What’s the first thing you need for a wedding… a bride and groom, right? Not if you’re Japanese company Cerca Travel who have started organising solo weddings for women who want the experience but not the commitment.

The companies Solo Wedding is a two-day excursion where clients spend the night in a hotel as they go in for dress fittings, bouquet design, hair and make-up, and even a full photo shoot. Each of these services is handled by a professional in the industry and done with the same level of quality and attention to detail as a real wedding ceremony.

When she’s ready the ‘bride’ is taken to a beautiful location for a commemorative photo shoot. There’s even the option to have a decorative man between the ages of 20 and 70 to pose alongside you.

I don’t know what to make of this and have no idea whether British women might buy into this kind of service – but stranger things have worked!

CB Insights analysed over 100 failed start-up businesses, and discovered that the top ten reasons for failure in order were as follows:

1. No market need
2. Ran out of cash
3. Not the right team
4. Were out-competed
5. Price/cost issues
6. Poor product
7. Needed/lacked business model
8. Poor marketing
9. Ignore customers
10. Product mis-timed

So the number one reason for new business failure, is that there was never a market for the product or service in the first place.

I can concur with this. We speak to a lot of people who have spent time a great deal of time and effort on a start up business without finding out whether there’s a big enough market for what they propose. Always do this first before investing time and effort.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve featured numerous pet-based businesses – primarily because there’s big money to be made. Here’s a round-up of a few more opportunities in the field which haven’t had a mention until now:

1. Pet Massage – It’s true, people will pay good money to have their pets massaged back to health, and the good news is you get no customer complaints!

2. Pooper Scooping – This business requires little more than a shovel, some black bags and the ability to tie a knot. What do they say…where there’s muck there’s brass!

3. Pet Photography – A great opportunity to combine two interests into a business, and sometimes pets are more photogenic and less cranky than their human counterparts.

4. Home Delivery of Pet Supplies – A lot of pet supplies are bulky and heavy. So offer pet owners time savings and convenience by delivering pet foods and products. Deliveries can be ‘one off’ or even better, on a subscription basis.

5. Pet-Parenting Tutoring – Not everyone is a natural pet parent. So there’s a need for someone to give lessons in pet selection, pet care and nutrition, safety, housing, training, and ongoing problems.

The great thing about this market is that it’s possible to combine one or more services so that a part-time business becomes a full time one. If you love animals, there really is nothing to stop you creating a profitable business from them.

I just read the results of some research from Cornell University which makes interesting reading.

Researchers Aner Tal and Brian Wansink presented the study participants with a description of a medicine. Half the group were also shown accompanying graphs and charts, that added no new information to the description. The group that was shown the charts, found the information more persuasive than the control group, even though the graphs and charts added nothing new.

The research doesn’t say why this is. Perhaps some people like pictorial representations or maybe some take the view that if it’s in a chart it must be true. Either way, it’s a valuable lesson – if you want to get your point across in a written or verbal presentation, illustrate it with charts.

There’s nothing new about mobile hairdressing, but a New York firm has brought it into the 21st Century. Shortcut is an on-demand service that goes to where the customers is.

Service users provide their name, number and e-mail address and select the service they need — whether it’s a trim, a full haircut or a shave. After booking a time slot, the service then sends a professionally trained barber or stylist to their home, office or hotel room. Users can book an appointment for up to four people at a time, and the more in their group, the cheaper each haircut becomes. Shortcut is currently available in New York, as an iOS app.

The difference between this service and the traditional mobile services is the use of modern technology and the immediacy – I need a haircut and I need it now!

With people becoming increasingly time stressed, this approach is likely to find a market.
So could you bring it to the UK? Or thinking more widely, what other time consuming services would people appreciate being given a ‘we-come-to-you-now’ twist?

Website: http://www.getshortcut.co