Pants & Apps!

​Now the reason these ideas normally don’t get off the ground is because I’m not a process person, I get bored with the process of making the ideas work (not a good sign for my fledging business. This time will be different!) I’m not a product person either which is never great. What have I learnt, need to make sure I employ some of these types!
So what pants and apps ideas have bitten the dust?
Well when I lived in France, there was a huge fashion following in pants otherwise known as FreeGuns. Smooth, silky, brightly patterned boxers basically that every child, man and actually woman had. Every shop and supermarket sold them. Every bottom poking out of low waisted jeans bared the waistband and familiar FreeGun logo. So when I decided to move back to the uk, I decided that a pop-up show with these imported pants would be the way to go. I researched and googled and found the UK sole importer and contacted him and had quite a few email exchanges. He seemed happy to have someone that understand what success lay behind this big, bold brand. However the more I looked into it, the more I worried that FreeGun as a brand wouldn’t be so desirable for children and parents. Wearing the word gun on a child’s boxers probably wouldn’t appeal – it just didn’t have the same connotations in France and therefore after a half-hearted crowd funder pitch (whereby I made  a whole little animated film with boxer punting and cardboard pop up shop, the idea was scrapped.

 

Apps. Now although I actually studied Information systems at uni, I’m not very techy and cannot go anywhere need code. There are so many great apps out there and lots of what I think are great app ideas in my head. I’ve contacted app designers a you can imagine over the years, I found some truly funky & inspirational companies but figures start at £10,000 upwards now where would I get that sort of money?

 

App No 1. An app that is in control of the Wifi, every parent’s dream. After years of my boys being wifi obsessed, I saw an ingenious picture somewhere of a mum who had left her children a sign.

Ingenius.

What if there was an app that allowed parents to (really easily) put in their wifi details and password and other tech stuff (as I said easily) and it can control access to it via the touch of a button? Therefore each day, mum or dad could block access until said time or said chores or homework was done? How brilliant would that be? I used to have to resort to pulling out the fuse on the fuse board when my children wouldn’t get off their screens, only because they knew to check the leads coming out the wifi box but not the fuse board funnily enough and it was very high! Ha! It worked the same but wasn’t great when it was dark or I fancied a cuppa!

App No 2.
Now I love Notonthehighstreet.com. It’s a beautiful site with beautiful products set up by 2 mums which is probably why I liked it even more. If you fancy reading their story on how they set up the site, Build a Business from your kitchen table is a great book and very inspirational. Anyway I got to thinking that the same could be done for clothes. A sort of online mall but with more unique pieces than your regular high street offerings. Small boutiques and designers could post their products on the site, exactly in the same format. How great would that be. Unique clothing without having to drive about to tiny random shops. Alas it didn’t get any further than scribblings on a pad.

 

App No 3.
So I was convinced I had actually made up a new thing. An online supply agency for teachers. Usually teacher supply agencies are just like any other recruitment agency. They charge huge fees to help fill temporary posts. The trouble is schools just do not have the spare cash to pay agencies, I mean they do pay because when a teacher is sick, they have to be replaced but it ultimately takes the money directly away from the children which I hate. SO I imagined a site like Zoopla, a way of being a middle man for teachers and schools.

Teachers would upload their own details and most importantly their own availability, I would do all the necessary safety checks and schools would pay a small annual fee to have access to the site. With the app, schools could go online, find a suitable teacher both available and in the area and book and pay them directly. Win Win. I really thought this was my killer idea and got very excited. Again. I drew up mock plans, talked to lots of my friends, this was it. However as I was googling agencies, I suddenly found someone who had copied me, actually 2 sites who had copied me before me! I contacted both. I had a great conversation with one London guy who seemed to have invested huge sums in doing something very similar and a lady who had actually been the 1st to launch this type of business. Well done to her. I almost bought a franchise off her. But more and more colleagues said with nationwide budget cuts in education, schools were even more strapped for cash and finding ever-more creative ways of covering teacher absence. Once again the seed of doubt and I packed it away in the great idea but not going to happen compartment.