Coming up with winning business concepts need not be a brain-wracking exercise. There is one simple formula: combine a need with something you love. While you’re at it, you can even add your pet to the business equation. Every day life is full of things and details that could be improved. You and your pet can together offer a solution to a need that could have a large marketing audience.
David Marcks discovered a lucrative business opportunity when he used his dog to solve a problem that he constantly faced working at a golf course – the proliferation of geese. Geese love to inhabit open spaces that provide them with water and plenty of food (such as short, tender grasses). While adding a “natural look” to golf courses, no one would want to play in a golf course where the grass couldn’t be seen under the cover of goose droppings. Imagine wading in the middle of goose droppings to hit a golf ball. Yikes!
David and other fellow golf superintendents tried several approaches. According to David, “We tried everything – sprays, pyrotechnics, flags, fences. Everything worked for a little bit and then it would stop working.” Until he discovered that his dog, a Border Collie, was a natural in driving geese away. As he recalls, “It was so successful that I never looked back and we’ve been doing it ever since.”
David started Geese Police (http://www.geesepoliceinc.com/) in 1986, as the solution to driving away unwanted geese from town parks, corporate properties, golf courses, or even front lawns. Using trained border collies, they drive away the geese without harming them. Today, Geese Police has considerably grown and expanded, earning just under $2 million in 2000. David has also begun to franchise his business to a highly selected group of individuals.
