Rags to Riches Part II

One of my products, the “Living Necklace” had a little glass ball with a live fish inside.

I was traveling by train to the east coast to introduce this product at the National Premium show in New York, when I decided to make sure that the little fish in my sample necklace was ok. The water looked cloudy, and I did a stupid thing. I went into the men’s room on the train, opened the little ball to change the water and the fish jumped out into the sink.

I was desperate. Here I was, on the way to a national trade show and I had no product. I didn’t know what to do, so I pulled the emergency cord.

A porter came running in and wanted to know what had happened and I said, “Well, my fish fell into the washbowl.” He was furious, but he said, “Well, mister, you’re lucky because a year ago we modified these washbowls and put a little strainer in each sink, because people were always losing their dentures.”

As he talked, he unscrewed a strainer and there was my little fish still flopping around. We got it back in my little glass ball, and I was able to introduce it a the N.Y. Premium Show.

Some time ago, I bought 4 million art prints of the world’s greatest paintings. They were of extremely high quality, but since they had been forgotten in a warehouse for over 50 years, I picked them up for pennies on the dollar.

For the first public venture with my prints, I took a booth at the County Fair in Pomona. This Fair runs every year and 3 million people visit it. I put in studio lighting and a floor rug in my booth. I framed some of my beautiful art prints and put up a big sign “Any Famous Art Print 50 cents”.

While I’m busy hanging art prints, the fellow next to me is busy hanging “Shrunken Heads”. He put up a big sign: “Any Shrunken Head $2.98”. Well, I thought he had lost his marbles. Who would pay $2.98 for a shrunken head when you could buy a Michaelangelo for 50c?

In 17 days I took in $22 and the shrunken head man sold 3,000 shrunken heads. I got the “exclusive rights” to the shrunken heads and in 6 months I sold 2 million shrunken heads.

We came out with a little plastic toy called the “Spud Gun”. When you stuck the tip of the gun into a raw potato, it would break off a nib and shoot it 50 feet.

On the first day of the Toy Show in NewYork, We had a truck pull into Manhattan and we dumped 10,000 pounds of potatoes on the sidewalk in front of the hotel where the Toy Show was held ... and I got arrested.

After paying a $25 fine, I was ready to leave the Police Station, when CBS called and asked me if I wantedto appear on 140 stations coast to coast to talk about this new toy.

The next day they gave me 20 minutes on T.V. to talk about the “Spud Gun”. In the five days of the toy show we sold 400,000 Spud Guns ... and eventually, we sold a total of 2 million spud guns.

Excerpted from Rags to Riches by Self-made Multi-Millionaire E. Joseph Cossman.
Visit www.cossman.com