Dear Friends,
Several of you asked to hear more about “Más Pelotas Que Nadie,” which I mentioned in my newsletter last week. So here it is, a tale of tenacity and T-shirts, with evergreen business and life lessons.
In 1991, I moved from London to Madrid to start a business selling juggling balls. It was a vision that came to me in 1984 during the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. At the time, I thought that it would be a great idea to sell juggling balls during the festivities. I was in my second year of college and I never pulled off the idea. However, eight years later, the Olympics were scheduled to be in Barcelona, Spain, and the idea came back to life.
You may be wondering why I was interested in selling juggling balls. The summer after I graduated from high school, I attended a 4th of July party at the modest Malibu house of actor Ed Harris. Ed wasn’t famous yet but was about to be. That summer he was wrapping up filming The Right Stuff, in which he played astronaut John Glenn.
Someone at that party taught me how to juggle, and I loved it. After I learned, my juggling instructor handed me the three balls and said I could have them if I promised to teach other people how to juggle. I said, “Yes.” If only he knew how true I have been to my word, he would be amazed.
I took those three balls to college that Fall and ended up teaching everyone in my dorm how to juggle. There was a big demand for balls, so my seamstress roommate took apart one ball and created a pattern for making more balls, and that’s just what we did. We sold some of them, but mostly gave them away.
Fast forward to 1991. I was living in London and working as a journalist for ABC News. One day I was in Harrod’s department store and came across a set of juggling balls for sale. I sought out and met with the young entrepreneurs who were making and selling the balls, and decided that I would open my own business in Spain for the 1992 Olympics and World’s Fair. I had always wanted to learn Spanish, live in Spain and sell juggling balls! This was my chance, and my next adventure.
I lived in Madrid, with a secondary apartment in Sevilla, the location of the 1992 World’s Fair. As I share this story, it sounds implausible and somewhat absurd. Selling juggling balls in a foreign country where you don’t even speak the language? What part of that plan makes any sense? One of the first lessons from this experience is, if you have passion, you can do anything!
Barbara in the World’s Fair store
There were many lessons along the way. For instance, the more I “pushed” to get things done in Spain, the slower it would take. But, eventually, I picked the name, found a place to manufacture the boxes to hold the juggling balls, hired a designer and printer to produce the brochures and instructions for how to juggle and found a supplier of balls in Switzerland. I was all set!
I hired an American student, Bill, who spoke Spanish and became my right-hand man in the business. Bill and I made an appointment to meet with a buyer for El Corte Inglés, the largest department store in Spain, and we got an initial deal of something like 50 boxes. The buyer loved the name “Más Pelotas Que Nadie.” The double-entendre translates potently in Spanish.
Well, despite being featured in the Sunday magazine for El País, we didn’t sell a lot of jugging balls… at least not enough to make a living. Not in El Corte Inglés, nor in the small retail shops we supplied in Madrid and Barcelona and not at the World’s Fair in Seville, which became a notorious flop for the hundreds of businesses that invested in getting space at the event.
El País Valentine’s Day magazine spread
Our store at the World’s Fair was empty, but we DID have a cart that was positioned at the busiest location at the event. I hired two American students, in addition to Bill, who worked the cart–juggling, attracting a crowd and selling our goods. We sold a lot of other things too: clubs, other game items and “Más Pelotas Que Nadie” T-shirts.
One day, Bill called me from Sevilla and said a local guy stopped by the cart with a T-shirt and asked if we would sell it at the cart. I remember that call. I said, “Sure,” thinking, “What do we have to lose?”
The T-shirt was designed for the World’s Fair specifically. It said, “Hola! Estoy en la cola. Sevilla.” Which translates to “Hello! I’m in line. Sevilla.” It exactly captured the frustrating experience that people were having at the World’s Fair. Lines were unbearable, and, all-in-all, the Sevilla World’s Fair was considered a flop for attendees and businesses alike. Except for one thing, a clever T-shirt you could buy on a juggling cart.
The World’s Fair cart featuring the popular T-shirt
Yes, we sold thousands of those T-shirts. It was crazy. We could barely keep them stocked. We had to carry duffel bags of the T-shirts into the fair every day, and then take out duffel bags of cash. Dealing with the cash was one of the biggest issues, a great problem to have. The three Americans who worked the cart got a percentage of the profits. We all made a lot of money that summer!
John, Bill and Mark, the sales team
During that experience, I was reminded of something my father had once told me when I was ten or eleven years old. It was the mid-1970’s and pet rocks were a fad. I had asked my dad, “How do fads happen?” and he told me they are unpredictable, but one thing you need if you want to have a fad is a storefront. Often people start by selling one thing, but if you keep your mind open, you can try different things and hit on something that is really popular. I call that lesson “the T-shirt opportunity.”
I still live by lessons I learned during my Más Pelotas Que Nadie days:
- If you’re passionate about something, go for it, and be open to how it will evolve. Inevitably it will morph from your original idea.
- Keep your eyes open for unexpected opportunities. They are everywhere!
- Don’t push. You will get farther, faster with honey than with vinegar.
- Be generous. Share the wealth and the wealth will grow.
Con gratitud,
Barbara
CEO, ROI Communication
Chief Catalyst, Living ROI
P.S. – If you’d like a set of ROI Communication juggling balls, just reply to this email with your address and I’ll send them to you, along with instructions.
I created Living ROI as a passion, to share what I’ve learned and support others who want to live more authentic, joyful and fulfilling lives. Please visit our website.
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