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‘Bad’ business ideas that ended up making millions

A pair of orange crocs

A pair of orange crocs

There's a saying in business "all ideas are good ideas."

While that sounds a lot like management speak, it is true that some very "out-of-the box" ideas have led to their creators making huge heaps of cash.

What might appear to be bad business ideas have proved everyone wrong and been a huge success.

READ MORE: WALT DISNEY, DONALD TRUMP, AND COLONEL SANDERS – FIVE ENTREPRENEURS WHO FAILED MASSIVELY BEFORE SUCCEEDING

Many aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from these people, but you also need to know when to regroup and change things if an idea isn't working.

Pet Rock

In the mid-1970s, Gary Dahl was at a bar one night with friends complaining about their pets, so he joked about preferring to keep a rock.

This joke ended up being a hugely successful business idea.

The initial trend died out quickly, but at the time, it was booming; he sold millions of Pet Rocks and became a multi-millionaire.

Even high-end stores featured his product.

Unfortunately, Dahl passed away in 2015, but his invention continues.

You can still buy pet rocks on Amazon, and the new Minions movie 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' even has a pet rock feature.

While the rock doesn't give you the devotion of a dog, you don't have to feed it, walk it, or clean up its poo.

The iFart app

This idea came from the mind of Joel Comm.

He made an app called iFart, which was a whoopee cushion app for iPhones.

He charged $1.99 for the app, and people bought it.

The app became a huge trend going all over the internet, with pranksters loving its assortment of noises.

iFart was in Apple's top 20 apps of all time.

So it's proven; that people will pay for quite literally anything.

Crocs

There was a time when if you were seen out with Crocs, you would be judged massively by people.

Now the shoe is widely popular, with different styles coming out daily and even famous artists flexing these shoes.

They now have millions of colors and designs, with some even adding their own 'spark' to it, using gems to decorate them. 

Crocs were created by three friends from Colorado who were fascinated by the commercial opportunities of a spa shoe made for comfort.

They began using squishy foam resin called Croslite but finally got big enough to obtain Foam Creations, a business that manufactured this new shoe.

Who would have thought that the business has made millions and is doing great?

Image credit: fdecomite, Flickr.

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