How Does Sticking to Your Passion Help You Withstand Challenges?

Note: This article is from blogger Cheryl Snapp Conner, who shares the story of Jay Kamhi, the king of innovative games, and his passion, ambition, and success during the COVID-19 pandemic.

His ever-evolving business has taken him from the street to wholesale distribution, online sales, design, manufacturing new toys, and, most recently, to the manufacture and distribution of emergency medical goods. He has witnessed pop culture, 9/11, brand wars, and political parties.

He is famous for having entered into an argument with the lawyer of former US President Donald Trump in 2015 over the “Trump pen.” He made pens for presidents such as Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama without facing any problems.

It later became clear that Trump is the only American president whose brand of pens bears his name,  costing Kamhi $30,000 in unsaleable pens. However, he got back up and made a new version of his pens that saved him trouble, using packaging that didn't have the name "Trump" on them.

Today, along with 30.2 million small businesses across the USA, Kamhi is dealing with the current crisis. As for projects like Kamhi World, direct business revenues have declined. Most of the US population began working and studying at home. So, many retail outlets faltered or failed.

For the Kamhi team, they were terrified when they woke up to find that online sales had dropped by 30% in a single day. It was a real, hard moment, but not harder than Kamhi's first hardship. However, his online business activities changed later and began to recover.

Having lived in business for 40 years, Kamhi considers his strategies for overcoming difficulties to be his greatest asset. He has made a name for himself by giving lectures to young entrepreneurs in business incubators. He is looking forward to resuming this work. In addition to offering guidance, he looks forward to helping them restore their hope and giving them a reason to be happy. In the meantime, he is sharing his ideas on methods every entrepreneur can use to rise from current challenges, succeed, and prevail.

Persistence Is Everything

Businesses can start with the simplest ideas. As a child, Kamhi adored the movie “The Addams Family,” which included a walking hand called “Thing.” He was lonely and didn't have many friends. When he was 17 years old, he was walking past the window of a toy store in New York and found a hand in the front waving at him.

He said, “Oh my God, it's Thing, my imaginary friend from childhood!” He bought that hand, looked up its inventor, and told him about it.

Kamhi stood near a traffic light and rehearsed his show. Within an hour, he sold all the hands he brought. He spent some time of his life doing that. For a 17-year-old in 1978, it was surprising that he had made $250 so quickly. He was smiling at people, making them laugh.

Kamhi's life changed at that moment. When he returned home, he decided that he would drop out of college to follow his entrepreneurial dream, which is selling disembodied handmade toys in New York. He was ready to face his father's disappointment.

His father's response was surprising: “Jay, I have no idea why you love this hand, this 'Thing’, but my mother never understood my 'thing' either. I wanted to act, write, and direct movies, but I never did. I became a social worker instead.”

Then he put his hand on his son’s shoulder and said something that Kamhi will never forget as long as he lives: “I kind of gave up on my thing. I know you're going through a hard time right now, but keep going and just keep doing your thing.”

His father's words were profound.

The Ability to Change Quickly at All Times

Street selling was never boring, but after 10 years of doing so and selling in several cities, people's interest in the idea has faded. So, Kamhi expanded his business and began selling his products wholesale to stores.

Between 2012 and 2014, Kamhi realized that his products were a little advanced for the companies that were selling them, such as Target and Walmart.

Kamhi said, “In retail, there's a single buyer who determines whether your product will be picked up by the entire chain. If they don't understand what you have, they say no and you end up with no business.” Unfortunately, buyers did not realize the importance of these products, which Kamhi found funny. Eventually, 30 years into his career, he found himself in debt to the tune of $1 million.

He said, “I should have declared bankruptcy. I loved those products, but I loved my employees more, so I persisted and took my business online.”

Kamhi realized that retail stores required marketing to the buyer who could get the product into the stores, not to the customer. Moving away from direct sales to customers took him away from ideas that he was sure were good, which affected his sales and motivation.

However, the key to his success was at Amazon, where nothing stood between his ideas and his audience. It later became clear that the most popular Kamhi's product was the talking pen in the shape of Donald Trump.

Whether people loved Trump or hated him, the product sparked a reaction. Following the brand debacle, Kamhi spent 9 months creating the product and 6 months promoting the perfect talking pen for Donald Trump that wouldn't offend anyone. Kamhi assumed it would be entertaining for everyone, but stores refused to sell it.

Then, within a week, the product appeared on two TV shows. The two shows had opposing views, but both thought the pen idea was funny.

Suddenly, sales on Amazon went up. The talking pen became the most popular toy within 2 weeks.

He said, "I was able to pay off all my debts. It put me back on my feet.”

New Skills for a New Challenge

Fortunately, by the time the COVID-19 pandemic spread, Kamhi had pivoted his entire business online. However, his business witnessed a decline of 30% in a single day. So, how would he deal with this crisis?

Kamhi has been successful in breaking free of the sales stagnation since the initial drop. Based on his personal experience, he offers the following advice to others:

1. Make the effort

Make the effort when your company needs a leader, regardless of your fear. Kamhi felt fear like everyone else in the face of the COVID pandemic crisis.

As employees and vendors felt great fear, he initially experienced fear as well. Everyone was waiting for someone to tell them what to do, which imposed a new situation different from anything before.

Kamhi decided that he had to be the leader and he thought, "In this minute, what would I want and what would I hope a strong leader would do?" By playing the role to himself, he was able to take on the leader role, even though he had to repeat it several times to overcome the new and unknown fear that increased every day.

2. Be prepared for change

If your current product isn't selling, it's a great idea to save money or simply stop working. Kamhi said, “Don't do it. Do the counterintuitive thing: Lean in, and then take a look around you. What resources have you got? Who's available to work with?" To get rid of this fear, Kamhi came up with some steps:

2.1. Doubling the promotion

The promotion had a great impact as competitors withdrew. His brand became widely known.

2.2. Lowering prices

Where people had some money but were still willing to buy, doubled promotion and lower prices took away revenue.

Kamhi's vendors and manufacturers helped by lowering their prices so that the profit margin was not affected that much. Everyone was helping each other like never before.

2.3. Changing products

Kamhi knew dozens of people who needed jobs, as well as consumers who needed and wanted different products. Therefore, he used his manufacturing resources and the people around him to produce and distribute N-95 masks.

When he heard about the difficult situation his vendor friends in New York were suffering from, he sent them those masks. The customers in New York needed them, and the employees needed to make good revenue. It was a win-win situation.

2.4. Continuing to promote

Kamhi always asked himself, “What's needed next? What can I contribute? What do the suppliers and sellers in my network need so that everyone can survive and win?”

You Must Remain Passionate and Humble at Every Stage

The consequences of the economic catastrophe become evident with the decline in new infections and the fallout from the COVID pandemic. Unemployment is expected to exceed World War II levels. Funds will be allocated for emergency situations. Therefore, businesses across America are struggling to survive.

By being transparent and humble, every leader will need to assess the ever-evolving new normal situation by identifying what they currently have and what they can contribute next. Kamhi's latest mission is to share his good and bad lessons with as many existing and young entrepreneurs as possible. His outlook is positive and he knows he will prevail.

Throughout this period, there has been one person who has been an inspiration to him: his father. Kamhi said, “At the age of 89, my father has a YouTube channel and has produced eight short films with something like 15 million views.”

Despite the increasing challenges, both father and son achieved what they wanted, created a legacy of their own, and never gave up on their passion.