Weird ideas worth a million dollars (part 1)

There is no one way to become rich. Sometimes even the dumbest ideas can help you succeed, while a lot of ‘world-changing’ ideas do nothing.
Here are 13 people who have made millions through creativity, observation, outlandish thinking, and even luck.

1. Joy Mangano and the Miracle Mop Joy Mangano invented the Miracle Mop, a mop that can be easily wrung dry without getting the user’s hands wet. The idea for this mop came about when Joy was cleaning up broken wine glasses on the floor. She came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a mop that had never been seen before – a self-squeezing broom, with a removable brush head for washing. Joy sold her invention at trade shows, and by 1995, she had made her first $1 million. Since then, Joy has invented and patented over 100 different useful things like the Huggable Hangers, Forever Fragrant, The Clothes It All Luggage System suitcase and many more. In 2015, her biopic was released starring Jennifer Lawrence. And Joy’s fortune was also up to 50 million dollars at that time. 2. Guy Laliberté and the Cirque du Soleil . Circus Guy Laliberté used to be a street performer and one day he came up with the idea of ​​creating his own circus, with the idea of ​​performing dangerous and crazy acrobatics, instead of the peaceful animal circus that was popular. variable then. And his circus, Cirque du Soleil, has been famous for its hit shows since 1984. Cirque du Soleil has received numerous awards around the world and is starred on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Thanks to that, Guy Laliberté made several billion dollars and became one of the first space tourists. 3. Richard T. James and the rainbow spring the slinky When it comes to the 90s, we can’t help but nostalgic for the rainbow spring toy. This was invented by Richard T. James in 1943. He was a naval engineer and at that time, James was focusing on developing a system that could support and support sensitive parts of the ship. . This device has a spiral spring shape made from metal. In a time when he accidentally dropped a set of springs from a shelf, he noticed that it did not fall directly to the floor, but automatically bounced up and down, rolling many times through the shelves, and then plunging to the floor, stimulating the senses. James’s curiosity. And that was the beginning of his big and successful business idea. Originally slinky was manufactured using ferrous metal. James did not stop making improvements and turned Slinky into one of the hottest toys at that time. He sold over 100 million Slinkys in the first two years of production. When he kept the toy price at 1 USD (about 22,500 VND at current exchange rates), he made a revenue equivalent to 1 billion USD (more than 22,500 billion VND). In the 70s, a colorful plastic version of Slinky was born with the idea of ​​​​Betty-wife James. She took the prototype from the traditional Slinky and developed it into a product “expensive like hot cakes”. 4. Gary Dahl and his pet rock pet Rock Pet Rock’s success stemmed from a joke. The future founder of the company decided that it would be fun to have a stone as a pet! This idea became a ‘silver bullet’ in 1975 and brought Gary millions of dollars. The rocks are sold in small cardboard cribs, to allow ventilation and an extra straw nest for the little ones to feel comfortable. Buyers are taught how to care for the stone, how to walk it, and what to do if it gets sick or dies. And Pet Rock became popular again in 2012. 5. Byron Reese and Santa’s Mailing Service (SantaMail) Byron founded the company SantaMail in 2001. He set up an address in the North Pole (a town in Alaska) and sent letters to children from Santa Claus at the request of their parents. Since 2002, Santa Mail has been sending children’s individual letters with their names and a postmark from a town in the northernmost tip of Alaska. The cost of each service is $10. And 300,000 letters have been sent since SantaMail was founded, showing that this is a smart idea.