Online video has opened up a lot of money making opportunities. Speaking Exchange, based in Brazil, is one such opportunity which brings together Brazilian nationals wanting to learn English, and US senior citizens with time on their hands.

The idea is that the students log on to a website and form a video link with a senior citizen living in a retirement home. They then have a chat on a pre-determined topic, and the whole thing is recorded for tutors to evaluate. It’s a great way for the students to have a conversation with someone whose mother tongue is English without having to go to the expense of travelling. The other side of the coin is that it’s a nice way for senior citizens to feel more active and engaged with the world.

Could you use online video to bring together people who would never usually encounter each other for mutual benefit? If so, there could be a business in it.

Las Vegas has long been known as a place where people go to get married, but there’s a new growth sector in town – divorce party planning.

The newly divorced are no longer content to let the event slip by, marked only by bickering, recrimination and lawyers fees, and are celebrating in style instead. I just read of one divorce party planner who takes the newly divorced ‘bride’ into the desert with her friends where she gets to let loose on her wedding dress with a machine gun!

With almost half of weddings ending in divorce, the market is huge and totally untapped in the UK. Not everyone wants to celebrate a divorce, but I can see it becoming more popular and socially acceptable in the years to come.

So here’s a question for you – what kind of events and activities could you arrange for the newly divorced? It doesn’t have to be as ‘negative’ as the destruction of a wedding dress but there are certainly plenty of women who would welcome the opportunity for a bit of creative destruction.

At its most basic, arbitrage means little more than buying at one price in one market and then selling at a higher price in another. Sometimes that shift in market can be geographic, and at others – as is the case here – it can be a shift over time.

I just read an article about a guy called Bob Peterson in the United States who figured out that the market for college textbooks was unlikely to be stable. He did an analysis of online selling prices and found, sure enough, that prices swung widely through the year in line with the academic calendar. Prices were at their lowest in the summer and then went through the roof once the college year started. This was a discovery that enabled him to double his money each term by buying in summer and selling in the autumn.

Two things to take from this I think:

1. Why not copy this simple arbitrage system in the UK?

2. What other products display a similar demand cycle?

Maybe there’s a clue in the very last word I just typed!

Costco offer the opportunity to make huge savings on a wide variety of products, but the biggest savings of all are reserved for those who know the secret code that’s there for all to see on the price tickets. Each specific price tells you something interesting about the product carrying the price tag.

Products with prices ending in .99 are priced at their full retail price. These are not likely to be the biggest bargains in the store when compared with prices elsewhere. Prices ending in .49 or .79 are a manufacturer’s special offer. These prices usually apply to products which are undergoing trial marketing and as such are likely priced lower than their normal retail price will be, should the trial be successful. Prices ending in .97 are for deals which are available in the local store only. These probably won’t be around for long so if it’s something you want, make sure you buy it today..

Price labels with an asterisk indicate that the item won’t be restocked. That might be because Costco couldn’t get an additional supply of the product cheap enough, or it might be because the product didn’t sell very well. Or it could be that a repackaging is coming. Assume this product won’t appear again and you need to buy today if you want it.

If the price ends in .00 that means the store wants these items sold quickly. They’re priced down to the lowest they will go, and they’re nearly out of stock.

Stores like Costco are good at hiding the bargains amongst products offering only average value. This price coding will help you identify which is which.

It seems like there are few lengths that owners won’t go to pamper their dogs, and here’s further proof. Andy Storms took his dog, Barker, camping, but didn’t like the idea that the pooch didn’t have his usual home comforts. That was the motivation behind The Barker Bag, a sleeping bag designed specifically for dogs. The bag features a collar in place of a hood – to stop the dog running away, and a zip to attach it to the owners sleeping bag. The retail price is $69.

Depending on your attitude to dogs, you’ll either think this is a great product or a complete waste of money. There are millions of dog lovers who will be in the former category though, and these are people who will spend any amount of money to keep their dogs happy.

So, what other ‘human product’ could you convert into a doggy version? The answer could make you a great deal of money.