00:00:02another edition of modeling of masters
00:00:04today we’re going to look at how an
00:00:06inventor failed for 13 years right out
00:00:09of money and turn his life around became
00:00:11a millionaire and eventually sold his
00:00:13business for fifty seven billion dollars
00:00:15this is a story of King Jillette in this
00:00:18Gillette razor company and a top three
00:00:20lessons that you can learn from his
00:00:21success
00:00:27King Jillette was a creative
00:00:29entrepreneur from the age of 17 dreamed
00:00:31of making money from his adventures for
00:00:3413 years he struggled to earn a living
00:00:36and was scared that he would never live
00:00:37up to the expectations of his parents
00:00:39had room both his mother and father were
00:00:41successful inventors and he was ashamed
00:00:43that he had to take a job as a traveling
00:00:45salesman to pay his bills because he
00:00:47couldn’t make money for his inventions
00:00:49like they had now 40 years old
00:00:52don’t open the horizon and embarrass
00:00:54July hit rock-bottom we moved back down
00:00:57but not out
00:00:58he refused to give up looking for Mentor
00:01:01Gillett went to work for William painter
00:01:03local entrepreneur who rented a special
00:01:05type of auto car and turned it into a
00:01:07profitable business hatred told Gillette
00:01:10Nikita enormous riches was to invent
00:01:12something customers used a product up
00:01:14then throw it away so that keep coming
00:01:16back for more
00:01:17one morning while thinking about
00:01:19painters advice Gillette was frustrated
00:01:22with his razor its blades were dull and
00:01:24were too worn out to be sharpened
00:01:25suddenly he saw his opportunity make
00:01:28disposable razor blades that could be
00:01:30thrown away
00:01:31Gillette rushed back to his room he went
00:01:33to quick note to his wife I’ve got it
00:01:35they read our fortune is made with a
00:01:38$5,000 loan from investors Gillette open
00:01:41up the Gillette safety razor company
00:01:43he sold 51 razors and 168 plates in his
00:01:47first year the following year he sold
00:01:4990,000 888 razors and over 120 thousand
00:01:54blades and never looked back
00:01:56by the time July was 55 his company
00:01:59dominated the razor industry and he was
00:02:01ecstatic he had achieved his dreams of
00:02:03becoming a millionaire just over a
00:02:05century after the company was founded
00:02:07sold Procter & Gamble for 57
00:02:15by not giving up on his dream and by
00:02:18seeking a mentor King Jillette was able
00:02:20to overcome over a decade of failure and
00:02:22finally make his parents proud I was
00:02:25able to build a successful business and
00:02:26whatever that means to help you pop your
00:02:29ideas if you’re free a strategy for the
00:02:32use of your business option atom number
00:02:35one
00:02:35don’t let experts tell you what you
00:02:37can’t do as an entrepreneur it’s
00:02:40important to see good advice after all
00:02:42you don’t have all the answers and you
00:02:44can’t do everything by yourself
00:02:45don’t be embarrassed about asking stupid
00:02:47questions it’s the fastest way to learn
00:02:49be careful though not to take anyone’s
00:02:52advice as being the only way to do
00:02:53something make sure that makes sense for
00:02:56you and keep looking for answers until
00:02:58you find one that will work when
00:03:00Gillette first came up with the idea for
00:03:02a razor with disposable blades he was
00:03:04elated but he needed mythologists to
00:03:06help him make the product he went right
00:03:08to the top and enlisted the help of
00:03:10experts in a prestigious university MIT
00:03:13the way he told him what he wanted they
00:03:15told him it was impossible
00:03:17according to Gillette the raise was
00:03:19looked upon as a joke by all my friends
00:03:22common greeting was well July housed a
00:03:24razor if I had been technically trained
00:03:27I would have quit unwilling to throw in
00:03:29the towel Gillette kept looking until he
00:03:32found someone who believed it was
00:03:33possible and who could help him he got
00:03:36his patent for the razor in 1901 and
00:03:38proved the experts wrong
00:03:42action item number two leverage other
00:03:45brands to grow your business when you’re
00:03:47first starting out customers don’t know
00:03:48you and it can be hard to be taken
00:03:50seriously one great way to overcome this
00:03:52is to partner with other people
00:03:54companies or associations and use their
00:03:57name to give you more credibility having
00:04:00the support of a recognized brand will
00:04:01help you get through the clutter and
00:04:03increase the chances that prospects will
00:04:04buy from you in the company’s early days
00:04:07Gillette focuses marketing on uniqueness
00:04:09of his razors compared to those that
00:04:11have come before as knockoffs at the
00:04:13market he had to change his approach so
00:04:16he began cultivating a number of brand
00:04:18associations Gillette right ads of
00:04:21featured testimonials from the likes of
00:04:22Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop
00:04:24Honus Wagner Wagner was the most popular
00:04:27baseball player of this generation and
00:04:29the celebrity endorsement proved to be a
00:04:31huge success for Gillette Sales Gillette
00:04:34started a new trend in the world of
00:04:35advertising no long we did an ad speak
00:04:38to the products benefits instead
00:04:40Gillette began to associate his products
00:04:42with an image of the lifestyle he wanted
00:04:44to convey
00:04:45Vilnius that people were not just buying
00:04:47a product we’re buying into an idea a
00:04:50new Gillette shaving one from being a
00:04:52mundane morning ritual for most men than
00:04:55being an important experience with the
00:04:57right razor and Gillette razor shaving
00:05:00could transform you into a powerful
00:05:01athletic Medtronic man just like the
00:05:04sports figures in his axe that idea took
00:05:06Gillette from being just another razor
00:05:08company to being one of a kind
00:05:11accidental number three form
00:05:13partnerships to build your customer base
00:05:15partners can give you credibility and
00:05:17they can also explode your customer list
00:05:19a great way to break into a market is to
00:05:22look at who is currently working with
00:05:24your target audience and then partner up
00:05:26with them so they can do the selling for
00:05:27you
00:05:28Gillette was always looking for an angle
00:05:30to promote his business and stay ahead
00:05:32of the competition when world war 1 hit
00:05:35he made a vital decision give a Gillette
00:05:38razor to every soldier in the service he
00:05:40sold razors for the government at cost
00:05:42and let them distribute they designed a
00:05:45special metal case shaving kit for every
00:05:47American soldier as touting that every
00:05:49man in khaki oughta have one
00:05:51the US government took to light up on
00:05:54his offer in order 3.5 million razors 36
00:05:58million razor blades for all of its
00:05:59soldiers as a result Gillette had to
00:06:02hire more than 500 new employees walked
00:06:05around the clock to get the order filled
00:06:07but Gillette suggests so is not just
00:06:09about being a one-time promotional
00:06:11scheme by supplying American shoes with
00:06:13razors who is securing his future he had
00:06:16created huge base of customers who had
00:06:18grown accustomed to the Gillette razor
00:06:20keep coming back from blade refills
00:06:22long after the war’s over so remember
00:06:27don’t let experts tell you what you
00:06:30can’t do leverage other brands to build
00:06:33your business and form partnerships to
00:06:35grow your customer base I wanted to end
00:06:38this video today by sharing one of my
00:06:39favorite true stories volcania life
00:06:42always a big thinker in 1910 Gillette
00:06:45wrote a business plan for a new company
00:06:47offered former u.s. President Theodore
00:06:49Roosevelt the presidency of the company
00:06:51as a salary Gillette was prepared to pay
00:06:54a fee of 1 million dollars or roughly 25
00:06:57million in today’s dollars
00:06:58Roosevelt declined the offer thank you
00:07:03for joining me for another edition of
00:07:04welding the masters if you enjoyed the
00:07:06video please give it a thumbs up below I
00:07:08also love to hear your thoughts if you
00:07:10want to leave a comment below the video
00:07:11and stay tuned to the next episode
00:07:53you
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