Proactiv

Bill Guthy: turned a self-help book into a billion-dollar infomercial empire

Sam profiles Bill Guthy (Guthy-Renker), who bought the rights to Napoleon Hill's 'Think and Grow Rich,' built infomercials and direct-response campaigns, then scaled celebrity-partnered products like Proactiv to $1 billion in sales.

“originally they bought the rights— this guy Bill, I think he bought the rights to, um, Think and Grow Rich, uh, like a self-help book by Napoleon Hill. And he created infomercials and direct response marketing campaigns on the internet to make it popular. Then he was like, okay, this self-help stuff is working, let's keep going. So he partnered with a variety of other products and he started selling them. And then eventually he was like, okay, let's try this. Like someone brought to him like Proactiv and they're like, all right, let's try Proactiv. And he grew that to $1 billion in sales.”

Buy the rights to forgotten classic books and make them popular again

Shaan's idea: book rights are cheap because margins are thin, so acquire the rights to old or forgotten titles and revitalize them. He cites the Proactiv owner, who got his start buying the rights to 'Think and Grow Rich' and reviving it through infomercials.

“He got his start because he bought the rights to Think and Grow Rich. Oh really? And he helped make it popular again. Oh wow. Through infomercials. So that's what I would do is I would want to buy the rights to all the books.”

Steal thisAcquire cheap rights to forgotten but beloved out-of-print books and re-market them to a modern audience.