Popular Toy Invented By 12-Year-Old CEO Started At Age 5

Watch an episode of Shark Tank and see what happens when presenters cannot answer questions about the figures involved in operating their business.

During a recent airing of the Tamron Hall show Mia Monzidelis admitted math was not her strong suit. But she must know the key figures involved with her Power Pony invention, such as how much her product will cost, landed from overseas, and how much to charge wholesale so that retailers can mark it up for resale.

Note the figures cited below are guesstimates.

In the toy industry the average profit is 23-25 percent based on what?  Mia knows the answer.

Consider the surprise that Mia gave to the delighted audience… beats a T-shirt!  If there are 250- to 350 audience members, says TV Tickets, and each receives a value of $200 that is a sizable figure.

But how many more products will sell because of that free offering?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gutN3cNkuA?feature=oembed&w=1200&h=675]

Sources

TV Taping.com
https://www.tvtaping.com/tvshows/tamron-hall

Toy Association.org
https://www.toyassociation.org/ta/research/data/u-s-sales-data/toys/research-and-data/data/us-sales-data.aspx#:~:text=Annual%20U.S.%20Sales%20Data,in%202022%20compared%20to%202019.

Power Pony.com/how it works.
https://powerpony.com/pages/how-it-works

Making Something From Nothing: Mia Monzidelis
Of Power Pony On How To Go From Idea To Launch
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis May 13, 2022
Medium.com




Cost of Bad Business Services Highlighted on Antiques Roadshow

The recent airing of Antiques Roadshow (AR) underscores how important it is to evaluate a business or professional service provider… in all fields.

Not everyone despite their educational background or business presence may be as knowledgeable and render service…well.

The theme of the AR episode showcased how visitors burst into tears upon hearing the appraisal value of the item they brought. In the example below, I’m certain if the person who originally sold the family heirloom, a Tiffany lamp, watched the episode, she would have wept more.

The original owner took her heirloom to two different appraisers and based on their opinions decided to sell it for $125 back in the late 1960s.

A costly mistake is an understatement.

Trust sometimes cancels out due diligence even when due diligence is taken.  In the example below, the credentials and experience of the appraisers could not have been top-drawer. Consulting Tiffany might have been helpful and a membership association of certified appraisers.

While costly for consumers, even more damaging when a self-employed consumer consults a business or service provider or manufacturer who turns out to be subpar.

Source

PBS.org
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/season/4/tampa-fl/appraisals/tiffany-lamp-ca-1905–/




The Nicholas Brothers Danced like Superheroes to Jumpin Jive

If superheroes danced, they might use the moves performed by the late Fayard and Harold Nicholas in the 1940s film Stormy Weather. Today, some believe Computer Generated Imagery may be the only way to duplicate their filmed dance sequences.

Many people including, Fred Astaire, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Gregory Hines were fans. According to Fred Astaire, the dance sequence in Stormy Weather was the finest film sequence he had ever seen.

The Nicholas Brothers were honored by the Kennedy Center in 1991 for their body of work spanning six decades.

Back Story

What is also so incredible about the dance sequence in Stormy Weather is that it all started with a little boy, Fayard Nicholas, watching famous Black entertainers perform in theatres, imitating their performances and teaching himself then his siblings how to dance.

The color movie clip below featuring Fayard, and his younger brother Harold, seven years his junior, showcases two performers who had no formal training: no film rehearsal, one take.

Starting in infancy, baby Fayard accompanied his parents, college educated musicians to their theatre jobs where he learned a lot about show business in his early youth (youth-ling?). The black and white video clip below underscores his childhood progress and that of his pupil, his younger brother Harold.

Exposing a toddler to a creative environment had jaw dropping results in this case. Both brothers were talented. But Fayard Nicholas in addition to the natural ability of a dancer, exhibited creative ability and teaching skill in the genius range.

In the film, Cab Calloway is the host and singer, crooning “Jumpin Jive” with his orchestra. Calloway, the first African American musician to sell one million records introduces the Nicholas brothers and then humorously bops out of the scene.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoMbeDhG9fU?feature=oembed&w=1200&h=900]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IBteauWsHA?feature=oembed&w=1200&h=675]

Sources

How Hollywood Hid the Nicholas Brothers | ILLUMINATION (medium.com)

Mean feet: the tap-dancing duo who were Fred Astaire’s heroes | Dance | The Guardian

Dancing Joy: The Story of the Nicholas Brothers | by Charlene DeKalb | Fanfare | Medium
The brothers appear at about 4:57 of the official YouTube Video for Janet Jackson’s Alright released in 1989.

The Unbelievable Fact About The Nicholas Brothers’ Stormy Weather Dance Routine (grunge.com)

Nicholas Brothers | Biographies, Movies, & Facts | Britannica

Kennedy Center Honors – 1991 | Winners & Nominees (awardsandwinners.com)

Nicholas Brothers – The Official Licensing Website of Nicholas Brothers (cmgww.com)

Selected Reactions on Youtube

What in the World! First Time Hearing Jumpin Jive – Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers
Rob Squad, Jay and Amber Robinson. Includes hysterical coach comments. Black and white movie clip, 10:44.

Cartier Family: Jumpin Jive – Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers.
Five African American male college students uploaded a YouTube video three days ago.  Color movie clip.  Very funny reaction. Includes some adult language content, 9:43.

First Time Hearing Jumpin Jive Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers.
Rome Life Reactions, 9:14. Includes large size black and white video.

Twins the New Trend

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_ZrMpfDXFo?start=22&feature=oembed&w=1200&h=675]

 




Gratitude Through the Eyes of a 12-Year-Old

This a heartwarming and tearful reminder about the importance of gratitude from a formerly homeless 12-year-old boy from Sierra Leone. Abraham, who with his blood brother were adopted lives with his new family in the US.

Abraham experienced his first ever birthday cake, a concept which he was not familiar and offers an original point of view about the deeper meaning of his cake and gratitude.

His point of view is well worth remembering year-round.

Wooden table outdoors with leaves and small orange fruit or veggies

Source

CBSnews.com Steve Hartman on the road, July 1, 2022: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/steve-hartman-on-the-road-abraham-birthday-celebration-adoption-sierra-leone/




Finding Your Niche: Book Brochure

Download the brochure by clicking the link below.
Finding Your Niche Brochure 6×9 October 2022



Restaurant Discrimination or Bad Service: The Difference

Regardless of race, color, or creed, restaurant diners experience lousy service.  Poor customer service is defined, in part, as unmet customer expectations. Or what the customer expected was not received.

When a diner believes bad service is discriminatory, other people may disagree. Terrible customer service may only indicate an establishment’s chaotic business management.

How patrons receive service determines the difference between poor service and discrimination.  Discrimination may not be applicable when all patrons receive terrible service. But if terrible service or treatment is directed toward a specific person or group of a certain race or ethnicity,  the service or lack thereof may be discriminatory.

A recent article on Medium by G. Correia revealed his experience when he took his teen son to a specialty restaurant for a hamburger but left after an hours-long wait without being served.

“As we left, the chef and the hostess, both unable to hide their exuberance, smiled and waved with giddiness.” Correia wrote.

Correia’s article includes an overlooked issue for those without firsthand experience: how to act carefully despite bad service to avoid fueling the situation in the presence of a son or daughter.  Insightful and infuriating.

While visiting a restaurant with a teen or preteen, I might consider carrying a paperback book to pull out and engage in quick discussion after encountering questionable service. Is this treatment terrible, or is it discriminatory? A fill-in checklist for jotting down the restaurant service experience and activities observed would be included. Correia’s article inspired me to offer Restaurant Reviewing later this month.

A parent could ask their son or daughter to write an honest restaurant review of 2-4 sentences about their dining experience and share it on social media.  (Without naming the Restaurant but giving a general location and food specialty to minimize the risk of being sued).

The paperback journal titled Restaurant Reviewing: Understanding and writing about awful food service in a multi-cultural society would include local ordinances and state laws for the appropriate region. Update: Cover completed and interior this month.

And perhaps creating an app or website that collects the positive dining experiences of multicultural diners across the country might be one answer.

Hamburger artistically displayed vertically in midair

Sources

Bad service or no service is part of the Black experience, and inevitable blatant racism doesn’t even take a break for a moment so you can enjoy dinner. G Correia, October 23, 2021: https://medium.com/illumination-curated/bad-service-or-no-service-is-part-of-the-black-experience-and-inevitable-ccf4cdb23ead

Here is my related article on Medium: https://medium.com/illumination/restaurant-racism-vs-bad-service-eb7f837b83c7




Naming a New Business Is No Joke

Steve Harvey, Family Feud host

Comedian and Family Feud host, Steve Harvey, dumbfounded by the name of a contestant’s new startup.

Harvey uses humor to tell the contestant that the name is a confusing choice. The exchange garnered a lot of laughter. But contestant Jesse Lehrman explained she loves animals, especially moose,  and altered the word anonymous to name her startup,  Anonymoose!

Hmm.

What kind of business do you think anonymous suggests? Home Rentals? Animal chocolate Parfaits? Moose Rentals? Children’s Book editing? Book author?  Other? See the answer at end of the post.

Check out the article by Diane Sullivan on Medium What’s in a name: The tricky problem of choosing a name for your business. Sullivan, a former scientist, and corporate employee renamed her blog for writers and outlined her strategy but adds suggestions not found in other articles. Insightful tips for non-blog-related startups are included.

“Create a Job Description for the Name. The first step is to imagine that the name you are deciding upon is a real person and describe the job it has to do.” — Diane Sullivan

Sources

Family Feud Videos: https://www.facebook.com/FamilyFeud/videos/1209148456220706/

BetterMarketing.pub: https://bettermarketing.pub/whats-in-a-name-3b6f0a5ef7e4

What’s in a Name?  The tricky problem of choosing a name for your business, June 25, 2021, Medium


Answer:
Housing rentals




Harlem Globetrotters Moving Company

GEICO, first known as The Government Employee’s Insurance Company, was started by Leo and Lillian Goodwin during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Today, GEICO is famous for its award-winning Gecko mascot, and a series of humor-filled commercials on TV and radio.

In the current ad, a couple hires the wrong moving company.  And a good time and moving violations are had by all—almost all.

GEICO’S humorous TV commercial features the Harlem Globetrotters as movers and underscores why expertise in one field may mean little in another field of work. And why certain skills or talents may not transfer to another field.

Four rows across and down of deflated basketballs

Female Harlem Globetrotter prepares to fire folded clothing across a rooms

Sources

Geico.com/about: https://www.geico.com/about/corporate/history-the-full-story

https://www.ispot.tv.a/tQEB/geico-harlem-globetrotters-moving-company: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/tQEB/geico-harlem-globetrotters-moving-company

 




Burros Ate It All Up

After leaving the military in the 1940s, E. Joseph Cossman had a family to support but little money.
He first got the idea to buy and sell soap to war-torn European countries. No easy feat.

Cossman’s edge-of-the-seat account appeared in his classic book How I Made a Million Dollars in Mail Order. And he went on to become a multi-millionaire by selling novelty products, such as the potato spud gun and an ant farm. And teaching other people entrepreneurial skills.  His hardcover first edition book from the ’60s can be found on many library shelves, but not so much online.

The following story was cut out of updated editions.

Seems the Bureau of Land Management was allowing the sales of burros and an enterprising entrepreneur decided to buy and sell the animals to consumers across the US and ship them by railroad cars.

Destination address tags were placed individually on a cord around each animal’s neck and the large group of burros was delivered to the train station and loaded into railroad containers.

It was so simple.

Until a few nights later, a frantic call came from a train station agent: the burros had arrived across the country but where were they going?

While in transit and desiring a snack, all the burros ate each other’s tags off.
And there was no way to tell where to send them.

Three burros with brown and white noses stare through wired fence side by side

Sources

Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Bureau is still in operation. Check out Facebook photos. https://d.facebook.com/BLMWildHorseandBurro/photos/a.143505385664636/4711427015539094/?type=3&__tn__=EH-R

E.J. Cossman, 84; Ant Farm, Spud Gun Made Him Fortune, by Myrna Oliver, December 19, 2002, LA Times Archive: https://archive.ph/YwNGA




Racial Protests Exposed Costly Trademark Dispute For Solo Creator

Regardless of race, the lawsuit described below likely caused many solos, small, new, and established trademark owners to check their marks because the issue of what caused the suit in the first place can happen in any industry.

“Band Lady A versus Singer Lady A: How racial protest exposed a costly slip-up by artists in the music industry” by Dee Adams on Medium details overlooked issues.

Although the lawsuit has been presented from a racial angle, the primary issue is not about race.
Instead, the lesson of the lawsuit for others is how one may overlook follow-up steps after registering a mark.

The racial controversy slant was triggered by a famous band formerly known as Lady Antellebum who used race for public relations purposes with disastrous results.
“On June 11, the country trio changed its name to Lady A, saying that they were, in retrospect, “regretful and embarrassed” that they hadn’t considered the loaded and racist history of “antebellum.” This was despite the fact that journalists had challenged them about it for years.”  NPR, July 9, 2020

Painting of culture and music instruments

Sources

The preceding post is a  short version of the original article. The longer version was hand-picked by the tech editor of Medium’s Illumination-Curated for inclusion in their publication.

Medium.com/illumination-curated, Sept. 3, 2021
https://medium.com/illumination-curated/hand-picked-articles-13-10033f922e36

Medium.com/Band A Versus Singer Lady A, Dee Adams, Sept. 2, 2021
https://medium.com/illumination/band-lady-a-versus-singer-lady-a-de9733d4961a 

Npr.org/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice
https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/07/09/889355126/lady-a-the-band-sues-lady-a-the-singer