spyglass
May 25, 2015, 02:11 PM
Hi Spyglass,
Thanks for sharing that article! It's good stuff... :)
Thanks for the complement Dien.
Of course, not every injection mold is a good "toll position"... Just like not every book is a bestseller! You've got the good with the bad...
Sometimes it takes some digging through the dirt to find the gold...
Yep, the first golden nugget is almost always not found on the first, second or third attempt at digging. Sort of like the universe does this to stiff between the wheat and chaff. I wish I had taken this truism to heart so many years ago.
One of the "success stories" in this area is Joe Cossman's spud gun. He didn't invent it. In fact, he bought the old tooling to make it from its earlier manufacturer, who made 100,000 of them, but only was able to sell 10,000. Cossman bought the tooling for $500, and manufactured the spud gun, and the rest is history... You can read the story here...
E.J. Cossman, 84; Ant Farm, Spud Gun Made Him Fortune
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/dec/19/local/me-cossman19
What I did not know until reading his obituary last night is after some good initial successful ventures he later partnered with his brother in-law Milton Levine in 1946. Their business union lasted until 1965 when Levine brought Cossman out. This is when took is unique business model on the road, giving two day seminars across the country at $595 a pop, a princely sum in the mid 1960's. At least up to Cossman's death in 2002, Levine's company was still in business. Milton was no slouch as a businessman, his life and business career is highlighted in wikipedia. He was not as well known as his brother in-law and former business partner, but his was very successful.
Joe's obituary: http://tinyurl.com/lljuuz
Harvey has acquired other products, one I can think of is a "secret formula" type of product (where it's protected, not by a patent, but by a "secret formula" and process that's difficult if not impossible to exactly replicate if you don't know the formula and process). Think of it like trying to reverse-engineer a cake... You can do a chemical breakdown of all the chemicals and substances in the cake - but can you then reproduce it exactly? It would still be very difficult, without knowing the exact ingredients, and the exact recipe of which stage to add each ingredient, how long to bake it for, etc. Sometimes a "secret formula" is the best "toll position" for a product (think of Coca-Cola, or even KFC with its "11 secret herbs and spices," or WD-40, whose formula is a trade secret)!
Don't feel too bad... :)
Around the mid-1990s, I happened to buy a copy of the book "Making It!" by E. Joseph Cossman and William A. Cohen. (It's not as well-known as Cossman's mail order book.)
I also got inspired! At that time, I was interested in colloidal silver (as an alternative health thing)... I approached a manufacturer of colloidal silver to see if I could exclusively distribute it, as I felt I could do a better job than was being done with his product at that time. Anyway, he already had an exclusive distributor, so the answer was "no," but he tried to interest me in some of his other products, which at that time I wasn't too interested in...
Since then, I didn't approach anyone else regarding obtaining rights until a few years ago (when I've started getting interested in rights again, but with a different class of products)...
I plan to focus even more and more on this, in the near future...
Yes, my interest in getting product marketing rights to products has also been reignited. One focus will be to acquire exclusive rights to sell products on Amazon if not in North America, in the UK and Europe. Or perhaps all of them whenever the opportunity presents.
While the technology has changed, the principles have not changed!
"Toll positions" are still around, and still as powerful as ever!
As an example, Harvey's been selling his "Zoom Spout Oiler" for at least 50 years... But, he's still selling plenty of them, and there's no competition who are even close to him! Why? Toll positions! It still works today...
Once you understand what they are, and how to use them... You can easily "adapt" the principles to any new technology.
Yeah. Perhaps when I am in the mood to look through my tubs and more tubs of archives, I will dig out my copy of his manuals and see what I can adopt for 21sr Century implementation.
The key is... many people don't understand this to the depth that Harvey does. You can read the absolute basics for free online...
The absolute basics are in this Dan Kennedy article, for example (where he also mentions Harvey)...
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Money-Making-Secret-of-The-Toll-Booth-Position&id=3262
However, sorry to say this about Dan, but even he doesn't understand toll positions to the same depth that Harvey does. I know this for a fact. Dan Kennedy still works his a** off. Harvey doesn't, yet still makes a ton of money. That's the proof of the difference.
Dan certainly understands how to re-purpose the same content as if new.
I spoke to Harvey a few days ago... He's in his early 80s, yet very happy and healthy. He's still expanding his business, and still looking at new business activities! Many people might ask why? The answer is - because he loves it! As he once said to me, he loves to "play the game of toll position"...
Glad to hear Harvey is well and plugging along with his models. My regret he apparently has decided to keep his many updates to his original model to himself.
Best wishes, :)
Dien
Thanks for sharing that article! It's good stuff... :)
Thanks for the complement Dien.
Of course, not every injection mold is a good "toll position"... Just like not every book is a bestseller! You've got the good with the bad...
Sometimes it takes some digging through the dirt to find the gold...
Yep, the first golden nugget is almost always not found on the first, second or third attempt at digging. Sort of like the universe does this to stiff between the wheat and chaff. I wish I had taken this truism to heart so many years ago.
One of the "success stories" in this area is Joe Cossman's spud gun. He didn't invent it. In fact, he bought the old tooling to make it from its earlier manufacturer, who made 100,000 of them, but only was able to sell 10,000. Cossman bought the tooling for $500, and manufactured the spud gun, and the rest is history... You can read the story here...
E.J. Cossman, 84; Ant Farm, Spud Gun Made Him Fortune
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/dec/19/local/me-cossman19
What I did not know until reading his obituary last night is after some good initial successful ventures he later partnered with his brother in-law Milton Levine in 1946. Their business union lasted until 1965 when Levine brought Cossman out. This is when took is unique business model on the road, giving two day seminars across the country at $595 a pop, a princely sum in the mid 1960's. At least up to Cossman's death in 2002, Levine's company was still in business. Milton was no slouch as a businessman, his life and business career is highlighted in wikipedia. He was not as well known as his brother in-law and former business partner, but his was very successful.
Joe's obituary: http://tinyurl.com/lljuuz
Harvey has acquired other products, one I can think of is a "secret formula" type of product (where it's protected, not by a patent, but by a "secret formula" and process that's difficult if not impossible to exactly replicate if you don't know the formula and process). Think of it like trying to reverse-engineer a cake... You can do a chemical breakdown of all the chemicals and substances in the cake - but can you then reproduce it exactly? It would still be very difficult, without knowing the exact ingredients, and the exact recipe of which stage to add each ingredient, how long to bake it for, etc. Sometimes a "secret formula" is the best "toll position" for a product (think of Coca-Cola, or even KFC with its "11 secret herbs and spices," or WD-40, whose formula is a trade secret)!
Don't feel too bad... :)
Around the mid-1990s, I happened to buy a copy of the book "Making It!" by E. Joseph Cossman and William A. Cohen. (It's not as well-known as Cossman's mail order book.)
I also got inspired! At that time, I was interested in colloidal silver (as an alternative health thing)... I approached a manufacturer of colloidal silver to see if I could exclusively distribute it, as I felt I could do a better job than was being done with his product at that time. Anyway, he already had an exclusive distributor, so the answer was "no," but he tried to interest me in some of his other products, which at that time I wasn't too interested in...
Since then, I didn't approach anyone else regarding obtaining rights until a few years ago (when I've started getting interested in rights again, but with a different class of products)...
I plan to focus even more and more on this, in the near future...
Yes, my interest in getting product marketing rights to products has also been reignited. One focus will be to acquire exclusive rights to sell products on Amazon if not in North America, in the UK and Europe. Or perhaps all of them whenever the opportunity presents.
While the technology has changed, the principles have not changed!
"Toll positions" are still around, and still as powerful as ever!
As an example, Harvey's been selling his "Zoom Spout Oiler" for at least 50 years... But, he's still selling plenty of them, and there's no competition who are even close to him! Why? Toll positions! It still works today...
Once you understand what they are, and how to use them... You can easily "adapt" the principles to any new technology.
Yeah. Perhaps when I am in the mood to look through my tubs and more tubs of archives, I will dig out my copy of his manuals and see what I can adopt for 21sr Century implementation.
The key is... many people don't understand this to the depth that Harvey does. You can read the absolute basics for free online...
The absolute basics are in this Dan Kennedy article, for example (where he also mentions Harvey)...
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Money-Making-Secret-of-The-Toll-Booth-Position&id=3262
However, sorry to say this about Dan, but even he doesn't understand toll positions to the same depth that Harvey does. I know this for a fact. Dan Kennedy still works his a** off. Harvey doesn't, yet still makes a ton of money. That's the proof of the difference.
Dan certainly understands how to re-purpose the same content as if new.
I spoke to Harvey a few days ago... He's in his early 80s, yet very happy and healthy. He's still expanding his business, and still looking at new business activities! Many people might ask why? The answer is - because he loves it! As he once said to me, he loves to "play the game of toll position"...
Glad to hear Harvey is well and plugging along with his models. My regret he apparently has decided to keep his many updates to his original model to himself.
Best wishes, :)
Dien
