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Question from Zayne about Harvey Brody and toll positions...
Here's a question from Zayne, about Harvey Brody and toll positions, which came as a message via the Sowpub Facebook page...
(Slightly edited, posted here with Zayne's permission...) Hi Gordon, |
I think Dien can shed better light than I can, however, I'll share a thing or two.
A decade ago, Harvey turned me around in my thinking. In so many words, which sometimes takes one a while to "decode", I found that I was doing a couple of things wrong.
Visible, vocal, and vulnerable. Too much of each. I learned those with really good Toll positions kept their cards close to the vest. I was too mouthy, too eager to regurgitate, and too scattered, albeit doing OK with what I wanted to do. I'll give Zayne, and anyone else an assignment. It takes about half a day. You want to go to Walmart. Then either a Home Depot or Lowe's or Menards, whatever is near you. Then a Target and maybe a few other stores. You will wander the isles. I'll give you a starting point. Sewing machines. Go to the area where they sell the sewing machines and walk those isles. This is still an EVERGREEN MARKET, one which few guys even think about. As you look at the different machines, you will see isles full of stuff. Like OIL. Maybe you will see a product like this: https://amzn.to/2QHcJbc A zoom spout oiler for sewing machines. Go to Walmart dot com and you'll find there are 25 pages listed under sewing machine and most of those are parts, pieces or tools, not even the threads or other supplies you would find in the store. Why do this? A trip down the isles where you can actually touch, pick up, examine, feel and even get the names of either the distributor or mfgr, to continue your research. I would want you to come away from this exercise with an AH HA moment, realizing how huge and diversified the whole idea is. But you must ask questions. In the case of the sewing machine oil, how is it different from other oils? That in itself is a whole educational ball game of viscosity and why the pros wouldn't use 3 in 1 oil on their machines due to the solvent evaporation, which could gum up the works. So, oil...there are thousands of formulas, each one protected by a copyright, patent and maybe a trademark, the 3 pillars of protection of proprietary products. The bottles or cans the oil is in. They might be unique to a particular use, like the white lined cans of some foods. You want to make yourself aware that there are all these things out there, being sold routinely, on a day to day basis, simple mundane little items like sewing machine oil and know and UNDERSTAND... there is OWNERSHIP behind these. Who? This is where Thomas and other registries come in handy. There are Patents for sale. Every day. Now this is just one form of a toll, but a half a day walking the isles of a Walmart (just not on a weekend, go late at night middle of week)...should give you the motivation to seek further intelligence. So, then there is Charles Shulz, or was. Now almost 20 years after his death, the estate does up to 30 million dollars a year collected from licensing fees. Licensing is another toll position. The Peanuts gang was copyrighted and trademarked, and licensed. Everyday, patents, copyrights and trademarks, these things are for sale. You can either CREATE or ACQUIRE your toll position. Creation takes longer, acquisition is faster. So this brief answer goes like this: DISCOVER the world of TOLLS. See for yourself the tens of thousands of products sitting on the shelves and KNOW and UNDERSTAND that an entity somewhere OWNS these things, and one of the best TOLL booths is owned by the guy who owns the shelf space... Walmart. For one, one of the richest families ever, they own SHELF SPACE, and to get your product on it, can be a grueling process, or you go through their space process. Anyhow. First, STOP, LOOK AND SEE all the gazillions of tolls already out there. Second, know thyself. What can you do, what do you know, where do you want to go, and why? I think more important than the how to (and I believe Harvey believes this too). I daily visit sites, and you all have Google too, which offer toll booths for sale, to see what is out there and what the asking price is. Where does your interest lie? That might be a good place to start. I do know that Harvey could come to any of our homes, and work in that AREA, to locate or find a potential toll position. So look out your window, do a Google search for your neck of the woods, search for mfgr, or industrial parkways. And don't forget the Private Label route too, it may be one of the fastest way to put yourself in a toll booth, but this often depends on the distribution channel you have set up too. Dien can probably answer more, I will do my best to answer any specific questions if Zayne or anyone else have them. Gordon a Quote:
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Re: Question from Zayne about Harvey Brody and toll positions...
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Gordon gave you a great answer! If you want Harvey's main course, it does come up on eBay from time to time... The course you want to look for is "How To Become Financially And Personally Independent"... It is a 5-book course. There's a copy there right now... Harvey created his first toll position - he invented the zoom-spout oiler. After that, he acquired toll positions... I believe the aerosol pistol grip was an acquired product (along with others). In many cases, he bought out the originators of the product, lock stock and barrel. However, you can also do joint-venture type deals as well. He also made a lot of money with publishing toll positions as well, as in parallel, he ran a publishing company during the 1970s up to around 1990 I think. (He was making a lot of money, but in the end he decided he hated having employees...) However, not all toll positions are equal... You want something that will be in demand, and which can also be easily supplied as well. Your toll position will then protect you from copycats, once you're making a lot of money (because the nature of business is, if people see you making money, they'll want to copy you and steal your customers). There's a lot more to share, of course, but that's the essence of it... I've been very fortunate. After Gordon was taught by Harvey, I got taught by Harvey too... I actually talk to Harvey on a regular basis... Best wishes! Dien |
Connections. Harvey Brody, Ben Suarez, Gary Halbert, et. al.
In the last couple of days there has been a discussion on Facebook, at the Gary Halbert site run by his sons, about Ben Suarez and 7 Steps to FreedomII (which is being updated to include Internet Marketing)...
OOPS, got a phone call, will be back to connect some dots, later... Gordon Quote:
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Take a class in contract law.
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I always forget this, because I've taken them, but, it would bode anyone well to have at least a passing understanding of CONTRACTS. I was lucky enough to have a contract law class in high school, and later, had to take them in college for my GRI (Graduate Realtor Institute). You don't have to be all attorney like, but you need to understand what your attorney tells you and puts in the contracts. Since TOLL positions come about via agreements, it is a good idea to know the legal language of contracts, it is what Western Civilization is based on. Gordon |
Contracts and toll positions...!
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Many toll positions can be enforced through contracts... For example, take an exclusive distribution agreement. I believe Joe Cossman gave the example of one of his students, who took a product (some kind of plastic wheelbarrow? My memory could be faulty) from Europe, and got the exclusive North American distribution rights. That means nobody could sell that product in North America apart from him. That's a toll position enforced by a contract... I've often felt it is useful to know a good lawyer because of this! (Or to be one...) The other place it's good to know about contracts is when paying people for a "work for hire" - such as for artwork, or for writing. You want to ensure that, in the contract, you own the copyrights, and any other rights that could restrict what you do with the work in the future! Otherwise, it could hamper your future business... Great point! Best wishes, Dien |
Re: Connections. Harvey Brody, Ben Suarez, Gary Halbert, et. al.
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Waiting with bated breath! :) Best wishes! Dien |
Re: Contracts and toll positions...!
This is Zayne. A BIG thanks to Gordon and Dien for pointing me in the right direction!
Gordon, if my memory is correct, I'm pretty sure you were the catalyst that pushed me even further down this Toll-Position rabbit hole. I saw one of your replies in a Warrior Forum thread about trading surplus inventory. You mentioned Harvey Brody and Joseph Cossman, I did some research and haven't looked back since. It started with Jim Straw, then Jay Abraham, then you, and so on... And this is my mind right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CS7j5I6aOc Question for you... Back in 2009, you mentioned in the comments section of a blog, "I’ve been working with Mr. Brody these past several years on an UPDATE. What Harvey is doing now makes the old stuff obsolete." Sounds really interesting! Was that update finally released? or still in the works? Quote:
Yup, it was a wheelbarrow. Speaking of Joseph Cossman, does anyone know where I can buy his "Cossman Deluxe Home Study Course" that he used to sell in the 80's? Just found this: http://checkout.cossman.com/product-p/100.htm Definitely looks like an updated version of the course. Do you know if it's safe to buy the course from that site? Does it belong to the Cossman family? Thanks! |
Joe and Howard Cossman...
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Thanks! The old Cossman website was at cossman.net, but that doesn't seem to exist any more... Here's what it used to look like... https://web.archive.org/web/20060412...//cossman.net/ Joe Cossman's son is Howard Cossman. It's possible that the new website you linked to is by Howard Cossman, but I don't know for sure... http://checkout.cossman.com Best wishes! Dien |
More like a senior moment my friend.
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OH. OK, later today, fair enough? Gja |
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