Business tycoons: My 'aha' moment

My "aha" moment happened in an unusual place.

It was 1988 and I was playing blackjack at the Resorts Casino in Atlantic City. At the time we were only selling our AmberVision sunglasses direct to consumer via print and TV ads. I was chatting with the dealer and he asked what I did for a living. When I told him, he said, "AmberVision sunglasses. That's very impressive, everyone knows them."

It was at that moment that I realized I wasn't just selling an item but creating a brand.

This moment changed the course of my professional career. I changed the name of my company to TeleBrands and continued to use DRTV [Direct Response Television] to create brands and sell our products to retailers.

Fast-forward almost 30 years and TeleBrands' products are sold at over 100,000 retail stores, which accounts for 90% of our business.