There’s nothing new about providing a decorating service, so what do you do to stand out from the crowd. You might not be able to paint better than everyone else, but perhaps you can do it quicker. That’s the premise behind WOW 1 DAY Painting which promises to deliver quality work by skilled painters – all in one day.

The appeal of this is obvious. One of the main downsides of having decorators in the house is the upheaval. This company promise to have it all done and dusted in a single day. And in a technological world where people are becoming increasingly used to instant gratification – getting it now – this is a big selling point.

WOW 1 DAY Painting is a US based company. Could you bring the concept to the UK? Thinking more widely, are there other traditional, mature businesses that could benefit from a one day style make over?

I’ve just read about a scheme in Uruguay to give free entry to clubs to people who register zero for alcohol on a breathaliser.  The Ministry of Public Health introduced the scheme in order to combat drunkenness and alcohol poisoning amongst  youngsters who often drink on the beach in the day, before a night out,  to save money. The scheme is designed to  discourage them from drinking in excess, and also benefit participating clubs, since the youngsters will buy more drinks in the club while, hopefully, still consuming less overall.

It looks like a potentially win-win arrangement, and I wonder whether it might work in the UK too, where similar problems exist. Thinking more widely, are there any potential win-win opportunities like this in your area of expertise and influence?

Car insurance is expensive, and let’s face it, most of the time we’re not actually driving a car. Cuvva is a service that aims to provide short term insurance for people who don’t actually own a car, but borrow  or share the driving in one  from time to time.

Previously, drivers looking to borrow a car from a friend or family member were required to arrange to be covered by the owner’s insurance policy, usually for a minimum of 24 hours and with time-consuming paperwork. Through Cuvva, you can insure for as little as an hour, and paperwork is kept to a minimum.

Thinking more widely, the idea of offering a service for a much shorter period than is customary, is an interesting one.  Few months ago, we wrote about hotel rooms that can be rented by the hour. What else might find a market if it was offered on a very short term basis?

Website: www.cuvva.co

Every attempt I ever made at fishing resulted in temper tantrums and tangled lines, but I can see the appeal of getting out in the open air. I’m therefore a little sceptical about Robofisher, a new web based service that takes angling indoors.

The platform enables users to purchase “fishing” hours at a tranquil lake in Romania. Starting at $9.99, users can spend ten minutes controlling a robot, rigged with fishing rods and loaded with bait and float. Users control the depth and how far out their bait is set, and when they think they have a catch, they can pull up the fish into a net. The whole scene can be viewed via two different camera angles in real-time.

Perhaps there’s a market for this amongst people who can’t get to a regular fishing spot through health or disability issues. Or maybe it will appeal to the terminally idle. It’s an interesting idea though and poses the question of whether there are other essentially outdoor activities that can be brought into peoples living rooms through the power of technology.

Website: www.robofisher.com

We’re at that time of year where people are looking to make improvements in their lives – it could be stopping a bad habit (like smoking) or starting a good one (like regular exercise). Whatever the goal, it can be hard work, particularly if you’re doing it on your own. And that’s where Partners in Grind comes in. It’s a matchmaking service that puts people together who share a common goal.

The idea is that social accountability is key to successful habit changes. Service users create a profile and detail the life habits they want to begin or improve. They are then matched with someone with similar goals. It’s an interesting idea. The success of programmes like Weight Watchers is based on a very similar premise.

Perhaps it’s a service you could use, or thinking more broadly, what other business could you create, bringing people together with similar aims and goals?

www.partnersingrind.com