By Hanniz Lam
As most of us spend our days hustling and bustling making money, dealing with sometimes difficult clients and crazy colleagues, pacifying moody bosses, wrecking our brain cells creating ideas and solving problems to make sure our businesses don’t go under, it’s incredulous to read how some people can make money with weird ideas.
You must have read about the student who became an overnight millionaire after selling his selfies as NFTs. He originally took selfies to put together a time-lapse video, but he recently decided to see what would happen if he sold his images as NFTs.
“I was thinking it might be funny if one of the collectors collected my face,” Ghozali shared. “I never thought anybody would want to buy the selfies, which is why I only priced them at $3 [0.00001 ETH].”
What started out as a joke quickly turned into something serious when Ghozali began to see how quickly his images were selling. His collection, which is sold on OpenSea, is called Ghozali Everyday. After going on sale in late December 2021, the collection went viral when an Indonesian celebrity chef bought one and began promoting it online.
At this point, his earnings total over $1 million. This also includes what he’s earned in royalties after sold NFTs are traded. In addition to his millionaire status, he’s become an overnight NFT celebrity, which has left the student feeling a bit confused by the attention.
His newfound wealth has already caught the eye of local tax authorities, who kindly gave him advice on how to pay his taxes. Ghozali’s response? “This is my first tax payment in my life,” Ghozali responded. “Of course I will pay for it because I am a good Indonesian citizen.”
As for what he’s planning on doing with the money? In the future, he hopes to open an animation studio and, for now, will invest the money. In the meantime, he’ll keep taking selfies so that he can make his time-lapse video when he graduates.
With regards to his photos, he’s just asked that people not abuse his images and has already started posting some of the things that people are doing with his selfies, like turning them into shirts.
Closer to home, Malaysian rapper Namewee became a millionaire overnight after his new single named Fragile, which was released as a non-fungible token (NFT), was sold out within three hours of its launch. The song is a collaboration between Namewee, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee, and Australian singer Kimberly Chen.
According to the news report by Taiwan News, the rapper earned his newfound fortune by gaining 209 ETH (Ethereum) or an equivalent of RM4 million (approximately S$1.3 million).
Namewee has said that he will not be converting the virtual currencies into real money and plans to release more NFTs. The Muar native’s NFTs are available for purchase on the NFT marketplace OpenSea.
“I sold out the song in three hours and when I woke up, I was a rich man,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “Honestly speaking, I’m at a loss for words.”
Despite the new financial gains, Namewee’s new song did not last long in China as the local authorities have removed it. The Chinese government found the song to be insulting and has even banned Namewee and Chen’s Weibo accounts.
The ban, however, did not diminish the popularity of the song as it was played more than 10 million times in a week. Its views mainly came from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Another NFT creator, Jonathan Ma, made $234,000 after his NFTs sold out in 42 seconds.
He decided to start NFT Collection to fulfill his dream of filmmaking. He built a following around his YouTube channel and a Discord server for NFT collections.
On February 1, Ma released a collection called “WaxXed Dogs”, which generated 2,191.2 solanas, or approximately $234,400 based on the Solana token’s trading value of approximately $107 at the time of sale. After deducting commissions for the Marketplace and the developer, Ma received approximately $187,567 worth of solana.
Each piece was molded to 0.88 SOL. They sold out within 42 seconds, according to transaction records compiled by data provider SoulScan and reviewed by Insider. Ma said the funds raised would be used to make the film.
The collection includes 2,500 dogs holding vaccination cards. Ma said the idea came from the stuffed dogs that often piled on his couch in the background of his videos.
For the technical part, Ma hired a contractor to draw most of the traits that would be combined to create the various dogs using generative art.
They launched Vaxxed Doggos in a marketplace called MagicEden.io, which is linked to Solana’s blockchain. He said that he chose Solana because he did not want his followers to pay the high gas fees that Ethereum is known for. Solana averages around $0.00025 per transaction while Ethereum averages $14, Barone reported last month.
Anyone who owns Vaxxed Doggo has access to a Discord channel that allows them to interact with Ma, access early clip footage, share input on his script, and even add additional features to one of his videos. gives a chance to be. If their value rises they can flip their NFTs for profit.
But what if NFTs and cryptocurrency is out of your league? You can try renting yourself out.
A man from Japan has set a new benchmark.
Mr. Shoji started on his new ‘business’ in 2018. He took to Twitter and created a handle called ‘Nothing Rent-a-Man’.
From his Twitter handle, he fired a tweet which read, “I offer myself for rent, as a person who does nothing.
Is it difficult for you to enter a shop on your own? Are you missing a player on your team? Do you need someone to keep a place for you? I can’t do anything except easy things.”
So technically, Mr. Shoji doesn’t do “nothing”. But with bare-minimum, he has accomplished a lot. Earlier, during the testing phase of his side-hustle, he gave his services for free. Realizing that he would be overwhelmed with a lot of demand, he started charging people for his services.
Most of his clients are those who are suffering from loneliness, are bored, or who want a easy going ear to hear them out.
Since offering his services, Mr. Shoji has accompanied a client for a lunch, became a selfie-buddy for a client who wanted to put pictures on Instagram, accompanied a hesitant patient to hospital, and met people who would wanted to be thanked for their challenging jobs.
What other ways can you make money? You might not be an overnight success but here are some people who found success with their weird ideas.
1. Bed Bug Barrier
If you’ve ever been to a hostel or hotel infested with bed bugs, then you know how these little mites can cause you to break out in red dots.
Tony Abrams made a fortune by inventing barriers to keep the bedbugs from biting. His business, Bed Bug Barriers, creates and sells barriers that go underneath the legs of a bed. These barriers trap the bedbugs as they attempt to crawl into the bed to bite sleepers.
Think it’s crazy? He’s made millions with this idea.
What about mattress and pillow infested with bedbugs? He sells bug proof pillow cases and mattress covers.
2. Rent-A-Chicken
Why on earth would someone want to rent a chicken?
Well, some people who are interested in urban farming want to get chickens.
As a kid, I had a neighbour who attempted to rear their own chickens. The pong from the poo was quite overbearing. Needless to say, the hobby didn’t last.
What if you want to test the water before going deep in chicken farming?
This is where Rent-A-Chicken comes in.
A husband and wife team in the US brings the wannabe chicken farmer everything he needs to care for a brood of hens for the summer.
For USD$250, the wannabe farmer can see whether or not he really wants to try raising chickens on his own. In fact, there’s another business just like this in Australia called Rent-A-Chook.
Wacky? Yes. Useful? You bet.
3. Hangover Helpers
Here’s the situation: You and your friends were up all night drinking and watching Netflix and whatever you do for fun which is equivalent to partying. Now, you’re suffering from a horrendous hangover, you’re dehydrated, and your home is trashed.
The thought of having to make yourself something to eat and then clean up the mess is just too much to handle.
So what do you do? You call the Hangover Helpers. These two college guys in Boulder, CO help their hung over clients crawl back into the land of the living with as little pain as possible.
The guys show up at your house armed with a breakfast burrito and Gatorade for you. They then clean every room where the party happened. This includes cleaning dishes, pots, and pans, and recycling all of your beer bottles.
Think this idea is too crazy to actually work? These guys have already been featured in Forbes Magazine, on CBS, and on the talk show, Regis and Kelly. They have enough business to keep them busy as long as they want.
4. The Rage Room
Have you ever felt so angry that you squished a stress ball and felt that it wasn’t enough? You want to tear the whole place out without having to pay for the damage.
Well, that’s the whole idea behind The Rage Room. You enter into a specially designed room. Your get your PPE (personal protective equipment), select your weapon of destruction, blast your favorite music and have a smashing good time breaking almost everything in the room to pieces (except the actual room itself). When you’re done, you don’t even have to worry about cleaning up but you do have to pay an entrance fee.
5. I Do, Now I Don’t
When Josh Opperman’s fiancée left him after a three-month engagement, he was crushed. All she left him was the fancy engagement ring he’d worked so hard to save up for. However, when he took the ring back to the jeweler to return it, he got a nasty shock. They only offered him US$3,500 for the ring he paid over US$10,000 for. Yikes.
So he started “I Do, Now I Don’t” to get even. “I Do, Now I Don’t” is a website that allows people to sell their engagement rings (or any other fancy jewelry) to other users for way less than going to a jewelry store. Think of it as the Craigslist for fine jewelry.
The site has been an incredible success and has been featured on CNN, The Today Show, Fox News, and in The New York Times.
6. The Pet Loo
If you’ve ever had a pet while living in an apartment, then you know how painful it can be to take them out for potty when it’s raining. Or maybe you work long hours and always have to rush home to let them out. Or maybe you’re a senior citizen and it’s hard to make multiple trips in and out of your home.
Well, all these reasons are why The Pet Loo was invented. The Pet Loo is a square of fake grass, which sits atop a simple waste containment system that you put inside your home or apartment. It’s just like a mini-backyard where your dog can relieve himself. Although The Pet Loo is based in Australia, similar businesses have sprung up here in the States. Good idea? No doubt.
In fact, people are putting their Pet Loos in their laundry rooms, their basements, on balconies, and even in their grass-less backyards.
If you’re thinking about starting a business, don’t go for “weird” just because it worked for others. That’s a sure way to fail.
The key to all these unusual businesses is to solve a problem, even if many people don’t realize they have that need (like with the Rent a Man, The Rage Room).
This highlights a vital element that can’t be overstated; every successful business needs to provide value to people in some way.
Have you ever had a weird or wacky business idea that you moved forward with? How did it turn out?
Well if you need someone to be your bouncing board or a companion to art shows and meals, I’m available at RM150 per hour ;p
