Interior Designer Starts Amazing Wall Art Decal Business

When we moved in to our house, our builder gave us a gift of two interior designers for a few days to help us get the place set up. I remember our builder telling us these ladies were so good, they are like "little mice" - they would unpack our stuff, set us all up and we wouldnt even know they were there. These ladies gave me a price quotation on how much it would be to have a custom mural on my kid's nursery room wall - couple thousand dollars. Hence, I decided to "do it myself".

The mural I started over 4 years ago was of Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger. The room itself has 14 foot ceilings so at the time my nine month old pregnant body was climbing high ladders, praying I wouldn't fall. I fully completed the artwork on one wall, then got ambitious and started a second wall. I went into labor before finishing it. I joke by the time my kids are both in college I will complete the project.

Number 72 on my list of a hundred plus business ideas is to sell wall mural decals so that people who want a cool picture on their wall don't have to pay a thousand bucks and a thousand hours to have it done. Turns out I don't have to start this business because there's already a great company already doing it!

The company is called WallTat (get it - short for wall tatoos?). I checked out their website and they have some pretty cool funky designs. The owner's name is Jordan Guide. Jordan even took a few minutes to answer some of my questions. Additionally, they are offering a 10% discount, in the spirit of Spring, until the end of March. Use the code: SPRING10 at checkout.

1. How long did it take you to get your company up and running?

From the time I decided it was something that I want to pursue WALLTAT full time, it took about 2 months to get the necessary paperwork filed and another 2 months of research and development for the online store.

2. What was your inspiration to start the company?

As an interior designer, I am constantly looking for new and innovative products and materials. I have always been interested in creating wall art that challenges the boundaries of the interior space and not limited by the frame. I visualize elements growing out of the baseboards, flowing up a wall onto a ceiling, or spilling around from one corner into the next. WALLTAT is the brand that came out of these creations.

3. How long did it take you to break even and be profitable?

It took about 8 months

4. What was the most difficult part of starting the business?
Finding vendor partners that value your business was most frustrating in the beginning. When you are a small company, you are not priority to most vendors. This is why it is important to find vendors that compatible in size and value your business.

5. What is your background?

I am an interior designer, specializing in residential and commercial design. You can see some of my work at http://www.jordanguidedesign.com/.

6. What are your company goals?

I would love to get WALLTAT on the shelves of retailers and increase the distribution channels.

7. What advice do you have to others starting their own business?

For internet based companies, having a great product to sell is not enough. It is as important to have a website that is Search Engine Optimized (SEO). This will increase your website visibility and lead to more traffic and sales.

A Solution to the Health Care Problem

I was thumbing through stations the other night and on the show Huckabee, host Mike Huckabee interviewed a man named Dr. Muney. Muney is a doctor in New York who has a unique way of charging his patients - it doesn't involve accepting insurances like Blue Cross, Aetna, Cigna, etc. Instead, he charges all patients a flat fee of $79/month, regardless of what or how many services he provides in a given month.

Why hasn't anyone come up with this concept before?

Dr. Muney's customers are happy as they don't have to buy health care insurance, the fee is reasonable, and they are getting the basic care they want, and the doctor is happy because he can count on a set fee every month, and doesn't have to deal with insurance companies or the intricate billing procedures insurance companies require. In today's economy as millions of people are layed off and can't afford insurance premiums, this concept is absolutely genius, in my opinion. Cut out the middle man!!!

Let's do the math on how much a doctor can profit from this idea - if the average doctor has roughly 5,000 patients on record and charges $79/month, they will make approximately $400,000/month. One could offer a lot of services for that price!!! Let's do the math on how much each patient or business will save per month per person: the national average cost for health insurance in 2008 was $392/month, that's a savings of $313/month!!!

Now, one of the big problems I see with this particular plan is this doctor only takes care of services that can be covered in his office, so if you need surgery or after hours care you are out of luck. However, can you imagine how successful this concept could be if groups of doctors (obstetricians, otolaryngologists, radiologists, cardiologists, etc) teamed up and offered a full line of services to their patients for a set fee every month?

Additionally, this monthly flat fee concept would work very well for dentists.

Finally, a Private fix to a Public problem, requiring no public funding, slashing costs for patients, making healthcare affordable to ALL and a very lucrative idea for physicians.

Unfortunately, the state of New York is not happy at all with this doctor's concept. They consider his idea a form of insurance, requiring him to charge all his patients additional fees as they obtain services. Dr. Muney wants to just charge $79/month, but the state of New York is requiring him to charge an additional copay as patients receive services from him. Dr. Muney is fighting this in the courts and pioneering the movement toward affordable healthcare. As soon as the kinks are ironed out, I predict this plan is going to change America and reform healthcare.

Dow 5000

I know I haven't written in a while. A) I haven't been inspired by any business stories recently, and B) I didn't want anyone to miss the Gary Kaltbaum link Christmas present I gave everyone.

If you were fortunate to have read this earlier post, you will recall I had a dream in October 2008 about the Dow going to 5000. Yes, people thought I was crazy, hallucinating, nutso. I admit it seemed that way at the time. Well, all you naysayers can kiss my big white a**.

Yesterday the King of Bear Markets, the guy who has been right throughout this entire stock market crash, Gary Kaltbaum, ranted that if all this Obama spending continues, the market is going to 5000! In the radiocast from 2/25/09, Kaltbaum likens Obama's policies to former President Carter's. And we all know how well the economy fared during Carter's tenure. I voted for Obama after Ron Paul was not in the running to win and didn't want to "waste" my vote. I thought I was ready for "change" but I guess I wasn't as prepared for it as I thought. Guess there's a time and a place for everything and I don't agree that now is the time to invoke some of the current "changes", i.e., I am a fiscally conservative person and believe in responsible spending.

Don't miss Kaltbaum's podcast from 2/25/09, it's worth the time to listen. Check it out:

http://www.businesstalkradio.net/weekday_host/Archives/gk.shtml