One of the more common comments you encounter when reading about Sir James Dyson snapping up Singapore’s priciest penthouse is how the commentator would be able to buy a luxurious penthouse if they sold vacuum cleaners for $500 or fans for $700.
But this cliched attempt at humour ignores a very fundamental fact about how Sir James Dyson got rich.
He didn’t become rich because he sold “overpriced” vacuums. He became rich because he spent nearly a decade subsisting on just his wife’s art teacher salary so that he could create the world’s first bagless vacuum cleaner. (Back in the 80s, the sale of vacuum bags was a £100m a year industry In the UK alone, so imagine the level of savings this product would have provided to customers.)
He became rich because he worked tirelessly for 5 years on 5,176 failed prototypes before creating a working model.
He became rich because despite creating a working model, no manufacturer wanted to carry his product and it took a decade before he managed to set up his own manufacturing company to manufacture his vacuum cleaners.
He became rich because even after his success with the cyclone vacuum, he continued to refine his product further and branch off into other product lines that displayed the same level of quality and attention that his customers loved.
It is easy to be envious of the success of a 72 year old man. But few people would be envious of failing 5176 times, getting the door slammed in their face by all the major manufacturers in the UK and spending a decade and a half living like a pauper because most of your savings are reinvested into your business.
If you want that $74m penthouse, don’t look at the $500 vacuum cleaner. Look at the 40 years of hard work it took to get there.
L.A.M.
