Keep doing those hobbies, topics, and pet projects that excite you, even if they bring in little or no money. If you’re a writer, write on that stuff you’re most passionate about, despite the popularity “ranking” of the subject matter. Even something as droll as chewing gum has produced rewards in due time.
I read about Wrigley, the famous gum mogul, tonight on a website. He started selling soap as his main source of income, but kept a secret hobby of making it in the chewing gum market began in his basement. He never thought chewing gum would bring in enough money to be a big business, so he poured himself into the soap as his career. After a time however, the soap didn’t sell as he had hoped. Before long, he would be in chewing gum orbit.
To better market the soap as a novelty, the family started adhering a small package of his tasty gum to each soapbox they sold. After a short time people were buying the soap just to get the gum. You know the rest of the story. Spearmint chewing gum and gum in general is synonymous with his name.
I think the energy in our jobs and in our writing, should not always be spent on what we think will sell, but rather on our pet projects we truly feel invigorated about. We may find, as Wrigley did, that other people like them as well and they may even end up paying us money to continue doing them! Thanks for the life lesson Mr. Wrigley and thank you for Wrigleys chewing gum.
5 Comments
IS it true story, if it is , really interesting,
Oh, your life lesson is a wise one, Mr. Riley. Thank you for sharing Mr. Wrigley with us.
Shelly
I have always spouted there is an audience for every writer and poet. Some think that means I just won’t try to perfect my craft, what it really means is yes, there are days I won’t, but it also means that if I love it my heart will be in it and that alone will perfect it a bit. . . I tried NaNoWriMo last November having only tried to write a few stories at all prior to that, but once I started writing (no pre-planning) I knew I had a story in me and words just poured out. I got the same feeling yesterday writing a short story from a prompt. It is awesome. Whether it was perfect or acceptable was not the point, it felt like me – and great. Ditto, Shelly’s comment.
That is a very interesting post about Mr. Wrigley. I’m currently making a bunch of home made soap and on the side I like to make cute stickers, everyone loves my soap. I’ll might slip in my stickers in the soap package and see how everyone likes my stickers too. Thanks for the idea and story!
@Sarah: How funny. Thanks for stopping by. Follow your dreams.
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Confused Methodology Talk #1Soap, Gum and Doing What You Love
as his main source of income, but kept a secret hobby of making chewing gum in his basement. He never thought chewing gum would bring in enough money to be a big business, so he poured himself into the soap as … Original post byDamien Riley
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[...] Riley presents The Wrigley Gum Story at Riley [...]