I love hot sauce

Posted at 10:14 on Wednesday June 07, 2006 | Filed Under Personal entrepreneurship

I seriously love spicy food and will challenge anyone to eat with me. And please don't say, "Have you tried Dave's Insanity Sauce??" Yes, I have, and it sucks. I'm talking about hot sauces that are really hot but also taste good.

Anyway, last year, I had the idea of starting a business around hot sauces: I was going to write a blog on hot sauces, review them, get a bunch of fanatical people who love them together (surprisingly, there are a lot, but we don't like sunlight too much), and then launch a hot-sauce-of-the-month and pen-of-the-month club!

It sounds weird, but there are lots of "wine of the month" clubs. I researched the prices and found they were making a lot on markup. In other words, people pay to get products selected by someone they trust.

Oh, one more thing: I was debating between doing this business around hot sauces or pens. A lot of weird people like great pens, too.

I didn't get around to starting these (PBwiki came along) but today, I found HotSauceBlog.com. This guy is the bomb--just read his reviews. Plus, he has a hot sauce of the month club.

Ideas are cheap (see The Myth of the Great Idea) and a year later, my idea is worth exactly 0. But I am totally and completely humbled by this HotSauceBlog guy and how far he's taken it.

DONE READING?: Now you can leave your own comment or subscribe to the newsletter

Comments (14)

1.: i like hot stuff too.. but some restaurants just give hot but tasteless food..

Posted by WTJ at June 7, 2006 10:42 AM

2.: Alright, a genuine pen conisseur! Now let's wait for when Ramit writes a blog, half of which is devoted to a frustrating experience he recently had with a cheap pen, which made him very disappointed with whichever business he happened to be "forced" to use it at... and how he'll *never* go there again.

Posted by DR at June 7, 2006 10:56 AM

3.: Wow, you're bitter!

Posted by Ramit Sethi at June 7, 2006 11:03 AM

4.: My problem with hot sauce\pen ofthe month club is, how much hot sauce do you actually go through? How many pens do you really want around?

I have a great idea to answer both of these questions. THe hotsauce pen. It's a pen, but with hot sauce instead of ink!! Small amount of hotsauce, and you just throw the pen away!

Posted by David at June 7, 2006 11:49 AM

5.: Doesn't this counter the previous post about frat boy business ideas?

You probably rejected the Hot Sauce plan because you would consider it as a frat boy business idea, but then someone else jumped on it and ran with it.

Not every idea is going to make you a millionaire. But typically one idea leads into another which may spark the ultimate plan. [ie eBay, Craigslist, Wikipedia...et.al]

Instead of telling people to reject "frat boy ideas", you should be encouraging them to run with it and keep evolving from that point.

Posted by Johnie at June 7, 2006 12:05 PM

6.: Hot Sauce is amazing! (Your Myth of the Great Idea link isnt working)

Posted by Josiah at June 7, 2006 12:11 PM

7.: Fixed. Thanks!

Posted by Ramit Sethi at June 7, 2006 12:14 PM

8.: Love hot sauces. My dad never considered a meal complete unless he was sweating. I think I've refined this a little bit. I like my hotness, but I don't want it to be overpowering either.

Is it me, or people like David just sheer poison at the beginning of a business venture. They're trying to cut down a tree without even giving it some sunlight and water. His questions are really valid, but not something worth hearing at the get go. On the other hand, Ramit, I think the idea is great and would say you were undervaluing yourself by proclaiming your idea is worth 0... well until I saw the sheer passion and thoroughness Hot Sauce Blog has.

Johnie! I totally agree with you. I think you're dead on! The subtext in the frat-boy post (and many posts on this site) is there's no get rich quick schemes in life. A lot of hard work is usually involved. But you'll get paid for your effort.

Posted by Me! at June 7, 2006 02:18 PM

9.: I'd actually say that I think both the sauce and pen ideas are bad ideas for a business. #1 problem, how are you gonna make money? Sounds fun, like a frat boy idea, but is a blog really the best way to make money from you time?

I get that wine of the month clubs make money on the markup, but you'd have to spend time building a reputation that allows that markup no? Seems like it'd be about as profitable as writing a book, and becoming a successful author.

If you really want a successful business in hot sauce, then I'd ask, how would you improve the experience of hot sauce, from the bottle to the food to any point along the process of using hot sauce? That blog only addresses one aspect of the process, that of selection, but there is so much more to hot sauce, right?

Posted by MyNameIsMatt at June 7, 2006 07:22 PM

10.: Wow, seriously me and a few friends, ok well one other, have a things for quality pens as well.

(We're still dismayed that our old favorite, the Uniball Deluxe, was discontinued/retooled(?)) Actually uniball has been going the way of gimmicks these days sadly. I've found myself experimenting with pilot and rotring more often. Would love to hear about your interests in pens.

Oh yeah, and hot sauce is awesome :-) I have a bit of a stash myself.

BTW awesome blog. Your series on index/mutual funds etc. was approachable and informative. Keep it up.

Posted by Mike Czepiel at June 8, 2006 11:40 PM

11.: Glad to know I'm not the only one with a thing for both hot sauce and pens!

My current favorite brands are Death Sauce and Cross Pens, respectively. :)

Posted by Adam at June 9, 2006 12:23 PM

12.: Good hot sauce IS amazing.

Unfortunately, most hot sauce is better called hot vinegar.

T

Posted by Tina Brooks at July 28, 2006 08:03 PM

13.: Greetings from Dubai. We get Nandos Peri-Peri sauce here. You have to try the Extra hot one. It'll blow you away!! I've had it in England too so perhaps its also available to you folks in the States.

Anyway, regarding your posts on saving and investing, perhaps you could add a supplementary note from an international persepective where 401 schemes, etc. are replaced by an alternative?

Posted by Dhiraj at August 23, 2006 04:09 AM

14.: I love Hot Sauce and Pens!!! Well enough to start my own Hot Sauce brand "California Habanero Blends" www.californiablends.com we launch in two weeks. Flavor is first, stay away from vinegar.

I love the older UniBall have an old stash from a few past jobs running out though. Current new pen TomBow? very nice but have to wait to get refills not common. Good Posts. And you can have fun wih Hot Sauce I am. You just have to sell a boat load to make any money. Right on spot about the hard work. With no efforts there will be no rewards!

Posted by Tim Sharkey at September 15, 2006 03:11 PM

Leave your comment

NOTE: Fields marked with asterisk (*) are required.

name*:
e-mail*:
your website:
remember me:	yesno
comment*:(You may use HTML tags for style)