During the California Gold Rush which started in 1849 there seem to be one problem common to all prospectors: their pants were not sturdy enough to sustain the constant and relentless wear and tear. Sharp rocks were everywhere, the prospectors were wet, tools caught the pant legs and tore them.
At the same time, a 24-year-old German immigrant by the name of Löb arrived in California. Since the early death of his father and especially after his move, he was responsible for his mother and his two younger sisters. In 1853 he also wanted to try his luck, but he had a different plan than most.
It was too obvious to him that only very few of the many thousands of gold prospectors would become rich. The summer was slowly coming to an end. Autumn would soon be here and the first major rainfalls were to be expected soon.
This thought led him to his business idea: He wanted to sell good tents, sturdy fabrics and sewing kits to the gold prospectors with which they could protect themselves from the coming rain in autumn and snow in the winter, because as a poor immigrant he was sure that every gold prospector would appreciate a dry shelter in the coming months.
Equipped with bales of cloth, tarpaulins and sewing materials, he set off for the Sacramento River looking for a place where he could set up his stall and began to advertise his tents. Although hundreds of people passed by his stand, no one was interested in what he had to offer. Apparently, he was wrong. Despite the summer, most of the gold prospectors had already arrived with tents and had no need. However, the ambitious trader did not give up so easily: He decided to visit the claims and directly address those gold prospectors on whose land there was not yet a tent.
But here too, success failed to materilise. The gold prospectors were too busy to talk to a merchant and those who exchanged a few words with him made it clear that it was still summer and that the weather was still good. For these men, a tent was only up for discussion when it really started to rain. Everyone seemed only to be interested in things they needed at that moment. Everything else was of no interest to them.
Dejected and soon out of money, he realised that his idea must be clearly wrong and so he decided to sell all his goods at a heavy loss and return to his family. His way back happened to take him by many more claims.
He, as usual, continued his sales pitch when seeing prospectors sitting around: “Hello, I see you don’t have a tent yet and soon autumn will come and bring rain. You should buy tents as soon as possible – I have them on offer!” In more places than one, he was told: “What am I supposed to do with a tent? It will take weeks before it starts to rain here. The only thing I need are trousers. Do you have any? None of our trousers can take the strain for more than two weeks, regardless of whether the sun is shining or it’s raining. We always need trousers.”
Löb froze. What had the man just said? We always need trousers? He immediately realised that his idea was spot on, only the product was wrong. With a pounding heart, Löb led his cart to the next largest camp where he found what he was looking for: a tailor. After just a few days, all his tents and bales of cloth were sewn into trousers and thanks to their structure and durability, Löb’s (Levi’s) Strauss Jeans soon became the trademark of all gold prospectors, and this success could not be outweighed by any gold nugget in the world.
When Levi Strauss died childless in 1902, he bequeathed his company Levi Strauss & Company, founded in 1853, to his four nephews, who ensured that today an estimated 3 out of 4 people in the world own a pair of jeans.
Levi’s plan was good, but not good enough to succeed. It required a personal commitment to go to his potential customers. And it was only when he stopped selling and started listening that he found the piece of the puzzle that was missing from his plan.
Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential. Sir Winston Churchill
At Carey, we have had the privilege of seeing many plans and being part of their realisation. And we have also learnt to listen to understand the core of our plan, to recognise the intentions and the ultimate goals. That’s why we support our customers throughout long term, even when it rains or snows.
History shows that it always pays to implement ideas courageously and creatively by using structures. However, it also shows that it is always wise to have these structures accompanied and managed by trusted partners such as, in this case, his four nephews.
At CAREY ZURICH, we are specialist in setting up and managing advantageous structures for our customers and we would be pleased to establish a private structure in the form of a company, trust, foundation or whatever is suitable. We are committed to serving the needs of our customers with all the Swiss thoroughness and reliability that you would expect, because we care(y).
This is an abridged version of the original. The original can be found on the Carey website
Beat Haering – CEO
Adresse :
PO Box 3071 Alderstrasse 49
Zurich 8034 Switzerland
Telephone : +41 43 499 11 44
Fax :+41 43 499 11 55
Email : beat.haering@carey.ch
Website : https://carey.ch/