Here’s a blast from the past.  This is Joshua Pusey, the inventor of the matchbook.  (If you happen to be under 35, that’s how you made fire before the lighter.) Pusey was a cigar smoker in the 1880s and became tired of carrying around boxes of wooden matchsticks in his pocket. So, in 1889, he came up with the prototype of the matchbook we used to have: two rowes of combustible cardboards sticks. He called them “flexibles.” Four years later the matchbook was improved by a Pennsylvania inventor by the name of Charles Bowman who patented a “safe match.”  In those days, a “safe match” was one that would not ignite if chewed by a rat.

It is easy to say we live in a high-tech world and every invention needs to be high-tech to succeed.  This is in error. There is still a lot of possiblity in low-tech ideas.  If you doubt that, spend an hour watching the PI, per inquiry channel.  Wait! Wait!  If you call right now we’ll double your order and you will only have to pay for the extra shipping and handling!  Keep in mind that there are more than 6,000 companies on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.  Do you know what every one of those companies has in common?  Every one of them started out with a Joshua Pusey, an individual with a unique idea who did more than just think about it.