What Courage Can Do With Six Dollars

Brad Lawrence has been a client of my firm for 12 years. During that time, he’s grown his business beyond all expectations.Mostly because he’s got guts.Recently, Brad was looking at a sort of charm bracelet for his jewelry store. He could buy the base bracelets for 6 dollars apiece if he ordered at least 500. That would be $3,000. But his real investment would be another $30,000 for the countless beads and charms with which women could personalize their bracelets.His friends gave him lots of advice:“Charm bracelets are dead. That trend has come and gone.”“They’ll bring in the wrong customer. You’ll lose your reputation for upscale sophistication.”“It would cost more to advertise the charm bracelets than you could make on them.”What did Brad decide?He decided to order 500 bracelets and give them all away.My staff and I said “Hooray!”Here’s what his friends said:“People won’t value the bracelet if they get it for free.”“People will take the bracelets, then sell them on eBay.”“Giving away jewelry will make you look desperate.”But Brad knew the story of K.C. Gillette, the man who gave away 90,884 razor handles in 1904 in the hope of selling disposable blades. By 1910 he was one of the richest men in America. Last year his company did more than $9 billion.How did it work out for Brad?The 500 free bracelets were gone in less than a week.And within 6 weeks Brad had sold more than $100,000 worth of beads and charms. Only 28 people who took a bracelet failed to buy any ornaments for it.This week Brad told me, “Groups of women are coming into the store during their lunch hour to shop for ornaments, beads and charms. Every day is like a party. The traffic is amazing. We're making lots of new friends and winning lots of new customers. It was one of the smartest things we’ve ever done.”Brad Lawrence had the courage of his convictions. Do you?Life is more fun on the edge.And the view is better, too.Roy H. Williams