# Unconventional and clever ways people got rich **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 27, 2013, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524 "2013-01-27T09:06:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/21 "2013-01-28T00:12:32Z")
Oh, I just remembered the guys from Bacon Salt - first of all they sell, kosher vegetarian bacon seasoning, which is strange enough – but in addition they got their seed money by winning “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/22 "2013-01-28T10:56:42Z")
I know a guy who turned into a millionaire by having bought and held on to stocks of the Nokia company (then making car tires and rubber boots), before Nokia turned into the biggest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/23 "2013-01-28T12:36:21Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Charles Saatchi, advertising mogul, made tons of money buying and selling modern art. …to suckers. My current plan is to sit at home in misery wishing I had a lot of money. So far it’s not been much of a success, but I live in hope. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/24 "2013-01-28T12:56:25Z")
Then there are the people who _have_ a fortune, want to enlarge it, and wind up blowing it all. I knew a guy in the 90s who thought that the ostrich would replace cattle as America’s red meat source. Didn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/25 "2013-01-28T13:28:47Z")
I worked for a company who’s business was selling treatment systems for hazardous waste from photo labs. They sold the systems, then had a profit stream swapping the consumable filters. The used filters were full of silver, which they extracted and sold… Mostly to jewelers. So they had a lot of jewlers as customers so they expanded into a jeweler supply business. When I was working for them, it was on an idea to replace the film photography based business with something comparable with digital photography. But I thought the whole filter thing was pretty clever: sell the filter, charge for disposal, extract and sell the hazardous waste at a huge profit. Nice to have your supplier pay you to accept your feedstock. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/26 "2013-01-28T14:36:08Z")
The guy who developed liquid soap. He was starting his own company but he realized as soon as his product hit the market, all of the established soap companies would be right behind him selling near identical products with establish brand names. Then he found out that the company that was selling him the pump nozzles for his jars was the only manufacturer of that product in the world. So he placed a huge order with them that basically meant nobody else could place any new orders for the next year. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/27 "2013-01-28T14:49:47Z")
The magic that is [Coinstar](http://www.coinstarinc.com/company/history). Three guys come up with the idea, build a prototype and sell one to a grocery store, which gets a line around the block of people using it. Three guys found a business and become millionaires. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/28 "2013-01-28T15:00:59Z")
Well, the richest woman in the world got her bucks by writing young adult fiction. That’s got to be pretty unconventional. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/29 "2013-01-28T15:01:23Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The magic that is [Coinstar](http://www.coinstarinc.com/company/history). Three guys come up with the idea, build a prototype and sell one to a grocery store, which gets a line around the block of people using it. Three guys found a business and become millionaires. Which, for the life of me, I cannot understand. Don’t banks do the same thing? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/30 "2013-01-28T15:06:27Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Which, for the life of me, I cannot understand. Don’t banks do the same thing? Not back then. You had to roll up the coins yourself and take them to the bank. Coinstar was the first to eliminate the annoying rolling part. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/31 "2013-01-28T15:12:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, the richest woman in the world got her bucks by writing young adult fiction. That’s got to be pretty unconventional. Who is that? This [list](http://www.therichest.org/world/richest-women/) hasn’t got any writers mentioned in the top 20. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/32 "2013-01-28T15:27:41Z")
Do you ever watch [How I Made My Millions](http://www.cnbc.com/id/38657599/How_I_Made_My_Millions) on CNBC? Lots of stories there. Just watched the Turbo Tap guy yesterday. He invented a quicker way for bars, stadiums, etc to dispense beer. Less waste, more customers = wealthy inventor. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/33 "2013-01-28T15:31:36Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Who is that? > > This [list](http://www.therichest.org/world/richest-women/) hasn’t got any writers mentioned in the top 20. I imagine he meant JK Rowling. It’s interesting that the first 18 women on that list got rich the old fashioned way. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/34 "2013-01-28T15:51:16Z")
They were prostitutes? ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/35 "2013-01-28T16:35:36Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Then there are the people who _have_ a fortune, want to enlarge it, and wind up blowing it all. > > I knew a guy in the 90s who thought that the ostrich would replace cattle as America’s red meat source. Didn’t happen. How exactly did he lose all of his wealth due to this misjudgment of the meat market? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/36 "2013-01-28T17:17:08Z")
Well, I don’t know if this qualifies as rich, but I made an extra $43,000 in 1990-91 just because I was walking through the mall. One of those clipboard people stopped me to fill out a survey. Afterward, he said i qualified for a second interview for $50. I was pretty broke at the time and agreed. I did a second interview that was videotaped. I was told that they were chosing 15 people out of the several thousand they were interviewing, and if I was chosen, I’d get another $100. Two weeks later they called and said I’d been chosen. The day of the interview I was picked up in a limo. They did my hair and makeup and dressed me. I was interviewed standing on a sidewalk outside a bright yellow brake shop. The camera was covered and I spoke with the same woman who had interviewed me prior. When the 45 minute interview was over, they took me back to the makeup trailer and told me they had lied. It wasn’t for research, but an AT&T commercial. I was to be paid at Screen Actors’ Guild scale as long as the commercial ran. There were two commercials and one radio spot that ran for about a year and a half. I got full health coverage, life insurance and a total of just over $43,000. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/37 "2013-01-28T17:36:11Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > How exactly did he lose all of his wealth due to this misjudgment of the meat market? Invested $$ in ostrich trios (one male, two hens) when the market was high. Trios were selling for around 30 thousand bucks. Built barns, fenced acreage, purchased incubators, etc. Market collapsed. Birds that had cost ten grand a piece were selling for around a hundred a bird by that point. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/38 "2013-01-28T17:41:09Z")
> **[The Million Dollar Homepage - Own a piece of internet history!](http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/)** > > The website of Alex Tew, a 21-year-old entrepreneur, who hopes to pay his way through university by selling 1 million pixels of internet ad space for $1 each. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/39 "2013-01-28T17:59:37Z")
In 1997, I was in the audience when someone gave a talk on his idea for a new search engine. Later I got to know him a bit and he took me on a guided tour of SF. We walked halfway across the Golden Gate bridge (to where the cable hit its minimum) and back. If only I had said to him, “Sergei, if you ever start a company with your new browser, let me invest.” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524/40 "2013-01-28T18:08:06Z")
Just to give you an idea of how much money you might have had, a couple of Stanford professors were very early investors in Google. I think one of them invested a million dollars and is now worth a billion or two. But the thing is that there was no guarantee that it would succeed. I remember hearing about Google early on as this great new search site, at a time when there were many others. It was a good search site, but at the time, it wasn’t clear (at least not to me) how they were going to make money at providing search results. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unconventional-and-clever-ways-people-got-rich/648524.md?page=3)