We all have ideas that we think can make us
millionaires. Those light bulb moments when you dream up
an invention that no else has yet imagined. In truth very few ideas prove to be successful
and for every new creation that turns out to be a big hit, there are countless others
that fail spectacularly. But amongst the failures are some incredibly
simple and often unconventional ideas that have made their developers hugely wealthy,
and sometimes for very little effort. Which are the best of the best? That’s what we’ll be looking at in this
episode of The Infographics Show: Unlikely inventions that made millions. We’ve researched some of the craziest ideas
that made people richer than they could have imaged. Some of these inventions are weird, wacky
or simply did well because of the fun factor, and others turned out to address a real need. But what they all have in common is they hit
the top of the sales list, as customers couldn’t get enough of them. We’ve filtered what we think are the most
interesting ones worth talking about, to bring you our top ten list. Let’s jump straight in and take a look. 10. Doggles - Roni and Ken Di Lullo knew something
wasn’t right when their dog MidKnight kept missing the Frisbee during a game of fetch. In 1997, during a visit to their local dog
park San Jose, California, the couple noticed that their pooch was squinting. "He seemed to be sensitive to sunlight," Roni
recalls. And so was born an idea for doggy shades - goggle-style
sunglasses that they named Doggles. Initially Roni used a pair of sports goggles
and altered them to fit the border collie. Midknight’s frisbee performance improved
and he became the talk of the dog park. Roni created a website to showcase photos
of the pooch modeling his eyewear. "People love to see a dog wearing glasses,"
she says. To her surprise people started contacting
Roni asking if they could purchase a pair of these cool doggy shades, which led her
and he husband to explore manufacturing. And Doggles do more than protect your pet
from the sun's glare, they also keep out dust, debris and wind, and block UV rays and that
can lead to medical conditions in the dog’s eyes. By 2012 Doggles reached revenue of $3 million
in a single year! Not bad for a pair of shady Rover Ray-Bans. 9. The Pet Rock - Pet Rock is a collectible that
was dreamt up in 1975 by advertising executive Gary Dahl. Pet Rocks are smooth stones from Mexico's
Rosarito Beach. Yes, a big pebble sold like a real living
pet. Each Pet Rock came in it’s own custom cardboard
box, with a straw and breathing holes. It was a short-lived fad that lasted about
six months and Dahl’s crazy rocks were sold for $3.95, profiting him $3 per sale. It’s estimated that he sold more than 1.5
million of them, making him a millionaire in a very short period of time. Dahl passed away in March 2015, at age 78. Speaking to The Washington Post, his wife
said the Pet Rock craze “was great fun when it happened.” In the telephone interview she also explained
that “people would come to her husband with weird ideas, expecting him to do for them
what he had done for himself. And a lot of times they were really, really
stupid ideas.” 8. The Million-Dollar Homepage - Alex Tew was
able to earn almost exactly $1 million through a truly unique idea he had. Late one night in August 2005, he lay down
in bed with a pen and paper and brainstormed cheap ideas that he could sell a million of. Tew came up with pages full of potential creations,
including a terrible product he called the Gum Slinger, which was a small pouch for used
chewing gum. But this entrepreneurial genius knew he would
get there eventually and came up with the idea of selling space on his website as advertisements. Each pixel on the page would sell at $1 and
so a page with 1 million pixels would make him a millionaire. When the site went viral, companies, businesses
and organizations all around the world jumped at the chance to have their name plastered
on the site. Tew made his money in just one year. And more than enough to fund the 21-year-old
student’s university fees. So what happened to Tew? He actually dropped out of university and
went on to launch a number of other tech ideas, eventually hitting the jackpot with the Calm
app. Today, Calm has 600k paying subscribers, and
according online media site The Hustle, the company is raising a $25m+ round led by Insight
Ventures, which will value them at $250m. 7. iFart app – Yes, it’s true. An app that acted as a virtual whoopee cushion,
with a variety of fart noises to select, the iFart app became immensely popular and despite
its low price of $0.99 went on to make more than $1 million. Back in 2008, Wired Magazine reported that
the app was making nearly $10,000 in a single day. Joel Comm, developer of iFart Mobile, published
download statistics of his app at the time, and it stood at No. 1 overall with over 13,000
downloads. Comm made a fortune and even appealed to the
stars. In 2015, he publicly reached out to George
Clooney after the world famous actor had revealed in a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone Magazine,
that he loved fart jokes and even kept the iFart app on his phone. Comm offered to feature one of Clooney’s
farts as a special in-app purchase. 6. The Mood Ring – In 1975 the Mood Ring hit
stores. It was invented by Joshua Reynolds and marketed
them as “portable biofeedback aids”, these funky finger rings were a piece of jewelry
that purportedly changed color to reflect the your mood at any given time. Reynolds was able to get the department store
Bonwit Teller to stock the product as part of their accessories line. Some rings sold for as much as $250, which
in the 1970’s was a hefty price tag. But the 70s’ was also the era of lava lamps,
flared jeans and extravagant rock bands like Led Zeppelin, and within months Reynolds made
his first million and turned them into a trendy fashion item among celebrities such as Barbra
Streisand and Muhammad Ali. Of course the mood ring was a gimmick and
though the thermotropic liquid crystals used in the rings changed color, it was in response
to changes in body temperature – but Reynolds still picked a winner and made his millions. 5. Magic 8 Ball - If you were to grab the Magic
8 Ball off your desk and ask it “Will The Infographics Show channel answer all the questions
I have and more?” the words “Without a Doubt” would hopefully emerge through the
murky blue liquid. While Magic 8-Ball did not exist in its current
form until 1950, the original idea, the Syco-Seer, was invented by Albert C. Carter, and inspired
by a spirit writing device used by his mother, Mary, a Cincinnati clairvoyant. Unfortunately, Carter died before his clever
creation found success. But in 1950, his brother-in-law Abe Bookman
was commissioned to turn the Syco-Seer into a black-and-white 8 ball with a floating 20-sided
die. When the ball is shaken, the die floats to
the surface, revealing its answer to your question about the future. In 2011 Time Magazine listed it at number
18 of All-TIME 100 Greatest Toys and you can still buy the Magic 8-Ball today. 4. Big Mouth Billy Bass - At some point, just
about everyone will have seen a talking, singing fish like Boogie Bass or Rocky Rainbow Trout
hanging on the wall of a grocery store, the local bar or in someone’s home. None were bigger than Big Mouth Billy Bass. It all started out with Joe Pellettieri who
began his career as a self-professed “numbers guy” but after nearly ten years of working
in retail, he felt it was time to move onto the next big thing. One day Pellettieri’s wife turned to him
with an unusual proposal, saying “How about a singing fish on a plaque? And though it may have sounded crazy to most,
Pellettieri thought the idea of a fish on a plaque singing Al Green was hilarious. A Texas novelty toy company originally created
the device in the late 1990s and for many years it was an uphill battle until Gemmy
Industries took the toy on. The summer of 2000 was the toys heyday, though
Pellettieri and Gemmy are highly secretive when it comes to divulging the financial success
of Billy. But it has been rumored that the toy made
the company over $100m in revenue during its 9-month success high. A fishy story or the real sales numbers? We may never know. 3. The Hula Hoop – The hula hoop has been around
for millennia and Native Americans used a Hoop Dance as a form of storytelling with
anywhere from one to thirty hoops as props. But the modern Hula Hoop was patented by Richard
Knerr and Arthur “Spud" Melin of the Wham-O Company, who hold the trademark on the name
“Hula Hoop." In 1958, Wham-O began manufacturing the toy
out of plastic tubing and they sold a whopping 25 million hula hoops in the first four months
at a price of $1.98 each. By the end of their second year they has reached
100 million sold and they continue to be one of the most successful manufacturers of modern
hula hoops. The Hula Hoop was at its peak back in the
1950’s with more than 50,000 hoops being manufactured every day. Without a doubt one of the most simple inventions
and successful money spinners and ever! 2. Fidget Spinners - Now to something a little
more recent but still a spinner and the must-have toy of 2017, the Fidget Spinner. These little spinning toys started flying
off the shelves in April of 2017 and several schools have even had to ban them, due to
them being overly-distracting to students. According to a survey of the 200 largest American
high schools, nearly a third have banned fidget spinners. The simple design consists of a ball bearing
center with flat, spindly lobes attached, like a little propeller. All it takes is a flick to start stress relieving
toy working it’s magic. The only catch in this success story is that
the Catherine Hettinger, who invented the anxiety-reducing device more than two decades
ago, stopped manufacturing them a long time ago and since her patent expired last year,
she’s had to watch one large company after another produce and sell different versions
of the toy, without needing to pay her anything. 1. The Slinky - This is arguably one of the most
famous toys in the world. For those living in the Western world it is
virtually impossible to have not come across this spring like toy at some point in your
life. It’s a success story that started many years
ago. The inventor was a man called Richard James
and he stumbled across the idea by accident when a spring fell and wobbled it’s way
along the floor. James and his wife Betty developed a plan
to turn his invention into the next big novelty toy. Betty came up with the name Slinky, whilst
James got to work on designing a machine to coil an 80 foot long piece of wire into a
two-inch spiral spring. The couple borrowed $500 to manufacture the
first Slinkys. Gimbels Department Store in Philadelphia allowed
demonstrations for Christmas 1945 and the first 400 Slinkys sold within minutes. They even had a TV jingle done, with the words:
"What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinky sound? It's Slinky..." By the time Slinky turned 10 years old, more
than 100 million had been sold and according to Adweek, as of 2015, 350 million were in
the hands of customers. It goes down as one of the most popular toys
ever, making a family very wealthy indeed! That’s our top 10 list, though of course
there are many more. Know any other unlikely inventions that were
huge successes? Let us know in the comments below!. Also be sure to check out our other video,
Could You Pass the Google Interview? We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of The
Infographics Show, and please remember to like, share and subscribe.
