Beanie Babies have been around for quite a long time now. They are a popular collectors’ item but they are also great friends. They can even teach you stuff. At least that is what the guys at Huffington Post are saying. They have even prepared a list of five live lessons learned from Beanie Babies.
At first this may sound a little weird. What can you possibly learn from a toy? Let alone learning not one but five life lessons from Beanie Babies? Well. actually it is possible. Stuffed animals can be quite helpful.
So what are those fIve life lessons learned from Beanie Babies
Lets take a look. The lessons are taken away from the experience of Zac Bissonnette whose book “The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and The Dark Side of Cute” is going to be released next week. While the title may sound scary, there was a time a while back when Beanie Babies were seen as something to hoard with the idea it will be worth a lot of money down the line.
The company though made a few mistakes and that didn’t happen. Instead Beanie Babies turned into what they were always meant to be – cute stuffed animals for kids and adults alike to enjoy. This also allowed the toys to help children develop without the constant idea of money in their heads.
So, the five live lesson learned from Beanie Babies, according to Huffington Post and Bissonnette which we took a look at in our way.
1. Be an individual. Don’t follow the masses in everything they do. As we said above, there was a time everybody were buying Beanie Babies with the idea of profit. When that didn’t happen, loads of the toys were thrown away and left unloved. But those who were buying them because they wanted to and loved them, now have great collections.
2. Don’t believe everything. At the heart of the Beanie Babies bubble was a load of hype from the media and “expert” collectors. They were all predicting that a five dollar toy could be worth thounsands in 10 years. Most people bought into the hype, especially when it was repeated a hundered times. Bottom line is to use your own brain for taking decisions.
3. Think about the future. Yes, you were hoarding Beanie Babies with the idea of making big money later on. You never even thought what if you don’t make the money and are stuck with loads of toys that you would never buy in the first place? The lesson is to always think of the possible outcomes and feature them in your decision making process.
4. Stay honest. The man who created Beanie Babies, Ty Warner, is the big winner from the Beanie Babies bubble. In just a single year his bank account jumped up by 700 million dollars. Yes, that many. He has used his money wisely, buying properties and hotels. The problem is he decided to hide a portion of his money in an off-shore bank account to save a few million in taxes. The result? The money was discovered, he was trialed and he pleaded guilty to be sentenced to probation. The goverment though is appealing because it wants to send Warner in prison for his tax evading.
5. The final of the five life lessons learned from Beanie Babies is one of the most important. Never ever be ashamed that you love stuffed animals and like to cuddle with them, even if you are an adult. Stuffies are helpful for stress and depression. Plus it is great to have a cuddle with them. Just ask the people who have been buying Beanie Babies and other stuffies just beacuse they like them.
