Friday 11 January 2008

Business With Buying And Selling Vintage Guitars



When Aaron Madsen isn't installing garage door openers or recording aspiring musicians in his home studio, he can often be found poking around in pawnshops, looking for guitars.

That's how he scored a beat-up 1974 Fender Stratocaster last October for $400 that he resold a few months later for $1,000. All told, Madsen says, he made $3,500 in recent months buying and selling guitars.

And he hasn't even sold his most valuable pieces, such as the 1968 Gibson Les Paul Custom that's appreciated 750 percent to $8,500 in the five years he's owned it.

"That's something I'm hoping to put my kid through college with," says Madsen, soon to become a first-time father.

The idea of putting a kid through college on a guitar is not as far-fetched as it sounds. The value of guitars - electrics in particular, but acoustics too - is exploding.

Consider: A 1960 Gibson Les Paul, the model played by Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, sold for $192,000 in May at a Christie's auction in New York; had it been a year older, it could have fetched $250,000.
A collectors' market

The Vintage Guitar Price Guide, the bible of such matters, indexes a collection of 42 guitars it bought in 1991 for $150,000. Today they're worth $540,000 - almost doubling in the past five years.

The key driver of this sizzling market: baby boomers with spare cash and a yen for the playthings of their youth, especially the sexy guitars played by their idols.

The market is made up of big dealers, big private collectors, newcomers excited about the idea of guitars as investments, and enterprising guys like Madsen. At the high end are those prized Les Pauls, along with 1950s Fender Stratocasters (picture Jimi Hendrix) and Telecasters (Keith Richards), which have soared 50 percent in the past year and command prices in the $40,000 range.

Such high-end guitars have risen in price so rapidly that most investors have been priced out of the market. But the lower end remains a fertile plain of opportunity, and that's where Madsen tends to focus.

He monitors prices on eBay , though he's cautious about buying there. He relies heavily on the Vintage Guitar Price Guide, as well as the Blue Book of Electric Guitars and Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars, which provides feature changes by year.

Such knowledge is crucial in this frothy and hence risky market. As an appraiser of instruments, Stan Jay of Mandolin Bros. in Staten Island, N.Y., says he often delivers "the bad news that a guitar purchased for $40,000 was worth only $4,000." (Here's a tip: Spend the $150 for an appraisal up front.)

A key part of Madsen's strategy is to try to anticipate tomorrow's in-demand guitars. A few years ago, Madsen noticed an upturn in the market for 1970s Fenders, guitars generally frowned upon because of the poor quality of Fender's mass production during that era.

He began scouring pawnshops, music stores, and Craigslist. He picked up three mint-condition Stratocasters - made in 1973, '76, and '79 -for a total of $2,200. Today those guitars could fetch about $6,300.

Madsen is also betting on a rise in the value of 1980s American-made guitars from Jackson and B.C. Rich that were staples of heavy-metal bands like Poison, because the teenage headbangers who couldn't afford them then will soon be able to. "I'm trying to scoop up all the ones I can," Madsen says.

Madsen plays a mean guitar himself, but you don't have to be a picker to mine the six-string boom. Still, it's critical to buy a guitar that sounds good and has a well-preserved neck.

Vintage guitars are functional beauty; they must be authentic and function optimally to increase in value. If you don't have the expertise to buy a good one, get help from someone who does. Otherwise you'll never get near the price in the guides, because a store won't pay top dollar for a guitar that doesn't play easily. And neither will Madsen.


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  • Make Millions With Yoga Clothing Business Idea.


    http://www.lululemon.com/

    When Chip Wilson took his first yoga class in 1997, the fashions on the mats around him were abysmal. Everyone wore Lycra because it stretched, but it was hardly flattering. As Wilson points out, "Lycra only looks good on you if you're a 10 out of 10."

    In 1998, Wilson founded Lululemon Athletica to give yoga clothes a makeover. His first step: devising a thicker, softer Lycra-nylon blend called Luon that wicks away sweat. Since then Lululemon, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has grown into a yoga powerhouse by churning out stylish apparel with attention to tiny details, such as flat seams and zipper covers that prevent chafing.

    The company's secret is a research and development process that catches ideas as they bubble up from customers, yoga instructors, and employees. Lululemon boutiques, too, act as idea incubators; the company has 36 stores worldwide and plans to open 20 more this year. "Most designers look at the cosmetic elements and add gimmicks later," says Wilson, now Lululemon's chairman and chief product manager. "For us, design is the critical initiator."

    Many of Lululemon's innovations--such as a seaweed-based fabric called Vitasea, which releases vitamins into the skin--appeal to male and female athletes of all stripes, including runners and rock climbers. In fact, only a third of the company's clothes are now purchased by yoga aficionados. That's one reason privately held Lululemon has doubled both revenue and earnings in each of the past four years, according to Wilson, who says sales exceeded $60 million in 2005. Last year he sold a 48 percent stake in the company to two private equity firms, Advent International and Highland Capital Partners, and hired a veteran Reebok exec as CEO.

    Because highly functional and fashionable clothes aren't cheap--most of Lululemon's items retail for $50 to $120--the company each year recruits a number of yoga instructors as "ambassadors," who get free samples in exchange for providing regular e-mail feedback. In addition, Lululemon stores keep suggestion forms near their fitting rooms so shoppers can offer opinions or draw pictures of features they'd like to see. After several customers complained that Lululemon's bras didn't cater to curvy women, the company designed two cheekily named new models, LetmeHOLDthose4u and Bounce Breaker, the latter of which is adjustable in just about every direction. "We're not afraid to hear what we should be doing," says Andrea Murray, a Lululemon designer. "If we need to, we'll go back to the drawing board."


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  • Thursday 10 January 2008

    Business With Converting Multiculturalism To $1 Million.


    http://www.culturalhangups.com/

    When John and Cynthia Ham were expecting their first child in 1997, they knew they wanted to decorate the baby's room but couldn't find exactly what they were looking for. But when Cynthia saw celebrity mom Holly Robinson Peete in a TV interview talking about the multicultural mural she commissioned for her children's room, inspiration struck. Cynthia also wanted a border on her child's walls that would reflect their African-American heritage.

    The Hams hired an artist to make that vision a reality, and when friends and relatives saw the beautiful multicultural border, they all wanted it for their own children. It was then, says Cynthia, that they knew they had a business idea. Cynthia researched the market and found that the leading wall-covering companies weren't interested in the concept. "They said it wouldn't work," she recalls. "And I thought 'How do you know?'"

    Armed with passion for their idea, Cynthia, 35, and John, 38, enlisted the help of their friend Steven V. Jones, 36, to get the unique product off the ground. Their first offering was an alphabet border featuring different African-American characters for each letter. Marketing was the next order of business-so they took the product to their college sororities and fraternities and began to spread the word through that network of alumni. They also attended the national Black Expo, a trade show for African-American products and services held by the National Minority Supplier Development Council, to drum up business.

    Today, Cultural Hangups, which now includes multicultural wallpaper borders for kids of African-American, Hispanic and Asian descents, can be found on Wal-Mart store shelves in North Carolina and Georgia. Year-end sales are expected to hit $1 million, thanks to a new décor line for teens and the addition of bedding and accessories.


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  • Business home idea- internet opportunity, work at home effective business idea, best home business idea. Best small business idea, marketing idea for small business, small home business idea, internet business idea, internet home based business idea. Home based business opportunity idea, business name idea, idea for starting your own business.