Joe
Karbo was an ordinary man who's struggle to overcome adversity,
poverty, and failure... led him to extraordinary Riches.
He
was a self made man... a lazy man by his own admission...and he
became a very Rich man.
Some
people thought Joe made his fortune from the enormous sales of
his book, The Lazy Man's Way to Riches
but actually he made millions prior to even thinking about writing
the book.
Joe
was one of the foremost copy-writers, headline writers and direct
response experts of all time.
Joe
established precedents, and built the foundation for today's direct
response industry - becoming a self made millionaire in the process.
He reveals all of his secrets in The
Lazy Man's Way To Riches, a classic book that is
Joe's philosophy on life and how to live it Richly, successfully,
lovingly, joyously and... lazily.
Joe's
Bio Details
Joe
was born in Los Angeles, the son of Polish parents who owned and
operated a tailor shop. He attended Manual Arts High school in
Los Angeles, California and served in the U S Navy in the South
Pacific during World War II as a medic and pharmacist.
After
the war, Mr. Karbo established a wholesale paper business, which
he sold in 1950 to take acting classes at Pasadena Playhouse.
He later went on to play bit parts in movies, radio and television
shows.
Joe
also appeared in many television commercials and for a time was
the television spokesman for a Maywood, California car dealer.
Both the dealer and Joe became famous and Rich because of Joe's
low-key, common sense, and refreshingly honest approach to selling
cars on television.
TV
Star and Innovator...
From
1961 to 1963 he and his wife, Betty, co-hosted "The All-Night
Show" in Los Angeles on KTTV, Channel 11.
Joe
thought it was a waste that TV stations went off the air from
midnight until 6 AM in those days, so he bought that six hour
block of time... and he and Betty played movies all night on TV.
They also interviewed guests (Sammy Davis, Jr., Dinah Shore, Frank
Sinatra, and countless others). Their show was the first all-night
show in the US.
Joe
knew there was an audience up all night made up of swing shift
workers, hospital workers, city workers, (policemen, firefighters)
who would watch TV ...if there was something good to watch. He
was right.
Joe
sold his own late-night advertising time... but few advertisers
believed the late-night audience was worth while... so Joe promoted
his own products and wrote his own advertising copy. He quickly
became Rich from his own all - night TV show. The station would
not re-negotiate his contract because they wanted to do all-night
TV and earn all that revenue that Joe was earning.
When
Joe and Betty's show was basically forced off the air, Joe was
left with lots of product and no way to sell it... and he had
massive debts from the purchase of the inventory.
How
to feed a family of 10 with no job...and massive debts....
Facing
certain bankruptcy when he lost his $50,000 a week income... he
went to several attorneys to find out how to avoid a bankruptcy.
He learned how to negotiate with his creditors... and in the process
wrote a book entitled, The Power of
Money Management which he sold by direct response
ads in local newspapers and magazines in the Southern California
area. The book was an overnight sensation and Joe avoided bankruptcy.
Joe
then decided to sell the inventory of various products he had
left over from the TV show that had been taken away from him.
He wrote ads for all those various products and placed the ads
....direct response ads...in local newspapers ...and found out
he could sell almost anything by way of direct response ads.
Joe
sold Glow in the Dark Christmas ornaments with one of the best
ads ever written. One of his headlines was "The
Fun Begins When The Lights Go Out."
Joe
had taken several hundred door viewers in place of cash from a
man who owed him money. You know, the kind of door viewer in hotel
room doors.
He
sold his inventory of door viewers with an ad that he wound up
running for years...selling hundreds of thousands of door viewers
in the process with an ad that started, See
Through Walls, Fences and Locked Doors.
Joe...
helping others...
Joe
wrote many other books and pamphlets. He wrote ads for products
for others... taking a percentage of the profits instead of a
fee for the ads. Joe became Richer because of direct response
advertising.
After
he became rich enough and retired (well, just a little retired)
he decided to try something different.
He
started helping many other people write ads and sell their products.
What he noticed then bothered him...they weren't equipped to handle
success.
The
book that changed the world of advertising...and changed millions
of people in the process...
So
he wanted to write a book to help others do what he had done but
he decided to write two books in one.
Book
One. The first book would be on how to prepare yourself for
success...how to become the person who could be a success. How
to cultivate a positive mental attitude...how to set goals...how
to achieve your goals..how to become a better person, a person
that others would want to do business with.
Book
Two. The second book would deal with Joes favorite subject
in the whole world...the selling of goods and services...by direct
response ads. He referred to it as Money in your mail box.
In it he revealed all the secrets that had made him...
and so many others... so Rich.
Wait...this
is not legal...
Now,
here is the fascinating part...
He
wrote the ad for the book... before he actually wrote the book.
He
wrote the ad and ran a single test ad to see if there was an audience
and a market for the book. (Today this is illegal...you can't
advertise something for sale you don't even have).
The
response overwhelmed him. The demand was huge... and Joe had to
refund all the money people sent him for the book he called...
The Lazy Man's Way to Riches.
The
largest selling... self published book in the world...NEVER in
a bookstore...
He
and Betty went to their cabin in the Lake Arrowhead area above
Los Angeles with the kids and in only six weeks he wrote the book
that has become an American Classic...The
Lazy Man's Way to Riches.
Joe's
ads for the "Lazy Man" ran for years in every major
newspaper and magazine in the United States... and most large
foreign papers as well. The ads themselves became famous. The
ads were...and are still studied, examined, dissected, and used
as models for direct response marketing and selling throughout
the world.
Never
in a bookstore..
Joe
would never place the book in a book store...he only sold it direct
to the reader. Publisher after publisher offered him giant advances
for his wonderful little book and he turned them all down. "After
all", he told them, "you are happy...even thrilled...
if a book sells a few hundred thousand copies, the audience for
this book is in the millions".
And
of course, Joe was right. Before his death in 1980 he sold well
over two million seven hundred copies (2,786,500 to be exact)
by direct response ads.
In
1993 - 1995 Viking/Penguin Publishing (you know.. the Penguin
Classics people) published an abridged 20th Anniversary Edition
for North American bookstores that quickly sold out. And as bookstores
do, when they ran out...they didn't reorder...they would only
take "Special Orders".
Joe
was also president of the Huntington Beach Chapter for the United
Way and did various other charity and volunteer work.
In
1980, Joe, at age 55, was being interviewed by a morning television
news crew from KNXT- TV at his home in Huntington Harbor, California
when he died from an apparent heart attack. His work lives on.
To
order your own copy of the 1973 classic edition of The Lazy Man's
Way to Riches by Joe Karbo.
![Order here]()
