Hello my curious! Be all welcome to a new video.
In this video I have prepared a list for you
with 10 crazy inventions that earned millions of dollars.
From a small portable pet that became popular during the 90's
even some pillows that have a rather curious shape
which are sold in Japan like hot cakes.
This does sound interesting, right?
Only before I start with the topic I have a little question for you.
In my previous video, the one about people who have strange pets,
I told you about a man who lives in Tokyo
who has a rather curious pet...
Do you happen to remember what kind of pet he has?
If you watched my previous video you probably already know the answer,
if not, well, you're screwed.
Here I am going to leave these four options on your screen,
choose the one you think is correct and write it down here in the comments right now,
at the end of the video I'm going to tell you what pet this man has
and let's see if you got your answer right, okay?
All right, make yourself comfortable and enjoy it, bro.
I'm Curious Ben, and… How curious are you?
This funny singing fish is called Big Mouth Billy Bass
first came onto the market in 1999
and it was a bestseller for several years.
The fish is a kind of toy that shakes its tail when turned on
and sings songs moving the mouth.
It is quite curious and funny, but it does nothing more than that.
Surprisingly, the toy sold like hot cakes
during Christmas 1999 and 2000,
and is said to have generated over $100,000,000 USD in sales over time, can you believe it?
The toy was invented by this man named Joe Pellettieri,
a toy designer and financial expert.
In 1999, when he invented this fish that seems possessed,
he worked for Gemmy Industries,
a small toy company based in Texas,
At first Billy fish was only sold in small shops,
but thanks to its popularity it began to be sold in large stores such as Walmart or Target.
In the year 2000 the toy became so popular that even Queen Elizabeth had one.
Although there are no official figures
it is said that they generated more than $100,000,000 USD in sales with this singing fish,
making it one of the most successful toys of all time.
Surely you have already seen this spring, or am I wrong?
Its name is Slinky.
The Slinky was invented in the year 1943
by a man named Richard James in America,
One day that year Richard was working with some tools in his workshop
when one of the springs that he had on his table fell to the ground
and the idea for the toy was born.
Richard discussed the idea with his wife
and together they spent the next two years of his life shaping the first prototype,
after several designs they created the Slinky that we all know.
At Christmas of the year 1945
managed to sell in just one hour the 400 units they had created,
It was at that moment that they discovered that their invention had incredible potential,
the kids loved the spring and seemed to have a lot of fun with the toy,
over the years it is estimated that they sold millions of these around the world
turning his family into millionaires.
In the 1960s its creator, Richard James,
he made some bad financial decisions that almost bankrupted him,
but luckily his wife was much wiser with money and they managed to get out of it.
Betty James, his wife, was in charge not only of running the business,
but she began to create new products with the idea of ​​the spring
increasing the family wealth.
In the mid-1970s, this man named Gary Dahl
became a millionaire selling rocks, can you believe it?
One day in 1974 Gary was talking with his friends
about how complicated and stressful it was to keep his pets,
they smashed the furniture in the house,
make everything dirty and were very noisy at times.
It was at that moment that Gary came up with the idea of ​​the perfect pet, a rock.
The rocks don't need to be fed,
they don't get in the way and you don't have to clean up the poop...
And so the 'Pet Rock' was born, one of the craziest inventions in history.
The 'Pet Rock' was basically a rock in a box
that came with an instruction manual.
You may be wondering why on earth you need an instruction manual
to care for a rock, right?
That was the funny part of all this.
People actually bought the 'Pet Rock' because of the instruction manual,
because it was pretty funny.
In 1975 these rocks were selling for about $4 USD
which would be about $15 USD in our time.
Would you pay $15 USD for a rock?
I doubt it.
But people thought it was such a funny invention
that they were willing to pay for it.
It is estimated that in 1975 Gary sold more than 5,000,000 stones
in different supermarket chains in the United States,
becoming a millionaire in a few months.
- I'm hungry!
Benny, where do you think you're going with those rocks?
This pillow was a bestseller for several years in Japan,
its name is 'Hizamakura', which basically translates to
'knee-shaped pillow'.
The people who bought them, who were mostly single,
they ensured that the pillows were quite comfortable and realistic.
You felt as if you were actually lying on legs
which generated a comfortable feeling.
For that sensation and for its unusual design
the 'Hizamakura' became a bestseller for several years
generating millions of dollars in profits.
The creativity of the Japanese is quite amazing,
I think we all know that
they have all kinds of crazy products that you won't find in other parts of the world,
one of those is the Hizamakura.
This pillow in the shape of female legs not only has a curious design,
it is also quite comfortable.
In 2013 some photographs of this invention became very popular on the internet
and people started buying them in droves,
especially singles who, not having a couple to rest on for a few minutes after a tiring day,
they used the pillow shaped like legs.
They made two models, one with a red skirt and one with a black skirt,
which were quite short, by the way.
Pillow material conforms to the shape of your head
and when you touch it it feels quite soft and very comfortable.
The product was sold in some stores in the city of Tokyo
and even in some airports.
In recent years the popularity of these pillows began to decline,
but in its best months it generated millions of dollars in profits for its creators.
These multi-colored orthopedic shoes
are one of the most curious and millionaire inventions in history,
were invented by three friends who came up with the great idea
of comfortable shoes for days at the beach.
After thinking a lot about the idea, the Crocs that we all know today were born.
Its first version came out in 2002
and over time it became one of the most lucrative inventions of all time.
In their first year of sales they earned close to $1,000,000 USD,
but that's not surprising,
just 3 years later, in 2006,
earned close to $300,000,000 USD in a single year
and sales have not dropped, they continue to hold up,
they continue to make a lot of money for their invention.
According to their creators, this success is thanks to the material from which they are made,
which is very comfortable and removes bad foot odours.
Many imitations of these shoes have come out,
but none have managed to replicate the material from which the originals are made,
that is why people are willing to pay what it is worth.
Although many do not like its design
the truth is that they are one of the best-selling footwear brands in the world,
In 2021 alone, the company entered close to $2,000,000,000 USD in sales.
This little egg-shaped thing is a 'Tamagotchi',
maybe the little ones who are watching this video
have never seen one of these before.
But in the 90's
the 'Tamagotchi' were one of the favorite toys of children and young people of the time,
they were basically a virtual pet that you had to take care of and feed all day,
The worst of all is that if you didn't take care of it, it would die.
The toy was created in 1996 by a woman named Aki Maita,
a 31-year-old Japanese woman
who at the time worked for the Bandai company,
in a few weeks the Tamagotchi became a bestseller,
the children of the time became addicted to this toy,
in some schools they even banned them because you were constantly distracted.
The pet demanded your attention all day,
you could feed it, play with it, bathe it, scold it and other things...
If you did it right your Tamagotchi grew up happy and healthy,
but if you did it wrong it would get in a bad mood
and in the worst case the pet died.
The kids got addicted to this stuff,
they had to keep an eye on the virtual pet all the time
and that became a big problem,
but despite that, this thing was one of the best selling toys for a couple of years,
over time several versions were created generating millions of dollars in profits.
One morning in the year 1991
a man named Jay Sorensen had an accident with a cup of coffee,
he couldn't hold it right because it was too hot
and fell on top of him leaving some painful burns.
Jay quickly realized that all coffee shops did the same thing,
they gave you hot coffee in glasses that did not have enough protection,
it was at that moment that he thought of a millionaire idea
that would change his life forever.
Have you seen that little piece of cardboard that covers coffee cups in most coffee shops?
That was Jay Sorensen's invention.
At first he tried several prototypes of this case,
but they didn't work
until one fine day he managed to create a cardboard cover that insulated the heat
and you no longer burned when holding the coffee in your hands.
His idea seemed very interesting to the coffee shops in the area
and he managed to sign several contracts to sell his covers.
Then, as time went on,
these covers were present in most coffee shops around the world.
Although there are no accurate statistics on how much money Jay made from his invention,
rest assured that this man became a millionaire.
In August of the year 2005
a guy named Alex Tew created a website with which he earned $1,000,000 USD,
the name of that website was milliondollarhomepage.com
which in other languages is something like 'the million dollar page'.
The website was like a giant wall where important people and companies
bought a space to advertise,
it was divided into 1,037,100 pixels and each pixel was sold for a dollar.
When Alex managed to sell all the space on his website
he had won a million dollars.
Although the idea of ​​a website like this may sound silly to some people
in 2005 his project was quite original and revolutionary,
and people and companies were willing to pay to appear on this website.
Although the first few weeks were not so lucrative for Alex's project
since he did not sell any space,
little by little they began to talk about his website in different popular forums of the time.
The popularity of the website started to get bigger and finally it managed to sell everything,
causing Alex to become a millionaire.
This project did not generate so many millions
like the other projects we have talked about in this video,
but $1,000,000 USD is not a negligible figure at all.
This thing that looks like a great dress,
popularly known as the 'comfy blanket'
it is a kind of blanket with sleeves that has sold millions of dollars since its creation.
The 'comfy blanket' is quite comfortable,
keeps you warm during cold days
and allows you to continue doing your activities
since you have total freedom to use your hands.
Unlike a conventional blanket
where your hands are under the blanket without you being able to use them,
with the 'comfy blanket' you can eat, type on your computer
or use your phone while you are still covered and warm.
The product has no more science,
it is a blanket with sleeves made of a very comfortable material,
but it solves a problem and that's what's important.
Its creators are now millionaires, obviously.
It is a great invention for cold days,
During that time sales increase a lot around the world.
The popularity of this invention exploded in 2009
thanks to people who made videos making fun of this product,
those jokes gave a lot of publicity to the 'comfy blanket'
and many people thought it was a great invention.
By early 2009, more than 20,000,000 'comfy blankets' had been sold worldwide,
Over time, sales continued to grow
and today they even have 'comfy blankets' for pets...
- Screw you!
Benny, I'm not going to buy you 500 'comfy blanket'.
The smiley face was created by a man named Harvey Ball in the 1960s,
currently this face has been used in different products and advertising campaigns,
and every year millions of dollars are sold thanks to this happy face.
Curiously, its creator only received $45 USD for his creation.
The normal thing is that after creating something so popular you earn a lot of money
and your life changes forever,
but that is not the case with Harvey Ball,
his creation did not make him a millionaire,
he only received a payment of $45 USD in 1963 and nothing more.
It turns out that a company commissioned Harvey to create a face
so that it could be printed on pins, cards and posters...
And so, in a couple of days, he brought to life the smiley face
with the yellow background that we all know,
he received his payment for the work,
but it was never registered by anyone in the intellectual property office,
this meant that over the years different companies took advantage of the situation
and created products with the smiley face
earning millions of dollars along the way
without the need to pay royalties to anyone because it was never registered.
Now the smiley face is a recognized symbol around the world,
but its creator only made a few dollars,
if he had registered it he would surely have become a man with a lot of money.
And that's all for today!
This video was super good, right?
But if you liked it as much as I did
you should give a thumbs up right now
because that helps me a lot to know if you really enjoyed it.
If you want to see another video with curious inventions that generated millions of dollars...
You already know what to do.
The answer to the question at the beginning of the video is option 'B',
African spurred tortoise.
That man who lives in Tokyo goes for a walk with his turtle every afternoon
and they are very good friends,
he's had it since he was a baby.
If you want to see a video with people who have quite curious pets
up here I am going to leave you a link so that you can go directly to see it right now.
And as I always tell you at the end,
before you go don't forget to share this video with all your friends
so that the family of curious people continues to grow
and follow me on social networks so you can learn new curiosities every day.
Now take a look at another of my 'tops' by clicking on one of those pretty little windows
you see on your screen right now.
And let the show go on!
See you in the next one, bye.
♪♪♪