GlobalBX

Today, many men and women use safety razors to get rid of excess hair on their bodies but just under a hundred years ago that was just not possible. Blades were forged and extremely dangerous to use if you were not skilled enough. However, one man effectively revolutionized modern grooming techniques – King Gillette. Without King Gillette’s vision and drive to market his unique and innovative ideas, we may still be living in the grooming dark ages. As such, the entrepreneur can certainly be held as an example of how forward thinking is a firm foundation for a business.

The Young Gillette

King Camp Gillette was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on January 5, 1855. Little is known about his early childhood, other than the fact that he moved to Chicago with his family while he was still a young child. He was definitely there by 1871 because the Great Chicago Fire decimated his family’s business that very year. The young entrepreneur was forced to work as a result of the fire as he needed to support his family.

King Gillette’s first job was as a traveling salesman but he viewed that for what it was – a stop gap until he had an idea and the resources to ensure that nothing would ever put his family’s livelihood in jeopardy again. It was during this time that he noticed the amount of maintenance his grooming tools needed. Continuously replacing his expensive razor blade was time consuming and troublesome. After realizing that this was the case, the entrepreneur had the idea to make it a whole lot easier to shave.

An Entrepreneur Is Born

Gillette soon formulated a plan to replace the old style razors. He wanted to make them more affordable for the common man but reap high profits in the process, and the entrepreneur did just that. The blade itself was simply a thin sheet of steel and was incredibly cheap to mass-produce. Once the blade was dull, it could easily be replaced at very little cost. Although the idea for the safety razor, as it was to be called, had been around for years, the entrepreneur was the first person to modify the design and mass market it.

Gillette’s first razor design had a healthy profit margin attached to it and it sold well, which in turn gave rise to the Gillette Safety Razor Company in 1901. Soon the entrepreneur was marketing his razors all over the United States as a result of the innovation and convenience of the product as well as excellent advertising. The demand convinced Gillette that he was sitting on a goldmine, and he promptly made plans to take his razors worldwide. Canada, England, France and Germany all had manufacturing plants by 1908, with sales then running into the millions. 70 million units were sold in 1915 alone.

Unfortunately for King Gillette, the entrepreneur was unsuccessful in his other entrepreneurial ventures. He had invested in property and stock but the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and ensuing Depression caused the vast majority of his fortune to virtually disintegrate overnight. As such, he was almost bankrupt by his death on July 9, 1932.

The entrepreneur’s financial demise should not detract from his huge success. He, like so many of his peers, was unfortunate in that an ailing economy had no regard for wealth at all and affected him as it did everyone else. However, King Gillette did leave an amazing legacy that holds firm today. The Gillette Company still has massive global influence in the health and beauty market. As such, it just goes to show that an idea, innovation and hard work can get you exactly where you want to go, especially if you identify a gap in the market.