The Lazy Man's Way To Riches

The truth is... the product is not that important.

The Concept

What is important is the concept, the idea behind the product. Find a problem looking for a solution. If you can find a problem that needs a solution you will discover the product. It is too easy to become fixed on a product and to let it dictate the course of your business.

A simple illustration points out that the customer is going to care very little about even the finest grass seeds . . . it is the lawn the seeds can produce which will solve the problem of covering the ground around the customer's home.

Start with the concept. What is the problem to be solved? Then find, or design the product to solve that problem.

Let's examine some of the areas where our company has enjoyed some success.

The very first one we had was a diet product called “Slim Pak,” which we sold successfully for over 25 years.

There was no product to begin with, but we all know excess weight is a continuing problem for people in this country.

My wife Betty had read an article in the Los Angeles Times about a diet book written by a doctor and, as these articles tend to do, it simply summarized the diet; and Betty said, “Gee, this sounds ideal . . . you can eat all you want to! Why don't you try this?” And I tried it, took the safflower oil capsules that were recommended, and I lost weight; but diets are not new . . . then or now.

Marketing Ability

So it's really about marketing ability.

What can you say about this product? What would we say about this diet? It allowed foods like fried chicken and hamburgers and steak. I've forgotten all the marvelous things you could eat, but on this diet you could eat those things in restricted quantities.

We felt that there was one thing that no doctor would quarrel with: a need for a vitamin supplement. So we substituted a vitamin supplement for the safflower capsules. We reorganized the food list so that it was a balanced diet. We invented what we call the “red light,” “green light” and “yellow light” foods.

We simply divided the food into categories such as “Red Light”: Don't eat any of these except as a bonus food which you can calculate; “Yellow Light”: Eat these with caution in the amounts indicated; and “Green Light” foods: Have all you want.

But the point was, it was organization and regimen. We simply made a change, repackaged it and gave it a name….and the diet sold successfully for over 25 years.

It's our approach and our concept that is different. What do we say? How do we merchandise? How do we market?

If you already have the product... and are looking for a means to sell that product, the first step is still to look for the problem that product will solve.

How to Turn a Total Loss into a Total Victory

Let's take a look at another success of ours, with a product I already had ...another product that was in the non-patentable, readily available area. . . and that was “Door View.” You are all familiar with those. You look through the Door View and say, “Who's there?” It enlarges the caller through this fish-eye type thing.

They are quite widely known now...every motel and hotel across the country has them nowadays, but they were not so well known at the time somebody gave me two hundred of them in settlement of an advertising bill. They sat out in my back room for months.

I got to thinking about the door viewers and what they enabled me to do, and thought...we can “See through doors.” As I thought about it more, I figured why just doors? Why not walls and why not fences? Wouldn't that open some interesting and exciting possibilities?

I wrote the headline and the complete ad. The headline was “See Thru Walls, Fences and Locked Doors With Super Spy,” and it suggested all kinds of interesting things that might happen to you if you used this device. I remember the first ad we ran was in the Los Angeles Times, which ran it once. At that time I paid $200 for the ad and it brought in over two thousand orders, which is a pretty good response.

Solve a Problem - Find Success

So here again it's concept, not product. Even without a great product you will come up with an ad. Look for an ad, and then look for a product. Find a need and fill it. In other words, something that bugs you . . . find a way of solving that problem.

Best Riches,
Joe Karbo