Today I was in a new little mall and walked past a shiny storefront with a "for lease" sign.  And I thought to myself, if that was *my* store, what would I sell?  Imagine for a moment you could sell anything, what would it be?

Of course, you could sell "stuff", but what would people want?  Clothes?  Electronics?  Food?  People pay a lot for entertainment (books, music, videos, games), but so much of that travels as bits these days, not atoms ... hard to sell entertainment from a storefront in 2015.  Sure, you can think of "needs", but those turn into commodities pretty quickly, what could you sell to satisfy "wants"?

Since people are motivated to like themselves, what could you sell them that would make them like themselves better?

You could fool people - sell mirrors that make you look thinner.  Or you could genuinely help people... make them fitter, or smarter, or more confident.  Or you could educate them; learning helps with many things, not least self esteem.

But maybe the answer isn't to change people, but to change the way they feel about themselves.  How about a store that sells counseling services?  Or a store that sells affirmation from others?  What would that look like?