^Professional cuddler (Samantha Hess) cuddling with Portland musician KaiKani

While Samantha Hess, was surfing on YouTube and came across this video, a spark of genius ignited and spreaded like a wildfire.  In the video, a guy was holding up a “free hugs” sign, and then there was a prankster, who held up a sign saying “deluxe hugs $2”, and ended up getting more hugs than the guy giving out free hugs.  Samantha then started a business – she charges people money for non-sexual cuddles.  Samantha’s site “Cuddle Up to Me” clearly states her rates, what’s appropriate, and where her services are available at.

Samantha’s business definitely targets a unique niche market.  I think the idea of entering an untouched market that no one has discovered is a brilliant brave act!  An untouched market either means that there is no potential in that market or no one has discovered it yet.  According to the article on Business Insider, Samantha now makes around $7,000USD a month, which she is quite content with.  She inspires me!  As an individual, she is now living comfortably while doing what she is passionate about, she believes that “everybody should have a way to reach out and feel comfortable with that.”  As a business, “Cuddle Up to me” is thriving as if I were to rate it, it would receive an extremely high score in the triple bottom line as her customers have a high level of satisfaction , it’s local – environmentally friendly, and her income is higher than another job that she has done before.