It
Fell Off The Shelf
By John P. Slosek, Jr. — The Insurance Coach™
I can remember back when I was five years old in the early
1960s. I can also remember seeing one of the first Slinky commercials on
black-and-white TV. It enamored me. I couldn't believe this big spring was
actually walking down a set of stairs. I asked Santa Claus for a Slinky for
Christmas. And some of you may remember that famous television jingle. Once you
heard that song, it had a way of staying in your head.
Here is the crazy thing: The Slinky was not invented on
purpose. It was invented by accident. It started during World War II. The year
was 1943. An American mechanical engineer named Richard James was working on a
problem involving ships. He was experimenting with springs that might help
stabilize sensitive instruments aboard ships while those ships were being
tossed around by rough seas.
Think about that for a moment.
Richard James wasn't sitting at a desk trying to invent
America's next great children's toy. He wasn't thinking about Christmas
morning. He wasn't thinking about toy stores. He certainly wasn't thinking
about a little kid somewhere years later asking Santa Claus to put one
underneath the Christmas tree. He was trying to solve an engineering problem. And
then something happened. One of those experimental springs was accidentally
knocked from a shelf. But instead of simply falling to the floor and lying
there...it moved. The spring appeared to "step" downward, moving in a
series of arcs before recoiling itself. Most people might have picked it up,
put it back on the shelf and gone back to work.
Richard James did not.
He watched it. And somewhere inside his mind came a
completely different thought: There might be something here. That may have been
the real invention. Not the spring. The spring already existed. The invention
was Richard James's ability to recognize possibility in something that wasn't
supposed to happen. In my opinion, this is where a successful spirit from
within steps in. You cannot teach it, hope for it or force it. And once it's
inside you, no one can take it away from you.
James didn't immediately throw the spring into a box, call
it a Slinky and become successful. He reportedly spent roughly two years
experimenting and refining the idea, working with the tension, balance and
materials necessary to make the spring consistently perform that remarkable
walking motion.
His wife, Betty James, became an important part of the story. She searched
through a dictionary looking for the right name and came across the word:
Slinky.
Richard and Betty borrowed $500 and went into business. They produced
approximately 400 Slinkys. And then they encountered another problem. People
were not particularly interested. Think about trying to explain the product
without demonstrating it.
"What are you selling?" "A spring." "What does it
do?" "Well...it moves." That
wasn't exactly the easiest sales presentation in the world. Some retailers
weren't impressed.
On November 27, 1945, Gimbels department store in
Philadelphia agreed to allow Richard James to demonstrate his strange new toy
during the Christmas shopping season. They set up an inclined surface. Richard
put the Slinky at the top, and shoppers finally got to see what this thing
could do. It walked. End over end. Down the incline. And suddenly everybody
understood what Richard James had seen when that spring accidentally fell years
earlier. He had brought approximately 400 Slinkys with him that day. The price?
One dollar apiece. Within about 90 minutes...all 400 were gone.
By the end of that 1945 Christmas season, roughly 20,000 had
been purchased. The accident had become a business. Eventually, Richard James
developed machinery capable of coiling approximately 80 feet of steel wire into
a Slinky in about ten seconds. What began as an accidental observation became
one of America's most recognizable toys.
By the Slinky's 50th anniversary in 1995, more than a
quarter-billion had reportedly been sold. Lifetime sales would eventually be
estimated at somewhere around 300 million Slinkys worldwide. And that little
spring went places Richard James probably never imagined.
Teachers used Slinkys to demonstrate waves and physics.
American troops in Vietnam used them as makeshift radio antennas.
NASA even used Slinkys in zero-gravity experiments aboard the Space Shuttle.
Think about that journey. From a spring accidentally falling off a shelf...to
children's staircases...to classrooms...to military communications...and
eventually into space.
James started with approximately 400 Slinkys at Gimbels and
ultimately saw his invention grow into a toy that would sell somewhere around
300 million worldwide.
Why? Because he paid attention to one small event. A spring falling off a
shelf.
Compare that first batch of 400 with estimated lifetime
sales of 300 million, and the number is remarkable: lifetime sales grew to
roughly 750,000 times the size of that first batch. Maybe there is a lesson
in that for all of us.
How many times in life does something happen that wasn't
part of the plan? Something goes wrong. Something falls apart. A door closes.
An idea doesn't work the way we thought it would. Our first instinct may be to
pick it up, put it back where it belongs and move on.
Richard James did something different. He watched. Perhaps
some of the greatest opportunities in our lives aren't going to arrive
according to plan. Maybe they will arrive disguised as mistakes, interruptions,
disappointments or accidents.
We just have to be willing to recognize them. Because...
Opportunity doesn't always knock on the door. Sometimes
it falls off a shelf.
John P. Slosek Jr. is the founder of Slosek Insurance Corporation, established in 1984 and still serving clients today. For more than 40 years, John has worked in the insurance industry helping individuals, families, and business owners better understand protection, risk, and financial responsibility. In addition to operating his and his wife’s insurance agency, John has spent over 30 years as a motivational and self-improvement speaker, focusing on common-sense life lessons, personal growth, and real-world decision-making. John is also the host of The Insurance Coach® radio show, heard every Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. on Classic Hits 97.7. www.classichits977.com (Hit Listen Live). The program combines insurance education, life experiences, motivational insight, and practical advice designed to help listeners make better decisions for themselves and their families. John proudly resides in Massachusetts with his family and enjoys spending time with his children, grandchildren and his two Golden Doodles Maggie & Morgan.
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