“I’m going to create the next big thing!” says entrepreneur #285, “Our service is going to have ____, ____, and ____!!”

“Uh. Isn’t that just another social bookmarking site?”

“No way! Didn’t you hear me? We have ____! Totally different and better!”

This isn’t a knock at “Web 2.0″ goodies, because:

  1. I’m not really sure what Web 2.0 is.
  2. Whatever it is, it seems to require lots of creativity and skills. I think.

Yesterday an old high school friend told me about a small business idea he has.

“Hey Cap, I’m going to sell mobile phones and accessories on eBay.”

“I think you’re a few years too late?” I replied.

“No, let me explain dammit.”

And so he did. Turns out, it seems viable enough to me. He’ll be selling phones from a small market niche, imported ones that you can’t find in the US, popular amongst a small group of [young] people. A few minutes of searching on eBay and online revealed that although there’s already some established retailers, the barrier to entry is still relatively small and the startup cost is straight forward enough—buy inventory at low wholesale cost (from his contact) and sell at competitive market price.

How long will his business work? I’m making an assumption that since he already works in the mobile phone industry, and seeing as how he knows about these phones that I’ve never heard about, he can probably keep up with future product trends.

Sure, he won’t make a fortune, and no one is going to buy out his sole-proprietorship for millions, but if he puts the right amount of work in, he’ll make plenty to support himself and then some. Still pretty cool in my book.

See the thing is, everyone I’m talking to lately seems to be looking at making the next big thing online, which is totally cool and fine with me—because I’ve learned long ago that a product doesn’t have to be tangible to be marketable—but what ever happened to good old fashion non-Web 2.0 stuff? Heck, what ever happened to anything that’s not web-dependent?

A week ago I was talking to a stranger in a book store. He told me he was going to open up a pool hall in the local area.

“Awesome!” I clasped his hand in excitement.

The local billiards were getting a bit too shady for my taste.

“Yeah, the initial cost is going to scare me to bits,” he continues, “But it has always been my dream to own a pool hall.”

“Well, when it does open, I’ll bring a few buddies along.” I shook his hand again.

One less bastard to compete with online.