Ernest Holmes Towing : Why Didn't I Think of That? ®

Ernest Holmes Towing

History of tow trucks

Hear the Radio Feature:
Play




Our New Daily Player!

For sometime now, we’ve had a special project in the works. We wanted to give our listeners and readers a chance to hear a new Why Didn’t I Think of That?® feature every day, even if they’re away from the radio. And that’s exactly what we’ve done. Today marks the beginning phases of a plan [...]


Get the Why Didnt I Think of That?® Podcast:
Add to iTunesAdd to Zune Podcast RSS Feed Add to Google Reader/Homepage Add to My Yahoo
Hall of Fame Spotlight: Spray Paint

Nobody thought about putting paint in an aerosol can until Ed Seymour. In 1949, Seymour was looking for a novel way to demonstrate a new aluminum paint. His wife suggested putting it in an aerosol can, like ones recently introduced for insecticides. To his surprise, the sprayer — not the paint — became the star of his demonstration.


Get the Why Didnt I Think of That?® Podcast:
Add to iTunesAdd to Zune Podcast RSS Feed Add to Google Reader/Homepage Add to My Yahoo
Hall of Fame Spotlight: Dole Pineapple

While in Hawaii in the 1800′s, James Dole discovered a fruit most people had never seen or heard of before: The pineapple. He began importing the fruit to the mainland and introduced the country to this exotic, sweet treat. The pineapple became a national favorite, and the Dole Food Company became the largest supplier of fruits and vegetables in the world.


Get the Why Didnt I Think of That?® Podcast:
Add to iTunesAdd to Zune Podcast RSS Feed Add to Google Reader/Homepage Add to My Yahoo
TOMS Shoes

He started his first business in college. He sold his second business to Clear Channel. He came within four minutes of winning CBS’s the Amazing Race. He’s led an interesting life, but what Blake Mycoskie is best known for is starting TOMS Shoes, the company that has donated well over a million shoes to needy men, women, and children.


Get the Why Didnt I Think of That?® Podcast:
Add to iTunesAdd to Zune Podcast RSS Feed Add to Google Reader/Homepage Add to My Yahoo
Hall of Fame Spotlight: Gatorade

Today it’s as synonymous with sports as cheerleaders or sweatbands. But not too long ago, Gatorade was just a nameless concoction, cooked up to revitalize the University of Florida’s football team: the Gators. The Gators were losing. A lot. One reason for that was the hot Florida weather dehydrating the players. The “Gator-Aid” not only saved the team, but it has been hydrating and refreshing some of the world’s greatest athletes ever since.

Today’s Hall of Fame Spotlight: The Story of Gatorade.

Play

Get the Why Didnt I Think of That?® Podcast:
Add to iTunesAdd to Zune Podcast RSS Feed Add to Google Reader/Homepage Add to My Yahoo

What they do:
Invented the first "tow truck" for emergency road service

Inspiration:
One day, when business school executive John Wiley and his son were driving near Chattanooga TN, their Model T Ford veered to the right, crashed down an embankment and flipped upside down in a creek. They called auto mechanic Ernest Holmes for help.

About the business:
It took Holmes eight hours to pull the car out of the creek -- using rope, block & tackle and six men. Vowing he'd never go through that again, Holmes went back to his shop. There, he mounted poles, pulleys and chains onto the back of a Cadillac chassis and created the first tow truck. Within a few years, Ernest Holmes tow trucks dominated the emergency road service industry.

Axioms:

Related Blog Stories:

Podcast Episode #5: “Rethink Your Industry” - January 13, 2012

In the latest episode of the Why Didn’t I Think of That? Podcast, Bob Smith and Greg Anastos sit down with thinkofthat.net blogger Benjamin Christopher and discuss the first of their Axioms For Entrepreneurs, “Re-think Your Industry.”

The Why Guys explore how companies like Netflix, Apple, Xerox, and General Motors were able to look at their industries, and their companies, in a new light.

Amazon’s Fire Sale - November 23, 2011

Amazon.com Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos says that they’re “the only tech company with low margins.”

Low margins is an understatement. The company is losing money on every single Kindle Fire tablet they sell. But it’s all part of Jeff Bezos plan to conquer the Universe. He may or may not succeed, but one thing’s clear: With the Kindle Fire, he has single-handedly created a low-end tablet market where there was none, and for that reason alone, he’s about to change the tech industry forever.

A Marketing Lesson From Apple, circa 1984 - April 20, 2011

Sure, it only takes one company or product to revolutionize an industry, but selling people something they’ve never seen before isn’t easy. The general public tends to shy away from cutting edge technologies and trends, waiting for them to become more commonplace before adapting them. Your job is to change their minds. But how? Luckily, many before us have made bold, world-changing moves that have dramatically shifted the courses of industries, and made the people behind the companies filthy rich. One such example is Apple Computers.

Ernest Holmes and the First Tow Truck - March 12, 2011

This entrepreneur invented a way to help his distressed customers — and start a new industry — at the same time. Hear the story of auto mechanic Ernest Holmes and the invention of the Tow Truck.

No Answer: How and Why AT&T Killed the First Answering Machine - December 3, 2010

The answering machine didn’t become commercially available until 1949, but it left a lot of people saying Why Didn’t I Think of That?