Death & taxes

Death, they say, is the only thing other than taxes you can be truly sure of. While small businesses will want as little to do with either as possible, businesses can be based around the final, certain journey you will make.

Last week saw Australia’s first ‘green’ burial, when Allan Heywood was lowered vertically into his grave, as opposed to the traditional horizontal descent.

Allan’s body spent five days in an industrial freezer after his death. It was stored by the Upright Burials Holding Centre before the company placed it its final, cylindrical resting place.

A graveyard of vertically-placed corpses may have made for a slightly duller Thriller music video, but it’s clear that public concern over sustainability doesn’t end when they’ve left this mortal realm.

Bio-degradable coffins have been around for some time now and, with space increasingly at a premium, the next logical step was always going to involve a high-rise apartment, rather than spacious farmhouse, kind of post-death dwelling.

If the concept doesn’t completely horrify you, it could prove profitable to think of business ideas around the taboo subject of death. If you innovate, you can find something new, low-cost or environmentally friendly for the deceased. Just make sure they pay up before you deliver the service – dead people are notoriously tardy with invoices.