I love this article! So good to hear other people have wacky ideas running through their heads on a regular basis…I love it and I love putting them to action! You never know when you will get your next best idea, so it’s best to keep thinking….for example who would have though that making dresses out of paper would become one of my businesses??? Definitely not me. Now…as for those crazy shoes Will is such a fan of…I am still not sure what to think. haha  -Julia

Notes From The Field – A Better Mousetrap, or How Not To Make A Lightbulb

The other day I had one of those karmic moments when I became a millionaire.  In my mind.

I would in fact be a millionaire if I had a nickel for every one of these moments.  They usually occur about three quarters of the way into my first cup of coffee – within that somewhat lysergic haze that envelops the brain just as that first jolt of caffeine kickstarts the gray matter for the day.  A tidal wave of thoughts rush through my brain, always describing some unbelievably cool product that simply doesn’t exist; an oops-I-could-have-had-a-V8 head banger of a moment when I realize that I have quite simply solved all the problems of the world.

They’re wonderful times, as they make me feel like I’m really, really smart.  But, then reality sets in and I pick myself up and start trying to sell some shoes.

This specific one was beautiful, because it was an example of what I will (right now, for the purposes of this drivel) call the Jibbitz Juggernaut.  We all know the story of Jibbitz, the little charms that go in the holes of Crocs…the brainchild of a young mother staring at her child on the playground, thinking “something should go in those holes”; making the first ones in her basement; her friends all saying “we want them too”; enlisting her parents to help make them in her basement; ultimately selling the company 9 MONTHS LATER to Crocs itself for a cool $10 million.

Can you say “loving life”?  I bet she can.

Anyway, I had been out running in my hip and happening Vibram Five Fingers on a 10 degree Northeast winter’s day – I’ll spare you the gory details but rest assured that it was a tad chilly for the old dogs.  It occurred to me that what was needed was some sort of insulating sock, very thin, that could be worn underneath to ward off the cold.  My brain started reeling…call my buddy Ken to help me source it…call all my friends who own shoe stores to stock it…and wait for the call from The Five Fingers Folks, letting me know when the dump truck full of cash would be arriving.

Unfortunately a quick Google told me that I was a little late to the party.  But – you can be sure, next cup of coffee?  I’ll be hatching some other lame brained scheme…and one of these days, baby….

So when I consider the huge increase I have to uncover this year…or the trials and tribulations of those among of who are bravely bootstrapping a new brand from the ground up….or those who are trying to get their company noticed by simply having good product and working hard …I stop and ask myself, “why are we doing this?  Why can’t we all just come up with our own Jibbitz and hit the beach with a margarita (or nine)?

There’s a story (maybe it’s a myth?) about Thomas Edison, when asked about his 10,000 failed attempts at making a light bulb.  Someone asked, “didn’t you get discouraged when you failed so many times over and over again?  Didn’t you think that you were not able to make a light bulb after 10,000 failures?”   His reply was that he had simply learned 10,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb.

Was that dude centered or WHAT? 

My point, at this dawn of a new year, in a new decade, in a new millennium, is that the game changers, the light bulbs, the Jibbitz, all come from flashes in the oddest places – playgrounds, laboratories, at the bottom of a coffee cup.  But continually forging ahead, every day – selling shoes, building our companies, boosting our brands, improving our product – is the only way to make those flashes happen, and find our own light bulb.

There.  A little feel-good lift in your shoe.  Your’re welcome.

 William Weiss