- The one thing I've learned over the years
is that you can't be afraid of failing.
In fact on my show when I help businesses
I fail all the time.
I'm normally shy to show those moments
but tonight I'm going to make an exception.
So let's take a look now at some of my greatest failures.
One of my least popular ideas was
for a completely germ-free hot dog stand.
At outdoor food carts it's easy for germs
to transfer from money to your food
so to completely eliminate this I designed
a hands-free method to apply condiments to the wiener.
Also, there would be a second employee
whose only job is to handle the money.
- What are you doing with the wallet?
- We're doing a germ-free experience
so you don't handle your own money.
- [Customer] Oh really?
- [Nathan Voiceover] But people were a bit annoyed
with the money handling part.
- Can I have my wallet back?
- And the hands-free onion dispenser
proved to be problematic as well.
So you have to up, one up one down,
and when it hits the table the onions will fall.
- [Cart Owner] Drop it, keep droppin' it, up down, drop it.
- [Nathan] Harder. Fast.
- [Customer] This is not gonna work.
- That's nothing to do with the contraption,
if you drop a hot dog you drop a hot dog.
The public just wasn't ready for
the germ-free hot dog experience.
So I laid the concept to rest.
Next, I had an idea for a tearless way
to tell a child that their pet has died,
to be an upsell service for an animal hospital.
The concept was to make a video of the pet
while it's still alive telling the child
it's in animal heaven now.
I hired the only voice actor that responded
to my Craigslist ad to be the dog,
but when we showed it to the owner's child--
(fanning harp music)
- Oh, it's me, Madi, I'm in heaven now.
So sorry I died, I miss you so much.
I'm happy here so I'm not coming home.
- No, she doesn't.
- No.
- Aw.
It's okay.
- [Nathan Voiceover] He hated his dog's voice.
Another flubbed idea.
Next, we all hate paying those pesky ATM fees
that charge us up to three dollars
for basically doing nothing.
So I designed an ATM that cleans your card during
the transaction so you get something for your money.
No transaction fee, just a card cleaning fee.
But my mistake was that the washing process took
almost seven minutes and people who were in a hurry
got a little frustrated.
It still surprised me because the machine
was doing a thorough job but even after all that,
people still didn't think their cards were clean enough.
- This is not clean.
- That looks cleaner.
- No, there's still dirt right there.
- [Nathan Voiceover] People just weren't as excited
about it as I had hoped.
And lastly, my favorite ideas don't just help with business,
they're good for the community as well.
So I approached a bar with an innovative way
to stop drunks from getting behind the wheel.
The concept was to have a street magician stationed
outside the bar performing a magic trick that allows him
to secretly test the Blood Alcohol Levels
of patrons as they leave.
And with my background in magic I offered to test it out.
- For my final trick I'm gonna need your keys.
- My keys?
- Yes, great, give the wand a blow.
(exhales)
Okay, a little bit harder, right into the top.
(hollow whistling)
Okay, and you are over the legal limit.
- [Man] Okay.
- Blood Alcohol so your keys are gone
and I cannot give them back to you.
- Okay.
- Sorry.
- [Nathan Voiceover] But that's when I realized
the flaw in my idea.
If I held onto his keys, and he took a cab,
the guy couldn't get into his apartment.
- Could I get my keys please?
- I can't because you're drunk.
- Please give me my keys.
- [Nathan Voiceover] And the only solution at that point
was to drive him home.
- You live far.
- I know I do.
- [Nathan Voiceover] Also once I got him home I realized
I couldn't just give him his keys until he was asleep,
or else he might go out and drive again.
- You need to see me sleeping?
- I need to see you fall asleep before I leave your keys
or else you might take them and go out again.
You don't brush your teeth before bed?
- Usually not, I usually brush my teeth in the morning.
- Really?
- Yup.
I know it's kinda gross but nobody else is really
paying attention to the way my breath smells.
- [Nathan Voiceover] So I had to put him to bed
and make sure he went to sleep.
♫ And if that looking glass gets broke
♫ Mama's gonna get you a billy goat
- [Nathan Voiceover] Before I left his keys.
So as you can see, even the greatest minds fail sometimes.
- [Customer] Ohh!