Personal Narrative: Hygrapha

After receiving the large order from those two companies, business started to slowly pick up and I became involved with other shipping companies and shipyards as well as various suppliers of boat equipment. Obviously I promoted Hygrapha at any opportunity by telling about the many immersion sur-vival suits it supplied to two renowned prestigious shipping companies. Depending on how I stowed them, I could fit elev-en immersion survival suits in my Porsche, which I managed to hold on to despite my precarious situations. I guess used cars are hard to sell and therefore aren’t confiscated. I drove quite fast and came to a screeching stop in front of my clients. I was never asked how I managed to get all those suits in my little sports car and I

That manufacturer had it made because he could charge whatever price. He had the monopoly on that item and that really didn’t sit well with me. So, what could I do to change that biased practice? I arrived at the decision to design my own life vest, but that would require a great deal of money again. However, I was convinced that in the long run it would make a great additional item to my concept. Anyway, I don’t exactly recall how it came about, but one day I unexpectedly received a telex that was infinitely long. It was an inquiry from Hyundai. It is one of the biggest, no, scratch that, it is THE biggest ship-yard in the world. I had a difficult time deciphering the text because it was written in a mixture of English and Korean words. They were asking to receive an answer at the shipyard in South Korea within two months. I have to admit their in-quiry was a bit much for me. I had never even seen one like it before, let alone answered. But then I remembered a supplier of ship equipment I once dealt with for a few small transactions. I gave him a call. His response was not encouraging at all. “Such an inquiry is usually a waste of time. It’s a lot of work and you will never see a penny in return,” he stated. The company he worked for was founded some 100 years ago and they should know the business. “If you like, send me their inquiry and I’ll take a look

All sample items had been shipped to BAM (Federal Office for Materials Testing) in Berlin to be inspected. Finally, the See-Berufsgenossenschaft gave the green to start the practical trials. Meanwhile all the agreed upon items had to be delivered to Hyundai and to my chagrin the expensive life jackets I could only obtain from the German supplier with the monopoly were part of the order. The practical trials of my life jacket were satisfactory and one day after we had already made six deliveries to Korea, I received the certification for my life jackets. Next, I thought I acted quite cleverly by informing Hyundai I would no longer be able to supply them with the current brand of life jackets. “By the way, I’m sorry to inform you, but so and so ... However, I can supply you with life jackets of equal quality at the same cost and they are also approved by German authorities. Please let me know whether you approve.” I didn’t have to wait long for their confirmation and from then on was able to make more money on each life jacket because the purchase price was much lower. Well done, Schaefer, I told