4 dumb ideas that made people rich
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What are the dumb ideas that made people rich?
Sam, I have a list of what I'm calling dumb ideas that made a million dollars. These are obscure lists that really only people like you and me would ever even keep.
But I have a list of dumb ideas that actually worked.
I say dumb not because I think they're dumb. I actually think they're genius because I think being clever and doing simple things is actually a form of genius. But I think other people would call these dumb ideas. So I want to run through them with you, and I want you to give me your reaction to each one. All right. Let's hear it. All right.
How did foam party hats become a viral business?
First one came up. I was watching the NFL playoffs, which were on this weekend. I don't know if you've paid any attention, but the Chicago Bears, who have sucked for a long time, are in the playoffs. And Chicago has this rival, the Green Bay Packers. And the Packers have been great for a long time, and the Bears have sucked for a very long time. And so it's kind of a rivalry just by location, but they're not really close rivals. And so I'm watching the game and I look and in the crowd, I just see a ton of people wearing, like, I don't know how much you know about football, but do you know what the Packers fans wear on their head? Yeah, cheese heads.
What is the story behind the International Star Registry?
Cheese heads. So what do the Bears fans wear? I don't know, helmets? Cheese graters. And so I see all these fans wearing this like silver cheese grater hat. And I'm like, oh, that's clever. Like we're about to shred the Green Bay Packers. We're going to shred the cheese heads.
How did the 10-hour fireplace video become popular?
And I'm like, this is really smart. So I started looking, what's the story behind this? And the story behind this is kind of crazy. So if you go to foampartyhats.com, this business started in 2017 so grace rojas and her son manuel rojas they they create this thing and they had actually for like you know 15 years they had just for fun been making like fun party hats like i think for their own daughters like party they made fun party hats for all the guests people loved it and they kind of gave it up and then they moved and then they like started again and they're like we're gonna make these foam hats for special events parties occasions and sports And so they've been kind of like trucking along. They got on Shark Tank and they gave up 25% of their company for 100 grand, right?
Did they really? Yeah. And, you know, birthdays, wedding, corporate events.
What lessons can we learn from not getting bored of greatness?
They had all these like novelty hats. And then came the boom. So this greater head thing has just taken off and become this like viral frenzy. So like basically the Bears, they have this coach. I don't know if you've seen this guy, Ben Johnson. He's kind of got, like, if Sam Palmer's into football energy a little bit.
How can feedback be perceived as a gift?
He's basically this young coach who's supposed to be really, really smart. He's super, like, ripped. So every time in the postgame, he'll, like, in the locker room, he just, like, rips off his shirt, which, like, most of the old, like, 70-year-old coaches would never do. And he gets his team, like, really fired up. But he gives the game ball to this guy who comes out. And I don't know if you can see this, but he's getting this wide receiver, DJ Moore. He's wearing the hat. And so he's wearing this. This guy, DJ Moore, and he starts dancing. The whole team starts chanting, go DJ, go DJ. There's a Lil Wayne song. He starts dancing. This clip goes viral, right?
Who is John Catsimatidis and what is his impact?
This has 2.2 million views. And suddenly, these hats are flying off the shelves. And they do like 10,000 orders in a week, which is like half a million dollars in a week. They have this huge wait list now, this huge backlog, because they make these by hand, apparently. And this idea of...
What was the experience of taking a child to a basketball game?
like team specific novelty merch. Because like sports fans, like when I went to that Warriors game, I walked out, I bought my son a jersey, a little ball, but it's like all so like vanilla. It's all cookie cutter. It's like the same things over and over again. But with social media, Teams now have little like trends, little meme moments. And if you can fast follow those meme moments and create stuff that's going to like kind of make somebody laugh or be worth sharing on social media, you can actually get a lot of spread.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the dumb ideas that made people rich?
0:00–0:34
2
How did foam party hats become a viral business?
0:34–1:12
3
What is the story behind the International Star Registry?
1:12–1:30
4
How did the 10-hour fireplace video become popular?
1:30–2:20
5
What lessons can we learn from not getting bored of greatness?
2:20–2:37
6
How can feedback be perceived as a gift?
2:37–3:11
7
Who is John Catsimatidis and what is his impact?
3:11–3:29
8
What was the experience of taking a child to a basketball game?
3:29–1:06:01
Speakers
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