Posted on 01/24/2022 2:04:12 PM PST by NohSpinZone
Patrick called his new business venture Holiday Magic and set up company headquarters at 616 Canal St. in San Rafael. Although the company sold cosmetics, its actual moneymaker was signing up distributors. Those distributors bought products from Holiday Magic and had to sell that product in order to make a profit — or even hope to break even.
*SNIP*
Riding high on his business success, Patrick turned next to politics. In 1965, Patrick announced he was challenging Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination for California governor. The grandstanding, trash-talking businessman was a harbinger of the modern political era. He campaigned on being an outsider, saw communist infiltrations around every corner and called polls a threat to democracy. “I will be a David fighting the political Goliaths of both parties,” he said in a stump speech, “but I have no intention of doing battle on their terms.”
He also shocked the establishment by breaking the ultimate, now quaint, rule: talking s—t about other Republicans. "The Republican Party must have something other than a parrot,” he said of Reagan. “That candidate is not a man."
Reagan wiped the floor with him. Patrick received a little under 39,000 votes to Reagan’s 1.4 million. Patrick also sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into his own campaign, meaning he spent nearly $9 for each one of his votes. Raging at the loss, Patrick blamed a political pollster, claiming the man took bribes to influence polls against him. The man sued Patrick for libel and won, pocketing $300,000 in damages.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
“had to sell that product in order to make a profit — or even hope to break even”
I stopped right there. The horror of having to sell product to make a profit. The injustice of capitalism.
That’s a really sad story. P-51s are rare.
He was right.
The incredible implosion of the Bay Area's biggest pyramid schemeThat was then.
Now Elon Musk holds the title.
Except the brilliance of Elon Musk is that the "investors" in his scheme are taxpayers. The money is endless. no one gets a return on their investment. They don't even know they're investors in his schemes.
What were Ponzi and Madoff thinking?
Ocean front properties in Arizona are flying off the shelf.
Just like Amway. Interesting book about the biography of Ponzi people should read.
Multi-level marketing. It’s not illegal per se, but a lot of them are high pressure that sucker “distributors” into buying more product than they are capable of selling. They get sold on the idea of getting rich quick and running their own business etc. A lot of them end up eating the product or ruining relationships so to speak because they aren’t well trained or equipped to sell - so they try to sell to friends and families and breed resentment among their relationships.
Tupperware parties. Herbalife. Mary Kay. Others. And then, there is little to stop your customers from switching to another distributor, or becoming a distributor themselves.
These days with the internet it can be done a lot more ethically but part of the success of multi-level marketing is the ability to sample out products, or in most cases to have the inventory to close the sale on the impulse buy. With the internet, it’s harder to get product to sample unless you, as the distributor, are willing to invest in them. It’s also harder for the company to use the “salesmanship” (pressure tactics) to get the distributors to buy into the brand.
IIRC, Musk has paid back every government loan he got-—EARLY-—with all interest due.
“He was right.”
And ahead of his time going after the uniparty. But, like Pat Buchanan, the wrong guy with the right message.
“A lot of them end up eating the product or ruining relationships so to speak because they aren’t well trained or equipped to sell - so they try to sell to friends and families and breed resentment among their relationships.”
I heard 15 years or so ago South Korea outlawed multi-level marketing, because of the effect it was having on relationships. Can’t blame them for that!
This was old news back in 1980.
They don’t sell soap. They sell dreams
Kangen Water...
That’s what I was thinking.🤔
My first thought. Add Mary Kay.
“Fascinating story of a huckster for the ages. Parlayed some of his ill-gotten gains to run an ill-fated run against then Gov. Reagan.”
No.
Regan wasn’t Governor. This was the campaign when Reagan was first elected in 1966.
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