Timothy Dexter: The Best Worst Businessman in History

Bright Side

Have you ever heard of Timothy Dexter, the guy who might just be the luckiest bad businessman in history? Back in the 18th century, this American merchant made some of the most ridiculous business decisions—and somehow got rich from them! He once shipped coal to Newcastle, a city famous for having too much coal, and still made a profit. He also sent warming pans (used to heat beds) to the Caribbean, where it’s super hot, but people ended up buying them to make molasses! Dexter was so good at making terrible ideas work that people started to think he was a genius. His story is a wild reminder that sometimes, even the worst ideas can pay off!  #brightside   Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Listen to Bright Side on:  Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/idhttps-podcasts-apple-com-podcast-bright-side/id1554898078 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brightside/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official/ Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Snapchat - https://www.snapchat.com/p/c6a1e38a-bff1-4a40-9731-2c8234ccb19f/1866144599336960  Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me

Transcript

00:00What if I told you there was once a guy who sold coal to Newcastle, bed warmers to the

00:05tropics, and stray cats to the Caribbean?

00:09It all sounds like some good material for a stand-up comedian sketch, but it was, in

00:13fact, the true story of Timothy Dexter.

00:17He was born in the winter of 1747 in Malden, Massachusetts.

00:22The family's financial situation was far from perfect, so they couldn't afford to

00:26give the boy a decent education.

00:29At the age of 8, he dropped out of school and started working at a farm.

00:34At 16, Timothy became a tanner's apprentice in Boston.

00:38This job was considered a lower-class one, but the salary was pretty good.

00:43His teacher had unique knowledge of how to work with Moroccan leather, which was a hit

00:48among the fashionistas of those times.

00:51At 21, Dexter was ready to start his own business, making leather gloves and moosehide breeches.

00:58Things got rowdy in Boston after the new taxes and the famous tea party.

01:02But Timothy didn't want to leave the city.

01:05His loyalty was soon rewarded as he met a wealthy newly-widowed Elizabeth Frothingham.

01:11She fell in love with Dexter, and they got married.

01:15Mr. Dexter was thrilled to have moved to Boston's posh Charleston neighborhood, but the neighbors

01:20didn't share his desire to be friends.

01:23Nobles like John Hancock and Thomas Russell, who was then one of the richest people in

01:28the country, didn't see Timothy, an uneducated guy who had married into money, as their equal.

01:36Our hero couldn't accept that and decided to prove to them that he was worthy of respect.

01:41First, he decided to secure a position in public office.

01:45He submitted dozens of petitions to his hometown governing body.

01:49Finally, they agreed to create a post just for him – Informer of Deer.

01:55His task would be to watch over the deer population in town, although the last fawn had left the

02:01nearby woods 19 years before.

02:04Still, Mr. Dexter loved his new position and moved on to the second part of his master

02:10plan – to become rich.

02:12He opened a shop in the basement of his wife's house and managed to save several thousand

02:17dollars.

02:18In 1775, the Continental Congress issued around $250 million worth of a new paper currency

02:26– the Continental dollar.

02:29Shop owners refused to accept this new money, yet even more of it was printed, and it soon

02:34flooded the market and went down in value.

02:37They even coined a new expression – not worth a Continental.

02:41Dexter's wealthy neighbors wanted to look good in the public eye and support the common

02:46folk by buying some of those nearly worthless bills from them.

02:51Our hero decided it was a great idea, and so he took all his and his wife's savings

02:56and bought tons of those depreciated bills.

02:59And his risk totally paid off.

03:02Once the United States Constitution came into the picture, holders of Continentals were

03:07able to trade them for 1% of the original value.

03:12Because Dexter had a lot of that money, it was enough to make him extraordinarily rich.

03:17He was sure that would be enough to become friends with the neighbors, but they rejected

03:22him again.

03:23Mr. Dexter decided the problem was their character and not him, and moved to the coastal mercantile

03:29town of Newburyport, Massachusetts, with his family.

03:33He now had enough funds to buy a fleet of shipping vessels, a stable full of horses,

03:39a fancy chateau with a sea view, and lavish furniture, including a coach with his initials.

03:45Dexter loved it when people addressed him as Lord.

03:49He hired the best artists of European architecture to create over 40 giant wooden statues to

03:54adorn his property.

03:56Among them, there were figures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and, of course,

04:02Timothy Dexter himself.

04:04The plaque under his statue described him as the first in the East and in the West,

04:09and the greatest philosopher in the Western world.

04:13All those statues cost as much as the entire estate and made people stare.

04:19Dexter's wife was so embarrassed he even moved out, and the house turned into a palace

04:24of frivolity.

04:27His new neighbors didn't enjoy his company and were hoping they could make Dexter go

04:32bankrupt with their bad financial advice.

04:35One of them suggested that Dexter sell warming pans to the West Indies.

04:40Warming pans were a real hit in the 18th century, made out of brass with long handles, and were

04:45used for keeping the bed warm.

04:47But the West Indies?

04:49Yeah, that place where it's always warm.

04:51Well, it didn't stop our hero, and he purchased 42,000 of those, loaded 9 shipping vessels

04:58with them, and set off on a journey with his neighbors chuckling around.

05:03Once he arrived in the West Indies and figured no one needed warming pans there, he rebranded

05:08the goods and sold them as molasses ladles to owners of sugar plantations.

05:14Everyone wanted to buy at least 3 or 4, and he made some really good money with a markup

05:19of 79% for each item.

05:22He also managed to sell wool mittens in the same place.

05:25Asian merchants bought them for export in Siberia.

05:29So selling a heating device to the tropics worked out well.

05:34But no one would carry coal to Newcastle, right?

05:37One trader managed to convince Dexter that anthracite coal was in huge demand in Britain's

05:43largest coal mining town.

05:45He had no idea about that little detail and set off to the UK.

05:50When he arrived, though, the workers were on strike, and he managed to sell coal to

05:55Newcastle with a big markup.

05:58Dexter returned to his chateau as a winner with a barrel and a half of silver.

06:04Then he made another eccentric business decision and shipped winter gloves to the South Pacific.

06:10He arrived there just in time to run into Portuguese sailors who saved the day and bought

06:15the gloves on their way to colder climates as they'd need them there.

06:20He also managed to market 340 tons of whale bones he had stocked up on to monopolize the

06:26market as ladies' corsets, collar stays, buggy whips, toys, and typewriters, and made

06:32some good profit.

06:34Once Newburyport's stray cat situation went out of control.

06:38The town meeting voted to get rid of them all, but Dexter offered to buy the cats and

06:43take good care of them.

06:45And yes, he found a way to sell them at a premium price as well.

06:49Warehouse owners in the Caribbean were desperately looking for a solution to their rat problem.

06:56It might seem like his choices were just eccentric and emotional, but biographers who analyzed

07:01his decisions later believed he actually developed a strategy.

07:06Dexter came to realize his key to success was to find out which goods were missing from

07:11the market, stock up on them to the brim, and then sell them at the price of his choice.

07:17The choice of those goods was often odd, but it all worked out in the end.

07:23When he was 50, Dexter wrote a book, A Pickle for the Knowing Ones, in which he complained

07:29about those in power of country and his wife.

07:33The book had nearly 9,000 words but not a single punctuation mark and his own unique

07:38spelling and capitalization.

07:41One section opened like this.

07:43He published the first edition for his own money and distributed the book for free.

07:49And yes, it became a hit and was reprinted 8 times.

07:53In the second edition, Dexter added an extra page of 11 lines of punctuation marks.

07:59It was his response to all those people who complained there weren't any of those in

08:04the first edition.

08:05He offered them to feel free to insert the signs wherever they wanted.

08:10Dexter really cared what other people thought about him all his life.

08:14He even staged his own passing away to see who'd show up at the ceremony and how they

08:20behave.

08:21He revealed that it was all a joke when he noticed his wife wasn't mourning enough.

08:27That's it for today, so hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like

08:32and share it with your friends!

08:34Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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