Something for nothing

I love it when something is created out of nothing. Especially if it's money.

In 1964 Sports Illustrated published its first Swimsuit Issue. Some bright spark in the company soon noticed that whenever they published a Swimsuit Issue circulation rose. Amongst the young male population in the country quite literally so.

The magazine began to exploit this phenomenon and devoted more space to their Swimsuit Issues. Circulation continued to climb. Somebody had another bright idea and the company brought out a Calendar based on the Swimwear Issue. The calendar sold like hot cakes and became very profitable. The company had created added value simply by building on its core product.

So far so good.

But then a real genius within the organisation thought "Hey, why don't we make a video of the photoshoots and sell that too." The videos went on to become huge best sellers, amassing a fortune for the company at virtually no extra cost. Now I believe there are even television shows based around the event.

Nor did the core product suffer. Today the magazine is read by an astonishing 18 million males each week, 19% of the adult male population in the country.

And that, my friends, is how you create something out of nothing.

So my advice to you is to go take a closer look at your existing product. With a little lateral thinking you may discover that you're sitting on a fortune.