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Opportunities;

 

To exploit new business opportunities, you have to know what your real strengths are, which may involve rethinking the business you are in. That, at any rate, is how one company we know went from moving furniture to selling it.

Back Bay Movers Inc., in Brighton, Mass., started out as a typical small moving company, getting clients out of one house and into another. In the course of doing so, however, founder Jack Wadness noticed that a lot of people had too much furniture and nowhere to put it. Mulling over the situation, he realized that his company was not just a mover: it was a business with easy access to cheap furniture, and the where-withal to transport it.

So what did Wadness do? He opened up a used-furniture store. Today, the used-furniture business accounts for up to 40% of the company's revenues, and -- notes president Mark Wadness, son of Jack -- "selling furniture is a lot more profitable than moving it."