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Note: BBH Feature (formerly “Expert Feature”) is the new term I am using to describe the section of this site that features exclusive articles written by BBH experts.

“To overcome fear you must have faith in the outcome.”

– From The Power Of Focus by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Hewitt

The Surprising Way a Kerosene Salesman in the 1800s Became Wealthy

It the late 19th century there was a young chemist named Robert Chesebrough who sold kerosene.

He got his kerosene from the oil of sperm whales, but by 1859 he was put out of business.

In 1859, Robert Chesebrough took off for a Pennyslvania oil field to “strike it rich.”

What he came back with made him rich beyond his wildest dreams.

 

But he wait minute.

The rest of the story didn’t go quite the way you’d imagine it would when you hear that someone struck it rich in an oil field.

What do I mean?

Chesebrough became rich, but he didn’t become rich from OIL!

At least, not directly from oil. 

You see, oil field workers had told him about this “sticky stuff” that stuck to the drilling rigs.

The riggers hated this stuff – it caused the drilling rigs to seize up. 

For all the problems this substance caused, the riggers found one small use – when rubbed on a cut or bruise it helped it to heal faster.

He bottled the stuff up and dragged it back to his Brooklyn laboratory.

He began a search to duplicate the petroleum-based lubricant, and by trial and error, he was able to extract the key ingredient – the translucent material we now know as petroleum jelly.

But it had to be tested, and tested it was.

The Human Guinea Pig

He needed a guinea pig to test it out on. But who could he use?

Chesebrough cut his OWN hands and arms, burned himself with flames and acids and each time he would then cover them with his new gel.

ALL the self-inflicted wounds responded to his petroleum jelly and were healed!

Satisfied that his new grease had healing properties, he took to the road with his own medicine show, but first he named his gel.

Using the German word for water (wasser) and the Greek word for oil (elaion) he came up with “Vaseline.”

He took it out on the road and would demostrate it by cutting or burning himself and then applying his vasleine. 

He also showed his audience the healed scars from past experiments.

Amazingly this worked!

Soon he was selling a jar a minute.

And when these ran out, people begged their druggists to order more from Chesebrough.

It was used for everything: chest colds, chapped hands, nasal congestion, and even to remove stains from furniture.

By the turn of the twenty century it had penetrated the American market and was entering Europe, and Chesebrough had become a very rich man!

Although its miracle properties were eventually debunked (it really healed because it sealed wounds from bacteria like a band aid), Chesebrough himself was always a true believer.

He lived to age 96.

Shortly before he died, he revealed what he believed was the secret to his longevity: Every day of his life he ate a spoonful of vaseline!

(*Not recommended! DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME! 🙂 )

Chesebrough succeeded because he believed so much in his product/idea that he refused to give up!

Do YOU want to succeed in business or some other arena in your life?

It’s going to take MANY things to succeed, but one of those things is this kind of belief that Chesebrough had.

You must be a “true believer” in whatever in whatever product, service, method or idea you hope to succeed with.

 

Photo by kevin dooley

 

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