This 4th of July, I’m giving you what you really want: My son’s Buttered Popcorn Life Hack!
We went to the movies last night and, armed with our refillable bucket, got a to-go portion of popcorn. Then Lucas came up with this brilliant way to get the butter throughout the bucket!
Watch and learn!
Now why didn’t I think of that?!
Jerry’s dad
Sometimes inspiration hits you in just the right way. The “straw thing” just occurred to Lucas.
Jerry’s dad created a Class I medical device after a Toys R Us visit in the 80s. Now ready to retire, Jerry’s dad is handing the reigns to his boys and Jerry gave me a call.
I told Jerry I didn’t have time to take him on as a client, but I don’t like leaving a guy in the lurch either. So we struck a deal: For $1,000, we’d talk “whenever.” Typically a Skype question here or there, and I’ve taken to phoning him from the car when I have a chance.
This is an exchange we had over Skype.
Maybe there’s an idea in here for you, too.
Jerry’s rings
His number one product is the Tourni-Cot, an exsanguinating digit tourniquet. Exsanguinate is a big word originating from Latin: ex (“out of”) and sanguis (“blood”).
You place this little ring over a lacerated finger or toe to drain the blood from it, to give the clinician a “bloodless field,” so the injured digit can be treated without blood flowing all over the place.
I couldn’t believe how many of these things he sells each year. I think his nearest in competition is a rubber band.
Anyhow, so that’s the background I learned in our first 10 minutes.
Joe: Is the name Tourni-cot proprietary or is it the generic term for the product? How many competitors make it?
Jerry: Tourni-cot is proprietary. Digit tourniquets are the general category. There are few competitors. Lots of improvised methods, like a T-ring.
Joe: who is the share leader?
Jerry: We are def #1, besides improvising.
Joe: By a lot?
Jerry: Yes.
Joe: You the Man.
Jerry: We’ve been around since before people thought it was beneficial. My dad took us to Toys R Us and saw a balloon tip and that started the Tourni-cot 30 years ago. If you google that term you’ll find us and others. Lots of distributor sites.
Joe: Would it be defensible to say Tourni-Cot(R), the #1-selling digit tourniquet
Jerry: Yes. I like that. ???????? Gonna tell my pops!
Joe: Then that’s an easy one. You buy AdWords for the term “digit tourniquet” and use the headline suggested above.
Jerry: He gonna be proud.
Joe: We can discuss the two-line meta description and image. And, of course, we’ll want a landing page that doesn’t make me ????
Jerry: Yeah that’s a terrible side effect. It’s not what we had in mind.
Joe: See that? $1,000 in value right there. All the rest is gravy.
Jerry: ????
He paused.
Jerry: I love you.
Joe: I love that you wrote “I love you.” No qualification. No caveat. No explanation. Just “I love you.” Maybe even “Journey worthy.”
And it was Journey worthy, because here we are with two points for you today
1. It’s good to have back-and-forth conversations with new friends with whom you can bounce ideas.
2. Buying pay-per-click AdWords can make sense when you have the perfect terms to target.
Independence Day Week, 1976
This family photo was taken shortly before Jerry’s dad thought up the Tourni-Cot and decades before Lucas gave us the Buttered Popcorn Life Hack.
Fast Round
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Dark Patterns. A genius observation about user experiences that trap you, as though you were in a Roach Motel. Entertaining too.
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Do you use Facebook Messenger for Business? I don’t. But this trend is something to consider.
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Should you Link, Tweet, Face, Insta, or Tube? I don’t know. But pick one, according to this guy. Do you agree with him?
Thank you for joining me on The Journey.
See you next week – or sooner – if you choose to reply to this email,
P.S. So, you more of a ???? or a ???? person? Me? I’m an ???? man, myself.
