Find a Product that Sucks. Make it Suck Better.

Go to this week’s TL;DR here.

Key Lessons:

• Never cut off your direct connection to your customers

• Get into debt for your dream.

• Make gradual iterations.

• Never be satisfied.

• Stay curious.

Last week on Methods of Prosperity

Based upon the evidence of 100 previous writings, we identified the core principles. These are consistent traits which all billionaires share. From guarding your reputation and gaining leverage to being relentless. Methods of Prosperity 101 is The Billionaire Blueprint.

Part 102: James Dyson

It was 1979. That February, James Dyson lost control of his company, Kirk-Dyson Designs. Its shareholders fired him and sold the rights to his invention against his wishes. His first product was a failure. Now he lost the patent and had nothing to show for his work. But he learned his lesson. Never assign your patent to another entity. He also learned to never give away control of his company to its shareholders. He learned the importance of owning 100% of his company and never undervaluing it.

Now he was penniless, without a job and no income. He had a mortgage to pay, a wife and 3 children to support. But he had an idea. He became frustrated with his vacuum cleaner’s declining performance. The bags of his vacuum cleaner always became clogged. What if there was a way to adapt industrial cyclone towers to household vacuum cleaners? He’d installed in the Ballbarrow factory a 25ft cyclone to suck the waste powder away. It was a form of filter that never clogged. The previous year, he needed to spray the Ballbarrow’s metal frames with powdered paint. Excess powder would miss the frames and get caught in the calico cloth behind and become clogged. It was wasteful. That’s why James investigated a better way.

The product he invented for his previous company, Kirk-Dyson Designs, was the Ballbarrow. The Ballbarrow was a wheelbarrow with a ball instead of a traditional wheel. Which made it easier to maneuver, especially on soft ground. Dyson assigned the patent for the Ballbarrow to Kirk-Dyson Designs. The company became profitable after a positive review in the press. But sales began to decline. The company needed more capital.

Kirk-Dyson Designs lost direct contact with their customers. They hired an inexperienced sales manager who advised abandoning their direct sales approach. Instead, this sales manager decided to sell wholesale to distributors. Selling through intermediaries cut their profit margins in half. It also severed their direct relationship with end users. As a result, the company could no longer engage with or receive feedback from their customers. This move weakened their market position and financial stability.

Key Lesson 1: Never cut off your direct connection to your customers.

His previous company rejected the idea of creating a new kind of vacuum cleaner. He learned about cyclones while studying industrial design and manufacturing. Dyson’s curiosity led him to sneak into a factory after hours to understand how cyclones work. He spent an entire weekend designing a cyclone for a vacuum cleaner. He constructed a rudimentary cyclone. He made it from cardboard and strapped it to his upright vacuum cleaner in place of the bag. It proved a seminal moment. Houses needed cleaning throughout the year. Unlike his previous product, vacuum cleaners are recession-proof. Every household needs one.

Here was a field, the vacuum cleaner industry, which had no disruption for 72 years. In 1907, James Murray Spangler was a janitor from Canton, Ohio. He invented the first consumer household electric vacuum cleaner. It was the first portable electric vacuum cleaner intended for household use. Spangler patented it in 1908. Then he sold the patent to William Hoover. Which led to the formation of the Hoover Company.

For the next 15 years, he lived in debt. This harsh reality might be discouraging to young inventors. Going into debt for your big idea is a valid option. If you believe in your product, it’s worth going into debt for. The thing is, it always takes longer and is more expensive than we expect. James Dyson didn’t set out to be in debt for 15 years over his invention.

Dyson brought his cyclone vacuum cleaner design to his business partner, Jeremy Fry. He provided 49% of the investment needed for the development of the cyclonic vacuum. James and his wife raised £29,000 for their 51% equity by selling their vegetable garden as a building plot. The rest came from a loan from Lloyds Bank.

Working out of his Coach House, James made a cyclone every day. Sometimes he modified the previous days’ work. He only changed one thing at a time. This was to notice what difference that one change made. A breakthrough can be a spark of brilliance; an instant epiphany in the shower. For James Dyson, it seldom happens that way. He makes one change at a time. This gradual process lets him know what works and what fails. Then, the breakthrough occurs in an unexpected way. Have bright ideas and try the unthinkable, but never rush.

There were 3 reasons why Hoover never came up with Dyson’s idea in the late 1970s. The first was that the “no loss of suction” vacuum cleaner didn’t exist. The second was that the vacuum cleaner bag replacement business was too profitable. The third reason was surprising. Well established electrical goods companies weren’t interested in new technology. They had no competition and could rest on their laurels.

The status quo was about to shift. But not without a fight.

To be continued...

I like you,

– Sean Allen Fenn

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You can now buy the collectors edition of Methods of Prosperity newsletter number 65. It’s available to collect as of May 23, 2025. If you’re so inclined you can permanently own it!

Methods of Prosperity newsletter is intended to share ideas and build relationships. To become a billionaire, one must first be conditioned to think like a billionaire. To that agenda, this newsletter studies remarkable people in history who demonstrated what to do (and what not to do). Let me know how I can help you out. For more information about the author, please visit seanallenfenn.com/faq.

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