There’s no doubt that body shapes are changing and becoming more diverse. Obesity is on the rise, but so is muscularity. More people are working out with weights than ever before and that has led to a problem – and an opportunity. A lot of beefed up folk of both sexes have difficulty getting clothes to fit.

I just read about track cyclist Beth Newell who, fed up with not being able to get jeans to fit her muscular legs, decided to do something about it. She created Keirin Cut jeans to cater for sporty types with heavily muscled legs. The jeans incorporate small waists with bigger leg measurements to cater for a more athletic physique.

The wider clothing industry doesn’t seem to cater for athletic physiques in general. What’s true of legs and jeans is also true of arms and shirts. More room in the arms and chest is usually accompanied by an acre of material in the waist.

I think this is a field which is only going to grow. Bodies are changing and becoming more diverse. The one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t really work any more, and that means there are opportunities to be exploited by catering for a specific body shape niche.

What do you get if you combine two fast developing areas of technology? Multiple ways to make money!

Unmanned aerial systems (drones to you and me) are more accessible than ever before. Technological development has made them both cheaper and easier to use. And their development has been mirrored by developments in the video/photography market. Cameras are smaller, lighter cheaper and more effective than ever before. Put the drones together with the cameras (many of which can be operated remotely) and you have many different ways to make money. Here are some ideas:

– Property marketing
– Aerial mapping surveys
– Collecting industrial intelligence (spying!)
– Aerial Wedding photography
– Private investigation work
– Emergency deliveries
– Film industry work
– Aerial advertising
– Corporate videos
– News reporting
– Security surveillance
– Sports event coverage
– Natural disaster coverage
– Search and rescue work

Once you have the equipment and developed the skills to use it, all these opportunities and more would be open to you.

This isn’t a zero cost/zero effort opportunity of course, but this is a field which is set to really take off over the next few years…no pun intended! Get in now and you could be well placed to ride the profit wave.

What do you do with the ashes when a loved one or favourite pet dies? Well some people keep them in an urn, others scatter them in a place of significance, but a Missouri painter offers a different solution. Adam Brown offers clients one-of-a kind artwork made from the remains of their relatives or pets.

He produces the art using cremated remnants sent in by relatives and mixing them with paint pigment to create a “lasting memory” composition. “Having ashes in an urn on a mantle somewhere is a good way to constantly remind yourself that person died, but when you use them in an artwork it’s a good way to remember someone lived,” Brown says.

I don’t know anything about the process, but this seems like a nice way to use the remains to create a lasting memorial. If you’re an artist, perhaps this is an opportunity to investigate further.

One of the hassles of travelling is packing and transporting everything you need for the trip. For business travellers, this is even more of a problem. They travel more frequently and often find themselves hauling their luggage backwards and forwards to the same destination. The Grand Hyatt hotel in Melbourne, Australia decided to do something about it, and gave themselves a competitive advantage at the same time.

The Grand Hyatt now offers storage facilities for regular travellers complete with full laundry facilities. The hotel effectively becomes a home from home and once you have your stuff there well, where else are you going to stay next time you’re in Melbourne?

There are obviously advantages for the guest, but also advantages for the hotel. So is this an idea you could adopt or adapt? Is there some way you could ethically ‘trap’ your customers? Perhaps there’s something you could ‘store’ for them, meaning they will have to return. This will mean different things to different businesses, but something to think about.

At a loss to know what to buy for that friend who has everything? Well how about a nice venereal disease? Not the real thing of course, but a giant sized soft toy representation. I’m indebted to one of my mentoring programme students who sent me details of these cuddly diseases. For £8.99, you have the choice of Chlamydia, Crabs, Herpes, Syphilis or The Clap.

At first glance this seems in poor taste, and I’m sure you wouldn’t buy one for your maiden aunt. But if you were a teenager looking for an amusing cheap gift for a friend with a sense of humour, I can see you buying one of these.

From the companies perspective this is the sort of product which will generate its own publicity. People who hear about it will share through social media – some because they think it funny and others because they think it disgusting. But the end result in either case is the same – lots of exposure and zero cost.

If you have the ‘stomach’ for it, it’s worth giving some thought to creating products and services which will generate a bit of controversy. Our most controversial book sold over 250,000 copies, and much of it was down to the fuss it created.

So whose feathers will you ruffle?

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