Mr. Infomercial: The Early Years of Ron Popeil
Mr. Infomercial: The Early Years of Ron Popeil
That success is a long way from the life Popeil knew as a child. Born on May 3, 1935 in New York City, Popeil’s parents divorced when he was just three years old. In what would mark the beginning of a difficult childhood for the future salesman, Popeil and his 17-month older brother, Jerry, were sent off to a boarding school in upstate New York. They had little to no contact with their family, until four years later, when their grandparents came to pick them up and take them back to their house in Florida.
Popeil’s grandfather was a Polish immigrant with few redeeming qualities, who would frequently beat Popeil and his brother. As a result, Popeil’s time with his grand parents was filled with few happy memories. He calls it a case of being “out of the frying pan and into the fire.” When he was 10 years old, Popeil moved with his grandparents to Chicago, but took the first chance he could to move out on his own at the age of 16.
Popeil’s father, Samuel, was an inventor who sold his products through some of the major department stores throughout the U.S. Despite their rocky relationship, Popeil went to work for his father after moving out, performing live demonstrations of his products to in store customers. “I used to drum up business for my father’s company,” he says. “Because sales were significant the stores would jump on the bandwagon and order more products.”
Then one day, Popeil decided to take a walk along Maxwell Street in Chicago, one of the city’s major tourist attractions where salesmen from all walks of life were busy hawking their wares. “The first time I went there the proverbial light bulb went on in my head,” he recalls. “I saw all these people selling products, making sales, pocketing money, and my mind went racing. I can do what they’re doing, I thought, but I think I can do it better than they can.”
Popeil immediately went back to his father’s factory and bought a range of kitchen products from him at wholesale price. The next Sunday, he returned to Maxwell Street to try his luck. “I talked, I yelled, I hawked, and it worked!” he exclaims. “I was stuffing money into my pockets, more money than I had ever seen in my life.” After living for 16 years in a house without love, Popeil says he finally found a way to connect with others through sales.
It was the start of something big for the eager, young Popeil.
Mr Infomercial The Early Years of Ron Popeil
Like this article? Share it with your friends
You may not know him by name, but chances are if you have ever had a sleepless night and turned on the television, Ron Popeil has been there to keep you company. He is the king of the late night infomercial, and the man who made famous such catch phrases as “But wait, there’s more!” and “It slices! It dices!” But, Popeil is also more than that. Over the past forty years, Popeil has created for himself an empire. By inventing and selling over $2 billion worth of products, Popeil has turned his company, Ronco Teleproducts, into a global leader in direct response marketing.
That success is a long way from the life Popeil knew as a child. Born on May 3, 1935 in New York City, Popeil’s parents divorced when he was just three years old. In what would mark the beginning of a difficult childhood for the future salesman, Popeil and his 17-month older brother, Jerry, were sent off to a boarding school in upstate New York. They had little to no contact with their family, until four years later, when their grandparents came to pick them up and take them back to their house in Florida.
Popeil’s grandfather was a Polish immigrant with few redeeming qualities, who would frequently beat Popeil and his brother. As a result, Popeil’s time with his grand parents was filled with few happy memories. He calls it a case of being “out of the frying pan and into the fire.” When he was 10 years old, Popeil moved with his grandparents to Chicago, but took the first chance he could to move out on his own at the age of 16.
Popeil’s father, Samuel, was an inventor who sold his products through some of the major department stores throughout the U.S. Despite their rocky relationship, Popeil went to work for his father after moving out, performing live demonstrations of his products to in store customers. “I used to drum up business for my father’s company,” he says. “Because sales were significant the stores would jump on the bandwagon and order more products.”
Then one day, Popeil decided to take a walk along Maxwell Street in Chicago, one of the city’s major tourist attractions where salesmen from all walks of life were busy hawking their wares. “The first time I went there the proverbial light bulb went on in my head,” he recalls. “I saw all these people selling products, making sales, pocketing money, and my mind went racing. I can do what they’re doing, I thought, but I think I can do it better than they can.”
Popeil immediately went back to his father’s factory and bought a range of kitchen products from him at wholesale price. The next Sunday, he returned to Maxwell Street to try his luck. “I talked, I yelled, I hawked, and it worked!” he exclaims. “I was stuffing money into my pockets, more money than I had ever seen in my life.” After living for 16 years in a house without love, Popeil says he finally found a way to connect with others through sales.
It was the start of something big for the eager, young Popeil.
Mr Infomercial The Early Years of Ron Popeil
Like this article? Share it with your friends
| |||
 |
No article feedback found. | ||
|
Leave Your Feedback | ||
|
|||
 Lesson #2: Use Subtle Marketing to Evoke a Strong Message
| |||
 Popeil is one of the modern mavens of marketing. From his experience selling on the nitty-gritty streets of Chicago, to his more mainstream infomercials, Popeil came to understand just what would make people buy his... |
|||
|
Mr. Infomercial: The Early Years of Ron Popeil
| |||
| You may not know him by name, but chances are if you have ever had a sleepless night and turned on the television, Ron Popeil has been there to keep you company. He is the king of the late night infomercial, and the... |
|||
|
The Perpetual Pitchman: How Popeil Became a Multi-Millionaire
| |||
| There are some who say that what Popeil has been able to accomplish in his career is nothing short of magic. To create an empire out of seemingly nondescript kitchen wares is without a doubt an impressive feat. It w... |
|||
|
Lesson #5: Dogged Persistence Makes the Best Pitchman
| |||
| Popeil was just sixteen years old when he began selling his father’s products on Chicago’s infamous Maxwell Street. His workday would start at 5 a.m., when he used to arrive at the market and spend one hour cutting ... |
|||
|
Lesson #1: Make the Product the Star of the Show
| |||
| There really was not much to Ron Popeil’s Veg-O-Matic. You took a vegetable of your choice, put it through the machine’s blades, and you immediately had vegetable slices. But, if it was such a simple and transparent... |
|||
| |||
Michel NerayMichel Neray has over 25 years of experience as an award-winning copywriter, an Internet pioneer, a tradeshow pitchman and a senior sales and marketing executive. An online pioneer, he was one of the first marketing professionals to embrace the Internet by building websites as early as 1993. In 1994, Michel co-authored a book entitled "The Great Crossover: Personal Confidence in the Age of the Microchip", which made it to Jack Canfield's Achiever's Recommended Reading List. Michel founded Portfolios.com in 1995, the world's first online source directory for creative professionals and one of the first websites based on community generated content. Since creating The Essential Message in 2003, Michel has helped thousands of independent professionals and entrepreneurs as well as growing corporations find a better way to differentiate, position and brand themselves. In 2005, his chapter "Everything Starts With A Conversation" was selected as the lead for the book, "Sales Gurus Speak Out" and re-published in 2008 for 'Awakening The Workplace Volume 3'. He is also a co-author of "In the Company of Leaders" (2008) with 40 top North American leadership experts. - Visit Michel Neray's Website |
|||
Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|||
Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
|||
Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
|||
|
Joe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: http://www.business901.com Web/Blog: http://www.FundingYourNonprofit.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/business901 – Linked In http://www.twitter.com/business901 – Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
|||
Bernard ReberBack in late 1992, MS Access hit the streets. About that time the company I managed needed new software to handle their growing client base and I decided to try this new product. I had little difficulty writing and adapting a database to suit us and discovered a hidden talent for programming. A business was born. With business studies and 25 years of management experience in three different countries under my belt, I could offer a unique combination of skills and my customers agreed. From these humble beginnings my software 'invoiceit' emerged in 1999 and has since been taken to 49 states (hello Wyoming, won't you join us?), all across Canada and more than 70 other countries. From the very beginning the program included cashbook accounting, the simplest form of keeping financial business records. The Dictionary.com defines 'cashbook' as "A 'book' in which to record money received and paid out". For 'book' substitute 'simple software' and that's what I'm about. Now I have published Simple Accounting, an inexpensive spreadsheet solution which even you can master. For just $14.95 it costs less than a takeout meal! More at http://www.scrambled-card.com/simple_accounting_main.htm - Visit Bernard Reber's Website |
|||
John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
|||
Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
 |
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
 |
 | ||
 |
||
|
||
|
||
|
| ||
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 |
 Article Syndication Why Business Owners Quit Networking To Get Results Business Plan Sample Making It Happen |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Productivity Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
 |
Top 50 HR Blogs 2009
Top 50 HR Blogs 2009 | |
| ||
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
||||||||||
