Summary
Overview
John Osher, a serial entrepreneur, shares his remarkable journey from selling earrings and spinning lollipops to creating the revolutionary Spin Brush electric toothbrush. After selling previous businesses to Gerber and Hasbro, John developed a $5 electric toothbrush that disrupted the industry and sold to Procter & Gamble for $475 million just two years after launch. His story demonstrates how diverse experiences, creative problem-solving, and strategic thinking can lead to extraordinary success.
Early Entrepreneurial Spirit and the Earring Business
John Osher began his entrepreneurial journey in the 1960s while attending university, opening an earring store near the University of Cincinnati. He learned a crucial business lesson early on: pricing should be based on market value, not cost. By selling 19-cent earrings for $4.99 instead of 39 cents like competitors, he discovered that perceived value often trumps actual cost, a principle that guided his entire career.
- Opened an earring store in a tiny shoeshine parlor near University of Cincinnati during the hippie era when ear piercing became popular
- Bought earrings for 19 cents in New York and sold them for $4.99 while competitors sold similar items for 39 cents and failed
- Learned the fundamental lesson that pricing should be based on what the market will pay, not what you paid for the product
" I charged $4.99 for my 19-cent earrings. Next door to me was a store called Stop and Shop, and they had very much of the same earrings I had. And they bought them also for 19 cents, but they sold them for 39 cents, you know, doubling their money. They sold nothing. Everyone bought my earrings at $4.99. "
" One of the things I tried to do with every business was to become rich within the context of my life. So $6,000 as a college student at that point in my life, that was wealthy. "
Spiritual Journey and Learning Practical Skills
After his early business ventures, John spent five to six years in a spiritual commune in upstate New York studying the philosophy of George Gurdjieff. During this time, he learned construction trades including plumbing and carpentry—skills he never expected to have growing up as a doctor's son. These practical abilities would prove invaluable in his future product development career, teaching him he could be good at things outside his expected realm.
- Joined a spiritual commune studying Gurdjieff's philosophy about humans being 'asleep' and needing to wake up to deeper truths
- Learned construction trades including plumbing and carpentry to support the community, discovering unexpected aptitudes
- Made more money than others in the group as a plumber, becoming 'rich within the context' of his life at that time
" I never took a second to fear what am I going to do next or how am I going to make a living. And so I can look back at it and say, well, why didn't I? I should have been afraid, but I just didn't. "
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