Corporate sponsorship for weddings, fake (but effective) medications, savvy business advice from prostitutes, and more.
Get corporate sponsors for your wedding. “This wedding was brought you by Snapple.” Does that sound tacky? But which scenario is more absurd: Paying $100,000 out of pocket for your wedding, or having some corporations pay the bill in exchange for publicity? A Mint.com blog sums up a few of the ways couples are trying to get corporations to cover their wedding costs.
Cruise through college in three years. By taking heavy course loads, some driven students are finishing up their degrees a year before their peers—that is, one year before their peers who actually manage to earn degrees on time. The WSJ reports on a number of universities that are introducing special programs to help students speed things along, earn their degrees on the quick—and pocket $10K or more by not having to bother with that fourth year of classes.
Entice burglars into robbing your house. You wanted to get rid of all that stuff cluttering your place, didn’t you? Well, here’s your chance. “Advice” courtesy of Jim at Bargaineering.
Take placebos rather than real (and really pricey) medications. As this NY Times column explains, many patients actually do report improvements after receiving treatments they believe in, even if those treatments contain no ingredients to address the symptoms. The trick is that they only work if the patient believes they’re getting real drugs—so doctors must get involved in this duplicity without the patients being aware of what’s going on. That’s complicated, and also potentially expensive because you’d still have to pay the doctor’s bill. On second thought, why not just convince yourself that you went to the doctor, he gave you the prescription for what ails you, and the “drug” works amazingly well? It’s all a mind game anyway.
Conduct business transactions like a hooker. Much is to be learned by practitioners of the oldest profession. They’ve been doing this a long time, after all, so they’ve had plenty of opportunity to fine-tune the business model. Most of the advice from QuickSprout is aimed at folks running their own businesses (“supply has to meet demand,” “it’s easier to upsell than it is to sell”), as prostitution is quite the entrepreneurial endeavor, but there are tips here for everybody. As the post says, “Knowledge is everywhere.”