Adman
April 24, 2009, 04:52 PM
I just returned from a business trip to Vancouver, WA (where I made a bunch o moolah from restaurants buying my Advertising Program) and on my way back I stopped off at a company that makes "MOLDS for products".
This Co is in the "middle of the boonies"....I'm talkin' "rural", in the middle of Oregon Farmland. I went in and asked the owner if he had any molds that he wanted to sell.
A little background: Gordon J's pal, Harvey Brody, wrote a book back in the 70's about "Toll Positions"....back in the 70's (when "Entreprenurial Times" were GREAT) also I happened to have had the esteemed pleasure of talking with Mr Brody a few times back in the early 70's....about his "getting the exclusive rights to a plastic bottle mold"...whcih he proceeded to make a bundle on (and is probably still collecting a "Toll" from each sale)
Harvey's book told about, "checking out "Plastic MOLD Makers" to see if they have any "old molds" they'd be willing to "let go for a pittance".
These were "Molds" that had either run their "gamut" or were unpaid or, whatever.
One day, after reading Mr Brody's book, I decided to visit a "Plastic Mold Maker" in the Western Burbs of Chgo. I walked in, introduced myself as a "Product Promoter" looking for potential products to promote.
The owner showed me some of the molds he had "available".
I was absolutely amazed at the molds he showed me in his private office. Harvey's book was right on.
One of these was a mold for a "Paddle". It was a plastic bar about 1.5" in dia and about 30" long with a paddle at each end and a rubber string attached in the middle with a rubber ball at the end of the string. The idea was to get the rubber ball bouncing back and forth between the two end paddles.
Some guy had agreed to pay $15,000 for this mold and assembly and had made a deposit of $5,000. However....based on the initial payment, the mfgr went ahead and made up the mold AND a few hundred of the paddles....and didn't make any more payments...so the mfgr was willing to sell this mold.
I saw the paddles and got the mfgr to give me a few to show to potential clients.
At that time I had a VERY successful "Burglar Alarm" business and....one of my clients was...."The Walgreen Drug Stores".
So...I went to my Walgreen Drug contact....and he introduced me to the guy who handles "kid products". I demoed how the Paddle worked and told him I'd like to run some TV spots and have Walgreen's as a "Tag" on the commercials....if they would commit to 5,000 pieces.
Oh....I also came up with a Name for the paddle. I called it "The TEENY-BOPPER". I had the mfgr burn the name into the handle of my samples.
I told the Walgreen guy I'd create the tv spots and put Walgreen's on the Tag for a "Test" run on WGN (the local Chgo Tv Station)
So...we made the commercial and ran it and sold about 250,000.
This was around the time that Ron Popeil was starting up his "TV Infomercial Product" empire. (His first success was, the Pocket-Fisherman)
Ron made a bundle with a bunch of "TV" products and proceeded to go broke BUT....ya can never keep an Entroopeneer down. He's been back selling stuff on Infomercials, for a number of years.
So....as I started to say; I stopped off at this "Plastic Molder's" plant and found TWO Molds I think have GREAT POTENTIAL....which I'm going to check-out the "market feasibilty" for.
One thing I've learned from MANY YEARS of "Entroopeneerism" is.....Products have a "17 Year Cycle". If a product sold well, 17 yrs ago, and interest died down...17yrs later....the same product COULD be "HOT" again.
So....on this beautiful Spring Day of April, in the year of our Lord 2009...thank you for letting me ....relate my "experience".
Don Alm....entroopeneer
This Co is in the "middle of the boonies"....I'm talkin' "rural", in the middle of Oregon Farmland. I went in and asked the owner if he had any molds that he wanted to sell.
A little background: Gordon J's pal, Harvey Brody, wrote a book back in the 70's about "Toll Positions"....back in the 70's (when "Entreprenurial Times" were GREAT) also I happened to have had the esteemed pleasure of talking with Mr Brody a few times back in the early 70's....about his "getting the exclusive rights to a plastic bottle mold"...whcih he proceeded to make a bundle on (and is probably still collecting a "Toll" from each sale)
Harvey's book told about, "checking out "Plastic MOLD Makers" to see if they have any "old molds" they'd be willing to "let go for a pittance".
These were "Molds" that had either run their "gamut" or were unpaid or, whatever.
One day, after reading Mr Brody's book, I decided to visit a "Plastic Mold Maker" in the Western Burbs of Chgo. I walked in, introduced myself as a "Product Promoter" looking for potential products to promote.
The owner showed me some of the molds he had "available".
I was absolutely amazed at the molds he showed me in his private office. Harvey's book was right on.
One of these was a mold for a "Paddle". It was a plastic bar about 1.5" in dia and about 30" long with a paddle at each end and a rubber string attached in the middle with a rubber ball at the end of the string. The idea was to get the rubber ball bouncing back and forth between the two end paddles.
Some guy had agreed to pay $15,000 for this mold and assembly and had made a deposit of $5,000. However....based on the initial payment, the mfgr went ahead and made up the mold AND a few hundred of the paddles....and didn't make any more payments...so the mfgr was willing to sell this mold.
I saw the paddles and got the mfgr to give me a few to show to potential clients.
At that time I had a VERY successful "Burglar Alarm" business and....one of my clients was...."The Walgreen Drug Stores".
So...I went to my Walgreen Drug contact....and he introduced me to the guy who handles "kid products". I demoed how the Paddle worked and told him I'd like to run some TV spots and have Walgreen's as a "Tag" on the commercials....if they would commit to 5,000 pieces.
Oh....I also came up with a Name for the paddle. I called it "The TEENY-BOPPER". I had the mfgr burn the name into the handle of my samples.
I told the Walgreen guy I'd create the tv spots and put Walgreen's on the Tag for a "Test" run on WGN (the local Chgo Tv Station)
So...we made the commercial and ran it and sold about 250,000.
This was around the time that Ron Popeil was starting up his "TV Infomercial Product" empire. (His first success was, the Pocket-Fisherman)
Ron made a bundle with a bunch of "TV" products and proceeded to go broke BUT....ya can never keep an Entroopeneer down. He's been back selling stuff on Infomercials, for a number of years.
So....as I started to say; I stopped off at this "Plastic Molder's" plant and found TWO Molds I think have GREAT POTENTIAL....which I'm going to check-out the "market feasibilty" for.
One thing I've learned from MANY YEARS of "Entroopeneerism" is.....Products have a "17 Year Cycle". If a product sold well, 17 yrs ago, and interest died down...17yrs later....the same product COULD be "HOT" again.
So....on this beautiful Spring Day of April, in the year of our Lord 2009...thank you for letting me ....relate my "experience".
Don Alm....entroopeneer
