From the Pet Rock to Glitter Bombs: Ridiculous Business Ideas that Succeeded

Brick or Potato

Creators: Justin and Robbie Holt

Flowers too cliché? A card too personal? Instead, try sending your friends a personalized message... scrawled across a brick or a potato. This service, which promises to be "completely hilarious" and "completely anonymous" launched late last year. In just one month, the Holt brothers earned £11,000 shipping their atypical objects.

Slinky

Creator: Richard James

One thing you wouldn't expect to emerge from WWII is one of the most popular toys of the late 20th century. Nevertheless, naval engineer Richard James accidentally created the slinky when he knocked over a spring in 1943, and the toy has made over £180 million in profits since that fateful day.

Pet Rock

Creator: Gary Dahl

Advertised as "the only pet that will never run away," the Pet Rock took America by storm in 1975, generating over £10 million within the first six months and making creator Gary Dahl an overnight millionaire. The pet rock is truly the gag gift that kept on giving.

Lucky Break Wishbone

Creator: Ken Ahroni

Created back in 1999, these plastic wishbones are Ken Ahroni's deceptively simple solution to the problem of who gets to crack the wishbone on Christmas day in a family of more than two people. His answer: everyone. Today, Lucky Break Wishbones generates approximately £1.7 million per year.

Used Cardboard Boxes

Creator: Marty Metro

Marty Metro wasn't put off when his first attempt to sell used cardboard boxes fell flat and others criticized his entrepreneurial spirit. So, he launched usedcardboardboxes.com, which sells cheap packing solutions to businesses across the US and Canada. Now considered a multimillion dollar "green" niche, Used Cardboard Boxes have been finalists for America's Green Business of the Year, and are estimated to have saved more than 50,000 trees.

I Can Has Cheezburger

Creator: Eric Nagawa and Kari Unebasami

It's been said that the internet is only good for finding pictures of cats. You can blame Eric Nagawa and Kari Unebasami for that. Apparently the creators of icanhas.cheezburger.com spiralled into a seventy-three minute laughing fit after creating a photo of a fat cat with a nonsensical slogan. Their website now generates over 8,000 fan entries daily and has enjoyed profits in the vicinity of £1.5 million.

Slanket

Creator: Gary Clegg

The story goes that 17-year-old Gary Clegg was suffering through a particularly cold night in his dorm room, watching TV, when he decided to cut a hole into his blanket so that he wouldn't have to remove his hand from the covers to change the channel with his remote. Thus the Slanket was born. Gregg's first 1,200 sleeved blankets sold out in a few weeks and within three months his product was being sold everywhere from Brazil to the Ukraine. Over £350 million worth of Slankets and their global equivalents (e.g. Snuggies in America) have been sold worldwide.

Yellow Smiley Faces

Creator: Harvey Ball

Created in 1963, Harvey Ball's world-famous yellow smiley face was originally a logo for a client of his PR company. Sadly, this success story isn't Ball's, because he was paid only $45 (approximately £32) for his work, and in 1971 the brothers Bernard and Murray Spain were able to gain the copyright by adding the slogan "Have a Happy Day" to the iconic image. By the end of the year they'd sold more than 50 million novelty items and their Hallmark card shop had expanded into a chain.

Glitter Bombs

Creator: Matthew Carpenter

On 13 January 2015, an 22-year-old Australian named Matthew Carpenter created the website Ship Your Enemies Glitter, which promised to mail glitter bombs disguised as innocent parcels to your unsuspecting enemies. Twenty-four hours later he sold his website for $85,000 USD (approximately £60,000).

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