Something on Dr. John Bear

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Roscoe, Sep 13, 2003.

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  1. Roscoe

    Roscoe Guest

    I've mentioned here before that the Bear is legendary among information/publishing marketers. Saturday night, I saw his name in "Mail Order Success Secrets" by Robert Kalian (White Plains, N.Y.: Roblin Press, 1998, p. 48).

    "And there's John Bear, a 38 year old former Midas Muffler employee from Littleriver, California. John decided he wanted more from life than just installing mufflers. He put together a booklet on how to get a college degree at home (something that he had always wanted to do.)

    "John started by placing small ads in a variety of magazines. One of his ads cost him just $120 and brought in over $7,000. John continued placing small ads in more than 30 national magazines and now earns a comfortable $76,000 a year. And get this ... he works only one hour a day."

    Indeed, The Bear has inspired a lot of people -- including us copywriters and self-publishers.

    Roscoe
     
  2. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Interesting discovery, Roscoe.

    We left Littleriver in the late 1970s, so this isn't exactly hot news.

    On one hand, it is a reminder that Bears' Guide really did do awfully well in its early years, when the field was new and competition was negligible.

    On another hand, we advertised in more than 400 publications, and well over 300 were complete failures. About 30 did work consistently (ranging from the Wall Street Journal to the National Enquirer to Army Times to Mensa Bulletin to the all time best, The FAPA Journal).

    On the third hand, I was Director of Corporate Communications for Midas, at the time arguably the most unusual socially-active large corporation America has ever had, and have never even held a muffler in my hands, much less been faced with installing one.
     
  3. Roscoe

    Roscoe Guest

    John,

    Thanks for sharing this bit of info. Your experiences with the ads read like those of Joseph Sugarman. He says he's a success because he's had so many ads that failed. Dan Kennedy and Ted Nicholas, both direct marketing gurus, have said the same.

    BTW, did you have any favorite authors/books on mail order in those early days? Or was everything pretty much trial and error?

    Roscoe

    P.S. Was it North who said you should write a memoir? Well, I agree. You've led an interesting, incredibly fascinating life.
     
  4. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Roscoe: BTW, did you have any favorite authors/books on mail order in those early days? Or was
    everything pretty much trial and error?
    ---------------------------------------------
    It was entirely the good fortune of having an extraordinary mentor, Howard Luck Gossage. What I learned in my three years as "protege in residence" has served me well all my life. You can get a tiny flavor of the man from this site.
    http://www.ciadvertising.org/studies/student/98_fall/theory/rivera/beg.html

    And much more from the only book about him, The Book of Gossage, which Amazon carries.

    His always said that unless something was fun, profitable, and worthwhile, he wouldn't do it. His was the first agency to turn down a major cigarette account.

    I've always used trial and error. If there is $10,000 to spend on a new product or service, better to run 10 $1,000 ads, or 100 $100 ads, to increase the chances of finding something that works.

    Incidentally, Jay Conrad Levinson was the 'protege in residence' for Gossage five years before me, and Jerry Mander ("The Case Against the Global Economy," "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television", etc.) was the one after me, and the last; Gossage died from leukemia at 51.
     
  5. roysavia

    roysavia New Member

    Everyone has to start somewhere and Dr. Bear has demonstrated his ability to be both an author and an entrepreneur. Today he is one of the leading authorities on distance learning, accreditation and diploma mills. Well done John!

    Now if I can only get the National Enquirer to listen to me. I've done some research on how to access government - How to access government and avoid redtape (federal, state, municipal). Who knows....maybe one day I will get this published.:p
     
  6. Roscoe

    Roscoe Guest

    Thanks, John.

    I'm headed over to Amazon to order a copy of "The Book of Gossage."

    It's interesting to learn that Conrad Levinson also studied under this guy. I had no idea.

    Roscoe
     
  7. Elaine

    Elaine New Member

    Bear's book(s) helped me greatly more than 20 years ago when I decided to return for my degree.
    There I learned about the CLEP and was able to complete 5 exams and gained 30 units of GE courses which saved me a whole year of college classes. Together with those and previously earned credits and a few more in night classes, I got an A.S. from Excelsior College and proceeded to graduate at the University of San Francisco with a B.S. I am now enrolled in the graduate MLS program through DL at Excelsior College--again, and am looking forward to it.
     
  8. Tracy Gies

    Tracy Gies New Member

    Director of Corporate communications, eh, John? My career goal, after retiring from the Army, is to go into corporate communications management.

    Any words of wisdom?
     
  9. Tracy Gies

    Tracy Gies New Member

    After I dropped out of college in 1985 and joined the Army, I was frustrated in my attempts to find a way to complete my college degree. The best advice my education counselor could give me was to point me to a DANTES guide, which contained several DL courses from many colleges, but no complete degree plans. It wasn't until after I checked out one of Bear's books from the library, and showed it to my education couselor in 1992, that she and I both learned how I could earn a complete degree nontraditionally, and that the military would still help me pay for it.

    Good luck on that Master's degree!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 21, 2003
  10. Roscoe

    Roscoe Guest

    John,

    I spoke with Bob Kalian a few days ago and I sent a link to this thread. He was happy to see your posts and said he will include an update in the next edition of his mail order book.

    Roscoe
     
  11. obecve

    obecve New Member

    I bought my first copy of the Bear guide more than a dozen years ago. Since then I have probably bought more than 2 dozen copies. Although I have never actually attended one of the distance programs, I have counseled many people who have. Over the years, I have given my copies to people who needed them and then purchased new copies. As a vocational rehabilitation counselor, the information has proved invaluable in helping people with disabilities, as well as members of my own staff, to find academic opportunities that meet their special needs. It even helped me as a co-author on a department of education sponsored monogram on distance education and rehabilitation. John, you have done amazing work that makes a difference. Thank you.
     
  12. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Tracy: Director of Corporate communications, eh, John? My career goal, after retiring from the Army, is to go into corporate communications management. Any words of wisdom?

    John: Well I can tell you how I did it, having no idea whether I was lucky or skillful or some combination.

    A direct mail 'legend' for whom I did a fair amount of writing at one time, Jay Abraham, had a surefire way to get clients. He would go through magazines that had lots of direct response ads (the New Yorker, Utne Reader, etc.), noting the ads that he thought were not very good (which was most of them). He would write to the advertiser saying, in effect, "Your ad stinks. I bet you lost money on it. I can do better." And often he did (in part by having a 'stable' of free lancers like me, who could write new ads).

    I had read that Midas had something like 43 different ad agencies, one in each major market, and one for yellow pages. I predicted (correctly) that it must be a logistical and creative nightmare to keep all those plates spinning, and maintain a corporate identity. I also looked at their Annual Report, and felt it could stand improvement.

    I made them a Chinese menu, complete with leatherette covers and gold tassel, listing about 25 different tasks that I felt I could handle, complete with "choose 3 from Column A and 3 from Column B" and sent it to the president. Kind of hard to ignore.

    Since I was teaching halftime at the University of Iowa then, I was only looking (I thought) for a part time job, and that's what they offered. Three days a week in Chicago, three in Iowa City. Getting to fly endlessly on Ozark Airlines DC-3s through those midwestern thunderstorms.

    I was using what Jay Conrad Levinson calls 'niche carving' at Midas. How about a redesigned potential franchisee package. How about separate brochures for the waiting rooms, on brakes, shocks, etc. How about making the waiting rooms more interesting.*

    There was much pressure from Midas to become full time, and I was not enjoying the politics of academic life, so we moved from Iowa City to Chicago and that is what I did, until it all fell apart a few years later in a proxy battle between the father and son who controlled the company. Son had turned it into a remarkably socially-active company, donating millions to Ralph Nader (sworn enemy of the internal combustion engine!), Saul Alinsky, several large public interest law firms, etc. When they couldn't keep muffler shops open in some south side neighborhood because of vandalism, they gave three shops to the Blackstone Rangers gang and showed them how to run them, which they did well. Paid lots of bills for the Chicago Seven. The father hated this; the son loved it. The father seized control in a very hostile battle, and then sold the company to the Illinois Central Railroad (IC Industries) and all of us who supported the "wrong" side were fired.
    ___________________
    * I think that was the most intriguing project I ever worked on. There was a joint venture in the works with Psychology Today magazine to sponsor a contest to design 'waiting room experiences' (multi media, biofeedback, whatever), based on the notion that lots of people sat there in a dingy room for an hour reading old Field and Stream magazines. The theme of th contest was to be, "Given two million people a year, one at a time, for one hour, what would you do to change the world?" But Midas fell apart shortly before the four-page insert was to run in the magazine. Bah.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 8, 2003
  13. Roscoe

    Roscoe Guest

    Wow! Jay Abraham really is a legend. I started reading him in the 90s and now receive his newsletter. He's one of the highest paid direct response marketers in the world.

    I found that a number of other "gurus" hire freelancers to do much of their work. Hmmm. This must be more common than I thought.

    At any rate, if Jay Abraham hired me, it would be a great honor. It would definitely go on my resume. :)

    John, like we've all said, you have had some amazing experiences.

    Roscoe
     
  14. Tracy Gies

    Tracy Gies New Member

    John,

    Thanks for that thorough reply. I like to learn how others have made their careers. As for your case: Lucky? Skillfull? Some combination? I would call creating a "Chinese menu" and sending it to the President of Midas plucky, bold, artful, or some combination.
     
  15. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Roscoe: (Jay Abraham) is one of the highest paid direct response marketers in the world.

    John: I once wrote an ad for him, which ran as a full page in the Wall Street Journal, headlined, "What can this man possibly do that is worth $2,000 an hour?"
     

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