snowboard with. In fact, some friends of mine go full seasons without doing any type of tuning. The dumb thing is they know they should and when I am gliding smoothing their boards are sticking to the snow like glue; yet they still don’t wax. I also had a season pass for three years to a ritzy resort where 75% of the skiers were from out of state. They come and spend $300 a night on a fancy hotel room, eat at $30/meal restaurants, and ski on amazing skis that haven’t been waxed or tuned since they bought them. Here is where you come in.
Waxing is not very hard to do but it does take some practice and training. The best part is how little equipment you need to do it well. An iron, scraper, diamond stone, wax, and work bench are all you need; all of this will cost about $50. To learn how to wax I would recommend doing some internet research at the following sites...
http://www.montblanclodge.com/wax.asp
http://www.sgmag.com/snow/waxsnowboard/
Or call your local ski shop or outdoor store and see if they do any classes on waxing or will let you come sit in and watch them work.
For advertising, go to hotels and motels near the local ski area and let them know about your service. For a list of hotels to go to first, visit the ski area or their website, often they will have a listing of nearby lodging that they recommend. Tell them that you will come right to the hotel, pick up their skis and have them ready for them by the next morning when they hit the slopes. Charge a little less than the local ski shop will wax for and then split the profits with the hotels that let you offer your service. Make business cards and leave a stack at the front desk. Ask them if they will mention your service each time someone checks in and perhaps even have the room cleaners leave another card on the table in the room.
So that is it. You pick up the skis in the evening, work through the evening, drop them off in the morning, pick up your cash, stop by the hotels and give them their share as well as drop off more business cards, and then, if your like me, you grab your own stick and take for a few runs before you head back home.
7 Comments:
did you get a new mic? sounds different this time! great blog!
I'd like to hear more case studies actually. Sometimes inspiration is all you need to get excited about a project, and i think if you talked more about actual experiences, maybe some news articles of succesful teen business owners, etc etc, it would make for a more compelling show. Granted, the ideas are great, but i think it might lack in the motivational aspect?
Hey, I know you probably wont post this comment, but it's the only way to contact you. You need to promote this blog better man, its great, and not many people know about it. Go to other blogs related to the niche and start commenting on their blogs. They will in turn link back to you. Start developing yourself as an authority in the blogosphere, its the only way to get a hardcore readership. Your Alexa ranking is worse than mine and I only get like 13 uniques per day. You can do alot with this thing, tis very well done, you just have no traffic!
This idea about the ski waxing I think was an incredible idea. There alot of probles that starting this business solves. 1. It will attract a lot of people. 2. It is extremely creative. You will make a lot of people happy while making a lot of money at the same time. I never knew that making a business could be as little as this.
James
I think the ski waxing business is a very good idea. YOu said most people don't do it so it is a good business to take advantage of. And selling the service to rich people is good because they won't mind paying you.
I think "waxing to go" is a cool idea.
-Josh
updateed link for the wax how to on www.montblanclodge.com:
www.montblanclodge.com/news/how-to-wax-your-skis-or-board/
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