I linked the article on another board I frequent. This post in the discussion caught my attention...
"I did an accidental experiment around 15 or 20 years ago about the impact of "attention" on business, and while the outcome was not surprising, it was highly impressive and still impresses me today.
Just now, I googled "who invented the carbide inserted woodturning tool?", and got a bout one and a half million returns, none of them providing the real answer and most of them pimping sales of one brand or another. Here is a sample;
www.popularwoodworking.com/tools/tool-test-axe-carbide-turning-tools/
In fact, that tool was so innovative that books were written about it and the authors never got the answer to that question right a single time, even when positive proof was offered. I could not have cared less, except in terms of how tightly they were willing to cling to the untruths they published in order to conform their stories to public expectations. It was and is a HOOT!
The fact is that the very first month it was published, Woodturning design magazine contained a half page ad for carbide woodturning tools, and I had already published ads in other woodturning magazines in the classified sections but was dissatisfied with the results. Placement was random and rates were far too expensive, but as soon as Ebay became a reality, I started selling tools hand over fist. I was making a living from those sales, but I lacked one critical ingredient to turn the woodturning world on it's nose; The hunger for attention simply was not in me 🙂
Long story short, I made a decent living for 8 years with those tools, even while the industry gurus swore that carbide was not a good material for wood turning, until they finally caved to the facts and endorsed them, whereupon I had a dozen competitors overnight, most of which claimed to having invented them and fully half making attempts to patent them 🙂
Not a problem for me. I had other stuff I was aching to move on to already and I did. It was just an excellent illustration of how that lack of desire for attention may limit one's opportunities in life and in business.
That same pattern has repeated itself over and over in my life, and I have no regrets whatsoever. I KNOW what I have done and can do. That is plenty good enough for me....
My only regrets are that so many folks need and lack that attention to keep them creating because it".
