Does Sigmund Freud Need a Toy? A Sex Toy? Story of a Small Business.

By Robert Myrstad

In 1987 I decided to open a company called FreudToy Inc. The planned product was a stuffed, cuddly doll of Sigmund Freud – a doll which had not yet been designed or manufactured. I had no idea how much any of this would cost or how much the final product would sell for. I had no idea who my buyers would be. My first step? I opened a corporation.

Why, you may ask, was it important to sell stuffed, cuddly dolls of Sigmund Freud. I don’t really know – but I knew from reading books about business (and from writing and producing lots of sales and marketing programs for big – sometimes huge – corporations) that it was important to have business objectives. So I made some up.

FreudToy doll, Freudian slippers, 50-min. watch and more -- in a gift basket.

Objective 1: See if I could design, and manufacture in the USA, quirky toys for adults using a Freud theme. After all, Freud’s language had become part of our everyday conversation – why shouldn’t the FreudToy fit right in?

Objective 2: Sell the toys, via mailorder, using MINIMAL advertising and marketing money (seeing I had NO advertising or marketing money, this was a critical requirement).

Objective 3: Make some profits.

Here is what I discovered. 1: I could. 2: I did. 3: I made more than I (and probably you) would ever expect.

1. The FreudToy artwork and design was completed by a clever (and starving) artist, for a reasonable fee and a small share of any profits. The FreudToy did not look at all the way I had expected it to – but it was (continued next page)
 

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