Good Morning, Money!

Sometimes the biggest obstacle isn't the problem itself. It's believing you're not capable of solving it. George Dantzig, a graduate student at UC Berkeley, arrived late to a statistics class and copied two problems from the board, assuming they were homework. He solved them and handed in his answers, only to discover they were famous unsolved problems in statistics. In today...

Struggling to create fresh content every week? The solution might not be more ideas. It might be one format worth repeating. Blendtec founder Tom Dickson turned ordinary product demonstrations into a viral video series called “Will It Blend?” By blending everything from golf balls to iPhones, he created a simple, entertaining formula that kept audiences coming back while cons...

The biggest obstacle to a sale isn't always your price or product. Sometimes, it's the customer's fear of making the wrong decision. Warby Parker faced that exact challenge when selling eyeglasses online. Customers could see the frames in photos, but they couldn't know how those glasses would actually look on their faces. Instead of spending more on advertising, Warby Parker ...

What looks like a brilliant sales offer can become a financial liability when your most enthusiastic customers use it more than you expected. In 1981, American Airlines introduced the AAirpass, offering unlimited first-class flights for life for $250,000. The airline received immediate cash, but some customers continued flying so frequently that their lifetime travel costs fa...

A successful marketing campaign can become a financial nightmare when the cost of keeping your promises exceeds your expectations. In 1992, Pepsi launched its Number Fever promotion in the Philippines, offering cash prizes through numbered bottle caps. But when the company announced 349 as a winning number, thousands of customers came forward with caps that lacked the require...